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The UN has passed a non-binding resolution to endorse the Equal Earth Projection, a map which more fairly represents the true size of the Earth’s landmasses. The current commonly used projection, called the Mercator Projection, greatly exaggerates land towards the north and south poles, which…
Across Africa, people are restoring and managing mangroves, grazing lands and urban green areas in the face of increasing threats from climate change. Increasingly they make decisions based on climate-related information supplied by governments, funders and researchers. But are they getting the…
Water affects almost every part of daily life: drinking, sanitation, food production, health, jobs and the natural environment. Yet in South Africa, three million people don’t have clean running water, and 14 million have no flushing toilets. Climate change and recurring droughts make the problem…
Artisanal cobalt miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo risk exposure to uranium while working. Wikimedia CommonsThe southern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is known as the Copperbelt because of its rich deposits of copper and other minerals. The area was the original source…
Connected to wireless earphones, Yoofi Greene from Ghana begins his dance steps down a busy sidewalk in Guangzhou, China. People, bicycles and cars zoom past. Pedestrians watch with a mix of amusement and annoyance as he glides by them and moves to occupy the middle of the street. Yoofi draws…
Climate change has already doubled the world’s heatwaves between 2024 and 2025 and brought more severe droughts, floods and water shortages to Africa. These changes are damaging crops, homes, infrastructure and ecosystems, and placing growing pressure on people’s health and livelihoods. On 2…
Persistent allegations of chemical weapons use in the Sudanese civil war have recently been reinforced by new evidence. US news outlets The New York Times and The Washington Post reported on materials shared by an anonymous Middle Eastern intelligence agency. The September 2026 articles paint a…
From the Vredefort Dome in South Africa (the world’s oldest and largest known meteorite-impact structure) to the volcanic lakes of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, Africa’s landscapes hold some of Earth’s oldest stories. Morocco’s M’Goun Unesco Global Geopark records more than 200 million years of…
Hearing loss affects more than 1.5 billion people worldwide. Close to 80% live in low - and middle - income countries, where hearing care is out of reach for most. In Africa, an estimated 136 million people live with hearing loss, a figure expected to more than double to 337 million by 2050. Yet…
Pregnancy and childbirth remain dangerous for many women globally. Complications such as severe bleeding and hypertensive disorders can become life-threatening, particularly when timely and appropriate healthcare is unavailable. Around 70% of maternal deaths worldwide occur in sub-Saharan Africa…
About 74% of South Africa’s electricity is generated by coal-fired power stations owned by the state-owned electricity provider, Eskom. These power stations produce greenhouse gas and air pollution and can also pollute nearby streams and rivers. South African environmental law says that all power…
Les pays africains se sont engagés à réduire leurs émissions de gaz à effet de serre et à renforcer leur capacité à s’adapter aux effets du changement climatique. Ces engagements s’inscrivent dans le cadre de l’Accord de Paris, un traité international juridiquement contraignant adopté en 2015, par…
Given its speed, scale and scope, the Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease that broke out in the Democratic Republic of Congo in mid-2026 could become a global epidemic. I am an infectious disease epidemiologist with experience in managing the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in my country, Sierra Leone…
The South African government has released a new electricity pricing policy for the first time in 18 years. The policy sets rules that the national energy regulator, the state-owned electricity utility Eskom and municipalities must follow when working out electricity prices. The policy explains…
Alexander Suhorucov, Pexels, CC BYThe Southern Africa Food Lab has brought businesses, farmers, government and community groups together since 2010 to help address the problems of hunger and malnutrition. When these diverse groups first came together, everyone agreed that the region’s food system…
Imagine being asked to prepare monthly reports that all demand their own classifications, measurement bases and templates. This is the reality that nonprofit organisations (NPOs) face across the world. In a recent paper, my co-authors and I present findings from interviews with 21 nonprofit…
The lines between influencer and sex worker have become blurred in the online gig economy. Obi/UnsplashOnlyFans was established in 2016 as a platform for content creators to post images and videos or host live streams in exchange for money. But what began as a small and relatively quiet niche…
The earliest years of a child’s life are critical for growth, learning and long-term wellbeing. During this period, children develop rapidly, and experiences in the home and community shape their future health, education and social outcomes. Simple things like talking, singing, telling stories and…
Pregnancy and early motherhood can be challenging under any circumstances for adolescents. But in Kenya the challenges are huge. Many pregnant and parenting adolescents face stigma, interrupted education, financial hardship, strained family relationships and limited social support. These…
Kema/PexelsThe first five years of life lay an important foundation for children’s future schooling, health and earnings. Yet over 77% (table 2) of children in sub-Saharan Africa don’t have access to early childhood care and education. This places them at risk of not reaching their development…
Les transports routiers en République démocratique du Congo ont fait l’objet d’une attention particulière de la part des chercheurs. Certaines études se sont penchées sur le paysage urbain. D’autres ont étudié les transports dans le contexte du conflit armé qui sévit dans l’est du pays, où la…
Over the past 50,000 years, many of the world’s large mammals have gone extinct. Until recent decades, all we knew about them came from fossils. Now, analysis of ancient DNA is adding to the picture. Ancient DNA is damaged and degraded genetic material often obtained from fossils thousands of…
African countries have committed themselves to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and protecting their people from the worsening effects of climate change. These commitments form part of the Paris Agreement, an international climate treaty adopted in 2015 in which countries agreed to take steps to…
The movement of tens of thousands people into Ceuta, the Spanish enclave on the north African coast, in July 2026 has highlighted faultlines in the politics of migration between Europe and Morocco. More than 70,000 people entered Ceuta over a 48-hour period. The extraordinary surge followed the…
