08 August 2021
Environment/Uganda: According to the UN, more than 80% of developing countries have begun formulating and implementing their national adaptation plans to climate change. Yet such adaptation is often low on the agenda. In Uganda, communities in the Rwenzori region trying to protect themselves from landslides and floods by digging trenches and planting trees, helping to prevent soil erosion, have often not been successful – extreme weather events increasingly proving works based on soil conservation useless. According to a study by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IEED), “46 of the world's least-developed countries don't have the financial means to ‘climate proof’ themselves”. 40bn USD a year would be needed for these 46 countries’ adaptation plans, yet only 5.9bn USD have been received between 2014 and 2018. Promises of aid by rich countries have been largely unkept.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-58080083
Zimbabwe/Child Marriage: On 15th of July, Memory Machaya, forced to leave school to get married, died during childbirth, aged 14. “An online petition calling for ‘justice for Memory Machaya’ has so far received more than 57,000 signatures” and the death is being investigated by police. The UN urges the government “to recognise child marriage as a crime and bring an end to the practice”. In Zimbabwe, 18 is the minimum legal age for marriage (while 16 is the age of sexual consent).
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58130891
07 August 2021
Egypt: The Great Boat of King Khufu, more than 4,500 years old and discovered virtually intact in 1954, originally “built to allow the pharaoh to sail across the skies after his death”, has been moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza which is due to open in 2021 near the Pyramids. BBC has taken pictures of the move.
BBC Africa 07 August 2021. 17:48
https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-58088867