Environment

ANTIGUA: Mysterious Pest Targets Valuable Palm Trees

By Desmond Brown
Something is decimating the coconut and other palm trees here and no one seems to know exactly what it is.
Expanded slum on Morne L

HAITI: Partners in Deforestation and “Slumification”

By Correspondents
More than 100 Haitian families now have new housing, thanks to the support of two non-governmental organisations working on reconstruction following the country's devastating 2010 earthquake.

Living in the Heart of Hurricane Alley in Cuba

By Patricia Grogg
In Los Palacios, a farming community in the western Cuban province of Pinar del Río, local residents are still working hard to rebuild after the damage caused by two of the three hurricanes that hit this country in 2008. "It was just horrible," people here say when asked about what happened.
Poor communities are hit hardest by extreme weather events, but have the least knowledge about climate change. Credit: Amantha Perera/IPS

Awareness of Climate Change Must Go Mainstream

By Amantha Perera
Addressing a group of journalists during a workshop in Bangkok, Ali Raza Rizvi, Asia head of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s regional climate change and resilience programme, noted that many Asian countries have become ‘disaster friendly’.

India’s Economic Growth Leaves Human Development in the Dust

By Isolda Agazzi
Ahead of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of India, a coalition of NGOs denounced the gap between the country’s growth rate and the rate of poverty, malnutrition and lack of health and sanitation.

Targeting Right-Wing Extremism, Citizens Challenge Corporate Ties

By Matthew Charles Cardinale
A coalition of advocacy groups is targeting corporate support for the right-wing Heartland Institute after the organisation took out a controversial billboard in Chicago comparing people who believe in global warming to a serial killer and mass murderer.

OP-ED: Mass Extinctions in the Cards Absent Urgent Action

By Bo Normander and Supriya Kumar
This past Tuesday, May 22, marked World Biodiversity Day, but it came and went without too much public interest.

In Antigua, Fishing Brings Both Income and Ecological Destruction

By Desmond Brown
Eli Fuller is a third-generation Antiguan who, for the past two decades, has been exploring the Antigua and Barbuda coastline. But he laments the fact that he can no longer see the coral that he recalls were somewhat of an underwater jungle when he was a young boy, akin to what you'd see in the Amazon rain forest.
Forestland being cleared for palm oil plantation in Palangkaraya in the Central Kalimantal province. Credit: REDD+Task Force

Indonesia Is Wilting

By Alexandra Di Stefano Pironti
Unless the rapid deforestation in one of the world’s most richly-forested countries is controlled, Indonesians may one day wonder, "where are all the flowers gone." To those lyrics by legendary U.S. singer Joan Baez they might also have to add, and where are all the tigers, elephants, orangutans, birds and ancient forest communities gone.
Campaign opposed to the HidroAysén hydropower project in Chile

Big Hydropower Dams Trump Alternative Energy in Chile

By Marianela Jarroud
Chile has enormous potential for producing non-conventional renewable energies (NCRE) like solar and geothermal, yet they only contribute three percent of the country's energy mix.

Community Drills Part of Cuba’s Top-Notch Disaster Response System

By Patricia Grogg
A well-oiled prevention system that involves the entire country, from the highest spheres of government to the most isolated rural community, makes Cuba one of the best-prepared countries in the world when it comes to preventing deaths and mitigating risks in case of disasters.

Belo Monte Dam Hit by Friendly Fire

By Mario Osava
Those who made the final decision on the design of Brazil’s Belo Monte hydroelectric dam will face legal action in the future for the damages caused. This is the kind of warning one would expect from environmentalists, but in this case it comes from a surprising quarter: staunch supporters of hydropower.

Mangroves Lead Battle Against Rising Seas

By Catherine Wilson
Sea level rise near Papua New Guinea, a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) in the southwest Pacific, is estimated at seven millimetres per year, double the global annual average of 2.8-3.6 mm.
Female subsistence farmers, who form more than 70 percent of farmers on the continent, remain clueless about climate change issues. Credit: Busani Bafana

Nothing to Show for Hard Work but Burnt Fields of Maize

By Ignatius Banda
Gertrude Mkoloi earns a living harvesting maize on a small piece of land in rural Zimbabwe. Or at least she used to.

Action Needed Now to Prepare for Severe Drought

By Stephen Leahy
Mexico and Central America look like they are covered in dried blood on maps projecting future soil moisture conditions.

Green Groups Urge Obama to Attend Rio+20

By Carey L. Biron
With a month to go before the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, nearly two dozen NGOs are calling on President Barack Obama to confirm his attendance at the event, known as Rio+20.
Credit: Courtesy of Tommy Koh

Q&A: Earth Summit Deadlocked Until Eleventh Hour

By Thalif Deen
The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro has been described as one of the largest international conferences in the history of the United Nations, attracting over 20,000 participants, including more than 100 world leaders.

Guatemalan Communities Have No Say in Exploitation of Resources

By Danilo Valladares
"People haven’t been coming in for the past month or so because they are afraid again, like during war-time," complained Juan Gaspar, a shopkeeper in the northwestern Guatemalan town of Santa Cruz Barillas, where a fierce battle is raging between locals opposed to a hydropower dam and the security forces.

Q&A: No Single Country Can Forecast Climate Change Alone

By Patricia Grogg
Cuban climate change scientists have been sharing their research findings and experience over the past few years with the rest of the Caribbean islands, using PRECIS, a regional climate modelling system, to help design adaptation policies.
Decreasing water levels in the local Lunkhwakwa River have created an opportunity for theenterprising women of Genda to start fishing. Credit: Ephraim Nsingo

While Men Go Drinking, Women Go Fishing

By Ephraim Nsingo
Climate change may have led to declining water levels in Genda Village in Zambia’s Eastern Province, but Mercy Mwanza and the women here discovered there was a positive side to it and found a new way to earn a living.

Bangladesh Set to Take the Reins at Rio+20

By Naimul Haq
Experts believe that the upcoming United Nations Earth Summit, Rio+ 20, scheduled to take place in Brazil from Jun.20-22, could be a real opportunity for Bangladesh to negotiate a road to sustainable development.
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