Sustainable Industrialialisation

Russia Abandons Zimbabwe's Biggest Platinum Project

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW | HARARE (IDN) — Several reports monitored this month confirmed that Russians have abandoned their lucrative platinum project contract that was signed for US$3 billion in September 2014, the platinum mine in the sun-scorched location about 50 km northwest of Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. Reasons for the abrupt termination of the bilateral contract have still not been made public, but Zimbabwe's Centre for Natural Resource Governance pointed to a lack of capital for the project. So, the site has been abandoned since early 2021.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 10 June 2022

From Limits to Growth to Regeneration 2030

Viewpoint by Jeffrey D. Sachs

This article was published in Il Sole 24 Ore for the Trento Festival of Economics, June 4, 2022, and is being republished with the authors’ permission

NEW YORK (IDN) — Fifty years ago, Italian business leaders in the Club of Rome gave a jolt to the world in their path-breaking report Limits to Growth. That thought leadership continues today as Italian business leaders launch Regeneration 2030, a powerful call for more holistic, ethical, and sustainable business practices to help the world achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 05 June 2022

Photo: E-waste management seminar. Credit: UNIDO.

Global Forum Explores Circular Electronics

By Reinhard Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) — How to enhance decision-making for sustainable e-waste management systems while fostering cooperation at the national, regional and global levels? This was the theme of a four-day event, which over 340 participants and a wide range of international experts explored from May 23 to 26. [E-waste are discarded products or components that need a power or battery supply in order to perform their functions.]

: Reinhard Jacobsen; SUSTAINABILITY; Sustainable Industrialisation; 28 May 2022

Photo: Anti-eviction protest. Source: Global Information Network

Hunt for Minerals Leads to Growing Number of Accidents and Evictions by Mining Companies

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Seydi Sow, a landowner in Djogo, Senegal, contemplated his eviction by a mining company with joint headquarters in Australia and France and which mines zircon in central Senegal.

The elderly landowner said he was wronged in the compensation process.

With two fields over two hectares in size, he complained he received a small payment, much less than others with smaller farms.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Decent Work & Economic Growth; 03 May 2022

Photo Credit: The Financial Express, Nigeria

Explosion At Illegal Oil Refinery in Southeast Nigeria Kills Scores

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — In one of the deadliest explosions in years, fire and blast shook south-eastern Nigeria, Imo state, possibly the result of illegal oil refining of stolen crude or “kpofire”.

News reports described charred bodies left scattered among burnt palms, cars and vans after the weekend explosion which killed more than 100 people at an illegal depot on the border of Nigeria's Rivers and Imo states.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 April 2022

BIMSTEC—Can It Take a Giant Leap Forward?

By Sugeeswara Senadhira

COLOMBO (IDN) — This week, Sri Lanka is hosting the fifth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit in the backdrop of member nations struggling to shake-off the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The summit would provide the leaders of the seven members—India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, and Sri Lanka—to finalise the much delayed BIMSTEC Charter and initiate tangible measures for economic cooperation.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 30 March 2022

Photo credit: South African Investment Conference (SAIC

South Africa Offers Opportunities for Foreign Investors

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW | JOHANNESBURG (IDN) — South Africa is in frantic search of foreign investors to boost its economy exposed to turbulences caused by two years of struggle to contain the global pandemic that triggered almost complete shutdown of businesses and production under lockdowns, which threaten economic efforts since the ambitious investment plan was initiated in 2018 under President Cyril Ramaphosa.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 March 2022

Photo source: Global Information Network

African Billionaire Targeted by Union Seeking Decent Working Conditions

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Africa’s richest man is in the sights of a labour union in Zambia where his cement plant has been outsourcing labour that pays low wages for its 1,300-workforce.

After a wildcat strike last month, unionized workers at the Dangote Industries Zambia Limited cement plant outside Ndola, the country’s Copperbelt province, won an increase of $55 a month, according to the Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ). The workers were seeking monthly minimum wage hikes of $136. An average monthly salary is US$210 or 3,530 Zambian kwachas.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 February 2022

Photo: A PNG Defence Force soldier guarding Panguna mine in the early stages of the Bougainville civil war in 1989. Credit: David Robie/APR

Panguna Copper Mine Share Value Doubles Overnight After Landowners Opt to Reopen Mine

By Gorethy Kenneth

The writer is a senior PNG Post-Courier journalist. This article was issued by Asia Pacific Report on 15 February and is being republished with permission.

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (IDN) — The dormant Bougainville Copper Limited share value has more than doubled overnight on the Australian Stock Exchange following a resolution to reopen the rich but controversial Panguna copper mine.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 16 February 2022

Photo: Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi. Source: New African

Dirty Coal to Replace Africa's 'Fancy Blue Diamond' As Part of a New Initiative

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | GABORONE (IDN) — There may be a lump of coal in Botswana’s Christmas stocking if the southern African country goes through with plans to wind down its famed diamond industry and replace it with unsustainable dirty coal.

President Mokgweetsi Masisi, at the Investing in African Mining Indaba, unveiled the country’s new direction acknowledging an abysmal year for the diamond market which hurt government revenue. It is “more imperative than ever”, he said, “to diversify into other commodities and curb the nation’s overdependence on precious stones".