Agence de Presse Ouest-Africaine
Agence de Presse Ouest-Africaine
A modelling study projects that suitable climate for Africa's cave-dwelling long-fingered bats could shrink by 36% to 64% by 2061-2080, and that only about 5% of areas with suitable caves are expected to retain a fit climate. Lead author Mariëtte van der Walt argues conservation planning must ask not just where the climate will suit wildlife, but whether there will be somewhere for it to live.
Research by three environmental scientists finds that cutting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions together could deliver economic returns far larger than the cost, with some southern African regions seeing about 26 dollars in benefits for every dollar spent. The studies assess 25 proven solutions and 37 areas for action, against a backdrop of close to one million premature deaths in sub-Saharan Africa in 2023.
ECOWAS's Resident Representation in Benin and the ECOWAS National Office conducted a joint field monitoring mission from August 31 to September 5, 2026, visiting 20 sites across seven interventions in 17 municipalities. The mission reported gains in dairy production, youth skills and infrastructure, while flagging challenges around equipment, post-training support and the sustainability of results.
A five-day ECOWAS Commission study visit to Bonn and Brussels examined EU civil protection coordination, early warning systems and space-based disaster response. The delegation included representatives from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo, and the lessons will feed into the ECOWAS Emergency Operations Centre and a DG ECHO-funded regional preparedness project.
ECOWAS has drawn up a provisional list of national certification bodies eligible to issue its regional ECOQMARK quality label after reviewing accreditation applications in Abidjan. The committee also approved a regional programme to certify the competencies of designers, installers and inspectors of off-grid solar photovoltaic systems.
A University of Florida researcher and her supervisor have designed a 24-satellite system to monitor the Somali Basin for unlicensed fishing vessels. The study puts the five-year cost at about US$347 million, but concludes that detection is the easy part and enforcement is the real obstacle.
A randomised control trial in Tanzania found that the mere presence of a tax official during a survey interview lowered trust in the tax system on average, but raised it in wealthier regions such as Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Mbeya while lowering it in poorer zones including Mtwara, Lindi, Kigoma and Katavi. Trust and compliance moved together, with tax payments falling where trust fell.
The ECOWAS Business Council has unveiled "Power W.A.," a private-sector-led initiative to prioritise regional energy sufficiency for industrial growth, finalised at a meeting in Lagos between Commissioner Dehpue Yenpea Zuo and Prof. Hassan Mahmud, focal person for chairman Aliko Dangote. The plan will establish industrial power corridors backed by a regional electricity demand-and-supply gap study and engage lenders including Afreximbank, the AFC and the IFC, with an inaugural council meeting set for late October to early November 2026.
A tetanus-diphtheria vaccine designed to stay stable without refrigeration produced strong immune responses in a first human trial of 60 adults in the UK, with laboratory data showing stability for at least 24 months at up to 30°C. The developers say larger and more diverse studies are needed before the product can reach African immunisation programmes, where mixed cold-chain systems and reconstitution risks remain.
A review of 102 studies across 68 low- and lower-middle-income countries finds that geospatial tools are mostly applied to routine immunisation coverage rather than to the 13.5 million children who have never received a vaccine. Researchers point to survey gaps, thin evidence in high-burden countries and a need for better routine data.
