Five countries in southern Africa have joined forces to launch a research centre that will work on combating climate change in the region. South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia signed a declaration on Wednesday to base the initiative in the Namibian capital Windhoek.

The Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (Sasscal) is intended to support cross-border research and land management.

Tata Power and Exxaro, on Wednesday, announced the launch of Cennergi, a new cleaner energy company which will serve the expanding energy markets in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.

Tata Power Company, through its subsidiary Khopoli Investments, and Exxaro Resources Limited (Exxaro) of South Africa, have formed a 50:50 joint venture to create a new energy company, Cennergi (Pty) Limited.

China's fast-growing consumerism and lax policing of ivory laws are the latest threats to wild elephant populations, said an author of a recent report on endangered species.

Poaching of elephants and other species has increased in Central African countries, with products headed mainly to Asian markets and for the bush meat trade.

Congo must improve governance in its energy sector to attract investment and exploit its full potential, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Monday.

Some good ideas, but too little cash, were among the fruits of a global gathering

On the first anniversary of a historic court judgment, the Bushman organization First People of the Kalahari released an open letter to Botswana President Festus Mogae, detailing the ways in which

The wrongs and rights of ivory sales

FOR anybody who cares about animals, the biggest fixture on the diplomatic calendar is a bunfight that happens every three years to review the working of a convention on the international trade in endangered species, known as cites. At the current gathering, now taking place in The Hague, the sale of elephant ivory has been high on the agenda.

In December 2006, Botswana's Bushmen won legal rights to return to their homes in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (See