Op-Ed

20 articles

Caribbean

Deep Connections, Deeper Risks (Part 4): We Don’t Need Deep Sea Mining for a Green Transition — Here’s the Truth Behind Its False Promises

By: Chalsey Gill Anthony, Environmental Communicator and Advocate, Belize In the race for clean energy, mining companies are pitching deep-sea minerals as the golden ticket to a sustainable future. They claim that extracting these precious resources from the ocean floor is essential for powering our renewable energy technologies. But let’s be clear: this narrative is […]

Climate Spotlight Staff

January 14, 2025

Caribbean

Deep Connections, Deeper Risks (Part 1): As if the Climate Crisis Wasn’t Enough, Greedy Mining Companies Want to Plunder the Ocean

By: Chalsey Gill Anthony, Environmental Communicator and Advocate, Belize Vampire squid, yeti crab, gummy squirrel sea cucumber, and glass sponges sound like characters from a storybook. But these bizarre and beautiful creatures are real; thriving in the dark, cold depths of the ocean. This underwater wonderland now faces a threat from mining corporations that want […]

Climate Spotlight Staff

December 17, 2024

COP29

COP29 Exposes Challenges in Advancing Gender Equality in Climate Action

While the 10-year Lima Work Programme is a step in the right direction, a lack of ambition in gender negotiations limited progress on securing finance for its implementation. A Gender Action Plan is scheduled to be finalized at COP30 in Brazil next year. This comes following the adoption of an enhanced Lima Work Programme at […]

Climate Spotlight Staff

November 26, 2024

Climate Finance

“Finance COP” Fails to Meet Necessary Climate Finance Goal

While an agreement to triple the current commitment on climate finance flows to developing countries was met at COP29, this deal is seen as insufficient by experts and the most vulnerable countries. By Marco Lopez The pledge by the developed world to allocate $300 billion to least developed countries at the eleventh hour in Baku, […]

Climate Spotlight Staff

November 26, 2024

1.5 To Stay Alive

So much trouble – conflict, climate change, and covid propel unprecedented global hunger in 2022

But all hope is not lost if decisive action is taken Not to guilt trip anyone – but we should be ashamed of ourselves for the food we waste. I say so because, while many of us are living within intrinsically oppressed societies, yes, very hard lives of constant drudgery, stress, and worry. We partake […]

Climate Spotlight Staff

January 17, 2023

woman in blue jacket holding white and black i am happy to be happy print paper

Action and Advocacy

Yearly climate-finance flows should be between $250bn – $570bn; study finds

A study published on Science.com entitled “Fairness considerations in global mitigation investments”, found that climate finance flows from the global north to the global south must be between $250bn to $570bn to meet the target net zero goal outlined in the Paris Agreement. This estimate is a far cry from the current reality since developed […]

Climate Spotlight Staff

January 1, 2023

Adaptation

<strong>Soil Biodiversity for the Future</strong>

By Ana Posas, FAO Agricultural Officer for Latin American and Caribbean. A few days ago, the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP15) concluded with a historic pact: dozens of countries pledged to protect 30% of the land and sea surface by 2030 to preserve biodiversity, which represents an unprecedented achievement for our forests, our fauna, […]

Climate Spotlight Staff

December 31, 2022

Pliocene sea surface temperature anomaly. Shown with present day-borders. Data source-http-::geology.er.usgs.gov:eespteam:prism:index.html

Climate Science

CO2 levels are 50% higher than pre-industrial levels

By Climate Spotlight During the Pliocene Climatic Optimum, the Antarctic and Arctic ice caps nearly melted, and sea levels were about 35 m higher than they are now. Temperatures were much warmer than today, with the polar temperatures standing at around 5°–10°C. This was about 5 – 1.8 million years ago during the Pliocene epoch, a […]

Climate Spotlight Staff

November 30, 2022