Evidence stretching back 40,000 years shows that global warming will increase drying in a region of East Africa where drought already causes humanitarian crises, writes Alex Kirby - dashing earlier hopes of increased rainfall.
… Warming world means more drought in Horn of Africa Alex Kirby | 18th October 2015 News Climate Change Africa War Science drought-ethiopia-cut.jpg … will increase drying in a region of East Africa where drought already causes …
The Gates Foundation is spending half a billion dollars a year to 'feed the world', most of it aimed at Africa. But as GRAIN discovers, it is imposing a model of high-tech, high-input 'green revolution' farming, complete with GMOs, agro-chemicals and a pro-business neoliberal agenda, all in in alliance with corporate agriculture.
… agriculture GRAIN | 5th November 2014 News Africa Farming Science bill-gates-cut.jpg The … year to 'feed the world', most of it aimed at Africa. But as GRAIN discovers, it is imposing … of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and a series of large grants to …
Temperatures in the Middle East and North Africa could reach unbearably high levels by mid-century, writes Tim Radford - and then keep on rising. The intolerable heat would render large areas uninhabitable and give rise to a wave of 'climate refugees' seeking escape to more temperate regions.
… Searing heat may spark Middle East, North Africa climate exodus Tim Radford | 17th May 2016 News Climate Change Middle East Africa Science desert-cut.jpg Temperatures in the Middle East and North Africa could reach unbearably high levels by …
Africa's biotech establishment is deploying its biggest guns to attack NGOs opposed to GMO crops to help push through Ghana's corporation-friendly Plant Breeders Bill - a key element in the corporate enclosure of Africa's farming, seeds and agricultural heritage.
… Ghana | 17th February 2015 Comment GMOs Africa Corporations Science Commons Health cowpea-harvest-ghana-cut.jpg Africa's biotech establishment is deploying … - a key element in the corporate enclosure of Africa's farming, seeds and agricultural …
The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa had everything to do with logging, deforestation and the disruption of traditional agro-forestry by large scale industrial agriculture, writes Rob Wallace. The only long term solution to this terrible disease may lie in forest conservation, the restoration of agroecological farming systems, and the exclusion of agribusiness investment.
… The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa had everything to do with logging, … drove the emergence of Ebola in West Africa. Apparently I'm an "addled guy" whose … to have been spilling over for years in West Africa. Epidemiologist Joseph Fair's group …
The conflict between lions and Africa's cattle herders goes back centuries, write Grant Hopcraft and Sara Blackburn - and lions have been the big losers in recent years. But where local people benefit from ecotourism, that ancient enmity can quickly be set aside. 'Community conservancies' around formal protected areas are helping both lions and indigenous communities to survive and thrive.
… Africa's lions and pastoralists share the … Comment Natural World Hunting Biodiversity Africa Indigenous Peoples Kenya Science … The conflict between lions and Africa's cattle herders goes back centuries, … of a lost soul in the darkness. The plight of Africa's lions is lamentable. Since the 1960s, …
Forensic analysis of DNA in ivory seized by police and customs officials reveals where it comes from, writes Samuel Wasser, giving valuable information to law enforcers. But this powerful tool is only as effective as the national authorities, and Tanzania, a major ivory hotspot, has been very slow to respond to warnings.
… Science Technology Tanzania Wildlife Trade Africa ivory-elephants-cut.jpg Forensic … to warnings. As the largest land mammal, African elephants are keystone species in … We are currently losing up to 50,000 African elephants to poaching each year with …
In her new book The Vandana Shiva Reader, the celebrated campaigner and scientist deplores the way in which the Green Revolution forced India's poorest farmers off their land, writes Colin Tudge. Now she fears even worse outcomes in Africa where a GMO-fuelled farming revolution is under way.
… Tudge. Now she fears even worse outcomes in Africa where a GMO-fuelled farming revolution … from on high of another Green Revolution in Africa - which indeed is already train. But … be true, and seen to be above all criticism. Africa's GMO revolution, courtesy of Bill and …
Reports show that traditional breeding techniques are years ahead of GM technologies in developing crops to withstand drought and poor soils, writes Lawrence Woodward. Yet GM advocates are sticking rigidly to their script even as the evidence mounds against them ...
… its launch in 2010, the Improved Maize for African Soils Project (IMAS) has developed 21 … programme - The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa project - 153 new, conventionally bred … varieties that had been successfully grown in Africa. According to Kevin Pixley, director of …
The greatest challenge facing agricultural scientists is how to work with farmers producing more ecological and healthier food - not GM, argues Patrick Mulvany, chair of the UK Food Group and advisor to Practical Action
… farming 'can double food production in Africa over next 10 years' Low-input farming … significant increases in food production in Africa, south-east Asia and South America NEWS … Success of agroecology in Brazil, Cuba and Africa should be replicated in place of …
Some of the world's most powerful figures tout the benefits of GMOs, writes Stacy Malkan, but what's the real story? Facts on the ground expose the PR spin, half truths and outright propaganda that has come to dominate a public conversation that is not so much about engineering genes, but engineering truth for the benefit of multinational corporations.
… vitamin fortification. "And so I think, for Africa, this is going to make a huge … (breeding)." Gates responded: "Well, the Africans it's up in the air, and Kenya just … using these things and if you want farmers in Africa to improve nutrition and be competitive …
As a society, we are strangely disconnected from the Earth, writes Stephan Harding. It's as if we were aliens placed here to prod and poke with our scientific instruments whilst feeling no sense of meaning, belonging or closeness to her ancient crumpled surface or rich, teeming biodiversity - a state of mind that a forthcoming course at Schumacher College aims to reverse.
… we are compelled to by law. An experience in Africa led to a need for greater understanding … qualities that I had so deeply encountered in Africa. I hoped that somehow all the reading …
Thirty new heat tolerant varieties of bean - a staple food crop around the world's tropical regions - will help people survive in a world as much as 4C warmer that it is now, writes Alex Kirby - and look: no genetic modification!
… will pose a particular threat to harvests in Africa and Latin America. The new ' … types for Central America and parts of East Africa, so we have a long road to improve a … Nicaragua, Haiti, Brazil and Honduras. African countries thought to be at risk are …
Record global temperatures in 2015 and 2016 are causing a humanitarian crisis that is more than double that of conflict as a cause of displacement and migration, the WMO stated today. Heatwaves, flood, drought and fires are all contributing to the declining food and water security affecting over 60 million people worldwide.
… and eastern Australia, and much of southern Africa. The only large land area with … started with an extreme heatwave in southern Africa, exacerbated by the ongoing drought. … in parts of the Middle East and north Africa on a number of occasions in summer. …
Cornell, one of the world's leading academic institutions, has abandoned scientific objectivity, writes Stacy Malkan - and instead made itself a global hub for the promotion of GM crops and food. Working with selected journalists and industry-supported academics, Cornell's so-called 'Alliance for Science' is an aggressive propaganda tool for corporate biotech and agribusiness.
… a paper about how GMOs are needed to feed Africa. "Monsanto not only suggested the topic … spent by Gates Foundation to feed the poor in Africa went to wealthy nations . A new report … as murderers of millions of children in Africa for raising concerns about DDT. That …
The real reason why 'golden rice' remains uncultivated after a 20 year effort is its poor agronomic performance, write Angelika Hilbeck & Hans Herren. But beyond that, the very idea of golden rice as a 'solution' to Vitamin A deficiency fails to recognise the real causes of malnutrition - poverty, hunger and poor diet. How will golden rice reach poor children in the first place? And will they ever get the rich, oily diet they need to assimilate its fat-soluble nutrients?
… urban slums and remote rural areas of Asia or Africa, or at least the Philippines, every … biofortified varieties all over Asia and Africa, how will this be implemented? Who will … the rice producers and consumers of Asia and Africa if they want many of their rice …
Mainstream climatologists predict a 15% fall in rainfall over the Amazon if it is stripped of its rainforest. But the 'biotic pump' theory, rooted in conventional physics and recently confirmed by experiment, shows that the interior of a forest-free Amazon will be as dry as the Negev desert. We must save the Amazon before it enters a permanent and irreversible dessication.
… of the Atlantic Ocean on their way from Africa to equatorial South America, are sucked … tropical belt, from the Americas, across to Africa and on to South-East Asia. We cannot … of continents such as South America or Africa, especially along the equatorial …
Soon a artificial rhino horn may be on the market that's identical to the real thing down to its DNA, writes Diogo Veríssimo. A boon for rhinoceros conservation? Or an act of biopiracy that will enrich biotech corporations while perpetuating demand for rhino horn and confounding efforts to end its trade?
… killed every eight hours. That was in South Africa alone, where most of the world’s rhinos …
Why does the fracking lobby refuse to engage in open, public debate? Because, writes Paul Mobbs, it has already got its way, with the uncritical support of all the 'mainstream' media and political parties. You and I simply do not matter. So what are we going to do about that?
… (and/or the USA, Canada, Poland, South Africa, Australia, etc.) we can conclude …
The origin of life has long been the deepest of mysteries, writes Chris Busby. But in fact, the spontaneous arising of life from molecules in Darwin's 'warm little pond' is the inevitable result of their selective energisation by quantized infra-red radiation. Now, some four billion years after life first developed, precisely the same processes continue to drive the operation of all living systems at a cellular level.
… From the time I began (aged about 11 in Africa) looking round and questioning the …
Greenpeace is being attacked for 'crimes against humanity' by 100 Nobel laureates for blocking GMO 'golden' rice, reports Claire Robinson. But the low-yielding crop is years away from going on sale, and there is no proof of any nutritional benefit to the malnourished children it's meant to benefit. Could the distinguished prize-winners have fallen for slick pro-GMO PR and spin?
… the greatest impact on the poorest people in Africa and Southeast Asia." The letter calls …
A detailed update of key climate indicators by hundreds of scientists reveals that 2014 saw rises in temperatures, sea levels and greenhouse gases to record levels, writes Alex Kirby.
… areas. Europe experienced its warmest year: Africa had above-average temperatures across …