TURNING THE TIDE AGAINST WATER SCARCITY

Those who call water scarcity the challenge of the century are not exaggerating. The recent debate over a proposal to recycle waste water for drinking purposes in Australia, the drying of large portions of massive river basins like Lake Chad in Africa and the Aral Sea in Central Asia, the millions of people who struggle to grow crops on drought-stricken farms in Asia, Africa and in the Americas, all reflect the importance of conserving and making more productive use of our water resources, writes Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Improving the food situation is fundamental to fighting hunger and improving lives on every continent. This means that to turn the tide against water scarcity, farmers must find ways to produce more food with proportionally less water. It takes 1000-2000 litres of water to produce one kilo of wheat and 13 000-15000 litres to produce the same quantity of grain-fed beef. By comparison, the amount of daily drinking water required by one person is estimated at a mere two to five litres. And yet each day, we \"eat\" an average of 2000 litres of water. Thus the effective daily consumption of water per person is 1000 times more than the apparent consumption through drinking. Without water, we can not produce; and without it we simply cannot eat. The planet is thirsty because it is hungry.

Iraq Yet to Escape Environmental Nightmare

At the four-year mark under U.S.-led military occupation, Iraq's environmental outlook is dark, despite the vast quantities of money spent on recovery and conservation efforts.

El Niño Has Bigger Bite with Climate Change

Bolivia must prepare for more intense visits from El Niño, the cyclical climate phenomenon that has been given a boost from global warming, say experts.

Ecobreves – LATIN AMERICA: Greater Effort Needed Against Desertification

Non-governmental organizations have called for more effective action to halt desertification in Latin America.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Green Living Begins at Home

An environmental clean-up project that since 2006 has been implemented at Mexico's Environment Ministry building could be applied to all of the government's environment offices beginning in May.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Use the Internet to Protect Forests

The Network of Forest Peoples set up antennas and equipment to connect eight isolated Brazilian communities and 30 offices to the Internet with the aim of making them agents of environmental defense.

German Cars Failing the Environment

Germany's auto manufacturers are refusing to adopt strict environmental standards. Their critics say car buyers should turn to Japanese manufacturers instead.

Small Towns on the “Endangered” List

More than 600 of Argentina's small towns are in danger of disappearing, despite being in the country's most prosperous agricultural areas, where soy is king.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Biodegradable Plastic On Its Way

A team led by physicist Alejandro Müller, of the polymer research department at Venezuela's Simón Bolívar University, is working on a new biodegradable plastic based on a mixture of polycaprolacton and manioc fiber (Manihot esculenta).

Ecobreves – Reycling Kitchen Oil

Preventing contamination by recycling used cooking oil is the aim of a University of Sao Paulo project, run by the clean technology lab, Ladetel, in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil's sugar cane capital.

Ecobreves – CUBA: To the Rescue of Fernandina's Flicker

Measures to preserve the habitat of the bird known as Fernandina's Flicker (Colaptes fernandinae) in a protected area of the central Cuban province of Villa Clara are helping to boost the population of this endangered species.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: On War Footing for Eco-Laws

Civil society movements in Honduras gave their greatest show of force in three years on Mar. 6 by paralyzing the country for delays in approving two laws for regulating mining and forest industries.

BUSH ALLIANCE WITH BRAZIL FOR CONTROL OF WORLD BIO-FUEL MARKET

Anyone who thinks that President Bush\'s current tour of Latin America, and especially to Brazil, was inspired by the urgent warnings in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is dead wrong, writes Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian liberation theologian and member of the International Committee of the Earth Charter. In this article, Boff writes that there are two motivations driving Bush: one is geopolitics, the other is energy, specifically the extraordinary abundance of biomass in Latin America and the Amazon. The US and Brazil see themselves as the major players in this biofuel market. But there is a major unanswered question that probably does not trouble these two presidents: Isn\'t there an urgent need to change the current model of civilisation? The solution adopted by Bush and Lula only dulls the teeth of the wolf but leaves its ferocity intact.

EUROPEAN LEADERSHIP, TODAY AND FIFTY YEARS AGO

On March 25, the European Union will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rome Treaty, which transformed the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), officially born in 1951 out of the Schuman Declaration of 1950, by incorporating the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM). The most important contribution was the Common Market, put in place to facilitate the four freedoms of goods, services, capital, and people.

NUCLEAR FLAGSHIP PROJECT IN FINLAND FACES MAJOR PROBLEMS

The flagship project of the European nuclear industry, the construction of a new nuclear power station on a small island called Olkiluoto off the west coast of Finland, is in trouble, writes Satu Hassi, Finnish Minister of Environment from 1999-2002 and a member of the Europarliament. In this article, Hassi writes that the project is at least one and a half years behind schedule because of quality problems and delayed blueprints. The delay has already caused significant losses to one of the contractors as well as for the Finnish government, because the justification for the project was the Kyoto climate treaty. Though Finland sees itself as a leader in climate protection, since the construction permit for the Olkiluoto 3 reactor was issued, it has in many ways become a laggard in climate protection. Several measures adopted in many other European countries to promote renewable energy have been rejected in Finland. In the EU Council of Ministers, Finland has been one of the countries most reluctant to accept long-term greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for the Union.

TURNING THE TIDE AGAINST WATER SCARCITY

Those who call water scarcity the challenge of the century are not exaggerating. The recent debate over a proposal to recycle waste water for drinking purposes in Australia, the drying of large portions of massive river basins like Lake Chad in Africa and the Aral Sea in Central Asia, the millions of people who struggle to grow crops on drought-stricken farms in Asia, Africa and in the Americas, all reflect the importance of conserving and making more productive use of our water resources, writes Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Improving the food situation is fundamental to fighting hunger and improving lives on every continent. This means that to turn the tide against water scarcity, farmers must find ways to produce more food with proportionally less water. It takes 1000-2000 litres of water to produce one kilo of wheat and 13 000-15000 litres to produce the same quantity of grain-fed beef. By comparison, the amount of daily drinking water required by one person is estimated at a mere two to five litres. And yet each day, we \"eat\" an average of 2000 litres of water. Thus the effective daily consumption of water per person is 1000 times more than the apparent consumption through drinking. Without water, we can not produce; and without it we simply cannot eat. The planet is thirsty because it is hungry.

TOWARDS BINDING REGULATION OF TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS

Politicians have not taken the necessary measures to regulate the negative impacts of rapid economic globalisation, writes Gunhild Orstavik, senior adviser at the Norwegian Forum for Environment and Development (ForUM). In this article, the author writes that there are no international agreements that effectively regulate the activities of corporations today, although the United Nations is working to establish such regulations. In the meantime, the UN encourages states to draw up national guidelines. ForUM\'s goal is the establishment of legally-binding international guidelines with built-in mechanisms for sanctions. This would increase the pressure on the worst offenders that have not been influenced by the UN Global Compact, OECD guidelines, or other voluntary initiatives to change their behaviour, and which for various reasons have not been targeted by criminal laws. Further work on this in the UN should be given high priority, and at the same time states should respond to the challenge from the UN to work out national guidelines. The more countries that have national guidelines, the greater will be the impact on global environmental and development problems.

WASHINGTON: A DEAD END

\'\'Will there continue to be just one superpower?\'\', asks Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal. In this article, Soares writes that September 11 showed the world the vulnerability of the US \'\'empire\'\' in an absolutely unforeseeable way. Is the US about to attack Iran, albeit through its proxy Israel? In the UN Security Council a \'\'No\'\' front has emerged, spurred on by Russia and China. Russian president Vladimir Putin allows himself to openly criticise Bush\'s policy, choosing to do so in the German city of Munich for the greatest resonance. China, as usual, continues to advance its expansionist policy, with such vast foreign reserves in US Treasury bonds --and dollars-- that it could at any moment wreak havoc on the US economy. The various countries of Latin America --from the most radical to the reformists, and including pseudo-allies like Colombia-- are in the process of gradually escaping, for the first time, from the control of their giant cousin to the North.

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES MAJOR FORCE IN FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

The extent and pace of growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) from emerging economies heralds a new role for these countries in international production systems and the world economy as a whole, writes Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In this article, the author writes that FDI from the South is also opening up new sources of finance, technology, and management know-how, critical ingredients for economic development. From the perspective of developing host economies, FDI from other developing countries presents a potentially broader range of sources of capital, technology, and management skills. South-South FDI has several advantages over North-South investment, including the fact that the technologies and business models of developing-country TNCs often have a lot in common. The emergence of new sources of FDI requires attention from policy makers and investment promoters in countries at all levels of development. In order to maximise the development impact of this it is important for officials and experts from both developing and developed countries to exchange views and share experiences.

MEN WILL NEVER BE FREE UNTIL WOMEN ENJOY FULL GENDER EQUALITY

Gender equality is a challenge to all men and women who want to create a just world. During the struggle against apartheid we learnt that white people will never be free until black people are free. Similarly, men will not enjoy full freedom if women do not enjoy full gender equality, writes Kumi Naidoo, Secretary-General of CIVICUS, the Worldwide Alliance for Citizen Participation. In this article, the author writes that gender equality is central to meeting the various challenges that humanity faces. Like all social challenges, the struggle for gender equality must be equally shared by men and women. I and all fellow men will have to decide whether we are part of the problem or part of the solution. However, the leadership role of women in the fight for gender equality must be recognised and asserted at all times. Just as it would be impossible for someone who has not experienced racism to fully understand the totality of racial oppression, so too while men can be supportive of the struggle for gender equality, they can never understand the totality of gender injustice. For men and women alike it is important to recognise that we are all products of intense gender socialisation. Only once we accept this can it become clear that it takes more than a great effort to understand how we men have been socialised in a predominantly sexist world. Consequently, it will take men a lifetime to fully understand the impact of gender inequality let alone dealing with it.

THE SINISTER NEW BIO-FUEL ALLIANCE

The Landless Movement of Brazil and the international organisation Via Campesina condemn the new initiative of President George Bush, who in his upcoming trip to Latin America hopes to seduce and co-opt the countries of the region into becoming major producers of bio-fuels for export to the US, writes Joao Pedro Stedile, leader of the Landless Movement of Brazil (MST) and Via Campesina Brazil. In this article, Stedile writes that a diabolical alliance of the oil companies, the transnationals that control agricultural and GM seeds, and the automobile industry, in order to maintain the current consumerist model of the first world and its profit levels, are trying to convince the governments of the South to concentrate their agriculture in bio-fuel production to supply the cars of the first world. The new US plan would be a tragedy for tropical agriculture and would transform major areas of our best lands into monoculture tracts, aggravate the loss of biodiversity, and reduce the amount of land dedicated to food production, forcing millions of peasants around the world from their land and into the swelling slums of the big cities.