State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Tag: land use

  • To Preserve Tropical Forests, Empower Local Communities

    To Preserve Tropical Forests, Empower Local Communities

    In a recent webinar, researchers discussed communities in Guatemala that sustainably manage the local forest, creating jobs and income while controlling fires and narcotrafficking.

  • Trump’s Destruction of National Monuments is Unethical and Short-Sighted

    Trump’s Destruction of National Monuments is Unethical and Short-Sighted

    Preservation of national monuments is a moral issue—not a political, legal or economic issue—and we owe it to our children to stop Trump’s destruction of them.

  • The Risks and Impacts of Expropriating Community Lands

    The Risks and Impacts of Expropriating Community Lands

    While a government might consider that a community’s lands can generate greater public benefits if used as the site of a large-scale project, such as for agriculture or forestry, that needs to be balanced with how taking the land will affect the people who lived there and depended on that land.

  • The (Somewhat Less Fast) Growing Human Footprint

    The (Somewhat Less Fast) Growing Human Footprint

    The human footprint continues to expand, with three quarters of earth’s land surface now experiencing measurable pressures from buildings, roads, crops, pastures and other human structures and activities, according to a new report. But the report also finds an encouraging trend: In recent years, growth in the footprint has lagged far behind population and economic…

  • Interdependence, Sustainability, and a Sense of Place

    Interdependence, Sustainability, and a Sense of Place

    As important as global economic and cultural forces may be, I see the push for distinctive identity and a sense of place ensuring that communities and nation states will maintain their power in a more globally interconnected world. Part of it is expressed in Not in My Back Yard (NIMBY) local politics that resists development…

  • Using Spatial Analysis to Help Manage Conflict

    Using Spatial Analysis to Help Manage Conflict

    Peri-urban areas are particularly vulnerable to land use conflicts due to their geographic and socio-economic characteristics: They are transitional zones in transforming societies, where various economic activities associated with each urban setting try to co-exist. In this context, peri-urban agriculture plays a key role for the multiplicity and diversity of stakeholders providing environmental and economic…

  • Swine flu, climate change, and the future of infectious diseases

    Since the first cases of swine flu, or H1N1, were reported in April, public health organizations, governments, media and the general public have spent much time and energy trying to understand and contain the virus. Responses have ranged from the serious (like the WHO’s declaration of a phase 5 pandemic alert) to the ridiculous (like…

Science for the Planet: In these short video explainers, discover how scientists and scholars across the Columbia Climate School are working to understand the effects of climate change and help solve the crisis.
  • To Preserve Tropical Forests, Empower Local Communities

    To Preserve Tropical Forests, Empower Local Communities

    In a recent webinar, researchers discussed communities in Guatemala that sustainably manage the local forest, creating jobs and income while controlling fires and narcotrafficking.

  • Trump’s Destruction of National Monuments is Unethical and Short-Sighted

    Trump’s Destruction of National Monuments is Unethical and Short-Sighted

    Preservation of national monuments is a moral issue—not a political, legal or economic issue—and we owe it to our children to stop Trump’s destruction of them.

  • The Risks and Impacts of Expropriating Community Lands

    The Risks and Impacts of Expropriating Community Lands

    While a government might consider that a community’s lands can generate greater public benefits if used as the site of a large-scale project, such as for agriculture or forestry, that needs to be balanced with how taking the land will affect the people who lived there and depended on that land.

  • The (Somewhat Less Fast) Growing Human Footprint

    The (Somewhat Less Fast) Growing Human Footprint

    The human footprint continues to expand, with three quarters of earth’s land surface now experiencing measurable pressures from buildings, roads, crops, pastures and other human structures and activities, according to a new report. But the report also finds an encouraging trend: In recent years, growth in the footprint has lagged far behind population and economic…

  • Interdependence, Sustainability, and a Sense of Place

    Interdependence, Sustainability, and a Sense of Place

    As important as global economic and cultural forces may be, I see the push for distinctive identity and a sense of place ensuring that communities and nation states will maintain their power in a more globally interconnected world. Part of it is expressed in Not in My Back Yard (NIMBY) local politics that resists development…

  • Using Spatial Analysis to Help Manage Conflict

    Using Spatial Analysis to Help Manage Conflict

    Peri-urban areas are particularly vulnerable to land use conflicts due to their geographic and socio-economic characteristics: They are transitional zones in transforming societies, where various economic activities associated with each urban setting try to co-exist. In this context, peri-urban agriculture plays a key role for the multiplicity and diversity of stakeholders providing environmental and economic…

  • Swine flu, climate change, and the future of infectious diseases

    Since the first cases of swine flu, or H1N1, were reported in April, public health organizations, governments, media and the general public have spent much time and energy trying to understand and contain the virus. Responses have ranged from the serious (like the WHO’s declaration of a phase 5 pandemic alert) to the ridiculous (like…