From A Shared Vision of the Coast Toward A Sustainable Reality

Nov 19, 2018

All along the West African coast, communities are starting to preserve and protect their shared coastal resources and work towards enhancing resilience. The WACA Program fosters scaled up investments to solve coastal problems while encouraging regional cooperation and planning. International partners are working with coastal communities and governments to adopt strong policies and enable durable solutions for coastal protection, and increase economic opportunities.

Senegal’s massive reforestation project

Dec 20, 2020

Senegalese farmers along the Casamance River delta have been planting millions of mangrove buds to reforest the region. After decades of clearing the forests for firewood, saltwater has intruded into the delta, turning farmland into barren fields. Mangrove forests are a natural barrier against saltwater, host diverse ecosystems, and slow desertification. They also absorb significant amounts of carbon. The huge reforestation project has many partners, and forms part of the Great Green Wall initiative to halt desertification and soil erosion in the Sahel.

West African Coastal Towns Swallowed by Ocean

Jul 13, 2016

Rising sea levels and coastal erosion are threatening the homes and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people across West Africa. Emilie Iob reports for VOA Grand Lahou, an Ivorian tourist destination that is slowly being washed away.

Rising sea levels threaten Ghana’s coastal communities

Nov 12, 2016

Effects of climate change are being felt first hand by many coastal communities in Ghana. The fishing town of Keta is just one of places in the east of the country which is being threatened by rising sea levels. Katerina Vittozzi has more.

Economics of fossil fuel and climate

Oct 31
2022

International Conference on Fossil Fuel Supply and Climate Policy, hosted by Stockholm Environment Institute

27 September 2022–The Queen’s College, Oxford, UK

Session: Economics of fossil fuel and climate

Moderator: Richard Denniss, The Australia Institute

Panellists: Mark Campanale and Mike Coffin, Carbon Tracker Initiative–The critical path to net zero Ingrid Udd Sundvor, Oxford University–Using the carbon takeback obligation to help phase out fossil energy production Lennart Stern, Paris School of Economics–Proportionally matching voluntary contributions to institutions rewarding countries for reducing the supply and the demand of coal and oil Iain Steel, Econias (UK)–So you want to quit producing fossil fuels? Putting the manage in “managed decline” Klaus Eisenack, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin–Buy coal and gas? Interfuel carbon leakage on deposit markets with market power

Jennifer Francis on El Nino and La Nina

Oct 31, 2022

I spoke not long ago to Jennifer Francis of the Woodwell Climate Research Center in MA. Jennifer is a highly respected senior scientist and researcher.

Death on the Border: BBC Africa Eye investigates one of the deadliest days at Europe’s borders

Oct 31, 2022

In June 2022, shocking videos started circulating online, showing violent clashes between African migrants and Moroccan border guards. They were filmed on a tiny piece of land where Morocco meets Spain – a gateway into Europe – and show the bodies of African migrants being thrown to the ground, beaten and crushed. Twenty-four people died in the incident, and many more are still missing. Africa Eye verified dozens of videos, collected testimonies from survivors and gained exclusive access to the border infrastructure to piece together the most comprehensive investigation into the tragedy and ask – was it preventable?

Before Columbus: Exploration and Colonization from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 1229-1492 (The Middle Ages Series): Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

Demonstrating that Columbus’s voyage was a new step in a centuries-old process of European expansion, Fernandez-Armesto provides a stimulating account of the broadening of Europe’s physical and mental horizons in the Middle Ages. He shows how the techniques and institutions of medieval colonial expansion that were applied to the New World made long-term conquest and settlement possible.

A brief introduction analyzes the problems that face students and historians. Then, concentrating on medieval Spanish colonial development, but carefully linking that development to the wider European process of expansion, the author surveys the great areas of expansion in the Western Mediterranean: the island conquests of the House of Barcelona; the “first Atlantic Empire” in Andalusia, its environs, Valencia, and Murcia; the Genoese Mediterranean; and the North African coast.

In the last four chapters, Fernandez-Armesto sketches the course and characteristics of early European expansion of the Atlantic before Columbus and highlights the impact of geography and anthropology on the discovery of “the Atlantic space.” The emphasis throughout is on tracing the elements of continuity and discontinuity between Mediterranean and Atlantic worlds and studying how colonial societies originate and behave.

Review

Fernandez-Armesto writes thoughtfully of medieval Spanish colonial development and other European expansion in the western Mediterranean. . . . A lively and sustained narrative. ― Choice

A welcome addition to the growing literature dedicated to ‘Atlantic Studies.’. . . Recommended for the professional scholar, the university student, and the educated public. ― History

Book Description

“A welcome addition to the growing literature dedicated to ‘Atlantic Studies.’. . . Recommended for the professional scholar, the university student, and the educated public.”—History

About the Author

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is a fellow of St. Anthony’s College, Oxford, and has twice been a Visiting Senior Lecturer at Warwick University. His previous books include Columbus and The Canary Islands after the Conquest.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Pennsylvania Press; Reprint edition (June 1, 1987)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 294 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0812214129
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0812214123
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.67 x 8.5 inches

See related:

• Black Mediterranean/ Mediterraneo Nero – Artistic Encounters and Counter-narratives/ Incontri artistici e contronarrazioni | I Tatti | The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies 
• African Kings and Black Slaves: Sovereignty and Dispossession in the Early Modern Atlantic (The Early Modern Americas): Herman L. Bennett

Lula Defeats Bolsonaro in Brazil in What Many See as a Victory for Democracy & the Earth

Democracy Now! – Oct 31, 2022

Leftist presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won Brazil’s runoff election, ousting far-right President Jair Bolsonaro after just one term. Lula won with 50.9% of the vote, though Bolsonaro has yet to concede. Other world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, were quick to congratulate Lula on his victory in an effort to forestall efforts by Bolsonaro and his allies to deny the results. Brazilian socialist organizer Sabrina Fernandes says Lula is trying to return “democratic normality” after four years of Bolsonaro’s environmental destruction, COVID denial and undermining of the country’s institutions. Lula’s victory is also a win for Indigenous peoples, whose sovereignty was disregarded under Bolsonaro amid rampant deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, says freelance journalist Michael Fox.

Lula celebrates after declared winner in election

Guardian New – Oct 31, 2022

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has celebrated the Brazilian people as the real winners of the election after beating the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro to become the country’s next president. Subscribe to Guardian News on YouTube ► http://bit.ly/guardianwiressub With 99.97% of the votes tallied, da Silva secured 50.9% of the vote and Bolsonaro 49.10% in one of the most significant and bruising elections in the country’s history. It is a stunning return to power for the 77-year-old former president, who led Brazil from 2003-2010. Da Silva is promising to govern beyond his party. He wants to bring in centrists and even some leaning to the right who voted for him for the first time, and to restore the country’s more prosperous past. Lula takes power on 1 January 2023 and will be charged with rebuilding and reuniting a nation that has been left damaged and bitterly divided.