Biodiversity

Mars Latest to Announce “No Deforestation” Palm Oil Pledge

By Carey L. Biron
The multinational food giant Mars, Inc. unveiled Monday a new set of guidelines aimed at ensuring that its palm oil supply lines are completely traceable and sustainable by next year.

Sun Shines on Forest Women

By Stella Paul
Chintapakka Jambulamma, 34, looks admiringly at a solar dryer. It’s the prized possession of the Advitalli Tribal Women’s Co-operative Society- a collective of women entrepreneurs that she leads.

Kerala Throttling its Golden Goose

By Keya Acharya
Farming, tourism, poor fishing practices along with misdirected policies are muddying the famous backwaters of Kerala, one of India’s best known holiday destinations. Nowhere is this misuse more visible than in and around the 95-km-long Vembanad Lake.

U.S. Farmers Report Widespread GM Crop Contamination

By Carey L. Biron
A third of U.S. organic farmers have experienced problems in their fields due to the nearby use of genetically modified crops, and over half of those growers have had loads of grain rejected because of unwitting GMO contamination.

Predatory Lionfish Decimating Caribbean Reefs

By Christopher Pala
The lionfish, with its striking russet and white stripes and huge venomous outrigger fins, wasn’t hard to spot under a coral reef in 15 feet of clear water. Nor was it a challenge to spear it.

Indoor Mini-Farms to Beat Climate Change

By Jewel Fraser
Industrial engineer Ancel Bhagwandeen thinks that growing your food indoors is a great way to protect crops from the stresses of climate change. So he developed a hydroponic system that “leverages the nanoclimates in houses so that the house effectively protects the produce the same way it protects us,” he says.

Website Gives Real-Time Snapshot of Deforestation

By Bryant Harris
A new website launched Thursday will allow governments, businesses, civil society and private citizens to monitor near real-time loss and gain in forest cover in every country around the world.

Website Welcomes Wildlife Trafficking Whistleblowers

By Ramy Srour
A group of international organisations fighting illicit wildlife trafficking has unveiled a new website aimed at assisting whistleblowers who want to aid in the fight against wildlife crimes.

Resistance Over GMOs as South Africa Pushes Biotechnology

By Busani Bafana
On a family farm tucked between the rolling hills of Masopane, 40 km outside of South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, 35-year-old Sophie Mabhena is dreaming big about her crop of genetically modified (GM) maize.

Kenya’s Scorched Earth Removal of Forest’s Indigenous

By Matthew Newsome
Kenyan government security forces are forcefully evicting thousands of people, including the indigenous Sengwer tribe, from the Embobut forest in western Kenya by burning homes and possessions in an effort to promote forest conservation, safeguard urban water access and “remove squatters”.

Wildlife Poaching Thought to Bankroll International Terrorism

By Ramy Srour
Top diplomats and retired U.S. military officials are urging Western and African governments to step up the global fight against illegal wildlife poaching.

Anti-Poaching Operation Spreads Terror in Tanzania

By Kizito Makoye
Ali Nyenge, a resident of Iputi ward in Tanzania's northern Ulanga District, woke up as anti-poaching security officers surrounded his home. He says they accused him of illegal hunting and in front of his 11-year-old son, made him take his clothes off, poured salt water on his body and whipped him with a cane.

Women Farmers in Chile to Teach the Region Agroecology

By Marianela Jarroud
An organisation that brings together some 10,000 peasant and indigenous women from Chile is launching an agroecology institute for women campesinos, or small farmers, in South America.

Seedpods Worth More than Gold in Argentina’s Arid North

By Fabiana Frayssinet
Tired of the drought driving away their men and killing their livestock, the women of Guanaco Sombriana, a town in northern Argentina, have found a new source of income by using the seedpods of native trees that up to now merely provided shade in this arid landscape.

GMO Test Trials Prove Divisive in Ghana

By Albert Oppong-Ansah
A battle over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is building in Ghana after the government recently completed regulations that could allow modified cowpeas and other selected crops to be grown following confined field trials (CFT).
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