Natural Resources

The World Is Burning

By IPS World Desk
Record high temperatures are gripping much of the globe and more hot weather are to come. This implies more drought, more food insecurity, more famine and more massive human displacements.

Children Now More Than Half of the 65 Million Displaced

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Around 20 people are newly displaced every minute of the day, according to a new report.In its annual Global Trends report, the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR has recorded unprecedented and concerning levels of displacement around the world.

New Inhumane Record: One Person Displaced Every Three Second

By IPS World Desk
Nearly 66 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes last year, the United Nation refugee agency has reported.

Africa: Drought and Jobless, Hopeless Youth, Fertile Grounds for Extremism

By IPS World Desk
Ignoring the plight of jobless young people in sub-Saharan Africa is a recipe for political instability and global insecurity, warned a high-level symposium of Africa’s interior, environment and foreign affairs ministers in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Safeguarding Precious Crop Genes in Trust for Humanity

By Ini Ekott
A genetic resource centre run by the Nigeria-based International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has banked thousands of crop varieties for disaster relief and research, holds the world’s largest and most diverse collection of cowpeas, and contains some of Africa’s rarest insect species.

Africa Could Help Feed the World – If Its Fertile Land Doesn’t Vanish

By Younouss Youn
The 23rd World Day to Combat Desertification was celebrated in Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou on June 15 with a call to create two million jobs and restore 10 million hectares of degraded land.

Global Coalition Calls for Withdrawal of SDGs Progress Report

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
A report on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) fails to capture the the true picture of water challenges and the UN must withdraw it, said a global civil society coalition.

More Plastic than Fish or How Politicians Help Ocean Destruction

By Baher Kamal
World’s oceans are dangerously exposed to at least three major threats: climate change; the sharp degradation of marine biodiversity, and politicians. These simply encourage the destruction of oceans by subsidising over-fishing and turning a blind eye on illegal captures. See what happens.

Saving the Oceans, Saving the Future: Officials Tackle Marine Pollution

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
The oceans’ health is only getting worse and the cycle of decline must be reversed, said representatives at the opening of a high-level UN conference.

Charting a Course to a Blue Commonwealth

By Patricia Scotland
The United Nations Ocean Conference offers an historic opportunity to safeguard the ocean environment and support small island and vulnerable developing coastal states, who depend on the seas for national economic growth and sustainable development.

Business Unusual: Valuing Water for a Sustainable Future

By Paula Fray
Valuing water is more than simply assigning costs to a scare resource - it is an essential step for transforming water governance to meet the needs of a prosperous future.

Valuing Water Beyond the Money

By Paula Fray
Amid the worst drought in a century, South Africans are kick-starting a global consultative process to agree on the values of water in a bid to ensure more equitable use of the finite resource.

Gateway Portals and the Quest for Sustainable Urbanization

By Joan Erakit
On a busy Friday afternoon, the number 1 subway train heading north through Manhattan’s Westside comes out of a dark tunnel --and if one takes a minute to release oneself from communication devices—one can catch sight of the approaching 125th street in the distance, the crosswalk buzzing with yellow cabs.

Community Seed Banks: Securing Diversity for Climate Change Adaptation

By Elena L. Pasquini
For thousands of years, farmers have used genetic diversity to cope with weather variability and changing climate conditions. They have stored, planted, selected and improved seeds to continue producing food in a dynamic environment.

Defence of Right to Water Drives Call for Land Reform in Chile

By Orlando Milesi
Water at high prices, sold as a market good, and small farmers almost a species in extinction, replaced by seasonal workers, are the visible effects of the crisis in rural Chile, 50 years after a land reform which postulated that “the land is for those who work it.”

When It Comes to Fracking, Argentina Dreams Big

By Daniel Gutman
Since a US Energy Information Administration (EIA) report announced in 2011 that Argentina had some of the world’s biggest shale oil and gas reserves, the dream of prosperity has been on the minds of many people in this South American nation where nearly a third of the population lives in poverty.

Caribbean Rolls Out Plans to Reduce Climate Change Hazards

By Desmond Brown
Climate change remains inextricably linked to the challenges of disaster risk reduction (DRR). And according to the head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Robert Glasser, the reduction of greenhouse gases is “the single most urgent global disaster risk treatment”.

FEATURED VIDEO: Searching for Solutions to Disaster Risk Management

By Desmond Brown
Climate change remains inextricably linked to the challenges of disaster risk reduction (DRR). And according to the head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Robert Glasser, the reduction of greenhouse gases is “the single most urgent global disaster risk treatment”.

Caribbean Scientists Work to Limit Climate Impact on Marine Environment

By Zadie Neufville
Caribbean scientists say fishermen are already seeing the effects of climate change, so for a dozen or so years they’ve been designing systems and strategies to reduce the impacts on the industry.

Marching for a Green and Just Future

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
People around the world will be banding together to fight one of the world’s most pressing problems: climate change.

Financing Key to Reaching Everyone, Everywhere with Water & Sanitation

By John Garrett
Eighteen months ago, UN member-states pledged a new set of goals on eradicating extreme poverty and creating a fairer, more sustainable planet by 2030. This week, we have alarming evidence that at least one of those goals – Sustainable Development Goal 6, to reach everyone everywhere with access to water and sanitation – is already in peril.
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