UGANDA is to host a five-day conference for environmental ministers from Africa ahead of the 10th commemoration of the Earth Summit to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Angela Luh of the United Nations Environment Programme told a press conference on Monday that the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) would take place in Kampala in July.

At least 8,000 people have been made homeless and thousands of acres of grazing land flooded by torrential rains lashing Tana River district.

Three new species of fish and nine species of coral new to science have been discovered in the waters around the African island country of Madagascar.

About 5,500 children die each day around the world from diseases caused by polluted air, water and food, concludes a new study released Thursday by three United Nations agencies. The report details the deadly threat that environmental degradation poses to the Earth's most vulnerable citizens.

South Africa moved Thursday to weed out what the Environment and Tourism Minister has dubbed the country's "national flower," the ubiquitous eyesore better known as the plastic shopping bag. The minister, Valli Moosa, told reporters the plastics industry had been given 12 months to phase out the thin, plastic shopping bags handed out free in stores and replace them with thicker ones.