A delegation of IPEN members are joining the resumed eighteenth session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in Dakar, Senegal this week, under the theme: “Ensuring the well-being of populations and ensuring environmental sustainability in Africa".
This June, IPEN member Friends of the Earth-Togo launched a project on "Capacity building to consolidate food sovereignty in Togo - connecting to the movement in Africa.” The project aims by 2025 to ensure that food sovereignty and agroecology are considered essential to the achievement of women’s equality and environmental, social, economic justice.
Joint press release of Oeko-Institut, PAN-Ethiopia, Centre for Sustainable Cycles, Center for Justice Governance and Environmental Action and SRADev
Tuesday, 21 June 2022
Addis Abeba/Freiburg/Koforidua/Lagos/Mombasa The export of used lithium-ion batteries for second-life applications from Europe to Africa must follow clear rules and be better controlled. This is what Researchers and environmentalists from Oeko-Institut (Germany), PAN- Ethiopia (Ethiopia), the Centre for Sustainable Cycles (Ghana), the Center for Justice Governance and Environmental Action (Kenya), and SRADev (Nigeria) call for.
Second-life for Lithium-ion batteries: In Africa or Europe?
In view of the currently rapidly growing number of used batteries from electric vehicles, buses and e-scooters, the question of proper end-of-life management is becoming more and more urgent. Although recycling capacities are being built up in the EU, the logistics and recycling processes are usually associated with considerable costs.
"There is currently a trend to 'donate' used batteries to other countries," says battery researcher Dr Johannes Betz of the Oeko-Institut. Many manufacturers argue that used batteries can still be used – for example in solar projects in Africa. More and more projects and press releases are praising this so-called repurposing approach as a solution. "Repurposing of used Li-ion batteries can certainly yield many environmental benefits”, says Betz. "But it is hard to understand why the focus is on shipping old batteries to low- and middle- income countries, given the great need for electricity storage in Germany and the EU”.
Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) in Consumer Products Made of Recycled Plastic from Eleven Arabic and African Countries
Both the environment in Africa and the Arabic region and the human health of Africans and people from Arabic countries suffer from toxic chemicals and imported wastes, including illegal wastes, more than in developed countries.
A new report finds that many toys and other products made from recycled plastic sold in Africa and Arabic countries contain dioxins at levels equivalentto hazardous waste
Tuesday, 24 May 2022
For immediate release
Contact: RNDr. Jindrich Petrlik, Program Director, Arnika - Toxics and Waste Programme, IPEN advisor on dioxins and waste +420.603582984 jindrich.petrlik@arnika.org
Environmental groups call for support for strict limits on toxic chemicals in waste as proposed by African countries
The Association “Agir pour le Développement Durable” (2AD) is a non-profit organisation under Chadian law, created in 2017 by a group of Chadian youths, teachers, and students. The main objective was to involve youth, women and men in “sustainable development and environmental protection”.
A brief overview of plastic production in the world in recent decades shows that increasingly more plastic is produced than in previous decades, which constitutes a real danger for living beings (humans, animals, and plants)
For this project, Front Commun pour la Protection de l’Environnement et des Espaces Proteges (FCPEEP) reviewed documentation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, describing and briefly commenting on the situation in the South Kivu province, DR Congo; analyzed the impacts of the pandemic on the proliferation of chemicals and waste; designed public awareness materials to alert the general public of the hidden potential hazards from chemicals extensively used during the coronavirus health crisis; and shared the results of the study with relevant stakeholders.
Both the African environment and the human health of Africans suffer from toxic chemicals and imported wastes more than in developed countries. Africa has become the destination of illegal toxic waste exports and, as this study shows, toxic chemicals are also present in toys, kitchen utensils, and other consumer products sold in African markets.
Selon une étude récemment menée par l'organisation mondiale de la santé, l'utilisation des métaux lourds et certains produits chimiques comme le plomb dans la peinture représente un véritable problème pour la santé et l'environnement en générale.
Wednesday, 20 January 2021
Conacry, GuinéeC'est pour donc réglementer et mettre fin à l'utilisation de ces produits chimiques que s'est tenu ce mercredi 20 janvier 2021 à Conakry une réunion de réflexion multi-acteurs.
