Environment

Developing Nations Write Hopeful New Chapters in a Toxic Legacy

By Kitty Stapp
The village of Dong Mai in Vietnam's agricultural heartland had a serious problem.

Africa’s Rural Women Must Count in Water Management

By Miriam Gathigah
More women’s voices are being heard at international platforms to address the post-2015 water agenda, as witnessed at the recently concluded international U.N International Water Conference held from Jan. 15 to 17 in Zaragoza, Spain.

Renewables Can Benefit Water, Energy and Food Nexus

By Wambi Michael
With global energy needs projected to increase by 35 percent by 2035, a new report says meeting this demand could increase water withdrawals in the energy sector unless more cost effective renewable energy sources are deployed in power, water and food production.

Aboriginal Businesses Stimulate Positive Change in Australia

By Neena Bhandari
Roy Roger Gibson, an indigenous Kuku Yalanji elder, would watch thousands of tourists and vehicles trampling his pristine land while working on the sugarcane fields in Far North Queensland. His people were suffering and their culture was being eroded. The native wildlife was disappearing. He dreamt of turning this around.

After Nine Years of Foot-Dragging, U.N. Ready for Talks on High Seas Treaty

By Thalif Deen
After four days of intense negotiations - preceded by nine years of dilly-dallying - the United Nations has agreed to convene an intergovernmental conference aimed at drafting a legally binding treaty to conserve marine life and govern the mostly lawless high seas beyond national jurisdiction.

Three Minutes Away from Doomsday

By Leila Lemghalef
Unchecked climate change and the nuclear arms race have propelled the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock forward two minutes closer to midnight, from its 2012 placement of five minutes to midnight.

A “Rosetta Stone” for Conducting Biodiversity Assessments

By Zakri Abdul Hamid
This month saw an important milestone reached by the U.N.’s young Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): Publication of its first public product.

The Bahamas’ New Motto: “Sand, Surf and Solar”

By Kenton X. Chance
When it comes to tourism in the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM), The Bahamas -- 700 islands sprinkled over 100,000 square miles of ocean starting just 50 miles off Florida -- is a heavyweight.

Final Push to Launch U.N. Negotiations on High Seas Treaty

By Thalif Deen
The United Nations will make its third - and perhaps final - attempt at reaching an agreement to launch negotiations for an international biodiversity treaty governing the high seas.

Caribbean Youth Ready to Lead on Climate Issues

By Desmond Brown
At 24 years old, Stefan Knights has never been on the side of those who are sceptical about the reality and severity of climate change.

CORRECTION/Sustainable Energy Starts With the Sun

By Malini Shankar
It began with an experiment to install photovoltaic cells over an irrigation canal that forms part of the Sardar Sarovar canal network – a massive hydel power project across the River Narmada that irrigates some 1.8 million hectares of arable land in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

Pacific Islands Call for New Thinking to Implement Post-2015 Development Goals

By Catherine Wilson
As the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of poverty-alleviation targets set by the United Nations, come to a close this year, countries around the world are taking stock of their successes and failures in tackling key developmental issues.

Children Starving to Death in Pakistan’s Drought-Struck Tharparkar District

By Irfan Ahmed
The main entrance to the Civil Hospital in Mithi, headquarters of the Tharparkar district in Pakistan’s southern Sindh Province, is blocked by a couple of men clad in traditional dress and turbans. They are trying to console a woman who is sobbing so heavily she has to gasp for breath.

Africa Must Prioritise Water in Its Development Agenda

By Miriam Gathigah
Although African countries have been lauded for their efforts towards ensuring that people have access to safe drinking water in keeping with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), they have nonetheless come under scrutiny for failure to prioritise water in their development agendas.

In the Shadow of Glacial Lakes, Pakistan’s Mountain Communities Look to Climate Adaptation

By Saleem Shaikh and Sughra Tunio
Khaliq-ul-Zaman, a farmer from the remote Bindo Gol valley in northern Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has long lived under the shadow of disaster.

Island States Throw Off the Heavy Yoke of Fossil Fuels

By Desmond Brown
The Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, on a quest to become the world’s first sustainable island state, has taken a giant leap in its programme to cut energy costs.

OPINION: For the Good of Humanity – Towards a Culture of Caring

By Andrew MacMillan
About a week ago my wife was taken to hospital and diagnosed with pneumonia. She was promptly treated with antibiotics and, wonderfully, is now on the mend.

More Than Half of Africa’s Arable Land ‘Too Damaged’ for Food Production

By Busani Bafana
A report published last month by the Montpellier Panel - an eminent group of agriculture, ecology and trade experts from Africa and Europe - says about 65 percent of Africa's arable land is too damaged to sustain viable food production.

Haitians Worry World Bank-Assisted Mining Law Could Result in “Looting”

By Carey L. Biron
With Haiti’s Parliament having dissolved on Tuesday, civil society groups are worried that the Haitian president may move to unilaterally put in place a contentious revision to the country’s decades-old mining law.

Oil, An Invasive Water Species in the Carnival Capital

By Mario Osava
"We ran down to the beach and found a black tide, whose waves didn’t make the sound of water, but the slurp of a thick paste,” said Alexandre Anderson, describing the oil spill in Guanabara bay in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro which turned him into an activist and leader among the local small-scale fishing community.

St. Vincent Embarks on Renewable Energy Path

By Kenton X. Chance
For decades, the fertile slopes of La Soufriere volcano, which occupies the northern third of this 344-kilometre-square island, has produced illegally grown marijuana that fuels the local underground economy, and the trade in that illicit drug across the eastern Caribbean.
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