Ecology

Green recovery. Social protection. Smart containment. Decarbonisation. Putting progress in climate action at par with measuring GDP. Creative capacity. These phrases have been running through conversations these days around changing Southeast Asia's template for development in the post-COVID era.

Agriculture is one of the most hazardous occupations in Kenya. Farmers are exposed to many toxic chemicals such as pesticides. While pesticides are designed to be used for pests, they have ingredients that are highly toxic to human health. 

Mary Afan, president of the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), talked to hbs about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on small-scale farmers, government’s response and what could be done to help them weather the crisis.

Slowly the CAP has become less focused on only promoting exports and more on sustainable development. But that progress might be undone once member states start formulating their own agricultural policy objectives.

The latest effort at CAP reform from the Commission was supposed to focus on a new delivery model, more environmental ambition, and a performance and monitoring evaluation framework. As the Croatian presidency ends, little progress has been made.

The concept of climate and environmental ambition of the future CAP Strategic Plans is multidimensional, yet clear criteria for guiding a transparent appraisal and approval process are still missing.

Michael Moore and Jeff Gibbs new movie, Planet of the Humans (POTH) serves to uncomfortably remind viewers that in many ways, despite our increased awareness of the growing biodiversity and climate crises, often our “environmental” and “sustainable” solutions, such as “natural” fossil gas, biomass and biofuels, have proven as bad or worse than the coal and petroleum they were intended to replace.

In much of Europe, this April is proving one of the driest in history. According to climate scientists, this could be the new normal as global warming enhances the frequency of severe droughts. Farmers though could do more to secure stable harvests: by growing more diverse crops.

After the first steps made towards designing the National CAP Strategic Plans, this article analyses transparency and stakeholder inclusivity in six selected Member States: France, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Poland. 

For the Ukrainian energy sector, the beginning of the year was marked by the “Ukrainian Green Deal” proposal developed by the Ministry of energy and environmental protection. But when it comes to near-term plans, further investments of public funds in nuclear and gas projects are still being considered by the government.