Development Roast Giving international development a proper roasting
According to a recent study funded by the World Bank and published in Science magazine, tropical land use change was responsible for 7 to 14 percent of gross human-induced carbon emissions between 2000 and 2005. Forests are valuable storage places for large amounts of carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming when it enters the earth’s atmosphere. This is because plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) and transform it into energy necessary for growing in a process called photosynthesis (for details, see the May 2013 Exactly how to trees fight climate change article by Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD) researcher Tracey Li). Land use changes such as clearing forests for agriculture or construction mean that forests are less able to extract CO2 from the atmosphere and store it. Additionally, burning trees—which, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are made up of around 50 percent carbon—to clear land releases the carbon that was previously stored in the them.
Bolivia Climate Change Monthly: April, 2013
Welcome to the April 2013 edition of Bolivia Climate Change Monthly where you will find the latest research, policy and news related to climate change in Bolivia*.
Accessing adaptation: Multiple stressors on livelihoods in the Bolivian highlands under a changing climate by Julia McDowell and Jeremy Hess, published in Global Environmental Change.
Current state of knowledge regarding South America wetlands and their future under global climate change by Wolfgang Junk, published in Aquatic Sciences.
An International Network on Climate Change Impacts on Small Farmers in the Tropical Andes – Global Conventions from a Local Perspective by Andre Linder, published in Sustainable Agriculture Research. Read More »