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Monday, November 9, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Biodiversity
ENVIRONMENT: Is Whale Conservation Negotiable?
Whale conservation organisations attending the 60th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in the Chilean capital have reacted cautiously to a decision by the organisation’s member countries to create a small negotiating group to determine the future of whales.
BIODIVERSITY: O Sponge, Your Names Are Many
The Breadcrumb sponge found on floats and rocks in most oceans has been "discovered" 56 times, the first dating to 1766. And 56 different scientists over the span of 250 years have had the satisfaction and pleasure of giving the lowly sponge 56 different names.ENVIRONMENT: Whaling Commission Seeks Consensus on Future
The International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) 60th annual meeting, which is testing the future of the organisation itself, kicked off this week in Chile with a strong conservationist message from President Michelle Bachelet.
BIODIVERSITY: Hake Could Disappear from Argentina’s Seas
An urgent government plan is the only thing that can save the common hake (Merluccius hubbsi), Argentina's leading fish export, say environmentalists and experts.ENVIRONMENT-AUSTRALIA: Pulp Mill Doomed as Bankers Back Off
Recent developments in the ongoing saga of the controversial and yet-to-be-built pulp mill in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley may have swung the issue in favour of the mill’s opponents.
ENERGY: Green Standards Proposed for Biofuel Production
The adoption of international standards for the sustainable production of biofuels emerged as a controversial approach at the recent United Nations conference on biodiversity here.
Q&A: Bulgarian Greens Go Political
Members of a group of environmental NGOs have announced the formation of green party, Zelenite. Among the founders are activists who have been engaged for two years in a campaign to prevent large-scale tourism development in protected natural sites in the Rila Mountains and the Black Sea shore (the NATURA 2000 campaign).BIODIVERSITY: How a Golden Opportunity Became a Zero-Sum Game
Self-interest and petty politicking largely paralysed efforts to solve the urgent problem of the widespread extinction of species, with few concrete achievements after nearly two weeks of 14-hour meetings at the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in Bonn that concluded last Friday.BIODIVERSITY: Good Intentions Eclipse New Funding at U.N. Meet
The world community took some ever-so-careful steps towards slowing the biodiversity crisis at a major U.N. meeting in Bonn, while emphasising the need for urgency and action.BIODIVERSITY: The Dollars and Sense of Conservation
The global biodiversity crisis that threatens life on Earth is driven by economic policies that fail to value nature, a new report finds.BIODIVERSITY: Dump Dirt in Oceans to ‘Fertilise’ Them
When some multinational companies dump chemicals into the sea, they call it 'ocean fertilisation'. This practice is near the top of the agenda at the UN conference on biological diversity in Bonn.BIODIVERSITY: GE Tree Dispute Exposes Biosafety Inequities
An intense North-South debate over genetically engineered trees has sidetracked delegates at a U.N. conference on biodiversity here: African nations want a global moratorium, while a few rich countries led by Canada say it should be up to individual countries to regulate.
BIODIVERSITY: Biological Patents Yield Unequal Benefits
The medicinal or nutritional properties of many plants can give rise to enormous economic benefits, which put patents for naturally existing plants at the centre of an ethical, commercial and legal debate.
ENVIRONMENT: Climate Change Casts Marine Science Adrift
Climate change is altering the world's oceans in so many ways scientists cannot keep pace, and as a result there is no comprehensive vision of its present and future impacts, say experts.BIODIVERSITY: Nature Cannot Absorb This Growth
One day, Lucio Flores, a Brazilian Terena Indian, was travelling by truck through the Amazons region alongside a local landowner. Looking at the dense tropical forest around, the landowner said, "Look at this, there is nothing here."BIODIVERSITY: Indigenous Peoples Fight Theft
Amongst the suits in the luxurious hotel hall, Sebastian Haji immediately catches the eye. He is small, dark-skinned, and wears a crown of feathers on his head.
LATIN AMERICA: The Divorce of Agriculture and Biodiversity
Latin America's vast biological diversity has contributed little to the region's commercial agriculture, despite being the birthplace of two of the world's four most widely consumed food crops: maize and potatoes.
ENVIRONMENT-BURMA: 'Mangrove Loss Exacerbated Cyclone Devastation'
When researchers surveyed the battered coastlines of Asian countries after the December 2004 tsunami, they stumbled upon an arresting fact - that mangroves can save lives.BIODIVERSITY: Privatisation Making Seeds Themselves Infertile
Seeds were once for ever. After harvest, a few from the crop would be planted for the following year, and so it went on.BIODIVERSITY: The Twilight Age of Coral Reefs
Coral reefs will be the first global ecosystem to collapse in our lifetimes. The one-two punch of climate change that is warming ocean temperatures and increasing acidification is making the oceans uninhabitable for corals and other marine species, researchers said at a scientific symposium in Spain.ENVIRONMENT: Trapped Between Economy and Ecology
One of the most frequent arguments against environmental protection is an alleged economic imperative. Humankind must progress economically, and the environment is only an input in the overall economic process, this argument goes.« 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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