Environment

How Tourism sector can transform Sierra Leone economy with lessons from ‘Hainan Province’

Fri, 2016-04-08 10:18 — Mohamed S

The fall in price of iron ore and other minerals has had an adverse effect to the Sierra Leonean economy as reflected in the poor performance of the government sector.
Before the outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic Ebola disease in the country in May 2014, Sierra Leone was referred to as the one with the fastest growing economy by the government itself, official sources and other partners.
The 18 months standoff period of the Ebola era halted if not all, but most of the economic activities that were going on in the country and the problems within the mining sector left the country’s economy in bad shape.
But this does not mean there are no ways to rescue the situation. One major sector that can rescue the country’s economy, but also make it sustainable for a very long period is the ‘Tourism Sector’ which has the potential to transform the image of Sierra Leone, but only if much attention is given to this sector.
This country can learn from the success story of ‘Hainan province’ which was once an exile town but it has recently been transformed into a paradise for tourist’s attraction.

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Ambassador Zhao meets EPA boss

Fri, 2016-04-01 12:44 — Mohamed S

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Green" industrialization part of focus for African Development Week

Thu, 2016-03-31 12:00 — Mohamed S

Carlos Lopes. File Photo: UNECA

Migration, climate change and what's been called "green" industrialization are just some of the issues topping the agenda when African economic and finance ministers gather in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, beginning this Thursday.

The conference is part of the wider events for the first African Development Week organized by the UN Economic Commission for Africa, known as the ECA, and the African Union.

Carlos Lopes is the ECA Executive Secretary at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

Ernest Chicho asked him about the background for the week and what to expect.

Duration: 4'28"

see more on: http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2016/03/green-industrialization-part-of-focus-for-african-development-week/#.Vv0A1tIrJdh

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At Climate Talks, African Nations Pledge to Restore Forests

Sun, 2015-12-06 20:58 — Kathy Gilbeaux

FILE - In this Sunday, March 21, 2010 file photo, shafts of sunlight filtering through the forest canopy strike smoke from fires burning outside family huts at an Mbuti pygmy hunting camp in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve outside the town of Epulu, Congo. Tree by tree, more than a dozen African governments pledged to restore the continent’s natural forests at the U.N. climate change talks in Paris on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015. (Rebecca Blackwell,File/Associated Press)

CLICK HERE - World Resources Institute - African Countries Launch AFR100 to Restore 100 Million Hectares of Land

CLICK HERE - African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100)

CLICK HERE - Global Landscapes Forum

washingtonpost.com - by Lynsey Chutel - December 6, 2015

JOHANNESBURG — Tree by tree, more than a dozen African governments pledged to restore the continent’s natural forests at the United Nations climate talks on Sunday.

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Turn on the taps to defeat the next Ebola

Wed, 2015-06-17 01:07 — mike kraft

IRIN by Jennifer Lazuta June 15, 2015

DAKAR, Senegal - It is a cruel irony that many of the top doctors and nurses in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone will not be around to help rebuild their health systems in the wake of Ebola, having succumbed themselves to the virus.

Many families in Guinea still rely on streams and lakes for their water needs.Photo: Jennifer Lazuta/IRIN

For those that are, the biggest challenges are likely to be electricity, sanitation, and, most of all, water.

“How is it possible to build, or rebuild, as you may call it, a health institution or hospital without [access to] water, which serves as a major catalyst to run the facility?” asked Moses Tamba, a spokesperson for Liberia’s Ministry of Public Works. “It is not possible. You need water....”

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Mapping the Zoonotic Niche of Ebola Virus Disease in Africa

Tue, 2015-02-17 23:43 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Stephen Morse

elifesciences.org - September 8, 2014 - eLife 2014;3:e04395
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.04395

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a complex zoonosis that is highly virulent in humans. The largest recorded outbreak of EVD is ongoing in West Africa, outside of its previously reported and predicted niche. We assembled location data on all recorded zoonotic transmission to humans and Ebola virus infection in bats and primates (1976–2014). Using species distribution models, these occurrence data were paired with environmental covariates to predict a zoonotic transmission niche covering 22 countries across Central and West Africa. Vegetation, elevation, temperature, evapotranspiration, and suspected reservoir bat distributions define this relationship. At-risk areas are inhabited by 22 million people; however, the rarity of human outbreaks emphasises the very low probability of transmission to humans. Increasing population sizes and international connectivity by air since the first detection of EVD in 1976 suggest that the dynamics of human-to-human secondary transmission in contemporary outbreaks will be very different to those of the past.

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Meant to Keep Malaria Out, Mosquito Nets Are Used to Haul Fish In

Sun, 2015-01-25 14:39 — mike kraft

Millions of mosquito nets are given out fight to malaria in Africa, yet many faced with hunger use them as fish nets, creating potential environmental problems. Video by Ben C. Solomon on Publish Date January 24, 2015. Photo by Uriel Sinai for The New York Times.

NEW YORK TIMES by Jeffery Gettleman Jan. 25, 2015

BANGWEULU WETLANDS, Zambi --Across Africa, from the mud flats of Nigeria to the coral reefs off Mozambique, mosquito-net fishing is a growing problem, an unintended consequence of one of the biggest and most celebrated public health campaigns in recent years.

The nets have helped save millions of lives, but scientists worry about the collateral damage: Africa’s fish.

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