The New Humanitarian • 15th November 2021

Why COP26 leaves humanitarians wanting more

Ahead of this weekend’s final agreement at the UN climate summit, delegates filed onto the podium in Glasgow for family photos while wine bottles were uncorked. But this latest global pact is not the game-changing and celebratory moment many had hoped for.

SWI swissinfo.ch • 14th November 2021

Compromise COP26 deal disappoints

The COP26 summit approved a climate deal late Saturday evening. But the watered-down ambitions on the end of coal subsidies left many delegates frustrated, including Switzerland.

SWI swissinfo.ch • 13th November 2021

COP26 blog: Live from Glasgow

Deadline past After going into overtime, delegates to the COP26 from 197 countries are expected to review a new draft text of a final decision later today. These include issues such as carbon markets, climate finance for developing countries, carbon mitigation and adaptation as well as defining the frequency at which carbon-cutting pledges should be submitted by countries.

SWI swissinfo.ch • 12th November 2021

Is Switzerland still a credible climate negotiator?

Six years after the Paris climate agreement was signed, Switzerland has had to backtrack on some of the more ambitious goals it had set on climate change mitigation. At the COP26 summit, nonetheless, it has advocated hard for its model of a carbon offset mechanism elaborated in treaties with a handful of developing countries. But is the Alpine nation still legitimate as a negotiator ? This content was published on November 12, 2021 - 14:00 Heckled as she left a press conference on Thursday by

The New Humanitarian • 10th November 2021

Why it’s not just about the money for Indigenous leaders at COP26

After a $1.7 billion pledge to help protect their emissions-absorbing forests, Indigenous leaders at COP26 feel their pleas are starting to be heard, but some still see it as too little and worry it won't end up where it’s needed if they continue to be kept out of the decision-making.

SWI swissinfo.ch • 4th November 2021

Swiss carbon offsetting project adds spark to global debate on credits

Carbon offsetting is among the top issues being discussed at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow. While internationally-agreed rules on how to implement the schemes are still lacking, a Swiss project in Peru is cooking up a solution.

The New Humanitarian • 28th October 2021

Humanitarians look for COP26 to deliver on existing climate crisis needs

As global leaders creatively recycle terms to underscore the importance of seizing the “last chance” for action at the COP26 climate summit, hundreds of thousands of poor families living on parched hills above Peru’s capital are already on the dark side of the climate tipping point.

The New Humanitarian • 27th September 2021

How Cubans are helping Cubans in need of food and medicine

Pedro Valdés was born in the small village of San Juan y Martínez, in one of Cuba’s poorest provinces, four hours from Havana. The 68-year-old farmer was in the capital city only once: as a child to greet the guerrilla fighters following the 1959 revolution. Valdés said he loved everything that followed: literacy programmes and free education; agrarian reform; social support for the elderly and disabled; and access to healthcare. He vowed never to leave Cuba.

SWI swissinfo.ch • 12th July 2021

Toxic metals studies add to frustrations surrounding Swiss-owned mine in Peru

Health concerns over toxic metals in remote communities near a mining complex in the Peruvian Andes are gaining ground after the publication of several reports. Glencore, which owns the mine, points at natural mineralisation of the environment.

SWI swissinfo.ch • 17th May 2021

Have lessons been learned from science on climate effects?

For years scientists warned of a multitude of existential risks from unbridled climate change. It took a pandemic for many global leaders to realise that such threats were real, and that crisis response systems were unprepared. But will anything change?

SWI swissinfo.ch • 12th May 2021

Podcast series: Good as gold?

Switzerland is the world’s leading gold refiner, but in spite of efforts to make the supply chain more transparent, there are still some big questions about the origins of all this gold. In Part 1 of this two-part series on The Swiss Connection, we travel to Peru with reporter Paula Dupraz-Dobias to find out what happens during the gold mining process. She tells podcast host Susan Misicka about the behind-the-scenes adventures.

Chemical & Engineering News • 4th May 2021

New WHO Science Council takes on genomic technologies

A scientific advisory body set up by the World Health Organization met for the first time April 27 and began discussing how genomic technologies could be better used in global health.

SWI swissinfo.ch • 24th April 2021

China's food security policy is shaking up commodity trading

Reports of China’s biggest food and agricultural company merging operations with its Geneva-based trading division have sent reverberations through a sector long dominated by four major players.

The New Humanitarian • 21st April 2021

Root causes and the real migration crisis in Central America

In March, a record number of children travelling alone entered the United States from Mexico irregularly, and the US federal agency tasked with preventing irregular migration carried out the most apprehensions at the country’s southern border in a single month for 15 years. But far from being the main crisis in the region, the sharp uptick in numbers is a byproduct of humanitarian emergencies playing out in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador – collectively known as the Northern Triangle of Central America – where choosing to stay or leave is often a question of life and death, according to experts.

The New Humanitarian • 24th March 2021

Why some Indigenous leaders in the Amazon are going it alone on vaccines

COVID-19 vaccines are trickling in to the Amazon region, but public mistrust in official responses and rollouts is high, prompting some Indigenous leaders in areas hit hard by the pandemic to look for their own procurement solutions as fears grow over a new variant.

SWI swissinfo.ch • 16th March 2021

Are Swiss banks really chopping environmental devastation from trade financing?

As awareness of the Amazon rainforest’s role in balancing the global climate builds, banks financing Switzerland’s important commodity trading sector are starting to re-evaluate the environmental impact of their business.

The New Humanitarian • 24th February 2021

Latin America’s shadow pandemic of GBV

When a 12-year-old girl was allegedly raped last year in Peru, she became one of the youngest victims in a shadow pandemic of gender-based violence that has skyrocketed around the world as the coronavirus crisis has unfolded.

10th February 2021

Fetisov Journalism Awards

I am so thrilled to have won second prize in the category Excellence in Environmental Journalism. The FJA Steering Committee is honored to announce the names of the winners for the Fetisov Journalism Awards 2020 in 4 categories: Outstanding Investigative Reporting, Outstanding Contribution to Peace, Excellence in Environmental Journalism and Contribution to Civil Rights. In 2020, over 280 entries from 77 countries were submitted for the worldwide competition.

SWI swissinfo.ch • 26th January 2021

How a mining corruption trial could be a turning point for dodgy offshore companies

More than seven years after his former Geneva home was searched, Franco-Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz was sentenced last Friday to a five-year prison term on charges of corruption and document forgery in a landmark case that will resonate far beyond Geneva’s Palais de Justice.

Geneva Solutions • 2nd December 2020

UN steps-up action against gender-based violence

The UN has released $25m in emergency funds to tackle escalating levels of gender-based violence (GBV) and protect the lives of women and girls during the Covid-19 pandemic.