Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- Despite human casualties and material damage caused by recent heavy rains in Morocco, the people have welcomed the rain in a country faced with virtual drought. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Mozambique's tourism ministry has started drafting a management plan for the Limpopo National Park located in the country's Massingir district in the southern province of Gaza. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Abidjan, the economic capital of Cote d'Ivoire formerly known as "the pearl of lagoons" for its cleanliness, is now crawling under mounds of waste littering its streets, gutters and markets. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- It is believed that every desert has its unique life to support its inhabitants, including the humankind. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Twelve West African journalists are taking part in a four-day training seminar on environmental communication which kicked off in Dakar Wednesday. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- Flood from torrential rain has caused damage estimated at more than 25 million dirhams (about 2. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- Flood from torrential rain has caused damage estimated at more than 25 million dirhams (about 2. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- The death toll from heavy rains that hit Morocco last weekend has risen to 14, an official source said. Full text...

Douala- Cameroon (PANA) -- Cameroonian archaeologists have expressed concern about the negative consequences of the proposed oil pipeline from southern Chad to Cameroon's Atlantic coast. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- Floods swept away eight people at the weekend in Settat, 200 km south of the Moroccan capital, Rabat local press reports said Monday. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- About 40 percent of the estimated 120,000 vehicles in Ethiopia have done an average of more than 16 years on the road, resulting in an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, a study has revealed. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Ethiopia's transport sector has been identified as one of the major contributors to green house gas emissions (GHE), according to a study released in Addis Ababa. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- An American environmentalist, Ryan Hoover, has warned that construction of another dam on River Zambezi would lead to "a high social and environmental price to pay". Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Massive demolitions of make-shift trading structures are underway along the road to Mombasa's Moi International Airport, Kenya's second largest town after Nairobi, the capital. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Food and Agriculture Organisation is complaining that about 30 percent of pesticides marketed in developing countries do not meet internationally accepted quality standards. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya are among African countries likely to benefit from a pioneer project to map the solar and wind resources of 13 developing countries, launched Monday by the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Mozambican tourism minister Fernando Sumbane has said that about 200 million US dollars are needed for setting up basic tourist infrastructures in the Greater Limpopo (Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou) cross-border park shard by Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Full text...

Pemba- Mozambique (PANA) -- Hunger threatens about 20,000 inhabitants of Mucojo and Quiteraje administrative posts in Macomia district after wild animals destroyed crops in northern Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- There is no waste management policy at the federal or regional levels, even though there have been some activities to control the problem of waste in the country especially in Addis Ababa, the problem still persists, health officials conceded. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Several Ivorian environmental protection NGOs, including Croix-Verte (green cross), on Tuesday evening appealed to parliament to pass a law aimed at protecting the country's sacred forests. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The South African National Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob) has received the Emmy and Karl Kauss award for 2001 for their role in rescuing sea birds during last year's Treasure oil spill. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- An environmental group in Liberia Monday called on President Charles Taylor to attend the 20-21 December Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Summit in Dakar, Senegal. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwe said Sunday it would press for limited trade in ivory trade during the forthcoming international wildlife conference in Kenya. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- An Ethiopian expert Sunday declared the ethanol-fuel blend, over which controversy recently developed between Finchaa Sugar Factory and local fuel distributors, to be environmental-friendly and a possible means of saving foreign currency. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A vast new marine nature reserve has been approved in the Indian Ocean in a move that offers new hope to some of the region's most spectacular coral reefs and wildlife, including the enigmatic dugong or "elephant of the sea," and local communities that depend on the sea for their livelihood. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- A coal carbonisation project has been initiated in Niger with a view to cheking excessive consumption of firewood and protecting the country's meagre forest resources. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- Concern over the exploitation of Tanzania's coasts has been highlighted by a national report on the management of seacoasts in the country. Full text...

Algiers- Algeria (PANA) -- Water levels of dams in Algeria have reached a critical point, sparking concerns for those who supply Algiers and its outskirts, already experiencing drastic shortages of drinking water. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- Villagers in the flood-prone Lower Shire Valley in southern Malawi have rejected a government plan to resettle them upland, despite a fresh warning of more floods during the 2001/2002 rainy season. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Kenya-based UN Programme (UNEP) plans to expand its headquarters in Nairobi with the first phase of the project projected to cost 12 million US dollars. Full text...

Khartoum- Sudan (PANA) -- Water ministers from the 10 Nile Basin states decided to launch an environment project sponsored by the World Bank and other international donors, a Sudanese ecologist said in Khartoum Monday. Full text...

Bonn- Germany (PANA) -- A five-day conference on fresh water ended in Bonn over the weekend with delegates affirming that access to safe drinking water was a basic human right. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A team of intelligence officers from Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has arrested one person who was found in possession of three fresh rhino horns at a hotel in the port town of Mombasa. Full text...

Bonn- Germany (PANA) -- Nigeria's minister of Water Resources, Muhtari Shehu Shagari said on Friday in Bonn that water and health matters in Africa were intimately connected, citing how cholera was dealing a high death toll in Nigeria. Full text...

Bonn- Germany (PANA) -- Delegates of African countries attending the conference on fresh waters in Bonn are agreed on inter-state management of water bodies running through their countries. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania plan to set up a body to manage and harmonise activities concerning Lake Victoria, whose water mass is shared by the three countries, an official said. Full text...

Bonn- Germany (PANA) -- African delegates at the Bonn, Germany conference on fresh water expressed concern Friday over the lack of funding for a future programme of action as agreed at the meeting. Full text...

Bonn- Germany (PANA) -- Representatives of several African non- governmental organisations at the Bonn conference on fresh water Thursday called upon the African governments to demonstrate political commitment to the management of water resources. Full text...

Bonn- Germany (PANA) -- Many African delegations at the ongoing Bonn Conference on Fresh Water wished that water resources in Africa were privatised at a "more bearable" pace. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- African ministers rose Thursday from the International Conference on Fresh Water in Bonn, Germany with a declaration calling for a clear policy on water and hygiene. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Health authorities in the Zimbabwe capital, Harare, said Wednesday air pollution in the city had exceeded World Health Organisation recommended levels by 400 percent. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Four rhino carcasses have been discovered by officers of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) - the official wildlife conservation body - in the world-famous Tsavo National Park in the eastern part of the country. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- A growing number of countries are carrying out measures to sustainably develop the world's forests which have seen various kind of destruction recently, the Food and Agriculture Organisation said in a report. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya's Environment minister Joseph Kamotho has hinted that the country would, together with its two east African neighbours Uganda and Tanzania, soon embark on Phase 2 of a project protecting Lake Victoria from pollution. Full text...

Port-Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Mauritius Fishing minister Sylvio Michel has announced the launch of a programme for the protection of marine biodiversity, aimed at fighting pollution, the depletion of marine resources and the alteration of the coast line. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Conservation NGO -- the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) -- has denounced the increase in illegal fishing of sharks and other marine species in the Bazaruto Archipelago, off the coast of Mozambique's southern province of Inhambane. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Conservation groups have welcomed the final reimbursement of expenses incurred in emergency relief efforts following a major oil spill last year off Cape Town. Full text...

Johannesburg- South African (PANA) -- A South African trade union has disapproved an impending ban on plastic shopping bags saying the move has put several jobs on the line. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (Mali) -- Some 270,177 tonnes of solid waste and 56,522 cubic metres of liquid waste are produced yearly in Bamako, Mali, while barely 45 percent of the refuse are disposed of outside the city, municipal officials said. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has called for sustainable management of the world's water reservoirs, saying the rate at which water resources are being depleted bodes ill for humanity. Full text...