Environment

Drinking water and Democracy: Tale of Two Cities

The tragic situation in Flint is in many ways a cautionary tale of democracy subverted, one that ties directly to the United States’ refusal to recognize basic human rights such as the right to water.

Plotting the course: COP21 and agriculture

When the text of a new global climate agreement reached by 195 governments was released this weekend, one word was conspicuously absent: agriculture.

Don't talk about "trade" at the global climate talks

Earlier this week, a leaked internal European Union document on climate negotiation priorities (posted by Corporate Observatory Europe) made clear that any global climate deal would not mention trade.

4 things we’re tracking as Paris climate negotiations hit the home stretch

Paris - After four years of negotiations, countries from around the world aim to complete a new global climate deal in the next week. A new 48-page draft text was circulated this weekend and there will be a lot of horse-trading and late nights in the coming week. Here are a few of the key issues we’ll be tracking: Can national climate commitments become stronger?

The Clever Ambiguity of Climate Smart Agriculture

Paris – The term “climate smart agriculture” (CSA) is popping up frequently in the official events of the global climate talks here in Paris. But what climate smart agriculture actually means seems to depend on who’s talking. In fact, the term has entered into an Orwellian space of meaning both everything and nothing simultaneously.

What to make of the soil carbon initiative launched in Paris

Paris – Yesterday at the global climate talks, France and about 30 other country leaders, research institutions and a handful of NGOs launched a much anticipated new

What’s wrong with “climate smart” agriculture?

One year after it was launched at the UN Climate Summit in New York, the controversial Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture (GACSA) is at the center of an emerging international debate.

Globalizing resistance, resilience and hope through agroecology

IATP’s long-time ally in Mexico, ANEC (the National Association of Producers' Enterprises) held a three-day conference recently (Aug. 31 – Sept.

More than 350 organizations from around the world oppose greenwashing and false solutions of ‘Climate Smart Agriculture'

Minneapolis–One year after the launch of the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture (GACSA), more than 350 civil society organizations from around the world, including the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), rejected the ill-defined agenda of the Alliance as an empty marketing slogan, distracting governments from the transformational changes that are needed in agriculture

Farmers lack information on seed treatments found to harm pollinators, new paper

Minneapolis– The effectiveness and costs of pesticide seed coatings are not being made clear to farmers, according to a new paper by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Over the last decade, a small handful of seed companies often require or add neonicotinoid (neonic) seed coatings, particularly for genetically engineered crops.