What lessons were learnt from Cape Town’s “Day Zero”? Shutterstock
The City of Cape Town – and southwest Africa more generally – experienced its worst drought on record between 2015 and 2018. With fresh rains as well as careful water management, the city has now emerged from this environmental and economic emergency.
People living in run-down, inner city apartments, like these in Cairo, are at risk of heat-stress health problems. Shutterstock
There is mounting evidence of the impact of climate change on human habitat and health, on plant and animal life, on water resources and shorelines. These changes are felt unevenly within – and between – nations and communities. This is due to differences in access to resources, infrastructure, social structure, and government policy. Climate change is, and will continue to be, most severely felt by the poorest people in any population, particularly those living in poorly-resourced, isolated and extreme environments.
A gold tailings dam under construction in South Africa. Author supplied
To extract minerals from host rocks, mines grind down rock into fine sand. Once the mineral is extracted, most of this fine sand remains as a by-product called tailings. Every mining operation produces a unique tailings stream and local conditions dictate storage options.
A tiny tree-killing beetle with the awkwardly long name of Polyphagous Shothole Borer was detected in South Africa for the first time last year. It’s now attacking and inserting its deadly fungal ally, Fusarium euwallaceae, in a wider array of tree species across a much wider geographical area.
