May 2, 2012
Sixteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice under the Convention on Biological Diversity (SBSTTA 16) delegates met in two working groups (WGs) throughout the day. WG I held discussions on biodiversity and climate change, including REDD+ safeguards and geo-engineering; biofuels; incentive measures and collaborative work on forests, agriculture and health. Informal groups met in the evening on several of these issues to draft revised text.
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April 19, 2012
A group of environmental scientists say a problem-ridden economic model designed to slow deforestation can be improved by applying key concepts from the insurance industry.
In a paper published online in the journal Conservation Letters, ecology researchers from Australia and South Africa argue that REDD projects can suffer from three major problems. They have proposed strengthening the scheme by using insurance policies and premiums, creating a new scheme known as iREDD...
March 2, 2012
The global mining, oil and gas industries have expanded so fast in the last decade they are now leading to large-scale “landgrabbing” and threatening farming and water supplies, according to a report by environment and development groups in Europe, Africa and India.
“The catalogue of devastation is growing. We are no longer talking about isolated pockets of destruction and pollution. In just 10 years, iron ore production has more than doubled, coal has...