Environment

Communal Land Titling at a Standstill in Peru

By Milagros Salazar
The titling of the lands of indigenous and peasant communities has been at a practical standstill for two years, with many of the corresponding files lost or incomplete. But the promotion of foreign investment is moving full steam ahead in the same regions.

Most EU Nuclear Power Plants ‘Unsafe’

By Julio Godoy
The so-called ‘stress tests’ on nuclear power plants in the European Union (EU) have confirmed environmental and energy activists’ worst fears: most European nuclear facilities do not meet minimum security standards.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: New Center for the Recovery of the Flora and Fauna of Olancho

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Honduran and international institutions have joined forces to construct a center aimed at preserving endangered flora and fauna, such as the jaguar, in the northeastern department of Olancho.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Government Assesses Construction of “Water Highway”

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The government of Chile has commissioned preliminary studies for the proposed construction of a so-called water highway, which would transport water from the mouths of rivers in the south to the arid regions of the north.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Industrial Waste Used to Produce Concrete

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Researchers at the Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of São Paulo have developed a type of concrete made with recycled materials.
Clean-up work in the rivers of the Lower Lempa River Basin. - Edgardo Ayala/IPS

Communities Organize to Confront Climate Change in El Salvador

By Edgardo Ayala and - -
The river clean-up and mangrove recovery work in the Lower Lempa River Basin reflects the organizational traditions of the local communities.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Lionfish Confirmed as Voracious Predator

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The red lionfish (Pterois volitans), a species native to the Pacific Ocean that escaped from aquariums in the Caribbean Sea two decades ago, is advancing on fish stocks and devouring young specimens of dozens of species in the waters off northern Venezuela.

Women Hit Hard by Natural Disasters

By Malini Shankar
In the aftermath of a natural disaster, women are often the most vulnerable. Particularly in rural areas, women suffer disproportionately from inadequate shelter and poor sanitation facilities and are often tasked with rebuilding shattered homes.

Q&A: Disaster Resilience Starts with Grassroots Women

By Julia Kallas
Women and girls can be powerful agents of change, but they are disproportionately affected by disasters because of social roles, discrimination and poverty.
Indigenous women in rural Peru have to walk longer and longer distances to find firewood. Credit: Elena Villanueva/IPS

Rural Women in Peru Cope “Where Life Is Very Sad”

By Mariela Jara
When the crops in her rural highlands community in southern Peru were covered with a thick layer of ice one night, Felícitas Quispe, 43, organised her neighbours to make an effort to keep people from starving to death.

India Ignoring Coastal Biodiversity – NGOs

By Keya Acharya
Indian civil society organisations see in the 11th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), underway in this south Indian city, a rare opportunity to highlight alleged neglect of biodiversity along the country’s extensive coastal and marine areas.

Oil Industry Moves to Block New U.S. Transparency Rules

By Carey L. Biron
Lobby groups representing the oil industry filed a lawsuit in Washington court on Wednesday that seeks to halt the implementation of a new set of rules requiring U.S.-registered extractives companies to disclose all payments made to foreign governments.
Food Sovereignty Prize 03

Groups Rewarded in Their Fight for Fair Food

By Becky Bergdahl
The Korean Women's Peasant Association won the 2012 Food Sovereignty Prize for its efforts on behalf of the survival of small-scale and ecologically sustainable farming in South Korea.

KYRGYZSTAN: Mining Sector in Nationalists’ Crosshairs

By Chris Rickleton
When nationalist MP Kamchybek Tashiev led his supporters over a fence surrounding parliament in early October, both foreign and local executives working in Kyrgyzstan’s mining industry braced for the worst.

Haiti’s Capital Languishes as Govt Rebuilds Ministries

By Correspondents
Even though a restrictive government decree that blocked reconstruction of downtown Port-au-Prince for almost two years was finally annulled, questions, frustrations and doubts abound about the eventual recovery of Haiti’s economic, cultural and political capital.

Sendai Shares Big Lessons from the Great Quake

By Suvendrini Kakuchi

The debris of the devastated Arahama elementary school yielded two enduring lessons for its principal, Takao Kawamura, in the months after the massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan’s north-east coastland on Mar. 11, 2011.

Garifuna Women, Custodians of Culture and the Environment in Honduras

By Thelma Mejía
Hurricane Mitch, which devastated Honduras 14 years ago, prompted a group of Garifuna women to start organising, to help the people in greatest need of assistance.

Pangolin Trade Betrays Apathy for Biodiversity

By Zofeen Ebrahim
Conservationists see the decimation of pangolins (scaly anteaters) in Pakistan as a sign of the callousness with which this country’s rich biodiversity is being traded away for commercial gain.   
Juan Longueiro uses Ecobici bikes to commute to and from work and to exercise. Credit: Emilio Godoy/IPS

Bicycles Defend Their Place in Mexico City’s Concrete Jungle

By Emilio Godoy
Juan Longueira, 56, uses the bicycles of the Ecobici system three times a day, to commute to and from work and to exercise along the Paseo de la Reforma, a central Mexico City avenue.

Funds Crunch Skews Aichi Targets on Biodiversity

By Keya Acharya
The United Nations 11th Conference of the Parties  to the Convention on Biological Biodiversity (COP 11 CBD), underway in this southern Indian city, is lost on where to garner the billions of dollars needed to implement the ‘Aichi targets,’ due to be met by 2020.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Indigenous Community Exports Squash to U.S.

By IPS Correspondents and - -
An indigenous community has managed to place some 5,800 kilos of high-quality squash on the market in the U.S. city of Miami, with the support of an international cooperation project.
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