With the UN Ocean Conference beginning in New York next week, Elizabeth A Kirk asks: can we devise a legal system that promotes the ecological resilience of the oceans? To do so will mean placing ecosystems at the heart of decision making, over and above countries' selfish 'national interests'. It will be tough, but if we fail it's hard to see how the gamut of problems - from ocean acidification to plastic pollution and overfishing - can ever be solved.
UN Ocean Conference: can the law protect our ocean ecosystems? Elizabeth A Kirk Nottingham Law School | 1st June 2017 News Oceans Law Pollution Un Fishing Commons plastic-ocea-2-cut.jpg With the UN …
A new paradigm of forest conservation is gaining ground, writes Isaac Rojas: 'financialising' them and the climate and ecological services they provide to global investors. But this is a false solution - and one that excludes the local and indigenous forest communities who can truly be relied upon to sustain their sylvan heritage.
Local communities, not global financiers, are the best forest managers Isaac Rojas Friends of the Earth International | 2nd November 2015 Comment Forests Commons Finance Indigenous Peoples …
Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, has personally attacked eco-defender Carlos Zorrilla in TV broadcasts for resisting a vast new copper mine in a precious area of pristine cloud forest, and opposing the advance of oil exploration into the Amazon. Fearful for his life, Zorilla is now seeking international support for his, and his community's, battle for land, water and the natural world.
Letter from Ecuador - where defending nature and community is a crime Carlos Zorrilla | 25th March 2015 News Ecuador Mining Ecocide Forests Commons Natural World wood-lizard-cut.jpg Secuity guards at …
The rapid deterioration of the world's oceans and the life they contain calls for a breakthrough in their governance, writes Deborah Wright. The seas must be protected, respected and policed as the common heritage of all mankind, and of all generations present and future.
Conserving the Great Blue - a new Law of the Sea to protect our oceans Deborah Wright | 11th February 2015 Comment Oceans Law Commons Fishing Un kelpforest noaa-cut.jpg The rapid deterioration of the …
Today on World Fisheries Day, fisher peoples and their allies are taking to the streets and beaches to fight against ocean grabbing in all its forms - including Marine Protected Areas imposed without consultation that rob and criminalise local communities and benefit only privileged outsiders.
Marine Protected Areas in South Africa - ocean grabbing by another name Mads Barbesgaard Carsten Pedersen Timothé Feodoroff | 21st November 2014 News Oceans Land Grabs Fishing Africa South Africa …
Ranchers can deliberately abuse public land and the wildlife that lives on it at will, writes George Wuerthner, confident that any breaches of the law are likely to be overlooked. But it's another thing altogether if you're trying to protect that land from destructive exploitation. Why the double standard?
Who are the real 'eco-terrorists' on America's public lands? George Wuerthner | 27th January 2015 Activism USA Natural World Farming Biodiversity Commons bighorn-sheep-cut.jpg Ranchers can …
A year ago today, Europe-wide protests defeated an EU regulation that would have outlawed many seed saving activities, writes Ben Raskin. Now growers are taking matters into their own hands, saving and developing open-pollinated seeds - and campaigning for a seed regulation that supports them, not the monopolist seed corporations.
The seed saving rebellion is growing - and banging at the Commission's door Ben Raskin | 29th January 2015 News Farming Seeds EU Law Politics Commons hayes-valley-farm-seed-library-cut.jpg A year ago …
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.
… , which works in biotech, GMOs and synthetic biology - and which notoriously 'biopirated' …
Livestock ranching on US public lands underlies a vast range of environmental problems - so should we welcome 'conservation buyouts' of ranches that own grazing leases? No way, writes William Williers, because the lands are already ours, and to 'buy' them is to support and perpetuate a $1 billion per year fraud against the American people.
… William Willers is emeritus professor of biology, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh now …
A fresh wave of logging is hitting America's national forests, writes Brett Haverstick. But this time it's all for the sake of 'forest health' and 'fire prevention'. It might look like industrial clear-cutting to you and me, but really, it's in a good cause. And if the forests and precious ecosystems they harbor just happen to perish in the process ... well ain't that just too bad?
Catastrophic 'anti-infestation' logging threatens US National Forests Brett Haverstick | 10th April 2017 Comment Forests Logging Health USA Commons Ecology clearwater-cut.jpg A fresh wave of logging …
In the face of environmental atrocities like the recent spill of crude oil into the Yellowstone River, writes Grant Mincy, quiescence be damned! To stop more of the same, we must reclaim from the corporate-captured state the rights of commons and community to decide on how local resources are used.
… in Knoxville, Tennessee where he teaches both Biology and Geology at area colleges. This …
Farmer Joam Pím Evans describes how his community is resisting mining by reclaiming and reforesting common-lands in Galicia, Spain.
Regenerating the commons in Frojám, Galicia Joám Evans Pim | 11th May 2020 News Galicia Commons Spain Mining Extractivism Tungsten Frojám Community Commons Farmer Joam Pím Evans describes how his …
President Obama Earth Day appearance on the Florida Everglades' failed to disguise the truth, writes Grant A. Mincy - that governmental and corporate domination of ecosystems brings their all too predictable destruction. It's not national parks that will save our nature, but restoration of the commons and their management by local communities.
… in Knoxville, Tennessee where he teaches both Biology and Geology at area colleges. Feel …
Drought is returning Lake Powell, impounded behind the Glen Canyon dam on the Colorado river, back to desert, writes Grant A. Mincy - and a fine thing too! As nature turns billions of dollars of infrastructural abomination to junk, this creates the chance to reclaim our commons and recreate ravaged ecosystems.
… in Knoxville, Tennessee where he teaches both Biology and Geology at area colleges. Feel …
Elinor Ostrom provides invaluable insights into economics and ownership - and the profound impact this has on our natural environment. Unfortunately, her work is not well known or widely understood. Derek Wall hopes to change that with his book, Elinor Ostrom’s Rules for Radicals. AARON VANSINTJAN met the author and asked why we should read her works today
What Elinor Ostrom can teach us about ecology, common ownership and community Aaron Vansintjan | 9th March 2018 Reviews Collective Action Commons Elinor Ostrom Political Economy elinor-ostrom.jpg …
Civil war in Syria is the result of the desertification of the ecologically fragile Syrian steppe, writes Gianluca Serra - a process that began in 1958 when the former Bedouin commons were opened up to unrestricted grazing. That led to a wider ecological, hydrological and agricultural collapse, and then to a 'rural intifada' of farmers and nomads no longer able to support themselves.
Over-grazing and desertification in the Syrian steppe are the root causes of war Gianluca Serra | 5th June 2015 News Syria Middle East War Ecology Farming Protected Areas Commons Indigenous Peoples …