Biodiversity

In the End, U.S. Gets (Partial) Offshore Drilling Ban

By IPS Correspondents
As negotiators meet in Cancún to discuss how to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, the impacts of the oil spill disaster that unfolded earlier this year on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico are still rippling through Washington.
Uganda

UGANDA: Carbon Finance May Not Benefit Forest Communities

By Rosebell Kagumire
Uganda has lost more than two million hectares of forest since 1990, mostly converted to farmland by a growing population of smallholders. Carbon finance through the REDD programme is often presented as one way to arrest this destruction, but only if the benefits clearly translate to the grassroots.
Delegates at the Pre-COP Ministerial Meeting. Credit: Courtesy of COP16

CLIMATE CHANGE: Will Year of Extremes End with a Whimper?

By Stephen Leahy
This year will likely be the warmest ever recorded, with soaring ocean temperatures resulting in a near record die-off of tropical corals, extreme heat and drought in Russia and massive flooding in Pakistan - all signs that climate change has taken hold.
The Oceanic Whitetip. Credit: Matt Fidler

Sharks Make It Through the Net, Bluefin Tuna Don’t

By A. D. McKenzie
Governments have moved to ban the commercial fishing of at least two species of endangered sharks, but the Atlantic bluefin tuna received little protection at the end of a ten-day intergovernmental meeting here.

GUATEMALA: Legal Battle Over Wetland Oil Drilling

By Danilo Valladares
The 15-year extension of an oil-drilling contract in Guatemala's Laguna del Tigre National Park, one of Central America's most important wetlands, has triggered a legal fight against the government's decision, a battle waged by activists, academics and even government agencies.
Lion's claw (Leontochir ovallei), a flower native to the Atacama Desert and sold abroad. Credit: Courtesy of INIA

Genetic Flight of Chile’s Natural Jewels

By Daniela Estrada
Cactus, bushes, flowers and countless other plants are taken out of Chile daily to be studied, improved, marketed and patented. Due to the lack of regulations, the country can only stand by and watch them go.
Canoe on the Nosivolo River. Credit: Luciano Andriamaro/Conservation International

MADAGASCAR: New Livelihoods to Protect A River’s Life

By IPS Correspondents
The Nosivolo River has the greatest concentration of freshwater fish species in Madagascar. Strengthening protection of the river's biodiversity has involved transforming the livelihoods of local people.

Forests Rescue Plan Riddled with Uncertainties

By Stephen Leahy
Deforestation rates have slowed in Brazil and elsewhere in expectation of a windfall of green gold from billions of dollars of carbon credits being mobilised for climate protection, some experts believe.

BIODIVERSITY: Asia Acts To Pry Tigers From Jaws Of Extinction

By IPS Correspondents
It is the national animal of several Asian countries, lends its name to brands as varied as budget airlines to alcoholic beverages, and features prominently in Asian mythology, including the Chinese zodiac. But unless there is a dramatic turnaround for the tiger, conservationists say, this giant feline could become extinct before the next Chinese Year of the Tiger in 2022.
Farmers are rapidly reforesting the Humbo plateau, thanks to carbon finance. Credit: WorldVision

ETHIOPIA: First Carbon Finance Spreads Green Over Highland

By Omer Redi
It has been decades since the people of the Humbo Woreda have been self-sufficient in food. A Clean Development Mechanism project - Ethiopia's first - is restoring the environment and sustaining livelihoods along with it.
Sebastian Chuwa harvesting African blackwood seeds near Moshi. Credit: Denis Gathanju/IPS

ENVIRONMENT-TANZANIA
: Protecting the World’s Most Expensive Tree

By Denis Gathanju
With the snow-capped peak of Mount Kilimanjaro providing a backdrop under simmering tropical sunshine, a group of women in Mijongweni village break into song.
Bluefin tuna. Credit: Keith Ellenbogen/OCEANA

Tough Action Urged to Protect Bluefin Tuna

By IPS Correspondents
With the Atlantic bluefin tuna being fished to extinction, environment groups have increased their pressure on governments to take action to protect the species.

U.S. Regulators Omit Wider Implications of GM Salmon

By IPS Correspondents
U.S. regulators are poised to decide as early as next week whether to approve a genetically modified salmon for human consumption.
Kochito Gabre is among farmers who've found a new accommodation with nature in the Kafa Biosphere Reserve. Credit: Omer Redi/IPS

ETHIOPIA: They Have Become Farmers of Trees

By Omer Redi
They have spent the better part of their lives destroying the forest, but Kochito Gabre and his cohort are now the guardians of a UNESCO-recognised resource in the Ethiopian highlands. After shrinking to barely half its original size, the Kafa Forest is now a model for sustainable use in the country.
A school of yellowfin tuna. Credit: NOAA

Seasonal Bans Not Enough to Save Pacific Tuna

By Edgardo Ayala
The countries that fish for tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean see seasonal bans as a form of responsible fishing, but environmentalists argue that they are not enough to ensure the survival of a resource that is threatened around the world.
Tonga cattle are one of many species dependent on the Kafue Flats ecosystem. Credit: Lewis Mwanangombe/IPS

Pulling Together To Protect Zambia’s Kafue Flats

By Lewis Mwanangombe
Dams, sugarcane plantations and rapidly growing population threatened the health of the Kafue Flats, a richly diverse wetlands in southern Zambia. But growing recognition of more sustainable use of its water and fertile soil are securing the health of the ecosystem.
Children playing in the surf at Orange Beach, Alabama. Credit: Erika Blumenfeld/IPS

Illness Plagues Gulf Residents in BP’s Aftermath

By Dahr Jamail
Increasing numbers of U.S. Gulf Coast residents attribute ongoing sicknesses to BP's oil disaster and use of toxic dispersants.

KYRGYZSTAN: Fast Melting Glaciers Threaten Biodiversity

By Pavol Stracansky
Kyrgyzstan's glaciers are receding at what scientists say is an alarming rate, fuelled by global warming. And while experts warn of a subsequent catastrophe for energy and water security for Kyrgyzstan and neighbour states downstream reliant on its water flows, devastation to local ecosystems and the effects on plant and wildlife could be just as severe.
Rockhopper penguin in Isla Pingüino Park, Argentina. Credit: Courtesy of Argentina's National Parks Administration

ARGENTINA: More Protection, but Not Enough, for Patagonian Sea

By Marcela Valente
The BP oil spill earlier this year in the Gulf of Mexico seems to have motivated Argentina to double the protected area in the Patagonian Sea, which is rich in petroleum -- and in biodiversity.

ENVIRONMENT-ECUADOR: Plenty of Promises but Little Cash for Leaving Oil Untapped

By Gonzalo Ortiz
The Spanish government is "analysing mechanisms to contribute" one million euros (1.3 million dollars) to the Yasuni-ITT initiative, one of the few definite contributions received by Ecuador for a scheme to leave oil reserves untouched in a highly biodiverse area of the Amazon jungle.

Cataloguing Biodiversity Presents a Challenge

By Julio Godoy
An international agreement reached in the Japanese city of Nagoya constitutes a great step forward towards protecting biodiversity from decimation, but also represents an enormous legislative and administrative task, environment experts say.
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