International Conservation & Development

In the lead-up to the United Nations climate change conference US-China Today spoke with Kelly Sims Gallagher, Director of the Center for International Environment & Resource Policy at Tufts University, to see how the U.S. and China can best handle this existential threat.

he fungus that causes white nose syndrome—an often-fatal disease that has decimated populations of several bats species in eastern North America—has been found in several spots throughout eastern China. This is the first time that is has been documented in Asia, significantly enlarging its known range.

Melanie Allen is now the DGM Program and Logistics Coordinator for Conservation International. The Dedicated Grant Mechanism (DGM) is a global initiative dedicated to enabling the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC's) in the global effort to reduce deforestation and forest degradation.As a special window under the Climate Investment Fund’s (CIF) Forest Investment Program (FIP), the DGM is a unique endeavor to place climate financing directly in the hands of IPLC's.

Until recently, extinction was a natural and complex process where some species survived and others went extinct at the whim of mother nature (and with the help of some handy adaptations). Today, it is much more like the reality show, “Survivor”, where groups must fend for themselves in the wild while also competing in man-made challenges to survive to the next round.

How can agricultural research organizations rapidly and effectively reach large numbers of farmers with messages on how to improve crop productivity in a sustainable way?

With conventional centrifugal (CEN) pumps, less than 50% of southern Bangladesh's farmers invest in irrigation, partly due to high diesel energy costs. New policies are prioritizing sustainable crop intensification in Bangladesh's delta. This objective is unlikely to be achieved without fundamental changes in the energetics and economics of irrigation. Where surface water is available, axial flow pumps (AFPs) may comprise part of the solution to this problem.

Is rural China dying? The recent redoubling of the Chinese state’s efforts to shift rural people to urban areas seems to confirm what many have sensed: that, at the head of a worldwide urbanizing surge, China is leaving its agrarian legacy behind. Rural communities seem fated to depopulate, while industrial farms, concentrated animal feeding operations, and tree plantations will replace the family farms that once underpinned China’s economy and culture. Watchers are spellbound by urbanization that seems a fait accompli.

In South Asia, wheat is typically grown in favorable environments, although policies promoting intensification in Bangladesh's stress-prone coastal zone have resulted in expanded cultivation in this non-traditional area. Relatively little is known about how to best manage wheat in these unique environments.

Global change science is by essence multidisciplinary: it grows from the cross-pollination between a broad range of natural and social sciences. But one group of disciplines, the humanities, is often left outside of this conversation. What is their place in the research on global change?