Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Indonesian island’s traditional residents face relocation for ‘sustainable’ project

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · 8d

Rempang Eco City in Indonesia’s Riau Islands has set sights on creating 35,000 jobs for a large-scale development project. But with relocation looming, traditional residents are fighting to protect their ancestral villages and coastal environment from harm.

🔗: https://loom.ly/QwxLKzk

With relocation looming, a community in the Riau Islands is fighting to protect its ancestral villages and coastal environment from harm

Indigenous land rights can’t stop commercial development in the Philippines

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Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · 12d

Land rights of the Philippines’ “food basket” appeared to be in jeopardy.

💬 “The governments have imposed and enforced their own policies...they have also prevented us from making and enforcing our own decisions,” a resident said.

🔗 Read the full story: https://loom.ly/ZLikhSs
✍️ Judy Ann Egay

Improper consultations, the quiet leasing of land and apathy blamed for the swell of tourism developments on Matigsalug ancestral land

‘We are not here to beg’: Africa asserts agency at Ethiopia climate summit

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · 14d

🌍 “We are not here to beg.” — Ethiopia’s development minister Fitsum Assefa at #ACS2. The summit positioned Africa’s not as climate victim to climate problem-solver, spotlighting homegrown solutions.

🔗: https://loom.ly/99T3s5c

At the Second Africa Climate Summit, the continent tried to secure external obligations while maintaining its own agency

What next for the High Seas Treaty as entry into force nears?

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · 16d

Having been ratified by 60 countries as of just last Friday, the High Seas Treaty will officially come into force in January. What comes next, and what would this mean for the oceans?

🔗: https://loom.ly/ukykSqw

Here’s what you need to know about the first international agreement focused on protecting marine biodiversity in international waters

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · 20d

💡 WEBINAR: Can BRI accelerate ASEAN’s shift to renewables?
🇹🇭 4 PM Bangkok time
🔗 https://loom.ly/LYNNk5M

Seed networks drive forest restoration in Brazil

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · 22d

Our latest article follows the native seed collectors networks at the centre of Brazil’s plan to restore 12 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

🔗: https://loom.ly/8sI0eXY

Native seed collectors are at the centre of Brazil’s plan to restore 12 million hectares of degraded land by 2030

Q&A: A ‘holistic’ approach to the long-awaited Asean Power Grid

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · 25d

Since the 1990s, the ASEAN has been dreaming of a regional power grid. The dream would be to develop the energy resources of each of the 10 member states and to build interconnectivity among them.

But challenges abound.

🔗 Read the full Q&A here: https://loom.ly/bwfws-c
✍️ Tyler Roney

Dialogue Earth talks to Matthew David Wittenstein of the UN ESCAP about how regional power connectivity can move forward in a fair and sustainable way

Roundtable: How has the SCO summit impacted the global energy landscape?

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · 26d

Last week, energy cooperation was centre stage at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings. How will China’s energy investments influence the energy transitions of SCO member states?

🔗 Read the full story: https://loom.ly/8ldHfBk
✍️ Lin Zi, Shalinee Kumari, Farahnaz Zahidi Moazzam

China’s energy initiatives strengthened alliances and energy diplomacy with Russia, India and Central Asia, say experts

The tangle of biodiversity credits

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · 26d

Up to 967 billion USD is needed to reverse biodiversity decline. Where will the money come from? Biodiversity credits could be key, say some, but experts raise concerns about reporting, monitoring, and measuring.

✍️ Joe Coroneo-Seaman
🔗 Read the full story: https://loom.ly/jtqNREM

Funding is needed to reverse global biodiversity loss. A credits market has been touted as a solution, but environmental groups say ‘don’t be fooled’

Is China’s energy system ready for the AI boom?

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · 28d

Is China’s energy system ready for the AI boom? Our latest article considers how to make AI systems both affordable and sustainable at the same time.

🔗: https://loom.ly/h9GtLgE

Fei Fei considers how to make AI systems both affordable and sustainable at the same time

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · 29d

China’s key waterways have been getting cleaner, but serious challenges remain with the rural water environment, groundwater, and new pollutants.

🔗: https://loom.ly/Q0DstnM

China’s extreme weather AI tools can help countries adapt

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Sep 4

China has laid a foundation for adapting to climate change, but a far more ambitious policy response is required to deal with escalating extreme weather — one that leverages technological innovation and empowers local leadership.

🔗: https://loom.ly/Y-yFg8g

But its adaptation efforts need better coordination between national and local government, writes Taylah Bland

Indigenous communities fear impacts of Cambodian wind projects

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Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Sep 3

In the Laoka village of Cambodia, Klerng Nary watched as trees were felled in the forest nearby her home. Workers who came to fell the trees did not inform the Indigenous Bunong community of their employer.

✍️ Daniella Keeton-Olsen, Phoung Vantha
🔗 Read the full story: https://loom.ly/_rItQYk

Cambodia hopes wind farms can help solve its growing power needs, but opaque plans have left the Bunong people worried for their sacred land

Indigenous communities fear impacts of Cambodian wind projects

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Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Sep 3

In the Laoka village of Cambodia, Klerng Nary watched as trees were felled in the forest nearby her home. Workers who came to fell the trees did not inform the Indigenous Bunong community of their employer.

✍️ Daniella Keeton-Olsen, Phoung Vantha
🔗 Read the full story: https://loom.ly/_rItQYk

Cambodia hopes wind farms can help solve its growing power needs, but opaque plans have left the Bunong people worried for their sacred land

Explainer: Could making ocean clouds shinier cool the planet?

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Sep 2

Millions in government funding are flowing to a controversial technique that proponents say will cool the planet by making clouds above the ocean more reflective. Can it be done? And should it be done?

🔗: https://loom.ly/nE84cEQ

Scientists are divided over the merits of ‘marine cloud brightening’ experiments aimed at making clouds more reflective and geoengineering the ocean

Chinese energy projects take off in Indonesia as western financing falters

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Aug 30

💬 “Western institutions might spend years completing feasibility studies and assessments. By then, a Chinese investor could already be halfway through construction,” said Putra Adhiguna, managing director of Energy Shift Institute.

🔗 Read more : https://loom.ly/mvhA8rc
✍️ Ahmad Pathoni

With Chinese companies sidestepping red tape of energy-transition projects financed by the west, experts are calling for stricter environmental safeguarding

Trafficking of lesser-known wildlife species on the rise in Africa

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Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Aug 28

The trafficking of lesser-known species is on the rise in Africa. To disrupt the increasingly online methods used by trafficking networks, experts tell us that authorities must adapt to be as agile as the traffickers themselves.

🔗: https://loom.ly/uNi8jhs

The global crackdown on wildlife trafficking has inadvertently spawned a black-market trade in species such as ants and smaller reptiles

More must be done to protect fishers from piracy

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Aug 26

Piracy against fishers worldwide is extensively underreported, according to new research. Piracy not only threatens the livelihoods of individuals but also the social economic sustainability of entire communities.
✍️ Bryan Peters, Letizia Paoli
🔗 Read the full story: https://loom.ly/mItmutA

New research highlights the extent of under-reporting of piracy against fishers worldwide, and the immense harm it causes to coastal communities

Could China win 'beauty contest' to be Indonesia's nuclear energy ally?

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Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Aug 17

With tight deadlines and high technical demands, Indonesia’s push towards the development of nuclear energy now needs the right international partner to succeed.

🔗 Read the full story on our website: https://loom.ly/a_FUyZ0

Indonesia wants its first nuclear plant running by 2032, but technical and geopolitical challenges loom

How does China’s draft Fisheries Law balance conservation with livelihoods?

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Aug 15

How can China’s draft Fisheries Law balance fish conservation with fisher livelihoods?

💬 “When [fishers] feel a sense of ownership over their local waters, a shared interest, they will be motivated to protect them”.

🔗: https://loom.ly/TmHPvXg

As China amends legislation that aims to strengthen fisheries management, some stakeholders are raising concerns over livelihoods

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Aug 14

🚨 JOB OPPORTUNITY ALERT 🚨

We are hiring an HR & Governance Officer (Hybrid, London).
70% HR: recruitment, onboarding, HR systems, policies
30% Governance: board support, compliance, record-keeping

Applications will be considered on an ongoing basis
🔗 https://loom.ly/NuueNQ8

Can China’s clean energy push help Brazil reindustrialise?

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Aug 14

Chinese investment is powering a wave of green manufacturing in Brazil. But as Brazil pushes for industrialisation, ensuring local jobs and value is the challenge

🔗: https://loom.ly/ABADOS4

Chinese investment is powering a wave of green manufacturing in Brazil. But as Brazil pushes for industrialisation, ensuring local jobs and value is the challenge

Gender equity must be at the centre of food security policy

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Aug 12

The role of gender equity in food security remains critically unaddressed, argues Rose Ndulu, global head of food security at Blue Ventures.

🔗: https://loom.ly/eBIbo9I

In Kenyan and Madagascan fishing communities, women play vital roles but are often marginalised in decision making, writes Rose Ndulu

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Aug 11

☀️ A grassroots solar project in two low-income Brazilian neighbourhoods is reducing energy poverty while training locals to lead the change.

🔗: https://loom.ly/n2yK8IE