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Tuesday, April 23, 2024
News and Views from the Global South
Development & Aid
Despite Gains, South Korean Women Still Struggle for Equality
Forty-six year-old language professor Kwon Hye Yang views her life as a typical example of the growing confidence of modern women in her home country, South Korea.
PARAGUAY: Clean Water Out of Reach for Native Peoples
Of the many things that are not within the reach of everyone in Paraguay, safe drinking water is the one the indigenous population longs for most.ZAMBIA: Need to Mainstream Gender Equality into all Policies
Despite the adoption almost a decade ago of a national gender policy that aims to ensure fair participation of men and women in the development process, most of the Zambian government’s policies still remain gender blind, say civil society and women's rights associations.MEXICO: Laws Criminalising HIV Transmission Are Discriminatory
In 30 of Mexico's 32 states there are laws penalising transmission of HIV, the AIDS virus, which are regarded by experts as discriminatory and ineffective in curbing the epidemic.
BRAZIL: Belo Monte Dam Will Change Way of Life on Xingu River
At dawn, the "captain" fired on the village leader and the shooting began. "The forest trembled," says one survivor: the local indigenous people fled, leaving their dead behind. Only one young girl remained. But she sank her teeth into the chest of one of the assailants with such force that they slit her throat to pull her off him.
TRADE-SOUTHERN AFRICA: The End of EPA Acrimony May Be in Sight
Southern African trade ministers have pledged to sign a significantly scaled down economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) before the end of 2010. Could this be the conclusion to years of divisive negotiations?MALAYSIA: Thousands of Refugees Living in Constant Fear of Arrest
As Rajoo, 27, makes tea at a rundown shed in Brickfields, a depressed suburb of the capital inhabited by hundreds of Tamil immigrants from Sri Lanka, he evinces no sign of anxiety and a deep yearning for something.AUSTRALIA: New PM Called On to Tackle Climate Change
Australia’s newly appointed prime minister, Julia Gillard, has hardly warmed her seat, yet she has already been urged to take action on climate change.
UGANDA: Too Young to Know, Yet Too Young to Die
Thirteen-year-old Jacinta Okello and her fellow primary school classmates call it "doing bad manners". But when you ask her what she knows about sex, she breaks into a shy smile, looks to her feet and giggles.URUGUAY: Incubating Businesses and ICT Job Prospects
"Without this opportunity, I might never have been able to get a higher education," says Paolo Carabajal, one of the beneficiaries of a digital development plan in this city in northwestern Uruguay.
Brick by Brick, Women Builders Make Their Way in Brazil
It looks like any other construction site: wheelbarrows full of bricks, boards and steel bars trundling back and forth to a soundtrack of hammering, sawing and drilling. But there is a difference: some of the construction workers underneath the hard hats are women.
WORLD: “Anti-Counterfeit Deal Threatens Accessibility of Drugs”
A proposed anti-counterfeit trade deal between 10 countries and the European Union (EU) could create "a new set of barriers to the export of generic medicines to low income countries".
Conservation Can Be a Weapon Against Poverty
In the Sierra Gorda, in central Mexico, a new approach is being tested for protecting the environment in a way that also ends poverty.
Nature vs. Nurture in Forest Recovery
Some experts disagree with the German government's plan to extend virgin natural areas, saying it will open the way for pests. Supporters say it will help protect biodiversity.Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Self-Sufficient Streetlights
A self-sufficient streetlight created by engineer Fernando Ximenes, of the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceará, could save up to 21,000 reais (11,280 dollars) per kilometer of public lighting.Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Referendum on Agro-Chemical Plant
Residents of Casilda, in the eastern Argentine province of Santa Fe, will gather at the voting booths in July to vote on whether an agro-chemical factory can be built in their town.Ecobreves – MEXICO: Wanted: Plan to Fight BP Oil Spill
Mexican environmentalists are demanding that the Felipe Calderón administration do something to prevent the massive oil spill off the U.S. coast in the Gulf of Mexico from reaching this country's coast.Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Communities Take Over Forest Management
Two communities in the west-central Honduran region of Orica will be in charge of control and management of 496,000 hectares of forest as part of the benefits granted under the March 2008 Forestry Law.
PAKISTAN: Water Trickles Back into Village, Thanks to Solar Desalination
Ismail Achar never thought a day would come when his island village would be reduced to a barren tract of land with hardly a drop of water to drink.ENVIRONMENT: Thailand Fights Addiction to Plastic Bags
Buy a hairpin and the sales clerk has a microscopic plastic bag for it. A soda purchase from a corner store may end up having the liquid poured into a plastic bag, and then topped off with a plastic straw. There is no plastic bag yet that could fit a car, but if there was one country that could come up with one, Thailand would probably be it.BRAZIL: Forestry Law Reforms Augur More Disasters
While the Brazilian authorities tally the death toll and the economic losses caused by recent torrential rains in the northeast, activists warn that a legislative bill to modify the Forestry Code will only worsen the effects of extreme weather, which is increasingly frequent in the context of climate change.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Poverty poses the greatest challenge to the promotion of peace, equality, and prosperity for all. Acknowledging the eradication of poverty and hunger as fundamental to sustainable development, the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 as “a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity.” These Goals call on the international community to further human dignity and equality, promote global sustainability, and develop peaceful and inclusive societies. IPS sheds light on the stories of peoples and communities facing the realities of development around the world.
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