SciDev.Net

Jamaica and four other Caribbean countries have been granted US$1.7 million to reduce the biodiversity threat of invasive alien species.

Biofuels are neither a panacea nor a pariah, says a major UN report, but they must not be grown on productive cropland.

Scientists and farmers from Peru and Ethiopia will defend agrobiodiversity through the exchange of scientific and traditional knowledge.

Researchers have found a way to spin fabric from water hyacinth, turning the much-criticised weed into a potential windfall.

Farmers in drought-stricken Kenya are uprooting imported eucalyptus species that were planted near water sources.

A Costa Rican research centre has opened the most advanced biotechnology laboratory in Central America.

Ecuadorian authorities are fumigating aeroplanes to stop disease-carrying mosquitoes hitching a ride to the Galapagos islands.

A genetic 'barcode' proposed for plants should improve knowledge of plant distribution while striking a blow against illegal loggers.

Poor countries may become more open to sharing seeds now that a fund to support their crop protection efforts has been agreed.

The loss of biodiversity in South America has been analysed by experts from 12 countries, who have urged local communities to commit to conservation.

Shade-grown coffee farms are rich in native tree species and are important corridors of genetic diversity linking forests, say researchers.

Tropical forests that grow back following deforestation are unexpectedly rich in plant and animal life that can help conservation efforts.

Researchers have found that more than half the plants in west Nepal have medicinal use — higher than that reported in previous studies.

Cultivation of areca nut in India can help conserve biodiversity, with implications for other forms of tropical farming, say researchers.

Ecuadorian researchers disagree with an article in the new constitution that bans patenting products related to the country's biodiversity.

Scientists are proposing a set of guidelines to tackle developing countries' resistance to take up DNA barcoding for biodiversity mapping.

Protected conservation areas attract human settlement rather than drive people away, which could threaten biodiversity, finds a study.

South Asian nations have agreed on a three-year plan to lessen climate change impacts in the region.

Following the UN biodiversity conference, countries have agreed a roadmap to negotiate the access and sharing of genetic resources.

China's growing infrastructure is boosting the spread of potentially destructive animals, insects and plants, a new report warns.