Microfinance loans were meant to offer a pathway out of poverty in countries like Nigeria, particularly for women. But as climate change makes weather patterns more unpredictable, the risk of falling into further debt falls onto the shoulders of women farmers who face not just erratic farming conditions but social stigma from default.
Arrests of high-profile campaigns suggest that even those working on government-approved green initiatives with international backing aren’t safe from Vietnam’s crackdown on environmental activism. But some warn that staying below the radar can be even more dangerous.
After a Canadian mining company challenged a Zapotec community’s Indigenous identity, recalling the ancestral names of sacred landmarks helped reinvigorate their connection to the land – and defend it from extractive industries.
In a remote community enveloped in cloudforest, a whistled form of the Indigenous Chinantec language is perfectly adapted to the land and its weather. But who needs whistles when you can use WhatsApp?
Germany already consumes more hydrogen than it produces, and leaves a significant carbon footprint. For the energy transition, the country will need to import cleaner green hydrogen, but from where?
Belgian company SIAT has the ambition to promote sustainable palm oil across West Africa. Yet, its Ghana plantation is rife with ongoing land conflicts and precarious labour conditions. A new EU directive on corporate due diligence gives hope that abuses in the Global South are coming to an end.
Mixtec women in Oaxaca, Mexico, are adapting to climate change by restoring their coffee plantations in agroforestry systems. While the costs of their work are increasing, the price of coffee is not.
With the rising urgency of the Climate Crisis, green hydrogen is the shiniest newcomer in global conversations on energy production. However, with sub-Saharan African countries contributing less than 3% (0.2% for Nigeria) to global carbon emissions, the more pressing question is how the continent can harness its existing resources to sustainably meet its own energy demand for economic development and poverty reduction
Heating, driving, storing electricity: Hydrogen could replace oil, gas and coal in a completely climate-neutral way. The fact that this will probably not happen is due to a better alternative.
“During the third week of the first Covid-19 lockdown, we ran out of the little food we had. We spent two days on empty stomachs and this forced me to join a group of children from my village who were going to pan for gold along Odzi River. I have not stopped since then,” she said.
