UN Climate Change News – This year’s Bonn annual UN Climate Change Conference kicked off today, designed to lay the groundwork for success at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Governments are meeting for the first time since the conclusion of the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow last November, at which the operational details of […]

The High Court in Gqeberha, South Africa, will today [Monday] hear arguments in an application by environmental groups, local communities and small-scale fishers to review and set aside the decision by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to award a seismic exploration right to Shell. A bench of three judges in the High Court […]

Astronomers have revealed the first image of the black hole at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The image was produced by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, an international team made up of over 300 scientists on five continents – including Africa. Black holes were predicted by Albert Einstein’s General Theory of […]

At simultaneous press conferences around the world on Thursday (12 May), including at the Wits Planetarium at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, astronomers have unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy. This means we now have overwhelming evidence that the object is indeed […]

On May 12, 2022, astronomers on the Event Horizon Telescope team released an image of a black hole called Sagittarius A* that lies at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Chris Impey, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, explains how the team (which included two scientists from Wits!) got this image and why […]

In less than 40 days, two of the most critical dams that supply Nelson Mandela Bay with water will be empty, leaving a third of the Metro without water… facing a Day Zero situation similar to that which Cape Town experienced a couple of years ago. The Churchill and Impofu dams, currently at a combined […]

Rapid urbanisation and government failure to deliver adequate housing are among the driving forces behind the proliferation of informal settlements across South African cities and towns. These informal settlements are notorious for their perilous and unhealthy conditions. This has been sharply illustrated in recent flooding in Ethekwini (Durban), the port city in KwaZulu-Natal province, and […]

Most parts of South Africa, specifically its summer rainfall areas, have received above-average rainfall since October 2021. This has led to an increase in the country’s national average water levels. The total percentage of water stored in reservoirs nationally rose from 84.6% in mid-December 2021 to 88.7% at the end of the year. By mid-March […]

Cameron Lombard, who made his debut as Strictly Come Dancing’s youngest ever pro dancer last year, has filmed a rousing new video, Peace Don’t Go, in support of peace for the people of Ukraine. Filmed in the township of Siqalo, in Cape Town – illuminated with bright flares of yellow and blue – Cameron leads […]

Having won over TV critics around the world, Raised by Wolves – which was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa – is now also being praised for pioneering a more sustainable approach to filmmaking. The production recently received a Gold Environmental Media Association Seal for Sustainability. (See details below of how SA production company Film Afrika […]

A court in South Africa has confirmed the constitutional right of the country’s citizens to an environment that isn’t harmful to their health. This includes the right to clean air, as exposure to air pollution affects human health. Air pollution also affects land and water systems and decreases agricultural yields. The case, referred to as […]

CapeNature ranger Hilton Bocks bends down to point out a tiny succulent, one of many spread over the stony plains of the Knersvlakte Nature Reserve on the West Coast. The pebbles crunch under our shoes as we walk around. “This one is endemic,” says Bocks. “It’s young. I’m guessing five to six years. They take […]

On Sunday almost 100 people protested at Muizenberg beach to oppose a seismic survey along the West Coast of South Africa by an Australian company called SEARCHER. An urgent application for an interdict to halt the seismic survey will be heard in the Cape High Court on Monday morning. As part of the campaign, a […]

Over the past few weeks, several beaches across Durban’s coastline have been intermittently closed and reopened because of serious raw sewage spills into the ocean and rivers. Several beaches in Durban have been closed because of serious sewage spills into the ocean and rivers. Environmental activists have criticised eThekwini Municipality of failing to maintain its […]

In late August each year, the normally barren landscape of the Namaqualand, along the western boundary of South Africa, is transformed into a vista of brightly coloured daisies as far as the eye can see. The flowering of the Namaqualand daisies attracts close to 10,000 tourists per season to a part of the country that […]

The recent rains that soaked most parts of the country have made a significant impact on water levels in some parts of the country, particularly the national average, according to the Department of Water and Sanitation’s weekly state of the reservoirs report, which shows the impact of summer rains in some areas. In a statement […]

A film in development, featuring the first armed female anti-poaching group in Africa, has won a grant of $25,000 from the Red Sea Fund… which will help ensure the film – Akashinga (working title) – is completed. Writer and director Naishe Hassan Nyamubaya, who lives in South Africa and writes for eTV, present via video, […]

As the countdown begins to Shell’s seismic survey off the east coast of South Africa, conservationists are up in arms and trying to beat the clock in efforts to stop Shell from following through with this operation. Shell announced their plans to commence seismic surveys along the Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast, an area renowned for […]

In the opening days of the COP26 international climate conference, a financing partnership was announced between South Africa and a consortium consisting of France, Germany, the UK, the US and the European Union (EU). The partnership aims to support South Africa’s just transition to a low carbon and climate-resilient economy and society. Essentially a just […]

Shell – multinational oil and gas company – has announced it will start a seismic survey in search of oil or gas deposits from South Africa’s beautiful Morgans Bay to Port St Johns on December 1 at the earliest. The survey will include a vessel operated by Shell Exploration and Production SA’s hirelings, Shearwater GeoServices, […]

The City of Cape Town has released water quality test results for Zeekoevlei, Zandvlei, Rietvlei and Milnerton lagoon for May to October 2021. All four waterbodies have been closed to the public for months due to dangerously high levels of E. coli (a bacteria found in human faeces). The City of Cape Town has released […]

Dozens of climate justice activists gathered outside Parliament as part of a global day of action on Saturday. Climate activists picketed outside Parliament on Saturday demanding government take drastic action over climate change. The Rural Women’s Assembly criticised the COP26 talks in Scotland for excluding the voices of small-scale African farmers and others most affected […]

For a few short weeks every spring, a miraculous eruption of daisies in the arid Namaqualand in the Northern Cape draws and delights tourists. But once the flowers wilt and visitors leave, a severe drought, that is now extending into its tenth year, is evident again. It has destroyed millions of hectares of land and […]

Tomorrow – Wed August 25 – legendary South African endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh will attempt the toughest swim of his career, 10km across Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord. The UN Patron of Oceans, who is on a mission to fully protect a third of the world’s oceans by 2030, says there is no better place in the […]

This is the most sobering report card yet on climate change and Earth’s future. Here’s what you need to know… Compiled by: Pep Canadell, CSIRO; Joelle Gergis, Australian National University; Malte Meinshausen, The University of Melbourne; Mark Hemer, CSIRO, and Michael Grose, CSIRO Earth has warmed 1.09℃ since pre-industrial times and many changes such as […]