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Friday, November 13, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Biodiversity
North-South Divide Again Clouds Biodiversity Talks
The accelerating destruction of natural habitats will take millions of years to recover from, scientists have warned. This may be the last chance to apply the brakes, Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme, reminded delegates representing the 193 member countries of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Biodiversity at the Cliff’s Edge
What nature gives us is often taken for granted, but if its basic elements disappear, human life on Earth would not be possible. The mission of the biodiversity summit under way in Nagoya is to reverse the headlong rush towards the precipice.ENVIRONMENT: New Biosafety Treaty Faces Tough Tests Ahead
A new international treaty on the safe use of modern biotechnology has just come into being, but developing countries say the real challenge lies in how its lofty ideas can be transferred into practical realities.
BRAZIL: Environmentalism Not a Top Priority for Voters
Getting voters to put a priority on policies that protect the environment is a challenge facing environmentalists and politicians in Brazil, especially in areas lacking in basic infrastructure, like the Amazon jungle.
JAMAICA: Invasive Lionfish Go From Predator to Prey
Anxious to prevent the collapse of Jamaica's overexploited marine fisheries, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is promoting the consumption of lionfish to control its burgeoning population. At risk officials say, are the nation's marine biodiversity, its food security and economic well- being.Canada Sees Climate Change “Prosperity” Instead of Calamity
The first comprehensive look at the expected impacts of climate change on Canada offers an embarrassing and misleading "don't worry, be happy" vision, citing more golf days and better access to northern deposits of oil and gas courtesy of global warming, critics say.
Q&A: Cuba’s GM Maize Debate Opens Up
The cultivation in several Cuban provinces of genetically modified maize, obtained by the Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, endangers biodiversity and contradicts the government's own agricultural production plan, warns Cuban agro-ecologist Fernando Funes-Monzote.
Culinary Traditions Exhausting Spain’s Fisheries
"We have little boquerón (a type of anchovy), little jurel (scad), little salmon," recites a server at a restaurant on the coast in Málaga, the southern Spanish city known for its "small fried fish."GE Salmon an Ambiguous Milestone for Aquaculture
The march toward domesticating the last wild food source may be about to take a major step forward in Washington - for better or worse.
Bonaire’s Resilient Reefs Offer Hope for Dying Corals
Scientists are closely examining the reefs of this island just north of Venezuela to determine why it has escaped the devastation that wiped out 85 percent of the Caribbean's corals since the 1970s.ENVIRONMENT-MALAYSIA: Tougher Wildlife Laws Not Enough, Say Activists
After years of losing the war against animal traffickers and poachers, Malaysia has finally responded with the passage of a new wildlife conservation law. But experts say it might be too late for some of this South-east Asian country’s endangered species.PHILIPPINES: Citizens’ Raids Hauling in Smugglers, Illegal Fishers
Robert Chan shuffles a pile of legal briefs in his temporary office – a wooden cargo vessel that he and a team of volunteer paralegals had apprehended during an operation against smugglers of logs and other forest products from the central Philippine province of Palawan to Malaysia.CLIMATE CHANGE: Staying Afloat With Submarine Rice
South Asian rice farmers are switching to flood-tolerant strains of rice as insurance against inundations.Biodiversity Talks Bog Down over Genetic Resources
While officials meeting in Montreal, Canada failed to finalise a key protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Tuesday, biodiversity is scheduled to be at the top of Wednesday's agenda of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
Record Temperatures Killing Caribbean Corals
The waters of the Caribbean Sea are the warmest on record and the region's imperilled corals are bleaching and beginning to die, experts warn.
Locally-Run Protected Areas Could Reverse Fisheries’ Death Spiral
Local fishers objected to the creation of a new no-fishing marine protected area off the coast of Belize in 1996. Today they are benefiting from the bounty of fish spilling out of the Laughing Bird Caye National Park. Tourism has also boomed, illustrating the multiple benefits and value of marine protected areas, according to a new series of reports released Wednesday by Conservation International (CI).BIODIVERSITY: Japan Cooks Up New Ideas as Fish Consumption Depletes Stocks
A processed fish cake, made of a mixture of deep sea fish species pounded into paste and sold either deep fried or frozen, is the brain child of Takuhira Kaneko, head of Act for Company, which trades in fish and located in western Fukuoka city in Japan.BP Report on Oil Spill Disaster Met with Scepticism
The report released Wednesday by energy giant BP of its internal investigation into the catastrophic explosion in April of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the subsequent spill from the Macondo oil well has been met with criticism by watchdog groups who question the company's motives.Local Decisions Have Big Impact on Ecosystems
What do New York City, Vienna, Quito and Rio de Janeiro have in common? They all get their high quality drinking water through aqueducts connected to protected areas in nearby hills and mountains.
ENVIRONMENT-PHILIPPINES: Mining Project Digs Up Locals’ Ire
Depending on who one talks to, Mt Mantalingahan is either a treasure trove of untapped minerals lying underneath the earth's crust, or a biodiversity hotspot that is home to some of the worlds rarest and threatened animals.
Mexican Fishers Throw a Lifeline to Lobsters
Faced with the voracious international demand for lobsters from the Mexican Pacific and Atlantic, fishers and environmental organisations have come together to institute sustainable lobstering practices -- although the financial benefits are slow in coming.« Previous Page — Next Page »
The world's diverse flora and fauna are facing urgent threats due to pollution, climate change, commercialization of nature and other forms of harmful human intervention. The widespread loss of biodiversity is worrying not simply because of the disappearance of exotic species which deserve saving, but because tampering with nature's equilibrium means that the loss of one form of life is a threat to another. IPS taps into its own diverse network of correspondents around the world to report on continuing and emerging dangers to nature's riches - and the struggle to protect them.
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