Robert J. Burrowes Several years ago in Cameroon, a country in West Africa, a Western Black Rhinoceros was killed. It was the last of its kind on Earth. Hence, the Western Black Rhinoceros, the largest subspecies of rhinoceros which had…
Category: Columns
Time to help young farmers now
Danielle Nierenberg A new report from the American National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC) discusses the results of the 2017 National Young Farmer Survey. The number of American farmers is decreasing and their average age is increasing, as reported by the…
Barbaric attack on Egypt mosque and combating terrorism
By Chandra Muzaffar The barbaric attack that killed 305 worshippers including 27 children during Friday prayers ( 24 November 2017) at the Rawda mosque in North Sinai, Egypt is a tragic reminder to the entire human family that the threat…
The failure of Angela Markel
The failure of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to form a government after the elections a month ago came as a shock for many observers. What has happened to the “leader of the Western World”? Is German power on its…
Capitalizing on climate unity
Hilda Heine and Kevin Rudd Bonn – When Donald Trump was elected US president a year ago, some said the end of the Paris climate agreement was nigh. Yet, as the latest round of global climate talks in Bonn, Germany,…
Natural solutions to climate change
Justin Adams Oxford – In response to climate change, land is key. Today, agriculture, forestry, and other land uses account for roughly a quarter of global greenhouse-gas emissions. But adopting sustainable land management strategies could provide more than one-third of…
‘Combating climate change? Combat land degradation.’
By Stella Paul Bonn, Germany, Nov 24 (IPS) – Land restoration is not a “glamorous subject even when you give all the numbers,” admits Monique Barbut, the Executive Secretary of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification UNCCD). But she also…
The age of robots could be a new renaissance
by Leonardo Quattrucci Why have humans created machines? Technology is born from the human desire to save time in order to invest it in fantasy. Technology generates time and space for the activities that make us quintessentially human: creativity and…
The Trump Presidency
By Noam Chomsky [Editor’s note: This interview has been excerpted from Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy, the new book by Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian to be published this December.] David Barsamian: You have spoken about…
Democracy À La Carte in Catalonia
by Manuel Serrano We live in the era of fake news and alternative facts. Fascism has been so debased as a phrase that fascists nowadays are simply those with whom we disagree. They are the others. The bad and the…
The tyranny of toilets – reflections on World Toilet Day
Maitreyi Bordia Das In the lead-in to World Toilet Day, we hear a great deal about the role of toilets in sanitation and in better health and human development outcomes. Toilets are good development. We hear less about the fact…
Global food and health crisis vs big corporate interests
By Rosemary Mason and Colin Todhunter Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the new director general of the World Health Organization (WHO). With a $4 billion annual budget, WHO’s decisions affect us all and its decisions also affect the bottom line…
Sounding the alarm on biodiversity loss
Robert Watson Norwich – With the United Nations’ climate change conference underway in Bonn, Germany, rising global temperatures are once again at the top of the world’s agenda. But why care about the increase in temperature, if not because of…
Good to know (perhaps) that food Is being ‘nuclearised’
By Baher Kamal Rome, Nov 16 (IPS) – It might sound strange, very strange, but the news is that scientists and experts have been assuring, over and again, that using nuclear applications in agriculture –and thus in food production—are giving…
Climate change: The world’s poorest will judge us by action
By Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu Bonn, Nov 16(IPS) – Two years ago, 197 parties came together in Paris and agreed to the historical Paris Framework. Since that December 2015, we all have seen countless pictures of utterly devastating floods, wildfires, hurricanes…
Climate change is already upon us & will only worsen
By António Guterres Bonn, Nov 15 (IPS) – It is fitting that this year’s conference of parties (on climate change, COP 23) is led by Fiji, a nation on the frontlines.
24 US farmer organizations aiming to hit Paris Deal goals
Danielle Nierenberg The international community will gather in the second week of November to evaluate the progress that the 196 signatory countries to the Paris Climate Agreement have made since 2015. This will be the first global meeting of the…
Why are police in the USA so terrified?
Robert J. Burrowes In a recent incident in the United States, yet another unarmed man was shot dead by police after opening his front door in response to their knock. The police were going to serve an arrest warrant on…
Reshaping sovereignty in Catalonia and Spain
The Catalan events pose a challenge to the sovereignty of the Spanish state as well as casting light on sovereignty in the EU. At stake is a redefinition of the concept and practice of sovereignty in Europe and much of…
Putting a price on rainforests
Lorenzo Bernasconi New York – In early October, shortly after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that his company could, given the opportunity, rebuild the island’s electrical grid using solar power. Coming…
Sounding the alarm on biodiversity loss
Robert Watson Norwich – With the United Nations’ climate change conference underway in Bonn, Germany, rising global temperatures are once again at the top of the world’s agenda. But why care about the increase in temperature, if not because of…
Will policymakers listen to climate change science this time?
By Busani Bafana Bremerhaven, Germany (IPS) – Climate change is altering the ecosystem of our oceans, a big carbon sink and prime source of protein from fish. This is old news.
18 Veterans programs feeding the food movement
Danielle Nierenberg This Veterans Day, Food Tank brings you 18 initiatives from around the United States that are working to help veterans transition to healthy, productive civilian lives through farming and agriculture.
When climate leaders protect dirty investments
Nathalie Bernasconi – Osterwalder , Jorg Haas In 2016, global spending on oil and gas projects was more than double the total spent on renewables. That imbalance can be addressed only by restructuring the mechanisms, particularly existing trade treaties, that govern…
My vision for a pollution-free planet
By Erik Solheim UN, Nov 3 (IPS) – For too long, the relationship between prosperity and environment has been seen as a trade-off. Tackling pollution was considered an unwelcome cost on industry and a handicap to economic growth.
The end of empire
By Chris Hedges The American empire is coming to an end. The U.S. economy is being drained by wars in the Middle East and vast military expansion around the globe. It is burdened by growing deficits, along with the devastating…
Climate leadership means ending fossil-fuel production
Tzeporah Berman and Lili Fuhr Vancouver/Berlin – The end of the fossil-fuel era is on the horizon. With renewables like solar and wind consistently outperforming expectations, growth in electric vehicles far exceeding projections, and governments worldwide acknowledging the urgency of…
Tough problems need tough solutions
By Sunita Narain Do not read me wrong. Last fortnight I had said we may breathe easier this winter. This does not mean we will breathe clean air. I meant compared to last winter air pollution would be lower because…
How long will UN Security Council be missing in action on Burma?
New Resolution Opportunity for Council to Address Crisis Philippe Bolopion Two months into one of the most vicious ethnic cleansing campaigns in recent history, the United Nations Security Council is still missing in action. For all its pledges to protect…
The virtuous cycle of water and prosperity
Danielle Nierenberg The following is an edited excerpt from Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity by Sandra Postel, published by Island Press.