Biodiversity

The PELIS Factor

By Moraa Obiria
Peter Wainaina’s focus is on the fresh Irish potatoes he has just harvested. He assembles them into a 90-kilogramme bag while sorting out the unmarketable ones like sliced and tiny tubes. He lives on a small plot of land in Njabini, 600 metres away from a farm in Aberdares forest, west central Kenya, where he has been growing this fast-maturing crop for the past three months.

Forests Help Quench Urban Thirst

By René Castro Salazar
The next time you turn on the tap to fill the kettle, you might want to spare a thought for the forest that made it possible. It may be a hundred kilometres away or more from where you are sitting, but the chances are that you owe your cup of tea, in part at least, to the trees that helped to capture the water, and to filter it on its long journey to you the consumer.

Corruption Threat to Pacific Island Forests

By Catherine Wilson
The vast rainforests of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Solomon Islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean are crucial for environmental sustainability, survival of indigenous peoples and the wider goal of containing climate change. But forest degradation, driven primarily by excessive commercial logging, most of which is illegal, is a perpetual threat.

African Staple Plantains at Risk of Same Diseases as Bananas

By Lyndal Rowlands and Palwesha Yusaf
Anna Gamusi, has been growing ‘matooke’ - plantains - for over 20 years. She originally learnt how to grow them in her home village of Busolwe in Eastern Uganda, but says that they are no longer grown there.

Asian Scientists Grapple with How to Foster Crop Pollination

By Sumon Dey
Pollinators, whose role is essential in a third of what the world eats, are at center stage after a landmark new United Nations report warned that many of the 20,000 species are threatened by human behaviour.

The UAE’s Journey Towards Clean Energy

By Rajeev Batra, Special to Gulf News
The discovery of hydrocarbon reserves brought tremendous prosperity for the UAE and made it a central player in the global energy market. With one of the highest gross domestic product per capita levels in the world, the UAE has generally used its wealth wisely to stimulate sustainable economic growth. However, volatility in oil markets, growing unrest across the region and the growing threat of climate change has concentrated minds on the need for immediate and decisive action.

Caribbean Biodiversity Overheated by Climate Change

By Ivet González
The nearly 7,000 islands and the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea are home to thousands of endemic species and are on the migration route of many kinds of birds. Preserving this abundant fauna requires multilateral actions in today’s era of global warming.

Agroecology in Africa: Mitigation the Old New Way

By Frederic Mousseau
Millions of African farmers don’t need to adapt to climate change. They have done that already.

Indigenous Villagers Fight “Evil Spirit” of Hydropower Dam in Brazil

By Fabiana Frayssinet
At dusk on the Tapajós River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon River in northern Brazil, the Mundurukú indigenous people gather to bathe and wash clothes in these waters rich in fish, the staple of their diet. But the “evil spirit”, as they refer in their language to the Sao Luiz Tapajós dam, threatens to leave most of their territory – and their way of life – under water.

Soy, an Exotic Fruit in Brazil’s Amazon Jungle

By Fabiana Frayssinet
In the northern Brazilian state of Pará, the construction of a port terminal for shipping soy out of the Amazon region has displaced thousands of small farmers from their land, which is now dedicated to monoculture.

Pakistan Moves to Stop Biodiversity Loss

By Saleem Shaikh and Sughra Tunio
Pakistan has framed a biodiversity conservation and protection plan aimed at stemming biodiversity loss, restoring ecosystems and promoting sustainable use of natural resources for the wellbeing of the present and the future generations.

Native Seeds Help Weather Climate Change in El Salvador

By Edgardo Ayala
Knife in hand, Domitila Reyes deftly cuts open the leaves covering the cob of corn, which she carefully removes from the plant – a process she carries out over and over all morning long, standing in the middle of a sea of corn, a staple in the diet of El Salvador.

Private Nature Reserves in Latin America Seek a Bigger Role

By Fabíola Ortiz
Private voluntary nature reserves in Latin America should be seen as allies in policies on the environment, climate change mitigation and the preservation of biological diversity in rainforests, say experts.

Opinion: Risks? What Risks?

By Hazel Henderson
We humans are acutely aware of risks. From our earliest times, the risks we faced were from hunger, predatory animals, extreme environmental conditions and, as our numbers grew, from other human tribes.

Preserving Mangroves Provides Protection and Food Security

By Malini Shankar
At the dawn of Indian Independence, Government of India’s commitment to food security – in addition to the impact of the Bengal Famine – was haunted by corruption, hoarding and mismanagement, resulting in ongoing food insecurity among the indigenous people in Tamilnadu and Orissa that lasted for more than five decades,

Medicinal Plants Popular and Unprotected in Mexico

By Emilio Godoy
“This plant heals 150 ailments, like diabetes, high blood pressure and gastritis. It's prepared as an infusion or blended with water, and you take it every day," says Clemente Calixto, a traditional indigenous healer in Mexico, holding up a green leafy branch.

Opinion: It’s Time to Put Local Communities in Charge of Liberia’s Forests

By Matthias Yeanay and Roland Harris
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf recently affirmed her commitment to the land rights of Liberia’s local communities, who rely on the forests for their livelihoods and have cared for them for generations.

Terrace Farming – an Ancient Indigenous Model for Food Security

By Marianela Jarroud
Terrace farming as practiced from time immemorial by native peoples in the Andes mountains contributes to food security as a strategy of adaptation in an environment where the geography and other conditions make the production of nutritional foods a complex undertaking.

In Hawaii, Concern Rises about Use of Farm Pesticides

By Christopher Pala
Tammy Brehio stood on the back balcony of her home in Kihei on the island of Maui and pointed to a brown field a few hundred yards away.

ASEAN Agreement on Haze? As Clear as Smoke

By Kanis Dursin
A regional agreement on managing transboundary haze caused by fires raging in Indonesia’s forests and peatlands appears all but buried in the embers of frustration of its neighbouring countries.

Healthy Oceans Key to Fighting Hunger

By Marianela Jarroud
Seafood offers a large amount of animal protein in diets around the world, and the livelihoods of 12 percent of the global population depend directly or indirectly on fisheries and aquaculture.
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