Cash for the Climate Please, Caribbean Leaders Lament

Funding to address the financial flows needed for adaptation and mitigation of climate change remains an issue of concern for the Caribbean.

Soy Boom Revives Amazon Highway

The BR-163 highway, an old dream of the Brazilian military to colonise the Amazon jungle, was revived by agroexporters as part of a plan aimed at cutting costs by shipping soy out of river ports. But the improvement of the road has accentuated problems such as deforestation and land tenure, and is fuelling new social conflicts.

Back on Track, Uganda’s Railways Signal Better Days Ahead

Denis, a 38-year-old Ugandan bank worker, usually takes a packed minibus known as a matatu to and from his day job through the capital Kampala’s notorious potholed and gridlocked roads. But two weeks ago, he tried a new option: the city’s passenger train, relaunched for the first time in two decades.

Caribbean Journalists Prepare to Report on Climate Change

Environmentally committed journalists in the Caribbean point to a major challenge for media workers: communicating and raising awareness about the crucial climate change agreement that emerged from the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris.

Hail to the Cowpea: a Blue Ribbon for the Black-Eyed Pea

2016 is the International Year of Pulses, and we at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture are proud to be organizing what promises to be the landmark event, the Joint World Cowpea and Pan-African Grain Legume Research Conference.

Floods Pose Challenge for South American Integration

The flooding that has affected four South American countries has underscored the need for an integrated approach to addressing the causes and effects of climate change.

CPJ: Two Thirds of 2015 Journalist Deaths were Acts of Reprisal

Of the 69 journalists who died on the job in 2015, 40 per cent were killed by Islamic militant groups like Al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Startlingly more than two-thirds were targeted for murder, according to a special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Military Conflicts Threaten to Undermine Battle Against Rural Poverty

The ongoing battle against rural poverty is in danger of being undermined by a growing number of insurgencies and political upheavals – mostly in Africa.

Addressing Climate Change On Several Fronts In The Caribbean

Climate change is already affecting the Caribbean. But there is concern that a gap still exists between what the region’s leaders are saying about the issue and what residents believe.

Credit Innovation has a Key Role in Bangladesh’s Climate Change Adaptation

Expected climate change makes improving agricultural practices even more important than many already suggest, according to a new study of Bangladesh, considered one of the most at-risk nations from rising temperatures.

More Challenges For Antigua As Drought Continues

Climate change has brought with it many challenges for the people of Antigua and Barbuda.

Women Inmates Sow Hope in Prisons in El Salvador

Doris Zabala squats down in the field to pull up radishes. She is working on a prison farm in El Salvador, where more and more penitentiaries are incorporating agricultural work and other activities to keep prisoners busy.

Insecurity in Dominican Countryside Threatens Local Food Supply

“Sometimes we have too much water, which washes everything away,” Cecilia Joseph, originally from Haiti, said in heavily accented Spanish while pulling up a ñame root (a kind of yam) on her farm in the municipality of Santo Domingo Norte in the Dominican Republic.

The Power of the Pen

“How would you like it if you were just expressing your feelings and someone just put you in jail?” This is how an eight-year-old American schoolchild asked King Salman of Saudi Arabia not to flog imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi.

Initiatives Revive Palestinian Heritage Boosting Economy and ‘Homeland’

Deep into the subtly monochrome landscape of the southern West Bank, Abu Ismaeel’s tent stands out amongst bare rolling hills that stretch into the horizon. A lonely gate, with no fence around it, signals the official entrance to two large tents in the Rashayda Desert.

Mexican Government Ignores Social Impact of Energy Projects

Mexico’s hydrocarbons law stipulates that oil contracts must include a social impact assessment. But this has not been done in the case of the oilfields granted to the country’s former oil monopoly, Pemex, or to private companies since the industry was opened up to private investment.

Climate Smart Coffee and Banana Set to Boost East African Farmers’ Income

Ugandan farmers are increasingly inter-planting coffee, the country’s primary export, and banana, a staple food, as a way of coping with the effects of climate change.

Indigenous Villagers Fight “Evil Spirit” of Hydropower Dam in Brazil

At dusk on the Tapajós River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon River in northern Brazil, the Mundurukú indigenous people gather to bathe and wash clothes in these waters rich in fish, the staple of their diet. But the “evil spirit”, as they refer in their language to the Sao Luiz Tapajós dam, threatens to leave most of their territory – and their way of life – under water.

Coffee Rust Aggravates Poverty in Rural El Salvador

Sitting in front of a pile of coffee beans that she has just picked, Ilsy Membreño separates the green cherries from the ripe red ones with a worried look on her face, lamenting the bad harvest on the farm where she works in western El Salvador and the low daily wages she is earning.

Mexico to Export Nixtamalisation of Grains to Africa

Every day in the wee hours of the morning Verónica Reyes’ extended family grinds corn to make the dough they use in the tacos they sell from their food truck in Mexico City.

Farmers, CSOs Rally Behind Environmentalist Jailed for Exposing Land Grabbing in Cameroon

Farmers and activists in Cameroon say a jail sentence handed down on an environmentalist who exposed land-grabbing by a multinational agro-industrial company, sends a dangerous signal to communities trying to protect their land and resources.