By Stephen Leahy

CANCÚN, Dec 11, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) – If success is measured by delaying difficult decisions, then the Cancún climate meeting succeeded by deferring crucial issues over financing and new targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the next Conference of the Parties meeting a year from now in Durban, South Africa. Continue Reading

By Keya Acharya

CANCÚN, Mexico, Dec 9, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) An entire body of leaders, spearheaded by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, is now looking at REDD+ as a panacea to global warming with multiple benefits thrown in. Continue Reading

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

Wildlifers worry the Forest Rights Act will threaten India's last critical habitats, which include Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan. Credit: Keya Acharya/IPS

Commentary by Keya Acharya

MEXICO CITY, Dec. 5, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) While the parlaying at the climate talks in Cancún broke for the weekend, a group of 155 legislators from 16 of the G20 major economies met in the Mexican Senate to discuss how to influence their countries’ ministers to agree to an international commitment that obligated them to pass national laws on climate action. Continue Reading

A cloud forest in Costa Rica. Credit: Germán Miranda/IPS

By Keya Acharya

CANCÚN, Dec 4, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) – Forest rights advocates and indigenous community organisations from India are adding their voices to what promises to become the newest division in the climate talks here: the inclusion of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation + in developing countries, or REDD+, as an agreement. Continue Reading

La hotelería de Cancún eliminó manglares costeros. Crédito: Diana Cariboni/IPS

Por Emilio Godoy*

CANCÚN, 2 dic (IPS/TerraViva) – Un posible convenio internacional sobre Reducción de Emisiones Provocadas por la Deforestación y la Degradación de los Bosques (REDD), que surgiría de la COP 16, provoca descontento en un nutrido grupo de organizaciones sociales. Continue Reading

By Daniela Estrada*

SANTIAGO, Dec 2, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) – The wide-ranging knowledge about climate variation possessed by native people and other small farmers, such as the people in one region of Colombia, is almost a perfect match to scientific measurements recorded on high-tech instruments. Continue Reading

December 1

Reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation is high on the agenda for civil society, says Rosebell Kagumire.

Follow @RosebellK via her twitter stream as she delves into the devilish details of reducing degradation of forests.

 
Or download mp3

Listen to TerraViva’s other COP16 Podcasts here.

Mabira Forest, Uganda. Credit: S A Perez/Wikicommons/

By Rosebell Kagumire*

KAMPALA, Nov 30, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) – Uganda has lost more than two million hectares of forest since 1990, mostly converted to farmland by a growing population of smallholders. Carbon finance through the REDD programme is often presented as one way to arrest this destruction, but only if the benefits clearly translate to the grassroots. Continue Reading

Delegates at the Pre-COP Ministerial Meeting. Credit: COP16

By Stephen Leahy

CANCÚN, Nov 29, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) This year will likely be the warmest ever recorded, with soaring ocean temperatures resulting in a near record die-off of tropical corals, extreme heat and drought in Russia and massive flooding in Pakistan – all signs that climate change has taken hold. Continue Reading