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Pipe dreams: Pakistan sewage workers hope for better future
Nearly naked and covered with a black, foul-smelling muck, Shafiq Masih struggles out of a sewer he has just cleaned by hand in an upmarket district of Lahore, Pakistan's second biggest city.
UN talks on climate change solutions hung up on finance
Negotiations to finalise a key UN report on how to stave off climate catastrophe, already two days into overtime, remained stymied Sunday on the issue of financial needs, participants told AFP.
Scientists risk arrest to sound climate alarm
A loosely federated network of scientists in more than two dozen countries plan acts of civil disobedience starting this week to highlight the climate crisis, members of Scientist Rebellion told AFP.
Kenya jail goes green to fix sewage woes and protect sea
Heading north from Mombasa, the unmistakable whiff of a foul stench in the air was as reliable as any mile marker for motorists taking the highway along the Kenyan coast.
Ukraine war drives German inflation, darkens growth outlook
Inflation in Germany has surged to a post-reunification high, data showed Wednesday, as the war in Ukraine sent energy prices soaring and diminished the prospects for growth in Europe's largest economy.
German economists slash 2022 growth outlook on Ukraine, energy
The German government's economic advisers slashed their growth forecast for 2022 on Wednesday, warning that the war in Ukraine and soaring energy prices would take a toll on Europe's biggest economy.
Senegal's water-stressed capital faces difficult future
Many residents of the Senegalese metropolis Dakar get up in the middle of the night hoping to collect water from their taps, which mostly run dry.
'Trash has value': Kenyan inventor turns plastic into bricks
"Plastic still has value," said Nzambi Matee of the mountains of discarded oil drums, laundry buckets, yoghurt tubs and other trash being shredded into colourful flakes at her Nairobi factory.
Invasive ants hit Texas hard - now a killer fungus is coming for them
When crazy ants roll into new parts of Texas, the invasive species wipe out local insects and lizards, drive away birds, and even blind baby rabbits by spewing acid in their eyes.
Will big biodiversity ambitions be enough to save nature?
After the world missed almost all of its targets to protect fast-dwindling nature for the last decade, observers following a new round of negotiations are focusing as much on how goals will be put in place as the headline targets.
Australia declares 'mass bleaching' at Great Barrier Reef
Australia's spectacular Great Barrier Reef is suffering "mass bleaching" as corals lose their colour under the stress of warmer seas, authorities said Friday, in a blow widely blamed on climate change.
In climate fight, rich nations must give up oil first: report
Rich countries must end their oil and gas production by 2034 to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius and give poorer nations time to replace fossil fuel income, according to a report released Tuesday.
Tunisian eco-pioneers battle to save Sahara oasis life
A remote oasis in Tunisia's desert was exhausted by decades of wasteful water use for agriculture -- but now pioneers around an eco-lodge are reviving the spot with innovative projects.
High seas treaty talks fail to reach a deal
The clock ran out Friday at UN talks to forge a legally binding treaty to protect open oceans beyond national jurisdictions, with no schedule set for prolonging the discussions.
Belgium delays nuclear energy exit 10 years due to Ukraine war
Belgium on Friday delayed by a decade a plan to scrap nuclear energy in 2025, spooked by the huge rise in energy prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Lost children survive 25-day ordeal in Amazon
Two Brazilian Indigenous boys aged seven and nine have been found after surviving 25 days lost in the Amazon rainforest, where they ate fruit and drank rainwater to stay alive, officials said Friday.
UN report to lay out options to halt climate crisis
Nearly 200 nations gather on Monday to confront a question that will outlive Russia's invasion of Ukraine: how do we stop carbon pollution overheating the planet and threatening life as we know it?
Three decades ago world told to 'act now' on climate
With the planet facing the "potentially serious consequences" of global warming, UN experts writing 32 years ago urged an indifferent world to take immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Ecuadoran toad breaks its silence after 100 years
Ecuadoran biologist Jorge Brito was trekking through the forest when he heard what he thought was the chirp of a cricket.
The Med gets first offshore wind farm as Italy vows energy revolution
The Mediterranean's first offshore wind farm is rising from the shallows off Italy, its turbines a symbol of hope for a Europe suffering an energy crisis exacerbated by war.
Indonesia's president takes camping trip to site of new capital
Indonesian President Joko Widodo took a camping trip to the country's future capital, he said on social media Tuesday, posing for photographs in a forest at the site of the new city.
Sparkling pools, empty taps: Cape Town's stark water divide
On Cape Town's beaches, swimmers shower off sand from their feet. Irrigation pipes water the region's famed vineyards. And Shadrack Mogress fumes as he fills a barrel with water so he can flush his toilet.
Honduras clarifies stand on open-pit mines
Honduras on Friday clarified that existing open-pit mining contracts remain in effect, after President Xiomara Castro said she was banning the practice.
UN holds biodiversity talks on deal to stave off mass extinction
Global efforts to cut plastic and agricultural pollution, protect a third of wild spaces, and ultimately live "in harmony with nature" will dominate UN biodiversity negotiations starting Monday, held in person after a two-year pandemic delay.
Brazil stars protest Bolsonaro environmental policy
Iconic Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso led a star-studded protest Wednesday against President Jair Bolsonaro's environmental policy, seeking to block a series of bills activists say would be devastating for the Amazon rainforest and beyond.
Kenya launches bid to save wild bongos from extinction
The first mountain bongos have been released into a sanctuary beneath Mount Kenya under a world-leading programme to save the extremely rare forest antelopes from certain extinction in the wild.
Los Angeles suing Monsanto for chemicals in waterways
Chemical company Monsanto found itself in the horns of yet another lawsuit Monday, as Los Angeles sued the firm for allegedly knowingly polluting waterways in one of the biggest cities in the United States.
US announces new emissions standards for trucks and buses
The United States on Monday announced tougher emissions standards on trucks and buses starting from 2027, and said it would spend almost $1.4 billion on expanding green public transit.
Yemen rebels back UN proposal for abandoned oil tanker
Yemen's Huthi rebels have signed a UN agreement hoped to help stop a rusting oil tanker in the Red Sea becoming an ecological and humanitarian catastrophe, officials said Monday.
Probe accuses Swiss mining firm of hiding Guatemala pollution
Two subsidiaries of Swiss mining company Solway Investment Group hid reports of pollution in an indigenous area of northeastern Guatemala, an international consortium of media companies said Sunday.
Chile creates national park to save glaciers
Chile said Saturday it is creating a vast national park to protect hundreds of glaciers that are melting due to climate change.
Long road ahead for Iraq pledge to phase out gas flares
In the oilfields of southern Iraq, billions of cubic feet of gas literally go up in smoke, burnt off on flare stacks for want of the infrastructure to capture and process it.