insert_link Environment In Brazil’s soy belt, community seed banks offer hope for the Amazon By Ana Ionova Not too long ago, the plot of land that Maria Ivonete de Souza inherited was barren, the soil hardened by years of cattle ranching. When the family had arrived to the Amazon from southern Brazil four decades earlier, her father had swiftly cleared the dense rainforest to make way for pasture. “He razed it all by hand, with a saw and an ax,” Souza […] todayFebruary 20, 2024 9
insert_link Environment ‘Cowboys’ and intermediaries thrive in Wild West of the carbon market Women making skirts from grass in Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. Image by Rita Willaert via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). By John Cannon via Mongabay When Andrea Babon learned about what a company called Kanaka Management Services (KMS) had been up to in Papua New Guinea, she was aghast at the apparent incoherence of its plans. The India-based carbon credit consultancy had scoped out a forest conservation project in Oro province that […] todayJanuary 12, 2024 10
insert_link Environment Do carbon credits really help communities that keep forests standing? By John Cannon via Mongabay Communities play a critical role in REDD+, a forest conservation strategy that aims to reduce emissions that can be sold as credits to raise money for forest protection. REDD+ projects often include components for the benefit of the communities, such as a focus on alternative livelihoods and provision of health care and education. But reports that REDD+ communities have faced abuses and rights violations have emerged […] todayJanuary 9, 2024 13
insert_link Africa World’s tallest wood building signals growing investor confidence in sustainable construction practices By Seth Onyango, via bird story agency Wooden buildings like the engineered timber construction planned for the world's tallest wood building in Zanzibar may only be starting to appear in cities worldwide but that is not stopping investors from betting on wood becoming a key building block in African construction. "About 200 years ago, everyone was building with timber, then it shifted to cement, steel, and stones. Now people […] todayDecember 21, 2023 50
insert_link Africa Africa’s rich biodiversity offers a wealth of carbon offset projects for Gulf investors By Seth Onyango, via bird story agency Africa is a prime target for new multimillion-dollar carbon offset projects as companies increasingly seek to blunt the effects of their carbon footprints. In September, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced plans to shell out US$450 million to secure carbon credits from various carbon offset initiatives on the continent. Already, carbon offset firms are snapping up new deals. Eco Netix, a measurement, reporting […] todayDecember 12, 2023 6
insert_link Africa African nations are increasingly favouring green bonds over emissions trading to power their transition to green energy. By Conrad Onyango, bird story agency African countries are now favouring raising funds for projects that have positive climate and sustainability outcomes over emissions trading as green bond issuances soar across the continent. While legislative plans to regulate the sale of carbon credits are proliferating the continent, this race has been beset by controversies, with critics claiming it allows companies to continue polluting without reducing their emissions. Green bonds are becoming […] todayNovember 15, 2023 6
