The Mozambiqan government has marked the northern Niassa province to promote commercial, large-scale tree plantations. Currently, the single biggest plantation in the region comprises of 13,000 hectares of eucalyptus and pine, owned by a company called ‘Chikweti Forests of Niassa.’ A government-led investigation in 2010 reported that the company had acquired over 32,000 hectares illegally. The big losers were small farmers, vulnerable due to lack of awareness and complicity of corrupt government officials.

Uganda has suspended the issuance of new mining licences and put on notice those with non-performing ones following revelations that a number were handed out irregularly. Officials from the Ministry of Energy said most of the illegal licences had ended up in the hands of speculators who lacked the financial or technical ability to deliver. The department of geological survey and mines in the Ministry of Energy - Uganda’s licensing authority - has asked the speculators to justify why their licences should not be revoked.

A new book finds that the Nile river, together with its associated tributaries and rainfall, could provide 11 countries - including a new country, South Sudan, and the drought-plagued countries of the Horn of Africa - with enough water to support a vibrant agriculture sector, but that the poor in the region who rely on the river for their food and incomes risk missing out on these benefits without effective and inclusive water management policies. 'The Nile River Basin: Water, Agriculture, Governance and Livelihoods', published by the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF), incorporates new research and analysis to provide the most comprehensive analysis yet of the water, agriculture, governance and poverty challenges facing policymakers.