Environment

Drought Boosts Science in Dominican Republic

By Ivet González
The recent lengthy drought in the Dominican Republic, which began to ease in late 2015, caused serious losses in agriculture and prompted national water rationing measures and educational campaigns.

Agroecology in Africa: Mitigation the Old New Way

By Frederic Mousseau
Millions of African farmers don’t need to adapt to climate change. They have done that already.

Cash for the Climate Please, Caribbean Leaders Lament

By Desmond Brown
Funding to address the financial flows needed for adaptation and mitigation of climate change remains an issue of concern for the Caribbean.

Soy Boom Revives Amazon Highway

By Fabiana Frayssinet
The BR-163 highway, an old dream of the Brazilian military to colonise the Amazon jungle, was revived by agroexporters as part of a plan aimed at cutting costs by shipping soy out of river ports. But the improvement of the road has accentuated problems such as deforestation and land tenure, and is fuelling new social conflicts.

Caribbean Journalists Prepare to Report on Climate Change

By Ivet González
Environmentally committed journalists in the Caribbean point to a major challenge for media workers: communicating and raising awareness about the crucial climate change agreement that emerged from the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris.

Hail to the Cowpea: a Blue Ribbon for the Black-Eyed Pea

By Nteranya Sanginga
2016 is the International Year of Pulses, and we at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture are proud to be organizing what promises to be the landmark event, the Joint World Cowpea and Pan-African Grain Legume Research Conference.

Floods Pose Challenge for South American Integration

By Fabiana Frayssinet
The flooding that has affected four South American countries has underscored the need for an integrated approach to addressing the causes and effects of climate change.

Water, Water Everywhere but Too Much or Too Little

By Francesco Farnè
“Water is at the core of the Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA), but it is true that for a long time water and oceans issues have been marginalized in climate conferences, considering that 90 per cent of natural catastrophes are linked to water and 40 per cent of global population will face water scarcity from now to 2050,” stated Marie-Ségolène Royal, French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, during the press conference at the launch of the #ClimateIsWater initiative at COP21. “It is through water that it is possible to measure climate change impacts,” she said.

2015 – A Giant Leap for Womankind (Part 1)

By Lakshmi Puri
2015, the final year of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), heralds the beginning of the most critical fifteen years for the realization of the new Sustainable Development Agenda that the international community launched along with renewed Climate Change and Financing for Development (FfD) compacts.

‘Good, But Not Perfect’, Pacific Islands Women on Climate Deal

By Catherine Wilson
Women leaders in the Pacific Islands have acclaimed the agreement on reducing global warming achieved at the United Nations (COP21) Climate Change conference in Paris as an unprecedented moment of world solidarity on an issue which has been marked to date by division between the developing and industrialized world. But for Pacific small island developing states, which name climate change as the single greatest threat to their survival, it will only be a success if inspirational words are followed by real action.

Addressing Climate Change On Several Fronts In The Caribbean

By Desmond Brown
Climate change is already affecting the Caribbean. But there is concern that a gap still exists between what the region’s leaders are saying about the issue and what residents believe.

Credit Innovation has a Key Role in Bangladesh’s Climate Change Adaptation

By Sumon Dey
Expected climate change makes improving agricultural practices even more important than many already suggest, according to a new study of Bangladesh, considered one of the most at-risk nations from rising temperatures.

More Challenges For Antigua As Drought Continues

By Desmond Brown
Climate change has brought with it many challenges for the people of Antigua and Barbuda.

Insecurity in Dominican Countryside Threatens Local Food Supply

By Ivet González
“Sometimes we have too much water, which washes everything away,” Cecilia Joseph, originally from Haiti, said in heavily accented Spanish while pulling up a ñame root (a kind of yam) on her farm in the municipality of Santo Domingo Norte in the Dominican Republic.

Initiatives Revive Palestinian Heritage Boosting Economy and ‘Homeland’

By Silvia Boarini
Deep into the subtly monochrome landscape of the southern West Bank, Abu Ismaeel’s tent stands out amongst bare rolling hills that stretch into the horizon. A lonely gate, with no fence around it, signals the official entrance to two large tents in the Rashayda Desert.

Malnutrition a Silent Emergency in Papua New Guinea

By Catherine Wilson
High up in the mountainous interior of Papua New Guinea (PNG), the most populous Pacific Island state of 7.3 million people, rural lives are marked by strenuous work toiling land in rugged terrain with low access to basic services.

Mexican Government Ignores Social Impact of Energy Projects

By Emilio Godoy
Mexico’s hydrocarbons law stipulates that oil contracts must include a social impact assessment. But this has not been done in the case of the oilfields granted to the country’s former oil monopoly, Pemex, or to private companies since the industry was opened up to private investment.

Despite Health Risks, Many Argue GMOs Could Help Solve Food Security

By Mbom Sixtus
Cameroon is on the path to introduce genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). This would be overseen by the Cameroon Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the National Biosafety Committee, if the Cameroon Cotton Corporation successfully implements a three-year test cultivation of cotton.

Climate Smart Coffee and Banana Set to Boost East African Farmers’ Income

By Wambi Michael
Ugandan farmers are increasingly inter-planting coffee, the country’s primary export, and banana, a staple food, as a way of coping with the effects of climate change.

Accord Calls for First Global Conference on Peace

By Vasu Gounden
On 21 November 2015, during ACCORD’s 2015 Africa Peace Award celebration, I made a call for the United Nations to convene the first ever UN Global Conference on Peace.

Indigenous Villagers Fight “Evil Spirit” of Hydropower Dam in Brazil

By Fabiana Frayssinet
At dusk on the Tapajós River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon River in northern Brazil, the Mundurukú indigenous people gather to bathe and wash clothes in these waters rich in fish, the staple of their diet. But the “evil spirit”, as they refer in their language to the Sao Luiz Tapajós dam, threatens to leave most of their territory – and their way of life – under water.
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