“Without prices being set, nature becomes like an all-you-can-eat buffet – and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t overeat at a buffet.” (Richard Sandor) As someone who loves adventures and the outdoors, I was more than thrilled about the tourism slogan “Belize: Mother Nature’s Best Kept Secret” and, as soon as I touched ground at the International Airport in Belize City in … [Read more...] about Belize’s “New Price Tag”
The Verdict Is Still Out on PES
As of 2014 only 15.4% of terrestrial and inland water areas were under some form of protected area status . Conservation experts know that this is insufficient to protect critical biodiversity, which underpins ecosystem services, and that the best projections will never reach a level that would come close to protecting and maintaining the ecosystem services that we as humans … [Read more...] about The Verdict Is Still Out on PES
If Dollars Rule the World, Why Don’t the Bees Get a Bailout?
Attempts to put a dollar value on the natural world – so-called “natural capital” or “ecosystem services” – have produced some frankly staggering numbers. A seminal 1997 paper valued the world’s ecosystem services at US$33 trillion a year. This estimate was controversial, given that it dwarfed the entire global market economy, which at the time stood at roughly US$18 trillion a … [Read more...] about If Dollars Rule the World, Why Don’t the Bees Get a Bailout?
Share your successful story of climate change and family farming and you could win up to $15,000
FONTAGRO launched a call for proposals for its second success stories contest, which seeks to disseminate successful experiences in climate change adaptation of other innovative producers and actors along the agri-food chains by documenting these cases and identifying their factors of success. The contest will be open until September 24, 2015 and will prioritize cases of … [Read more...] about Share your successful story of climate change and family farming and you could win up to $15,000
A road through the kingdom of the jaguar
It’s 4 a.m. and I’m sitting in the front seat of a Toyota Hiace passenger van, leaving Guyana’s capital of Georgetown for Lethem, a town on the Brazilian border. My ride may look like just another passenger van, of the sorts used for public transport throughout Asia and Latin America but, the off-road tires, lifted-up suspension, and extra parts in a rooftop basket are all a … [Read more...] about A road through the kingdom of the jaguar