Biodiversity

Plants: Up to 80% of Food and 98% of Oxygen, Endangered

By Baher Kamal
It is as simple –and as horrifying– as that: both human health and the health of Planet Earth depend on plants. However, plants that make up 80% of the food and 98% of the oxygen, are under growing dangerous threats.

Give Edible Insects a Chance as an Alternative High-Quality Protein Source, say Scientists

By Joyce Chimbi
Growing up in Samoya Village of Bungoma County in the Western part of Kenya, Elvis Wanjala has fond childhood memories of the rainy season, chasing and catching black-bellied winged termites in the rain.

Biodiversity: Indigenous Peoples, the Last Custodians

By Baher Kamal
Every now and then, experts remind that the Indigenous Peoples are the best (and last?) custodians of the essential web of life: biodiversity.

Landmark UN Report Issues Stark call for Sustainable Land Management to Save Human Health

By Alison Kentish
With 50% of humanity affected by land degradation, the world must move to a ‘crisis footing’ to conserve, restore and use land resources sustainably, a major UN report has said.

Big Business Depletes Nature, Big Business Supplants Nature with Synthetic Food

By Baher Kamal
In case you were not aware, please know that humanity used to cultivate more than 6.000 plant species for food, but now instead fewer than 200 of these species make major contributions to food production. Out of these, only 9% account for 66% of total crop production.

Earth Day to Earth Disaster

By Joseph Chamie
Since the first Earth Day observed on 22 April 1970, world conditions have worsened greatly across three critically interrelated global dimensions that portend a disastrous future for life on planet Earth.

The Suicidal War on Nature Continues Unabated – International Mother Earth Day

By Baher Kamal
The gloomy picture is drawn from indisputable scientific conclusions and should be already known by everybody, in particular by decision-makers, whether they are politicians… or rather not.

Commonwealth Climate Finance Hub to Boost Belize’s Delivery of Climate Change Projects

By Zadie Neufville
In September 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK-based Commonwealth Secretariat announced that it had dispatched highly skilled climate finance advisors to four member nations to help them navigate the often-complicated process of accessing climate funds. Belize, the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) only Central American member, was one of the recipients.

The Mayan Train and the Fight for Mexico’s Ancient Jungle

By Emilio Godoy
Along the wide slash of white earth in southwestern Mexico there are no longer trees or animals. In their place, orange signs with white stripes warn visitors: "Heavy machinery in motion," "No unauthorized personnel allowed".

How a Massive Climate Project Can Help Win Peace for Ukraine – And Help African Job + Food Crises

By Julius Awaregya, Rev. Mpho Tutu van Furth and Don Mullan
How would the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu have reacted to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine? Differently than you might think. The invasion of Ukraine is a mass human tragedy. It is killing Ukrainians, exposing families to violent atrocities, and has driven a refugee crisis of over 4 million people and counting. The war in Ukraine has also reawakened our fear of global war - even nuclear war - and the importance we place on global peace.

Indian Agriculture Towards 2030

By Shyam Khadka
India began its journey as an independent nation in 1947 with fresh memory of the Bengal Famine of 1943 which claimed 1.5 to 3 million lives. Against this backdrop, the First Five Year Plan (1951-56) prioritized agriculture which, however, shifted to heavily industrialization in the second Plan.

Palm Oil for Biodiesel in the Amazon: Sustainable Fuel or Deforestation Risk?

By Monica Prestes
Oil palm, known as dendezeiro in Brazil, can produce up to ten times more vegetable oil per hectare than other crops, but it is regularly condemned as harmful to the biodiversity of tropical forests in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Now, its cultivation looks set to advance in the Brazilian Amazon.

Shall the Arctic Burn?

By Baher Kamal
Climate change and land-use change are projected to make wildfires more frequent and intense, with a global increase of extreme fires of up to 14 percent by 2030, 30 percent by the end of 2050 and 50 percent by the end of the century, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and GRID-Arendal, a non-profit environmental communications centre based in Norway.

International Women’s Day, 2022
War, Autocrats and Fossil Fuels – Women on the Front Line

By Farhana Haque Rahman
For decades women’s demands for political and economic inclusion have placed them centre-stage in mass struggles against dictatorships across the world. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its indiscriminate attacks on civilians now put women’s movements firmly on the front line of war, autocrats and fossil fuels.

With One Million Species Endangered, the Web of Life Is at Risk of Extinction

By Baher Kamal
These are not by any means just mere figures. It is about the risk of extinction of the whole life cycle. See what is at stake.

Pacific Islanders: Failure to Commit to 1.5 Degrees at COP27 will Imperil the World’s Oceans

By Catherine Wilson
Oceans play a pivotal role in regulating the world’s climate and maintaining the conditions for human life on earth. And they are a crucial source of sustenance and economic wellbeing in many developing countries, including small island developing states. But Pacific Islanders are deeply concerned about the fate of the oceans if world leaders fail to secure the pledges needed to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 Degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels at the next COP27 climate change summit in November.

Speed Dating with the Future, a Romance with Science and Biodiversity

By Busani Bafana
In a busy world where love is a complicated affair, speed dating is one way to connect, but can it work to ignite more sustainable relationships with nature? Are we open to a romance with science and evidence?

When the Fate of Half Our Planet is being Discussed, it’s too Important to Shut out Civil Society

By Will McCallum
Over the past two weeks, a petition signed by almost five million people globally was handed in to governments around the world. It called for a Global Ocean Treaty to help rescue our oceans.

Nature Insight: Speed Dating with the Future

Speed dating is about having a short time to communicate things that could change your life. That’s exactly what we’re doing on this podcast, by introducing you to people with unique insight into our relationship with nature.

Road to COP27: Why Africa cannot be Complacent on Energy, Climate Change

By Bitsat Yohannes-Kassahun
A year ago, we welcomed 2021 with a sense of cautious optimism when the newly developed vaccines promised a shift in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus turned towards building back better and doing things differently as many countries started to rethink and rebuild their shattered economies.

Future of Coral Reefs in the Time of Climate Change

By Geetika Chandwani and Ira Chandwani
Coral reefs are one of the world’s most biologically diverse and productive ecosystems. They provide abundant ecological goods and services and are central to the socio-economic and cultural welfare of coastal and island communities – throughout tropical and subtropical ocean countries – by contributing billions of dollars to the local and global economies, when combined with tourism and recreation.
Next Page »