Forests sustain and protect us in a myriad of ways. They absorb carbon dioxide and provide us with oxygen, they harbour more than three quarters of terrestrial biodiversity, and they support the livelihoods of millions of people worldwide. But the world has lost 420 million hectares of forest since 1990. …
Google Maps is tangled in a border dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. According to the Costa Rican press, misrepresentation of the country’s northeast around the river San Juan by Google Maps encouraged former Nicaraguan guerrilla leader Eden Pastora to conduct a river dredging operation in the disputed territory. Pastora …
Dotted with active volcanoes, Central America is seeking to tap its unique geography to produce green energy and cut dependence on oil imports as demand for electricity outstrips supply. Sitting above shifting tectonic plates in the Pacific basin known to cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the region has huge potential …
Nations including Democratic Republic of Congo are making surprise progress toward taking part in a $200 million project for slowing deforestation from late 2010, World Bank experts said. They also said Latin America, with forested nations around the Amazon, had strong incentives to take part since most of the continent's …
As global efforts to protect ecosystems expand, the socioeconomic impact of protected areas on neighboring human communities continues to be a source of intense debate. The debate persists because previous studies do not directly measure socioeconomic outcomes and do not use appropriate comparison groups to account for potential confounders. We …
Coffee is a major international commodity, and because of this, coffee production has the potential for considerable global impacts on the environment. These impacts can include the consumption of energy, water, land and the loss of native forest. Here we quantify these costs using Costa Rica as a case study, …
Tourism is seen as an important part of the turtle conservation 'toolbox' that can be used to (1) raise awareness about sea turtles, (2) provide funding for conservation and management, and (3) create 'alternative livelihoods' and revenues for communities who engage(d) in direct consumption or sale of sea turtle products. …
Upland watersheds in the tropics provide a range of crucial ecosystem goods and services. How they are governed can be crucial to human well-being and environmental sustainability. Communities, governments and firms have taken many different approaches to sharing these benefits, negotiating trade-offs between them, and allocating the risks and burdens …
The objective of this report is to explore the topic of carbon sinks in forest ecosystems, focusing on the issue of REDD. The report covers different angles: an overview of existing financial and methodological initiatives that currently invest in preparation and capacity building of potential REDD host countries, but also …
UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday debated, in a full-session, on the impacts of climate change on full enjoyment of human rights, especially in vulnerable countries. The debate tabled by the Maldives, sought to portray climate change not solely as a scientific issue, but also as a matter of global …
The number of swine flu-related deaths outside Mexico has inched up to five, with the United States reporting its third fatality and Costa Rica its first, both involving men who also had underlying illnesses. The number of confirmed cases of the infection in the United States has risen to 2,532 …
Whale sharks are a declining species for which little biological data is available. While these animals are protected in many parts of their range, they are fished legally and illegally in some countries. Baseline biological and ecological data are needed to allow the formulation of an effective conservation plan for …
Environment: Removing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere could help combat climate change. Will it really work? Preventing catastrophic climate change, most people agree, will mean reducing the level of man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. That, in turn, will require the widespread use of
climate change Poznan talks begin Delegates from 186 nations congregated in the Polish city of Poznan on December 1 to negotiate a new climate change treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. Ministers discussed their vision for long-term cooperative action and emphasized the economic slowdown should not overshadow the …
A strong earthquake of 6.2 magnitude and at a depth of 30 miles (48 km) struck Panama near the Costa Rica border overnight, the US Geological Survey said on Wednesday. The quake hit 35 miles (56 km) west southwest of David, Panama, at 1:11 a.m. local time (0611 GMT). The …
Many studies suggest that global warming is driving species ranges poleward and toward higher elevations at temperate latitudes, but evidence for range shifts is scarce for the tropics, where the shallow latitudinal temperature gradient makes upslope shifts more likely than poleward shifts. Based on new data for plants and insects …
Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela are closer to ensuring their citizens have the chance to break the cycle of poverty than many of their neighbours in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the World Bank
