Agriculture
U.S. conservation investment routed to eucalyptus expansion in Brazil’s Cerrado
Mark Wishnie felt pleased when he heard the news: Joe Biden announced his support of a $50 million debt investment for the timber farmland project he heads at Latin America’s largest investment bank. The U.S. president’s April 20 speech at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate kicked off a $1 billion financing campaign […]
Shipibo communities create Indigenous guard to protect Peruvian Amazon from deforestation
Drug trafficking, logging, oil palm plantations, oil spills, highways, illegal fishing, expanding Mennonite communities — in the Peruvian Amazon, there’s no shortage of threats against Indigenous peoples or their lands. But now the Shipibo-Konibo-Xetebo people, living in the department of Ucayali, near the border with Brazil, have taken steps to protect themselves from the barrage […]
Borders between Mercosur countries have become a hub for trafficking agrochemicals
The borders between the countries that make up the South American trading bloc Mercosur (or Mercosul in Brazil) have an economic life of their own, where different characters subsist. An important part of the commercial force is connected to the trafficking of goods through these national borders, which maintains a large illegal industry. In the […]
Another target of GOP spending cuts: renewables for farmers
A budget proposal in the House could roll back billions for rural clean energy.
Read MoreMeet the women working to grow local food systems on U.S. island territories
On island territories, where most food is imported, achieving a level of food sovereignty is becoming more urgent due to climate change.
Read MoreIndonesia, Malaysia deploy ministers to push back on EU palm oil restrictions
JAKARTA — Top officials from Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s biggest palm oil producers, will meet European Union policymakers in Brussels amid a diplomatic standoff over a new deforestation rule that threatens to shut the commodity out of the EU market. The rule, formally adopted by the EU on May 16, bans the trading within […]
Forest conservation efforts in Peru are failing across the board, study says
Peru has attracted millions of dollars in forest conservation projects over the years, has a series of international agreements and targets to protect forests and has 254 public and private parks and protected areas — but these mechanisms have had little to no effect as deforestation skyrockets in the country, says a new study. Peru, […]
Indonesian project shows how climate funding can — and should — go directly to IPLCs
JAKARTA — Suryani grew up in a family of farmers on the island of Java in Indonesia. Her parents are members of a farmer’s union called SPP. The land they live and farm on isn’t titled, so Suryani knows very well the importance of having farmers’ land rights recognized and protected. Yet she’s also seen […]
At last, states reach a Colorado River deal: Pay farmers not to farm
The Biden administration has temporarily resolved a dire water crisis — with help from a wet winter.
Read MoreAn Asian grass helps Mexican farmers build resilience to climate change
SAN ANDRES TUXTLA, Mexico — “There are not many regions in Mexico that have been used for agriculture for about 4,000 years,” says environmentalist Antonio Carrillo as he walks along a dusty dirt road. It’s early morning in the Matacapan Valley in the state of Veracruz. The regular tropical rainfall and the fertile volcanic soil […]