The world’s farmers have to produce 70% to 100% more food by 2050, and yet do so while reducing the roughly 30% of greenhouse gas emissions that agriculture causes.   That was the challenge under discussion at Agriculture Day in Copenhagen on Saturday, a day-long set of meetings sponsored primarily by the CGIAR network, the [...]

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COPENHAGEN — Midway through the climate talks, we’re at a good place to take stock of where things stand. Negotiators from around the globe have made progress on a few fronts. Hundreds of pages of negotiating text have been boiled down to focus on the essentials. Countries are making progress on designing strong incentives to [...]

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According to popular lore, China is on the cusp of assuming the mantle of global economic leadership from the United States.   In the minds of many folks, the U.S.-led global financial crisis-cum-global recession is hard and indisputable evidence of this seminal shift.   As the dust settles from the crisis, China’s economy is now [...]

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ANKARA — In Turkey, the Swiss referendum banning the building of new minarets is perceived as just another example of Islamophobia and discrimination against Muslims.   Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “This decision is primitive, outdated, and manifestation of a Western understanding.” Warning that this decision rings alarm bells, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu added [...]

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WASHINGTON — Recent news story:   a religious minority seeks to construct a building to conform with its faith and architectural traditions.   The majority, of a different faith, denies permission.   Sounds like Switzerland?   In fact, this story comes from the other side of the Atlantic.   Amish residents of Morristown, New York, [...]

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COPENHAGEN —   The EU added momentum to the Copenhagen climate talks today when EU leaders pledged to deliver 3.6 billion U.S. dollars (2.4 billion euro) a year through 2012 to help developing countries reduce their emissions growth and deal with the impacts of climate change.    The EU also reiterated that it would  bump [...]

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COPENHAGEN — Every day at the climate negotiations, the environmental organizations present a”prize” to those countries that, in their view, have made the most unhelpful contribution to the talks. The Fossil of the Day award ceremony is pure theater: the tuxedoed Master of Ceremony takes the envelope from the simpering starlet at his side and [...]

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COPENHAGEN — Writers are often cautioned not to use the word “unique” but it appears that this is the best description of me as a new arrival in Copenhagen. Trying to save on carbon and cash, I tolerated the circular bus ride through wet traffic from the central railway station to the Bella Center, where [...]

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COPENHAGEN — The first impression one gets at the Copenhagen Climate Conference is of a meeting with a stronger-than-usual tailwind behind it. Expectations were until recently quite low for the COP15 (the fifteenth annual “Conference of the Parties” to the UN climate change convention, as it’s formally known). The meeting is intended to achieve a [...]

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COPENHAGEN — Finally it’s here: Copenhagen 2009. The climate community has been anticipating this moment since December 2007, when countries agreed to create a new legal binding climate agreement by December 2009 in Copenhagen. Yet, many environmentalists and developing countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are deeply disappointed by recent reality checks [...]

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