Ecobreves – ECOBRIEFS: BRAZIL

The sisal plant (Agave sisalana), whose fiber serves as a raw material for making sacks, crafts and furniture, also produces an effective natural insecticide according to scientists at the State University of Feira de Santana, in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahía.

DEVELOPMENT: Indonesia Still Struggling with Disaster Management

Despite being hit by powerful earthquakes this year, Indonesia is still reeling from the lack of an effective disaster management system that could prevent extensive loss of life and damage to property.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Collaborating on Sustainable Solutions

Mauritian experts are helping set up cogeneration systems to feed the hunger for electricity in Tanzania, Zambia and elsewhere. An example of how appropriate technology can be applied to problems common to countries in the global South.

U.S.: “We All Breathe the Same Air and Drink the Same Water”

Some 8,000 kilometres from the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Native American environmental experts from 66 tribes came together at a summit here this week to address the most pressing needs in their communities - problems, all emphasised, that know no geographic boundaries.

RIGHTS: Women’s Treaty a Powerful Force for Equality

Activists and U.N. officials celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) say the treaty has been an increasingly successful tool for challenging discriminatory laws and battling violence against women's and girls.

EAST AFRICA: No Laws to Fight HIV Stigma in Schools

Although he was born with the virus, it was only 15 years after his birth that Robert* and his family discovered he was HIV-positive.

CARIBBEAN: Closer Ties with Latin America Jolted by EU Banana Deal

As the European Union gets ready to sign an agreement with Latin America to end a 16-year trade war over bananas, Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries are expressing their frustration at the perceived double standards of the Latin Americans leaders.

MIDEAST: Settlers Aim a Kick at Football

Without an efficient bureaucracy, occupation of the land of another people cannot be sustained. This is all the more true of Israel's 42-year occupation of Palestinian lands.

PAKISTAN: Faithful Celebrate Eid Amid Fear, Use Online Services

For Waqas Ahmed, 9, the sight of half a dozen gun-totting policemen—perched on the rooftop of the mosque in his neighbourhood—was very disturbing, to say the least. He had been used to seeing a security guard frisking the faithful during Friday prayers. But what he saw this time on his way to the mosque to say his Eid ul Azha prayers was extraordinary.

Millennium Development Goal 3 and the role of the media – 22

Millennium Development Goal 3 and the role of the media - 22 Isatou Jallow, Chief Woman, Children and Gender, WFP

AFRICA: Campaign to Unite Against Malaria Kicks Off

Growing up in Cameroon, Joseph-Antoine Bell and his friends used to think that by playing football they could get rid of malaria.

PERU: Women Workers Forced into Informal Economy

In Peru, 51 percent of all jobs are generated by the informal economy, a sector that has a female face, as more than 60 percent of the women workers in the country are forced into informality, with only 15 percent having health coverage and a mere four percent enjoying retirement benefits.

HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Lots of Drugs, No Takers

Martha* knows that her two young sisters and her need medicine. She also knows where to get it – a clinic a few yards away from her home in Glen Norah, a high-density suburb in the Zimbabwean capital.

INDIA: Toxins Still Killing 25 Years After Bhopal Gas Leak

"When I saw the leaves on the trees curl and turn black and birds fall dead out of the sky, I knew that this was Death, come among us as foretold. My regret is that I survived," said a native of Bhopal, India after a gas leak at a pesticide plant killed 8,000-10,000 people in 1984.

DEVELOPMENT: Global Challenges Require Innovative Partnerships

The High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation kicked-off here Tuesday, with U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha Rose Migiro calling for practical solutions and reinforced South-South and North-South partnerships to address the demands of our "deeply interconnected world."

ECONOMY: Neo-liberalism Preys on Nordic Welfare Systems

Nordic welfare state systems, often held up as model in the developed world, are crumbling under the assault of neo-liberal economic policies, say economic experts.

Millennium Development Goal 3 and the role of the media – 21

Millennium Development Goal 3 and the role of the media - 21 Marcela Villareal, Director, Gender, Equity and Rural Employment, FAO

Millennium Development Goal 3 and the role of the media – 20

Millennium Development Goal 3 and the role of the media - 20 Annina Lubbock, Gender and Household Food Security Desk, IFAD

EAST TIMOR: Cross-Country Ties an Obstacle to Justice

East Timor’s leaders say bringing to justice perpetrators of atrocities committed during the Indonesian army’s occupation would sour relations between the neighbouring countries, but not everyone is so keen to forgive and move on.

Millennium Development Goal 3 and the role of the media – 19

Millennium Development Goal 3 and the role of the media - 19 Marta Guglielmetti, Coordinator, U.N. Millennium Cam- paign Italy

Millennium Development Goal 3 and the role of the media – 18

Millennium Development Goal 3 and the role of the media - 18 Simone Ovart, President National Committee, UNIFEMM Italy