Mideast: Drought to Turn People into Eternal Migrants, Prey to Extremism?

Worldwide, land degradation, severe droughts and advancing desertification are set to force populations to flee their homes and migrate. In the specific case of the Middle East and North of Africa (MENA), such an obliged choice implies the additional risk to turn peoples into easy prey to extremist, terrorist groups.

Heavy Toll of Disrupted Farming, Higher Prices and Displaced Livelihoods

Large agricultural harvests in some regions of the world are buoying global food supply conditions, but protracted fighting and unrest are increasing the ranks of the displaced and hungry elsewhere, according to a United Nations new report.

When Women Have Land Rights, the Tide Begins to Turn

In Meghalaya, India’s northeastern biodiversity hotspot, all three major tribes are matrilineal. Children take the mother’s family name, while daughters inherit the family lands.

Saving the Oceans, Saving the Future: Officials Tackle Marine Pollution

The oceans’ health is only getting worse and the cycle of decline must be reversed, said representatives at the opening of a high-level UN conference.

Charting a Course to a Blue Commonwealth

The United Nations Ocean Conference offers an historic opportunity to safeguard the ocean environment and support small island and vulnerable developing coastal states, who depend on the seas for national economic growth and sustainable development.

Why We Need to Save Our Oceans Now—Not Later

What if the blue fades away as seawaters become brown and coral reefs become white as marine grasslands wither and life below water vanishes?

How to Produce More Food with Less Damage to Soil, Water, Forests

Massive agriculture intensification is contributing to increased deforestation, water scarcity, soil depletion and the level of greenhouse gas emission, the United Nations warns.

Business Unusual: Valuing Water for a Sustainable Future

Valuing water is more than simply assigning costs to a scare resource - it is an essential step for transforming water governance to meet the needs of a prosperous future.

The ‘Water-Employment-Migration’ Explosive Nexus

Water--everybody talks about it, warns against its growing scarcity, excessive waste, the impact of climate change, the frequent severe droughts and so on. Now, a global action network with over 3,000 partner organisations in 183 countries comes to unveil the dangerous nexus between water, employment and migration, in particular in the Mediterranean region.

Valuing Water Beyond the Money

Amid the worst drought in a century, South Africans are kick-starting a global consultative process to agree on the values of water in a bid to ensure more equitable use of the finite resource.

Q&A: “It’s a Crime” that 35 Million Latin Americans Still Suffer from Hunger

The fight against hunger has been “remarkably successful” in Latin America and the Caribbean, but “it is a crime” that 35 million people still go to bed hungry every day, FAO regional representative Julio Berdegué told IPS.

The Ocean Conference: An Integrated Vision that must be Delivered

In March 2015 at the Sendai World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction, the then President of Kirbati, Anote Tong, made it very clear how vulnerable his country was to climate and disaster risk, when he informed the room (which was sadly less than half full) that his country had purchased land in Fiji.

At the UN Oceans Forum in June, Will the US Play a Bit Part?

In just a few weeks, the United Nations is convening a world gathering to discuss the health of the world’s oceans and seas, with member states, government and nongovernmental organizations, corporations and members of the scientific community and academia signed up to take part.

Defence of Right to Water Drives Call for Land Reform in Chile

Water at high prices, sold as a market good, and small farmers almost a species in extinction, replaced by seasonal workers, are the visible effects of the crisis in rural Chile, 50 years after a land reform which postulated that “the land is for those who work it.”

Caribbean Rolls Out Plans to Reduce Climate Change Hazards

Climate change remains inextricably linked to the challenges of disaster risk reduction (DRR). And according to the head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Robert Glasser, the reduction of greenhouse gases is “the single most urgent global disaster risk treatment”.

Caribbean Scientists Work to Limit Climate Impact on Marine Environment

Caribbean scientists say fishermen are already seeing the effects of climate change, so for a dozen or so years they’ve been designing systems and strategies to reduce the impacts on the industry.

Marching for a Green and Just Future

People around the world will be banding together to fight one of the world’s most pressing problems: climate change.

FEATURED VIDEO: Harnessing the Eco Superpowers of Bamboo

The bamboo plant can be found in abundance in several Caribbean countries, but the director of the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), Dr. Hans Friederich, says its importance in dealing with climate change has been missed by many of these countries.

Indigenous Women: The Frontline Protectors of the Environment

Indigenous women, while experiencing the first and worst effects of climate change globally, are often in the frontline in struggles to protect the environment.

New Generation Rallies to Climate Cause in Trinidad

As two environmental activist groups in Trinidad and Tobago powered by young volunteers prepare to ramp up their climate change and sustainability activism, they are also contemplating their own sustainability and how they can become viable over the long-term.

No Trace of the Nicaraguan Interoceanic Canal

Less than three years from the projected completion in Nicaragua of a canal running from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, there is no trace of progress on the mega-project.