Africa

"The number of malaria cases rose again in 2022, propelled by flooding and warmer weather in areas once free of the illness."

"A new report from the nonprofit Global Witness validates civil society groups’ concerns about exploitative labor practices and environmental destruction associated with lithium mining. The report, released Tuesday, identifies multiple alleged incidents of corruption, unsafe working conditions, forced evictions, child labor and harmful environmental practices tied to lithium mining in Zimbabwe, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo."

"Cheetahs are usually daytime hunters, but the speedy big cats will shift their activity toward dawn and dusk hours during warmer weather, a new study finds. Unfortunately for endangered cheetahs, that sets them up for more potential conflicts with mostly nocturnal competing predators such as lions and leopards, say the authors of research published Wednesday ... ."

"In South Sudan, war and semi-permanent flooding have left people to scavenge for food, with long-term consequences for their health".

"For many people in Benin, the forests empowered them before they were born, or in the first months of their lives. Barren women performed Voodoo rituals by sacred trees to get pregnant. Others were brought as newborns by parents seeking to ward off evil spirits."

It was the dead of night when the ship caught fire, Patrick Aganyebi remembers, but the flames made it seem as bright as day. ... Five workers were killed and two others presumed dead in the blast on the Trinity Spirit, a rusting converted oil tanker anchored 15 miles (24 km) off the coast of Nigeria that pulled crude oil from the ocean floor."

"In 2020, 350 elephants mysteriously died in Botswana, with a further 35 dying in similar circumstances in Zimbabwe. Now scientists think they may have found the reason why".

"Between 2016 and 2018, more than 2 million people in Somalia fled their homes, finding refuge elsewhere within their country." "A small increase in average monthly temperatures led to a 10-fold jump in the number of refugees."