Showing 1-10 of 15 results
Lessons from a perfect storm in the Amazon wilderness
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 of the world’s most critically important ecosystems give us some clues.
#FreetownTheTreeTown campaign: Using digital tools to encourage tree cultivation in cities
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 the steep forest expanses outside the city. As a result, an equivalent of 12% of total canopy in the area was lost per year between 2011 and 2018.
Working together to grow, nourish, and sustain
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 of the year. The COVID-19 pandemic spotlights the fragility of our food systems caused, in part, by the fractures in the environmental systems underlying them, including biodiversity loss, deforestation, land and water degradation, and climate change.
Mapping nature to create a global biodiversity framework
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.
Investing in nature makes more sense than ever
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 coronavirus outbreak that shut down most of the world is a zoonotic disease that jumped from wildlife to people, a symptom of growing conflict between human and natural systems.
Nature: one of the best solutions to climate change
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 the conservation and sustainable management of nature are now recognised as the other critical pathway to a climate-positive future, which on balance, benefits rather than damages the climate and can also help us protect biodiversity and water.
The real costs of illegal logging, fishing, and wildlife trade: $1 trillion–$2 trillion per year
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 caught illegally, and in certain countries, particularly in Africa and South America, 50% to 90% of timber is harvested and traded illegally. As much as 35% of the value of all illegal trade is estimated to come from rosewood.
Innovative investments in nature: native honey from the Chaco forest of Argentina
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 the production of honey by native species.
Sustainable development in Asia: seeing both the forests and the trees
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.
Exploiting rainforest riches while conserving them
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.