Rwanda has made the protection of its remaining forests a priority, and set a target of increasing forest cover to 30 per cent by 2020 – a goal it seems set to achieve well ahead of schedule.
The country is still losing precious primary forest – the almost complete destruction of the Gishwati Forest in the northwest between by people displaced by the genocide is an example – but this is offset by the aggressive campaign against unsustainable use of forests while promoting tree-planting across the country.

In renewed demonstrations against Tunisia's government, thousands marched from Sidi Bouzid to downtown Tunis on Sunday (23 January), seeking the removal of Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi's interim administration. The 'Caravan of Liberation', which left Sidi Bouzid on Saturday, was just the latest in a wave of demonstrations protesting the continued presence of members of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's regime.

Cameroon continues to arrest and prosecute individuals under a law that criminalizes same-sex sexual activity. This law has consequences for LGBT people beyond their unacceptable arrests and imprisonment. It drives inequality within the justice system and promotes violence within families and communities. To combat these violations, in November IGLHRC launched the report, 'Criminalizing Identities: Rights Abuses in Cameroon based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.' The report was a collaborative effort with Human Rights Watch and the Cameroonian LGBT organisations Alternatives-Cameroun and l’Association pour la Défense des Droits des Homosexuels.

One of the many places in our society where the fracturing in who counts as a full member of our national public and who does not is immediately visible is Motala Heights near Durban. Motala Heights is nestled into a valley between the factories on the outskirts of Pinetown and a steep hill that leads up to the expensive suburb of Kloof. Some of the people in the valley are poor and live in tin houses that they have built on rented land and some are middle class or wealthy and live in large suburban homes. There is also a shack settlement at the foot of the hill that leads up to Kloof. On Friday last week a bulldozer shuddered up the hill adjacent to the shack settlement, went straight to the Shembe temple and obliterated it. There was no warning of what was about to happen, writes Richard Pithouse on The South African Civil Society Information Service.

The Zimbabwe GNU Watch provides an overview, month by month, of political developments under the terms set out in the Global Political Agreement (GPA). The sections profiled in monthly outputs may vary depending on events and issues raised in that particular report. Where possible, the relevant article as stipulated in the GPA has been provided.

More mothers and pregnant women in Malawi are attending antenatal clinics since the increased training of health workers in paediatric HIV care improved services to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, and paediatric HIV testing and treatment. 'I was reluctant [about] going for the voluntary HIV [test] when I got my first pregnancy in 2007,' said Fanny Yolamu, whose previous child had been delivered by traditional birth attendants.

Infrastructure finance in Africa is still struggling to claw back to the pre-2008 peak, just before the global financial crisis. A new survey by audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) shows traditional finance models have faltered in the wake of the recession, compounded by political and systemic obstacles that could derail a nascent recovery.

Embattled former SABC CEO Solly Mokoetle received a settlement of R3.4-million following his resignation on Wednesday, says the SABC. 'Mr Mokoetle was paid an equivalent of his 12 months' salary which amounts to R3.4-million inclusive of leave and other entitlements as a full and final settlement,' SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said in a statement on Friday.

The ecological and economic crisis of South Africa’s transnationalising capitalist economy is also reflected in increasing hunger, increasing food prices, unhealthy diets and polluting agro-processing food production. Advancing an Anti-Hunger and Food Sovereignty Campaign challenges this reality and politicises the food question in a more consistent way. Such a campaign has to be advanced bottom up, through a participatory democratic logic for democratic left politics. These campaign notes, presented at a Conference of the Democratic Left in South Africa, intend to promote such a process and emerge out of the Gauteng Democratic Left conference held in March 2010.

Maternity protection for women workers is essential for ensuring women's access to equality of opportunity and treatment in the workplace. This updated review of national legislative provisions for maternity protection in 167 International Labour Organisation member states has a particular focus on how well countries’ provisions conform to the ILO Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (no. 183), and its accompanying recommendation (no. 191). It shows that, over the last 15 years, there have been noticeable improvements in maternity protection legislation around the world.

There are countless opportunities for the IT sector in Africa. This was one of the conclusions drawn by Google Ghana’s Country Manager Estelle Akofio-Sowah and local Kenyan IT entrepreneur Kamal Budhabhatti. Both were speaking in the Netherlands at the Fill the Gap event, supported by Dutch organisations IICD and Hivos. Fill the Gap is an annual event about ICT for Development (ICT4D) with a different theme each year. This year’s theme was: IT entrepreneurship in Africa.

A Nouakchott court on Sunday (16 January) sentenced Oumoulmoumnine Mint Bakar Vall to six months in prison for enslaving two girls, ages 10 and 14, in the city's Arafat neighbourhood. Last week, three human rights activists were handed down six month sentences for taking part in an unauthorised rally over the case. The verdict against the rights defenders, including Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) head Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, was based on charges of assembling and disturbing the public peace, as well as using violence against police officers.

A new report, released by Plan International, examines the rights of girls throughout their childhood, adolescence and as young women. The 'Because I am a Girl: The State of the World's Girls 2010 - Digital and Urban Frontiers' report looks at the prospects and perils facing girls on two of the 21st century's fastest growing areas - the boom in city populations and the explosion of IT and communication technology. While there are great opportunities, prejudice and poverty is excluding millions of girls from taking advantages of the possibilities on offer. Urban poverty, lack of proper housing and sexual harassment can make many girls feel unsafe.

Ghana has recently reached middle-income status but still struggles with a water deficit and widespread lack of sanitation. Despite challenges, Ghana is one of only four countries in sub-Saharan Africa on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal for water by 2015. Government estimates it will need to invest about $1.6 billion a year over 10 years for adequate infrastructure.

Cholera, though easily preventable, is one of the most deadly diarrhoeal diseases. Once someone is infected through contaminated food or water, the vibrio cholerae bacteria are present in faeces for one to two weeks, and without proper sanitation are likely to infect others. But proper sanitation facilities, as well as safe drinking water, are out of reach for most Chadians. And tackling this, experts say, must be the priority post-emergency. With the rate of infection slowing as of mid-December, Chad had 6,369 documented cases of cholera with 180 deaths, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Young African women activists and feminists gathered in Ghana towards the end of last year and issued a statement on the African Women's Decade, climate change, food sovereignty and economic partnership agreements.

Building on his acclaimed book Limits to Change, Marais examines South Africa's most pressing issues – from the real reasons behind President Jacob Zuma's rise and the purging of his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, and how the African National Congress replenishes its power, to a devastating critique of the country's continuing AIDS crisis, its economic path and its approach to the rights and entitlements of citizens. South Africa Pushed to the Limit presents a riveting, benchmark analysis of the incomplete journey beyond apartheid.

How can non-governmental organisations (NGOs) tackle social issues such as HIV, gender equality and violence in rural African communities? A number of them, including South African Sonke Gender Justice network, Ubuntu Institute, CARE International and Zambian Women for Change (WFC) are working with traditional leaders as a gateway to reach the people in communities they are targeting.

Botswana’s government has green-lighted a massive $3bn mine in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve – in the middle of the Kalahari Bushmen’s appeal against the Botswana authorities’ refusal to allow them access to water there. Gem Diamonds announced that its application to open a huge diamond mine near the Bushman community of Gope in the reserve has been approved.

The dirty downside of the ICT industry is that computers have to go somewhere when they die and because they are full of potentially toxic materials they cannot simply be dumped in landfills. Uganda’s Government has sought to tackle part of the problem by banning the import of secondhand computers and sparked the law of unintended consequences. Russell Southwood talked to Shakeel Padamsey of Camara and Kyle Spencer of the Uganda Linux Group about what’s happened.