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Monday, August 17, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Small-scale Fisherfolk in Rio de Janeiro – a Vanishing Species
"My sons will be anything, but never fishermen,” said 32-year-old Maicon Alexandre, the youngest of the leaders of Ahomar, a union of small-scale fisherpeople on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.No Strategy for Civilisation in Crisis
The Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in Istanbul in 1996 was one of the international meetings most open to civil society participation.
Climate Change: Waiting for a Catastrophic Wake-Up Call *
Disasters are the new midwives of history. But in order to play this role, they need to be catastrophic, like the accidents in Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011 that led governments to suspend and even abolish their nuclear energy programs.
Cilantro Spices Up Coexistence with Drought in Brazil
Many grow lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, beets and other vegetables. But cilantro is ever-present in the gardens that are helping rural families weather the lengthy drought that is once again wracking Brazil’s impoverished Northeast.
Belo Monte Dam Hit by Friendly Fire
Those who made the final decision on the design of Brazil’s Belo Monte hydroelectric dam will face legal action in the future for the damages caused. This is the kind of warning one would expect from environmentalists, but in this case it comes from a surprising quarter: staunch supporters of hydropower.
Brazil Drives Energy Integration in South America
Energy integration in South America will be a reality "in the medium to long term," driven by hydropower and drawing on Brazil’s experience, predicts Altino Ventura Filho, secretary of planning in this country’s Ministry of Mines and Energy.
Worker Revolts Delay Mega-Projects in Brazil
In Grenoble, France, there is a 40-metre-long scale model of the Jirau dam that is being built in Brazil’s Amazon jungle. The exact replica of the project makes is possible to foresee and analyse possible risks, such as the heavy flow of sediment in the Madeira River.
Conditions for Construction Workers Improving in Brazil
A year after workers' riots that brought work on the Jirau hydroelectric dam to a halt for months and forced the government and companies to engage in national negotiations to improve labour conditions in the construction industry, another strike has caused tension again in the dam construction project in northwest Brazil.
Integration Can Help Amazon’s Post-Megaproject Blues
Trade with the rapidly expanding market in Peru will aid Porto Velho, in northwest Brazil, to cushion the blow of job and business losses in the wake of the construction of two hydroelectric plants on the Madeira river.
Green Economy Seeks to Maintain Growth Threatened by Disasters
There is every indication that major disasters could be the new midwives of history. Seeking to prevent them, the green economy aims to reduce "environmental risks" and "ecological scarcities" while improving human well-being and social equity.
Green Economy Seeks to Maintain Growth Threatened by Disasters
There is every indication that major disasters could be the new midwives of history. Seeking to prevent them, the green economy aims to reduce "environmental risks" and "ecological scarcities" while improving human well-being and social equity.
BRAZIL: A Curse on Hydropower Projects in the Amazon?
"Perhaps it's the curse of Rondônia," joked Ari Ott, referring to teething troubles with the first turbine of the Santo Antônio hydroelectric plant which was intended to kick off a new cycle of huge power projects in Brazil's Amazon jungle region.
Brazil’s Construction Boom Eases Integration of Haitians
Pierre was in the next-door country of Dominican Republic when the January 2010 earthquake destroyed half of Port-au-Prince and killed at least 200,000 of his fellow Haitians, including his wife and his mother.Only Civil Society Can Save Rio+20, Say Activists
Large-scale social mobilisation, including street protests and parallel activities, is the only thing can save the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) from ending in nothing but frustration, according to activists and analysts.
Only Civil Society Can Save Rio+20, Say Activists
Porto Alegre is preparing to receive thousands of activists for a Thematic Social Forum aimed at preventing the international environment summit in June from turning into another major disappointment.BRAZIL: Growing Pains in a Country Under Construction
Major infrastructure works are sprouting like mushrooms in Brazil, generating millions of jobs and drawing more than 60 billion dollars in foreign investment in 2011. But this thrust has failed to sustain economic growth, which according to the latest projections is below three percent.
BRAZIL: Miracle Mileage from a Hobbled Economy
In 2011, Brazil's economy grew by less than half the 7.5 percent it attained in 2010. However, this result would be miraculous in any other country with the barriers to productivity and competitiveness that prevail in Brazil.The Unsustainable Political Deficiencies of Environmentalism
The environmental movement won the ideological battle with the growth of awareness on climate change. Environmentalists are no longer seen as "loonies" or granola-eating hippies: the people seen as on the fringe" now are the climate sceptics who deny that global warming is caused by human activity.
BRAZIL: Amazon Turtles – Illegal Protein for the Poor, Delicacy for the Rich
"Many people lie" about the common practice of poaching turtles to eat or sell, said a man renowned for his fishing skills who lives on the banks of the Xingu river in Brazil's eastern Amazon jungle region.
CLIMATE CHANGE-BRAZIL: Contradictory Goals in Agriculture
Brazil aims to meet its climate change targets in agriculture by stimulating techniques that have been proven to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – but which may increase the use of toxic agrochemicals, activists say.
Global Warming Threatens Future of Amazon Turtles
The more data she gathered for her Master's thesis, the more alarmed the young Brazilian biologist became. The Amazon turtles born in the dozens of nests examined in 2008 and 2010 were all female. And only eight percent of the hatchlings studied in 2007 had been male.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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