When Cyclone Idai barrelled over the Mozambican port of Beira on the east coast of Africa in March this year, mop-up crews estimated that the record-breaking storm had razed 90% of the city’s infrastructure. Disaster relief teams had barely finished their clean-up when they had to use the patched-up airstrip to launch disaster relief efforts further north as an even stronger storm – Cyclone Kenneth – made landfall in Cabo Delgado province, where winds of 225km/h flattened and partly damaged 80% of homes in the Macomia district, according to Unicef.
A Newcastle-based ecologist has raised major concerns about a project that aims to clean up plastic in the Pacific Ocean.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is among the most alarming examples of plastic pollution in the world.
By now you’ve likely heard this harrowing statistic: by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
Biodiversity loss, water crises, alien invasive plants and climate change remain the top concerns of the World Economic Forum. It is more urgent now than ever before to find tried and tested mechanisms that are key for mitigation, adaptation and a resilient future.
In this regard, more than 850 delegates from 80 countries will land in Cape Town on September 22 to attend the International Ecological Restoration Conference.
The latest results of the International Panel on the Oceans are much more alarming than those of August 2019. The report published from Monaco on September 25, 2019, indicates that pollution is degrading the seas and oceans more strongly and more rapidly than expected. Acidification of waters will have several consequences for Africa, including a 40% decline in its fish stock.
Scientists believe increased plastic in our oceans has encouraged the spread of invasive species in a number of bodies of water.