Environment & Energy

Two massive Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects to commercialise the gas resources of PNG’s Southern Highlands and Western provinces have opened the floodgates for an unprecedented economic boom seen in the rash of new hotels, supermarkets and entertainment centres in the capital, Port Moresby.

The NGO ActionAid has brought to light the potential negative effects on developing nations of the EU’s renewable energy policy.

Its report, ‘Fuelling Evictions: Community Cost of EU Biofuels,’ documents how 20,000 people in Kenya’s Dakatcha woodland are facing eviction from land where an EU company plans to grow jatropha to manufacture biofuels.

Greece is not well known for its research into renewable energy, but it is a promising and growing field, and developing countries are set to potentially benefit from it. The CRES (Centre for Renewable Energy Sources), which operates as a national coordinator in this area, conducts groundbreaking research for Greece as well as the European Commission and third party countries.

The European Commission has reaffirmed its commitment to contributing to the $100 billion a year needed to combat climate change in developing countries. But is it enough?

The fight to halt the climate change trend has been given a financial boost thanks to the European Commission’s assessment that the 2020 target of $100 billion a year for climate actions in developing countries is an achievable target.

The hot issue of the windfall tax In the wake of the ACP Ministerial on Natural Resources and the recent communication from the European Commission on establishing a strategy in this field, our report from Zambia and South Africa looks at the tricky task of taxing mining. Alfred Sayila reports.

Nigeria has a landmass of almost one million square kilometres and a population of more than 150 million. The world’s sixth biggest oil producer, it builds observation satellites, boasts a large number of universities and research centres, and is second in global statistics for the number of fiction films made each year.  

You mention Iceland? Images of the financial crash and the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull immediately come to mind.

The hot underground rocks in East Africa’s Rift Valley are thought to be a promising solution for energy production. The first results were recorded in Kenya, under the auspices of the United Nations and the expertise of the Icelanders.

Tourism in Sub-Saharan Africa has escaped being bruised by the global economic downturn, explains Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the Madrid-based World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), a United Nations agency. His organisation, which has 154 country members and over 400 affiliates, promotes the development ‎of sustainable and universally accessible tourism, particularly in developing countries.

The Courier: How do you account for the expansion in arrivals in Sub-Saharan Africa last year in spite of a global downturn?

 This Autumn will see the drafting by the European Union (EU) of a Communication on the Horn of Africa, including Somalia. The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, is also due in the region in September. Ahead of both, Somali Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in different parts of the country with EU partners assess their country’s humanitarian and development needs.