Philippine research model targets ‘real-world solutions’

08/04/2024 0 Comments read Health & Science

A fisheries scientist engaging with the community in Del Carmen mangrove forests in Siargao island. Photo Credit: ©National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP)

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 08.04.2024 (SciDev.Net): Engaging with the community in research projects from the very outset ensures that research translates into meaningful real-world solutions, according to the head of the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP).

“This is contributing to the overall development of communities and by domino effect to the progress of the country and the wider ASEAN region,” NRCP Executive Director Bernardo Sepeda says.

Established in 1933 and now part of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the NRCP champions transdisciplinary research, involving all stakeholders from inception to disseminating the solution, which “ensures that science translates into real-world solutions for the people who need it”, according to Sepeda.

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Protect biodiversity to secure traditional medicine sources

25/08/2023 0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Health & Science

Fostering conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, empowering indigenous communities, and building evidence on the efficacy and safety of traditional medicine knowledge could help with narrowing the health gap. Photo Credit: ©Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 25.08.2023 (SciDev.Net): Traditional medicines and their natural sources must be protected from threats such as illegal wildlife trade to secure their role in narrowing the global health gap, say scientists.

For millions of marginalised communities, traditional medicine is the only recourse for meeting their primary healthcare needs, especially in remote and rural areas that lack access to formal healthcare systems. The World Health Organization (WHO), which held its first-ever Traditional Medicine Global Summit in Gandhinagar, India, last week (17-18 August), estimates that 80 per cent of people in most Asian and African countries use some form of traditional medicine for primary healthcare.

“Developing countries need not look towards developed countries to provide solutions, rather they can embrace what they already have – indigenous knowledge…grounded in generations of experience,” said Ritu Bharadwaj, principal researcher in the UK-based climate change research group of the International Institute for Environment and Development. Continue reading →

‘Restore tropical forests’ to address climate change

23/02/2022 0 Comments read Environment & Development, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 23.02.2022 (SciDev.Net): Restoring biodiverse tropical forests could be a nature-based solution to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and address climate change, scientists show in a study that simulates how forests will respond to future climate scenarios on earth.

According to the study, limiting global warming caused by human activity to less than two degrees Celsius requires rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions as well as reduction of carbon in the atmosphere.

Peter Talaas, secretary general of the World Meteorological Organisation, says that sea level rise and the melting of glaciers may continue until 2060 because of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. “Of course, if we had carbon removal techs we could change the big picture, but so far that’s not the case,” Talaas said at a meeting ahead of the 28 February release of a section of the sixth report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

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