Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Rwandan Environment minister Vincent Biruta said here Tuesday that he will propose a legislation to enforce the country's ban on plastic shopping bags in order to save the environment. Full text...

Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - Two United Nations agencies are combining their expertise to counter the growing threat of extreme weather, climate change and air pollution, which cause more than 12.6 million deaths a year, it was announced on Thursday. Full text...

Gambia, Gambia (PANA) - Hundreds of youths from a Gambian coastal fishing town, Gunjur, about 25 kilometres from Banjul, on Thursday protested against a Chinese company that they allege is polluting their environment and the sea. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) – Growing antimicrobial resistance linked to the discharge of drugs and some chemicals into the environment is one of the most worrying health threats today, according to new research from the United Nations that highlights emerging challenges and solutions in environment. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Everyone on earth is affected by pollution, according to a new report issued by UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on Thursday in Nairobi. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) – While pollution has considerably negative impacts on human health and ecosystems, it is controllable and avoidable through political leadership, high-level champions and commitments, as well with local level action, says a new report launched on Thursday by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Full text...

New York, US (PANA) – A new report by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) says almost one in seven of the world’s children, 300 million, live in areas with the most toxic levels of outdoor air pollution – six or more times higher than international guidelines. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - With some 6.5 million people dying annually from air pollution and 92 per cent of the world’s population living in places where levels exceed recommended limits, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday rolled out its most detailed profile of the scourge, in a bid to slash the deadly toll. Full text...

Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) – The new head of the United Nations environment agency on Wednesday laid out key issues facing the international community on environmental issues, including pollution as well as the linkages among the environment, wars and conflicts, and migration. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said it will launch a major Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Full text...

London, UK (PANA) - Shell’s failure to maintain and protect pipelines may leave it liable to a raft of compensation claims from dozens of Niger Delta communities, said Amnesty International on Tuesday as London law firm Leigh Day announced two more lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner warned Wednesday that the destruction of the ozone layer by chemical pollutants and changing lifestyles is likely to worsen the disease burden around the world, including states recovering from a recent Ebola outbreak. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on Tuesday in Montreal, Canada, reached an agreement on the first-ever global carbon standards for commercial airplanes, a UN statement said. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenya’s National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) will begin a crackdown on smoke emitting car pollutants and factories emitting industrial effluent as part of its efforts to restore air quality and prevent the adverse effects of climate change, a top official said. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Every year, household air pollution from cooking kills over four million Full text...

Johannesburg, South Africa (PANA) - The non-governmental environmental organization Greenpeace has described as a mere window dressing the pollution reducing measures so far taken by the South African power utility Eskom. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The second international conference on the oil industry devoted to the assessment of the environmental impact of the oil industry opened on Tuesday in Tripoli. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - Congolese environmentalists Tuesday urged the heads of oil companies operating in the country to further reduce gas flaring to deal with pollution-related risks facing people living in oil production areas, PANA learnt from here. Full text...

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...