Biofuels for cars can help reduce CO 2 emissions, but there are drawbacks to this approach of the environmental problem. The large areas of land needed to grow biofuel crops could threaten food production. Or nature will have to make way. The second generation of biofuels with more efficient fermentation processes are claimed to overcome these problems, but not all scientists are convinced.   read more >>

The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) is working toward achieving consensus on ways to ensure global food security. In April, in Johannesburg, some of the world’s governments will decide whether to approve the IAASTD report.   read more >>

Extreme weather events, partly caused by climate change, are already wreaking havoc, especially in the South. Both floods and droughts are expected to become more frequent and more severe and more people will be forced to live in vulnerable area...   read more >>

Louise Stoddard is the web editor for The Broker and a freelance writer and consultant based in Amsterdam Last week, after completing my registration for the Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, I went to see the new ‘ultimate disaster movie’ 2012 at the cinema. The storyline was poor, but the effects were horrifyingly impressive. Hawaii was turned into a luminous series of bubbling volcanoes and enormous floods; earthquakes and clouds of ash wiped...   read more >>

We arrived at Hotel Volendam this morning for the start of the Earth System Governance (ESG) conference to a glorious sunrise over the neighbouring cheese factory. If participants at the conference didn’t realize they were in the Netherlands before, then they sure do now. The plenary kicked off with Frank Biermann outlining the Earth System Governance Project, a ten-year plan with a focus on global, but also local level, governance. Frank briefly outlined the five different areas of foc...   read more >>

They say the pen is stronger than the sword. Certainly researchers can save the world, then.   read more >>

‘Martin Luther King did not say "I have a nightmare’’' warned Maarten Hajer in today’s session on 'New Theories for Earth System Governance. The recent ‘ClimateGate’ media coverage might seem like a nightmare for those who have been trudging the long, lobbying road to Copenhagen, but Hajer warns that the trick is in the media message. New theories of Earth System Governance have to take into account the impact that the media has on the public, and that positive messages are much more l...   read more >>

Extreme weather events, partly caused by climate change, are already wreaking havoc, especially in the South. Both floods and droughts are expected to become more frequent and more severe and more people will be forced to live in vulnerable areas. But who will pay for the measures needed to respond to the impacts of climate change?   read more >>

It is such a common mistake. We all forget things, after all. Especially when we are having fun. The CDKN should look no more for the problem (and the solution).   read more >>

Pedro Fidelman is a research rellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Australia, and fellow for the Earth System Governance Project. He is particularly interested in environmental governance, institutional analysis and common-pool resources. On Friday morning, a very interesting panel discussion took place at the ESG conference. The panellists – Roberto Guimaraes, Maarten Hajer and James Meadowcroft – provided their views on ‘New Theories for...   read more >>

Kathrin Dombrowski is a PhD student in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics. The two semi-plenaries on agency and accountability, which were held consecutively on Thursday, complemented each other well and illustrated some of the ways in which these two ‘A’s of the Earth System Governance (ESG) Science Plan are interlinked. According to Michele Betsill, the key research questions relating to agency in earth system governance are the following: What...   read more >>