Environment

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Municipalities Confront Climate Change

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Some 45 municipalities in the so-called dry corridor of Honduras have begun work on a project to promote reforestation, food security and climate change resilience in order to improve living conditions for their communities.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA : Stepping Up Resistance to Mega Mining

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Residents of the southern province of Chubut, in the Patagonia region of Argentina, are fighting a proposed legal reform that would allow large-scale open-pit mining, involving the use of toxic substances, in this area.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Government of the Capital Wins Award for Urban Lighting Project

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) has granted a special recognition award to the “Energy, Innovation and Performance in Urban Lighting” project being implemented by the leftist government of Mexico City.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Selective Waste Collection Available to Very Few

By IPS Correspondents and - -
According to a survey conducted by the Brazilian Water Program, 64 percent of Brazilians still do not have access to selective waste collection as a means of recycling.

Doha Faces an Indonesian Test

By Alexandra Di Stefano Pironti
To most people, holes in the ozone layer or the melting of polar ice caps can sound like distant catastrophes. “But let's talk about concrete examples,” says an Indonesian director whose documentary film captures the lives of local farmers affected by a dramatically changing environment.

Trawlers Glide Past International Fishing Laws

By Amantha Perera
Somali pirates on the southwest Indian Ocean have become one of the biggest security risks for commercial maritime shipping over the last several years. But even as piracy gave rise to international furore, an unlikely benefactor emerged: bluefin tuna stocks in the Indian Ocean.

Outgoing Mexican President’s Environmental Legacy Questioned

By Emilio Godoy
"A Canadian firm wants to extract minerals in our area; it will harm the environment and use up water needed by the community," complained Hipólito García, who lives in Tetlama, 110 kilometres south of the Mexican capital. Similar complaints are echoed around the country.

Tiny Barbuda Fears Increasingly Hostile Climate

By Desmond Brown
Local scientists are warning the tiny 62-square-mile island of Barbuda is becoming one of the most vulnerable spots on earth to the consequences of climate change.
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Fossil Fuel Lobby in the Driver’s Seat at Doha

By Stephen Leahy
A new scientific report shows that global warming can be kept well under two degrees C, but only if most of the known deposits of coal, oil and gas remain in the ground.

OP-ED: Loss and Damage from Climate Change Must Not Become the “New Normal”

By Sam Bickersteth
As United Nations climate talks get underway this week in Doha, Qatar, they show a subtle, unsettling shift in the global climate change debate.

Mining Saps a Thirsty Desert

By Michelle Tolson
The Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in the southern Gobi desert in Mongolia has become a symbol of a looming crisis: a limited water supply that could be exhausted within a decade, seriously threatening the lives and livelihoods of the local population.

/UPDATE*/ Africa – Calling for a GMO-Free Continent

By Busani Bafana
South African smallholder farmer Motlasi Musi is not happy with the African Centre for Biosafety’s call for his country and Africa to ban the cultivation, import and export of all genetically modified maize. "I eat genetically modified maize, which I have been growing on my farm for more than seven years, and I am still alive," he declared.

Mapuche Indians Fight New Airport in Southern Chile

By Marianela Jarroud
“This is a project that reflects the occupation…of Mapuche territory,” said Iván Reyes, an indigenous leader staunchly opposed to the construction of an international airport in the southern Chilean region of Araucanía.

Taking the Knowledge of Doha Back to Kenya’s Rural Communities

By Mantoe Phakathi
The skyscraper Qatari capital city of Doha is a far cry from Cecilia Kibe’s home in Turkana district, a remote area in Kenya inhabited by mostly nomadic communities and pastoralists hit hard by the effects of climate change.

Local Opposition Rises Against Fracking Proposal

By Beena Sarwar
Efforts to promote the use of hydraulic fracturing, a controversial method of obtaining oil and natural gas, face stiff opposition from researchers and citizens who say that in its present form, the technology's risks far outweigh its worth.

African Negotiators Saving Kyoto from the Grave

By Wambi Michael
African negotiators attending the United Nations climate change talks in Doha, Qatar say they are determined to ensure that developed countries do not let the Kyoto Protocol die as its commitment period comes to an end.

A Green Needle in the Haystack of Cuban Small Enterprise

By Ivet González
Oasis Nelva is a refreshing green space in the midst of the grey asphalt landscape of Old Havana. The ornamental plant shop is also one of only a handful of eco-friendly initiatives among the upsurge of private small businesses in Cuba.

Q&A: COP18, Another ‘Conference of Polluters’

By Busani Bafana

There is no political will among rich nations to find funding for developing countries experiencing the brunt of changes in global weather patterns, and the current climate change conference will fail to do so, according to Professor Patrick Bond, a leading thinker and analyst on climate change issues.

Guyana Seeks to Shield Gold Miners from Mercury Ban

By Bert Wilkinson
As regional delegates meet to discuss a legally binding ban on the use of mercury this week, Guyanese officials are arguing that an exception should be made for the South American country's lucrative gold mining sector until an acceptable alternative is found.

The Planet’s Thermostat Moves to Doha

By Stephen Leahy
The upcoming United Nations climate talks may have a renewed sense of urgency with a new World Bank report warning that the planet is on a dangerous path to four degrees Celsius of global warming by 2100.

Deep Emissions Cuts Urged at Climate Summit

By Stephen Leahy
Extreme weather disasters, including floods and droughts intensified by climate change, have totalled many billions of dollars in damages this year.
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