Biodiversity

Will the Upcoming Climate Summit Be Another Talkathon?

By Meenakshi Raman
As the United Nations hosts a Climate Summit Sep. 23, the lingering question is whether the meeting of world leaders will wind up as another talk fest.

OPINION: A Climate Summit to Spark Action

By Ban Ki-moon
On Sep. 23, I have invited world leaders from government, business, finance and civil society to a Climate Summit in New York so they can show the world how they will advance action on climate change and move towards a meaningful universal new agreement next year at the December climate negotiations in Paris.

Blue Halo: A Conservation Flagship, or Death Knell for Fishermen?

By Desmond Brown
Local fishermen are singing the blues over a sweeping set of new ocean management regulations, signed into law by the Barbuda Council, to zone their coastal waters, strengthen fisheries management, and establish a network of marine sanctuaries.

U.N. Climate Summit: Staged Parade or Reality Show?

By Thalif Deen
The much-ballyhooed one-day Climate Summit next week is being hyped as one of the major political-environmental events at the United Nations this year.

Majority of Consumer Products May Be Tainted by Illegal Deforestation

By Carey L. Biron
At least half of global deforestation is taking place illegally and in support of commercial agriculture, new analysis released Thursday finds – particularly to supply overseas markets.

OPINION: Boosting Resilience in the Caribbean Countries

By Jessica Faieta
Having lived and worked for more than a decade in four Caribbean countries, I have witnessed firsthand how Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are extremely vulnerable to challenges ranging from debt and unemployment to climate change and sea level rise.

Dumping Ban Urged for Australia’s Iconic Reef

By Stephen Leahy
Increased effort is needed to protect Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef, which is in serious decline and will likely deteriorate further in the future, according to a new report.

U.S., Brazil Nearing Approval of Genetically Engineered Trees

By Carey L. Biron
The U.S. and Brazilian governments are moving into the final stages of weighing approval for the commercialisation of genetically engineered eucalyptus trees, moves that would mark the first such permits anywhere in the world.

A Life Reserve for Sustainable Development in Chile’s Patagonia

By Marianela Jarroud
The people of Patagonia in southern Chile are working to make the Aysén region a “life reserve”. Neighbouring Argentina, across the border, is a historic ally in this remote wilderness area which is struggling to achieve sustainable development and boost growth by making use of its natural assets.

Protecting America’s Underwater Serengeti

By Christopher Pala
U.S. President Barack Obama has proposed to more than double the world’s no-fishing areas to protect what some call America’s underwater Serengeti, a series of California-sized swaths of Pacific Ocean where 1,000-pound marlin cruise by 30-foot-wide manta rays around underwater mountains filled with rare or unique species.

U.S. Waives Sanctions on Myanmar Timber

By Carey L. Biron
Civil society groups are split over a decision by the U.S. government to waive sanctions on Myanmar’s timber sector for one year.

Women Warriors Take Environmental Protection into Their Own Hands

By Amantha Perera
Aleta Baun, an Indonesian environmental activist known in her community as Mama Aleta, has a penchant for wearing a colourful scarf on her head, but not for cosmetic reasons.

World Bank Board Declines to Revise Controversial Draft Policies

By Jim Lobe
A key committee of the World Bank’s governing board Wednesday spurned appeals to revise a  draft policy statement that, according to nearly 100 civil-society groups, risks rolling back several decades of reforms designed to protect indigenous populations, the poor and sensitive ecosystems.

A Carrot Is a Carrot – or Is It?

By Justin Hyatt
Food security is often thought of as a question of diversifying supply and being able to move food through areas plagued by local scarcity, relying on the global economic system – including trade and transport – as the basis for operations.

Forest Rights Offer Major Opportunity to Counter Climate Change

By Carey L. Biron
The international community is failing to take advantage of a potent opportunity to counter climate change by strengthening local land tenure rights and laws worldwide, new data suggests.

Mexican Farmers Oppose Expansion of Transgenic Crops

By Emilio Godoy
Bean grower Manuel Alvarado is part of the majority of producers in Mexico who consider it unnecessary to introduce genetically modified varieties of beans, as the government is promoting.

New Data Sends Wake-Up Call on Caribbean Reefs

By Desmond Brown
Marine environmentalist Eli Fuller, who for the past two decades has been exploring the coastline of Antigua and Barbuda, warns that while there has been “dramatic changes” to coral reefs since he was a little boy, “it’s getting worse and worse.”

Obama Urged to Sanction Mozambique over Elephant, Rhino Poaching

By Carey L. Biron
Environmentalists are formally urging President Barack Obama to enact trade sanctions on Mozambique over the country’s alleged chronic facilitation of elephant and rhinoceros poaching through broad swathes of southern Africa.

Costa Rica Enforces Green Justice

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
Biologist Juan Sánchez drives the leader of two off-road vehicles along a dirt road in southeastern Costa Rica. Officials and experts are on their way to inspect a homestead whose owner has destroyed part of a mangrove swamp.

Violence Casts Shadow Over ‘Himalayan Viagra’ Harvest in Nepal

By Naresh Newar
Intense competition during harvest season for a fungus dubbed ‘Himalayan Viagra’ – coveted for its legendary aphrodisiac qualities – has sparked violence in Nepal’s remote western mountains, causing concern among security officials here about the safety of more than 100,000 harvesters.

Siberian Global Warming Meets Lukewarm Reaction in Russia

By Pavol Stracansky
People in Siberia must prepare to face frequent repeats of recent devastating floods as well as other natural disasters, scientists and ecologists are warning, amid growing evidence of the effects of global warming on one of the world’s most ecologically diverse regions.
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