learningforsustainability.netIPS: Environment news
IPS, civil society's leading news agency, is an independent voice from the South and for development, delving into globalisation for the stories underneath.
Site: IPS Inter Press Service - EnvironmentAGRICULTURE-AFRICA: Calls for Sustainable Green Revolution
Publish Date:
KAMPALA, Jul 4 (IPS) - Africa needs a Green Revolution, but one that will
increase agricultural productivity by using practices that build
soil fertility while minimising harm to the environment.
PERU: Petroleum Sullies the Amazon
Publish Date:
BAGUA, Peru, Jul 3 (IPS/IFEJ) - "Now the fish are going to disappear," said
Luis Umpunchi, an Awajún Indian, one of about 20 people gathered
around a broken oil pipeline in the Jayais community, in the
northern Peruvian province of Amazonas.
AGRICULTURE: Biotechnology: Africa Must Not Be Left Behind
Publish Date:
KAMPALA, Jul 3 (IPS) - Africa must embrace agricultural biotechnology or
risk being excluded from a major technological revolution that
has had increased food production in the Europe, North America
and Asia.
HEALTH: Sri Lanka's Battle With Dengue
Publish Date:
COLOMBO, Jul 3 (IPS) - Sri Lankan health authorities have had to combat an
upsurge in cases of the lethal Dengue flu in the island nation
this year. They have used mass man-power, public awareness
campaigns and even threatened incarceration to stem the spread of
the killer disease that has touched epidemic levels in the past
six months. But it won?t be easy to stop the disease from
spreading.
US-ECUADOR: Chevron Fails in Effort to Lift Trade Benefits
Publish Date:
WASHINGTON, Jul 2 (IPS) - In the latest in a string of setbacks that could
cost the U.S. oil giant Chevron billions of dollars in damages,
President Barack Obama decided this week to extend trade
preferences for Ecuadorean exports for another six months under
the 1991 Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA).
CLIMATE CHANGE: Opportunity For Biopirates?
Publish Date:
NEW DELHI, Jul 2 (IPS) - Genetically modified (GM) crops that can withstand
environmental stress may be one answer to climate change but a
powerful lobby is building up against the patenting of
technologies involved, especially when they are derivatives of
traditional farmers? innovations.
ENVIRONMENT: Scientists Study the Riches of the Mexican Pacific
Publish Date:
MEXICO CITY, Jul 2 (Tierramérica) - Mexico?s Pacific coast, one of the world's
richest seaboards in terms of biodiversity, has been the focus of
very few scientific studies. A new observatory aims to fill that
void.
TRADE: Who?s Harming Fish Stocks? Trawlers or Artisanal Fishers?
Publish Date:
GENEVA, Jul 2 (IPS) - Red tunas, sharks, rays and cods may soon disappear
from our tables. Negotiations are ongoing at the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) to reduce the subsidies that contribute to
this catastrophe. These talks foresee exceptions for developing
countries, but small fishers may have to turn to other sources of
livelihood.
ENVIRONMENT-URUGUAY: Invasion of the Sand Dunes
Publish Date:
CIUDAD DE LA COSTA, Uruguay, Jul 1 (IPS) - "A road used to run through here, the sidewalk
was over there, and this was the neighbour?s yard. That was an
esplanade where people parked their cars, and that area over
there was a plaza," says Jackeline, pointing to enormous
sand dunes that have swallowed up everything, even entire trees.
PARAGUAY: President and Congress Face Off Over Agrochemicals
Publish Date:
ASUNCIÓN, Jul 1 (IPS) - "Silvino was riding his bike on a dirt road
near our home when he was poisoned by toxic agrochemicals,
sprayed on a nearby field of soybeans. He died soon afterwards.
He was 11," said his mother, Petrona Villasboa, a rural
activist in southern Paraguay.
INDIA: Reverse Migration Casts Shadow on Kerala Economy
Publish Date:
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Jun 30 (IPS) - Recession in petroleum-rich Middle Eastern
countries is causing thousands of
workers to return to their
homes in southern Kerala triggering fears of a
negative impact
on the local economy.
CLIMATE CHANGE: Europe Feels the U.S. Sneeze
Publish Date:
LONDON, Jun 30 (IPS) - Governments and interest groups around the world
followed the U.S. House of
Representatives' vote Friday on
the first U.S. policy to limit the country's
greenhouse gas
emissions. They were especially interested in Europe, where a
system similar to the bill's cap-and-trade scheme already
exists and where EU
countries agreed last December to tough
emissions targets.
CLIMATE CHANGE: 2020 Deadline Is the Crucial "Litmus Test"
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VIENNA, Jun 29 (IPS) - "So who here thinks there will be a meaningful
deal in Copenhagen?" Few of the more than 600 energy
ministers, officials and experts from 80 countries attending the
Vienna Energy Conference raised their hands in response to the
conference moderator's question about the final round of
climate negotiations this December in Copenhagen.
CLIMATE CHANGE: India?s Monsoon Predictions More Uncertain
Publish Date:
NEW DELHI, Jun 27 (IPS) - Predicting the monsoons - a risky proposition
despite the deployment of
satellites and supercomputers -
appears to have become iffier thanks to climate
change.
U.S.: House Passes Controversial Climate Legislation
Publish Date:
WASHINGTON, Jun 26 (IPS) - Amid furious lobbying on both sides, the U.S. House
of Representatives narrowly approved landmark legislation Friday
designed to reduce the nation's greenhouse emissions that
contribute to global warming 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020
and 83 percent by 2050.
