Population

Our Message at Davos: Water & Sanitation Are a Critical Line of Defence Against Climate Change

By Tim Wainwright
There was only one topic on everyone’s lips at Davos this year – climate change. The headlines focused on the cold war between Greta Thunberg and Donald Trump, but there was much greater consensus among those gathered for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

New Challenges to Growth in Latin America & the Caribbean

By Alejandro Werner
Economic activity in Latin America and the Caribbean stagnated in 2019, continuing with the weak growth momentum of the previous five years and adding more urgency and new challenges to reignite growth.

‘Organic is the Future’

By Sapna Gopal
Vandana Shiva, a pioneer of organic farming in India, is incensed by the 2019 draft law to compulsorily register all seeds used by farmers. On a wintry afternoon, at her farm Navdanya in the Himalayan foothills, the noted ecologist spoke on the future of the organic farming movement in India. Excerpts:

Urbanization as a Path to Prosperity

By Chris Wellisz
Growing up in New York City in the 1970s, Edward Glaeser saw a great metropolis in decline. Crime was soaring. Garbage piled up on sidewalks as striking sanitation workers walked off the job. The city teetered on the edge of bankruptcy.

**UPDATE** African Nations Caught in Conflict Re-commit to Inclusive Education

By Stella Paul
Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh knows that his country is in need of an education system that is, “innovative, based on universal principles and values and adaptive of the local realities”.

Global Inequality Continues to Grow: UNDESA Report

By Samira Sadeque
More than 70 percent of the global population is currently living in parts of the world where income inequality has grown, according to a World Social Report 2020 launched by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). 

From Digital Diplomacy to Data Diplomacy

By Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook
The digital revolution arrived late at the heart of ministries of foreign affairs across the Western world. Ministries latched on to social media around the time of Tahrir Square and Iran’s 2009 Green Revolution, beguiled by a vision of the technology engendering a networked evolution toward more liberal societies.

Pro-Growth Demographic Dogma

By Joseph Chamie
Whenever the issue of population comes up, pro-growth demographic dogma invariably dominates. Governments, political parties, businesses, the media and many others typically praise population growth and lament population slowdown, stabilization or decline. The demographic dogma basically advocates maintaining robust population growth and a larger and youthful population. 

Empowering Women in Poor Communities & Building Resilience Against Climate Pressure

By Bijal Brahmbhatt
As global temperatures continue to rise, vulnerable populations around the world are facing increasingly complex climate risks – with ongoing droughts in Zimbabwe and floods devastating Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.

Climate Change: A Tale of Weather Extremes with Mixed Fortunes for Zambia

By Friday Phiri
It is early Saturday morning and Planeta Hatuleke, a small scale farmer of Pemba District in Southern Zambia, awakens to the comforting sound of rainfall. As the locals say, the “heavens have opened” and it is raining heavily after a prolonged dry spell. 

In the Elusive Grip of an Abusive Partner: A Migrant’s Story

By Fairuz Ahmed
To live in a home with family, to have a safe environment, food and basic human necessities, are some of the essentials that most people expect to have without giving it all much thought. When a child is born, parents or caregivers are likely to provide these things. These expectations get renewed whenever someone gets married and moves to a new home, a different neighborhood, or a city. We can hardly find someone who will say that they were not expecting happiness and safety when stepping into a new relationship, or starting a new chapter of life. But these expectations of a better life turn disastrous for millions of people when they step into another country as a dependent.

India’s Citizenship Law Triggered by Rising Right-Wing Ideology

By Nadia Kanji
“Fire bullets at the traitors of the country,” chanted mobs of Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, supporters wrapped in Indian flags in Delhi last week.

UN Chief Warns of Rising Misogyny, Xenophobia, Discrimination, Racism & Hate Speech

By Antonio Guterres
As we prepare to bid farewell to 2019, we must take a clearsighted look at the global situation and the new challenges we face. Our world is undergoing a shift. It is no longer bipolar or unipolar. But it is not yet truly multipolar. Balances of power are changing, creating new and dangerous risks.

Q&A: Initiative Starts Mental Health Sessions for Bangladeshi Garment Workers

By Samira Sadeque
Nearly seven years ago, garment workers in Bangladesh were victims of one of the gravest man-made disasters in history -- a factory collapse that left more than 1,100 workers dead, and rendered thousands with injuries -- in many cases lifelong ones.  For many of the workers from Rana Plaza, the trauma remains real even to this day.

Arab Region’s Largest Youth Gathering Focuses on New Tech

By Stella Paul
On late Monday morning, a motley group of more than a thousand youth gathered in a hall in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to listen to Sophia — a humanoid robot capable of displaying humanlike expressions and interacting with people. Yahya Elghobashy, a computer science engineering student from Cairo, sat excitedly in the audience. A few meters away from him, also in the audience, was Abdel Fattah el-Sisi — the President of Egypt.

Lithium and Clean Energy in Argentina: Development or Mirage?

By Daniel Gutman
The intense white brightness of the salt flats interrupts the arid monotony of the Puna in northwest Argentina, resembling postcards from the moon. Beneath its surface are concealed the world's largest reserves of lithium, the key mineral in the transition to clean energy, the mining of which has triggered controversy.

Madrid Talks End Without Agreement on How to Finance Recovery from Climate-Related Atrocities

By Isaiah Esipisu
Millions of people, particularly in Africa, who lose their property, homes, and even die due to climate-related disasters will have to wait at least another year for the international community to agree on a means of supporting them.

How to Recognise Nigeria’s Trafficked Kids

By Tobore Ovuorie
What is human trafficking and child trafficking? IPS correspondent Tobore Ovuorie takes to the streets of Lagos to find out what Nigerians know about this crime. The answer was, surprisingly, very little. Ovuorie also speaks to experts about how to identify kids who have been trafficked and what ordinary citizens can do about it.

Haiti’s Cry for Help as Climate Change is Compared to an Act of Violence against the Island Nation

By Desmond Brown
Haiti’s Environment Minister Joseph Jouthe has compared the climate emergency to a violent act and appealed to the international community for help to fight climate change.

Commonwealth: Commit to Limit Global Warming or Face Irreversible Impacts

By Desmond Brown
Commonwealth countries, including those in the Caribbean, continue to push for more ambition, following reports that a few very influential parties have stymied efforts to respond to the climate emergency.

Climate Financing Being Undermined by Rich Nations, NGOs Charge

By Thalif Deen
The successful battle against climate change – which has triggered a rash of natural disasters, including floods, droughts and rising sea levels— will be predicated largely on the availability of financing.
« Previous Page — Next Page »