Tuesday, June 27, 2017
News and Views from the Global South
Economy & Trade
China Drives Nuclear Expansion in Argentina, but with Strings Attached
Two new nuclear power plants, to cost 14 billion dollars, will give a new impetus to Argentina’s relation with atomic energy, which began over 60 years ago. President Mauricio Macri made the announcement from China, the country that is to finance 85 per cent of the works.
Any Way to Help Slow Down Climate Change… Individually?
It is no secret that the biggest responsible for climate change is greed. The greed of the world’s largest private corporations, which blindly seek unlimited high financial benefits. And the greed of those politicians who are also blindly keen about holding their temporary power at any cost, thus not daring to challenge big business. Ordinary people can meanwhile help slow down such a hellish race.
Putting the Spotlight on Women Migrant Workers
Migrant workers, and their economic contribution to the development of both the country of origin and the host country, have caught the eye of governments and policymakers worldwide.
Rural Poverty? Cooperatives!
Humanity has had and has big projects. Mastery of nature is one, still going on. Middle range phenomena have been mastered, but not the micro level of viri–HIV is a current case–nor the macro level of climate–to the contrary, humanity is making it worse.
Global Devaluation of Work Drives Up Unemployment in Brazil
In addition to driving up the number of unemployed people to 14.2 million, the severe recession of the last two years led Brazil to join the global trend of flexibilisation of labour laws in order to further reduce labour costs.
The World Is Burning
Record high temperatures are gripping much of the globe and more hot weather are to come. This implies more drought, more food insecurity, more famine and more massive human displacements.
UN Response Teams Underfunded as Costs Hit Staggering $23.5 Billion
UN response teams that help the most vulnerable people in the world are still largely underfunded, a new status report has revealed.The funding available to the teams is no match for the record number of people—141 million—who need assistance today.
East Asia’s Real Lessons
International recognition of East Asia’s rapid economic growth, structural change and industrialization grew from the 1980s. In Western media and academia, this was seen as a regional phenomenon, associated with some commonality, real or imagined, such as a supposed ‘yen bloc’.
Children Now More Than Half of the 65 Million Displaced
Around 20 people are newly displaced every minute of the day, according to a new report.In its annual Global Trends report, the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR has recorded unprecedented and concerning levels of displacement around the world.
The World Society Needs to Express Greater Solidarity for Refugees Worldwide
The world is heading into troubled waters as we are witnessing an unprecedented movement of people – refugees, migrants and internally displaced persons (IDPs) alike – fleeing from misery, poverty and conflicts. The refugee crisis that has swept across Europe and the Middle East is becoming the 21st century’s most protracted crisis with no immediate solution in sight. The world has not witnessed a more complex movement of people since the end of the Second World War; thousands of human beings undertake perilous and treacherous journeys in hope for a better and a safer future. Many of them perish during these hazardous journeys.
New Inhumane Record: One Person Displaced Every Three Second
Nearly 66 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes last year, the United Nation refugee agency has reported.
UN Work Stoppage in Geneva Halts Human Rights Meeting
As UN staffers in Geneva threaten a strike, protesting a proposed salary cut of over 7.5 percent, a token two-hour “work stoppage” last week forced the Human Rights Council to suspend its meeting.
Achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Kenya through Innovative Financing
Every year, one million Kenyans are driven below the poverty line by healthcare-related expenditures. Poverty predisposes them to disease and slows all aspects of growth in the economy.
Africa: Drought and Jobless, Hopeless Youth, Fertile Grounds for Extremism
Ignoring the plight of jobless young people in sub-Saharan Africa is a recipe for political instability and global insecurity, warned a high-level symposium of Africa’s interior, environment and foreign affairs ministers in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Safeguarding Precious Crop Genes in Trust for Humanity
A genetic resource centre run by the Nigeria-based International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has banked thousands of crop varieties for disaster relief and research, holds the world’s largest and most diverse collection of cowpeas, and contains some of Africa’s rarest insect species.
Africa Could Help Feed the World – If Its Fertile Land Doesn’t Vanish
The 23rd World Day to Combat Desertification was celebrated in Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou on June 15 with a call to create two million jobs and restore 10 million hectares of degraded land.
IFAD’s President Houngbo Calls for Investment in Climate-Smart Agriculture for Poverty-Free Future
Implementing climate-smart agriculture is critical to reduce hunger and poverty, according to International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) new president Gilbert Houngbo.
Women, Still Major Victims of Sharp Disparities at Workplaces
Reducing gender disparities at workplaces by 25 per cent by 2025 could inject nearly 5.8 trillion dollars into the global economy and boost tax revenues, according to a United Nations report, ahead of the UN Labour Organization’s Summit on "A better future for women at work" on June 15.
Migrant Workers Pour Trillions into World Economy
A new report by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) says the flow of money from migrants—commonly located in developed countries—to their families in lower income countries has doubled over the last decade.
Global Coalition Calls for Withdrawal of SDGs Progress Report
A report on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) fails to capture the the true picture of water challenges and the UN must withdraw it, said a global civil society coalition.
East Asian Miracle Myth Making
Even before the term ‘Washington Consensus’ (WC) was popularized, it was already coming under great criticism despite the ‘counter-revolutions’ against ‘development economics’ and Keynesian economics associated with Thatcherism and Reaganomics. At the World Bank, the Japanese Executive Director argued that the WC menu of policy advice and conditionalities had resulted in the 1980s’ ‘lost decade’ in Latin America and Africa. In contrast, the East Asian region had seen rapid growth and industrialization.Next Page »
Trade has historically been a geopolitical tool, creating significant economic imbalances in developing countries. However, many countries in East Asia and Latin America have been able to alleviate poverty due to increasing trade. Tackling poverty has proven to be much harder in low income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America, and their dismal trade performance is one important reason for that. They remain at the margins of world trade and indeed of the world economy. These articles are aimed at informing readers about the complexities of trade and its varying effects on development, with a special focus on the consequences of the global economic crisis, the potential of fair trade and the gender implications of trade policies.
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Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world