Blog posts
22 November 2011
We need to talk about ketchup. We all love the red stuff. But we really need to talk about it. Analysis of the steps involved in processing ketchup – from farming the tomatoes through to packaging – to transporting and retailing that symbol of American mass consumerism reveals an alarming fact. To produce it requires a mind-boggling 150 separate processes, across several continents, according to research cited in a new book by the International Institute for Environment and Development.
17 November 2011
With the dusk of the International Year of Forests fast approaching, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, sustainable forest management, conservation and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+) has the potential to bring positive changes to the lives of people who are dependent on forests for their livelihoods. But this can only happen if REDD+ is implemented in a way that ensures their participation in the process.
17 November 2011
“Neoliberal, capitalist economics is bankrupt, morally and intellectually, but nothing changes,” were the opening words of Neal Lawson from Compass at a debate Putting the Green Economy on Trial.
He described the infrastructure of consumerism and marketing that has developed under the current system as difficult to escape; a seductive new vision of what it is to be human is needed, he said.
16 November 2011
After years of alarmist predictions of hundreds of millions of climate refugees fleeing their homes, there is now a broad-based consensus that while the impacts of climate change will increase the
14 November 2011
The humble potato is a great example of how Quechua communities in the Andes have maintained crop biodiversity.
14 November 2011
On a white sandy beach in a small fishing village called Kuruwitu in eastern Kenya a ground-breaking project that aimed to protect marine biodiversity and improve livelihoods was launched in 2005. Six years on what obstacles has it encountered and what lessons can be learned?
10 November 2011
In this video blog, Saleemul Huq, Senior Fellow, of IIED's Climate Change Group provides information about the upcoming conference in Hanoi. It’s key theme is: communicating about how communities are adapting to climate change.
10 November 2011
As policymakers prepare to discuss REDD+ at UN climate talks in Durban, they should heed the lessons learned from years of experience in participatory forest management across the developing world.
9 November 2011
Slow progress at global climate talks is belied by the plethora of actions in many smaller and more at-risk developing nations.
3 November 2011
Millions of people around the world, including climate change negotiators, follow the domestic political scene in the US, and most of them have by now realized the current Administration’s predicament of facing an antagonistic Congress that will essentially block everything they try to do, domestically, and certainly internationally.