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Tuesday, September 1, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Economy & Trade
The Drylands Dividend: The Smart Investment for Powering a Water-Scarce World
Open a can of something fizzy and the reason the sugar doesn’t separate immediately is gum arabic, tapped by hand from acacia trees across the Sahel. Spray on perfume and the reason the scent is still there at dinner is frankincense, a resin cut from Boswellia trees on the dry escarpments of the Horn of Africa. The fat that gives a chocolate bar its snap may well be shea, gathered and pressed by women in the parkland belt of West Africa. The cashmere jumper came from goats that can only be raised on cold, dry rangelands.
Dollar Dominance Eroding Slowly but Surely
The US dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency has been eroding gradually for decades. However, various US policies, including recent deliberately unexpected actions, have at times accelerated de-dollarisation.
Africa’s Pastoralists Need More Than COP17’s $1.2 billion Rangelands Pledge
When the rains fail across Tanzania’s northern Maasai Steppe, herders drive their cattle farther in search of pasture and water.
Beyond Resilience: Climate Change and the Rights of Char Dwellers in Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s riverine and coastal chars have always been landscapes of movement, but climate change is making that movement more violent, frequent, and unequal. The shifting islands of the Jamuna, Brahmaputra, Padma, and other rivers now reveal how climate stress multiplies deprivation, weakens citizenship, and forces char dwellers to absorb the costs of a crisis they did little to create.
Fishers’ Organisations in India Demand Recognition From FAO
India is ranked the second-largest fish-producing nation globally, accounting for around 8 percent of global output. The fisheries sector in India accounts for nearly 7.43 percent of Agricultural Gross Value Added (GVA), the highest (independent) share among the agriculture and allied sectors.
The Indian Ocean Is Sounding the Alarm and Its Islands Are Among the First to Hear It
Across this vast ocean, the latest monitoring by Mercator Ocean International shows marine heatwave conditions ranging from moderate to severe. At the same time, the World Meteorological Organization expects a strong El Niño to intensify through August to October, with a positive Indian Ocean Dipole also likely to develop. These are not distant scientific signals. They are an urgent warning that the ocean system on which millions depend is under mounting stress.
Beyond the Horizon: Raising a Generation to Protect the Blue Pacific
For generations, Pacific children have grown up with the ocean as part of everyday life. It is where families fish, where stories are passed down, where livelihoods begin and where cultures are rooted.
Grand Planetary Challenges Need a Grand Coalition to Solve Them
Several coalitions exist today to defend the territories in which people live and work. Global leaders have long understood the importance of shared responsibility for collective security and have invested significant time in establishing networks, partnerships and alliances. In 2025, global spending on defense reached a record $2.9 trillion.
A Divided Vote for the UN’s Human Rights Chief
On 24 July, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly reappointed Volker Türk as High Commissioner for Human Rights for a further four years. Only 10 states – among them Israel, Russia and the USA – opposed the decision.
South Africa’s Anti-Immigrant Violence Slows SDG Goals, Rips Apart Africans’ Free Movement Call
When the Malawian government announced the conclusion of the repatriation of its citizens trapped in anti-immigrant violence against foreign Africans in South Africa on August 12, 2026, it had brought home 56,723 nationals, according to data from the Department of Disaster Management Affairs.
GEF Proposes $140 Million Program to Strengthen Drought Resilience
For pastoralists in Arvaikheer — a village in Mongolia’s dry central plains — rain can determine whether there is enough grass for cattle to roam, whether waterholes are replenished and whether families make it through another dry season. But as climate change makes rainfall increasingly unpredictable, even a wet season may no longer provide water and pasture needed to sustain people and livestock.
Cockroach Insult Unleashes Biggest Challenge yet to Modi’s Repressive Rule
India’s strongman leader, Narendra Modi, has just been forced to do the thing he likes least: making concessions in response to protests.
UNAIDS Framework Pushes for the Protection and Integration of HIV Care
As the global HIV response shifts toward sustainable, nationally led, and rights-based care, a new UNAIDS framework published this week argues that integration must start with a country's readiness.
Remembering Fidel Castro, a Hero of the World’s Oppressed People
The 13th of August marked the 100th birthday of Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz - in short Fidel Castro. Amidst an intensified US siege and the threat of invasion, Cubans commemorated their dear leader’s centenary birth anniversary with events that included an International Book Fair, art exhibitions, concerts and gatherings of delegates from left-wing organisations across the continent.
Indigenous Peoples Call for Meaningful Influence in Climate Discussions — Nia Tero
Indigenous communities have long advocated for the environment through the lens of their traditional knowledge systems and cultures. But much more work needs to be done to translate their presence into influence.
Western-Led Green Revolution Failing Africa
As AGRA turns 20, a new report exposes its worsening failure to double productivity and incomes and halve undernourishment in participating African nations as promised.
Why Dhaka Floods Every Monsoon
Dhaka’s recent and recurrent flooding is often treated as a natural disaster, but rain is only the trigger. The deeper causes are political, planning and ecological failure: wetland loss, canal encroachment, unplanned growth, weak enforcement, fragmented institutions and short-term engineering fixes. Dhaka is not drowning because it rains; it is drowning because it has been built as if water had nowhere to go.
Rising Trade Values Mask the True Cost of Global Supply Chain Disruptions
Global goods trade reached approximately USD 13.7 trillion in the first half of 2026, up 12.5 percent from the same period in 2025, while services grew 10.5 percent, together adding USD 2 trillion to global trade. While these figures point to continued expansion, much of the increase reflects rising prices rather than stronger trade volumes.
UN Special Rapporteur Urges the Protection of Children’s Rights Amid Deepening Conflict and Digital Threats
On July 7, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres presented a report from the Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation, and sexual abuse of children, Ai Kihara-Hunt, to the General Assembly, underscoring her goals and priorities for the implementation of protection measures for children worldwide.
Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan Forge Mutual Defence Pact, as Iran Pursues New Shipping Framework
In Makkah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic Türkiye, and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan agreed to the framework for a joint defence agreement where an attack on any of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all.
Asia’s Energy Progress Is Great, But Must Pick Up Pace
In much of the Asia-Pacific region, energy is a success story. Electricity access has greatly increased and the use of clean cooking fuels is now widespread. The region has kept pace with the rest of the world in adopting renewable energy. Many countries have made energy efficiency gains; the Republic of Korea is one of those in the lead worldwide. Progress has continued even in the face of recent energy crises sparked by the war in Ukraine and conflict over the Strait of Hormuz.Next Page »
UN Commission on International Trade Law Holds Colloquium on Harmonizing Law in Age of Digital Trade and Finance. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elías
Trade has historically been a geopolitical tool that can both be used to propel development as well as entrench inequalities. In various nations in East Asia and Latin America, increased trade, as often seen in export booms, has allowed them to achieve influential standings within the global economy. On the other hand, many low-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America struggle to maintain a robust trade performance, and oftentimes are subjugated to exploitative trade dynamics through intense extraction of their natural resources. In recent decades, international trade has reached a new era as emerging economies across the world are rising in economic preeminence. Stable international trade is crucial to world peace as global interconnectedness facilitates reliable diplomacy. Nevertheless, significant challenges are on the rise. Notably, a major wave of United States tariff escalations in January 2025 lifted US import taxes to their highest level since the 1930s, changing market dynamics and forcing renegotiations with global trading partners.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.
Updated by Yilan Batista and Shuli Wong August 2026
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