Via Campesina march. Credit: Diana Cariboni/IPS

By Diana Cariboni*

CANCÚN, Dec (IPS/TerraViva) – The short-cuts that the United Nations system is offering companies to profit from strategies against global warming were the target of loud protests on the Day of Action for Climate Justice.
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Pakistan's Environment Minister Hameedullah Jan Afridi speaks to an IPS reporter in Cancún. Credit: Keya Acharya/TerraViva

By Keya Acharya

CANCÚN, Mexico, Dec 7, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) – On the sidelines of the ministerial deliberations at Cancún underway Tuesday, a panel of scientists, climate policy experts and politicians outlined the devastating impacts of the recent floods in northwest Pakistan that destroyed 18 million homes, affecting 20 million people and costing the country five percent of its GDP. Continue Reading

By Emilio Godoy

CANCÚN, Dec 7, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) – Latin American economies are caught on the horns of a dilemma: how to reduce their carbon consumption without sacrificing economic and social development. Subsidies for the development of renewable energies and for learning new technologies need to be increased urgently, experts say. Continue Reading

Irrigation near Kakamas, South Africa: sustainable use of water is especially critical in a warming world. Credit: Patrick Burnett/IPS

By Stephen Leahy

MEXICO CITY, Dec 7, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) Africa will be amongst the hardest hit regions of the world as the climate heats up, threatening the continent’s food security, experts agree. If global temperatures rise 2.0 degrees C, southern Africa will warm an additional 1.5 degrees to a 3.5-degree increase on average. Continue Reading

Mokoro canoes on the Okavango Delta. Credit: Wikicommons

By Mantoe Phakathi

CANCÚN, Dec 7, 2010, (IPS/TerraViva) – One more thing to add to the checklist of requirement for a sound global agreement on climate change: water. Continue Reading

Vía Campesina march in Cancún. Crédit: Mantoe Phakathi/IPS

By Diana Cariboni

CANCÚN, Dec 6, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) – What some people view as modest but real progress in the climate change talks, others see as no more than smokescreens or “false solutions.” Continue Reading

By Emilio Godoy

CANCÚN, Dec 6, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) – Ezequiel Estay began collecting glass bottles in 1991 after losing his job with the Chilean media conglomerate Copesa. Now, years later, he heads Chile’s National Movement of Recyclers and is a leader of the Latin American Recyclers’ Network, which is questioning the climate benefits of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
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By Daniela Pastrana

MEXICO CITY, Dec 6, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) – “And what about after 2012?”, when the Kyoto Protocol climate change treaty’s first period of commitments ends, was the question floating around an international meeting of legislators held over the weekend in the Mexican capital.
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Protestors insisted on protection of the interests of indigenous people and peasant farmers. Credit: Mantoe Phakathi/IPS

By Mantoe Phakathi

CANCÚN, Dec 6, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) – As ministers arrived for the second week of climate change negotiations in the Mexican resort city of Cancún, an estimated two thousand marchers took to the streets to oppose what they called a capitalist outcome of deliberations.

“We’re seeing a green capitalism here in Cancún, where rich countries are calling for solutions aimed at violating the rights of not only the environment but also of grassroots groups,” said Mary Lon Malig, from peasant farmers’ organisation La Via Campesina. Continue Reading

Nastasya Tay interviews RENATE LOK-DESSALLIEN, head of the United Nations Development Programme’s China office

Windmills at Xinjiang, China. Credit: Chris Lim/Wikicommons

CANCÚN, Dec 5, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) – In 2008, China pumped out 6.5 gigatonnes of CO2, roughly equal to the emissions from the rest of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East combined. Continue Reading