AUDIO – High Oil Costs Drive Jamaica’s Clean Energy Agenda

Jamaica’s spend on oil imports is now topping its export earnings and environmentalists are worried that high electricity rates and petroleum prices are increasing the nation's vulnerability to external shocks and putting pressure on the local environment. [podcast]http://traffic.libsyn.com/ipsaudio/1_Track_01.mp3[/podcast]

Jamaica to Galvanise Public on Climate Adaptation

A public awareness project that aims to foster wider understanding among locals about the linkages between the global climate and their social and economic wellbeing is Jamaica's newest adaptation strategy.

Dominica Seeks Millions for Climate Change Strategy

Dominica presented its "2012-2020 Low Carbon Climate Resilient Development Strategy" to donors including the World Bank on Wednesday in a bid to gain wider access to funding and position itself as a regional leader in renewable energy.

Argentina Responds to Climate Challenge with Transgenic Seeds

Researchers in Argentina have isolated a sunflower gene and implanted it into corn, wheat and soybean seeds to make them more resistant to drought and soil salinity, problems increasingly faced by this South American agricultural powerhouse as a result of global warming.

CENTRAL AFRICA: Tentative Steps Towards Adaptation

Governments and civil society organisations in Central Africa are slowly developing strategies in response to global warming. But specialists say the steps being taken seem hesitant in the face of emerging realities.

Eastern Caribbean Seeks Funds for Green Growth

As developing countries urgently seek new sources of financing to cope with problems linked to climate change, delegates from the nine-nation Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) met here last week to evaluate potential funds and outline a more concrete vision of what is required for the subregion.

Counting on responsible travellers who increasingly seek environmentally friendly alternatives for their holidays, South Africa’s tourism sector wants to conserve its biggest asset, nature, while fighting climate change.

Counting on responsible travellers who increasingly seek environmentally friendly alternatives for their holidays, South Africa's tourism sector wants to conserve its biggest asset, nature, while fighting climate change.

Rooibos tea has become a popular drink around the globe. But climate change is putting a strain on the plant, which only grows in a very small part of South Africa.

Rooibos tea has become a popular drink around the globe. But climate change is putting a strain on the plant, which only grows in a very small part of South Africa.

PUERTO RICO: Cleaner Energy Sources Prove Divisive

As Puerto Rico seeks to lower soaring utility rates while simultaneously shifting toward cleaner energy sources, it faces grassroots opposition to two major projects even though at least one is 100-percent renewable.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Clean, Efficient Wood Stoves Good for People and the Planet

In his quest to make the most efficient possible use of energy generated through wood combustion, Salvadoran René Núñez developed a simple but highly efficient wood stove that produces no smoke and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 95 percent.

AUDIO – KENYA: Thirsty Eucalyptus Good for Absorbing Carbon

Eucalyptus trees are helping Kenyans to earn an income, but they are also playing a role in mitigating carbon emissions. However, the Kenyan government is of the opinion that the trees might be putting a strain on water resources. [podcast]http://traffic.libsyn.com/ipsaudio/20120313_eucalyptus_esipisu.mp3[/podcast]

KENYA: Thirsty Eucalyptus Good for Absorbing Carbon

On a steep slope of land in Thangathi village in Central Province, Kenya, Peter Nyaga surveys his four-year-old eucalyptus woodlot. He calculates the value of every tree on his two-hectare piece of land at maturity in three years.

JAMAICA: Waking Up to Urgency of a National Climate Policy

As increasingly extreme and erratic weather driven by the earth's changing climate exacts a heavy toll on Jamaica's population, economy and infrastructure, a consensus has emerged among scientists and policy makers here that adaptation measures must include hazard mitigation.

Saving the Forests with Indigenous Knowledge

For the Laibon community, a sub-tribe of Kenya's Maasai ethnic group, the 33,000-hectare Loita Forest in the country's Rift Valley Province is more than just a forest. It is a shrine.

NEPAL: Praying Against Climate Change

There are gasps from the audience as a series of shocking images flash across the screen: human hands eaten away by arsenic, the carcass of a cow so emaciated that it looks two-dimensional, a starved child with matchstick legs grasping at the udder of an animal for sustenance.

OP-ED: Can Finance Provide the Crown Jewels of a Durban Climate Accord?

As climate talks get underway in Durban, South Africa this week, progress on a Green Climate Fund is one of the hottest, most contentious tickets in town. It is also one of the great prizes to be won.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Kashmiri Farmers Left High and Dry

Sammad Sheikh of Tangchekh village in north Kashmir cannot understand why the rice fields that his family cultivated for generations are drying up.

Latin American Integration Does Not Extend to Climate Change**

The foreseeable absence of binding agreements to stabilise the global climate could give rise to increased regional cooperation to help Latin American countries adapt to the severe effects of climate change.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Making a Hot Cup of Rooibos Tea Unaffordable

South Africa’s Rooibos tea has become a popular drink all around the globe. But prices of the herbal brew could shoot up within the next decade, as the Rooibos plant can only grow in one small region in the world – which is severely affected by climate change.

AFRICA: Change the Donors Climate

When donor-funded horticultural projects failed in Kalacha village at the edge of the Chalbi Desert in North Eastern Province, Kenya, the local pastoralist community proposed their own idea, which turned out to be the solution to their problems.

Africa’s Future Lies in a Green Energy Grid

Development in Africa could falter as climate change grips the continent, increasing the length and severity of droughts and floods by altering precipitation patterns, among other impacts.