Earth Rise

Promoting agroecology with the intention of building food sovereignty is a complex process, one that require complex strategies. The bright side is that many of these strategies are being developed by food producers and allies through farmer led innovation and learning networks, alliance building, and advocating for new mechanisms, policies, and institutions in local, national, and international domains. In light of the above, Alliance for food sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) held the first ever African Agroecological Entrepreneurship & Territorial Markets Convening in Kampala majorly aiming at creating a community of support to increase demand for an enabling business environment for African agroecological entrepreneurs and territorial markets , increasing recognition of African agroecological entrepreneurs and territorial markets by agroecology movements, donors, investors, service providers, and governments , as well as building momentum for formulating policy recommendations and...

The fashion industry represents an important part of our economies, with a value of more than $2.5 trillion and employing over 75 million people worldwide. Good as that may sound, it comes with far more environmental cost than me and you can imagine. Having said that, let's see how fashion affects the environment. Fashion is a complicated business involving long and varied supply chains of production, raw material, textile manufacture, clothing construction, shipping, retail, use and ultimately disposal of the garment. Adding to this chain is the ultimate problem of consumerism that people around the world have developed especially in the fashion industry. Feeding this rampant consumerism is the “fast fashion" trend, in which clothing is designed to be moved as quickly as possible from the local store across the world. Only about 10 years old, fast fashion is leading the way in actual disposable clothing and it is particularly worrisome because it creates demand for and th...

At its simplest, green finance is any structured financial activity that’s been created to ensure a better environmental outcome. It includes an array of loans, debt mechanisms and investments that are used to encourage the development of green projects or minimize the impact on the climate of more regular projects. Green financing is basically to increase the level of financial flows (from banking, micro-credit, insurance and investment) from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors to sustainable development priorities. A key part of this is to better manage environmental and social risks, take up opportunities that bring both a decent rate of return and environmental benefit and deliver greater accountability. Green Finance is important as it promotes and supports the flow of financial instruments and related services towards the development and implementation of sustainable business models, investments, trade, economic, environmental and social projects and policies. As t...

  By definition, a genetically modified organism (GMO) is one where genetic characteristics of one specie is modified by insertion of an altered organism gene of the same species or a gene from other organisms using genetic engineering. When the gene is taken from the same species it is called intragenic modification where as a gene from a different organism is called transgenic modification. The major criticisms of genetic engineering in food production have been in the areas of potential human health effects, environmental and other possible socioeconomic effects. Genetically modified foods first appeared in the food market in the 1960s (Uzogara, 2000). In 1967, a new potato variety called Lenape Potato was bred for its high solids which made it appropriate for making potato chips. Two years later, the Lenape potato developed a toxin called solanine and it was withdrawn from the market by the United States Department of Agriculture. The development of toxin in the Lenape pota...

The covid 19 pandemic is wrecking havoc in countries across the globe, causing a global health crisis and forcing the economies to slow down due to the strict quarantine measures, with further consequences ranging from closed boarders, scarce hand sanitizers, to house arrests to ensure social distancing measures. Bad as that may be, the pandemic has impacted the environment in a very intriguing way.  The carbon dioxide emissions and human mobility have been reduced leading to improved air quality lessening on the pollution in the air  due to commuting because of  “work from home” policies, industries and aviation being  on operation halt , among others .   According to Randolph Bell, Director of the global energy center explained in the Atlantic council that the economic recession linked by the virus is likely to cause a drop in the carbon dioxide emissions this year. For example, NASA satellite indicated a 25% reduction of carbon emissions in China after 4 week...

Washed out on our coasts in obvious and clearly visible form, the plastic pollution spectacle blatantly unveiling on our beaches is only the prelude of the greater story that unfolded further away in the world’s oceans, One biome that has become increasingly affected by plastic waste is the ocean. Nearly 13 million tonnes of plastic is washed into the ocean every year. Some plastics release chemicals in the water leading to cancer and other health issues, but the most prevalent issue is the consumption of plastic by animals, which mostly originate from where we stand: the land. For more than 50 years, global production and consumption of plastics have continued to rise. An estimated 299 million tons of plastics were produced in 2013, representing a 4 percent increase over 2012, and confirming and upward trend over the past years. In 2008, our global plastic consumption worldwide was estimated at 260 million tons and according to a 2012 report by Global Industry analysts, plasti...

Climate is the problem that weighs heavily on our society, but a promising solution could be lying right beneath our feet — in the soil. Regenerative agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that seek to rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem of the farm by placing a heavy premium on soil health with attention also paid to fertilizer use among others. It describes farming and grazing practices that, among other benefits, reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity – resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle.   It is a method of farming that “improves the resources it uses, rather than destroying or depleting them,” according to the Rodale Institute . In addition to rising temperatures that are themselves changing where and how things can be grown, the climate crisis has fundamentally altered the water cycle around the world. The result is shifting precipitation patterns...