EU parliament backs soil protection bill (Google Alert / Reuters)

Read at : Google Alert / desertification

http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL1492220420071114

EU parliament backs soil protection bill

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) – The European Parliament backed new rules to protect soil in the European Union on Wednesday, seeking to prevent its deterioration from industrial use and the effects of climate change. The EU legislature, in its first reading of the draft laws, voted to have EU nations set up public inventories of sites where soil may be contaminated with dangerous substances and lay out ways to clean them up. “Since soil is a rare substance, we do have to protect it,” said Cristina Gutierrez-Cortines, the Spanish conservative lawmaker who helped steer the bill through the parliament.

Kenya: European Union Funds Rural Poverty Reduction (Google Alert / allAfrica / East African Standard)

Read at :

Google Alert – poverty

http://allafrica.com/stories/200709200927.html

Kenya: European Union Funds Rural Poverty Reduction

East African Standard (Nairobi)

20 September 2007

Lucianne Limo
Nairobi

The Government has received Sh1.4 billion from the European Union towards improving service delivery and reduction of poverty. The funds, channelled through the Local Government ministry, are intended to reduce poverty through a rural development programme and capacity building. The five-year funding plan for the Rural Poverty Reduction and Local Authority Programme will be launched officially at the Kenyatta International Conference Center next week. The programme is guided by Kenya Local Authority Reform Programme, which has been designed to improve service delivery and financial management at local authorities.

EU : two projects to boost environmental management and conservation in Kenya (FAO / allAfrica / The Nation)

Read at :

FAO INFOSYLVA 2007-17

“Kwon, Cheemin (FOEL)” <Cheemin.Kwon@fao.org>

Forest Policy Info Mailing List <forests-l@lists.iisd.ca>

allAfrica

http://allafrica.com/stories/200708131637.html

Kenya: EU Donates Sh43.6m to Save Environment

The Nation (Nairobi)

14 August 2007

The European Union has donated Sh43.6 million to two projects in Taita Taveta District to boost environmental management and conservation. In addition to sustaining environmental programmes, the two projects will also create agro-economic activities to improve rural livelihoods of the concerned communities.

Mali : 2.2 billion FCFA from EU to combat desertification (Google Alert / Afriquenligne)

Read at :

Google Alert for Desertification

Afriquenligne

http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/daily_news/eu_grants_mali_2.2_billion_fcfa_aginst_desertification_200708145824/

EU grants Mali 2.2 billion FCFA against desertification

Bamako, Mali – Mali and the European Union (EU) signed two financial agreements Monday in Bamako worth a total of 2.2 billion francs CFA to fight desertification, official sources affirmed here. The first pact for more than 1.2 billion FCFA, is intended to help strengthen cooperation such as assistance to the technical departments, the EDF programmes-projects under way and the organisation of conferences and seminars relative to cooperation with the EU. It will also contribute to the execution, as early as January 2008, of programmes under the 10th EDF, to the implementation of the Paris declaration on the harmonisation of aid and promotion of a more coherent approach to development and trade through the training of beneficiaries.

10 million euros human aid to Sahrawi refugees (Google Alert / Echorouk)

Read at :

Google Alert for Western Africa

Echorouk Online

http://www.echoroukonline.com/english/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7149

10 million euros human aid to sahrawi refugees

Ten million Euros have been devoted by the European Commission as humanitarian aids for the Western Sahara refugees. The European assistance includes basic food and medical care requirements. This aid is the first of its kind since more than ten months. By February 2006, unusually heavy rain storms destroyed refugees’ camps where more than 120 thousands Sahrawi families were living. Seven months later, most of countries and humanitarian organisations stopped their assistance, without caring about Sahrawi people who can no longer afford to survive. Among them, the European Union and UN Food Agency that started for the first time its assistance for Sahrawi refugees by 1986. There has been a sharp decrease in the level of food buffer stock. As a result, there has been a huge increase in the number of people who have anemia.