Climate Change

Making the Deep Blue Sea Green Again

By Lyndal Rowlands
Children growing up in the Seychelles think of the ocean as their backyard, says Ronald Jean Jumeau, Seychelles' ambassador for climate change.

Improved Cookstoves Boost Health and Forest Cover in the Himalayas

By Athar Parvaiz
Mountain communities in the Himalayan region are almost entirely dependent on forests for firewood even though this practice has been identified as one of the most significant causes of forest decline and a major source of indoor air pollution.

Energy Access Builds Inclusive Economies and Resilient Communities

By Manipadma Jena
Jaipal Hembrum runs three one-man home enterprises - a bicycle repair shop, a tiny food stall and a tailoring unit in Kautuka, a remote village in eastern India. Sewing recycled clothes into mattresses late into the evening, the 38-year-old father of three girls says two light bulbs fed by a solar power system have changed his life.

Worst Drought in Decades Drives Food Price Spike in East Africa

By IPS World Desk
The most severe drought in decades, which has struck parts of Ethiopia and is exacerbated by a particularly strong El Niño effect, has led to successive failed harvests and widespread livestock deaths in some areas, and humanitarian needs have tripled since the beginning of 2015, the United Nations warns.

Ravaging Drought Deepens in Kenya

By Miriam Gathigah
Experts warn that Kenya is in the grip of the worst drought in recent history as government estimates show the number of people who are acutely food insecure has risen to 2.7 million, up from two million in January.

It’s Women’s Turn in Rural Development

By Mario Osava and Baher Kamal
Josefina Stubbs, from the Dominican Republic, may become the first woman to preside over the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which is dedicated to eradicating rural poverty.

New, Aggressive Rust Imperils Wheat Crops in Europe, Africa, Asia

By IPS World Desk
Wheat rust, a family of fungal diseases that can cause crop losses of up to 100 per cent in untreated susceptible wheat, is making further advances in Europe, Africa and Asia, according to two new studies produced by scientists in collaboration with the United Nations.

How a Spring Revival Scheme in India’s Sikkim Is Defeating Droughts

By Athar Parvaiz
Bina Sharma, a member of the Melli Dhara Gram Panchayat Unit in the southern part of India’s northeastern Himalayan state of Sikkim, is a relieved woman.

Kenyans Turn to Wild Fruits and Insects as Drought Looms

By Miriam Gathigah
Too hungry to play, hundreds of starving children in Tiaty Constituency of Baringo County instead sit by the fire, watching the pot boil, in the hope that it is only a matter of minutes before their next meal.

Farmer Field Schools Help Women Lead on Climate Change

By Sally Nyakanyanga
Discussions around climate change have largely ignored how men and women are affected by climate change differently, instead choosing to highlight the extreme and unpredictable weather patterns or decreases in agricultural productivity.

“Serious Retreats” In Indigenous Rights Protection, Says UN Rapporteur

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
As the 10-year anniversary for the Declaration on Indigenous Rights approaches, UN indigenous rights activists came together to assess the many challenges that still remain on the ground.

Drought Could Cost Sri Lanka Billions

By Amantha Perera
The warnings are stark, the instructions, for a change, clear. Sri Lanka is heading into one of its worst droughts in recent history, and according some estimates the worst in 30 years. The reservoirs are running on empty, at 30 percent or less capacity. Only 12 percent of the island’s power generation is currently from hydropower and 85 percent comes from thermal, with a staggering 41 percent from coal.

Philippines Joins Space Race

By Diana G Mendoza
The Philippines, a tiny developing country, has joined the colossal world of space technology, building its second microsatellite that it plans to launch late this year or in early 2018 -- not to study other planets, but to monitor weather patterns and climate change to protect the country’s natural resources and improve disaster risk management.

Learning Alliances Help Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices Take Root

By Nteranya Sanginga and Edidah Ampaire
Development advocates and professionals are very keen on harnessing the power of agriculture to promote the cause of climate change these days. And rightly so, because agriculture is both a major emitter of greenhouse gases and so a potential force for mitigation, and because billions of people will need to eat, and so adaptation is an absolute necessity.

Zambia’s Armyworm Outbreak: Is Climate Change to Blame?

By Friday Phiri
Surrender Hamufuba of Mwanamambo village in Pemba district recalls how he battled Armyworms in 2012. Fast-forward to 2016 and it is a similar story -- another pest infestation on an even larger scale.

Harvesting Peace: How Rural Development Works for Conflict Prevention

By Josefina Stubbs
The year 2016 has seen a massive population flow, unprecedented in its range and reach. Millions of people have fled war-torn communities, natural disasters and violence, some overflowing neighboring countries’ refugee camps, some crossing perilous seas and walking hundreds of miles to reach safer grounds, others seeking refuge in countries half a world away. Thousands have died on their way to safety, countless more were victims of violence and abuse, among them many women and children.

Pacific Islanders Call for U.S. Solidarity on Climate Change

By Catherine Wilson
The new political power of business magnate Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated Jan. 20 as the 45th President of the United States, will have ramifications for every global region, including the Pacific Islands.

Battle Lines Drawn Over Indian Mega Mine

By Stephen de Tarczynski
Among those leading the fight against the massive Indian-owned Carmichael coal project in Australia’s Queensland state is 21-year-old Murrawah Johnson of the Wangan and Jagalingou aboriginal people, the traditional owners of the land where the proposed mine is to be located.

Managing Bangladesh’s Dwindling Water Resources

By Mahfuzur Rahman
Experts at Bangladesh’s National Water Convention 2016 in Dhaka urged the sustainable management and conservation of water as the country braces for a water crisis due to wastage, river pollution, declining groundwater tables and intrusion of salinity.

Quality Water for All a Life and Death Issue in Bangladesh

By Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad
There is no exaggerating how crucial water is for human survival, particularly in countries like Bangladesh, which is crisscrossed by rivers. The level of water in a river here directly affects the lifestyles and livelihoods of the people living on its two sides, so much so that rivers and water bodies of varied sizes are an inseparable part of Bengali culture and heritage.

Climate Change Needn’t Spell Doom for Uganda’s Coffee Farmers

By Sally Nyakanyanga
Coffee production provides a quarter of Uganda’s foreign exchange earnings and supports some 1.7 million smallholder farmers, but crop yields are being undermined by disease, pests and inadequate services from agricultural extension officers, as well as climatic changes in the East African country.
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