News headlines in 2016, page 31

HONOLULU, Hawaii, USA, Sep 08 (IPS) - When the communities living in the Tatamá y Serranía de los Paraguas Natural National Park in the west of Colombia organised in 1996 to defend their land and preserve the ecosystem, they were fighting deforestation, soil degradation and poaching.

OSLO, Sep 07 (IPS) - We often read comparisons between the prices of solar energy or wind energy with the prices of fossil fuels. It is encouraging to see that renewables are rapidly becoming competitive, and are often cheaper than coal or oil. In fact, if coal, oil and natural gas were given their correct prices renewables would be recognized as being incomparably cheaper than fossil fuels.

ROME, Sep 07 (IPS) - As unrest and chaos plague Yemen, the U.A.E is not waiting in silence. Recognising that in spite of being impoverished Yemen has always been strategically important for U.A.E and the region, the warfare and conflict will not only gravely affect the region itself but could also obstruct the future security of the Middle East as a whole.

PANGUNA, Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, Sep 07 (IPS) - The Panguna copper mine, located in the mountains of Central Bougainville, an autonomous region in the southwest Pacific Island state of Papua New Guinea, has been derelict for twenty seven years since an armed campaign by local landowners forced its shutdown and triggered a decade-long civil war in the late 1980s.

ROME, Sep 06 (IPS) - Lentils, beans, chick peas, and other pulses often produce negative "collateral social effects" on people hanging around, just a couple of hours after eating them. But, believe it or not, they contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. How come?

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 06 (IPS) - Africa is a continent where, at least outwardly, we like to celebrate our diversity—the rich variety that can be found in our many cultures, languages, fashions, flora and fauna. That's why it's perplexing to see such a large segment of the African population depending on a very small number of food crops, like maize, rice and wheat.

OBOCK, Djibouti, Sep 06 (IPS) - Tears emerge from the slit of 20-year-old Gada's black niqab face veil. After more than a minute's silence she still can't answer the question: How bad was it in Yemen before you left?

ALICANTE, Spain, Sep 06 (IPS) - Watching Christianity nearly a century–fundamentalist Christians fighting ritualistic Christians fighting secularism, generally moving fundamentalism–>ritualism–>secularism–maybe the same for Islam? Their similarities make "Islam right now" a repetition of Christianity; their differences shout, Watch Out! Let us see where this leads us.

HONOLULU, Hawaii, USA, Sep 05 (IPS) - "You don't convert your own house in a tourist site," said Oussou Lio Appolinaire, an activist from Benin, wearing a traditional outfit in vivid yellows and greens. He was referring to opening up to tourists places that are sacred to indigenous people.

HONOLULU, Hawaii, Sep 05 (IPS) - A rare case of intensive and decade-long collaboration between Big Oil, scientists and environmental activists has been hailed as a success story in protecting an endangered species of whale from extinction.