reporting : In country features :
Climate refugees of the future
No commentsBangladesh is calling for the rights of environmental refugees to be recognised as the country battles rising sea levels and chronic poverty.
The water of the Buriganga River is pitch black and no aquatic life survives. Despite this it is still called the lifeline of Dhaka. Life is very busy by the Buriganga. Loaded with cabbages, a country boat has just reached the Chan Mia ghat (boat station) at the Sadarghat, the biggest river port of the capital of Bangladesh.
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Keeping the forests we’ve got
No commentsThe conservation of forests in countries like Suriname with high forest cover and low deforestation rates is not a priority for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Yet forest people suffer enormously from the effects of climate change.
Suriname, a small country squeezed between northern Brazil and the Atlantic Ocean, is 90 per cent rain forest. One of the most damaging effects of climate change there is extreme rainfall. Every May for the last three years, in the big rainy season, rivers and creeks have overflowed, flooding houses and fields, ruining crops and threatening starvation.
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Liberia leads on gender and climate change
1 commentIn much of the developing world it is women who work the farms and grow the food. So why does the world not recognise how they are especially affected by our changing climate? Patrick Wrokpoh reports from Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city, on the country’s efforts to make gender count in the climate change debate.
On the outskirts of Monrovia, the Liberian capital, in the town of Jah Tondo, I recently saw for myself the real impact of climate change in a tropical developing country.
Billion dollar jungle
No commentsStopping tropical deforestation is part of the struggle against climate change. Developing countries expect rich nations to help pay for it. But will human rights be respected when megabucks are on offer?
You reach the Juma reserve, a 589-hectare piece of land covered with thick rainforest in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, only after a long journey along dusty roads. But even after many bone-shaking hours in a 4X4, you cannot fail to be impressed when you do finally arrive. This is a community in the middle of the jungle which preserves the forest. And perhaps more striking, every single family in the reserve owns a credit card. In fact, there’s a direct link between the inviolate forest and the pieces of plastic.
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A Sacred Lake Is Swallowed
2 comments“Who on earth would dare cultivate inside this sacred lake? Would such a person ever escape the wrath of our God, ancestors and spirits? Where do they expect all these birds to migrate to?”
As she desperately stares at the receding waters of the sacred Lake Mbututia in eastern Kenya, Mama Janet Kingwa Mboroki cannot understand the way today’s world thinks. Every question she puts across brings more tears to her eyes, yet, not a single straight answer can take away her pain.
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Maasai women tackle drought
1 commentThe Maasai are struggling with frequent water shortages which are threatening their way of life. But one women’s group is taking action.
Day in and day out from the months of March through to June, grey and white clouds float across the blue skies above Kajiado, southern Kenya. But each passing day, the rain they promise frequently fails to show up.
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Will South Africa lead the solar energy revolution?
No commentsSouth Africa, Brazil and other emerging economies are likely to face emissions caps come 2012. Can South Africa’s solar energy ventures compete with its vast supply of cheap coal?
Stretched-out plains with dust devils and unrelenting sun are the trademarks of the barren Northern Cape in South Africa. Every year the province records some of the highest numbers of sunny days worldwide. Rainy days are as rare as hen’s teeth.
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Caribbean tourist trade counts the cost of climate change
No commentsHurricanes and rising sea levels are threatening Caribbean tourism. So how will the region’s most important industry safeguard its future?
Kory South has spent the last 15 years building his dream resort in St Elizabeth, Jamaica. But his dream is in peril from rising sea levels and stronger hurricanes. South has incurred millions of dollars in losses from hurricanes affecting the island over the last three years.
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Food versus fuel in the Philippines
No commentsThe Philippine government wants farmers to plant crops for biofuels on a vast scale. But could the quest for green energy create food shortages?
Growing world energy demand, the insecurity of long-term supply and the consequences of fossil fuel use for climate change are driving governments to look for alternatives. To meet rising energy needs, many countries are promoting the production and use of biofuels – energy extracted as a gas, liquid or oil from plants.
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