Environment

Ancient Kings Fight Climate Change

By Amantha Perera
Life for a widow with young children in Sri Lanka’s poor agrarian areas can be harsh. Families in remote areas like Anuradhapura in the North Central Province barely eke out a living through paddy cultivation or through vegetable and other crops planted in cleared jungle shrub - Chena cultivation as it is called.

Govt, Energy Industry Accused of Suppressing Fracking Dangers

By Jared Metzker
New signs have emerged in recent days which indicate that extreme measures are being taken in order to suppress evidence of the pernicious effects of the energy extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking".

Tapping Rural Culture for Development Potential

By Constanza Vieira
“I was a hunter. I killed many animals,” said Rosalino Ortiz, a representative of Mashiramo, a campesino organisation that monitors biodiversity in Colombia’s Massif range in the southern department of Huila.

Environmentalists Alarmed at Tourism Plans for Small Islands

By Humberto Márquez
The Venezuelan government’s plans to develop tourism infrastructure on virtually uninhabited highly biodiverse small islands in the southern Caribbean have triggered warnings from environmentalists.

New York Wants Your Potato Peels

By Kim-Jenna Jurriaans
Ask a random New Yorker what their city is famous for and “composting” is about as likely to make the list as “cheap housing” and “warm winters”. But if it is up to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, this will soon change.

Alberta’s Oil Sands Bring Jobs, Services and Despair

By Flossie Baker
“First the bugs began to disappear,” says Eriel Deranger, spokesperson for Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.

Geothermal Energy Stuck in a Hole in Switzerland

By Ray Smith
An accident in a flagship project threatens the future of geothermal energy in Switzerland. The mishap that was followed by earthquakes has come as a warning that geothermal deep drilling still has a long way to go.

Steps to Protect South Africa’s Wattled Cranes

By Brendon Bosworth
On a winter’s afternoon in late July, potato farmer John Campbell and the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Tanya Smith surveyed the Umgeni Vlei Nature Reserve from a hilltop on Ivanhoe Farm in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.

Grassroots Groups Wary of Haiti’s “Attractive” Mining Law

By Correspondents
As the government works on preparing “an attractive law that will entice investors”, Haitian popular organisations are mobilising and forming networks to resist mining in their country.

Fight Against Drought Is Grounds for Political Divorce in Brazil

By Mario Osava
The decisions taken by the Brazilian government in the fight against drought in the country’s semiarid Northeast are an example of the disconnect between politicians and the citizens, which triggered an unexpected wave of protests in June.

A Decade of Legal GM Soy in Brazil

By Fabíola Ortiz
Ten years ago, Brazil yielded to agribusiness pressure and legalised the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) soy. Today it is the world’s second leading producer of GM crops, surpassed only by the United States.

Fukushima Fallout Hits Farmers

By Suvendrini Kakuchi
Life for Yoshihiro Watanabe and his wife Mutsuko, mushroom and rice farmers from Fukushima, has changed drastically since the disastrous meltdowns in the Dai Ichi nuclear plant that was hit by a massive tsunami after a 9.0 strong earthquake struck on Mar. 11, 2011.

Colombian Town Says ‘No’ to Gold Mine

By Constanza Vieira
People in a farming town in central Colombia voted overwhelmingly against global corporation AngloGold Ashanti’s La Colosa gold mine.

Bill Seeks to Halt Bee-Killing Pesticides in U.S.

By Matthew Charles Cardinale
Two Congressional Democrats have co-sponsored new legislation called the Save America’s Pollinators Act of 2013 to take emergency action to save the remaining bees in the U.S., and in turn, the U.S. food supply.

Climate Change Teaches Some Lessons

By Nasseem Ackbarally
Tourism, agriculture, fishing, the water supply – climate change threatens the very foundations of society and the economy in Mauritius. As the Indian Ocean island nation develops its adaptation strategies, it is working to ground the next generation of citizens firmly in principles of sustainable development.

Technology and Innovation Aim at Greater Food Security

By Cydney Hargis
In the face of global climate change and currency devaluation, improved strategies are being used to combat high international poverty and malnutrition rates, and to increase global food security. 

Will Prayers Save Farmers in the Land of the Gods?

By Malini Shankar
Over a month after flash floods in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand in north India left 1,000 dead and 6,000 missing, the government has yet to release a full agricultural impact assessment, sparking fears about the extent of damage to the region’s farmland.

Biochar Could “Turn Back Clock” on Climate

By Carey L. Biron
Even as policymakers around the world wrestle with how to cut future emissions of global greenhouse gases, some scientists and environmentalists are increasingly turning their attention to the carbon dioxide that is already in the atmosphere, trying to discern ways that this level can be efficiently and safely brought down.

Without Funding, Haiti Faces “Endemic Cholera”

By Correspondents
Lack of financing for a 10-year eradication plan means that cholera will likely be endemic to Haiti for years to come.

Soldiers Trade in Illegal Ivory

By Taylor Toeka Kakala
At a popular tourist art market in Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, paintings and art sculptures made from bronze, copper, malachite, stone or wood attract visitors. It seems like an ordinary tourist market. But only the regulars know that this is also a black market for ivory products.

Thou Shalt Not Eat Meat… On Mondays At Least

By Emilio Godoy
Nutritionists are promoting an 11th commandment in Mexico: “Thou shalt not eat meat… at least one day a week.”
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