Languages
Wednesday, September 2, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
BRAZIL: Turning Women’s Rights Into Reality
Women’s right to abortion, and the effective implementation of social policies, especially those directly concerning women, will be key issues at the Second National Conference on Policies for Women, to be held in Brasilia from Friday to Monday.
BRAZIL: Schools as Tools to Combat Violence
The assault on a physical education teacher was the last straw. Three teenagers beat him with sticks, causing a head injury which required 17 stitches. The school closed for three weeks from that day, Apr. 30, 2003.BRAZIL: Amazon Fruit Gatherers Face Biofuel Dilemma
The babaçú, an abundant native palm tree in the eastern Amazon and in the north and northeast of Brazil, has great potential for the production of "biodiesel" and biomass fuel, but the women who make their living from gathering its fruit fear the loss of their traditional source of income.
BRAZIL: ‘I’m the Only Gang Member Alive and Free’
Most of them were 15 or 16 years old when they created the gang "Falta de Deus" (Lack of God), a name chosen because "we were all against Christ." Of the 25 members, 10 are dead and 14 are in jail. "I'm the only one still alive and free," says 22-year-old Elias da Silva.
Amazon Fruit Gatherers Face Biofuel Dilemma
Babaçú fruit gatherers in the Brazilian Amazon must decide if they will join or reject the biodiesel production boom, which will alter the economy of this traditional activity.BRAZIL: Steel and Eucalyptus Heat Up Eastern Amazon
Brazil's Environment Ministry entered a minefield when it proposed a sustainable forest district to contain deforestation in the steel-making centre of Carajás, one of the most devastated and violent areas in the Amazon.
BRAZIL: New Lives for Victims of Slave Labour
José Alves has held on, for memory’s sake, to what is left of the old bicycle that took him hundreds of kilometres throughout Brazil’s eastern Amazon jungle region as he "hunted for work to improve my life." His need for a job led him to fall victim to slave labour - not once, but several times.
RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Freeing Modern-Day Slaves
A young man with burns to his hands and feet which have become evil-smelling open wounds arrives, assisted by a co-worker. He suffered an electric shock on the hacienda (estate) where he works, when a metal rod he was carrying made contact with a high-tension cable.
Steel and Eucalyptus Heat Up Eastern Amazon
The Brazilian government's plan to reforest with eucalyptus trees an area of the Amazon that was logged by the steel industry has only added fuel to the fire of decades-old conflicts.BRAZIL: Journalist Wages Solitary Battle in Amazon
Death threats, physical assaults and 32 lawsuits - this is what freelance journalist Lucio Flavio Pinto has faced as a result of the one-man battle he is waging in this northern Brazilian city, the main gateway to the Amazon jungle.BRAZIL: Water Sources Threatened by Lack of Low-Cost Housing, Sanitation
José Carlos Bezerra knows that the sewage from his house flows directly into the Guarapiranga reservoir, the source of water for millions of people in Brazil's largest city. But what can he do, he asks, if he can't afford to live anywhere but in this slum?
BRAZIL: Tapping Hydroelectric Dams for Methane Gas
Hydroelectricity is not as clean as most people might believe, because the reservoirs created by dams in tropical areas - and in forested zones in particular - emit greenhouse gases from the decomposition of organic material. But this downside can be turned into a benefit, and give a boost to the amount of energy generated.
Tapping Hydroelectric Dams for Methane Gas
The greenhouse gases held in hydroelectric reservoirs can be captured to generate more energy, preventing them from turning into climate-changing emissions, according to Brazilian scientists.
BRAZIL: Homeless Take Fate into Their Own Hands
The occupation of the huge empty lot was carried out at night, by some 300 families. Just a few days later, there were nearly 5,000 families living in a sea of black tents in Valo Velho, a poor, sparsely populated neighbourhood in Itapecerica da Serra, on the outskirts of this Brazilian city.
BRAZIL: Homeless Squatters Find 'Social Function' for Empty Buildings
The dark entry hallway and a lower floor full of rubble that smells of excrement make it difficult to imagine that this was once a busy hotel, located next to two train stations in the central Luz neighbourhood of the southern Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.CLIMATE CHANGE-BRAZIL: Once and Future Environmental Leader?
Brazil appears to be about to pass over a prime opportunity to affirm itself as a leading environmental power in negotiations to bring the threat of global warming under control, according to environmentalists and analysts.FILM-BRAZIL: Tortured Monks
A Brazilian man strides forcefully through a forest. His bushy beard hides any emotion on his face. Using a short ladder to mount a wall, he climbs on to a branch of an enormous tree. He ties a rope, carried under his coat, around the branch, and hangs himself.RELIGION-BRAZIL: A New Saint to Help Stem the Loss of Adherents
"We have to say no to the media that ridicule the sanctity of marriage and virginity before marriage," Pope Benedict XVI said Friday as he canonised Friar Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvão, Brazil's first native-born saint, at an open-air mass attended by a huge crowd in this southern Brazilian city.RELIGION-BRAZIL: A New Saint to Help Stem the Loss of Adherents
"We have to say no to the media that ridicule the sanctity of marriage and virginity before marriage," Pope Benedict XVI said Friday as he canonised Friar Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvão, Brazil's first native-born saint, at an open-air mass attended by a huge crowd in this southern Brazilian city.RELIGION-BRAZIL: Not Much of a Stir over Pope’s Visit
Pope Benedict XVI's five-day visit to Brazil, which begins Wednesday, has not raised much of a stir, except for among the devout faithful and those who are closely involved with the Catholic Church.RELIGION-BRAZIL: Pope to Come Looking for Lost Sheep
On his upcoming visit to Brazil, Pope Benedict XVI will find that the Roman Catholic Church, which used to be absolutely predominant in this country, has been losing members rapidly since the 1980s to the growing evangelical Pentecostal groups. And even more former Catholics now profess no religion at all.« Previous Page — Next Page »
The Week with IPS
NEXT STOP - SDGs
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
