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CLIMATE CHANGE: The Danish Example
By Julio Godoy*
COPENHAGEN - Whether a new internationally binding treaty to reduce greenhouse gases and forestall climate change will be signed next month remains to be seen. What is clear though, is that if there is a place in the world that deserves to be the stage where this treaty ought to be signed, it is the Danish capital of Copenhagen.
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BRAZIL: Green Beans to Go, Roast Coffee Grounded
By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO - For over a century and a half, Brazil has led the world in green coffee bean production and exports, without ever achieving similar success with processed beans. Some of the internal and external hurdles reflect the dilemma of reliance on agricultural commodities for export revenue.
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Q&A: "One Can't Work 18 Hours a Day and Still be Poor"
Isolda Agazzi interviews BABACAR NDAO, West African farmer
GENEVA - Given the billions of dollars and euros that the U.S. and EU spend on trade-distorting support measures and the intractable lobby groups demanding these subsidies, these rich states’ promises to reduce such amounts will come to nought. It makes no sense for poor African states to allow these goods to flood their markets.
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AGRICULTURE-KENYA: Finally, a Windfall for Tea Farmers
By Suleiman Mbatiah
NAIROBI - Despite the sweltering sun and with a heavy load on her back Mary Muthoni strides to the tea buying centre with joy and pride painted on her face. "This is a different year," she smiles, hurriedly greeting other women farmers at the centre. For them, the story is the same: blessings in times of calamity.
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TRADE-SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Rice Tariffs Snarl ASEAN Single Market
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
CHA-AM, Thailand - Rice, the staple dish across South-east Asia, has emerged as an apt symbol of the region’s commitment – or lack of it – to unveiling a free trade area for its 10 members when the New Year dawns.
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Q&A: Small Sugar Farmers Not so Sweet on End of Sugar Protocol
Nasseem Ackbarally interviews SALIL ROY, sugar farmer and leader of the Planters’ Reforms Association in Mauritius
PORT LOUIS - The Sugar Protocol enabling developing world sugar farmers to produce for the European market over the past 34 years ended on Sep 30. Among these, the small island state of Mauritius built two major industries -- tourism and textile and clothing – on the back of its sugar sales.
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DRC: Electricity Lines Overhead But Never Seen a Light Bulb
By Stanley Kwenda
KINSHASA - "We produce electricity but we manage darkness. We have big energy sources of electricity but only 20 percent of the population has access to electricity because most of the energy is sold to foreign countries."
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RIGHTS-CHILE: Mapuche Activist's Death Heats Up Conflict
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO - The lack of opportunities for dialogue and participation and the struggle for control over land and natural resources in Chile are hurdles to a solution to the Mapuche Indians' century-long conflict, which claimed a new victim this week: a 24-year-old activist shot by the police while taking part in an occupation of land claimed as indigenous territory.
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TECHNOLOGY: Rare Metals Could Trigger Next Trade War
By Emilio Godoy*
MEXICO CITY - Used in electric car motors and wind turbines, neodymium, a "rare earth metal," is at the epicentre of the race between wealthy and emerging nations to create green technologies, while poorer countries appear to be relegated to spectator status.
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AGRICULTURE-ARGENTINA: Yearning for the Days of Plenty
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES - Argentina’s grain harvest, which grew steadily over the last five years, fell by 30 percent this growing season due to the worst drought in a century, a reduction in the area sown, and meagre investment in technology to improve yields.
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ECONOMY: Coffee Weathering the Crisis
By Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA - Former Costa Rican president Rodrigo Carazo (1978-1982) said that at times of global recession, economies like that of his country, dependent on what he called "dessert" exports - like bananas or coffee - would be hit the hardest because they are among the first products people stop buying when money gets tight.
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MINING-AFRICA: Help Yourself, There's Plenty
By Joyce Mulama
NAIROBI - The African continent is rich in natural resources; but the terms under which multinational companies exploit these resources mean that governments - and Africa’s people - enjoy only a tiny fraction of the benefits.
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AGRICULTURE-ARGENTINA: Worst Drought in 100 Years
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES - Severe drought, which is many parts of Argentina is considered the worst in 100 years, has hit the country’s most agriculturally productive region and is expected to cause a sharp decline in grain and meat output.
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LABOUR-SRI LANKA: Gloomy Prospects in 2009
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - If the global financial crisis slams the brakes on worker remittances from the Middle East, Sri Lanka’s top foreign exchange earner, it could severely exacerbate this country’s economic woes, analysts say.
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PERU: Coffee Growers Cultivate Education
By Milza Hinostroza*
JUNÍN, Peru - "Without coffee there is no future," say coffee growers in the Selva Alta, in the central Peruvian region of Junín, where they are setting up schools near their farms so that their children don't abandon their studies.
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Food, grains, metals. In a new world of rising prices, commodities are back on the global agenda. But can extractive industries and agriculture help reduce poverty? They have been touted as a tool for development; however, in some cases commodities have flourished in contexts of corruption, conflict and ecological destruction, damaging people's lives and opportunities, while benefiting elites and foreign companies. Growing demand pushes prices up, enabling Africa and Latin America to profit from the formidable expansion of Asian economies. IPS reports on the perspectives and pitfalls of the remarkable upswing.

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WHAT'S BEHIND SOARING COMMODITY PRICES
    by Jose Graziano da Silva
MAY 2008 (IPS) - There are two distinct elements driving the current commodity price increases: one is financial; the other is the hitherto unheard of shift in demand: the expansion of consumption in poor countries, writes Jose Graziano da Silva, regional representative for Latin America and the Caribbean at the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).
MAKING HIGH COMMODITY PRICES HELP THE POOREST NATIONS
    by Ali Mchumo
APRIL 2008 (IPS) - Since 2001, the prices of many commodities and other natural resources have soared, providing commodity-dependent developing countries with an opportunity to use the increased revenues to combat poverty and make real economic and social gains, writes Ambassador Ali Mchumo, managing director of the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC).
News in RSS
US-INDIA: State Visit by Singh Could Smooth Bumpy Relations
PERU: Fighting Hunger with Native Crops
RIGHTS-CHAGOS: 'My Navel is Buried There'
GENDER-AFRICA: Some Progress Amidst Continuing Challenges
AFGHANISTAN: Insurgents Infiltrate Security Forces
LEBANON: Migrant Women Dying on the Job
POLITICS: U.N. in Final Push for 2015 Development Goals
CLIMATE CHANGE: Health at Risk
RIGHTS-MEXICO: State Held Responsible for Three Juárez Killings
POLITICS-BOTSWANA: I Lost the Election, But I Am a Winner
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Global Initiative on Commodities Strategy
Financing Commodity Development - UNCTAD
World Trade Organisation
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
All ACP Agricultural Commodities Programme
Oil for Development
Bananas, Oil, and Development
Food and Agriculture Organisation
World Food Programme
Food First
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