Environment

Saved Seeds are Seeds of Resilience

By Nout van der Vaart
People have a right to define their own food system. This includes which seeds they use. Last week, farmers in Nakuru County, Kenya, celebrated the launch of “Ten rich, underutilized crops,” a publication and documentary that capture their efforts to promote and sustain the varieties they grow.

The Economic & Humanitarian Catastrophe Threatening Pacific Island Communities

By Thalif Deen
When UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) last month, he pointed out the dramatic impact of climate change triggering natural disasters around the world--- from glaciers that melt, ice caps that disappear and corals that bleach.

African Politicians Asked to Develop Legal Instruments to Fight Climate Change

By Isaiah Esipisu
African legislators have been challenged to come up with legal frameworks for climate change to enable countries avoid catastrophes and reactionary emergencies that eat up their budgets.

India’s Electric Mobility Needs Enabling Infrastructure to Pick up Speed

By Manipadma Jena
Dogged by intractable air pollution debilitating large northern swathes from mainly urban vehicle emissions, India earlier this year announced targets for a 40 percent non-fossil component in its fuel-mix by 2030 as part of its Nationally Determined Commitments (NDC) to the Paris accord on climate change. It aims for full electrification of public transit systems and of one-third private vehicles by 2030.

Sustainable Fisheries are Key in Addressing Food Security — and Women can Play an Important Role

By Samira Sadeque
Experts gathered in November to discuss the importance of sustainable fisheries and its role in eradicating world hunger at a fisheries symposium in Rome.

The Adaptive Age: No Institution or Individual can Stand on the Sidelines in the Fight Against Climate Change

By Kristalina Georgieva
When I think of the incredible challenges we must confront in the face of a changing climate, my mind focuses on young people. Eventually, they will be the ones either to enjoy the fruits or bear the burdens resulting from actions taken today.

Nature-Based Climate Solutions Opportunity for Latin America

By Carolina Herrera
Protecting and restoring natural areas in Latin America, home to fifty percent of the planet’s biodiversity and over a quarter of its forests, is critical if the world is to avert a biodiversity and climate disaster.

Travel Tourism Must Transform to Survive, Thrive

The travel and tourism sector, with its significant economic and social benefits, has no choice but to transform to survive and thrive in the face of climate change, said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa at COP25 to industry representatives.

Indigenous Knowledge, a Lesson for a Sustainable Food Future

By Busani Bafana
Local knowledge systems rooted in traditional practices and culture passed down generations provide sustainable solutions to food and nutritional insecurity on the back of climate change, a conference heard this week.

Fixing the Business of Food

By Cecilia Russell
Milan is the city where Leonardo da Vinci painted his iconic Last Supper. Frozen in time is the moment Christ told his disciples there was a traitor among them. Visitors to the painting can examine the expressions on the faces of the disciples and look the food they might have eaten – the bread and wine, and of course the spilt salt. As one delegate to the 10th International Forum on Food and Nutrition noted, the diet did not seem varied or healthy.

Zimbabwe Food Crisis: Time to Act Is Now, Says UN Special Rapporteur

By Busani Bafana
Global food systems are ripe for transformation if people are to be nourished and the planet sustainable, says Hilal Elver, Special Rapporteur of the Right to Food of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Tradition and Technology Take Centre Stage at BCFN Food Forum

By Cecilia Russell
A coffee producer will receive a cent and a half from a $2.50 cup of coffee. This one stark fact stood out as scientists, researchers, activists and grappled with solutions for change in food and nutrition practises, which would benefit the greater community.

What Do We Want from Our Oceans?

By Manuel Barange
This is a question we need to ask ourselves but before answering we need to acknowledge the diversity of expectations and aspirations that we all have for oceans, which cover more than two-thirds of the planet’s surface.

World’s Crisis-Stricken Oceans Doomed to Destruction Without a Global Treaty

By Thalif Deen
The greatest single climate-induced threat facing the world’s 44 small island developing states (SIDS) is rising sea waters which could obliterate some of the low-lying states, including Maldives, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Palau and Micronesia.

Green Economy “Not to be Feared, But an Opportunity to be Embraced” Says UN Chief as COP25 Gets Underway

A green economy is “not one to be feared but an opportunity to be embraced”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, in a keynote speech to delegates at the opening of the COP25 UN climate conference in Madrid on Monday.

Climate Summit Kicks Off, Caught Between Realism and Hope

By Emilio Godoy
Tens of thousands of delegates from state parties began working Monday Dec. 2 in the Spanish capital to pave the way to comply with the Paris Agreement on climate change, while at a parallel summit, representatives of civil society demanded that the international community go further.

Under Pressure. Can COP25 Deliver?

By Farhana Haque Rahman
Mass public pressure backed by the weight of scientific reports is starting to bring governments to their senses as the annual UN climate summit kicks off in Madrid today.

Biofortified Food, a Business Boost for Smallholder Farmers

By Busani Bafana
A start-up in Zimbabwe is producing high nutrition foods using biofortified crops in a bid to fight micronutrient deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) leads to night blindness, illness and death from childhood infections. In Zimbabwe, 36 percent of children under five years of age suffer from Vitamin A deficiency, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Care for Economic Development, Then Care for Food Nutrition, Food Researcher Tells Africa’s Politicians

By Busani Bafana
More than 2 billion people in the world are suffering from malnutrition. This is the result of diets lacking essential micronutrients such as vitamins, iron and zinc, which are vital for the body to function, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Africa’s Civil Society Calls for Action as COP25 Kicks off in Madrid

By Isaiah Esipisu
During the 25th round of climate change negotiations starting today in Madrid, Spain, African civil society organisations will call on governments from both developing and developed nations to play their promised roles in combating climate change.

Hola, Madrid! African Development Bank takes the continent’s climate agenda to COP25 in Spain

By PRESS RELEASE
The African Development Bank will on Monday kick off a campaign to plead the continent’s case at the world’s leading climate change conference.
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