How do you feed a mega-city encrusted in the middle of the Amazon forest without resorting to deforestation? The inescapable answer is agriculture. But the challenge doesn’t end there. The capital city of the Amazonas state, Manaus, finds itself isolated from the major agricultural producing centers of Brazil. As a result, it must rely heavily on smallholder, rural producers … [Read more...] about One farmer at a time: how a digital land registry will improve food, land security and forest protection in rural Amazonas
Environmental and Social Safeguards
Location, Location, Location: Where we put infrastructure impacts habitats and biodiversity
This past March, two high profile articles were published that make somber reading for those interested in the natural world. The first, in Current Biology, was led by Bill Laurance and described the risks of rapid infrastructure expansion for habitats and biodiversity and the second, in Science, was led by Nick Haddad and described the pernicious, and now global, effects of … [Read more...] about Location, Location, Location: Where we put infrastructure impacts habitats and biodiversity
Five Steps to Building Sustainable Housing: The Case of Guyana’s Hinterland
Donald and Gloria are leaders of the Indigenous Community of Kwatamang, located in Region 9 of southeastern Guyana. It is not easy to get to Katwamang: first you have to take a 90 minute flight in a small plane from Georgetown, the country's capital, and then you have a short (and a little bit bumpy) drive on rural roads, running through virgin rainforest. Kwatamang, much like … [Read more...] about Five Steps to Building Sustainable Housing: The Case of Guyana’s Hinterland
Sustainable Infrastructure: we want it, we need it, and we can live better with it
I just came back from spending three days in Panama at the Sustainable Mega-Infrastructure and Impact Assessment symposium, jointly organized by the IDB and the International Association for Impact Assessment. We visited perhaps the best known infrastructure project in Latin America and the Caribbean – the Panama Canal – and learned how they have managed water, biodiversity, … [Read more...] about Sustainable Infrastructure: we want it, we need it, and we can live better with it
Is Infrastructure a Threat or an Opportunity to conserve our Biodiversity?
Governments and multilateral development banks around the world now recognize the social and economic importance of biodiversity. Despite this, a major gap between current funding levels for biodiversity projects (US$53 billion annually) and total estimated need (US$300-400 billion annually) remains. With no major increase in biodiversity financing on the horizon, new ways … [Read more...] about Is Infrastructure a Threat or an Opportunity to conserve our Biodiversity?