Category: ENVIRONMENT

Goodbye Plastic? Scientists Create New Supermaterial That Could Transform Modern Manufacturing

By Rice University,First Published,May 19, 2026 A newly developed bacterial cellulose manufacturing technique could lead to strong, multifunctional materials capable of replacing plastics. What if the next generation of high-performance materials did not come from a factory filled with petroleum-based plastics, but from living bacteria? Scientists at Rice University and the University of Houston have developed a new way to turn bacterial cellulose into an ultra-strong, multifunctional material that could eventually replace plastics in products ranging from packaging to electronics. Their findings, published in Nature Communications, describe a scalable manufacturing process that guides bacteria to…

How biodiversity markets shape nature recovery

First Published,11 May 2026 Land, Society and Governance Blog 3 minute read  Mattia Troiano,Research Assistant, Dr Mark Hirons Senior Researcher   Biodiversity markets are increasingly being used in conservation policy, but we still don’t fully understand how their design shapes who gets involved and what actually happens for nature on the ground. A new open-access article in Environmental Policy and Governance by Mattia Troiano, a researcher at the ECI, and colleagues looks at this question through England’s Biodiversity Net Gain system, based on interviews and participatory mapping work in Oxfordshire. Rather…

Village Capital backs two Ghanaian startups with $350,000 from latest fund

By Opeyemi Kareem,First Published,6th May, 2026 Village Capital, a global nonprofit that backs high-impact startups across emerging markets, has deployed $350,000 from its latest fund into two Ghanaian startups, marking the first investments from a vehicle designed to channel capital to early-stage African companies building essential services. The funding comes from the Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility (AECF), a $4 million investment fund launched in July 2025 in partnership with the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. The facility targets startups addressing economic mobility and climate resilience through locally grounded…

Africa’s plants: a database project has recorded 65,000 species – and is still growing

First Published: July 10, 2025 4.00pm SAST,The Conservation Author: Cyrille Chatelain, Scientist, Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de Genève (CJBG) The African Plant Database lists 65,000 species of flowering plants, ferns and conifers found on the African continent and Madagascar. Since 2006, every plant species ever documented in Africa and Madagascar has been included in the massive online database, with about 200 new species added every year. Cyrille Chatelain is a curator at the Geneva Botanical Garden in Switzerland. He’s researched plants in Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar and north Africa and manages the plant database. Here…

Boosting Dagbon’s emerging Organic Farming Paradigm…Ntiligira Enterprise Leads the Charge

By: Mohammed A.Abu Dagbon’s Maiden Convention and Home Coming event has since taken off with debates in Tamale and Yendi that had preceded the official launch in Tamale and now scheduled to be rounded off on December, 27, with a grand durbar in Yendi, the seat of Kingship. One of the main objectives being to institutionalize yearly convergence of Dagbamba to among other things discuss the development agenda of Dagbon is no doubt going to be one of the major takeaways. Dagbon,Northern region’s, local economy has been agrarian driven for…

SPE Leaders to Deliver Keynotes at MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2025

Dr. Rose Ndong, Chair of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Dakar Section; and Dr. Riverson Oppong, SPE Africa Director, will participate as keynote speakers at the MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2025 conference and exhibition according to an official issued in Dakar, Monday. Both leaders, the statement said, will deliver keynote addresses during the official SPE Workshop, taking place on December 8 in Dakar as part of this year’s program. The SPE Dakar Section serves as a technical and professional hub for Senegal’s emerging oil and gas industry. Under…

Africa’s Clean-Cooking Drive Hinges on Carbon-Credit Reform, Transport Upgrades

Africa’s long-delayed transition to clean cooking will fail without a serious overhaul of how the continent finances, transports and regulates LPG, senior executives said during a high-level panel on clean cooking and LPG at the G20 Africa Energy Investment Forum in Johannesburg on Friday. Speakers pointed to a rare alignment of political support – following G20 endorsement of clean cooking as a priority area – but warned that critical infrastructure gaps and a broken financing ecosystem are slowing progress. South Africa’s LPG demand sits “just below 500,000 metric tons,” yet…

Africans Demand Immediate Climate Action from Rich Countries & their own Governments…..Afrobarometer Reveals

Climate-change-literate Africans overwhelmingly want rich, developed countries to take immediate action and assist poorer nations to mitigate the impacts of climate change, a new Afrobarometer (www.Afrobarometer.org) Pan-Africa Profile report (https://apo-opa.co/3Xca63V) shows. They also want their own governments to take proactive measures – such as investing in infrastructure and adopting mitigation policies – despite their potential costs. The report, based on findings from Afrobarometer’s Round 10 surveys across 38 African countries in 2024/2025, shows that more than four in 10 African adults are climate-change literate (meaning they are both aware of climate…

Afreximbank Calls for Africa’s Sustainable Dev’t,Industrialisation & Just Transition at COP30

BELEM, Brazil, November 13, 2025/ — At the ongoing 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belem, Brazil, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) is strategically advocating for a climate agenda that aligns with Africa’s sustainable development and industrialisation ambitions as outlined by its President, Dr. George Elombi. The Bank’s delegation is advocating for a pan-African climate narrative that builds on the outcomes of the African Climate Summits and previous COPs. Afreximbank’s engagements are anchored on the core principles of the AU Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, and emphasizes the…

Why Ghanaian Parents Must Prepare Their Children for the Jobs of 2030-By(Yakubu Lantam Abdul-Jabar),

In a classroom in Accra, Kumasi,Tamale, or a village near Kpandai and Salaga, a child is memorising notes for a job that does not yet exist in the Ghanaian economy. By 2030, the country will need hundreds of thousands of new roles to power a digital economy, fight climate collapse, and serve a population projected to hit 40 million. The World Economic Forum, McKinsey, and Deloitte warn that half of today’s jobs will be transformed or gone. If parents keep pushing only WASSCE certificates and government desk jobs, their children…