Environment

Central American Civil Society Calls for Protection of Local Agriculture at COP20

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
Worried about the effects of global warming on agriculture, water and food security in their communities, social organisations in Central America are demanding that their governments put a priority on these issues in the COP20 climate summit.

Water and Sanitation Report Card: Slow Progress, Inadequate Funding

By Tim Brewer
The Ebola crisis has thrown into sharp relief the issue of water, sanitation and hygiene in treating and caring for the sick. Dying patients are being taken to hospitals which never had enough water to maintain hygiene, and the epidemic has pushed the system to the breaking point.

Gated Communities on the Water Aggravate Flooding in Argentina

By Fabiana Frayssinet
The construction of gated communities on wetlands and floodplains in Greater Buenos Aires has modified fragile ecosystems and water cycles and has aggravated flooding, especially in poor surrounding neighourhoods.

Dry Fields Breed Hunger in Jamaica

By Desmond Brown
Caribbean countries already grappling with a finite amount of space for food production now face the added challenges of extreme rainfall events or droughts due to climate change.

Lessons from Jamaica’s Billion-Dollar Drought

By Desmond Brown
As Jamaica struggles under the burden of an ongoing drought, experts say ensuring food security for the most vulnerable groups in society is becoming one of the leading challenges posed by climate change.

Down With Sustainable Development! Long Live Convivial Degrowth!

By Justin Hyatt
For anyone who recently attended the Fourth International Conference on Degrowth in Leipzig, Germany, listening in on conference talk, surrounded by the ecologically savvy, one quickly noticed that no one was singing the praises of sustainable development.

The Future of the Planet and the Irresponsibility of Governments

By Roberto Savio
Less than a week after everybody celebrated the historical agreement on Nov. 17 between the United States and China on reduction of CO2 emissions, a very cold shower has come from India.

A Game-Changing Week on Climate Change

By Joel Jaeger
- In recent days, two major developments have injected new life into international action on climate change.

Shale Oil Fuels Indigenous Conflict in Argentina

By Fabiana Frayssinet
The boom in unconventional fossil fuels has revived indigenous conflicts in southwest Argentina. Twenty-two Mapuche communities who live on top of Vaca Muerta, the geological formation where the reserves are located, complain that they were not consulted about the use of their ancestral lands, both “above and below ground.”

G20 Seeks to Streamline Private Investment in Infrastructure

By Carey L. Biron
Industrialised countries have agreed to collaborate on a new programme aimed at funnelling significant private-sector investment into global infrastructure projects, particularly in developing countries.

Will New Climate Treaty Be a Thriller, or Shaggy Dog Story?

By Stephen Leahy
This December, 195 nations plus the European Union will meet in Lima for two weeks for the crucial U.N. Conference of the Parties on Climate Change, known as COP 20. The hope in Lima is to produce the first complete draft of a new global climate agreement.

Building Disaster Resilience Amidst Rampant Poverty

By Amantha Perera
Of the thousands of landslide-prone villages he has visited and worked with, R M S Bandara, a high-ranking official from Sri Lanka’s National Building Resources Organisation (NBRO), says only one has made him sit up and take note.

Latin America Moves Towards Decarbonising the Economy

By Fabíola Ortiz
When the advances made towards curbing global warming are analysed in the first 12 days of December in Lima, during the 20th climate conference, Latin America will present some achievements, as well as the many challenges it faces in “decarbonising development”.

High Expectations At the World Parks Congress

By Marshall Patsanza
Conserving the world's most valuable natural resources is the focus of the sixth World Parks Congress 2014, taking place Sydney, Australia. The congress, which takes place once every 10 years, is convened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

OPINION: Now Is the Time to Tackle Malnutrition and Its Massive Human Costs

By José Graziano da Silva and Margaret Chan
The scourge of malnutrition affects the most vulnerable in society, and it hurts most in the earliest stages of life. Today, more than 800 million people are chronically hungry, about 11 percent of the global population.

How a Small Tribe Turned Tragedy into Opportunity

By Malini Shankar
When the Asian tsunami washed over several Indian Ocean Rim countries on Boxing Day 2004, it left a trail of destruction in its wake, including a death toll that touched 230,000.

Legal Vacuum Fuels Conflicts Over Water in El Salvador

By Edgardo Ayala
Rural communities and social organisations in El Salvador agree that the lack of specific laws is one of the main hurdles to resolving disputes over water in the country.

How SADC is Fighting Wildlife Crime

By Mabvuto Banda
"We are underpaid, have no guns and in most instances are outnumbered by the poachers," says Stain Phiri, a ranger at Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve — a 986 km reserve said to have the most abundant and a variety of wildlife in Malawi —  which also happens to be one of the country’s biggest game parks under siege by poachers.

U.N. Chief Eyes Upcoming Summits to Resolve Development Crisis

By Thalif Deen
The continued widespread economic recession - aggravated by the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa - is threatening to undermine the U.N.'s highly-touted post-2015 development agenda.

Why Are G20 Governments Subsidising Dangerous Climate Change?

By Shelagh Whitley
Just a week after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gave its starkest warning yet that the vast majority of existing oil, gas and coal reserves need to be kept in the ground, a new report reveals that governments are flagrantly ignoring these warnings and continuing to subsidise exploration for fossil fuels.

Fishing for Peace in Korea

By John Feffer and Michal Witkowski
Environmental problems, by their nature, don’t respect borders. Air and sea pollution often affect countries that had nothing to do with their production. Many extreme weather events, like typhoons, strike more than one country. Climate change affects everyone.
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