Biodiversity

A Decade of Legal GM Soy in Brazil

By Fabíola Ortiz
Ten years ago, Brazil yielded to agribusiness pressure and legalised the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) soy. Today it is the world’s second leading producer of GM crops, surpassed only by the United States.

Bill Seeks to Halt Bee-Killing Pesticides in U.S.

By Matthew Charles Cardinale
Two Congressional Democrats have co-sponsored new legislation called the Save America’s Pollinators Act of 2013 to take emergency action to save the remaining bees in the U.S., and in turn, the U.S. food supply.

Soldiers Trade in Illegal Ivory

By Taylor Toeka Kakala
At a popular tourist art market in Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, paintings and art sculptures made from bronze, copper, malachite, stone or wood attract visitors. It seems like an ordinary tourist market. But only the regulars know that this is also a black market for ivory products.

Japan’s Uneven Conservation Efforts

By Suvendrini Kakuchi
Efforts to protect the critically endangered Iriomote wildcat, a spotted, shy, feral creature native to the tiny Iriomote Island that forms part of the Okinawa Prefecture in southern Japan, are becoming a highly respected model of conservation here, where the government’s uneven track record in protecting imperiled species has frustrated wildlife activists for decades.

Q&A: Armed Groups Find a Payday in Wildlife Trafficking

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
In a recent report to the U.N. Security Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged the possibility of poaching as a threat to not just wildlife or endangered species, but to the greater stability and peace in general.

Russia Contests U.S. Proposal for Major Antarctic Conservation Zone

By Carey L. Biron
International negotiations between more than two-dozen countries to set up conservation areas in the Antarctic seas were thrown into confusion Monday when the Russian and Ukrainian delegations questioned the body’s legal standing to make such designations, despite previous precedent.

Monitoring of GM Maize Falls Short in Mexico, Activists Say

By Emilio Godoy
Mexico lacks an effective system for monitoring genetically modified organisms, even though they have been regulated by law since the middle of last decade, experts say. In the case of maize, this situation has stood in the way of obtaining data that could help block commercial production, they say.

REDD a ‘False Solution’ for Africa

By Isaiah Esipisu
REDD – reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation – would seem to be a mitigation strategy that perfectly matches Africa's needs.

Battle Over Seeds Heats Up in Argentina

By Marcela Valente
The debate over the reform of Argentina’s seed law has pitted transnational corporations that make transgenic seeds against social and rural organisations and academics opposed to the expansion of monoculture in defence of biodiversity and food security.

Indonesia’s Recurring Forest Fires Threaten Environment

By Thalif Deen
Indonesia's forest fires, a predictable annual ritual, will continue to have serious implications for health and the environment in Southeast Asia unless the government strengthens forest protection, warn environmental groups.

U.S. Has “Largely Failed” to Protect Marine Species

By Carey L. Biron
Environmentalists on Monday filed a petition with the U.S. government requesting regulatory safeguards for 81 particularly vulnerable marine wildlife species, from corals to sharks.

U.S. Weighing Increase in Herbicide Levels in Food Supply

By Cydney Hargis
Environmental safety groups are stepping up efforts to prevent a reportedly dangerous yet widely used herbicide from being sold in the United States, even as the country’s primary environmental regulator is considering increasing the amount of the herbicide allowed in the U.S. food supply.

Obama Announces New U.S. Focus on Wildlife Trafficking

By Carey L. Biron
President Barack Obama on Monday announced a series of new initiatives to combat spiking levels of international poaching and draft a new national plan on wildlife trafficking, an industry that has grown so significantly in recent years that the president now calls it an “international crisis”.

Caribbean Apprehensive as Dangers of Climate Change Increase

By Desmond Brown
It has taken just eight inches of water for Jamaica to be affected by rising sea levels, with parts of the island nation have disappeared completely, threatening people's livelihoods and much more.

Farming in the Mauritian Sea

By Nasseem Ackbarally
“No fighting, please. Everybody will get their fish. Give us time to empty the crates and weigh today’s catch,” Patrick Guiliano Marie, leader of the St. Pierre Fish Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, shouts at the crowd jostling impatiently at the fish landing station in Grand Gaube, a fishing village in northern Mauritius.

Greeting Whales, Not Eating Them

By Lowana Veal
After a two-year break, Iceland has resumed its hunting of fin whales. But environmental campaigners outside of Iceland are doing their best to stop it.

Documenting Invasive Species on Colombia’s Plains

By Constanza Vieira
Along the unpaved road between the town of Orocué and the Wisirare private reserve in the eastern Colombian department of Casanare, biologist Juliana Cárdenas asks the driver to stop the bus so she can collect a specimen of West Indian foxtail, a kind of grass growing along the road.

Dams Threaten Mekong Basin Food Supply

By Simba Shani Kamaria Russeau
The future of food security in the Mekong region lies at a crossroads, as several development ventures, including the Xayaburi Hydropower Project, threaten to alter fish migration routes, disrupt the flow of sediments and nutrients downstream, and endanger millions whose livelihoods depend on the Mekong River basin's resources.

Fishing Undercuts Kiribati President’s Marine Protection Claims

By Christopher Pala
A growing chorus of politicians, scientists and environmentalists are urging President Anote Tong of Kiribati to actually do what he claims was already done in 2008: create the world's most effective marine protected area in a remote archipelago in the Central Pacific Ocean.

Leasehold Forestry Brings a New Lease on Life

By Naresh Newar
Nearly 300 km from Nepal’s teeming capital, Kathmandu, in a small village dug into the steep slopes of the mountainous Palpa district, 35-year-old Dhanmaya Pata goes about her daily chores in much the same way that her ancestors did centuries ago.

Diamond Mining Could Push Angola’s Antelope to Extinction

By Walter García and Louise Redvers
Environmental campaigners are urging the Angolan government to halt plans to mine diamonds inside a national reserve that is home to the world’s last wild population of a rare antelope, the Giant Sable.
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