Biodiversity

Curbing the Illegal Wildlife Trade Crucial to Preserving Biodiversity

By Stella Paul
For over five years, 33-year-old Maheshwar Basumatary, a member of the indigenous Bodo community, made a living by killing wild animals in the protected forests of the Manas National Park, a tiger reserve, elephant sanctuary and UNESCO World Heritage Site that lies on the India-Bhutan border.

Marine Litter: Plunging Deep, Spreading Wide

By Manipadma Jena
Imagine a black-footed albatross feeding its chick plastic pellets, a baby seal in the North Pole helplessly struggling with an open-ended plastic bag wrapped tight around its neck, or a fishing vessel stranded mid-sea, a length of discarded nylon net entangled in its propeller. Multiply these scenarios a thousand-fold, and you get a glimpse of the state of the world’s oceans.

Family Farmers Don’t Need Climate-Smart Agriculture

By Emilio Godoy
Small farmers can look to options like agroecological intensification and innovation, without necessarily turning to climate-smart agriculture, which is promoted by the United Nations but has awakened doubts among global experts meeting in this Italian city.

Acid Oceans Could Deal Heavy Blow to Fishing-Dependant Nations

By Desmond Brown
Scientists here are warning Caribbean countries, where the fisheries sector is an important source of livelihoods and sustenance, that they should pay close attention to a new international report released Wednesday on ocean acidification.

Synthetic Biology Could Open a Whole New Can of Worms

By Desmond Brown
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is the world’s leading producer of vetiver. In the southwest of the country, vetiver production is hard to ignore.

Financing for Biodiversity: A Simple Matter of Keeping Promises

By Stella Paul
With governments, activists and scientists tearing their hair out over the world’s impending crisis in biodiversity, the outgoing president of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) delivered a simple message to participants at the 12th Conference of the Parties to the CBD (COP12) currently underway in the Republic of Korea’s northern Pyeongchang county: honour the promises you made last year.

U.S. Investigation into Illegal Timber Imports a “Sea Change”

By Carey L. Biron
A year after a U.S. company was accused of engaging in the systematic importing of flooring made from illegally harvested timber, pressure is mounting on federal agencies currently investigating the allegations.

Antigua Faces Climate Risks with Ambitious Renewables Target

By Desmond Brown
Ruth Spencer is a pioneer in the field of solar energy. She promotes renewable technologies to communities throughout her homeland of Antigua and Barbuda, playing a small but important part in helping the country achieve its goal of a 20-percent reduction in the use of fossil fuels by 2020.

Humanity Failing the Earth’s Ecosystems

By Kanya D'Almeida
In pure numbers, the past few decades have been marked by destruction: over the last 40 years, Earth has lost 52 percent of its wild animals; nearly 17 percent of the world’s forests have been felled in the last half-century; freshwater ecosystems have witnessed a 75-percent decline in animal populations since 1970; and nearly 95 percent of coral reefs are today threatened by pollution, coastal development and overfishing.

New Global Declaration “Insufficient” to Tackle Deforestation

By Carey L. Biron
Heads of state, civil society groups and the leaders of some of the world’s largest companies this week urged their peers to sign on to a landmark new global agreement aimed at halting deforestation by 2030, even as others are warning the accord is too lax.

OPINION: From Elephants to Blue Whales, Sri Lanka Leads the Way on Biodiversity

By Dr. Palitha Kohona
Sri Lanka will host the World Biodiversity Congress (WBC) Nov. 24-27. Given its long and active history of preserving biodiversity, it would be most appropriate for Sri Lanka to be the next host of this global event, which also marks the U.N.'s Decade on Biodiversity.

Puerto Rico’s Green Crusaders Still Going Strong

By Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero
The heart of Puerto Rico’s central mountain range is the site of an extraordinary story of struggle and triumph.

OPINION: A Roadmap to Living – and Thriving – in Harmony with Nature

By Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias
In Nagoya, Japan, in 2010, the international community made a commitment to future generations by adopting the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

Outgunned by Rich Polluters, Africa to Bring United Front to Climate Talks

By Monde Kingsley Nfor
As climate change interest groups raise their voices across Africa to call for action at the COP20 climate meeting in December and the crucial COP21 in Paris in 2015, many worry that the continent may never have fair representation at the talks.

Championing Ocean Conservation Or Paying Lip Service to the Seas?

By Christopher Pala
President Barack Obama this week extended the no-fishing areas around three remote pacific islands, eliciting praise from some, and disappointment from those who fear the move did not go far enough towards helping depleted species of fish recover.

Climate-Smart Agriculture is Corporate Green-Washing, Warn NGOs

By Thalif Deen
On the sidelines of the U.N.'s heavily hyped Climate Summit, the newly-launched Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture announced plans to protect some 500 million farmers worldwide from climate change and "help achieve sustainable and equitable increases in agricultural productivity and incomes."

Climate Change an “Existential Threat” for the Caribbean

By Desmond Brown
When it comes to climate change, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves doesn’t mince words: he will tell you that it is a matter of life and death for Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Biodiversity Offsetting Advances in Latin America Amidst Controversy

By Emilio Godoy
Compensation for biodiversity loss, which is taking its first steps in Latin America, is criticised by social organisations for “commodifying” nature and failing to remedy the impacts of extractive industries and other activities that destroy natural areas and wildlife.

Rare Zambian Tree Faces Exploitation Because of Legal Loophole

By Piliro Phiri

Steven Nyambose used to sell charcoal for a living until he discovered that the trees could be more lucrative in another way - through cutting them down and selling the logs to international buyers.

New Fund to Build on “Unprecedented Convergence” Around Land Rights

By Carey L. Biron
Starting next year, a new grant-making initiative will aim to fill what organisers say has been a longstanding gap in international coordination and funding around the recognition of community land rights.

Latin America at a Climate Crossroads

By Susan McDade
World leaders gathered at the Climate Change Summit during the United Nations General Assembly on Sep. 23 will have a crucial opportunity to mobilise political will and advance solutions to climate change.
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