“Up here, it is as if the pandemic did not exist”
by Seeing the capital from up here, in the hills high above the rooftops, our perspective changes. The distance is small, but mentally, this is another …
Author: Lise Josefsen Hermann
Sex-workers in Ecuador badly affected by the economic aftermath of COVID-19
by Characterized by old, white colonial style buildings, the historical center of Quito is recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and normally well visited by tourists – foreign as well as national. It has also become infamous for insecurity reasons, issues with drug and alcohol use in the streets and theft. And then it is one of the areas where you find sex workers offering their services on the streets.
Noise in the houses: Missing women and girls in Peru
The consequences of the coronavirus in Peru go far beyond health and the economy. Female disappearances in the Latin American country have reached 11,828 in 2020, the year of the pandemic. Many are victims of sexist violence. The case of Joys Stefani tells about the agony of those who lose track of a loved one.
Climate change: Permafrost carbon remobilization
by Earth’s climate is dynamic. Past environmental conditions can be studied to give insights about current and future changes. As the planet warms quickly, scientists rush to investigate climate archives spanning thousands of years in order to unlock this information. Within the science community, there is an overwhelming consensus about human causing the current climate crisis among the science community, but it is a big challenge to raise awareness among the public.
Sami-youth in Finland: “Our culture is threatened by climate change – and we are not even part of the conversation about it”
Talking about climate change on several levels and with different meanings – is something essential to Anni-Sofia Niittyvuopio (21), Head of the Youth Council of …
The shark case in Colombia – including researchers in policymaking
A recent controversial resolution on fishing quota in Colombia, that permitted to catch sharks, have had a strong reaction in the scientific area. Three private universities in Bogota managed to make the government go over it again, after making a common call to include researchers and studies.
Colombia struggling to improve level of research
A recent initiative of the first Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in Colombia creates hope in the research-ambience in the country and expectations of stronger budgetary prioritizing of this central area for development in the country.
Female scientist fighting for her place studying climate change in Ecuador
Meet the Ecuadorian scientist who defied machismo-culture in the academic world in Ecuador, to study thoroughly a big passion for her – climate change and its effects on her native mountain region and in the end the water supply in the country.
“Our water depends on these places – and we still don’t understand well, exactly how”
Maria Elena Gutierrez-Lagoueyte, a young ecologist, from the Colombian city Medellin, studies in detail the plants of the páramos (the moorlands). She studies the plants in order to understand how the unique Andean ecosystem plays a central role in the water cycle, providing the drinking water for around 40 million people in South America. But we do not know how exactly those moorland plants function.
“The spectacled bear just doesn’t sell as well as the polar bear”
The Colombian hydroclimatologist Daniel Ruíz Carrascal is one out of only three IPCC authors from Colombia. He has dedicated his life to studying climate change, especially in the mountains and the páramos (the moorlands). And he is worried about the future – he doesn’t have a clue what will happen with those fast and important changes.