Environment

Rural Women in Peru Seed Water Today to Harvest It Tomorrow

By Mariela Jara
"When I was a little girl we didn't suffer from water shortages like we do now. Today we are experiencing more droughts, our water sources are drying up and we cannot sit idly by," Kely Quispe, a small farmer from the community of Huasao, located half an hour from Cuzco, the capital of Peru's ancient Inca empire, told IPS.

What Would Europe, the US, Do with One Billion Climate Refugees?

By Baher Kamal
A bit of fiction. Or maybe not. If things keep going the way they are, the result will be that such a massive flux would create instability and tensions, impact the global markets, cause record prices of fossil fuels, food and everything else, and the bankruptcy of big private financial corporations…

COP26 Agreed Rules on Trading Carbon Emissions – But They’re Fatally Flawed

One surprise from COP26 – the latest UN climate change conference in Glasgow – was an agreement between world leaders on a new set of rules for regulating carbon markets. This would allow countries to trade the right to emit greenhouse gases.

Green Gas: Energy as a By-Product of Sugarcane in Brazil

By Mario Osava
First came sugar. For four centuries, it was the main sugarcane product in Brazil. But since the 1970s sugarcane has grown and diversified as a source of energy: ethanol, electricity and biogas.

We Must Rise to the Occasion, Now.

By Yasmine Sherif
In 2021, COVID-19 continued to plague the world – a world already burdened by armed conflicts, climate-induced disasters and forced displacement. Communities, nations and people struggled to maintain normalcy in the midst of the abnormal. This was especially notable in the education sector – a sector that is the very foundation for achieving all human rights and all Sustainable Development Goals.

Quest for Asian Innovation & Solutions in a Networked World

By A.H. Monjurul Kabir
The UN’s 76th anniversary in 2021 arrived at a time of great upheaval and change. If the world is to transition from COVID-19 and we are to deliver on our promises to future generations - to secure a world where everyone can thrive in peace, dignity, and equality on a healthy planet – then 2022 must be the year we change both gear and discourse.

Covid-19 Has Accelerated New Agtech Development and Adoption in Asia-Pacific!

By Paul S. Teng and Genevieve Donnellon-May
While the COVID-19 impact has been predominantly negative, the pandemic appears to have sparked increased interest in developing agricultural technology (agtech) to improve the efficiency of food systems, from input supplies through farming and processing to delivery and retail.

Nature-Based Solutions for Enhancing Coordinated Action Around Climate Change, Land and Biodiversity

By Ruth Kattumuri
A key outcome of COP26 climate summit is the enhanced focus on “nature-based solutions” – the plans for people to work closely alongside nature to avert a planetary catastrophe.

High Yield Seeds Could Address Food Shortages and Place Africa on Track to Zero Hunger – Experts

By Joyce Chimbi
Rahab Munene’s shoe selling business crumbled at the height of COVID-19 in 2020. She traded the enterprise for a mobile grocery along the Thika Superhighway, Kiambu County.

Doubling Adaptation Finance can be an Opportunity for the World’s Poorest

By Victor Bernard and Delia Paul
Amid several disappointments of the 2021 UN climate conference in Glasgow, one sign of hope was the agreement on financing for adaptation to climate change. Developed countries agreed to double adaptation finance for poorer nations by 2025, from 2019 levels.

Energy Inequality in Latin America Exacerbated by Pandemic, High Prices

By Emilio Godoy
The effects of the covid-19 pandemic and high energy prices have had an impact on the consumption of polluting fuels in Latin America and the Caribbean, exacerbating energy poverty in the region.

Youth at Forefront of Climate Change Action Will Make Biggest Impact

By Joyce Chimbi
On Gladys Habu’s birthday, she filmed a message to world leaders while standing waist-deep in the sea next to a dead tree stump – the only remnant of Kale Island now submerged underwater due to climate-change-induced sea-level rise.

Beyond Expo: Embedding the SDGs in the DNA of Future Technology and Innovation

By Siddharth Chatterjee and Jingbo Huang

 

A landscape of shared global challenges The COVID-19 pandemic has moved us farther away from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Data shows that the pandemic has pushed a further 124 million people into extreme poverty. Global poverty is now expected to be at 7% by 2030 – only marginally below the level in 2015. And with the global temperature increase already at 1.2 degrees, we are on the verge of the abyss. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is deeply concerned about the impact of the pandemic on the SDGs. But there is hope. He believes in the knowledge, science, technology, and resources to turn it around. He also urges further financing for development and climate action.

Cool Scheme to Reduce Food Waste in Nigeria

By Busani Bafana
Food spoilage forced smallholder farmers out of pocket and out of business – until an entrepreneur came up with a cool idea.

A New Transport Agenda to Carry Asia and the Pacific Towards Sustainable Development

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
Transport ministers from across Asia and the Pacific are meeting this week to consider a potentially transformational agenda for how people and goods are moved around the region and across the globe.

‘Great Mining Migration’: Power-Hungry Bitcoin Leaves China

By Joe Coroneo-Seaman
On 14 April this year, the price of a single Bitcoin reached a then all-time-high of around US$64,870. Just over a month later, the price of the world’s most popular digital currency had tumbled to $34,259.

Plastic Trash in the Ocean is a Global Problem, and the US is the Top Source

Plastic waste of all shapes and sizes permeates the world’s oceans. It shows up on beaches, in fish and even in Arctic sea ice. And a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine makes clear that the U.S. is a big part of the problem.

Climate Crisis Exacerbates Urban Inequality in Latin America

By Mario Osava
The Brazilian megalopolis of São Paulo recorded 932 flooded premises on Feb. 10, 2020. The Mexican city of Tula de Allende was under water for 48 hours in September 2021. In Lima it almost never rains, but the rivers in the Peruvian capital overflowed in 2017 and left several outlying municipalities covered with mud.

Climate Change: Adapt for the Future, Not the Past

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Funding for developing countries to address global warming is grossly inadequate. Very little finance is for adaptation to climate change, the urgent need of countries most adversely affected. Also, adaptation needs to be forward-looking rather than only addressing accumulated problems.

Clean Energy Alone Won’t Uplift Impoverished Nations — We Must Invest in People

By Philippe Benoit
Last month, at the COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow, a consortium of philanthropies, led by The Rockefeller Foundation, announced a massive program to fund renewable electricity projects for impoverished people in developing countries.

What Will it Take to Turn Farmers Toward Climate-Resilient Superfood Millet?

By Ignatius Banda
Millet could be Africa’s silver bullet for combating anaemia – and apart from health benefits, it is climate-resilient.
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