Bio-rights is a payment mechanism that helps poor local communities to live in greater harmony with the environment. It covers the opportunity costs for converting the pattern of environmental degradation into one of sustainable land use. This document provides information on the bio-right mechanisms and shows some practical examples from West Africa and South East Asia

In 2020, Africa is expected to produce a relatively small but substantial part of the global biofuel demand. Millions of hectares will be turned into large scale biofuel plantations. Especially natural areas of wetlands and rainforest – the hotspots for biodiversity - are vulnerable for this development.

This report presents shocking figures on CO2 emissions from drained peatland areas. These areas were once swamp forests. Due to extensive drainage for logging, palm oil plantations and pulp wood, the peat oxidates into huge amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2).

A study of Delft Hydraulics in cooperation with Wetlands International and Alterra.

This is the policy brief (9 pages) from the WPRP study, which was driven by two objectives: to develop a framework and methodology for assessing the outcomes of conservation-poverty reduction initiatives and to apply it to such initiatives in wetlands to understand conditions and methods that can support the integration or balancing of ecosystem conservation with poverty reduction.

This video shows images from the Inner Niger Delta in Mali, Africa and interviews with local farmers and fishermen andwomen on how the water of the Nioger River can be better used and how climate change has an impact on their livelihoods. Click here to see the video online.

Proposed resolution to be adopted at the 5th General Assembly of the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil 20 November 2008 in Bali. The resolution calls for a moratorium on palm oil from tropical peatlands based on the precautionary approach in the RSPO Principles & Criteria, and the formation of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions committee to deliver its findings and recommendations by the 7th RSPO meeting in 2009.

This study was driven by two objectives: to develop a framework and methodology for assessing the outcomes of conservation-poverty reduction initiatives and to apply it to such initiatives in wetlands to understand conditions and methods that can support the integration or balancing of ecosystem conservation with poverty reduction.

Fourth in series, the newsletter brings in an update on conservation and management of Loktak Lake, Manipur a Ramsar site and a large freshwater wetland in northeast India. The current issue focuses on water management. It summarizes the various issues related to current water management which is focused on human uses (particularly hydropower generation) ignoring other ecological requirements for wetland functioning.

Call of global company Unilever for a moratorium on deforestation for palm oil. Weltands International, as a member of the Round Table of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), supports this call.

Letter to Hon. John. N. Michuki, EGH, MP, Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources about the plans to convert the Tana wetlands into sugarcane plantations for biofuel production.