Danielle Nierenberg We have collected some of the agriculture and food news highlights from 2017 to share with you. As 2017 comes to a close, Food Tank has collected news highlights from the food and agriculture world to share with…
Category: Think green
Organic farming can feed world if meat taking, food waste are cut
A new study, published in the journal Nature Communications, takes a food systems approach that goes beyond a focus on production, yields and environmental impacts per unit output of specific commodities. It measures the impacts of a conversion to organic…
Move to conduct survey of Sundarbans
Dhaka, Dec 16 – The government has planned to conduct the Unesco-prescribed Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in the Sundarbans and adjoining areas to assess the cumulative impacts of development in the world’s largest mangrove forest for going ahead with the…
The myth of a fossil fuel phase-out
Samuel Furfari Brussels – How the world uses energy is a hot topic for a warming planet, and fears of pollution and resource strain have produced a virtual arms race of energy-efficiency strategies. From the European Union to China, economies…
Civil society to be more radical to deal with global crises
By Amy Taylor Suva, Fiji, Dec 15 (IPS) – Our strategies have failed us. We can no longer respond to the crises facing us in the same way. We have to be more radical, more creative — together — to…
Patuakhali clinic asked to pay surgery fault victim TK 9 Lakh
Dhaka – The High Court on Wednesday asked the owner of the Niramoy Private Clinic and fake physician Razan the Das of Patuakhali, who left gauze inside a woman’s abdomen, to pay the victim Tk 9 lakh as compensation.
Bangladesh Citizen ’s Declaration 2017 on SDGs
Adopted at Citizen’s Conference on SDGs in Bangladesh 2017 held in Dhaka on 6 December 2017. We, the citizens of Bangladesh, inspired by the spirit of our great War of Liberation, and in response to the call by the Citizen’s…
Civil society summit wants Int’l action on climate migration
By Megan Darby Suva, Fiji, Dec 12 (IPS) – Civil society leaders from more than 100 countries called for action on climate-induced displacement at a summit in Suva, Fiji last week.
A responsibility to prevent genocide
By Tharanga Yakupitiyage UN, Dec 12 (IPS) – Almost 70 years since the Genocide Convention was adopted, the international community still faces a continued and growing risk of genocide.
Crab shells mix found lethal against mosquitoes
Anna Valmero Manila – A spray consisting of a mix of chitosan, extracted from crushed crab shells, and silver nanoparticles can reduce mosquito populations and help control malaria and other diseases spread by the insect vector. Field studies of the…
Non-State Actors reaffirm 13 priority proposals on climate finance
On the eve of the One Planet Summit, non-state actors on climate reaffirm their 13 priority proposals on access to climate finance.
PM leaves for Paris to attend ‘One Planet Summit
Dhaka, Dec 11 – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka for Paris on Monday morning on a three-day official visit to attend ‘One Planet Summit’.
US Nobel laureate worries politics could undermine science
Stockholm, Dec 11 (AP/UNB) — An American researcher who shared this year’s Nobel Prize for medicine bluntly criticized political developments at home in his address at the awards’ gala banquet Sunday night. Michael Rosbash, who was honoured for his work…
Honoring soil scientists on World Soil Day
13 soil scientists to watch Danielle Nierenberg Soil performs a variety of vital functions, including supporting plant and animal life and filtering contaminants from water and the air. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) asserts that “soils need to…
South-south cooperation key to a new multilateralism
By Baher Kamal Rome, Dec (IPS) – “There are new challenges to all states: among them, the real threat to multilateralism… South-South and triangular cooperation can contribute to a new multilateralism and drive the revitalisation of the global partnership for…
Indigenous people guardians of Brazil’s threatened forests
By Mario Osava Rio De Janeiro, Dec 4 (IPS) – Indigenous peoples, recognised as the best guardians of the world’s forests, are losing some battles in Brazil in the face of intensified pressure from the expansion of agriculture, mining and…
When medicines don’t work anymore
By Martin Khor The crisis of antibiotic resistance has gotten worse, and a global action plan must be launched urgently, most appropriately at the World Health Assembly in May. PENANG, Malaysia, Dec 4 (IPS) – The growing crisis of antibiotic…
Decade of family farming to be adopted by UN
Daniel Ruiz de Garibay The Second Committee has approved the Proposal for a Resolution which the United Nations General Assembly will adopt in mid-December.
Another week to gazette lower court judges’ conduct rules
Dhaka – The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday extended the time for the government till December 10 to issue a gazette notification on lower court judges’ conduct rules.
Two decades of BD hill districts peace treaty celebrated
Khagrachhari, Dec 01 – Two decade of the Chittagong Hill Tracts peace accord was celebrated here in Khagrachhari with the colourful programme. Khagrachhari Hill District Council (KHDC) was organized day long programme to celebrate two decade of CHT accord.
Obama blasts Trump over climate change issue
Former US president Barack Obama launched a veiled barb at his successor Donald Trump on Friday, saying there is “a pause in American leadership” on climate change. Since leaving office in January, Obama has been relatively restrained in his comments…
EC has ‘obligation to block Bayer-Monsanto merger’
A new legal study by University College London urges the European Commission “to take action and to block the proposed merger between Bayer and Monsanto, whether viewed through a narrow competition lens or a wider scope of social and environmental…
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…
Indian police use elephants to clear their protected habitat
Indian police have taken the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in a protected forest area in the country’s remote northeast.
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…
Light pollution: Night being lost in many countries
By Victoria Gill A study of pictures of Earth by night has revealed that artificial light is growing brighter and more extensive every year. Between 2012 and 2016, the planet’s artificially lit outdoor area grew by more than 2% per…
Desperate need to halt ‘world’s largest killer’ — pollution
By Baher Kamal Rome, Nov 20 (IPS) – Now that the lights of the UN climate change summit’s meeting rooms have been turned off in Bonn, after a week of intense negotiations and some partial results, another major environmental event…
Release bodies of poor patients even if bills unpaid: HC
Dhaka – In a verdict, the High Court (HC) on Monday ordered hospitals and clinics authorities to release dead body of poor and marginalised people even if they fail to pay the due bills.
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…
The greening of the miners
Raimund Bleischwitz London – Donald Trump’s presidency in the United States has turned mining – and the coal industry in particular – into a political cause célèbre over the last year. In June, during his first White House cabinet meeting,…