Environment

Indonesia’s New President Promises to Put Peat Before Palm Oil

By Jeff Conant
Last week, Indonesia's new president, Joko Widodo, ordered the country’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry to review the licenses of all companies that have converted peatlands to oil palm plantations.

U.N.’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals Remain Intact

By Thalif Deen
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has refused to jettison any of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by an Open Working Group of member states: goals aimed at launching the U.N.'s new post-2015 development agenda through 2030.

Q&A: Why Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism is at a Crossroads

By Wambi Michael
The U.N. mechanism for supporting carbon emissions projects in developing countries – the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – is in crisis as a result of a dramatic slump in the prices being paid for carbon credits.

OPINION: To Conserve Arctic Species, Take Action in Africa

By Jacques Trouvilliez
So great are the contrasts between the frozen empty expanses of the far north and Africa’s baking deserts, steamy rain forests and savannahs that any direct connections between the two seem far-fetched - if they indeed exist at all.

Climate and Post-2015 Development Agenda Talks Share the Same Path

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
The international community’s post-2015 development agenda will depend, in key aspects, on whether the delegates of 195 countries meeting now at the climate summit in the Peruvian capital reach an agreement to reduce global warming, since climate change affects all human activity.

Climate Finance Flowing, But for Many, the Well Remains Dry

By Desmond Brown
For more than 10 years, Mildred Crawford has been “a voice in the wilderness” crying out on behalf of rural women in agriculture.

Africa Laments as Kyoto Protocol Hangs in Limbo

By Wambi Michael
African countries fought hard for the Kyoto Protocol not to die on African soil at the 2011 Climate Change Conference in South Africa, but they say it is now languishing in limbo because developed countries are taking what they called “baby steps" towards ratification of the Doha Amendment that gave it a new lease of life.

OPINION: Japan’s Misuse of Climate Funds for Dirty Coal Plants Exposed

By Dipti Bhatnagar
World governments gathered in Lima, Peru for the latest round of U.N. climate negotiations should have finance on their mind.

Native Villagers in Honduras Bet on Food Security – and Win

By Thelma Mejía
The town’s dynamic mayor, Sandro Martínez, assumed the commitment of turning the Honduran municipality of Victoria into a model of food and nutritional security and environmental protection by means of municipal public policies based on broad social and community participation and international development aid.

Will Rollout of Green Technologies Get a Boost at Lima Climate Summit?

By Desmond Brown
The road towards a green economy is paved with both reward and risk, and policymakers must seek to balance these out if the transition to low-carbon energy sources is to succeed on the required scale, climate experts say.

The South Demands Clarity in Financing and Adaptation at COP20

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
At the 12-day climate summit that began Monday in the Peruvian capital, representatives of 195 countries and hundreds of members of civil society are trying to agree on the key points of a new international treaty aimed at curbing global warming.

First Phase of Global Fracking Expansion: Ensuring Friendly Legislation

By Carey L. Biron
Multinational oil and gas companies are engaged in a quiet but broad attempt to prepare the groundwork for a significant global expansion of shale gas development, according to a study released Monday.

OPINION: Climate Justice Is the Only Way to Solve Our Climate Crisis

By Jagoda Munic
In November, the world's top climate scientists issued their latest warning that the climate crisis is rapidly worsening on a number of fronts, and that we must stop our climate-polluting way of producing energy if we are to stand a chance of avoiding the worst impacts of climate change.

Illegal Logging Wreaking Havoc on Impoverished Rural Communities

By Catherine Wilson
Rampant unsustainable logging in the southwest Pacific Island states of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, where the majority of land is covered in tropical rainforest, is worsening hardship, human insecurity and conflict in rural communities.

Only a Few Drops of Water at the Lima Climate Summit

By Emilio Godoy
Although it is one of the victims of global warming, water will not be given a place of importance at the COP20 climate change conference to be held Dec. 1-12 in Lima, Peru.

Led by INTERPOL, U.N. Tracks Environmental Criminals

By Thalif Deen
A coalition of international organisations, led by INTERPOL and backed by the United Nations, is pursuing a growing new brand of criminals - primarily accused of serious environmental crimes - who have mostly escaped the long arm of the law.

Indigenous Community Beats Drought and Malnutrition in Honduras

By Thelma Mejía
In the heart of the Pijol mountains in the northern Honduran province of Yoro, the Tolupan indigenous community of Pueblo Nuevo has a lot to celebrate: famine is no longer a problem for them, and their youngest children were rescued from the grip of child malnutrition.

Shale Oil Threatens the High Prices Enjoyed by OPEC

By Humberto Márquez
Shale fever and the political chess among major oil producers and consumers have put OPEC in one of the most difficult junctures in its 54 years of history.

Women on the Edge of Land and Life

By Manipadma Jena
November is the cruelest month for landless families in the Indian Sundarbans, the largest single block of tidal mangrove forest in the world lying primarily in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.

Rich Countries Pony Up (Some) for Climate Justice

By Oscar Reyes
It’s one of the oldest tricks in politics: Talk down expectations to the point that you can meet them.

Filipino Farmers Protest Government Research on Genetically Modified Rice

By Diana Mendoza
Jon Sarmiento, a farmer in the Cavite province in southern Manila, plants a variety of fruits and vegetables, but his main crop, rice, is under threat. He claims that approval by the Philippine government of the genetically modified ‘golden rice’ that is fortified with beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A, could ruin his livelihood.
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