COMMENT | DANIEL ABOWE | It’s now 14 years since Uganda discovered commercially viable quantities of oil and gas along Lake Albert basin. Since then, Uganda’s oil and gas sector has transitioned from the exploration and appraisal phase to the development phase in preparation for production projected for 2023. Planned …
Read More »Food, medicine, water: What has Nature done for us lately?
Paris, France | AFP | From the food we eat to the air that we breathe, Nature not only provides mankind with the means to live but also the services to thrive. Ahead of a major biodiversity summit in Paris expected to outline in the starkest terms yet the threat …
Read More »COMMENT: Nature vs. infrastructure
Environmentally reckless growth is not preordained; it is possible to make smart, sustainable choices COMMENT | MAXWELL GOMERA | In November 2017, scientists working in Sumatra, Indonesia, made an exciting announcement: they had discovered a new species of orangutan, bringing to seven the number of great ape species globally. But one year later, …
Read More »Thousands flee as Bali raises volcano alert to highest level
Karangasem, Indonesia | AFP | A rumbling volcano on the resort island of Bali could erupt at any moment, authorities warned Monday as they raised alert levels to maximum, accelerated a mass evacuation and closed the main airport, leaving tourists stranded. Massive columns of thick grey smoke that have been …
Read More »Bee-harming pesticides in 75 percent of honey worldwide: study
Miami, United States | AFP | Traces of pesticides that act as nerve agents on bees have been found in 75 percent of honey worldwide, raising concern about the survival of these crucial crop pollinators, researchers said Thursday. Human health is not likely at risk from the concentrations detected in a …
Read More »Nine stray elephants electrocuted in Botswana
Gaborone, Botswana | AFP | Nine elephants were electrocuted in a freak accident in Botswana after one of them knocked into an electricity pole and the high-voltage power line fell on them, a local official said Tuesday. The herd is believed to have broken out of the northeastern Makgadikgadi Pans Game …
Read More »Two Kenyan community projects win the Equator Prize 2017
Kampala, Uganda | The INDEPENDENT | Fifteen communities advancing nature-based local solutions for sustainable development will each bank $10,000 following the announcment this week of the Equator Prize 2017 winners. Two Kenyan companies Mikoko Pamoja and The Kuruwitu Conservation and Welfare Association are among the 15 winners. Each of the fifteen initiatives represents …
Read More »Elephants are insomniacs, sleeping just 2 hours a night
Miami, United States | AFP | Elephants hardly ever sleep in the wild, getting around two hours of shut-eye per night and only in the wee hours of the morning, researchers said Wednesday. The findings in the journal PLOS ONE are based on two female wild African elephants — living …
Read More »Study shows record-shattering birds stay in air for 10 months
Miami, United States | AFP | A small, dark-feathered bird known as the common swift flies for 10 months on end without ever landing, the longest time spent aloft of any known bird, scientists said Thursday. The findings in the US journal Current Biology confirmed a 46-year-old hypothesis, first offered …
Read More »Island of the Chimps
By Ronald Musoke It is 9.30am in the morning and the Water Front beach at Entebbe is just warming up. Our party, comprising 17 foreign tourists and seven Ugandans – all wrapped in in our bright orange life jackets, are on our way to the Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary. READ ON…. …
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