35 years after nuclear leak, some animal and plant species in Russia seem to be faring well after adapting to the radiation
The debate n Chernobyl radiation accident in Russia is largely in the gray area in between: At what radiation levels does significant harm kick in, and for which species? Since different species may respond very differently to radiation, “it’s not black and white,” says radioecologist Christelle Adam-Guillermin of France’s Radioprotection...
In ever-widening tempest of climate change, Haiti cries out for support to end hunger-related human strife
Yet even before the 2010 earthquake, farmers in Haiti had “no financial back-up, no technology, no education”, says Fritz Alphonse Jean, president of the Haitian Public Policy Institute (INHOPP) and a former governor of the Haitian Central Bank (BRH). “If you look at the credit allocated to the agricultural sector...
Haiti was largely food secure until mid-1980s when US and foreign agencies forced it to liberalise its economy
Hunger was never far away when Angeline Annesteus was growing up. The daughter of subsistence farmers in Bercy, southern Haiti, she remembers going for days without much food. That was more than 30 years ago. Food insecurity is even more pressing now. Around 4.3 million people, more than one in...
Planned 2023 elections is a remote hope in South Sudan where violence is the currency in which political power is traded
Loans from the International Monetary Fund over the last two years have helped stave off a total collapse of the government of South Sudan, but the state has nevertheless almost entirely withdrawn from the provision of services and wages for regional authorities. In Warrap, the government is conspicuous by its...
South Sudan: We won’t get to elections, the only people who want elections are international community…it’ll be disaster
Keen to proclaim South Sudan as on the cusp of becoming a peaceful country, international actors have claimed that there has been a marked reduction in political violence since the signing of a peace agreement in 2018 and the formation of a power-sharing government two years later. But analysts, conflict...
Cybercrime: More often in Africa, states crack down on whistle-blowers who use government data to report crime
Digital repression is on the rise in many parts of Africa. Over a dozen African countries have recently experienced politically motivated internet shutdowns. Roughly the same number have been identified as operators of military-grade spyware (such as Pegasus, RCS and FinFisher), which they use to track domestic political opponents and...
Covid boosters: Endless shots might not be a viable strategy, nor is it how vaccines were meant to be used
Late last year, studies showed that third shots (boosters) of Covid vaccines were effective at providing a little extra protection from infection – particularly in the face of the Omicron variant. Some countries are now offering fourth doses, but scientists say that endless boosting might not be a viable strategy,...
Generation of cattle raiders that rape and kill women, ransack houses and steals savings emerges in northern Uganda
Since November 2020, about 150 people in north-eastern Uganda region of Karamoja have been killed by cattle raiders, according to Michael Longole, the police spokesman for Karamoja. A further 73 raiders have been killed by security forces, he added. A government press release in September referred to 400 deaths, while...
In Uganda’s Karamoja region, rampant rustling is met with militarised response as violence returns
The stench of livestock lingered in the empty enclosure made of thorny branches where Aomet Lokong stood, a kraal head without any cows. Armed rustlers raided Lokong’s communal kraal, or cattle enclosure, in northeastern Uganda’s Kaabong district in late November and stole nearly 1,000 cows, local officials said. Six days...
Education: Investing in cell phones is helpful in refugee camps where large families share a smartphone
According to Education Cannot Wait, only 2.6 per cent of global humanitarian funding was earmarked for education in 2019, a number Yasmine Sherif estimates should be at least 10 per cent to ensure access to safe, free, and quality education. Sherif is director of Education Cannot Wait, an organisation that...
