A South African court has upheld a ban imposed on the energy company Shell from using seismic waves to explore for oil and gas off the Indian Ocean coast. The decision marks a monumental victory for environmentalists who have voiced concern about the impact that the exploration would have on whales, as well as other marine species living in the environment.

A spokesperson for Shell has said that the company “respects the court’s decision” and would review the judgement in order to “determine our next steps,” however did not elaborate on whether Shell would attempt to appeal against the judgement.

Campaigners argued against Shell’s seismic data techniques because it would have sent loud shock waves echoing through the water every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day for five months—a move that would likely have driven wildlife from the area.

Italian architect Arturo Vittori has developed a device that collects water from the air.

Named Warka Water (inspired by the Warka tree), the tower consists of a bamboo frame supporting a mesh polyester material inside. Rain, fog and dew condenses against the mesh, then trickles down a funnel into a reservoir at the base of the structure. A fabric canopy shades the lower sections of the tower to prevent the collected water from evaporating.

How much water is collected varies depending on the weather, but Vittori's aim is to create a structure that would enable the community to extract up to 100 litres of water a day without the reservoir running dry.

The idea for the project came after visiting isolated communities on a high plateau in the northeast region of Ethiopia and observing how far they had to walk to collect water which was often contaminated with animal and human waste.

The design—which costs a relatively low $1,000 dollars to create—has been classified as an ‘open-source concept’, meaning it is publicly accessible and can be picked up by local communities to help combat clean water scarcity.