Environment

Gender Sensitivity Key to Achieving Climate Justice

By Juliet Morrison
While the climate crisis affects virtually every aspect of life, its impacts are not felt equally. A person’s vulnerability to climate change varies depending on their position in society, such as socioeconomic status, dependence on natural resources, and capacity to respond to natural hazards. Since different genders often experience different social standings, gender has emerged as a key element to consider for effective climate planning and adaptation.

Not Enough Clean Water in Europe? Who Cares…

By Baher Kamal
So busy as they are with strengthening military alliances and devoting billions of taxpayers' money to double their war budgets and subsidise fossil fuels, European Governments seem not to care about the reiterated alerts that their continent faces a serious risk: the reduced availability -and more polluted– drinking water.

Climate Change Poses Risks: COP27 Presents Unique Opportunity for Africa

By Kingsley Ighobor
Ambassador Maria de Jesus dos Reis Ferreira was appointed in February 2018 as the Permanent Representative of Angola to the UN, the first woman to hold the position.

The Risks of Turning Planet Earth into a Giant Desert

By Baher Kamal
The message is clear: three-quarters of the world’s population will be affected by drought by 2050. Does it sound too far in time? Well, your kids might be among the billions of humans living on a desertified planet.

Cuban Farmers Fight Land Degradation with Sustainable Management

By Luis Brizuela
Thorny bushes and barren soil made it look like a bad bet, but Cuban farmer José Antonio Sosa ignored other people’s objections about the land and gave life to what is now the thriving La Villa farm on the outskirts of Havana.

Reclaiming Our Future

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
The Asia-Pacific region is at a crossroads today – to further breakdown or breakthrough to a greener, better, safer future. Since the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) was established in 1947, the region has made extraordinary progress, emerging as a pacesetter of global economic growth that has lifted millions out of poverty.

What India Needs To Do To Achieve Net-Zero Status by 2070

By R R Rashmi
The recent IPCC report that came out in the month of March 2022 says that, by the end of the century, the temperature rise is likely to be 2 to 3.7 degrees if global emissions, as they stand today, are not curtailed. In fact, according to the report, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions need to come down by 45 percent globally (compared with 2005) by the end of 2030.

Caring for Water Where Mining Leads to Wealth and Tragedies in Brazil

By Mario Osava
The southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais owes its name to the main economic activity throughout its history: mining – of gold since the 17th century and later iron ore, which took on an industrial scale with massive exports in the 20th century.

Oil Business Burns Enough Gas to Power the Whole Sub-Sahara or Two Thirds of Europe

By Baher Kamal
While the attention of mostly Western media and politicians is quasi exclusively hoarded up by the proxy war in Ukraine and its consequences on the energy sector, the world’s big oil business continues to burn Planet Earth with its underreported though highly polluting, wasteful practice of gas flaring.

Floods Drive Urban Solutions in Brazilian Metropolis

By Mario Osava
"We do everything through parties, we don't want power, we don't want to take over the role of the State, but we don't just protest and complain," said Itamar de Paula Santos, a member of the United Community Council for Ribeiro de Abreu (Comupra), in this southeastern Brazilian city.

When Saviours Are the Problem

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Central bank policies have often worsened economic crises instead of resolving them. By raising interest rates in response to inflation, they often exacerbate, rather than mitigate business cycles and inflation.

No Climate Transition Without Securing Land Rights

By Alexander Müller and Jes Weigelt
The landmark land tenure decision by parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in 2019 offers a blueprint for upcoming climate negotiations in Sharm El Sheikh in November.

Massive Deforestation in the Congo Basin Will Lead to Poverty

By Sylvie Djacbou Deugoue
Growing up amid under the leafy canopy of the Congo Basin rainforest, the woodland was more than our home. It was our playground, our medicine cabinet, our teacher, our therapist. And it was a source of livelihood with its rich biodiversity and helped shield us from the effects of climate change.

Mining Destroys the Lives of Indigenous People in Venezuela

By Humberto Márquez
The voracious search for gold in southern Venezuela, practiced by thousands of illegal miners under the protection of various armed groups, represents the greatest threat today to the lives of indigenous peoples, their habitat and their cultures, according to their organizations and human rights defenders.

Plants: Up to 80% of Food and 98% of Oxygen, Endangered

By Baher Kamal
It is as simple –and as horrifying– as that: both human health and the health of Planet Earth depend on plants. However, plants that make up 80% of the food and 98% of the oxygen, are under growing dangerous threats.

Give Edible Insects a Chance as an Alternative High-Quality Protein Source, say Scientists

By Joyce Chimbi
Growing up in Samoya Village of Bungoma County in the Western part of Kenya, Elvis Wanjala has fond childhood memories of the rainy season, chasing and catching black-bellied winged termites in the rain.

The Sun Illuminates the Nights of Rural Families in El Salvador

By Edgardo Ayala
After working on the family farm, Carlos Salama comes home and plugs his cell phone into a socket via a solar-powered electrical system, a rarity in this rural village in southern El Salvador.

Six Ways Rwanda Is Building Resilient and Sustainable Transport Systems

By Okechukwu Daniel Ogbonnaya and David Toovey
Over the last decade, Rwanda has invested in building efficient and resilient transport systems. Guided by the country’s Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy (GGCRS), the Government of Rwanda has carried out numerous initiatives to promote sustainable mobility and the green economy at large.

Bringing Seeds of Hope to Farmers

By Paul Teng and Genevieve Donnellon-May
Amidst a backdrop of rising food insecurity worldwide and a global food supply chain crisis, many countries are attempting to increase the level of food self-production. One improved input for farming which is receiving renewed attention is improved seed. The two most populous countries in the world, China and India, have recently made ground-breaking moves to improve their competitive position by developing new seeds which will improve their food production and increase resilience to climate change. So far, in 2022, new regulations on using biotechnology (genetic modification and gene editing) have been put in place by both countries to ultimately allow smallholder farmers to benefit from these new seeds.

English and Dutch Caribbean Rally Around UN Sustainable Development Framework

By Alison Kentish
When Dominica signed on to the United Nations Multicountry Sustainable Development Framework for the English and Dutch Speaking Caribbean (MSDCF) in March, the country joined others like Saint Lucia, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Aruba as part of a 5-year framework to plan and implement UN development initiatives.

Biodiversity: Indigenous Peoples, the Last Custodians

By Baher Kamal
Every now and then, experts remind that the Indigenous Peoples are the best (and last?) custodians of the essential web of life: biodiversity.
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