News on Land

In less than a month, Nelson Mandela Bay will become the first South African metro to run out of water. In an appeal and warning that is almost unimaginable, the metro’s water chief has called for prayers as the disaster moves closer, confirming that water for drinking, washing, flushing toilets and fighting fires will be severely limited.

This is what it looks like when unregulated, illegal mining meets governance failure – a fire in a coal mine that has been burning for weeks, leaving nearby communities choking in the fumes. Perhaps most worryingly, nobody knows the extent to which fires may be burning underground.

• The Democratic Republic of Congo is putting 16 oil exploration blocks up for auction, including nine in the peatlands of the Cuvette Centrale.
• Environmentalists warn that oil exploration and infrastructure for production could release huge amounts of carbon stored in the peatland and threaten the rights of local communities.

• The publication of an audit of forestry contracts in the Democratic Republic of Congo has exposed serious management failures.
• The audit cites serial breaches of the country’s forest code and more than a dozen violations of a 2002 moratorium on new concessions.

Since its emergence more than two years ago, COVID-19 has reached nearly every corner of the globe. It has infected hundreds of millions of people, and overwhelmed health systems worldwide. But its impact goes beyond its direct health consequences.