Kampala, Uganda (PANA) - East African Environment Ministers have ended a meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, to discuss a set of radical policy proposals to deal with environmental pollution, including the introduction of a pay-as-you-pollute taxes, according to a statement from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on Saturday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Environment Progarmme (UNEP) on Wednesday welcomed the decision by the Nigerian government to clean up a major oil contamination in Ogoniland region, in the south eastern part the country. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's main opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has sharply criticized the federal government for allegedly treating oil companies operating in the country with 'kid gloves', even when their oil exploration activities pollute the communities in the country's Niger Delta oil region. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The UN is said to be planning a close monitoring of the clean-up of the Ogoni oil spill in Nigeria as recommended by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in its report last week, the Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday, quoting Martin Nesirky, the spokesperson to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd. (SPDC), Mutiu Sunmonu, has described oil spills in the country's Niger Delta region as a tragedy, which the company takes very seriously. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - A report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which carried out a 14-month assessment of pollution from over 50 years of oil operations in Ogoniland in Nigeria's oil produce Niger Delta region, has found widespread oil pollution that could take 20-30 years to clean up. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) –The Congolese government has banned the production and importation of plastic bags, the country’s Minister of Communication, Bienvenu Okiémy, announced in Brazzaville, the capital, Thursday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A UN report released Friday said high levels of lead pollution were found in the soil in Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria has warned oil companies operating in the countr y that it will strictly enforce anti-spillage rules to make the country safe, following reports that 3,203 oil spills were rec orded between 2006 and 2010. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Kenya n Association of Manufacturers (KAM) announced here Monday that it was in the process of collecting views on challenges faced b y industries in the enforcement of the Noise and Excessive Vibration Control law being enforced by the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA). Full text...

Tunis- Tunisia (PANA) -- Tunisia on Monday signed a 43 million-euro credit line w ith the European Commission and the French Development Agency, Alliance Francais e de Developpement (AFD), to finance projects implemented by companies to clean-u p industrial pollution, official sources said in Tunis. Full text...

Port-Louis- Mauritius (PANA) - â" Fines to be paid by polluters in Mauritius have jumped up by more than 100 per cent as the government finds ways to curb pollut i on, according to new measures agreed by the council of ministers. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- The Congo Green Party (PECO) accused three companies in Kinshasa, the capital, of polluting Congo River and demanded “immediate comp e nsation,” according to a statement made available to PANA Monday. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- Amnesty International (AI), which works to protect huma n rights worldwide, has slammed the Nigerian government, saying “The government i s failing in its obligation to respect and protect the rights of people in the N i ger Delta to food, water, health and livelihood. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- Amnesty International (AI), which works to protect human rights worldwide, has slammed the Nigerian government, saying “The government i s failing in its obligation to respect and protect the rights of people in the Ni g er Delta to food, water, health and livelihood. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- The Mauritian Ministry of Tourism and Leisure ann ounced Wednesday that environmental offenders would henceforth be subjected to v a rious fines as a deterrent. Full text...

Port-Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- A four-day meeting on the development of sea tran sportation and prevention of coastal pollution in the western part of the Indian Ocean is due to start here on Monday, according to official sources. Full text...

Port-Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Mauritian Environment Ministry is seeking partner ship with international organisations to help the National Environmental Laborat o ry (NEL) acquire expertise in the field of ambient air quality monitoring, Envir o nment Minister, Lormus Bundhoo, said Monday at a workshop in the capital. Full text...

Port-Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Mauritian Environment Ministry is seeking partner ship with international organisations to help the National Environmental Laborat o ry (NEL) acquire expertise in the field of ambient air quality monitoring, Envir o nment Minister, Lormus Bundhoo, said Monday at a workshop in the capital. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell has commenced the cleaning o f an oil spill site at the Ikarama Community in Yenagoa, capital city of Bayelsa state in Nigeria's oil producing Niger Delta region. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Environment ministers from 140 countries across the world ended their week-long meeting here Friday with the adoption of a landmark pact to speedily negotiate a new treaty to curb global mercury pollution, PANA reports from the Ethiopian capital. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Environment ministers from 140 countries across the world ended their week-long meeting here Friday with the adoption of a landmark pact to speedily negotiate a new treaty to curb global mercury pollution, PANA reports from the Ethiopian capital. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The Global Environment Fund (GEF) has granted US$ 1 mill ion to Senegal to bolster the country's project for soil decontamination and det o xification of lead-poisoned people in one of the suburbs of Dakar. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria(PANA) -- Two environmental bodies - Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) and Environmental Rights Action (ERA) - have asked the Nigerian government to ensure that oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region put an end to gas flaring as a way of promoting the environment, ending massive poverty and ensuring healthy living of the people of the area. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- A research worker at the Niamey-based Abdou Moumouni University, Laouali Mahaman Sani, Thursday deplored the serious pollution of the Niger river and the absence of a waste water treatment and evacuation system in the country's capital city, Niamey. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Kenyan government has trained 120 Police prosecutors to tackle environmental pollution cases and plans are underway to train Police c ommanders to detect and bolster the battle against pollution, officials said Thu r sday. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- Juan Lopez De Uralde, executive director and member of the board of Greenpeace, the environmental non-governmental organisation, has hailed Libya's efforts to protect the Mediterranean Sea from pollution. Full text...

New York- UN (PANA) -- The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is to team up with the UNDP to conduct a comprehensive environmental assessment of oil-polluted sites in Ogoniland in Nigeria's oil producing Niger Delta region, a UN statement said here Monday. Full text...

Kigali- Rwanda (PANA) -- New estimates published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicate that in the 21 most affected countries in Africa, air pollution inside houses is the main cause of nearly 5 percent of mortality and morbidity. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- A three-day training on the control of maritime environment pollution, organised by the Libyan Maritime Biology Centre in conjunction with the Arab Organisation for Agricultural Development, AOAD, is underway in Tajoura, some 20-km east of Tripoli. Full text...

Abidjan- Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) – At least 20 person-s were seriously injured Monday when police violently dispersed a demonstration against the dumping of toxic waste 19 August 2008 in the Vridi suburb of Abidjan, reliable sources said here Tuesday. Full text...

Abidjan- Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Residents of Vridi, in the Abidjan port area, have opposed plans by authorities to store the toxic waste dumped last 19 August in the Ivorian metropolis in the commune pending processing and transfer to another destination. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) – A multidisciplinar-y team comprising seven investigators from Cote d'Ivoire was expected to leave Abidjan Monday for Estonia to conduct investigations at the port of Paldiski, where the oil tanker, Probo Koala, which recently dumped toxic waste in Abidjan, is grounded. Full text...

Abidjan- Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Ivorian Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny Sunday led an exercise to remove toxic wastes dumped recently in the capital, Abidjan, by a Russian vessel. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- The French Socialist Party (PS), has strongly condemned the dumping of toxic waste in the Ivorian economic capital Abidjan, describing it as "a criminal act". Full text...

Abidjan- Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Pollution from the toxic waste dumped in Abidjan has killed at least one inmate and forced the transfer of a number of prisoners from the city's MACA prison, to the Grand-Bassam, Agboville and Dabou jails, Ivorian Justice Minister Koné Mamadou said here Tuesday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) – A new study by the Nairobi--based UN Environment Programme (UNEP) shows a rapid deterioration of air quality in African cities, with air pollution constituting a major threat to the environment, the economy and the populations' quality of life. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Hundreds of flamingos have been reported dead in Kenya's Lake Nakuru wildlife sanctuary in the past week, raising fear and anxiety among wildlife conservation and management personnel and other stakeholders at the national park. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya's Water Resources Management Authority on Friday unveiled measures tailored to rehabilitate polluted water sources in the Tana river water catchment area. Full text...

Abidjan- Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) - – The spill into the sea of significant quantities of crude oil following an accident Tuesday by a drilling boat near the oil rig of Al Baraka, off Jacqueville (some 100 km from Abidjan), has caused an oil slick on the Abidjan coast. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A Kenyan environmentalist and fishermen in the country's coastal town of Malindi, have condemned over-fishing and dumping of waste products in the area. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Namibia's National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has disagreed with NamWater for alleging that "category C" water supply at Opuwo town in the northern Kunene Region was 'still' fit for human consumption despite large quantity of magnesium and sulphate. Full text...

Douala- Cameroon (PANA) -- A five-day international seminar in the fight against marine pollution by oil products opened Monday in Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- IFC-Netherlands Carbon Facility (INCaF), a joint initiative of the International Finance Corporation and the Dutch government, recently signed an emissions reductions purchase agreement worth approximately $10 million to purchase greenhouse gas emission reductions from renewable energy projects in India. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The African Development Bank (ADB) will grant Morocco a loan of $85 million in support of the environmental upgrading programme of the main supplier of refined petroleum on the market of the North African country. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- The US government has announced a grant of $150,000 towards the promotion of efficient cookstoves in Uganda as part of its worldwide support to the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air, the American embassy said here Tuesday. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Residents of Mozambique's southern city of Matola, which hosts the largest concentration of industries in the country, have accused the national cement company "Cimentos de Mocambique" of polluting the environment. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) is investigating last week's oil spill at the Kenyan Indian Ocean port of Mombasa to advise government on appropriate measures to address adverse after-effects of the spill, environmental authorities confirmed here Tuesday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- British environment minister Elliot Morley has warned African countries against the grave consequences of neglecting the pollution of rivers and depletion of forested lands. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) will convene its General Council meeting here Monday to discuss the progress achieved in implementing a set of goals for eradicating global pollution levels, an official source announced Friday. Full text...