Newsroom

The agreement by 110 countries at COP26 in Glasgow to halt and reverse deforestation within the decade is very good news. But what will it take for change to actually happen? This is not the first time world leaders have made such a commitment – the successes and failures in the fight to save one…

Freetown, located at the seaward tip of a heavily forested, mountainous peninsula, is the capital of Sierra Leone, dominating its urban, economic, and social landscape. Each year, more than 100,000 people in search of employment move to the city, and the urban fringes continue to push deeper into…

On October 16 every year, we celebrate World Food Day to highlight the enduring vision of a world free from hunger and malnutrition. This year, we face the unprecedented crisis of COVID-19, which threatens food security and human health and may push another 130 million people into hunger by the end…

The year 2020 was considered a 'super year' for biodiversity. A string of interconnected events offered a unique opportunity to build a global coalition and international policy framework that recognized the central role of nature to all life on Earth. At the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) 196…

It is not easy to plan for the future during a pandemic or a recession. But this is 2020, and governments and businesses are working hard to navigate both challenges at once. As they do so, it is incredibly important they cast aside the notion that the environment is a tangential concern. The …

Investing in trees and forests combats global warming and provides good financial returns. The best way to tackle climate change may come naturally. For years, solutions have focused on clean energy technology, including electrifying transport and driving down the cost of wind and solar power. But…

Illegal logging, fishing and wildlife trade rob the world of precious natural resources – and ultimately of development benefits and livelihoods. The statistics are grim: an elephant is poached for its tusks about every 30 minutes, an African rhino for its horn every 8 hours, one in five fish is…

In the Argentine Chaco forest, the indigenous and creole peoples of Pampa del Indio work together to produce honey from the "melipona bees," which are native stingless bees (Tetragonisca fiebrigi and Scaptotrigona jujuyensis). In a recent blog, we explain how this zone has become a sanctuary for…

As the continent comes to dominate the global economy, it will do much to determine the fate of the global commons As a young Asian business leader, it is fascinating to be part of an important transformation – the rise of Asia in the global economy.  Next year is expected to mark the tipping point…

Products that are sustainably harvested from the Amazon can form a powerful bioeconomy Climate change is coming to the global policy agenda, and damage to the world’s tropical rainforests is a key component of it. In my own country, Brazil, there is widespread concern about climate change linked to…