sub-Saharan Africa
Has Africa’s time for hydropower passed?

Has Africa’s time for hydropower passed?

Africa has vast untapped sources of hydroelectricity but climate change, particularly droughts, raises questions about sustainability. Hydroelectricity has an attractive appeal for Africa. It can provide a baseload - a...

Charcoal: vast, vital and often criminalised

Charcoal: vast, vital and often criminalised

If forests are properly managed and harvested, charcoal could be a renewable energy source that does not destroy the environment. Charcoal is one of the most important commodities in sub-Saharan Africa. In southern and...

Food from the forest

Food from the forest

Encouraging more sub-Saharan smallholders to farm a mix of food, animals and trees offers an effective way to boost food security and livelihoods. On a tour of farmlands in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, especially...

Danger down by the river

Danger down by the river

African women and girls in poor communities, forced to walk long distances to fetch water, run the daily risk of rape, beating and even death. It was a day like any other last December. Hasiya (not her real name) had...

Going to waste

Going to waste

Solar power: the dark side Traded as environmentally sound, solar power leaves waste that could engulf Africa in the same way as plastic Daniel Wesonga, a resident of Moi Farm village in western Kenya, is a happy man...