Photo: Kofi Nuamah Barden/Unsplash (CC0)
In today’s edition: Ghana’s first marine protected area has officially opened and will protect hundreds of square kilometres of Ghana’s coastal waters, intensive urban tree planting efforts are making an impact across Canada, and the khalun returns to Eastern Mongolia after an absence of 65 years.
The Greater Cape Three Points Marine Protected Area covers just over 700 square kilometres of coastal waters in the Western region, and is a core element of Ghana’s visions for a “blue future”: It will protect the livelihoods of 21 coastal communities while also giving marine ecosystems the opportunity to restore themselves.
Source: Mongabay
A new wave of intensive urban tree planting across Canada is happening on publicly owned land – with impressive results. Miyawaki – also known as miniature forests – contain native tree saplings, shrubs and groundcover and provide relief for both humans and animals alike in urban deserts.
Source: Be Giant
The biggest changes to investment taxes this century are intended to help young people break into the competitive housing market, along with offering a level of cost-of-living relief. The proposals limit capital gains tax discounts and negative gearing on assets, policies that have long skewed home ownership towards older, wealthier investors and away from first-home buyers.
Source: Reuters
Nigeria’s Senate has passed a new bill to improve wildlife legislation in the country, which is a hub of international trafficking rings. Conservationists are viewing the new laws as an opportunity to complete reset Nigeria’s handling of wildlife crime.
Source: Mongabay
Although the criminalisation of same-sex intimacy was officially struck down by Botswana’s courts six years ago, the discriminatory provisions were technically still part of the country’s penal code. Now, in a long overdue legal clean-up, the specific paragraphs have been removed.
Source: Gay Express
Traders at Ikosi Market generates large amounts of spoiled produce every day, most of which is sent to a nearby landfill. Now, a pilot biogas plant is turning that waste into electricity and cooking gas, helping power stals and light the market at night while still supporting small businesses. While the system is still new, it’s already cutting costs for vendors, creating jobs and reducing pollution.
Source: Deutsche Welle
The regulator’s early access programme lets patients in a life-threatening stage of the disease receive experimental treatment outside clinical trials before approval. The pill in question, daraxonrasib, has in trials shown a doubling of the survival period in patients compared with chemotherapy.
Source: Reuters
In CAR T-cell cancer treatment, T-cells are extracted from patients, genetically engineered to better hunt down cancerous cells. They are then infused back into the patient and are able to prevent cancer relapses, in best-case scenarios.
Source: The Guardian
Only 16% of people in the US believe that the current prisons system does a good job of rehabilitating incarcerated individuals. In response, more than a dozen states are reorienting their correctional systems, providing more mentorship and educational access.
Source: CS Monitor
Known locally as the khulan, the Asiatic wild ass is showing clear signs of re-establishing a regional population after an absence of more than 65 years. Fencing along the Trans-Mongolian Railway restricted movement of migratory species, but safe crossing points are now allowing animals to move more freely across this barrier.
Source: Good News Network
