We don’t often look to Africa for innovative business ideas. But here’s one coming out of Mali that could be replicated in our own backyard – an acacia nursery project that offsets and sells carbon credits to help local farmers yield revenue from their arid landscape. Karoo project anyone? 

Every morning, since 12 January 2010, South Africans have woken up to the news of the growing devastation and desperation in Haiti, with little recourse to do anything. South Africa’s Gift of the Givers prepared an aid package of about R 5 million and has already sent a search and rescue team to help, but the question still remains – how can ordinary SA citizens aid this emergency operation?

The United Nations declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB 2010), calling for a celebration of life on earth and the value of biodiversity. This stems from one of the key outcomes of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg: “To achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level, as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth.”

Nairobi, 10 December 2009 (PlusNews) - Kenyan patients on stavudine, an antiretroviral drug in widespread use, which the UN World Health Organization (WHO) wants phased out, will have to wait a little longer to be put on alternative medication.

Copenhagen (AP) - European nations pressed former East bloc neighbors Thursday to help create a multibillion-dollar fund for poor countries suffering the most from global warming, while key U.S. senators signaled progress on legislation in line with what President Barack Obama will pledge at the U.N. climate conference next week.

Around 20 000 people joined a climate change march in central London on Saturday calling for world leaders to agree a deal to protect the environment at their summit in Copenhagen.

They are the citizens of tomorrow and each faces a grim and uncertain future. Born on four different continents within the last month, these five babies will have their futures determined over the next 12 days when world leaders, scientists and campaigners gather in Copenhagen to decide how humanity should tackle global warming.

Commonwealth nations have thrown their weight behind accelerating efforts to clinch an "operationally binding" United Nations climate deal in Copenhagen next month, their leaders said.

Trade and investment from Norway are expected to grow substantially as a result of this week's state visit by King Harald V and Queen Sonja, accompanied by a delegation of more than 100 business leaders.

Oxford University Press Southern Africa and the Mandela Rhodes Foundation (MRF) announced a unique Black Economic Empowerment partnership on Tuesday that will benefit future generations of African scholars.

Create social businesses to address social problems – this was the message from the first Global Grameen Meeting of companies, foundations, think-tanks, scientific experts and other institutions, recently hosted at the Volkswagen headquarters in Germany.

A Danish firm has launched Vitamin A-packed chewing gum in Nairobi to help fight malnutrition among children in developing countries, the company said in a statement Thursday.

Two southern African states -- South Africa and Lesotho -- have leapt into top 10 ranking of countries where women face the least discrimination, the World Economic Forum said Tuesday.

About 320000 (R2,3m) of a three-year 6,7m programme to strengthen 12 of SA’s rural further education and training (FET) colleges would be used for labour market research to better align college education with market needs, Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande said yesterday.

To commence the association's annual week, the Down Syndrome Association of Nigeria (DSAN) in partnership with some private organisations hold an eight kilometre Charity Walk on Saturday.

AS part of efforts to reduce infant and maternal mortality rate among residents of Ondo State, the government has concluded arrangement with the World Bank for the execution of a N1 billion special healthcare programme in which pregnant women would get personalised care from trained health workers across the state.

Research and development investment in the order of between $100-billion and $700-billion a year was needed to help solve the world's climate problems, the World Bank's ‘World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change' highlighted on Tuesday.

ADA, Ghana , Aug 19 (IPS) - In the past physically challenged Theophilus Ayim would have been kept behind closed doors by his family because they feared he would be scorned and ridiculed by the community. And if it had not been for a small volunteer-run community radio station things would have stayed that way.

Africa's future leaders are set to gain when the continent’s parents put policy into action at the Early Childhood Development conference in Dakar, Senegal, in November. This is the Association for the Development of Education in Africa’s fourth African International Conference.

When I first visited the Victoria Mxenge co-operative in Cape Town in 1997, I met homeless women working to transform an empty patch of land into a new community. They pooled their savings and microloans, bought shovels, poured concrete and built new homes for themselves and their children. In 1997 there were just 18 homes. I returned a year later and saw 104. Yesterday I found a village of thousands of homes where once there had been only dust and despair.