New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has appointed former Irish President, Ms. Mary Robinson, as his Special Envoy for Climate Change to mobilize political will and action ahead of the climate summit that the UN chief will convene in September. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Africa’s experts in conservation and management of natural resources are due to meet 22-24 October 2014 in Arusha, Tanzania, to discuss how they would promote collaboration among different stakeholders for a regional framework on sustainable mountain development, it was announced here Monday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has opened a new Environment and Natural Resource Management office in Kenya to support the government's goals with a focus on climate change, water tower restoration, wildlife management and anti-trafficking as well low carbon resilient development. Full text...

Yaoundé, Cameroon (PANA) - About 215.39 tons of non-biodegradable plastic bags have been seized in Cameroon in the past two months following a ban on the production and sale of the product, according to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Sustainable Development. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) – The UN-REDD Programme Policy Board on has approved US$ 35,481,763 in REDD+ readiness funds which will be allocated to Argentina, Cote d’Ivoire and Mongolia, among other countries. Full text...

Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - Botswana’s ecosystem and bird tourism is under threat following reports that the country’s vulture’s population is facing extinction due to poisoning. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - Mauritius has set up a Climate Change Information Centre in Port-Louis, as a one-stop shop on the issue of climate change, its causes, its consequences and how the population can face or adapt to it, the officer in charge of the centre said. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) – The Rwandan cabinet on Tuesday approved all documents related to the ratification of the "renewed Kyoto protocol" signed in 1997. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has adopted a lion cub in the Nairobi Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has hailed Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Government for supporting the global effort in environmental conservation. Full text...

Malabo, Equatorial Guinea (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has praised African leaders for their commitment to the fight against climate change, ahead of a key summit in September to try to bridge global differences over a binding climate change treaty. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Achim Steiner, and EU Commissioner for Environment Janez Potočnik have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to reinforce the collaboration between the European Commission and UNEP in the field of environment and climate change. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - High-level government representatives from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania Thursday announced their intention to work together, along with INTERPOL and UN agencies, to curb the illegal timber trade that is stripping East Africa of one of its most valuable natural resources. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Dr. Oyun Sanjaasuren, the Minister of Environment and Green Development of Mongolia, has been elected the first president of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA). Full text...

Yaounde, Cameroon (PANA) - The French Development Agency (FDA) has granted Cameroon a 52.4b CFA francs loan with which to fight against floods in Yaounde, the Cameroonian capital. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Concern is growing over the threat that widespread plastic waste poses to marine life, with conservative estimates of the overall financial damage of plastics to marine ecosystems standing at US$13 billion each year. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A new joint UN-INTERPOL report says global environmental crime, worth more than US$200 billion annually, is helping finance criminal, militia and terrorist groups and threatening the security and sustainable development of many nations, notably in sub-Saharan Africa, Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Global environmental crime, worth up to US$213 billion each year, is helping finance criminal, militia and terrorist groups and threatening the security and sustainable development of many nations, UNEP and Interpol, said in a report Tuesday. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Germany has pledged a 1-million-euro grant to Tanzania in support of government efforts to protect endangered wildlife in the 50,000-square-kilometre Selous Game Reserve, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism said here Tuesday. Full text...

Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) – The Tunisian Prime minister, Mehdi Jomâa, on Monday expressed disappointment about the environmental situation in the country, and said emergency measures to tackle the problem would be strictly implemented. Full text...

Ebene, Mauritius (PANA) - Mauritian Environment Minister Deva Virahsawmy Monday, said climate change is having serious repercussion on the economic competitiveness of Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) and is affecting them on their respective sustainable development pathways. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) – Prince Emmanuel De Mérode, director of the Congolese national park of Virunga, in Kivu region, on Thursday called on the European Commissioner for development, Andris Piebalgs, according to a statement issued by the EU. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) – Mauritius will on Monday host a meeting on the management of environment and security in Africa (MESA). Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - A US non-governmental organization, Wild Foundation, has completed water projects in Haribomro, Inadiatafane and Bambara-Maoudé in the Timbuktu region of northern Mali to provide water to elephants. 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...

Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) - Morocco and the World Water Council (WWC) have launched the fifth edition of the King Hassan II Great World Water Prize, according to a statement issued on Monday. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) – The two-week long UN climate change negotiations focusing on urbanization and land use as pathways to raise the pre-2020 ambition, ended on Sunday in Bonn, Germany, with governments requesting that the elements of a draft global treaty due to be signed in Paris in 2015 be made available by July in advance of the next meetings in Bonn this October. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta on Sunday called on the international community to save the river Niger from the harmful effects of the creeping Sahara desert, warning that this vital source of water may disappear. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) – The French company, Kymppi, which specializes in building wood houses, will set up shop in the Congolese western region of Cuvette, sources at the Congolese ministry of Forest economy and Sustainable development told PANA on Friday. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - Norway has become the 11th Party to the Kyoto Protocol (KP), formally accepting the amendment to the Protocol adopted at the UN Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar, in 2012, which paved the way for the KP's second commitment period. Full text...

Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - A total of 25 bush incidents, nine of which occurred in forest areas and 16 in areas of cereal crops, destroyed about 300 hectares of land during the first 11 days of June, the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture said. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) – The Congolese government, in partnership with the United nations food and agriculture organization (FAO), plans to implement a new forest policy adapted to the international norms in a bid to tackle the challenges linked to the sustainable management of the forests, a communiqué released Thursday in Brazzaville indicated. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - Civil society observers gathered in the German city of Bonn for the UN climate change negotiations, have warned that new climate rules could threaten even greater hunger in Africa, if they were not carefully crafted to protect the rights of small-scale farmers. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Marking the upcoming 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the landmark treaty, known as the "Constitution for the Oceans", UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday encouraged member states to recommit to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – Some 400 households in Bamako, the Malian capital, have been affected by the heavy rains which fell here Monday, according to a communique issued by the Malian ministry of Health and Public Hygiene. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – Success of upcoming global negotiations on climate change, scheduled for Lima, Peru, in 2014 and Paris, France, in 2015, will depend on the proactive and early participation of presidents and prime ministers in the process, according to Gambia’s Minister of Environment, Climate Change, Water Resources, Parks and Wildlife, Pa Ousman Jarju. Full text...

New York US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on Thursday urged individuals, Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Over 1,000 participants from government, business, international Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – Calling for urgent action to save the world’s poorest, the Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDG) Group at the UN climate change negotiations Monday urged governments to make use of the latest science to limit global temperature increases to a level that will save the poorest countries in the world. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) – Philippe Boullé, technical adviser on sustainable development to the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), said Tuesday that Small Islands States cannot act alone on natural catastrophes because they are too small. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The African Union (AU) has cautioned against a rush to nuclear power plants because of the financial burden such projects are likely to have on the economies of countries. Full text...

Ebene, Mauritius (PANA) – The Secretary-General of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), Jean-Claude de L'Estrac, said Tuesday that the IOC will raise its "insular" voice at the third international conference of Small Islands Developing States (SIDS), scheduled for September in Samoa Islands, "so that our interests be taken on board in the world development agenda for the period 2015-2030". Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has said that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has crossed a new threshold, warning that time is running out to curb rising greenhouse gas emissions. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The deputy executive director of the international NGO, Wateraid, Girish Menon, on Monday deplored the failure of African government policies on access to water and sanitation, one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The fifth African water week opened here Monday, bringing together delegations from several African and European countries and international non-governmental organizations operating in the domain of water and sanitation. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) – Participants at the 5th edition of the International Green Business Forum, who met on 20-22 May in Congolese southern city of Pointe-Noire, have recommended the development of a green economy in the sub-region, Radio Congo reported on Friday. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The fifth African water week will be held from 26 to 31 May in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, on the initiative of the African ministers Council of Water (AMCOW) in collaboration with the African Union (AU), says a statement obtained by PANA on Friday. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation is unlikely to be attained by many African countries as they are still facing a huge infrastructure gap which constrains the continent’s ability to unleash the full potential of its vast water resources. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) – The Congolese minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Henri Djombo, on Thursday in Pointe-Noire urged the international community to preserve biological diversity, saying that biological resources were subjected to stronger human pressures which have contributed to their exhaustion. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - In response to the rising levels of illicit trafficking of fauna and flora, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has adopted a new global platform taking aim at tackling all form of organised crime from poaching to timber smuggling and money laundering. Full text...