SciDev.Net

Climate change threatens food crops across the world. Now scientists are re-focusing their efforts on crop resilience, rather than yields.

The Quinghai-Tibet railway has now been open for over a year. Jane Qiu evaluates its success and examines the challenges it still faces.

The palm oil industry needs to prove its sustainability and is turning to scientists for ways to minimise harm, reports Richard Stone.

T. V. Padma reports on Bhutan's dilemma: how to reconcile conservation, economic development and happiness in a modern world.

Dominic Glover outlines the status of agricultural biotechnology research, development and commercialisation in sub-Saharan Africa.

The popularity of palm oil as a biofuel is a disaster for Indonesia's forests, providing cover for illegal loggers and destroying biodiversity in the region, reports Ian MacKinnon.

Scientists have embarked on an ambitious plan to restore the ecosystems of Brazil's Atlantic rainforest devastated by deforestation, reports Bernice Wuethrich.

Conservation is seeing a surge in 'quick and dirty' biodiversity surveys with an emphasis on local participation. Thomas Hayden reports from the Amazon.

Maasai mapmakers are helping solve one of modern Africa's biggest conflicts — between humans and wild predators. Kimani Chege reports.

Miguel B. Araújo and Carsten Rahbek discuss the challenge of perfecting models that predict how species will shift with climate change.

Emma Graham-Harrison reports on how consumer demand for a 'lucky' vegetable is degrading semi-arid land in northwestern China.

Costa Rica's top biodiversity research centre aims to beat its financial problems by sharing in profits from drugs based on chemicals it discovers in local species, reports Rex Dalton.

Indian scientists say that reduced access to plant material in international gene banks will limit the country's ability to produce enough wheat, reports K.S. Jayaraman.

Eradication programmes to rid islands of non-native species could be triggering conservation issues of their own, reports Kevin Krajick.

Michael Astor reports that Brazil's attempts to prevent the exploitation of its Amazonian flora and fauna is stifling important biodiversity research.

Conservation that focused on endangered species has had limited success, so should we concentrate on ecosystems' monetary value instead? Lucy Odling-Smee reports.

Ehsan Masood reports on how Maseno University in Kenya is helping traditional healers to modernise the way they diagnose and treat illness.

T. V. Padma reports on efforts to tackle hunger and malnutrition by promoting traditional crops that have been neglected by international agricultural research.

Jane Sanders reports on a project in Fiji that combines coral reef conservation, economic development and a search for promising new drugs.

China's rapid economic growth is forcing it to confront a growing number of environmental problems, say Jianguo Liu and Jared Diamond.