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Sunday, November 8, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Biodiversity
Bottom Trawling Cuts Wide Swath of Destruction
Bottom trawling, a method of deep-sea fishing, is threatening the existence of ecosystems in the deep oceans, wreaking nearly irrevocable havoc on thousands of species and the very habitat in which they live.Citizen Actions Turn Up the Heat for a Warming Planet
Civil society leaders meeting here for the 2011 CIVICUS World Assembly are looking ahead toward next year's Rio+20 summit – a milestone anniversary of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, and a crucial meeting of U.N. member states and non-governmental organisations to work towards a greener future.MEXICO: Traditional Maize Can Cope with Climate Change*
Maize, Mexico's staple food as well as a symbol, has the potential to adapt to climate change and mitigate its effects without any need for genetically modified seeds, according to agricultural scientists.U.S., EU Sign Pact to Combat Fishing “Piracy” on High Seas
Fisheries representatives from two of the world's four largest fish consumer markets, Europe and the U.S., signed an agreement here Wednesday pledging to combat illegal fishing on the high seas.
Q&A: NGOs Must Play Key Role in Rio+20 Summit on Sustainable Development
As the United Nations readies for a major international conference on sustainable development next June in Brazil, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are preparing to play a key role in the run-up to the summit meeting and are preparing a plan of action to be adopted by world leaders.CONGO: Poachers Feel the Long Arm of New Law
Authorities in the Republic of Congo are showing an encouraging new readiness to arrest and prosecute people trading in endangered species.
Mexican Fisherwomen Organise Against Climate Change
Every night, Adlemi Marrufo goes out to catch bait crabs used to fish for octopus in this small seaside town and others along Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, as part of a women's cooperative that is working to adapt to and fight climate change.
Fragmented Efforts to Save Honduran Mangroves
A mix of local and international initiatives are aimed at saving the mangrove forests and other coastal wetlands of Honduras, home to an abundance of marine life and a natural protective barrier against hurricanes, which have shrunk by over 80 percent on the Caribbean coast and almost a third on the Pacific coast.8.7 Million Species Run Spaceship Earth
The life support system that generates the planet’s air, water, and food is powered by 8.7 million living species according to the newest and best estimate. We know next to nothing about 99 percent of those unique species - except that lots of them are going extinct.OP-ED: Expanding Deserts, Falling Water Tables and Toxins Driving People from Homes
People do not normally leave their homes, their families, and their communities unless they have no other option. Yet as environmental stresses mount, we can expect to see a growing number of environmental refugees. Rising seas and increasingly devastating storms grab headlines, but expanding deserts, falling water tables, and toxic waste and radiation are also forcing people from their homes.ASIA: Mekong Dolphins Close to Extinction
The World Wildlife Federation (WWF) has called for urgent action to prevent the extinction of freshwater dolphins in the Mekong River, including the creation of special conservation zones.
Q&A: “Climate Change Is Affecting Traditional Knowledge”
The traditional knowledge of nature developed since ancestral times by Colombia’s indigenous peoples is increasingly challenged by the unnatural effects of climate change, a phenomenon that is deeply troubling to the keepers of this knowledge, says biologist Brigitte Baptiste.ENVIRONMENT-LATAM: Shrimp Industry Bites Hand That Feeds It
Mangrove forests in silt-laden intertidal coastal ecosystems provide a natural habitat for countless marine species, as well as livelihoods for thousands of families in Latin America and the Caribbean. But mangrove swamps are shrinking year by year, besieged by aquaculture, especially shrimp farming, environmentalists warn.OP-ED: The Missing Truth in the BP Oil Disaster
More than a year after a private company operating in public waters retched 170 million gallons of crude and two million gallons of toxic dispersants into the Gulf of Mexico, creating an environmental catastrophe, we still lack reliable statistics on the BP oil disaster's impact on the health of residents.
Q&A: “Governments Must Listen to the People, Not the Polluters”
The historic 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro marked one of the world's seminal international conferences on the environment, creating or reinforcing a slew of U.N. treaties and protocols on climate change, biodiversity, desertification and forests.Economic Development Leaving Millions Behind
The Society for International Development (SID)'s triennial World Congress, which concluded Sunday in Washington, drew over 1,000 attendees this year, 40 percent hailing from the global south, making it arguably one of the most influential and far-reaching forums for development experts and organisations in the world today.
Fish Swim in Israel’s Desert
"It wasn't easy to convince people that growing fish in the desert makes sense," reminisces marine biologist Samuel Appelbaum, peering through the opaque water where thousands of barramundi are being harvested.Data Shows All of Earth’s Systems in Rapid Decline
Protecting bits of nature here and there will not prevent humanity from losing our life support system. Even if areas dedicated to conserving plants, animals, and other species that provide Earth's life support system increased tenfold, it would not be enough without dealing with the big issues of the 21st century: population, overconsumption and inefficient resource use.U.S.: BP Disaster a Year Later, Healthcare Crisis Worsens
When news of the disastrous BP oil well explosion reached the residents of Jean Lafitte, Louisiana last April, Mayor Tim Kerner did the only thing he could think of to stop the oil from destroying his community. He encouraged everyone in his town to join him on the water, working day and night throughout the disaster to clean-up the spill.MEXICO: Barcoding Biodiversity Not Free of Risks, Activists Say
As the Barcode of Life project continues the work of sequencing specific segments of genes in Mexican animals and plants, there are some concerns about how to safeguard the biological samples collected from the threat of commercial exploitation.
ICELAND: New Push to Get Whales Off the Table
Down by the old harbour in Reykjavik, a small group of volunteers in pale blue T-shirts can be seen handing out leaflets that say "Meet us don’t eat us". Beneath the slogan is a picture of a whale, followed by "Whales are being killed to feed tourists. Don’t let your visit leave a bad taste in your mouth."« Previous Page — Next Page »
The world's diverse flora and fauna are facing urgent threats due to pollution, climate change, commercialization of nature and other forms of harmful human intervention. The widespread loss of biodiversity is worrying not simply because of the disappearance of exotic species which deserve saving, but because tampering with nature's equilibrium means that the loss of one form of life is a threat to another. IPS taps into its own diverse network of correspondents around the world to report on continuing and emerging dangers to nature's riches - and the struggle to protect them.
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