Sostenibilidad

When I was young I wanted to be a movie scriptwriter. I ended up being just a sociologist, but I still remember something I read back then about how a good script sequence should look like. For example, in the classic “boy meets girl” plot, first the central characters are presented, then they meet; then something happens to them –they may fight and later reconcile, or whatever– and after that comes the (usually happy) ending.

Environmental Impact Assessment is the process of identifying, evaluating, and mitigating the environmental and social effects of development projects. Through this process, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and its borrowing countries can ensure that environmental considerations are addressed and incorporated into decision-making processes and can anticipate, avoid, minimize or offset adverse effects.

Una de las principales preocupaciones de los investigadores actualmente es ayudar a los agricultores a estar preparados ante los efectos del cambio climático. La pregunta clave es cómo producir alimentos utilizando métodos sostenibles, sin agotar los recursos como el suelo o el agua. En las próximas décadas, uno de los mayores desafíos que enfrenta la humanidad es como satisfacer las necesidades crecientes de la población, por ejemplo, la demanda de alimentos.

Conservancy NatureNet Science Fellow Shannan Sweet spends most of her time these days thinking about climate change, agriculture and, well, maps. But the maps that interest her most are not about road trips, or hiking adventures. They’re not even as much about a place as they are about a destination.Her destination of choice?

Queremos tomar acción, pero la naturaleza no espera y no tenemos tiempo a nuestro favor. Hemos sido testigos en los últimos meses, de la fuerza de los desastres que tuvieron lugar en Latinoamérica y el Caribe (LAC).

Sustainable natural resource use lies at the heart of economic and social development and is a critical factor in poverty reduction. However, long term data sets for understanding natural resource availability and monitoring change do not exist, particularly in countries with the most need for this information. In addition, monitoring networks are often sparse and poorly maintained due to the high cost of data collection. To fill this information gap, satellite platforms can help countries more effectively measure and monitor their natural resources.

Durante años, hemos acordado que el papel fundamental de la infraestructura en el aumento de la productividad se hace evidente cuando se miden las consecuencias de las prestaciones de servicios de baja calidad. Por ejemplo: el total de pérdidas de electricidad en América Latina y el Caribe (ALC) alcanzaron los US $ 17 mil millones en 2014, lo que lleva a que la región tenga que hacer frente a una enorme carga financiera sobre los servicios públicos con un costo de oportunidad significativo para la sociedad.

Thousands of government officials, ministers, investors, and civil society leaders are descending on Washington D.C. this week for the Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund. There is one date that should be central to the discussions: 2020. If the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius is to be met and the UN Sustainable Development Goals are to be obtained, greenhouse gas emissions must peak by that year, and then drop steadily.

Earth Day is celebrated annually to demonstrate support to environmental protection. Last year on Earth Day, several countries pledged to ratify the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which entered into force on November 4, 2016.