Environment

Alternative Mining Indaba Makes Its Voice Heard

By Mark Olalde
“Comrades, we have arrived. This cherry is eight years awaited. We have made it to this place,” Bishop Jo Seoka told the crowd, pausing to allow for the whistles and cheers.

Expansion of Renewable Energies in Mexico Has Victims, Too

By Emilio Godoy
The growing number of wind and solar power projects in the southern Mexican state of Yucatán are part of a positive change in Mexico’s energy mix. But affected communities do not see it in the same way, due to the fact that they are not informed or consulted, and because of how the phenomenon changes their lives.

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.

Argentina’s Never-ending Environmental Disaster

By Daniel Gutman
Is it possible to spend 5.2 billion dollars to clean up a river which is just 64-km-long and get practically no results? Argentina is showing that it is.

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.

Want to Prevent Stroke, Diabetes, Cancer? Get Moving… Now!

By Baher Kamal
Tired, lazy, bored, laying down long hours watching TV or seated checking your email? Wrong. And dangerous: not enough exercise contributes to cancer, diabetes, depression and other non-communicable diseases.

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.

Riverbank Populations Displaced by Dams in Brazil Miss Old Way of Life

By Mario Osava
“Now we have internet and TV. Before, we didn't even have electricity, but it was better,” said Lourival de Barros, one of the people displaced by the hydropower plants which have mushroomed aorund Brazil, mainly since the 1970s.

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.

Can Africa Slay Its Financial Hydra?

By Busani Bafana
Thanks to growing investor interest, increasing respect for democratic reforms, and its vast food production potential, the Africa Rising narrative is only getting better.

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.
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