Biodiversity

The Environment: Latin America’s Battleground for Human Rights

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
2015 was the deadliest year on record for the killings of environmental activists around the world, according to a new Global Witness report.

India’s Dwindling Tiger Population Face Water Shortages

By Aruna Dutt
At the beginning of the 19th century there were 40, 000 tigers in the world. Today, around 4,000 tigers are left in the wild globally, 2,226 of which are in India.

‘What Can We Do for You?’ Aid Projects Pour Into Myanmar

By Guy Dinmore
International aid agencies, big and small, are beating a path to Myanmar, relishing the prospect of launching projects in a nation of 51 million people tentatively emerging from more than five decades of military rule.

Polynesian Voyagers Bring Messages of Hope to UN on World Oceans Day

By Lyndal Rowlands
Polynesian voyagers who have sailed the world by canoe using ancient navigation skills will bring pledges they collected along the way to the UN on Wednesday as part of World Oceans Day celebrations.

Coral Reef Tourism in Danger as Reefs Struggle to Adapt to Warming

By Lyndal Rowlands
A recent UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report on world heritage sites in danger from climate change received widespread media attention after the Australian government requested the removal of a chapter on the Great Barrier Reef.

World Oceans Day – A Death Sea Called Mediterranean

By Baher Kamal
While the United Nations identifies 17 major regional seas in its planning, the Mediterranean is perhaps the most dramatic case as it has gone from being the so-called cradle of civilization to be a cemetery for thousands of asylum-seekers and migrants. And it is most probably also the most polluted water basin the whole world. See this report.

Mega Dams Remain Controversial Source of Energy

By Lyndal Rowlands
Although mega dams can have devastating impacts on ecosystems and indigenous communities, many of the world’s poorest countries still see them as a way to fill gaping holes in their energy supplies.

Wildlife Trafficking Needs to Be a Policy Priority in Asia Pacific Before It Is Too Late

By Isabelle Louis and Jeremy Douglas
This year’s World Environment Day on June 5 puts the spotlight on the illegal trade in wildlife. The problem has particular significance in Asia, which is the destination for most of the ivory taken from 20,000 to 25,000 elephants and the horns of more than 1,200 rhinos killed in Africa every year. Demand in the region is driven by fast growing middle and upper classes with an appetite for exotic pets, décor, food and fashion.

Closing the Gaps in Fight Against Wildlife Trafficking in Latin America

By Emilio Godoy
Although it violates the international conventions that regulate the wildlife trade, it is possible to go online and find websites to buy, for example, axolotl salamanders (Ambystoma mexicanum) or spiny softshell turtles (Trionyx spiniferus).

New International Accord to Tackle Illegal Fishing

By Lyndal Rowlands
A new international accord to tackle illegal and under-reported fishing will come into force on June 5.

Natural Capital Investment Key to Africa’s Development

By Busani Bafana
Plugging Africa’s funding gaps to accelerate social and economic development requires a fresh approach to using its natural capital, environment experts said on Monday.

Prickly Pears Drive Local Development in Northern Argentina

By Fabiana Frayssinet
Family farmers in the northern Argentine province of Chaco are gaining a new appreciation of the common prickly pear cactus, which is now driving a new kind of local development.

Why Mainstreaming Biodiversity Is the Call for the Day

By Reza Khan
We have become familiar with the term biodiversity today due to the Convention of Biological Diversity [CBD] that was accepted by the UN Council on December 29, 1993, after which many nations, including Bangladesh, started becoming its signatories. As biodiversity is the foundation of life and is essential for the services provided by ecosystems, this year's theme of the International Biodiversity Day is “Mainstreaming Biodiversity; Sustaining People and their Livelihoods.”

Bangladesh’s Urban Slums Swell with Climate Migrants

By Rafiqul Islam
Abdul Aziz, 35, arrived in the capital Dhaka in 2006 after losing all his belongings to the mighty Meghna River. Once, he and his family had lived happily in the village of Dokkhin Rajapur in Bhola, a coastal district of Bangladesh. Aziz had a beautiful house and large amount of arable land.

Species Loss, the Migration Hiding in Plain Sight

By Monique Barbut
Two months ago, I was in Agadez, a city in the middle of the famous Ténéré Desert of Niger. Agadez has become a major transit point on a hazardous journey for the hundreds and thousands of desperate people from all over West Africa trying to make it to the Mediterranean coast every year.

Indigenous Peoples Inclusion at United Nations Incomplete

By Aruna Dutt
The United Nations Indigenous Forum is one of the UN's most culturally diverse bodies yet its inclusion within the overall UN system remains limited.

Bees and Silkworms Spin Gold for Ethiopia’s Rural Youth

By Munyaradzi Makoni
Beekeeping and silkworm farming have long been critical cogs of Ethiopian life, providing food, jobs and much needed income.

Justice for Berta Caceres Incomplete Without Land Rights: UN Rapporteur

By Lyndal Rowlands
The murder of Honduran Indigenous woman Berta Caceres is only too familiar to Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Fund Launched to Help Mountain People Face Climate Change Threat

By Aruna Dutt
Jake Norton was on a glacier in northern India. A seemingly impenetrable fortress of sweeping ridges and towering walls of granite, capped by hanging glaciers. It seemed, he said, that nothing could touch it, nothing could beat it down.

Biomass Could Help Power Africa’s Energy Transition

By Wambi Michael
As fuel, firewood remains the dominant source of energy in Uganda. It has a long history of being unsustainably harvested, leading to severe depletion of the country’s forest cover. But with new technology, biomass is now cleaning up its act.

Climate Change Leaves Kashmir’s Economy High and Dry

By Umar Shah
Trudging barefoot on his two-acre piece of land, 57-year-old Mukhtar Ahmad has little hope of growing any crops this year due to the sudden dry spell that has struck Kashmir’s winter.
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