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Saturday, November 14, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Environment
MEXICO Farmers Use Traditional Knowledge to Deal with Climate Change
Small farmers in Mexico, who receive little institutional support, are drawing on their traditional knowledge to deal with and adapt to climate change, experts say.
Water Knows No Border Between Angola and Namibia
A transboundary initiative aimed at providing clean drinking water and proper sanitation between Angola and Namibia is making steady progress.
Calls for an African Green Revolution, Only Smarter
To deal with looming food crises in the coming decades, Africa needs a Green Revolution on par with what took place in Asia during the 1960s and 1970s, according to experts in Washington.
Ahead of Rio+20, “The Economy is Already Turning Green”
While governments make a last desperate attempt to agree on a plan of action for next week's Rio+20 summit on sustainable development – including plans on the transition to a green economy and a set of sustainable development goals – the real economy is already turning green, according to Italy’s minister of environment, Corrado Clini.
Rural Zambia’s Drinking Supply Fraught with Danger and Disease
Bupe Bana-Victor has lived in the Mwense district of Luapula Province in northern Zambia all her life. And for her, water talk is synonymous with the Luapula River, which lies just 20 metres from her village and snakes through the entire region before it joins the Lualaba River – a tributary of the mighty Congo, Africa’s second-largest river.
RIO+20: A Stalemated U.N. in Do-or-Die Session on Action Plan
After weeklong negotiations, a meeting of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) to finalise a plan of action titled "The Future We Want" for next week's Rio+20 summit has failed to reach agreement - and deferred a decision to a final three-day session in Brazil.
24 Policies to End the Earth Emergency
Ecologically ignorant policies are largely responsible for the interlinked crises that are unraveling the planet's life support system.
Expo 2012 Shadows Rio+20 on Sustainable Oceans
When the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) takes place in Brazil next week, it will be closely shadowed by another event thousands of kilometres away in the South Korean coastal town of Yeosu: Expo 2012.
U.S.: Law of the Sea Treaty Ratification Faces Unsettled Waters
Given the wide range of its supporters – everyone from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces to Greenpeace – one would think that Senate ratification of the 1982 Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) would be a slam dunk.
RIO+20: Earth Summit Negotiated the Size of the Zero
Amidst much political fanfare, the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro concluded with the adoption of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and the landmark Agenda 21 blueprint for a sustainable future in the 21st century.
For Dominica, Adaptation Best Option to Combat Climate Change
It has been dubbed the "Nature Isle" of the Caribbean, its craggy and dense rain forests, usually covered with fog, bearing testament to how cool temperatures can be here.
Human Activity and Climate Change Threaten Tourism in Jamaica
Experts here fear that that the impact of climate change on Jamaica's fragile ecosystems will worsen the ravages of human activity and destroy the country's tourism industry.
EL SALVADOR Women Fight Blows from Climate Change with Sewing Machines and Eggs
Amanda Menjívar is moved by the sight of the 16 sewing machines donated to help a group of local women set up a sewing centre to get over the devastating effects of the disaster caused by Hurricane Ida in the Salvadoran town of Verapaz.
Family Planning and Subsistence Agriculture Key to Food Security
Papua New Guinea’s high fertility rate is exerting pressure on land and food production in a country where 80 percent of the population lives in rural communities. But the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) argues that traditions of subsistence agriculture provide a firm foundation to build food security for a growing population.
Sharing Southern Africa’s Water
The Southern African Development Community's protocol on shared watercourses is recognised as one of the world's best. But sound agreements on the sustainable and equitable management of joint water resources require effective means to implement them.
Activists Call for Creation of High Commissioner for Future Generations at Rio+20
The theme of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) is "The Future We Want", but there is no official role for youth nor a spokesperson for future generations who will inherit that future.
When Energy Begins to Flow Long Distance
With rising energy prices and stringent requirements for producing a higher proportion of energy from renewable sources in the near future, long-distance electricity cables are increasingly thought of as a viable option for providing electricity.
Brazil Closes Symbol of Environmental Degradation, Ahead of Rio+20
As Rio de Janeiro prepares to host the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which will discuss the green economy, the Brazilian city has put an end to one of its worst environmental sins: the enormous Jardim Gramacho garbage dump on Guanabara Bay.
Politics Heats Up Around Arctic Thaw
The best way to protect the Arctic is for all nations with an interest in the region to participate in its governance - including non-Arctic nations like China, Brazil, and Singapore - suggests a new report.
“Land Is Our Ally, But Its Patience Is Not Eternal”
Land degradation poses a threat to all life on Earth including humanity. To stop the enormous loss of life-giving land, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is pushing for a sustainable development goal of Zero Net Land Degradation (ZNLD) to be adopted at the upcoming Conference on Sustainable Development, known as Rio+20, in Brazil.
Activists Call for Creation of a High Commissioner for Future Generations at Rio+20
A High Commissioner for Future Generations would act to balance the short-term nature of government electoral cycles by advocating for the interests and needs of coming generations.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Through our global network of local writers, we are continuing our award-winning coverage of global and local environmental challenges, with a focus on the people for whom the ecosphere matters in a direct way: rural dwellers who have little means to protect themselves against adverse conditions; communities that need to switch to sustainable development in order to survive; poor women and children, who are the most vulnerable in natural disasters. Sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and The World Bank (WB), IPS also maintains the award-winning Tierramérica, a specialised information service on environment and development.
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