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Climate litigation hits record high in five years,
By Ezaruku Draku Franklin The total number of climate change court cases has more than doubled since 2017 and is growing worldwide, the latest report by the United Nations Environment Programme indicates. The findings, published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, show that climate…
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NEMA drags illegal sand mining suspects to Court
The site of the illegal sand mining in Kabale
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UN Special Rapporteur asks South Africa to tackle crude environmental racism
By Ezaruku Draku Franklin The UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights has asked South Africa to redouble its efforts to tackle the crude legacy of pre-1994 environmental racism, including the abhorrent practice of intentionally situating landfills and polluting industries along racial lines and in low-income and migrant communities. Marcos Orellana, UN expert and…
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Why the new Global Biodiversity Framework matters – and what’s at stake in the Montreal talks
Adopted from World Agroforestry From elephants to monarch butterflies, creatures that migrate are increasingly finding their routes interrupted by cities, farms and other human footprints. A study in 2020 found that less than 10% of the land in the world’s protected areas is surrounded by fairly intact habitats. That sounds like bad news, but scientists say there’s…
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CITES set to regulate record number of species
By Ezaruku Draku Franklin The Convention on International trade in Endangered Species of Wild fauna and flora is set to regulate a record number of species under the new accord reached during the Conference of Parties held in November last year in Panama City. During the COP19, representatives of more than 160 governments, Parties to…
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Uganda’s wildlife court sentences ivory dealer to life imprisonment
By Ezaruku Draku Franklin The Standards, Utilities and Wildlife Court sitting in Kampala has convicted and sentenced a Ugandan ivory dealer to life imprisonment. Pascal Ochiba, a resident of Namuwongo zone in Kampala City was sentenced on Thursday October 20,2022 for unlawful possession of protected species. Court documents indicate that Ochiba was arrested on January…
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NEMA orders developer out of Bugolobi wetland
Part of Nakivubo Wetlands that was being backfilled by a developer in Bugolobi, Kampala
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US Treasury Department Sanctions notorious Malaysian Wildlife Traffickers
An African Elephant Grazing inside Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. Teo Boon Ching has been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department fr illegal trafficking of wildlife species and products from Africa
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NEMA starts restoration of Lubigi wetland system
NEMA enforcement officials clearing sugar cane planted in Lubiji wetlands. The exercise saw three people arrested
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Ray of hope as Mount Elgon National Park frontier communities embrace conservation
Bosco Kasaali, community monitor from Sironko district explaining Eco based system adaptation towards sustainable livelihoods
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EACOP must stop!
Michael Northrop Adapted from Environmental Finance How is it possible that a project like the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) could be under serious consideration in 2022, asks Michael Northrop Spitting distance from the headwaters of the Nile River and Lake Albert, inside two of Uganda’s most important national parks, 400 oil wells will soon…
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COVID-19, climate change threaten last refuge of the mountain gorilla
UNEP The Greater Virunga landscape, a mountainous area straddling the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, is the last refuge of mountain gorillas in the world. For years, the national parks and protected areas in the region have provided sanctuary to the great apes, which are among the most endangered creatures on Earth. But…
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Oil and gas sector CSOs register increasing attacks by security forces
By Ezaruku Draku Franklin The sharp increase of foreign investment in the Ugandan extractive sector has given rise to numerous human rights and environmental abuses, a policy brief by civil society organisations states. The CSOs say their outcry at these violations has in turn exposed the members to recurrent retaliatory measures by state authorities. The…
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Operation Thunder 2021 strikes wildlife and timber trafficking networks
CITES A worldwide enforcement operation against wildlife and timber crime coordinated by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and INTERPOL has disrupted crime networks and seen hundreds of arrests worldwide. Codenamed Thunder 2021, the month-long (1-31 October) operation involved Customs, Police, financial intelligence units and wildlife and forestry enforcement agencies in 118 countries, the largest number…
Africa Planet Watch 