IPS: Chungda Sherpa, a former herder from eastern Nepal, has a warning tale ahead of the United Nations climate change conference in Durban. At World Wildlife Fund-Japan’s ‘Climate Witness’ programme in Osaka and Tokyo this month, to apprise communities around the world how climate change is threatening lives and livelihoods, the 48-year-old described how the

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University of Minnesota: Over the past 50 years, 60 percent of all ecosystem services have declined as a direct result of the conversion of land to the production of foods, fuels and fibers. This should come as no surprise, say seven of the world’s leading environmental scientists, who met to collectively study the pitfalls of

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Mountain Partnership: Water, energy, forests: regional experts identify key issues for Central Asia. Dushanbe, Tajikistan: Effective adaptation strategies are required in response to the impact of climate change in mountain regions. With a view to better integrating scientific evidence and mountain people’s experience into international discussions, experts from Azerbaijan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Tajikistan met

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Deccanchronical: At a time when the world recognises that mere GDP growth as a development goal is a false promise, and with the UN now making “happiness” a development goal, a number of countries are turning to the little Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan for lessons. Bhutan pioneered the concept of Gross National Happiness some 35

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World Agro-Forestry: How trees and people can co-adapt to climate change: reducing vulnerability through multifunctional agroforestry landscapes. Climate changes, especially increased variability, affect landscapes, human livelihoods and trees in many ways. They are the consequence of a wider set of global change issues, including population increase, more consumption per capita and trade globalisation. Both people

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CSDi is presenting a compilation of Community Based Adaptation Field Activities—complete with links to source materials and technical information. The content of field activities is given broadly in following heads: 1. Agriculture a. Soil and water conservation for agriculture. b. Developing water for agriculture. c. Agriculture in flood-prone or waterlogged areas. d. CBA techniques for agriculture.

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The minutes of First meeting of the Working Group on “Mountain Eco-systems and Challenges Faced by the People living in the Hilly Areas” for formulation of the 12th Five year Plan” is given below, that was held on 28 October 2011 at Yojana Bhavan in New Delhi. It was chaired by Shri B.K. Chaturvedi, Member,

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Eurekalert: Some people may consider them pests, but ants are key to many plants’ survival. In the eastern US, ants are integral to plant biodiversity because they help disperse seeds. But ants’ ability to perform this vital function, and others, may be jeopardized by climate change, according to Nate Sanders, Associate Professor of Ecology and

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IUCN: Businesses around the world are adjusting to a rapidly-shifting economic landscape but should we expect them to lead the way to a green global economy? Olivia Pasini asks the question for our latest World Conservation Debate. The concept of a green economy has been around for a while now. For many years there have

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IISD List: That humans depend on nature for their existence is an obvious fact. That in time, however, modern societies have come to act as if nature’s services could be fully substituted has also been well acknowledged. Indiscriminate use of resources and a propensity to wasteful consumption has led to the degradation of natural ecosystems

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IndianExpress:The Ministry of Environment and Forest has for the first admitted, in the High Court, that nearly Rs 816.08 crore of compensatory afforestation fund deposited by the Private Power Producers and companies engaged in the hydro-power generation was lying idle stashed in different banks for the past 15 years. In all, more than Rs 896.76

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CIFOR Blog: Climate change challenges are currently being tackled by community forestry projects around the world, and according to Dr. Yam Malla, outgoing executive director of the Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC), forest-for-people initiatives are fast becoming one of the most effective strategies for sustainable forest management. “Over the years, community forestry has proved

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