Environment

Deforestation, Encroachment Threaten West Africa’s One Health Plans

By Stella Paul
Thirty-three years ago, Bala Amerasekaran – a Sri Lankan by birth – visited Freetown, Sierra Leone. Since then, the West African nation has been his home, where Amerasekaran has dedicated his life to conserving the chimpanzee – Sierra Leone’s national animal.

Kashmir’s Apple Industry Faces Dire Threats as Climate Change Takes its Toll

By Umar Manzoor Shah
Of Kashmir’s seven million inhabitants, a staggering one million rely directly on apple farming. The region is pivotal in India’s apple and horticulture production, contributing to over 70 percent of the country’s apple supply. This not only provides income to farmers but also sustains a vast network of laborers, traders, and transporters within the fruit economy.

Communities Taking a Sting Out of Poaching With Alternative Livelihoods

By Charles Mpaka
As we approach the forest in the village to appreciate Andrew Mbewe’s beekeeping enterprise, a bee from a hive close to the edge of the natural woodland stings him on the cheek.

Even Rich Nations Now Worried About ISDS

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Governments the world over are worried about investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) rules. These allow foreign investors to sue them for billions over new laws or policies reducing their profits.

Women Correct Historical Injustices, Build Climate Resilience Through Cash Pooling

By Joyce Chimbi
Although women account for more than three-quarters of the agricultural labour force and manage 40 percent of small-scale farms, historically, they neither owned nor controlled the land because land rights were passed down to male relatives. It is a historic gender injustice whereby women could only access land through close male relatives.

Innovative Financial Services Transform Agricultural Entrepreneurship in Africa

By Geoffrey Kamadi
Smallholder agricultural enterprises in Africa face a lot of challenges getting loans from financial institutions like banks due to the stringent requirements they can hardly fulfil. Investor confidence is usually lacking, given the risks involved in this sector of the economy.

Back to Nature to Avoid Water Collapse in the Capital of Chile

By Orlando Milesi
A return to nature is the main solution being promoted by communities and municipalities to avoid the water shortage that threatens to leave Santiago, the capital of Chile, home to more than 40 percent of the 19.5 million inhabitants of this South American country, without water.

The Worst Addiction: Population Growth

By Joseph Chamie
Among the various troubling human addictions, the one having the most worrisome consequences for humanity and planet Earth is population growth.

Community Solutions Combat Water Shortages in Peru’s Highlands

By Mariela Jara
The lack of water is so severe in Peru's highlands that farming families are forced to sell their livestock because they cannot feed them. "There is no grass or fodder to feed them," says Fermina Quispe, a Quechua farmer from a rural community located at 4,200 meters above sea level.

Human Action Pushing the World Closer to Environmental Tipping Points, UN University Warns

By Alison Kentish
Melting mountain glaciers. Unbearable heat. An uninsurable future. Space debris. Groundwater depletion. Accelerating extinctions. The United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security said this week that these six environmental "tipping points" can have "irreversible, catastrophic impacts for people and the planet."

Uganda: When Climate Justice Becomes Climate Justice Denied

By Wambi Michael
On December 4, 2019, landslides in the Bududa region of Uganda killed 20. The landslides occurred after heavy rains, and a Red Cross report estimated that 96 households were affected, with 49 houses destroyed. It displaced many, while others continued to live in high-risk areas that could "slide at any moment."

Increasing Wastewater Treatment Is Vital for Families and Ecosystems in El Salvador

By Edgardo Ayala
Insufficient wastewater treatment systems in El Salvador have taken a toll on the environment and the health of the population for decades, but some municipalities are putting more attention on processing their liquid waste.

Action Delayed, Justice Denied by Voluntary ESG Approach

By Siti Sarah Abdul Razak and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Policy approaches relying solely on voluntary actions to address urgent needs are unlikely to succeed. Depending on optional compliance to address global warming will not fix things in time.

Climate Change Turns African Rivers into Epicentres of Conflict

By Maina Waruru
Almost all major river basins in Africa have become the epicentres for conflicts over the last 20 years, and agricultural yields on the continent could drop by up to 50 percent in the coming years owing to the drying up of 'traditional' water sources, thanks in part to effects climate change and degradation of the environment, the inaugural edition of the State of Africa's Environment Report 2023 released in Nairobi finds.

How to Defend the Environment and Survive in the Attempt, as a Woman in Mexico

By Emilio Godoy
The defense of the right to water led Gema Pacheco to become involved in environmental struggles in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, an area threatened by drought, land degradation, megaprojects, mining and deforestation.

Brazil: A Step Forward for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

By Inés M. Pousadela
Brazil’s Supreme Court has delivered a long-awaited ruling upholding Brazilian Indigenous peoples’ claims to their traditional land. It did so by rejecting the ‘Temporal Framework’ principle, which only allowed for the demarcation and titling of lands physically occupied by the Indigenous groups who claimed them by 5 October 1988, when the current constitution was adopted. This excluded the numerous Indigenous communities who’d been violently expelled from their ancestral lands before then, including under military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985.

New Zealand: Political Volatility under Cost-of-Living Crisis

By Andrew Firmin
It’s a rapid reversal for New Zealand’s Labour Party, in power for six years. At the last election in 2020 it won an outright majority, the first party to do so under the current voting system. But three years on, it’s finished a distant second in the election held on 14 October. The result speaks to a broader pattern seen amid economic strife in many countries – of intense political volatility and the rejection of incumbents.

Bringing the Piratininga Lagoon Back to Life in Brazil

By Mario Osava
Houses with balconies facing the street or the surrounding hills, when they are not hidden behind high walls, reflect a neighborhood where people live on the shore of a lagoon but reject the landscape it offers.

Seniors Thriving Through Plastic Waste in Zimbabwe

By Jeffrey Moyo
They do not have a pension nor financial support from families or relatives, but they have themselves. Now they have become collectors of plastic waste, which they turn into products as they battle for survival - earning money from the growing plastic pollution in Zimbabwe.

Crisis Resilient Urban Futures: The Future of Asian and Pacific Cities 2023

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
Cities have always been dynamic hubs of culture, education, economic growth and opportunity, and most importantly, centres of social interaction attracting residents and visitors alike.

Insider Exposé of ESG Greenwashing

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
A senior manager of the world’s largest investment firm has ‘blown the whistle’ on ESG (environment, social and governance) ‘greenwashing’, especially on supposed climate finance.
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