Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
south americalatest news & developments
Tariff tiff: President Donald Trump in a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo: The Whitehouse

High cost of US decoupling from China

Tariffs were meant to punish Chinese exporters and encourage American manufacturing; instead, they have raised prices for US consumers

Developing countries that are the most vulnerable to climate change are angry about a new text released at COP29 on Friday, which says developed countries must pay $250 billion a year until 2035 for climate action.(Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

SA companies should focus on meeting the requirements for a ‘green economy’

The public and civil society taking action to ensure compliance with environmental sustainability local and international laws and treaties is likely to gather momentum

Agriculture in the country is experiencing a recovery season for its grain and oilseed production, although some areas may have quality problems

La Niña determines predictions for the oilseed and grains harvest

The weather remains topical across the Southern Hemisphere but has resulted in mixed fortunes

We will have a poorer harvest than the glowing 2020-21 harvest, but will probably not have to import supplies. (Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)

What South Africa’s excessive rains mean for food prices

We will have a poorer harvest than the glowing 2020-21 harvest, but will probably not have to import supplies

Pale males: Michael Bloomberg and other leaders attend the Climate Action Summit at the UN in 2019. (Ludovic Marin/AFP)

Most climate science is written by white men

In deciding how the world responds to the climate crisis, policymakers rely on research that tends to be written predominantly by men in the Global North

Benguela, the second-oldest Portuguese-founded city in Angola, has existed since 1617 and is in the western part of the country.  (Walter Fernandes)

Welcome to Benguela, Angola’s top holiday destination

Benguela exists in the country’s collective psyche in a way no other city does. It’s a place that’s inspired poets, musicians, writers and artists

It’s a bad time for Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro. With an election coming up next year, his poll numbers are dropping rapidly. (Nacho Doce/Reuters)

Make Brazil great again: Bolsonaro’s right-wing policies are not the trump

To understand more about what’s going on in South America’s most populous country, and what might happen next, The Continent spoke to João Bosco Monte, the head of the Brazil…

The Western Cape is by far the province that benefits most from Agoa trade. Photo: Mujahid Safodien/AFP

South Africa’s agricultural sector is likely to have an unusual period of three consecutive favourable seasons

But higher international commodity prices will keep input costs elevated for the livestock and poultry sector

Cheap and nasty: A plantation worker harvests palm oil fruits on Sumatra Island, Indonesia. More than 73-million tonnes was used in 2020, far more than other vegetable oils. Photo: Dimas Ardian/Getty Images

Palm oil: Useful but destructive

Palm oil contributes to deforestation, biodiversity loss, peatland destruction and climate change, and the biofuel is more polluting than fossil-based diesel

War ready: First-year recruits at Norwich University, the military college in Vermont, United States, train in transcendental meditation. The goal of the training is to provide coping tools before going into combat and to prevent post-traumatic stress disorder. (Kayana Szymczak/The Boston Globe/Getty Images)

Meditate for peace and unity

Invincible defence technology uses transcendental meditation to reduce crime and violence

There were clashes between people against the Evo Morales government and those in favour in Bolivia. (Manuel Claure/Reuters)

Bolivia’s Morales resigns after losing backing of security forces

As chanting Bolivians kept up demonstrations in the street, the 60-year-old called new elections, but this was not enough to calm the uproar

Trails as long 3km are created when leaf-cutter ants native to South and Central America’s forests forage for food and building materials. (Cyril Ruoso/Biosphoto)

Smart ants cut the needless chatter

A new study suggests they build super-highways without having to communicate with each other

Agriculture also faces a future in which the climate that it relies on is changing. More extremes, from floods to droughts, are already happening. (Sean Gallup/Getty)

Bigger farms needed to feed nine billion

That’s not the research findings the proponents of small-scale, organic agriculture want to hear

A white-throated swallow

Why studying African birds’ varied migration patterns is so important

There are hundreds of variations on the basic ‘flavour’ of bird migration