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Russia Diamond Miner Alrosa Offers New Tracking Technology

Jul 5, 2021 | Yuliya Fedorinova, Bloomberg

Russia’s Alrosa PJSC is offering diamond buyers a new laser-marking technology that will allow customers to trace rough stones and polished gems from the mine…


Ethiopia/Sudan: Sudan and Ethiopia’s Dispute in Fertile Border Area Threatens Regional Stability

Jul 2, 2021 | Mohammed Amin, Middle East Eye

A more than a century-old dispute between Sudan and Ethiopia over the Sudanese border region of al-Fashaga had been lying relatively dormant for more than…


Wildlife: British Aircraft Carrier Base Threatens Endangered Whales

Jun 3, 2021 | Phil Miller, Daily Maverick

A new port for British warships in the Gulf state of Oman is being built on a key migration path for a rare breed of…


Climate Change: NGA Crunching Climate Change Data for National Security Decision-Making

Jun 3, 2021 | Lisbeth Perez, MeriTalk

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is looking at unclassified data sources to broaden its understanding of climate change – an issue that one NGA official…


DRC: Blockchain-based Traceability Firm by an African NBA Legend to Help Track Ethical Cobalt Mining Projects in The Congo

May 30, 2021 | Insight

Bluetech, an investment firm owned by NBA legend, Dikembe Mutombo, says it has invested about $1 billion in ethical cobalt mining projects, a part of…


Cameroon: Sexual Violence Pervasive in Cameroon’s Anglophone Regions

May 29, 2021 | Jess Craig, Al Jazeera

Every day, Gladys, a 33-year-old vendor in Buea, the capital of Cameroon’s Southwest region, heads to Muea market to sell vegetables, sweets and other food…


Myanmar: Kachin Farmers Occupy Land Seized by Myanmar Military-Linked Company

May 20, 2021 | Irrawaddy

Kachin State farmers are recapturing their land, confiscated under the previous military regime by the Yuzana Company in 2006, after the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)…


Conflict Minerals: Glencore, Umicore to Trace Battery Cobalt with Blockchain Technology

May 20, 2021 | Reuters

Mining and trading company Glencore and other miners are joining forces with battery material supplier Umicore to make the cobalt used in electric cars traceable…


DRC: NBA Hall of Famer and Global Philanthropist, Dikembe Mutombo and Partners, to Invest US$1 Billion in Ethical Mining Projects in Democratic Republic of the Congo to Support Electric Vehicles and Other Technologies

Apr 27, 2021 | PR Newswire

Dikembe Mutombo, Chairman of Bluetech Investments, and  international groups of investors from the United States, Hong Kong, and Germany, have announced over a US$1 Billion…


Mozambique: Gas Fields and Jihad: Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado Becomes a Resource-Rich War Zone

Apr 26, 2021 | Ashoka Mukpo, Mongabay

On Monday, French energy giant Total declared force majeure on its multibillion-dollar light natural gas (LNG) project in northern Mozambique, formally withdrawing all of its…


Myanmar: US Hits State-Owned Myanmar Gem Firm with Coup Sanctions

Apr 8, 2021 | Matthew Lee, Associated Press

The Biden administration on Thursday hit Myanmar’s junta with new sanctions in response to February’s coup in the Southeast Asian nation. The State and Treasury…


DRC: Gécamines Takes over the Artisanal Cobalt Mining Sector

Apr 8, 2021 | Christophe Le Bec, Africa Report

Officially launched on 31 March, EGC - a new subsidiary of Gécamines - is intended to formalise and clean up a previously opaque artisanal mining…


New NASA Maps Will Help Liberia Chart Course for a Sustainable Future

Mar 22, 2021 | Kiley Price

Within Liberia’s borders lies one of the last strongholds of intact forests in West Africa. But as Liberia’s economy recovers following years of civil war, experts fear that these…


Call for Proposals: Digital Technologies for Environmental Peacebuilding: Sustaining Peace in the Digital Age

Mar 19, 2021 | Environmental Peacebuilding Association and UN Environment Programme

In the span of only a few decades, new big data ecosystems and a combination of frontier technologies, including social media, artificial intelligence, blockchain, earth…


Sudan: Sudan to Develop Gold Mines Once Linked to Warlord’s Family

Mar 15, 2021 | Mohammed Alamin, Bloomberg

Sudan dispatched a research team to revitalize a network of gold mines in Darfur previously linked to the family of the country’s most powerful militia…


Liberia: Economics of Nature: Mapping Liberia's Ecosystems to Understand Their Value

Mar 15, 2021 | Sofie Bates, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Conservation scientist Trond Larsen and his team trekked through a remote forest in Liberia, recording the plants, animals, and insects that they saw. They noted…


South Sudan: South Sudan Integrates Environmental Protection with Hydrocarbon Exploration

Feb 24, 2021 | Charné Hundermark, Africa Oil & Power

Despite holding the third-largest oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa – estimated at 3.5 billion barrels – only 30% of South Sudan has been explored to…


DRC: First Minerals Exported from DRC with Blockchain

Feb 24, 2021 | MINING.com

Minexx has exported minerals with full financial transparency from the Democratic Republic of Congo, by processing $250k of blockchain certified payments – a first for…


Leverage COVID-19 Data Collection Networks for Environmental Peacebuilding

Feb 7, 2021 | Carsten Pran

Environmental peacebuilding could benefit from COVID-era data innovation. A well-documented obstacle environmental peacebuilders face is a lack of shared, empirical datasets among parties engaged in, recovering from,…


Sudan/South Sudan: Sudan and South Sudan Sign Oil Production Agreement

Jan 18, 2021 | Construction Review Online

East African countries Sudan and South Sudan have signed a number of agreements that involve oil production in the two countries. The countries have agreed…


Liberia: Government of Liberia Launches Processes Leading to Digitization and Systematic Land Titling

Jan 18, 2021 | Obediah Johnson, FrontPage Africa

In a bid to help curtail the growing wave of land disputes and boost revenue generation in the country, the Government of Liberia (GOL), through…


South Sudan: South Sudan Resumes Environmental Audit in Oil-Field Areas

Jan 14, 2021 | Xinhua

South Sudan on Thursday resumed its plan to boost environmental audit in oil-producing regions following public uproar over poor waste management. Puot Kang Chol, Petroleum…


Myanmar: Myanmar to Launch Digital Land Database

Jan 14, 2021 | Aung Loon, Myanmar Times

Myanmar will launch an online land database soon, said Minister of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations U Thaung Tun. The online land database will be…


Liberia/Sierra Leone: Saving the Gola Forest: Reimagining Forest Conservation in West Africa

Jan 12, 2021 | Lewis Kihumba, Bird Life International

Covering more than 350,000 hectares, straddling the Liberia and Sierra Leone borders, Gola Forest is the largest remaining block of Upper Guinean Forest. Years of…


Middle East: Facebook and Google Earth Help Probe Eco-Crimes in the Middle East

Jan 12, 2021 | Cathrin Schaer, Deutsche Welle

Researchers are using the same open-source data methods that helped track war crimes in Syria to document environmental offenses in places like Yemen and Iraq.


Uganda: Mubende Youth, Women Embrace Climate Smart Agriculture Technologies

Jan 11, 2021 | Dan Wandera, Daily Monitor

Ms Hilda Atwongyeirwe, an IT graduate who is now deeply committed to her 35 acre soybean plantation at Kahumuro village Kitenga Subcounty  in Mubende District…


United Kingdom, South Africa: UK to Support South African Women Entrepreneurs to Develop GreenTech Businesses

Jan 11, 2021 | Rebecca Campbell, Engineering News

The UK, through the UK-South Africa Tech Hub, and in partnership with the Future Females Business School, will help 30 South African women entrepreneurs to…


Myanmar: Myanmar Mulls Online Gems and Jewellery Sales

Jan 4, 2021 | Pa Pa, Myanmar Times

After almost a year without income due to the inability to hold physical emporiums and promotional events in 2020, the Myanmar gems and jewellery industry…


Where Are the Women in Food Insecurity Analysis?

Jan 4, 2021 | Amy Lieberman, Devex

NEW YORK — Women are more likely to experience food insecurity than men, and the pandemic has exacerbated this divide. Women continue to shoulder more…


Liberia: Communities Use New App to Track Illegal Logging

Dec 23, 2020 | Varney Kamara, FrontPage Africa

Rural towns and villages are now using ForestLink, a new app, to track illicit forest operations and deforestation across Liberia, including illegal logging and mining,…