Daily Archives: March 18, 2015

Food Security

Kenya’s Catholic Church to fight hunger by farming its vast land reserves

Religious News Service

Fredrick Nzwili

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) Drying livestock carcasses and anguished faces of hungry women and children have become a common feature here as droughts increase due to climate change.

But now, in an effort to fight hunger, the Roman Catholic Church is making 3,000 acres of church-owned land available for commercial farming.
“We want to produce food, create employment and improve quality of life for the people,” said the Rev. Celestino Bundi, Kenya’s national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies. Continue reading Kenya’s Catholic Church to fight hunger by farming its vast land reserves →

Peru

Palm oil firms in Peru plan to clear 23,000 hectares of primary forest

The Guardian

David Hill

Four oil palm plantations connected to the Palmas del Espino company are proposed in the northern Peruvian Amazon. Photograph: David Hill/David Hill
Four oil palm plantations connected to the Palmas del Espino company are proposed in the northern Peruvian Amazon. Photograph: David Hill/David Hill

Companies in Peru are planning to clear more than 23,000 hectares of primary rainforest in the northern Amazon in order to cultivate oil palm, according to NGOs.

Operations on two plantations called Maniti and Santa Cecilia which would involve clearing more than 9,300 hectares of primary forest could start imminently following a recent government decision. Continue reading Palm oil firms in Peru plan to clear 23,000 hectares of primary forest →