The Rungrado 1st of May Stadium, also known as the May Day Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium which is considered to be among the biggest ones in the world, and it is located in the capital city of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Pyongyang.

Having a capacity of 114,000 spectators, the May Day Stadium was completed and put into use on 1 May 1989, right after the end of the 1988 Summer Olympics, where the leader of North Korea wanted to present the nation as the legitimate Korean state.

The exterior has scalloped roof that has 16 arches which are arranged in a ring, resembling a magnolia blossom.

The interior is organized in more conventional two large rings, where the lower one is based on a landfill, while the upper one supports one of the largest training complexes in the world.

The official name comes from the Rungrado Islet in the Taedong River on which the stadium is located, in addition to the second part of the name, 1 May, the day when it was officially put into use.

Providing numerous facilities such as running tracks, swimming pools, indoor halls, there is floor space which is measured to be little bit more than 200,000 square m (215,2782 square ft), while the main pitch which is an artificial turf has 22,500 square m (26,910 square ft).

Located in the heart of Pyongyang, May Day Stadium has hosted many notable events, including the largest pay-per-view event in 1995 for professional wrestling, nonetheless, the biggest and most famous one is the Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance Arirang, more commonly known as Arirang Festival.

Still, there were some infamous events that occurred here, such as the burning of the army generals who were supposedly plotted an assassination attempt on then leader Kim Jong-il.

All in all, considered to be a great architectural marvel, even if it is located in Pyongyang, the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium shall continue to amaze every architect and even everyone else with the interesting choreography the Korean people are creating with their patriotic imagination.

Kainji Lake National Park is one of the largest parks in Nigeria. The merger of Zugurma game reserves and Borgue, created the park in 1979, covering an area of 5340km².

Kainji Lake National Park is located in the northwest central part of the country between latitude 9°40’N and 10°30’N and longitude 3°30’E and 5°50’E in Niger and Kwara states, 500km from Lagos and 385 km north east of Abuja.

It is one of the jewels of Nigeria containing a number of flora and fauna resources of Nigeria and nearly added with the famous Kainji Lake Oil Hydroelectric Complex.

The Park houses a lot of wildlife like: elephants, lions, buffaloes, antelope, hunting dogs, hippos, patas, monkey, lion, python, Nile crocodile, leopard, hyena, buffalo, kob, cobra, green snake, bush buck, tilapia, mountain reedbuck, red flanked duiker, oribi, grimms duiker, warthog, mongoose, stone partridge, snake head, hadada ibis, Bee eaters, electric cat fish clawless otters, hartebeest, turtles, manatees, roan goanna, baboons, antelopes, kobs, ape, Ducker, crocodile and so many others.

There are varieties of bird species, approximately 180 species of birds have been recorded. These include Secretary Bird, Ground Hornbill, jugglers, oriole warbler, great white pelicans and other rare pale arctic migrants.

The Climate exhibits wet and dry seasons from April to November and November to April respectively. The mean annual rain fall is 1100mm to 1200mm for approximately 200 days.

At Kainji Lake National Park, you can enjoy conservation-education-lectures, easy housing and restaurant, boating on the Lake plus tour of the Hydro power station, tour of cultural places, fishing, camping facilities and indoor games.

There are two rivers in the park namely, Oli Menei, Doro and Manyara Rivers.

Location: Kainji Lake National Park is located in the northwest central part of the country between latitude 9°40’N and 10°30’N and longitude 3°30’E and 5°50’E in Niger and Kwara states, 500km from Lagos and 385 km north east of Abuja.

TODAY

NCF Engage Stakeholders On Protecting Kainji Lake National Park

The decline of species within protected areas have prompted the need to pursue species conservation and protection with the consideration of both the protected areas and the surrounding communities.

This informed the decision of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) to partner with the National Park Service on a series of engagement to enhance the protection of Kainji Lake National Park (KLNP) and the population of lions and leopards within the park.

To facilitate this, a workshop held recently, titled “Stakeholders Engagement to Identify and Design Solutions for Restricted Ranching to Reduce Livestock Grazing in Kainji Lake National Park” in New Bussa, Niger State.

This engagement session is a series of activities under the “Emergency Rescue of Nigeria’s Last Populations of West African Wildcats – Lion Panthera leo and Leopard Panthera pardus” project supported by the IUCN Save our Species and funded by the European Union.

The stakeholders’ workshop was organised to identify the challenges and solutions to sustainable livelihoods practices in communities around the park.

Germany has joined the international High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution by 2040 that was launched on Monday, August 22, 2022.

Agreement had already been reached in Nairobi in March on starting negotiations on an internationally binding instrument to end plastic pollution.

A group of like-minded countries has now launched a High Ambition Coalition to drive forward implementation of Resolution 5/14 “End Plastic Pollution: Towards an International Legally Binding Instrument”.

As announced at UNEA5.2, Norway and Rwanda will jointly chair the coalition.

Plastic pollution has reached unprecedented levels worldwide. Without concerted, global measures and an internationally binding framework in the coming decades, these levels are projected to rise significantly.

The plastic volumes found in rivers and lakes are expected to more than triple between 2019 and 2060 (from 109 to 348 million tonnes).

The volumes in oceans in the same period could increase fivefold (from 30 to 145 million).

Therefore, the international business community is calling for targets, standards and norms for the entire life cycle of plastics in order to establish the same conditions and requirements for the development of new circular economy business models and to make circular economy a reality in practice.