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Saturday, August 8, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Combating Desertification and Drought
The Relentless March of Drought – That ‘Horseman of the Apocalypse’
By 2025 –that’s in less than 8 years from today-- 1.8 billion people will experience absolute water scarcity, and two thirds of the world will be living under water-stressed conditions. Now it is feared that advancing drought and deserts, growing water scarcity and decreasing food security may provoke a huge ‘tsunami” of climate refugees and migrants.
Re-Connect with Nature Now… Before It Is Too Late!
Now that president Donald Trump has announced the withdrawal of the world’s largest polluter in history—the United States, from the Paris Accord, perhaps one of the most specific warnings is what a United Nations independent expert on rights and the environment has just said: “We should be fully aware that we cannot enjoy our basic human rights without a healthy environment.”
Mixed Reactions to U.S. Withdrawal from Climate Deal
The United States is expected to withdraw from the landmark Paris climate agreement, prompting mixed reactions from civil society and political representatives.
Business Unusual: Valuing Water for a Sustainable Future
Valuing water is more than simply assigning costs to a scare resource - it is an essential step for transforming water governance to meet the needs of a prosperous future.
Valuing Water Beyond the Money
Amid the worst drought in a century, South Africans are kick-starting a global consultative process to agree on the values of water in a bid to ensure more equitable use of the finite resource.
In a “World of Plenty,” G7 Must Fight Famine
World leaders must step up and take action in fighting famine to prevent further catastrophic levels of hunger and deaths, said Oxfam.
Mapping and Responding to Climate-Induced Migration
As the world focuses on conflict-related migration and displacement, with an unprecedented 60 million fleeing from war and persecution, others are pointing to a less discussed trigger of population movements: climate change.
Kenya’s Drought: Response Must Be Sustainable, Not Piecemeal
A malnutrition emergency Food security in Kenya has deteriorated significantly since the end of 2016. UNICEF reports a significant increase in severe acute malnutrition. Nearly 110,000 children under-five need treatment, up from 75,300 in August 2016.
SLIDESHOW: Drought Highlights Ethiopia’s IDP Dilemma
Displaced pastoralists gather around newly arrived drums of brown water as a water truck speeds off to make further deliveries to settlements that have sprung up along the main road running out of Gode, one of the major urban centers in Ethiopia’s Somali region. 
Falling Between the Sun-Scorched Gaps: Drought Highlights Ethiopia’s IDP Dilemma
Displaced pastoralists gather around newly arrived drums of brown water as a water truck speeds off to make further deliveries to settlements that have sprung up along the main road running out of Gode, one of the major urban centers in Ethiopia’s Somali region.
Collective Amnesia in Famine Response and Resilience-Building
The emerging drought-induced humanitarian crisis—prevailing in countries from Niger in West Africa to Somalia in East Africa—and conflict-driven famine conditions in South Sudan, Somalia, and Northeast Nigeria, have become a regular phenomenon.
Caribbean Rolls Out Plans to Reduce Climate Change Hazards
Climate change remains inextricably linked to the challenges of disaster risk reduction (DRR). And according to the head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Robert Glasser, the reduction of greenhouse gases is “the single most urgent global disaster risk treatment”.
Caribbean Scientists Work to Limit Climate Impact on Marine Environment
Caribbean scientists say fishermen are already seeing the effects of climate change, so for a dozen or so years they’ve been designing systems and strategies to reduce the impacts on the industry.
Marching for a Green and Just Future
People around the world will be banding together to fight one of the world’s most pressing problems: climate change.
FEATURED VIDEO: Harnessing the Eco Superpowers of Bamboo
The bamboo plant can be found in abundance in several Caribbean countries, but the director of the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), Dr. Hans Friederich, says its importance in dealing with climate change has been missed by many of these countries. 
Kenya Is Doing Its Part to Battle Drought, We Must Too
After three years of drought and failed harvests, Kenya is in the grip of a national crisis. All eyes are on neighbouring Somalia and South Sudan – where the needs are indeed greater and more acute – but we must not forget the nearly 3 million Kenyans whose lives have been blighted by these extreme conditions.
Indigenous Women: The Frontline Protectors of the Environment
Indigenous women, while experiencing the first and worst effects of climate change globally, are often in the frontline in struggles to protect the environment.
New Generation Rallies to Climate Cause in Trinidad
As two environmental activist groups in Trinidad and Tobago powered by young volunteers prepare to ramp up their climate change and sustainability activism, they are also contemplating their own sustainability and how they can become viable over the long-term.
Bamboo Gaining Traction in Caribbean as Climate Savior
Keen to tap its natural resources as a way to boost its struggling economy, Guyana struck a multi-million-dollar deal with Norway in 2009.
“Imagine a World Where the Worst-Case Scenarios Have Been Realized”
The tiny island-nation of Antigua and Barbuda has made an impassioned plea for support from the international community to deal with the devastating impacts of climate change.
The Unbearable Cost of Drought in Africa
Nearly 50 per cent of all emergency multilateral food assistance to Africa is due to natural disasters, with advancing droughts significantly threatening both livelihoods and economic growth, warns the African Union through its ground-breaking extreme weather insurance mechanism designed to help the continent’s countries resist and recover from the ravages of drought.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Today, some two billion people depend on ecosystems in dryland areas, with 90 percent of them living in developing countries. But the pace of arable land degradation is accelerating – now estimated at 35 times the historical rate -- impacting biodiversity, availability of clean water and food security, as well as exposing vulnerable communities to the harsh impacts of climate change. As the only legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) works to improve the living conditions of people in the drylands. IPS looks at local solutions being implemented around the world, from restoring soil productivity and mitigating the effects of drought, to projects that empower communities to manage their dryland resources more effectively.
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Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
