24 March 2012

After the Castros: The biological factor

Who and what will follow Raúl?

Special Report The Economist | Mar 24th 2012

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Bread and Circuses: The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome

Today marks the much-awaited release of the movie The Hunger Games, based on Suzanne Collins’s enormously popular trilogy of young-adult novels. (You may have seen the film’s stars grace magazine covers well in advance of this week.)

John M. Cunningham | Encyclopedia Britannica Blog | March 23, 2012
Spartacus, 19th-century illustration. Credit: Photos.com/Jupiter Images

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From growth to green growth

What can be done to combine the need for growth with environmental constraints? This column argues that what is needed is to reconcile developing countries’ urgent need for rapid growth and poverty alleviation with the need to avoid irreversible and costly environmental damage

Marianne Fay, Stéphane Hallegatte, Geoffrey Heal, David Tréguer | VOX - Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists | 24 March 2012

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War for water in Chile's Atacama Desert: Vines or mines?

Chile's Copiapo Valley should be a picturesque grape-growing region. Instead, there is mile after mile of rows of withered vines along this stretch of the Atacama Desert

By Katia Moskvitch | BBC News | 23 March 201
In the Atacama Desert, farmers and mining firms fight for water

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Shell in court over Nigeria oil spill compensation

Lawyers representing a Nigerian fishing community are taking the oil firm Shell to court in London over alleged unpaid compensation for recent oil spills

BBC News | 23 March 2012
Ogoni people say their land has been devastated by pollution from the oil industry over many years

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Reclaiming 'common sense': new pamphlet is a rallying cry to the 99%

Today marks the launch of OurKingdom’s version of ‘Common Sense’, a new ebook by Dan Hind about the Occupy movement and deliberative politics. We are publishing the pamphlet in partnership with Myriad Editions and the New Left Project , who have brought out their own editions. Below, Guy Aitchison talks to Dan Hind about direct democracy and new modes of resistance

Guy Aitchison | OpenDemocracy | 21 March 2012

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Report: Water likely to cause conflicts

Water problems in the next decade will contribute to instability in countries important to U.S. national security interests, an intelligence report says

United-Press International | March. 23, 2012
Children sit with water jugs at a refugee camp near Mardan, in northwest Pakistan on May 9, 2009. (UPI Photo/Aajjad Ali Qureshi)

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ITTO, FAO Workshop Addresses Global Forest Reporting

The proceedings of a joint workshop organized by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the Montreal Process, FOREST EUROPE, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), to discuss streamlining of global forest reporting, have been released

Climate Change Policy & Practice | 21 March 2012

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World Water Day Focuses on Food Security

The 2012 edition of World Water Day, which is held every year on 22 March, focused on the theme "water and food security"

Climate Change Policy & Practice | 22 March 2012

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Aviation Summit Calls for Global Framework on Emissions Reductions

The sixth Aviation and Environment Summit discussed the contribution of the aviation industry to sustainable development

Climate Change Policy & Practice | 22 March 2012

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Protesting natives shut down Ecuador capital

Protesting natives supported by opponents of President Rafael Correa brought Ecuador's capital to a standstill Thursday, demanding an end to policies they say will open the Amazon rainforest to vast mining projects and ravage the environment

AFP in Yahoo! News | Mar 22, 2012
Ecuadorean natives march to protest policies by President Rafael Correa they say will result in more mining in the Amazon region.

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23 March 2012

SAFI: Forest Department and Merlins Wood process in Pakistan neither consultative nor transparent

In February 2012, REDD-Monitor wrote about a London-based company called Merlins Wood and its REDD-type projects in Pakistan. Sarhad Awami Forestry Ittehad (SAFI), a local NGO, rejected the agreements the company had made in Pakistan. SAFI has now produced a resolution about Merlins Wood

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 23rd March 2012

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21 March 2012

Access to energy - necessary but not sufficient to cut poverty

The UN estimates that 1.4 billion people have no access to electricity, hurting their ability to earn a living or educate their children. But connecting to an electric grid may not be the only solution

By Rachel Cernansky | Dowser.org in Christian Science Monitor | March 20, 2012
A worker speaks on a cell phone as he sits under the solar panels of a new solar farm in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The solar farm is Asia's largest, according to its developer Moser Baer Clean Energy: 305 acres and expected to generate 52 million kilowatt hours of energy annually. A new report suggests that access to energy is a key to economic development in impoverished areas. Amit Dave/Reuters/File

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No, a nation’s geography is not its destiny

If you start in the city center of Nogales, Santa Cruz [Arizona] and walk south for a while, at some point you see houses become much more run down, streets turn decrepit. You have crossed the Mexican border into Nogales, Sonora. Though the two cities are made of the same cloth and were once united, now there are sharp differences between the two

By Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson | Reuters | March 19, 2012

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Capitalism: A Ghost Story

Rockefeller to Mandela, Vedanta to Anna Hazare.... How long can the cardinals of corporate gospel buy up our protests?

Arundhati Roy | Outlook India.com | 26 March 2012
Antilla the Hun Mukesh Ambani’s 27-storey home on Altamont Road. Its bright lights, say the neighbours, have stolen the night. CORBIS (FROM OUTLOOK, MARCH 26, 2012)

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The oil price is the new eurozone crisis

No sooner has the pressure on markets from the eurozone crisis begun to ease than investors have found something else to worry about – the oil price

By Tom Stevenson | The Telegraph | 17 Mar 2012
A chapopero, literally the tar man, shows his oil-covered hands after cleaning a waist-deep pond of spilled crude oil in La Venta, Mexico,An oil price spike is never welcome but it would be particularly damaging with the global economy in such a weak state Photo: AP

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Deforestation increases in the Congo rainforest

Deforestation in the Congo Basin has increased sharply since the 1990s, reports an extensive new assessment of forests in the six-nation region

mongabay.com | March 20, 2012
Deforestation in the Congo Basin

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Drought spreads to Brazil, crop yields hit

Drought has spread from Argentina and Paraguay to Brazil and is hitting soy yields at a time of growing concerns that regional growth may suffer as pressures mount on commodity prices

United Press International | March. 20, 2012

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20 March 2012

Why Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry is reluctant to investigate APP’s illegal logging of ramin trees

When Greenpeace told the Ministry of Forestry that it had found evidence that Asia Pulp and Paper was illegally logging ramin trees, the Ministry’s response less than enthusiastic. More than two weeks later, the Ministry told Greenpeace that it “intends” to visit APP’s pulp mill. Meanwhile APP has been busy removing the evidence from its timber yards

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 20th March 2012
PHOTO Credit: Greenpeace

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World Water Forums Expose Large Dams as ‘Unsustainable’

Numerous non-governmental organisations used the World Water Forum (WWF) held in Marseille last week as an opportunity to remind the international community about the serious global impacts of large dams all over the world

By Cléo Fatoorehchi | Inter-Press Service | Mar. 19, 2012
The World Commission on Dams estimates that 40 to 80 million people have been displaced by the construction of large dams worldwide. / Credit: Mario Osava/IPSThe World Commission on Dams estimates that 40 to 80 million people have been displaced by the construction of large dams worldwide. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

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Drilling for Oil in Eden: Initiative to Save Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador Is Uncertain

The most biologically diverse habitat in the western hemisphere, the Yasuní rainforest in Ecuador, is under threat. One hectare contains more species of trees than all of North America, but hidden beneath this Garden of Eden lies temptation: oil worth billions

By R. Douglas Fields | Scientific American | March 17, 2012
Pumping gasoline in Quito, Ecuador.  Oil drilling threatens the Yasuní rainforest.  Petroleum is Ecuador's primary source of income, but the country's reserves will be depleted in 15-20 years.Pumping gasoline in Quito, Ecuador. Oil drilling threatens the Yasuní rainforest. Petroleum is Ecuador's primary source of income, but the country's reserves will be depleted in 15-20 years.

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17 March 2012

Gear change on road to Rio?

One of the biggest questions being asked in the lead-up to the Rio+20 conference this June is also one of the oldest

Richard Black | BBC News | 15 March 2012
Reform of the UN's internal democracy is urged

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Towards a New Model of Health and Well-Being

Nora, a woman in her fifties in a wealthy North American suburb, has all the trappings of an enviable life: a devoted husband, two successful children, a beautiful house and the many options that come with financial success. Yet, when we spoke, Nora was despondent

Lisa Meekison Reichenbach | Anthropology News | Mar 15 2012

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Alternative finance radicals: Infusing rebellion with entrepreneurial creativity

Several weeks ago I sat in a pub with someone from, what I’d call, ‘the confrontational Left’. He was caught up in passionate indignation at the injustice of the financial sector, highly eloquent at providing a persuasive diagnosis of the flaws of the system that he perceived. His language was phrased in terms of rebellion

by Brett Scott | Mar 16 2012 by OpenDemocracy in Energy Bulletin | Mar 16 2012

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World energy consumption since 1820 in charts

With energy consumption rising as rapidly it is hard to see what is happening when viewed at the level of the individual

by Gail Tverberg | Mar 16 2012 by The Oil Drum in Energy Bulletin | Mar 16 2012
Figure 1. World Energy Consumption by Source, Based on Vaclav Smil estimates from Energy Transitions: History, Requirements and Prospects together with BP Statistical Data for 1965 and subsequent

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In Limón, a sustainable community takes shape

First in a two part series on how EARTH University is innovating new ways to improve the environment in Costa Rica and beyond

By Matt Levin | TicoTimes.net | March 16, 2012
Sustainable CommunityAllan Chávez, EARTH University program development  coordinator, explains how manure from a pigpen is converted into heat energy through a tool known as a biodigestor. Photo: Matt Levin

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New research suggests cap and trade programs do not provide sufficient incentives for innovation

Cap and trade programs to reduce emissions do not inherently provide incentives to induce the private sector to develop innovative technologies to address climate change, according to a new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory| EurekaAlert | 15-Mar-2012

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Migration not a matter of choice but survival, says Kiribati President

Following a recent decision by its Cabinet to buy land in Fiji as 'climate change insurance' for its population, Kiribati President, Anote Tong has called on the international community to address the effects of climate change that could wipe out the entire Pacific archipelago

By Brigitte Leoni | UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction | 15 March 2012
Children in the village of Tebikenikora, on Kiribati’s main Tarawa atoll (Photo: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe)

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Sea-Levels Rising: Millions in Coastal USA at Risk

Nearly four million Americans are at risk of severe flooding as climate change raises sea levels and intensifies storm surges during the coming century, new research indicates

Environmental News Wire | March 14, 2012
A U.S. Air Force Reserve crew rescues a family in the coastal Texas town of Nederland trapped on their roof by flood waters from Hurricane Ike, September 13, 2008. (Photo by Tech. Sgt. Paul Flipse courtesy U.S. Air Force)

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16 March 2012

Indonesia asks Britain to take back 1,800 tons of 'illegal' waste

Indonesia has asked Britain to take back 1,800 tonnes of waste after inspectors found liquid and illegal mixed waste in containers marked as "scrap metal," Britain's Environment Agency has said

The Telegraph | 16 March 2012

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Ministry of Forestry signed off on clearing of forest with protected species in Indonesia

Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry signed off on a plan by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) suppliers to log areas of forest that contained protected ramin species, according to documents released by Greenomics-Indonesia, an activist group

mongabay.com | March 15, 2012
Active clearance of peat swamp forest by APP pulpwood supplier PT Mutiara Sabuk KhatulistiwaActive clearance of peat swamp forest by APP pulpwood supplier PT Mutiara Sabuk Khatulistiwa. Photo © Greenpeace.

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Coal-reliant Poland increasingly out of step with Europe on climate change

Frustrations with Poland are growing in the European Union after the coal-powered nation for a second time blocked the EU’s long-term plans for cutting carbon emissions

By Associated Press | The Washington Post | March 14, 2012
Coal is transported at the Zeran Heating Plant in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Frustrations with Poland are growing in the EU after the coal-powered nation blocked for a second time last week. (Alik Keplicz/Associated Press)

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Rare earths and climate change: In a hole?

Demand for some rare-earth elements could rapidly outstrip supply

The Economist | Mar 17th 2012
Time to start digging for victory

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Asia climate disasters displace 42 million: ADB

Climate-related disasters have displaced more than 42 million people in Asia over the past two years, the Asian Development Bank said Tuesday in a report calling for swift action to avert future crises

AFP in Yahoo! News | Mar 13, 2012
An aerial view of a flooded area of Sanghar in 2011

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When the Mining Is Over, a Toxic Mess Remains

The East Kalimantan administration has revealed that 230 degraded coal mining concessions in the province have never been restored by the concession holders, despite their obligation to do so

Tunggadewa Mattangkilang | Jakarta Globe | March 08, 2012
Coal mining at Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), PT. Bumi Resources in East Kalimantan. Land reclamation efforts in East Kalimantan have been hampered by the central governmentCoal mining at Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), PT. Bumi Resources in East Kalimantan. Land reclamation efforts in East Kalimantan have been hampered by the central government's reluctance to release jamrek funds. The province is now littered with toxic abandoned mines. (Photo Courtesy of PT. Bumi Resources)

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15 March 2012

Dire Poverty Falls Despite Global Slump, Report Finds

A World Bank report shows a broad reduction in extreme poverty — and indicates that the global recession, contrary to economists’ expectations, did not increase poverty in the developing world

By ANNIE LOWREY | The New York Times | March 6, 2012

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Former clean energy czar tries to stop Europe's dirtiest new power plant

In a letter to top-level U.S. Treasury officials, Daniel Kammen wrote that he will be "bitterly disappointed" if the World Bank finances a 600-megawatt lignite-fired power station outside the Kosovo capital of Pristina

By Lisa Friedman | E&E News in Bank Information Center | 14 March 2012

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Has the global economy become less vulnerable to oil price shocks?

This paper examines the impact of oil price changes on global economic growth. Unlike some recent studies, this paper finds that oil price rises have had significant negative impacts on world economic growth

by Dr. Mingqi Li | Mar 14 2012 by The Oil Drum in Energy Bulletin | Mar 14 2012

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Australia's climate warming at alarming rate, report warns

Australia's climate is warming at an alarming rate and oceans around the continent have been rising by as much as a centimetre a year, according to a new government report

By Jonathan Pearlman | The Telegraph | 14 Mar 2012
Australia's climate warming at alarming rate, report warns A dust storm hits Bondi Beach back in 2009. According to the report Australia has recorded its 13 hottest years on record since 1997.  Photo: EPA

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14 March 2012

A tough-oil world

A Tough-Oil World: Why High Gas Prices Are Here to Stay

by Michael T. Klare | Mar 13 2012 by Tom Dispatch in Energy Bulletin | Mar 13 2012

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Interview with Chip Fay and Steve Rhee, Climate Land Use Alliance

“It’s about land use rationalisation based on the recognition of rights of local communities”

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 14th March 2012

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Five poverty-fighting women to watch

These women don't hand out aid. They're creating innovative new ways for women – and men – to lift themselves out of poverty

By Kyla Springer | Global Envision in Christian Science Monitor | March 13, 2012
CEO and founder of Samasource Leila Janah takes part in a session during the Clinton Global Initiative in New York in 2010. Samasource provides women in developing countries with 'microwork' via the Internet, reducing poverty.  Lucas Jackson/Reuters/File

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How to Avoid a Wind and Solar Trade War

China and the United States are drifting toward a trade war in clean-tech energy

Matthew J. Slaughter | Wall Street Journal | March 13, 2012

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13 March 2012

Celestial Green Ventures: 20 million hectares of REDD carbon offset projects in Brazil

Celestial Green Ventures is a carbon trading company based in Dublin, Ireland. In November 2011, the company claimed to have “the carbon credit rights to an area of land in excess of 20 million hectares of vulnerable rainforest in the Amazon region of Brazil.” That makes it one of the biggest REDD companies in the world. Not bad for a 15-month-old company

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 13th March 2012

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Indigenous People Walk In The Highland Region Of Masaya

Floods in the area have affected 220 families and 1,000 hectares of farmland, local media reported

Gaston Brito | Planet Ark | 13-Mar-12
Indigenous People Walk In The Highland Region Of MasayaIndigenous people walk in the highland region of Masaya, 60 km (37 miles) west of La Paz, March 9, 2012.

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Climate, Food Pressures Require Rethink On Water: U.N

The world's water supply is being strained by climate change and the growing food, energy and sanitary needs of a fast-growing population, according to a United Nations study that calls for a radical rethink of policies to manage competing claims

Gus Trompiz | Planet Ark | 13-Mar-12
Climate, Food Pressures Require Rethink On Water: U.N Photo: REUTERSPhoto: REUTERS

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Support the Spirit Level film!

Katharine Round calls for backers to help make a documentary based on the popular book about equality

Red Pepper | 12 March 2012

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The Shadow Government

Through a network of unbalanced, almost-invisible committees, the government gets what it wants

By George Monbiot | the Guardian 13th March 2012 in Monbiot.com | March 12, 2012

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Stemming rural depopulation in Ethiopia

Fasil Giorghis’ office in the centre of Addis Ababa affords a good view of the Ethiopian capital. There are building sites wherever you look: grey concrete structures with protruding armouring irons, sheathed in scaffolding made from eucalyptus trees

by Samuel Schlaefli | OurWorld 2.0 | March 12, 2012

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China's nuclear power plant review: 'problems in 14 areas' found

Should we be concerned? A nuclear official said in passing this weekend that problems in 14 areas need to be resolved. In the wake of Fukushima, a shade more transparency would be welcome

By Peter Ford | Christian Science Monitor | March 12, 2012
A Chinese flag is seen near a nuclear power plant in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, February 15. Carlos Barria/REUTERS

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World water supply threatened

Increasing demand and climate change are threatening global water supplies

By Irinia Bokova | United Nations in Disaster News Network | March 12, 2012

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Rio in 100 days: A consuming challenge

For anyone still persuaded that the phrase "sustainable development" is deployed as a treehugger plot to prevent any development at all, the words of the UN's top climate official on Friday should act as something of a corrective

Richard Black | BBC News Science & Environment | 12 March 2012
Rio may result in a commitment to shift away from fossil fuels towards new energy technologies

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Biopiracy: Depriving indigenous rights

The issue of biopiracy, commercially exploiting naturally occurring biochemical or genetic material, has once again become a talking point following the recent arrest of a group of foreign ‘bio pirates’ in Kalpitiya

by  Sandun Jayawardana | The Nation | 11 March 2012
Confiscated samplesConfiscated samples

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Climate journalism gone awry

A leading journalist and editor at The Atlantic made a startling admission regarding how she writes about climate science last week

by: Jeremy Hance | mongabay.com | March 12, 2012
Coal power plant on Lake MichiganCoal Power Plant on Lake Michigan. Photo by: Bigstock.

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12 March 2012

Vignettes of a year in Borneo: land in dispute

This book tells a story. We lived in the middle of Borneo, as a family, working on the first year and a half of a Conservation Project. The book is partly the story of our personal adjustment. We found that creating a life in the middle of Borneo was not always easy—even when one member was an experienced anthropologist!

By Carol Colfer | Blog CIFOR | March 9, 2012
Sentarum Lake, West Kalimantan. Photo by Yayan Indriatmoko/ CIFOR

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Despite recognition of indigenous land rights in Nicaragua, communities still losing out

While legislation that recognises indigenous territorial rights in Nicaragua represents a significant victory for local forest communities, many governance issues still have to be resolved if they want to keep control over access and use of their land and natural resources, says a new paper by the Center for International Forestry Research

By Gabriela Ramirez Galindo | Blog CIFOR | March 9, 2012
Photo courtesy of Elaine Faith/flickr.

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Fighting for land

Rural social movements have a rich history in Indonesia, and they have recorded significant achievements in recent years

Dianto Bachriadi | Inside Indonesia | 18 January 2012

dianto_1.jpgPeasants march in Jakarta, 2006, to demand agrarian reform. Dianto Bachriadi

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Fighting to survive

A small community in Southeast Sulawesi is engaged in an ongoing quest for recognition of its right to live on its ancestral land

Linda McRae and Dirk Tomsa | Inside Indonesia | 12 March 2012
mcrae1.jpgThe school in Hukaea-Laea. Linda McRae

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11 March 2012

Chernobyl’s Lessons for Fukushima on Earthquake’s First Anniversary

Contaminated food embargoed, residents evacuated swiftly—a year after Fukushima’s meltdown, it’s clear Japanese authorities avoided many of the Soviet Union’s catastrophic post-disaster missteps, though not all

by Owen Matthews, Anna Nemtsova | The Daily Beast | Mar 11, 2012
japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-one-year-anniversary-introTohoku, One Year Later - Sudden devastation struck Japan twice on March 11, 2011, when an 8.9-magnitude earthquake sent a wall of water toward Japan’s helpless northern coastal cities and villages.... Q. Sakamaki / Redux for Newsweek

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Pricing climate change

The concern over the negative consequences of global warming has led to a vast array of policy measures aimed at reducing the use of fossil fuels. Yet a comprehensive plan for a shift towards more climate-friendly energy is still lacking. This column argues that a major reason for this is that macroeconomists have not been sufficiently active in the policy discussion. It then lays out four lessons from macroeconomics that should be helpful

John Hassler | VOX - Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists | 11 March 2012

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