Karen Coates

Manchester

Senior Journalist at BBC

BBC Journalist with quite big hair. Cooks a lot. Enjoys being outside. Opinions are mine. Can be found at 🦋

Articles

In Pakistan, desert irrigation plans spark protests & fears among Sindh farmers

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Karen Coates

2 hours agoDubbed "Germany's forgotten genocide", and described by historians as the first genocide of the 20th Century, the systematic murder of more than 70,000 Africans is being marked with a national day of remembrance for the first time in Namibia. Almost 40 years before their use in the Holocaust, …
More than one in 10 Americans lives in a sinking city, study finds

4 weeks ago | news.mongabay.com | Karen Coates

The 28 most populous cities in the United States are all at least partly sinking. That’s according to a new study from the Columbia University Climate School. Researchers used U.S. census data from 2020 to pinpoint the country’s most populous cities, which, combined, are home to roughly 39 million people or 12% of the U.S. population. The list includes 11 coastal cities, eight riparian (sitting alongside rivers) and nine inland cities.
Uttarakhand’s extreme weather wreaks havoc on crops, livelihoods & futures

2 months ago | flipboard.com | Karen Coates

1 hour agoNEW DELHI (AP) — South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada left the Indian Premier League and returned home for personal reasons on Thursday. Gujarat Titans said in a statement on Thursday that Rabada returned to South Africa “to deal with an important personal matter.” The franchise didn’t …
Indonesia signs agrarian reform commitment amid rising land equity woes

Feb 28, 2025 | southafricatoday.net | Karen Coates

The Indonesian government and civil society groups signed a joint statement on the first day of the Asia Land Forum marking a shared commitment to fast-track agrarian reform aimed at alleviating poverty and achieving food self-sufficiency. This comes amid increasing land ownership inequality, land-grabbing, and agrarian conflicts in Indonesia, where up to 68% of lands are controlled by 1% of the population.
Conservation education is about people too: Interview with Gabon’s Léa Moussavou

Feb 16, 2025 | envirolink.org | Karen Coates

Gabon’s biodiversity is among the largest and most diverse wild ecosystems in the world, with nearly 90% of its territory covered in rainforests. The country is home to some of the world’s most iconic species such as elephants, pangolins, gorillas, chimpanzees as well as panthers and hippopotamuses. The need to protect this environment prompts the need to educate young generations.
Ecology vs. development in Karachi: Interview with photographer Salman Baloch

Feb 14, 2025 | envirolink.org | Karen Coates

Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, is home to more than 20 million people and has been in the news many times due to climate-related issues such as heat waves, urban flooding and bad air quality. On the city’s eastern side lies Malir, Karachi’s largest district, on the banks of the Malir River, home to Indigenous Sindhi and Baloch tribes for centuries.
Indonesia targets 2.3m hectares of protected forests for food & biofuel crop production

Feb 10, 2025 | southafricatoday.net | Karen Coates

Indonesia has identified 2.3 million hectares (5.7 million acres) of protected forest that could be converted into “food and energy estates,” which could result in the country’s largest-ever deforestation project. This is part of a plan to convert a total of 20 million hectares (50 million acres) of forest for food and biofuel crop production.
Indonesian company defies order, plants acacia in orangutan habitat

Jan 7, 2025 | southafricatoday.net | Karen Coates

The Indonesian company PT Mayawana Persada has shifted focus from clearing peatlands in western Borneo to planting acacia on previously cleared lands in defiance of a government order to restore damaged peatlands. The lands are home to the critically endangered Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), and any habitat loss pushes the animal closer to extinction.
Indonesia’s Indigenous communities sidelined from conservation

Dec 20, 2024 | envirolink.org | Karen Coates

JAKARTA — In recent United Nations biodiversity conferences, global leaders have championed Indigenous peoples as critical partners in achieving conservation goals. Indonesia, as a signatory to an international treaty on biodiversity protection, pledged to uphold these principles.
From Bhutan to Nigeria & Kenya, women endure climate change differently than men

Dec 19, 2024 | envirolink.org | Karen Coates

Climate change is not an equal player; neither is environmental degradation. Research shows that both disproportionately affect populations that are already vulnerable. The effects of floods, fires, heat waves and droughts are all more likely to hit harder in communities living under the poverty line or on society’s socioeconomic fringes. And gender is a critical factor. Globally, women and girls suffer the effects of climate change more than men.