Biodiversity

World Bank Board Declines to Revise Controversial Draft Policies

By Jim Lobe
A key committee of the World Bank’s governing board Wednesday spurned appeals to revise a  draft policy statement that, according to nearly 100 civil-society groups, risks rolling back several decades of reforms designed to protect indigenous populations, the poor and sensitive ecosystems.

A Carrot Is a Carrot – or Is It?

By Justin Hyatt
Food security is often thought of as a question of diversifying supply and being able to move food through areas plagued by local scarcity, relying on the global economic system – including trade and transport – as the basis for operations.

Forest Rights Offer Major Opportunity to Counter Climate Change

By Carey L. Biron
The international community is failing to take advantage of a potent opportunity to counter climate change by strengthening local land tenure rights and laws worldwide, new data suggests.

Mexican Farmers Oppose Expansion of Transgenic Crops

By Emilio Godoy
Bean grower Manuel Alvarado is part of the majority of producers in Mexico who consider it unnecessary to introduce genetically modified varieties of beans, as the government is promoting.

New Data Sends Wake-Up Call on Caribbean Reefs

By Desmond Brown
Marine environmentalist Eli Fuller, who for the past two decades has been exploring the coastline of Antigua and Barbuda, warns that while there has been “dramatic changes” to coral reefs since he was a little boy, “it’s getting worse and worse.”

Obama Urged to Sanction Mozambique over Elephant, Rhino Poaching

By Carey L. Biron
Environmentalists are formally urging President Barack Obama to enact trade sanctions on Mozambique over the country’s alleged chronic facilitation of elephant and rhinoceros poaching through broad swathes of southern Africa.

Costa Rica Enforces Green Justice

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
Biologist Juan Sánchez drives the leader of two off-road vehicles along a dirt road in southeastern Costa Rica. Officials and experts are on their way to inspect a homestead whose owner has destroyed part of a mangrove swamp.

Violence Casts Shadow Over ‘Himalayan Viagra’ Harvest in Nepal

By Naresh Newar
Intense competition during harvest season for a fungus dubbed ‘Himalayan Viagra’ – coveted for its legendary aphrodisiac qualities – has sparked violence in Nepal’s remote western mountains, causing concern among security officials here about the safety of more than 100,000 harvesters.

Siberian Global Warming Meets Lukewarm Reaction in Russia

By Pavol Stracansky
People in Siberia must prepare to face frequent repeats of recent devastating floods as well as other natural disasters, scientists and ecologists are warning, amid growing evidence of the effects of global warming on one of the world’s most ecologically diverse regions.

Nicaragua’s Mayagna People and Their Rainforest Could Vanish

By José Adán Silva
More than 30,000 members of the Mayagna indigenous community are in danger of disappearing, along with the rainforest which is their home in Nicaragua, if the state fails to take immediate action to curb the destruction of the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve, the largest forest reserve in Central America and the third-largest in the world.

U.S. Turns Attention to Ocean Conservation, Food Security

By Michelle Tullo
A first-time U.S.-hosted summit on protecting the oceans has resulted in pledges worth some 800 million dollars to be used for conservation efforts.

South Sudan’s Wildlife Become Casualties Of War and Are Killed to Feed Soldiers and Rebels

By Charlton Doki
While South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar agreed last week to end the country’s devastating six-month conflict by forming a transitional government within the next two months, it may come too late for this country’s wildlife as conservation officials accuse fighters on both sides of engaging in killing wild animals to feed their forces.  

Chile’s Patagonia Celebrates Decision Against Wilderness Dams

By Marianela Jarroud
The Chilean government rejected Tuesday the controversial HidroAysén project for the construction of five hydroelectric dams on rivers in the south of the country. The decision came after years of struggle by environmental groups and local communities, who warned the world of the destruction the dams would wreak on the Patagonian wilderness.

Indian Legislators Wake Up to Climate Change

By Sujoy Dhar
Ramanjareyulu, a 55-year-old farmer from the southern India state of Andhra Pradesh, has been struggling to find his feet ever since inadequate rainfall dealt a blow to his harvest of groundnut and red gram (a pulse crop that grows primarily in India).

Mexico’s Biodiversity Under Siege

By Emilio Godoy
The Las Cruces hydroelectric project in the northwestern state of Nayarit is one of the threats to biodiversity in Mexico, according to activists.
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