WHAT TO DO ABOUT FOOD PRICES

The world is living through another major upswing in food prices. World food prices surged to a new historic peak in January, for the seventh consecutive month, as the FAO Food Price Index reached 231 points, up 3.4 percent from December 2010. The accumulated increase in food prices during 2010 amounted to 25% relative to the 2009 level. Starting with a sharp increase in wheat prices in July in reaction to production shortfalls and export prohibition in Russia and followed by uncertain crop prospects in other parts of the world, this new episode raises concerns over instability in world food markets and its social implications.

ITALY HAS A LONG WAY TO GO IN GENDER EQUALITY

Italy is one of the most backward countries in Europe in almost every indicator of gender equality. This is despite the fact that in terms of advanced degrees and qualifications, women surpass men and, in the last 30 years, have reached positions of power in all sectors of the market and proven that a company improves with a woman at the helm.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: A Call for Transparency in Forest Projects

Environmental groups are demanding transparency in the drafting and execution of Mexico's strategy for the United Nations-sponsored REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Clean Energy from Garbage

The municipal government of Puerto Cortés, on the northern Honduran coast, aims to become a "green municipality" through a nine-million-dollar project that would recycle garbage to generate 2.5 megawatts of electricity in the area.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Camera-Monitored Fishing Will Have to Wait

Environmentalists are criticizing the extension that the Argentine government has granted before the launch of an on-board video monitoring system for fishing in the South Atlantic.

AUTOCRACIES CRUMBLING

For a long time, the US-Israel alliance (inspired by Isaiah 2:1- 5, "out of Zion shall go forth the law... and he shall judge among the nations...") has created --by force or bribes or both--"friendly governments", or "allies in the peace process" as US Vice President Joe Biden -Obama's foreign policy expert- says. This pattern is now unraveling before our eyes.

AUTOCRACIES CRUMBLING

For a long time, the US-Israel alliance (inspired by Isaiah 2:1- 5, "out of Zion shall go forth the law... and he shall judge among the nations...") has created --by force or bribes or both--"friendly governments", or "allies in the peace process" as US Vice President Joe Biden -Obama's foreign policy expert- says. This pattern is now unraveling before our eyes.

DAVOS: SPEAKING TRUTH DIRECTLY TO POWER

"Smothered in white mud", to quote South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, Davos is a long way from the Durban township where I grew up. It is as far from my comfort zone as I'm likely to get. Yet, this was the tenth time in 12 years that I found my self cloistered in the expensive and exclusive resort surrounded by the corporate world's aristocracy and a great many presidents and prime ministers.

China and Brazil Flood Latin America with Dams

With green lights for major hydroelectric dam projects, Brazil and China are competing to create the conditions for making the most out of energy from Latin America's mighty rivers.

Agave Sweetens Economic Prospects of Indigenous Women

The production of goods from the traditional agave crops through cooperatives has become the leading source of income for indigenous Otomí communities in central Mexico.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Agro-Toxins Threaten Environment and Humans

Brazil has held first place since 2008 in consumption of agro-toxins.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Eco-Friendly Freezers

Cuba will begin production this year of solar-powered freezers, after successfully manufacturing a prototype in 2010. This appliance ensures considerable savings of electrical energy.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Communities to Manage Sustainable Forest

Eight communities in the northern Honduran departments of Atlántida and Yoro will take charge in the next two months of 30,000 hectares of forest to carry out a sustainable management project.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Fighting the Ashen Moth

Researchers at the Central University of Venezuela are proposing to develop the Beauveria Bassiania fungus in mangroves on the Paria Peninsula and other region in the country's northeast as a biological agent to control an onslaught of the ashen moth (Hylesia metabus).

THE GORDIAN KNOT OF THE FOOD CRISIS

Barely out of the 2008 food price crisis, the world appears to have entered yet another phase of higher prices. Rising food prices are now stoking global inflation, not to mention political unrest of proportions that we could have seldom imagined.

GDP: STILL MISLEADING GOVERNMENTS, BANKS, AND INVESTORS

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) results for the final quarter of 2010 are an unreliable gauge of recovery and progress in Europe, the US, China, Brazil, and most other countries. A new survey by GlobeScan and Ethical Markets, titled "Beyond GDP", reaffirms that large majorities favour reforming the money-based GDP economic yardstick and adopting many of the available indicators of health, education, infrastructure, poverty gaps, and environmental quality found in their 2007 survey for the European Commission (www.beyond-gdp.eu). The new survey was conducted in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Russia, the UK, and the US and released on January 21.

Environmental Crime Doesn't Pay in Peru

The Peruvian Environment Ministry's public prosecutor will present an initiative in February to channel fines to pay for the damaging effects of mining, logging and oil drilling.

“It's Essential to Change the Energy Model”

The global dispute between fossil fuel interests and those developing alternative technologies has spilled onto the Spanish battlefield.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Waters Run Dirty

Brazil's rivers are increasingly polluted, according to SOS Mata Atlântica, a non-governmental organization that tested water quality of many water sources in 12 states, plus the federal district of Brasilia.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Preparing for Dam Construction

With plans to begin construction in February, the Patuca III hydroelectric complex, in the northeastern Honduran department of Olancho, will require an investment of 250 million dollars, according to official sources.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: More Endangered Flora and Fauna

The number of species in danger of extinction increased in recent years in Mexico, and the government has failed to protect them, denounce environmental groups.