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Sunday, November 8, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Biodiversity
Q&A: “This Time There Will Be No Noah’s Ark”
"The market is not going to resolve the environmental crisis," says theologian and environmentalist Leonardo Boff, professor at Brazil's State University of Rio de Janeiro. The solution, he says, lies in ethics and in changing our relationship with nature.PERU: Sacrificing the Rainforest on the Altar of Energy
The construction of five hydroelectric dams in Peru as part of an energy deal with Brazil will do considerable damage to the environment, such as the destruction of nearly 1.5 million hectares of jungle over the next 20 years, according to an independent study.
BIODIVERSITY: Sealed With a Comeback
After 50 years of near absence, grey seals are coming back to Polish coast of Baltic Sea. Not everyone is happy about it.
SOUTH AMERICA: Rain May Disappear from the World’s Breadbasket
South America still has vast extensions of land available for growing crops to help meet the global demand for food and biofuels. But the areas of greatest potential agricultural production -- central-southern Brazil, northern Argentina, and Paraguay -- could be left without the necessary rains.
Legal Shortcuts Trap the Peruvian Anchovy
Exports of fishmeal made from Peruvian anchoveta, or anchovy (Engraulis ringens), is so lucrative that fishers have sought -- and found -- legal shortcuts to obtain permits that would have been impossible through formal channels. This practice is exhausting even the contingency stock that the government had set aside.
U.S. Finning Ban Caps Busy Year for Shark Conservation
The U.S. Congress banned shark finning in all U.S. waters Tuesday, a victory environmental advocates are hoping sends a message to international regulators.
Big Fleets Resist Pacific Islands’ Plan to Save Fisheries
Eight Pacific island nations that are leveraging their contracts with foreign fishing fleets to save the world's last great stocks of tuna are getting little sympathy from the countries representing those fleets.
JAMAICA: Priceless Native Plants Vanishing in the Wind
The recent successes of local medicinal researchers have turned the spotlight on local laws that fail to protect Jamaica's rich biological diversity.INDIA: Clashes Continue Between Elephant Vs Humans
Returning home from work recently, farmer Baidhar Singh was aghast to find his thatched hut in Balasore district, Orissa trampled to the ground. Just a few hundred metres away stood the culprits, huge and grey against the darkening sky: a herd of 65 wild elephants.
BRAZIL: Building a “Reforestation Economy” in the Mata Atlantica
In one of the most environmentally damaged areas of Brazil's Mata Atlântica forest, work is under way to reforest a watershed that supplies Rio de Janeiro, while also establishing a "reforestation market" that stimulates local job creation and local consumption.
BIODIVERSITY: Dying Beneath the Calm Waters
At first glance, Lake Constance, trapped between Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, looks as peaceful as ever. But under the lake's apparently placid waters, a dramatic change is taking place - one that threatens to obliterate much of local biodiversity.
CLIMATE CHANGE: As Andean Glaciers Recede, Region Steps Forward to Adapt
The mountainous areas of South America's Andean nations supply water to the coastal cities, provide habitat to important biodiversity, and serve as natural barriers, but global warming threatens those regions, which are home to millions of people.
CLIMATE CHANGE: See the Green in REDD+, Say Top Leaders in Cancun
An entire body of leaders, spearheaded by U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, is now looking at REDD+ as a panacea to global warming with multiple benefits thrown in.
Q&A: “Create a Protocol Based on Non-Emissions”
Latin America should create regional conventions to protect biodiversity and combat the impacts of climate change, according to Ecuadorian environmentalist Yolanda Kakabadse, president of the World Wild Fund for Nature International (WWF).
BOLIVIA: Madidi National Park and the Curse of Petroleum
Environmental organisations in Bolivia are waging a crusade to protect Madidi National Park against bids to tap into its petroleum reserves, build hydroelectric dams and promote human settlement in the country's largest nature preserve.
CLIMATE CHANGE: REDD at Cancun Causes Angst in India
Forest rights advocates and indigenous community organisations from India are adding their voices to what promises to become the newest division in the climate talks here: the inclusion of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation + in developing countries, or REDD+, as an agreement.
Southern Africa Collectively Gearing Up For REDD
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is moving to support its member countries to tap into benefits from the reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) framework.
LATIN AMERICA: Biodiversity Superpower Faces Development Dilemma
If Latin America is to sustain continued economic growth, it faces the dilemma of either threatening its rich biodiversity or transforming into a global leader in providing environmental services based on its unique ecosystems.
CLIMATE CHANGE: New Forest Agreement – REDD Hot Issue at Cancun
A large number of social organisations are not pleased with the international convention on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) being negotiated at the COP16 climate summit.
PAKISTAN: Too Many Nets, Too Little Fish
The last time Moazzam Khan saw sawfish in the Arabian Sea was in 1984. "At one time, salted and dried fish formed a large part of our exports," recalls Khan, director general of the Karachi Fisheries Department. "In the last 30 years, there may be other marine life that may have vanished of which we may not be aware."
Narco-Sharks Replacing Drug Mules
Sharks are facing a new threat: they are being fished off the Pacific coast of Central America and Mexico and used to smuggle cocaine to the United States, through Mexico.« 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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