Militarised Conservation Threatens DRC’s Indigenous People – Part 1

It is late afternoon when a light drizzle begins to fall over a group of young men seated together in Mudja, a village that lies approximately 20 kilometres north of Goma on the outskirts of the Virunga National Park. Mudja is home to a community of around 40 families of indigenous Bambuti, also known as ‘pygmies.’*

Today’s Malnourished Kids Are Tomorrow’s Drug Addicts

This is an interesting question. Whatever happened to the five-year-old kids who were on the “wasted and stunted” list 15 years ago due to malnutrition? I will throw in one answer: many of them may have gone into hopeless lives, then into illegal drugs. And some of them may be part of the rising statistics on the drug users and pushers killed in the current campaign against illegal drugs.

Man-Made Disasters Intensify Vulnerability

As sea levels continue to rise, coastal communities in the province of Sindh, Pakistan, must now move further inland. Whereas uncontaminated, fresh water could be found in abundance up to 20 years before , the villagers must now dig up to 18ft in search of the few sources of clean water. When the cyclone hit District Thatta in 1999, mass destruction followed in its wake. Today, villagers still feel the grave consequence of its aftermath.

Developing Countries Innovative Drivers of Sustainable Development

Developing countries are creating and sharing their own innovative solutions to development problems, Jorge Chediek, Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation told IPS in a recent interview.

UN Shaky on Protection of Journalists and Right to Information

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, one of the strongest advocates of press freedom, is facing two politically-sensitive issues which are beyond his decision-making jurisdiction: a proposal for a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) aimed at providing journalists with the right to access information, and the creation of a UN Special Envoy ensuring the safety of journalists worldwide.

The Politics of Seclusion

Discussions on the veil in Bangladesh should not ignore the writings of Begum Rokeya. She is one of the most prominent Bengali Muslim women's rights activists in the Indian subcontinent who spoke vehemently against seclusion of Muslim women in India. Readers should keep in mind that she was against seclusion not veil or parda. She wrote a book called “Oborodhbashini” which means women who live within confinement. With her tongue in cheek writing style she portrayed the ridiculousness and horrors of seclusion women were subjected to. In support of her argument many women's rights activists argued that the type of seclusion system practiced in India was not prevalent in any other Islamic countries. Hence the practice is not authentic Islamic practice as it was deemed at that time.

In His Let-bygones-be-bygones Tour, Why Did Obama Skip the Philippines?

First read In “The Interpreter” op-ed column in the New York Times, Max Fisher reported that President Obama, during his final year in office, spent time in acknowledging United States’ misdeeds in various countries that he has visited.

Rain as a Source of Fear

In the province of Sindh, Pakistan, rain is no longer a source of happiness, it is rather, a source of fear. "In the past, the climate was not so cruel", Haji Qasim, a local villager explains. As ongoing drought threatens the future of land cultivation and livestock in rural villages in the region, survival is no longer guaranteed to these victims of harsh climate change.

Making African Palm Oil Production Sustainable

“In San Lorenzo they cut down the jungle to plant African oil palms. The only reason they didn’t expand more was that indigenous people managed to curb the spread,” Ecuadorean activist Santiago Levy said during the World Conservation Congress.

WATCH: Tongi Inferno

At least 24 people were killed and 74 injured, many critically, in a huge fire triggered by a boiler explosion at plastic packaging factory Tampaco Foils Limited in Tongi industrial area of Gazipur today.

View from Abroad: Terror and Trauma in the West

As the term implies, the object of terrorism is to spread fear. And in this, jihadi outfits like Al Qaeda and the militant Islamic State group have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. The use of random violence against innocent civilians was first employed by young radicals in the 19th century when groups of idealists ranging from nihilists to anarchists set off bombs in European capitals. Their aim was to bring bourgeois governments down and replace them with their own utopian models. In fact, it was an act of terror in Sarajevo in 1914 that triggered the First World War.

Millions at Risk from Rising Water Pollution: UN

PARIS, AFP - Increasingly polluted rivers in Africa, Asia and Latin America pose a disease risk to more than 300 million people and threaten fisheries and farming in many countries, a UN report warned Tuesday.

Conservation Congress Votes to Ban All Domestic Trade in Elephant Ivory

The international conservation community has taken an important step towards saving African elephants from mass slaughter by voting at a major congress to call on all governments to ban their domestic trade in ivory.

Myths, Secrets and Inequality Surround Ugandan Women’s Sex Lives

Mambera Hellem tells her friends and neighbours about all forms of contraception, yet despite their high HIV risk she knows many of the women she speaks to will not use condoms.

Conservation Congress Sets Ambitious Target to Protect Oceans

A major environmental conference of governments and NGOs has called on nations to set aside at least 30 percent of the world’s oceans as “highly protected” areas by 2030, but delegates said opposition from China, Japan and South Africa had seriously undermined chances of success.

Entrepreneurship, Job Creation Take Centre Stage at NEPAD Meet

The two-day Second Africa Rural Development Forum concluded Friday with renewed calls to economically empower young people, many of whom are leaving the resource-rich continent and migrating to places like Europe under very risky circumstances.

Mother Nature’s Right to Live

In 2008, Ecuador codified the principle of Rights of Nature in its Constitution, recognising that ecosystems have an inalienable right to exist and flourish. “Nature, or Pacha Mama, where life is reproduced and occurs, has the right to integral respect for its existence and for the maintenance and regeneration of its life cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes,” reads Article 71 of the Constitution. Not only does the Constitution set out in detail the rights of nature, it states that “persons, communities, peoples and nations can call upon public authorities to enforce the rights of nature.”

Liberated Men

He world is dominated by men. It has not always been this way — throughout recorded history there have been societies in which women have exercised significant power over both their own lives and those of men. In the modern world, however, patriarchy is very much the rule. While it is possible to identify pockets in which men and women are relatively more equal, they remain the exceptions which make the rule.

Will the World’s Largest Single Market Transform Africa Fortunes?

Getting just a sliver of the global trade in goods and services worth more than 70 trillion dollars, Africans have every excuse to decide to trade among themselves.

Japan and South Africa Try to Block Proposed Ban on Domestic Ivory Trade

Japan and South Africa have ignited a furore at a major conservation congress by coming out against a proposed appeal to all governments to ban domestic trade in elephant ivory.

United Nations and the “i” Word

Shashi Tharoor, my former boss at the United Nations, was - and perhaps still is - a fiery defender of the United Nations. He was once asked by a BBC interviewer how did the UN feel about the “i” word, i for irrelevant? Mr. Tharoor, without missing a heartbeat, replied, “Oh, I think the 'i' word for us is actually 'indispensable.'”