Environment

Civil Society on SDG Engagement: “We Are Not Guests”

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Showing up in record numbers, civil society groups are urging greater inclusion and accountability in sustainable development processes at a UN high level meeting.

Extreme Weather Wiping Out Hard-Won GDP Gains in Hours

By Kenton X. Chance
With Antigua and Barbuda joining St. Kitts and Nevis as the two eastern Caribbean nations to attain middle-income country status, a senior diplomat has identified climate change as a major factor preventing other nations in the grouping from taking the same step forward.

2 Billion People Don’t Have Access To Clean Water, Opens up Fissures of Inequality

By Roshni Majumdar
More than two billion people lack access to clean and safe drinking water, according to a new report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

We Have to Reclaim the Public Policy Space for SDGs

By Jens Martens
At the High-Level Political Forum which currently takes place at the United Nations in New York several events, for instance a SDG Business Forum, are devoted to the critical role of business and public-private partnerships (PPPs) in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Communities Step Up to Help Save Jamaica’s Forests

By Desmond Brown
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 31.1 percent or about 337,000 hectares of Jamaica is forested. Of this, 26.1 percent or 88,000 is classified as primary forest, the most biodiverse and carbon-dense form of forest.

Mexico’s Methane Emissions Threaten the Environment

By Emilio Godoy
Mexico is in transition towards commercial exploitation of its shale gas, which is being included in two auctions of 24 hydrocarbon blocks, at a time when the country is having difficulty preventing and reducing industrial methane emissions.

Climate Change-Poverty-Migration: The New, Inhuman ‘Bermuda Triangle’

By Baher Kamal
World organisations, experts and scientists have been repeating it to satiety: climate change poses a major risk to the poorest rural populations in developing countries, dangerously threatening their lives and livelihoods and thus forcing them to migrate.

Mideast: Water Use Innovations ‘Crucial’ to Face Climate Change

By IPS World Desk
In the Near East and North Africa region, the per capita renewable water availability is around 600 cubic metres per person per year --only 10 per cent of the world average- and drops to just 100 cubic metres in some countries, the United Nations warned.

Funding Climate Resilience Benefits All Nations – Yes, the U.S. Too

By Kenton X. Chance
A leading climate change mitigation and adaptation activist and former climate negotiator in the Caribbean says that the United States could protect its economic and political interest by helping the region to go green.

Progress on World Hunger Has Reversed

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
World hunger has increased, reversing years of progress, said a UN specialised agency. During its biennial conference held in Rome, Italy from 3-8 July, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) noted that the world is facing it’s worst food crisis since World War II.

‘Address African Rural Youth Unemployment Now or They Will Migrate’

By IPS World Desk
In 2014 alone, about 11 million young Africans entered the labour market. But many see few opportunities in the agriculture sector and are constrained by a lack of skills, low wages, and limited access to land and financial services. Combined, this makes them more prone to migrate from rural areas.

The Greater Caribbean Raises Funds to Protect its Sandy Coasts

By Ivet González
Almost no Caribbean beach escapes erosion, a problem that scientific sources describe as extensive and irreversible in these ecosystems of high economic interest, that work as protective barriers for life inland.

Caribbean Seeks to Climate-Proof Tourism Industry

By Desmond Brown
The tourism industry is the key economic driver and largest provider of jobs in the Caribbean after the public sector. Caribbean tourism broke new ground in 2016, surpassing 29 million arrivals for the first time and once again growing faster than the global average.

Insurance: A Valuable Incentive for Small Farmers’ Climate Resilience

By Friday Phiri
Frequent extreme weather and climate shifts pose a challenge to already vulnerable groups such as smallholder farmers in the developing world. Between 2004 and 2014, farmers are said to have endured the brunt of the 100-billion-dollar cost of climate-related disasters.

China Drives Nuclear Expansion in Argentina, but with Strings Attached

By Daniel Gutman
Two new nuclear power plants, to cost 14 billion dollars, will give a new impetus to Argentina’s relation with atomic energy, which began over 60 years ago. President Mauricio Macri made the announcement from China, the country that is to finance 85 per cent of the works.

Any Way to Help Slow Down Climate Change… Individually?

By IPS World Desk
It is no secret that the biggest responsible for climate change is greed. The greed of the world’s largest private corporations, which blindly seek unlimited high financial benefits. And the greed of those politicians who are also blindly keen about holding their temporary power at any cost, thus not daring to challenge big business. Ordinary people can meanwhile help slow down such a hellish race.

SLIDESHOW: When Women Have Land Rights, the Tide Begins to Turn

By Manipadma Jena
In Meghalaya, India’s northeastern biodiversity hotspot, all three major tribes are matrilineal. Children take the mother’s family name, while daughters inherit the family lands.

Europe Stands by Caribbean on Climate Funding

By Desmond Brown
A senior European Union (EU) official in the Caribbean said Europe is ready to continue the global leadership on the fight against climate change, including helping the poor and vulnerable countries in the region.

“Black Soils” – Excessive Use of Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, Mercury…

By IPS World Desk
Soils are polluted due mostly to human activities that leave excess chemicals in soils used to grow food, the United Nations reports.

The World Is Burning

By IPS World Desk
Record high temperatures are gripping much of the globe and more hot weather are to come. This implies more drought, more food insecurity, more famine and more massive human displacements.

Children Now More Than Half of the 65 Million Displaced

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Around 20 people are newly displaced every minute of the day, according to a new report. In its annual Global Trends report, the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR has recorded unprecedented and concerning levels of displacement around the world.
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