The average North American hears less news about the entire continent of Africa (with over 800 million people) than she does about Italy (a nation of less than 60 million), according to a recent study by the Pew Center. That news drought would be even worse, I suspect, if you left out stories about wars, ethnic strife, natural disasters and famines (though Africa certainly sees more than its share of all of these). Where's the news about what Africans think? About what they're doing to better their lives and improve the world?
Sustainable Africa isn't the perfect answer to that question, but it's the best I've seen yet. As one might gather from the title, it's a compilation of news stories about the African environment (its sister sites Africa Biztech and Peace Africa cover business and war/humanitarian crises). You should be warned up front that it's mostly pretty grim reading, with few solutions or success stories to be found. But they're here and there, like this reference to the Ahyirensu Naturalist Centre of Aburi, Ghana, which works to preserve "Ghana's complex eco-systems through cultivation of native medicinal plants, preservation of threatened rare species and improved food crop and fish farming." Sustainable Africa beats nothing, by quite a bit. Still, if you have recommendations for learning about African innovation, action and thought aimed at building a better future, please let us know.
