Kitchen Gardens are Victory Gardens in Boosting Nutrition and Incomes in Western Kenya
By Justus Wanzala
Busia County in western Kenya is home to an array of indigenous vegetables. But for decades there has been a shift in popular taste leading to leading to little interest in what is indigenously grown. This relegated the vegetables to the periphery with most farmers cultivating kale and cabbages among other more exotic varieties.
Cancer, Not Clashes, the Number One Killer in Kashmir
By Umar Shah
In an isolated ward of one of Kashmir's largest government-run hospitals, 54-year-old Ashraf Ali Khan is finding it hard to sleep properly. His 15-year-old son, Asif, is sitting on a bench near the bed staring at his ailing father.
Farmers to COP 21: Don't Bite the Hand That Feeds You!
By A. D. McKenzie
When Dr. Evelyn Nguleka says that the world's people shouldn't bite the hand that feeds them, she explains that she's not only referring to protecting farmers, but also to safeguarding the environment.
Urgently Needed: Studies Linking Land Degradation, Migration, Conflict and Political Instability
By Manipadma Jena
Some 135 million people could be displaced by 2045 as a result of land desertification, according to a recent UK ministry of defence report. This figure could rise to 200 million who are displaced by other climate change impacts like natural disasters by 2050, said British environment refugee specialist Norman Myers.
Interview: "'We're Not Independent Enough," says ASEAN Rights Commission Chair
By Diana Mendoza
(IPS Asia-Pacific) – Although it is six years old, few know what the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) does. It has been called toothless, though its creation was seen as a step forward given the principle of non-interference in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Before Renewable Power Plant is Completed, Geothermal Overtakes Hydro in Kenya
By Isaiah Esipisu
In its quest to generate more reliable, climate-friendly electric energy, Kenya has become the first country in the world to make use of temporary geothermal wellheads, which are currently injecting an extra 56 megawatts into the national grid.
Opinion: Women in the Face of Climate Change
By Renee Juliene Karunungan
After surviving the storm surge wreaked by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in November 2013, women in evacuation centres found themselves again fighting for survival … at times from rape. Many became victims of human trafficking while many more did anything they could to feed their families before themselves.
Urban Farming Mushrooms in Africa Amid Food Deficits
By Jeffrey Moyo
There is a scramble for unoccupied land in Africa, but this time it is not British, Portuguese, French or other colonialists racing to occupy the continent's vacant land – it is the continent's urban dwellers fast turning to urban farming amid the rampant food shortages that have not spared them.
Strong Words, But Little Action at Arctic Summit
By Leehi Yona
After a one-day summit in the U.S. Arctic's biggest city, leaders from the world's northern countries acknowledged that climate change is seriously disrupting the Arctic ecosystem, yet left without committing themselves to serious action to fight the negative impacts of global warming.
OPEC Fund Supports UNIDO in Latin America
By Jaya Ramachandran
The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) has agreed to give the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) a grant in support of a project aimed at improving the productivity and competitiveness of the shrimp value chain in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region.
Zimbabwe's Forest Carbon Programme Not All It Seems
By Ignatius Banda
The efficacy of attempts to sustainably manage forests and conserve and enhance forest carbon stocks in Zimbabwe is increasingly coming under scrutiny as new research warns that the politics of access and control over forests and their carbon is challenging conventional understanding.
Fish Farming Now a Big Hit in Africa
Hillary Thompson, aged 62, throws some grains of left-over rice from his last meal, mixed with some beer dregs from his sorghum brew, into a swimming pool that he has converted into a fish pond.
'Permaculture the African Way' in Cameroon's Only Eco-Village
By Mbom Sixtus
Marking a shift away from the growing trend of abandoning sustainable life styles and drifting from traditional customs and routines, Joshua Konkankoh is a Cameroonian farmer with a vision – that the answer to food insecurity lies in sustainable and organic methods of farming.
One Tune, Different Hymns – Tackling Climate Change in South Africa
By Munyaradzi Makoni
Anti-nuclear energy activists are up in arms, and have taken to vigils outside South Africa's parliament in Cape Town to protest against President Jacob Zuma's push for nuclear development.
Faith Leaders Issue Global "Call to Conscience" on Climate
"We received a garden as our home, and we must not turn it into a wilderness for our children."
Opinion: En Route to Paris
By Gunter Nooke
When the three-day conference on Financing for Development begins on Jul. 13 in Addis Ababa, the competitors in this year's Tour de France will have reached the mountains. They will have already experienced a few spills and will still have many kilometres to go.
Rome March Celebrates Pope's Call for Urgent Climate Action
People of faith, civil society groups, and communities affected by climate change marched together in Rome Sunday Jun. 28 to express gratitude to Pope Francis for the release of his Laudato Si encyclical on the environment, and call for bolder climate action by world leaders.
Opinion: Ethical Challenges to Advertising
By Hazel Henderson
Challenges to advertisers and marketers arose in the past century. Critics deplored the role of cigarette marketers who exploited the aspirations of women by associating smoking with liberation.
Opinion: We Have a Moral Imperative to Act on Climate Change
By Edwin Gariguez
My country, the Philippines, is one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Even though we are among those countries that hardly contributed emissions and benefited least from burning fossil fuels, we find ourselves at the frontline of the climate crisis.
Opinion: GM Cotton a False Promise for Africa
By Haidee Swanby
Genetically modified (GM) cotton has been produced globally for almost two decades, yet to date only three African countries have grown GM cotton on a commercial basis – South Africa, Burkina Faso and Sudan.
Opinion: Why Are Threats to Civil Society Growing Around the World?
By Mandeep S.Tiwana
Whistle-blowers like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange are hounded – not by autocratic but by democratic governments – for revealing the truth about grave human rights violations. Nobel peace prize winner, writer and political activist Liu Xiaobo is currently languishing in a Chinese prison while the killing of Egyptian protestor, poet and mother Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, apparently by a masked policeman, in January this year continues to haunt us.
Caribbean Climate Wire