Oil production or carbon neutrality? Why not both, Guyana says
Achieving net-zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century was one of the goals of the COP26 U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, last November. Guyana claims to have…
Articles by Carinya Sharples
Carinya Sharples is a writer based in Guyana, South America. Her main areas of interest are culture, identity, and grassroots activism and innovation. She has previously worked for or contributed to the BBC, Channel 4, SmartPlanet, The Guardian (UK), Time Out, and The Big Issue.
Guyanese project to bolster Indigenous land rights draws funding — and flak
GEORGETOWN, Guyana — The Akawaio and Arecuna peoples of Guyana’s Upper Mazaruni District in the north of the country could be forgiven for being a little impatient. For 23 years…
Fisheries need to make gender inclusion a norm, not just ‘reach’ women, says Pacific study
As a marine ecologist who has long worked at the intersection of gender equality, conservation and fisheries, Sangeeta Mangubhai knows the importance of getting the language right. She asks to…
From writing to VR, finding ways to connect to nature during isolation
From her home in London, schoolteacher and therapist Nicki Gilbert is avidly following the comings and goings of an osprey nest in Scotland. She may be miles away, but thanks…
Telling big environmental stories in a close-knit country (insider)
In the few years I’ve worked as a freelance journalist in Guyana I’ve been told by editors, “There’s not much interest in Guyana”; that two reports from the Caribbean in…
Decolonizing trees in a tropical city to nurture multi-cultural identity
GEORGETOWN, Guyana — “Growing up in the country, I never knew about coffee and Milo. I grew up on lime leaf tea, pear leaf tea, fever grass, sweet broom, all…
EU consumption drives ‘import’ of tropical deforestation
One-sixth of the carbon footprint of the average diet in the European Union can be directly linked to deforestation in tropical countries, according to a new study from researchers at…
Guyana: The school where indigenous youth learn about their land
ANNAI, Guyana — It’s 8:30 a.m. and the main school building of the Bina Hill Institute’s Youth Learning Centre is strangely quiet. The classrooms are deserted, the newly built dormitories…
France pledges to stop ‘deforestation imports’ by 2030
Ask most people which products contribute toward the destruction of forests, and they’ll probably mention palm oil, beef, or soybeans. So news that France has adopted a National Strategy to…
Guyana signs on to forest management agreement with the EU
GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Guyana has initialed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union (EU) to tackle illegal logging, improve forest management and boost the legal timber trade in…
Guyana deforestation rate hits 7-year low, officials say
GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Guyana recorded its lowest rate of deforestation last year since 2010, when the South American country established a national Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) program. According to…
Safe spaces: Tackling sexual harassment in science
Far away from the red carpets of Hollywood, an aspiring scientist in Guyana, South America, is being discouraged by her parents from going on a field trip because of worries…
Guyana seeks offshore oil wealth in a green economy
GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Venezuela may have the world’s largest oil reserves according to OPEC, but oil experts are looking to its bordering neighbor Guyana as the next big thing. Widely…
Guyana’s road to Brazil presents opportunity and challenge
GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Imagine for a second you’re on a road. A long, rough, red-dirt road lined by thick rainforest. You’re in a small, crowded minibus coming from Georgetown, Guyana’s…
Going under: mangrove restoration in low-lying Guyana a vital need, say experts
GEORGETOWN, Guyana - When Guyana’s Mangrove Restoration Project began a few years ago, things didn’t get off to the best of starts. “At my site at Cove and John here [on…
FSC certification gives boost to rainforest community
IWOKRAMA, Guyana - It’s late afternoon in Fairview village, an indigenous Amerindian community in the heart of Guyana’s tropical rainforest. School is over for the day and children are playing…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Bolivia’s El Curichi Las Garzas protected area taken over by land-grabbers
- Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation
- Poverty and plantations: Nigerian reserve struggles against the odds
- Logging, road construction continue to fuel forest loss in Papua New Guinea
Oceans
- Fewer fish and more rules lead to illegal catches, Italian fishers say
- Fishing by dodgy fleets hurts economies, jobs in developing countries: Report
- Warming seas push India’s fishers into distant, and more dangerous, waters
- No protection from bottom trawling for seamount chain in northern Pacific
Amazon Conservation
- Deforestation haunts top Peruvian reserve and its Indigenous communities
- Amid record-high fires across the Amazon, Brazil loses primary forests
- A web of front people conceals environmental offenders in the Amazon
- Brazil boosts protection of Amazon mangroves with new reserves in Pará state
Land rights and extractives
- Women weave a culture of resistance and agroecology in Ecuador’s Intag Valley
- Hyundai ends aluminum deal with Adaro Minerals following K-pop protest
- Brazil’s illegal gold trade takes a hammering, but persists underground
- Maluku bone collector unearths troubling consequence of coastal abrasion
Endangered Environmentalists
- Indonesian activists face jail over FB posts flagging damage to marine park
- Vietnamese environmentalist sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
- Video: Five Tembé Indigenous activists shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
Conservation Effectiveness
- The conservation sector must communicate better (commentary)
- Thailand tries nature-based water management to adapt to climate change
- Forest restoration to boost biomass doesn’t have to sacrifice tree diversity
- How scientists and a community are bringing a Bornean river corridor back to life
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
