Climate change & energy
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In hunt for resources, Congo forest communities feel the squeeze, early research shows
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon—The narrative used to be straightforward: Rural communities in tropical countries battled logging companies in a zero-sum competition for…
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Study: As forests, grasslands gave way to farms, soil carbon emissions soared
BOGOR, Indonesia — The conversion of pasture to agricultural land has released more carbon from the soil in several South…
4 min read -
Lima call for climate action: Paving the way to revisit Central Africa’s adaptation agenda
One of the main outputs of the UNFCCC COP 20 in Lima was significant progress on recognizing the importance of…
3 min read -
2015: A year for integration
Few people in development and environment circles could have missed that this year will see a confluence of global agreement-making.…
6 min read -
EU plan to curb illegal logging: Think big by thinking small?
BOGOR, Indonesia—Faced with growing pressure to root out “illegal timber” from international trade, some tropical timber-producing countries have a choice.…
6 min read -
REDD ink: Forest efforts in Peru all but absent from news media
BOGOR, Indonesia—Peru has received international recognition for pushing ahead with programs to tackle climate change and deforestation, but those efforts…
5 min read -
REDD+ to the rescue of Central Africa’s forests? Not yet, study says
NAIROBI, Kenya—Enforcing sustainable logging and assigning a monetary value to the carbon stored in forest concessions managed under the REDD+…
5 min read -
Take a new look at markets to boost climate change adaptation, research suggests
BOGOR, Indonesia—For generations, Malian farmers have traveled north and south with their cattle and sheep, following grass and water, and…
5 min read -
To protect wetlands, reach for your toolbox
BOGOR, Indonesia—Policy makers and practitioners just got another tool to protect tropical wetlands from destruction and degradation. Or to be…
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As climate change and poor habits parch Central Asia, can policy changes help?
BOGOR, Indonesia — An approach that looks at both environmental and human elements to combat landscape degradation could help make…
4 min read -
In DR Congo, simple rules could reduce the large impact of small-scale loggers
BOGOR, Indonesia—Think of the timber industry in tropical forests, and the image of heavy machinery reaping large swaths of trees…
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Gender equality and sustainable development as human rights: A conversation
Concerns about gender equality and women’s empowerment are re-emerging as part of the post-2015 development agenda on the global agenda.…
8 min read -
Once ‘invisible,’ Africa’s domestic loggers come into the light
KATIOLA, Côte d’Ivoire—Mr. Aboubakar, who has been working as a carpenter in his native Côte d’Ivoire for the past 25…
7 min read -
For sharing REDD+ benefits in Peru, consensus more important than cash
LIMA, Peru—For REDD+ benefit-sharing arrangements to function well, their design must be consultative and seen as legitimate by communities on…
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Cheap drones could revolutionize forest monitoring, but turbulence ahead
LIMA, Peru—Sending small unmanned drones to fly over tropical forests has great potential for enhancing community-based forest monitoring—and in measuring…
6 min read