Tag: Africa

The EU should support rural public education programmes in Africa, with a special focus on women, to facilitate adoption of sustainable farming practices, says Hailemariam Teklewold, a researcher at the University of Gothenburg.

The European Union has spent billions of euros to build roads in sub-Saharan Africa that are left to deteriorate because of poor maintenance, the European Court of Auditors said on Tuesday (15 January).

SPECIAL REPORT / Agriculture remains a major threat to water quality in Europe, according to the latest report by the European Union’s environmental agency. But farmers and EU policymakers are also quick to highlight the trade-off between conservation objectives and pressure to increase food production.

EU’s collective aid levels went down last year and Germany, France and Italy are responsible for 68% of the funding gap. Meanwhile, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece have achieved less than 25% of their spending promises made to Africa, says Eloise Todd.

The recent independence of the Republic of South Sudan (9 July) marks a significant break in the history of Africa. European Union engagement with the young nation will be critical to resolving the region's difficulties, notably in terms of a food crisis, peace and ongoing problems in Darfur, argues Manuel Manrique.

South Sudan's referendum on independence offers a potential for peace in the area, but many perils lie ahead and the EU has a role to play in the process, writes Oladiran Bello from Madrid-based think-tank FRIDE in an exclusive op-ed for EurActiv.

European development funds should be tapped to build research labs and bio-banks in Africa, according to a leading African research expert. Scientists are also urging policymakers to invest in Europe's own scientific infrastructure in order to maintain global competitiveness.

The partnership will involve investments worth over €600 million to support electrification in Africa as well as renewable energy projects that would help diversify Europe's energy supplies. A further agreement could be reached on Wednesday on a Transaharan Gas Pipeline, nicknamed the 'African Nabucco'.

Plans to send several thousand troops from fourteen EU countries to Chad as part of an EU peacekeeping mission were postponed over the weekend as fierce fighting rages in the capital N'Djamena and across the country.

A major meeting of European and African leaders, aimed at boosting relations between the two continents as China tightens its grip on the former European colonies' economies, was overshadowed by Africa's refusal to sign up to comprehensive trade liberalisation agreements.

The relief over the release of the six medics on the morning of 24 July 2007, after eight years spent in prison, was mixed with unease over the transfer of vast amounts of money and other commitments the EU may have made in order to buy the benevolence of Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi. 

Commission President José Manuel Barroso and EU President José Sócrates spoke out in favour of a joint EU-Africa strategy with a special focus on development, migration, as well as energy and climate change.

Europe must seek stronger ties with neighbouring and African energy exporters if it is to ensure a secure and sustainable energy supply for its energy-thirsty economy, according to the Commission.

Ministers from 30 European and 27 African nations are meeting in Rabat, Morocco, to address the issue of illegal migration. A plan of action is expected to come out of the meeting. check

Monitoring water and air quality, forecasting crop production, improving airline safety, preventing forest fires, managing crisis and humanitarian aid and preventing fraud in agriculture are just a few examples of direct benefits from satellites observing the Earth.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has emphasised that water, not biotechnology, must be the priority in the fight against food shortages in Africa.

The EU has rejected Washington's plea to reassure famine-stricken African countries that genetically modified food aid from the US is safe.