Development & Aid

OPINION: The Future of Wetlands, the Future of Waterbirds – an Intercontinental Connection

By Jacques Trouvilliez
The first global treaty dealing with biodiversity was the Ramsar Convention – predating the Rio processes by 20 years.

Ecological Latrines Catch on in Rural Cuba

By Ivet González
Most people in Cuba without toilets use the traditional outhouse. But an innovative, ecological alternative is catching on in remote rural communities.

People’s Tribunal Hopes Verdict on Mining Abuses Gains Traction

By Leila Lemghalef
A recent case study on Canadian mining abuses in Latin America has woven one more thread of justice in the tapestry of international law.

Dying in Childbirth Still a National Trend in Zimbabwe

By Jeffrey Moyo
For 47-year-old Albert Mangwendere from Mutoko, a district 143 kilometres east of Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, transporting his three pregnant wives using a wheelbarrow to a local clinic has become routine, with his wives delivering babies one after the other.

Fighting Hunger from the Pitch

By Ngala Killian Chimtom
A video ad is being screened before every match at the Africa Cup of Nations currently under way in Equatorial Guinea. Part of African Football Against Hunger, a joint initiative by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Confederation of African Football (CAF), it shows a player dribbling a football, taking a shot and scoring – the winning kick is a metaphor for ending hunger in Africa by 2025.

Dumped, Abandoned, Abused: Women in India’s Mental Health Institutions

By Shai Venkatraman
Following the birth of her third child, Delhi-based entrepreneur Smita* found herself feeling “disconnected and depressed”, often for days at a stretch. “Much later I was told it was severe post-partum depression but at the time it wasn’t properly diagnosed,” she told IPS.

Missing Students Case Also Highlights Racism in Mexico

By Emilio Godoy
The mother tongue of Celso García, a 51-year-old indigenous Mexican, is Mixteca. As a boy, García, the father of one of the 43 students forcibly disappeared four months ago, had to learn Spanish to make his way in mainstream society in this country where most people are of mixed-race heritage.

Marine Resources in High Seas Should be Shared Equitably

By Dr. Palitha Kohona
After almost 10 years of often frustrating negotiations, the U.N. ad hoc committee on BBNJ decided, by consensus, to set in motion a process that will result in work commencing on a legally binding international instrument on the conservation and sustainable use, including benefit sharing, of Biological Diversity Beyond Areas of National Jurisdiction.

Good Harvest Fails to Dent Rising Hunger in Zimbabwe

By Busani Bafana
With agriculture as one of the drivers of economic growth, Zimbabwe needs to invest in the livelihoods of smallholder farmers who keep the country fed, experts say.

Conflict-Related Displacement: A Huge Development Challenge for India

By Priyanka Borpujari
The tarpaulin sheet, when stretched and tied to bamboo poles, is about the length and breadth of a large SUV. Yet, about 25 women and children have been sleeping beneath these makeshift shelters at several relief camps across Kokrajhar, a district in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam.

OPINION: Brazil Can Help Steer SDGs Towards Ambitious Targets

By Daniel Balaban
With the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expiring at the end of this year to be replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will set priorities for the next fifteen years, 2015 will be a crucial year for the future of global development.

Teenage Girls in Argentina – Invisible Victims of Femicide

By Fabiana Frayssinet
The murder of a young Argentine girl on a beach in neighbouring Uruguay shook both countries and drew attention to a kind of violence that goes almost unnoticed as a cause of death among Argentine adolescents: femicide.

OPINION: Russia’s Friendship University, Educating the Developing World for 55 Years

By Somar Wijayadasa
People’s Friendship University of Russia (PFUR), which celebrates its 55th anniversary on Feb. 5, is known worldwide as a major academic and research centre. During the last five decades, PFUR has educated 80,000 students from 145 countries.

Antiguan Shanty Dwellers Ask if Poverty Will Be the Death of Them

By Desmond Brown
It was early on a Saturday morning and there was no sign of life in the community. The shacks erected on both sides of the old, narrow road that winds through the area are all surrounded by zinc sheets which rise so high, it’s impossible to see what lies on the other side.

Marginalised Groups Struggle to Access Healthcare in Conflict-Torn East Ukraine

By Pavol Stracansky
With international organisations warning that East Ukraine is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe as its health system collapses, marginalised groups are among those facing the greatest struggle to access even basic health care in the war-torn region.
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