Natural Resources

Human-Caused Climate Change, Not El Niño, Drives Most Coral Bleaching Events – Research

By Kizito Makoye
Every morning, as the Indian Ocean retreats from the reef off Zanzibar's Jambiani village, Chiku Chande steps into the knee-deep lagoon carrying bundles of seaweed seedlings. Years of farming these waters have taught her about every channel and coral outcrop. But lately, the corals that once glowed in brown and gold have become chalky white.

As Gold Prices Soar, Communities Pay the Price in Poisoned Rivers, Vanishing Forests and Organized Crime

By Kizito Makoye
The sweltering heat inside a London conference hall did not deter Indigenous leader Jackeline Mendoza Díaz from condemning the sheer destruction of the Peruvian Amazon. Her voice occasionally trembled with emotion but delivered a strong message — painting a picture far removed from the glittering gold bars traded in the world’s financial capitals.

How Farmers Are Learning About Restoring Soils and Scaling Agroecology in Kenya

By Isaiah Esipisu
At Yumbuni Village in Kenya’s Makueni County, farmers from Vihiga and Kakamega counties have travelled over 560 kilometres to join their colleagues in Kathonzweni Ward and see the progress of experiments being carried out on different homemade organic fertilisers and other farm inputs.

Invasive Prickly Pear Turned into Food, Clean Energy Source

By Wilson Odhiambo
An international academic partnership is helping turn one of Laikipia County’s most destructive and invasive plants, the prickly pear cactus (Opuntia stricta), into a source of food security and clean energy while also helping end perennial resource conflict in the region.

Inside GEF’s Blended Finance Push: Turning Public Money Into Private Capital Leverage

By Kizito Makoye
For most of the Eighth Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Assembly last month, the atmosphere inside Samarkand’s sprawling Congress Centre echoed a growing confidence of global environmental policymakers.

Dry Monsoon in South Asia: Looming Fears of Agricultural Loss, Extreme Heat, and Disaster

By Tanka Dhakal
Monsoon season in South Asia, including Nepal, is a period of frequent rainfall, extreme heat, and a busy time of the year for farmers. Most farmers in Nepal depend on monsoon rain to plant paddey, the main source of food.

Universities Join Hands to Enhance Agroforestry Research for Mitigating Climate Change

By Wilson Odhiambo
A team of universities, led by Addis Ababa University, has joined forces to implement a four-year Intra-Africa academic mobility project aimed at strengthening agroforestry research and education for climate change mitigation.

War, Heatwaves and Energy Shocks Fuel Push for Clean Energy

By Zofeen Ebrahim
The 30 COP gatherings may not have done what three months of US-Israeli war against Iran did: expose the world's vulnerability to fossil fuels.

From Rotten Tomatoes to AI: Ugandan Commonwealth Youth Award Winner Takes Aim at Hunger Across Africa

By Kizito Makoye
Before anyone called her an innovator, before artificial intelligence entered the conversation, before solar-powered cold rooms, before the language of sustainable development, Shifra Ainomugisha knew food loss in its painful form.

In West Africa’s Benin, Women Make Centuries-Old Salt Production Methods Sustainable

By Neha Banka
It is barely noon, and a group of women sit near the beach on the outskirts of Djégbadji village, in West Africa’s Benin, sifting through mounds of salt harvested from the Gulf of Guinea’s ocean.

New GEF Project Raises Hope for Change in India’s Indigenous Lake Community

By Stella Paul
At dawn, when the waters of Dumboor Lake lie still under a pale grey sky, Santo Chakma, 63, nudges his narrow wooden boat into a reservoir that swallowed his childhood.

How AgricTech Cuts Labour for Zimbabwe’s Female Farmers

By Ignatius Banda
Long burdened by the labour-intensive nature of agriculture, Zimbabwe's female farmers are finding relief in new agritechnologies that significantly reduce the time they spend in the field.

In Sikkim, Snow Leopards and Communities Share the High Mountains

By Diwash Gahatraj
The tea arrives before the conversation starts. Jayanta Mukhia sets two cups on the wooden table and pulls up a chair across from the couple who arrived that afternoon with trekking poles and rucksacks. They have come to walk the Goechala trail into the heart of Khangchendzonga National Park in India. They will leave in two days. Before they go, she has something to tell them.

Health Emerges as a Strategic Frontline for Africa Ahead of Bonn Climate Conference

By Friday Phiri
Africa contributes the least to global greenhouse gas emissions, yet it faces some of the world's most severe climate-related health impacts. Several realities define the continent's climate and health landscape – increased infectious diseases, air pollution, death, disruption and pressure on health systems through heatwaves, floods, droughts and storms.

Papua New Guinea Bets on Indigenous Communities to Protect 700,000 Hectares of Highlands

By Kizito Makoye
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has approved USD 6.4 million for a new conservation initiative in Papua New Guinea that seeks to protect 700,000 hectares of critical highland ecosystems by placing Indigenous Peoples and local communities at the centre of conserving and managing their ancestral lands.

Central Asia Bets on a New Water–Land Pact to Survive Environmental Degradation

By Kizito Makoye
As ministers, diplomats and development officials assembled in Samarkand Congress Centre for a ceremonial family photograph, the mood carried unusual symbolism. Behind the smiles and formalities stood a region confronting a harder reality: rivers are shrinking, soils are tiring, temperatures are rising, and the old ways of managing land and water are no longer working.

Billions Lost as Secret Financial Networks Fuel Forest Destruction in Brazil and Cameroon

By Umar Manzoor Shah
A new report has found that billions of dollars linked to illegal deforestation are flowing through global supply chains, with secrecy around land ownership and company records helping timber, soy, and beef products enter international markets unchecked.

Make Last Sprint Towards 2030 a ‘Turning Point’ for Nature Finance, Eighth GEF Assembly Told

By Cecilia Russell
"While pressures on public budgets are growing and geopolitical tensions rising, it can be tempting to see environmental finance as optional. It is not,” GEF Interim CEO and Chair Claude Gascon told the closing plenary of the Eighth GEF Assembly in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, today.

As Global Demand for Gold Grows, UN Mercury Head Warns Toxic Fumes Put Women in a Motherhood Dilemma

By Kizito Makoye
Ask any woman miner in the Katoro goldfield in Tanzania’s northern Geita region, and she will tell you that she touches toxic mercury with her bare hands when extracting gold from crushed ore.

Tanzanians Seek Stronger GEF Support to Cushion Vulnerable Communities

By Kizito Makoye
In the opulent conference halls of Samarkand, far from the drought-hit fields of East Africa, Tanzanian delegates have warned that unless global climate finance is directed to rural communities, environmental destruction will only accelerate, deepening the vulnerability of those least responsible for the crisis.

At GEF’s Eighth Assembly, Uzbekistan Signals New Role as Donor

By Stella Paul
In a significant policy shift symbolising rising environmental ambition, Uzbekistan on Thursday announced that it will become a donor of international environmental funding to the Global Environment Facility (GEF), as the Eighth GEF Assembly opened in the historic city of Samarkand.
Next Page »
*#*