Environment

Saving the Arctic Requires Action on Climate Change and Air Pollution

By Tine Sundtoft and Christian Friis Bach
Arctic temperatures have increased twice as much as the global average in the past 100 years. Recent photos show that thousands of walruses normally resting on sea ice between dives to find food have been forced to crowd ashore because of extreme sea ice melt in Alaska. Such photos have once again reminded us that it is high time we take serious action on climate change if we want to save the Arctic.

Opinion: NGOs Still Leading the Global Debate on Climate

By Hazel Henderson
Civil society organizations, known as NGOs, have for decades used their non-government status to prod officials, politicians and business on climate issues. Veteran campaigners Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam, Kenya’s tree planters, India’s Chipko tree-hugging protectors and indigenous movements worldwide first raised the issues of protecting the Earth and its atmosphere.

India Holds Up Farmers’ Plight from Extreme Weather for COP21 Delegates

By Manipadma Jena
“If you look at the submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs, the national commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2030) by over 150 countries, most have announced mitigation-centric targets, whereas climate change is also about adaptation. India is among the few that has given a comprehensive INDC,” Ashok Lavasa, a key official of India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and part of its COP21 team at Paris, told IPS.

Water Shortages Have a Heavy Impact on Women in Cuba

By Patricia Grogg
Denia Arrascaeta suffers water shortages on a near daily basis in the neighbourhood in the Cuban capital where she lives. “Sometimes I don’t even have water to drink,” she told IPS.

Women Farmers Strive to Combat Climate Change in the Caribbean

By Desmond Brown
In the Caribbean, some women find themselves on the frontline with the battle to mitigate climate change. Meet Dr. Krystal Cox. She is one of three girls who all studied medicine and got medical degrees.

Farmers Urge Solutions at Climate Change Talks

By A. D. McKenzie
Recognizing that agriculture plays a significant role in global warming, farmer associations say they want to offer solutions, and they’re urging governments to include them in negotiations during the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 in Paris.

Climate Showdown Starts in Paris

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
Paris has finally arrived. During the next two weeks, a massive conference centre in the outskirts of the French capital will play host to the ultimate United Nations conference and the single most important climate change event in decades.

Native Seeds Help Weather Climate Change in El Salvador

By Edgardo Ayala
Knife in hand, Domitila Reyes deftly cuts open the leaves covering the cob of corn, which she carefully removes from the plant – a process she carries out over and over all morning long, standing in the middle of a sea of corn, a staple in the diet of El Salvador.

Paris Climate Summit Opens With Dire Warning

By Thalif Deen
When the climate summit opened in Paris on Monday, the mood was overwhelmingly pessimistic -- largely about the current state of the global environment.

Traditional Seeds Keep Hunger Away in Drought-Prone Zimbabwe

By Locadia Mavhudzi
It was all smiles as Bertha Chibhememe of Sangwe communal area in Chiredzi, south eastern Zimbabwe, showed off her traditional seed varieties at a seed fair. A 45-year-old smallholder in Zimbabwe’s lowveld region, Chibhememe told how her “nzara yapera” maize variety is thriving in a changing climate.

In Botswana: Leaving the Corporate Office to Work the Land – and Finding Opportunity

By Ngala Killian Chimtom
Beauty Manake moves around these days with a “million dollar” smile on her face. The 31-year old woman from Botswana now runs a thriving vegetable and livestock farm, as well as an agribusiness consultancy group.

Malawi Working to Improve Nutrition Sensitive Agricultural Production

By Mabvuto Banda
In the last few years, Malawi has successfully managed to reduce infant and under five mortality. But reducing malnutrition, which affects an estimated 1.4 million children, continues to be a costly challenge for the country.

Addressing Climate Change Through Sustainable Development

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Climate change impacts are already upon us. Sea levels are rising, glaciers and ice are melting. People in poor countries are struggling to cope and adapt. Even developed countries are facing adverse consequences, taxing their own adaptive capacities to increased flooding, drought and fires. We cannot afford to wait.

African Countries Feeling Exposed to Extreme Weather Changes

By Justus Wanzala
Extreme weather conditions, an impact of climate change faced by African countries despite contributing the least global emissions, is attracting the attention of many as the clock ticks towards the start of the 2015 United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21).

Seaweed Cultivation Ushers Waves of Change in the Sundarbans

By Oishanee Ghosh
In Bengal's mangrove forests, the effects of climate change are forcing men to leave their families in search of work. But now, seaweed farming is offering the women left behind financial stability and empowerment.

“Paris Is Not the End of a Climate Change Process but a Beginning”

By Marianela Jarroud
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet says the climate summit in Paris “is not the end of a process but a beginning,” and that it will produce “an agreement that, although insufficient with respect to the original goal, shows that people believe it is better to move ahead than to stand still.”

Zimbabwe’s Long Road in Ending Poverty and Hunger

By Ignatius Banda
Noel Bhizori has a permanent post at a traffic light in Bulawayo’s central business district where he sells mobile phone recharge cards at a busy intersection.

Uganda, Tanzania Need Gender Sensitive Climate Change Policies

By Wambi Michael
Climate Change needs to be at the top of the country’s agenda, according to a project examining Uganda’s policies. It says the country hasn’t paid enough attention to climate change in national development and agriculture plans and this needs to be turned around before it’s too late.

Drought Threatens Water-Truck Lifeline in Parched Northeast Brazil

By Nadia Pontes
For the rural community of Pacheco in northeastern Brazil, the local school has never been so important. It is now the only place in the drought-stricken area that has water on tap.

Climate Refugees and a Collapsing City

By Sohara Mehroze Shachi
With multiplying impacts of climate change - increasing floods, cyclones, and drought - thousands of climate refugees are migrating to Dhaka. And the city, well beyond its carrying capacity, is bursting at the seams.

From Darkness to Light: Dramatic Rescue of Tanzanian Miners Trapped 41 Days in Rubble

By Kizito Makoye
The five artisanal miners who narrowly escaped death last week after a 41-day ordeal in a collapsed gold mine in northern Tanzania called their experience a living hell. They went through a myriad of emotions soon after having been freed.
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