Climate and Environment

Solar Sister entrepreneurs earn commissions for the sale of solar energy products to people who need them. Photo: <a href="http://www.solarsister.org/">Solar Sister</a>

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Sustainable Energy

Solar Sister: Lighting up livelihoods from one sister to another

A recent CNN article explains how one group in east Africa aims to help women create economic opportunities and eradicate energy poverty at the same time through commission-based sales of solar products

A new IIED report spells out the need for clean-energy projects to measure success based on metrics to which local stakeholders have agreed. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/16901703@N06/4290071780/sizes/z/in/photostream/">Groundreporter (Flickr)</a>

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Sustainable Energy

How to measure clean-energy success

How will we figure out whether our antipoverty project succeeded? A new report recommends getting guidance from its beneficiaries.

Declaring victories would be so easy if only we didn't have to prove they were real. A new report has advice on how to do so.

Koblah Agbeta holds up rice seeds from his farm in Abutia Kpota, Ghana. Quality seeds are critical for a good harvest. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/48639212@N02/4775000120/">Gates Foundation (Flickr)</a>

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Value Chains

GMO wars should take back seat to other farm issues, says DuPoint Pioneer

A corporate seed manufacturer is suggesting that slowing the spread of genetically modified crops would be acceptable, if that's what it takes to keep industrializing Africa's farms.

SELCO Technician installing solar panels. Credit: SELCO

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Sustainable Energy

SELCO: A shining star in market-driven social enterprise

This article was republished by The Christian Science Monitor

In India, one iconoclastic solar company employs deep knowledge of the ways communities use energy to overthrow the traditional means of bringing power to the people.

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The history of climate change negotiations in 83 seconds

Traditional cooking fire in Myanmar. Photo: B. Manser for Mercy Corps.

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Sustainable Energy

Clean cookstoves in Mozambique lure big investors

This article was republished by The Christian Science Monitor .

Crops resilient to climate change are especially important to farmers in developing countries. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cimmyt/5210265334/">CIMMYT (Flickr)</a>.

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Value Chains

As climate becomes a moving target, 'virtual crops' aim for the future

Climate change is threatening crop survival. Some researchers believe the solution lies in "virtual crops."

Women with small businesses who lost inventories can make up the loss with the Kore W loan product offered by MiCRO and Fonkoze. Photo: Jeremy Barnicle for Mercy Corps.

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Financial Inclusion

Hurricane Sandy triggers largest Haiti microinsurance payout to date

The reinsurance company Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organisation (MiCRO) will make a significant payout to the Haitian microfinance institution Fonkoze following Hurricane Sandy.

Mera Gao Power: Men installing solar panels

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Sustainable Energy

To feed its growth, India weighs coal subsidies against solar ones

Could decentralized, solar energy be the solution to India’s power poverty?

Nairobi is home to the first of a UN-created system of incubators for green business. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/2629335476/in/set-72157605940042670/">World Bank (Flickr)</a>

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Sustainable Energy

Can Kenya's new climate center pull green investors to Africa?

In an attempt to reposition developing economies “towards low carbon, green growth paths,” the World Bank has opened its first Climate Innovation Center in Nairobi, Kenya.

The "Conservation Note" should protect large parcels of land from commercialization <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkercleaveland/1190467586/">Flickr, Adam Walker Cleaveland</a>

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Buy this forest! The Nature Conservancy puts idle capital to work for the planet

With its new "Conservation Note" initiative, the Nature Conservancy is giving back to those who give—with a guaranteed return on investment.

Satellites orbiting the Earth may turn out to be much cheaper than either insurance adjusters or local weather stations. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasaearthobservatory/7420745884/in/photostream/">NASA Earth Observatory</a>

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Financial Inclusion

Satellite maps of African weather promise a microinsurance breakthrough

High above Africa, a fleet of satellites are now staring like hawks at the continent's weather patterns. Their goal: cheap farm insurance.

Rainforest advocates in Indonesia. One thinker claims the modern environmental movement has played little role in staving off the catastrophes it predicted in the 1970s. Photo <a href="http://flic.kr/p/aaj1bD">Rainforest Action Network (Flickr)</a>

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Sustainable Energy

Don't panic, environmentalists: A richer world can be a better one

Forty years ago, a shocking report tagged economic growth as the catalyst for environmental collapse. Now, a new article claims the world's responses to that forecast failed to make things better.