News stories by Umar Manzoor Shah, page 3

WASHINGTON, D.C & SRINAGAR, November 21 (IPS) - A new independent evaluation of the Global Environment Facility’s food systems programs says they are delivering strong environmental and livelihood gains in many countries but warns that a narrow focus on farm production, weak political analysis, and shrinking coordination budgets are holding back deeper transformation.

SRINAGAR, India, November 17 (IPS) - In the fertile fields of Jammu’s R.S. Pura, rice farmer Mohd Yaseen Khan stares at a cracked irrigation canal, battered by erratic rainfall. “One day heavy rain, next week a dry spell,” he says, dusting his palms. “Our crop suffers. Our costs rise.”

SRINAGAR, India & BELÉM, Brazil, November 8 (IPS) - A report by the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC) and Earth Insight paints a stark picture of how extractive industries, deforestation, and climate change are converging to endanger the world’s last intact tropical forests and the Indigenous Peoples who protect them.

SRINAGAR, India & BELÉM, November 6 (IPS) - A decade has passed since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, and a United Nations synthesis report released ahead of COP30 in Belém shows that “Parties are bending their combined emission curve further downwards, but still not quickly enough.”

SRINAGAR, India, November 5 (IPS) - The world is falling dangerously short of meeting the Paris Agreement goals, with global greenhouse gas emissions rising to record levels and current national pledges still far off the mark, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said in its Emissions Gap Report 2025: Off Target.

SRINAGAR, October 21 (IPS) - The Forest Declaration Assessment 2025 warns that global forest loss remains alarmingly high, with little sign of improvement.

LONDON & SRINAGAR, September 19 (IPS) - At least 146 land and environmental defenders were murdered or forcibly disappeared in 2024 for standing up against powerful state and corporate interests, according to a new report released by Global Witness.

SRINAGAR & KISTIWAR, India, September 4 (IPS) - The relentless rain that battered the mountains and valleys of Jammu and Kashmir this August shattered lives and records.

BOGOTÁ and SRINAGAR, India, August 27 (IPS) - A report has warned about the risks of expanding oil and gas exploration in the Colombian Amazon, which may undermine environmental goals, Indigenous rights, and long-term economic stability, unless the government pivots toward sustainable development pathways.

SRINAGAR, India & KINSHASA, DRC, July 29 (IPS) - The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) stands on the precipice of a profound environmental and social crisis, as the government prepares to auction 55 new oil blocks that cover more than half the country’s landmass.