Environment + Energy – Views & Research

Sacred springs of South Africa: pure waters or polluted? We found tiny bits of plastic in the samples we tested

Thendo Mutshekwa, Rhodes University; Lubabalo Mofu, National Research Foundation, and Samuel N. Motitsoe, University of the Witwatersrand

Seven wild dogs sitting and walking on a dirt track

3 African wild dogs travelled over 4,000km to find mates – why that’s good news for the endangered species

Scott Creel, Montana State University

A collection of plastic waste on a beach.

Tonnes of fishing gear and plastic are washing up on Seychelles beaches. We tracked where it was coming from

Alex Albinski, University of Oxford and Noam Vogt-Vincent, University of Oxford

A close up of small, fleshy green leaves on thin branches.

Spekboom is nutritious, water-wise and edible – so why aren’t more South Africans eating it?

Alba du Toit, University of the Free State and Faith Matiza Ruzengwe, University of the Free State

Pig farm vs power station: South African court tells state-owned Eskom to clean up its pollution

Angela van der Berg, University of the Western Cape

Two towers with smoke coming out of one and a giant industrial set up of buildings and huge white tanks.

South Africa has good water laws but bad services. What’s stopping fair access

Marin Cvitanovic, Bournemouth University; Jack Olley; Laura Bunt-MacRury, University of Glasgow, and Tilak Ginige, Bournemouth University

A woman washes something in a small bucket at a communal tap attached to a row of outside toilets

From drought to floods in North Africa: What could the super El Niño do next?

Hossein Bonakdari, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Palm trees are reflected in a lake caused by heavy rainfall in the desert

South Africa has new electricity pricing rules after 18 years: what it gets right and wrong

Felix Dube, University of Venda

Electricity pylons and lines silhouetted against the sky

Why water rights aren’t enough to fix South Africa’s deeply unequal farming sector

Fenji Materechera-Mitochi, Rhodes University and Matthew Weaver, Rhodes University

A row of trees about 6 feet high bearing oranges

People forage for wild food in public spaces in South African cities – how to plan for this

Mallika Sardeshpande, University of KwaZulu-Natal

A row of cabbages planted on a verge outside a school's concrete fence.

Relentless heat and drought take a toll on herders’ physical and mental health, in Kenya and the US

Anne Pisor, Penn State and Bonface Osindi, Washington State University

A young man on a dusty road with many sheep behind him.

Food garden or swimming pool? South Africa’s water crisis isn’t just about a shortage. It’s about equality

Trevor Hill, University of KwaZulu-Natal; Carla Higgs, University of KwaZulu-Natal, and Richard Meissner, University of South Africa

A line of children and teenagers at a water truck with buckets

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Energy

A row of corrugated metal home-made structures line a bare soil road

Drought and the war in Ukraine changed what families in Kenya could afford to eat – research tracked food and cooking gas use

Matthew Shupler, Harvard University; University of Liverpool

A sharp fall in gas supplies in 2028 threatens South Africa’s economy: how to manage the fallout

Davies Tsikayi, University of the Witwatersrand

Johannesburg has taken a big new loan to help fix its electricity problems, but the results will take time

Glen Robbins, University of the Witwatersrand

South Africa’s move to renewable power is complex, but clearing 5 bottlenecks would speed it up

Rod Crompton, University of the Witwatersrand

A solar plant seen from the sky - a tower in the middle with solar panels all around it.

Nigeria raised electricity prices to improve supply. Why it hasn’t worked

Taiwo Hassan Odugbemi, University of Abuja

Generators displayed for sale in Lagos market.

Could sodium replace lithium as the dominant ingredient in batteries?

Syed Abdul Ahad, University of Limerick

South Africans want solar power but they worry panels will be stolen – study

Uzziah Mutumbi, Rhodes University; Gladman Thondhlana, University of Pretoria, and Sheunesu Ruwanza, Rhodes University

12 solar panels mounted on the ground surrounded by a fence

Mini-grids can supply electricity, but what about demand? A private DRC project shows how it can work

Nik Stoop, University of Antwerp; Elie Lunanga, University of Antwerp; Marijke Verpoorten, University of Antwerp, and Sébastien Desbureaux, Université de Montpellier

A woman turning on an electric pressure cooker that is standing on a wooden chair with a bright blue wall in the background

South Africa will run out of industrial gas by 2028 and 70,000 jobs could be lost – why government fixes are lacking

Craig McGregor, Stellenbosch University

Natural World

A brown antelope with black and white striped legs

Okapi: new book celebrates a once famous animal and recovers Indigenous experts’ place in its history

Simon Pooley, FLS, Birkbeck, University of London

An elephant walking through grassland, flanked by trees.

What happens to elephants that stray from Kruger Park? South African policy needs a rewrite

Neil D’Cruze, Manchester Metropolitan University; Angie Elwin, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Herbert Ntuli, University of Pretoria

A small brown animal - a tiny lemur - with big eyes and a long tail, on a branch

Invasive rats are stopping small mammals from returning to Madagascar’s regenerating forests – study

Sabine Cudney-Valenzuela, University of California, Berkeley

Do tourists stress out safari animals? We tested their dung to find out

Bruce Crossey, University of Pretoria

Africa’s wildlife laws follow a colonial model which separates people and animals: why it’s not working

F. Dermmillah Obare, Prescott College

People march in the street wearing red and beaded traditional clothing holding up placards reading Kenya: Endorois and Ogiek's reparations can't wait any longer.

Ethiopia’s national parks are working for wildlife – but not always for the people living near them

James Borrell, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Bezawit Genanaw; Sophie Jago, and Wendawek Abebe Mengesha, Addis Ababa University

A misty, tropical forest with different trees and wooden and grass houses dotted in the landscape

Lakes that ‘breathe’ ancient carbon: a surprising find in the Congo Basin

Matti Barthel, ETH Zurich; Antoine de Clippele, ETH Zurich; Johan Six, ETH Zurich, and Travis Drake, ETH Zurich

Aerial view of large lake with waters of different colours where two rivers merge

Sharks, seals, hunters, tourists – how wildlife-human interactions matter for conservation

Dian Spear, Stellenbosch University

Seals lie along the docks near to fishing boats in Hout Bay harbour in Cape Town, South Africa

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Agriculture + Land

A man strides through croplands with four men walking behind him.

Amílcar Cabral linked soil health to human freedom – the Guinea-Bissau leader’s ideas matter more than ever today

Anselmo Matusse, University of Cape Town

Plastic waste is harming livestock in South Africa: smallholder farmers using communal land set out the support they need

Linton Munyai, University of Limpopo

How white farmers still dominate land ownership in South Africa in spite of land reform – new research

Alex Dyzenhaus, University of St Andrews

A farm with rolling grasslands and a tractor

Tigray’s old grapevines have survived against the odds: new research uncovers their genetic and historic value

Jan Nyssen, Ghent University; Alemtsehay Tsegay, Mekelle University; Emnet Negash, Ghent University; Oregon State University; Federica Sulas, University of Gothenburg; Mariano Ucchesu, Université de Montpellier; Tesfaalem Gebreyohannes, Mekelle University, and Yemane Hailu Fissuh

Woman holding grapes while standing under a vine on a trellis

China is funding African farmers but not food processing and storage: why it’s a problem

Adrino Mazenda, University of Pretoria

People in blue overalls and hair nets sort figs inside a cool warehouse

Are Uganda’s environmental impact reports just a box-ticking exercise? What a study of 108 projects reveals

Mulumba M Agaba, University of Liverpool

A big bulldozer and truck next to a lagoon

Ethiopian communities are using low-cost methods to restore eroded land

Wolde Mekuria, CGIAR

About a dozen people stand inside a waist high gully filling it in with rocks and sandbags.

Kenyans living in towns are farmers too: what this means for rural landscapes

Mwangi Chege, American University

AI offers promise for agriculture, but smallholder farmers risk being left behind

Abiodun Olusola Omotayo, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; North-West University and Abeeb Babatunde Omotoso, North-West University

Farmer on a tractor in a ploughed field, looking at a laptop

Water

People stand around a square borehole in a forested area

We are mapping and monitoring Africa’s underground water supplies in preparation for a hotter future – scientists

Girma Yimer Ebrahim, International Water Management Institute

Lake Kariba’s rising waters bring hope to communities in Zambia and Zimbabwe

Joshua Matanzima, The University of Queensland

Lake seen from a hill above with the dam wall visible

Water tank delivery in South Africa has stopped pipes getting fixed and opened the door to corruption – research

Nyashadzashe Chiwawa, University of KwaZulu-Natal

People standing around with buckets waiting for their turn to fill these up at a water tanker

Boreholes are booming in a drying South Africa – how the government plans to tighten controls

Surina Esterhuyse, University of the Free State

Indigenous shrubs and grasses with a borehole drilling machine behind them

Handpumps bring water to rural African communities, but many are broken – study models how best to maintain them

Chengcheng Zhai, University of Notre Dame; Alfonso J. Pedraza Martinez, University of Notre Dame; Jorge Mejia, Indiana University; Kurt M. Bretthauer, Indiana University, and Rodney Parker, Indiana University

Five people stand with buckets near a tall water pump that is operated by pumping it by hand.

Pollution

A 5000 litre green plastic water tank next to rows of gardening boxes on a piece of land with leafy greens growing in them

This South African river has a bacteria count off the charts: a natural filter is cleaning it for watering food gardens

Kevin Winter, University of Cape Town

Poison or poverty: the impossible economic choices facing Ghana’s e-waste workers

Brandon Marc Finn, University of Michigan

An open air garbage site with fires on it and clouds of smoke; about 35 people are sorting through discarded electronic goods

Ammonia from wastewater: How we’re turning a pollutant into fertilizer and clean fuel

Navid Noor, McMaster University and Drew Higgins, McMaster University

a rendering of molecules joined together

What Kenya’s fish markets tell us about choosing between nutrients and contaminants

Kira Lancker, University of Copenhagen

Microplastics have been found to interact with the gut microbiome – here’s what health effects they might have

Nick Ilott, University of Oxford

A magnifying glass zoomed in on a person's index and middle finger, where they hold tiny, microscopic shards of plastics.

Environment + Energy – Views & Research – The Conversation

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