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The current discourse on renewable energy tends to centre on the positive reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and improved energy security, while the risks of social and environmental injustice are largely ignored.

More than 640 million Africans live without electricity. This has negative impacts not only on the population’s health and education outcomes it also limits the development the economy.

African governments need to put policies in place that recognise that their economic vibrancy is shifting to internal consumption and manufacturing and services, away from commodities alone. And they must tax accordingly.

Three months after the ground-breaking ceremony for a superhighway in Nigeria’s Cross River State the opposition grew. People were wary of not being compensated for losing their land.

China's interests in Zambia are very much dependent on the infrastructure of the country: The G20 summit in Seoul placed infrastructure development squarely on the international agenda.

The provincial level resource equity dialogs were initiated based on the recommendations from the Federal level dialog on resource equity. The topic for each dialog at provincial level was selected around the water, land and energy nexus which was defined through the federal level dialog. The framework of each dialog was set around hbs' resource equity memo-“Resource Politics for a Fair Future”, so that the participants could be introduced to the global debate on resource equity.  Province-specific ecological case studies were also shared based on the book titled “Water in the Wilderness” to create a wider understanding of the basic ecological landscape of the province.  

The mounds of garbage on some coasts pose clearly visible problems. Other types of pollution are less visible – but every bit as serious.

Human activity is forcing unprecedented change on our oceans and coasts. With only 2% of the oceans fully protected, these are some of the most poorly governed regions in the world. Pollution, overuse and climate change are causing loss of habitat and biodiversity. A global rethink and local action is needed, urgently.

President Donald Trump declared that he would start measures to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, putting his country back into the “rogue state” category in international climate negotiations. 

Countries are turning their attention to the ocean in order to ensure that future demands for energy and raw materials can be met. Which direction will they take? What are the opportunities and risks? An overview.  

Aquaculture is booming – in 2014 nearly every second fish consumed by people came from a fish farm. The ecological and social problems caused by this aquatic stockbreeding are immense.

Unseen treasures with mysterious names beckon from the depths of the ocean: manganese nodules, cobalt crusts, black smokers. Hidden within them are rich concentrations of valuable metals.

Gourmets visiting Sylt, Germany’s idyllic North Sea vacation destination, can choose between fresh Pacific oysters and native blue mussels. But what seems like fine dining is actually a cautionary tale as the foreign oysters threaten to overrun the native mussels.

Coffee, bananas, smartphones, automobiles: cargo ships transport goods around the world. 90 percent of global trade is seaborne. Who does what – and who pays for it all?

For thousands of years people have taken to the sea to fish and trade. Wars have been fought as rival rulers claimed the rights to the sea and its exploitation. Those conflicts have continued to this day.

Flooding, erosion, sinking: our coasts are under ever-increasing pressure. People who live in coastal regions are especially endangered – and there are an ever-increasing number of them.

Cruise ships carrying 4,000 travelers, all-inclusive beachfront resorts – increasing global tourism places an ever-greater strain on the ocean and coastal populations.

Our oceans are becoming more and more acidic. Though barely detectable to humans, for many of the animals that live there, the change is already proving fatal.

The ocean is far, far away from Springdale, Arkansas. And yet the city is feeling the effects of the rising sea level. Seeking safety, 10,000 inhabitants of the Marshall Islands have made the city their new home.

All graphs of the Ocean Atlas are published under a Creative Commons License CC BY SA 4.0. and can be used, processed and published under these conditions. There are downloads available of all graphs in various formats (png, pdf).

Nearly half the Earth is covered by areas of the ocean that lie beyond national jurisdictions. Considering the importance of the oceans for our food supplies, preventing climate change, and preserving biodiversity, this is irresponsible. Change is needed, urgently.

Fish is a cornerstone of global food security. This global dependence on fish is actually the greatest threat to our fish populations. Many are overfished, and the number is rising.

Many experts contributed their expertise to the Ocean Atlas, particularly scientists working together at the University of Kiel’s Future Ocean Cluster of Excellence to research the development of our oceans. Here's the who is who.

All graphs of the Ocean Atlas are published under a Creative Commons License CC BY SA 4.0. and can be continued to be used, processed and published under these conditions. You can find all downloads available in various formats (png, pdf) here.

The plants and animals that currently live in the “wilderness” of the ocean or in marine protected areas are just a fraction of what once thrived in the seas. To understand what we’ve lost and what we might be able to recover, we need to know what used to be.

Beaches littered with plastic garbage, seabirds strangled by bits of plastic – these images are ubiquitous today. Yet we also see photos of people cleaning beaches and hear about plans for purifying the ocean. Are things actually improving?

Without the ocean, climate change would proceed far more quickly. The massive volumes of water in the seas greatly influence the changes occurring in our atmosphere.

Each summer, a 20,000-square-kilometer dead zone forms in the Gulf of Mexico. The cause of the lifeless water lies not in the gulf itself but on dry land, 2,000 kilometers upriver.

Sexual and gender minorities remain dangerously vulnerable to human rights abuses across much of Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite immense legal and cultural barriers, civil society activists around the continent are rising up to improve the lives of LGBTI people. Brian Pellot spoke with two leading activists in Uganda and Botswana.