Photo: Michael Starkie/Unsplash (CC0)
In today’s edition: electricity reaches 50 million more people across Africa, Southeast Asia moves closer to eliminating malaria, and a record 47,460 mangroves are planted along the Kenyan coast.
A World Bank programme to provide electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030 has hit almost a fifth of its goal, two years after its formation. Mission 300 involves the expansion of power grids, as well as decentralised solutions such as extensive solar installations.
Source: Club Of Mozambique
Malaria cases across the Greater Mekong Subregion have dropped by 67% since 2010, bringing Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam closer to eradicating the disease. At a recent regional summit, health ministers reaffirmed their plan to end malaria by 2030, despite ongoing challenges including climate change, cross-border transmission and declining funding.
Source: Cambodianess
New York City has approved a rent freeze for around one million regulated apartments for up to two years, delivering on a key campaign promise by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The decision, approved by the city’s housing board, is intended to ease pressure on tenants amid the city’s ongoing affordability crisis.
Source: Reuters
The Open Air Chicago project has installed 277 solar air quality sensors around the city, with greater density in communities with social disadvantages or disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards. It is the largest city air monitoring network in the US and its public access map helps residents guard their health and informs urban planners.
Source: Grist
An experimental immunosuppressant developed by Eledon Pharmaceuticals has outperformed the current standard treatment for preventing organ rejection after kidney transplantation, according to new clinical trial data. Results suggest the therapy could potentially improve transplant outcomes and long-term graft survival.
Source: Reuters
The risk of developing dementia at any given age has fallen by around 13% per decade across high-income countries since the late 1980s. Improvements in blood pressure and cholesterol control, lower smoking rates and higher levels of education have all contributed to the drop.
Source: Vox
The facility will help businesses turn waste and natural materials from agriculture and industry into useful products such as renewable energy, chemicals and new materials as part of the bioeconomy.
Source: RTE
The initiative will provide students with information about sexual and gender diversity, while expanding access to school counsellors and social workers to better support LGBTQIA+ young people.
Source: ABC
The use of plant-based substitutes in traditional belief-based practices is helping to lower demand for vulture parts across Nigeria, offering a glimpse of optimism concerning the conservation of the country’s threatened vulture populations.
Source: Mongabay
Canadian environmental activist Antoine Moses has set a world record by planting 47,460 mangrove saplings in just 24 hours along Kenya’s coast. Mangroves help protect shorelines from erosion, support biodiversity and store large amounts of carbon, with the newly planted trees set to be monitored and maintained to maximise their long-term survival.
Source: Times Of India
