Poverty & SDGs

Global Public Investment: Time to Build the Movement Now

By David McCoy
Global Public Investment. A short and simple phrase. But one that means so much. At its most basic, GPI means public money being used to invest in goods and services that are of global benefit. There is no shortage of goods and services that need GPI, whether they be used to prevent or respond to environmental catastrophe, international war and conflict, or the next pandemic.

Rural Systems Mitigate Impact of Overuse of Water in Chile

By Orlando Milesi
Local leaders of the Rural Sanitation Services (RSS) warn that the digging of illegal wells by large agro-export companies in Chile is aggravating the effects of drought and threatening drinking water supplies and social peace.

The Hunger Factory (II): The Modern Horsemen of the Apocalypse

By Baher Kamal
While often too quickly attributing -quasi exclusively- the world unprecedented hunger tragedy to the current proxy war in Ukraine, other major causes remain hidden in plain sight.

The Hunger Factory (I): The Miracle of the Sudden Rise and Fall of Food Prices

By Baher Kamal
The benchmark for world food commodity prices declined “significantly” in July, with major cereal and vegetable oil prices recording double-digit percentage declines.

Tragic Irony of Hunger Deaths in Karamoja, Uganda Amidst Plenty of Climate Adaptation Technologies

By Wambi Michael
Hundreds of people have died of famine in Uganda’s Karamoja region, and local leaders say that some people are now eating grass to survive.

UN’s Education Summit: An Opportunity to Create a Bottom-Up Global Governance

By Simone Galimberti
The upcoming summit on Education, part of the UN Secretary General’s ambitious agenda, can truly bring accountability and participation to the inevitably new ways education will be imparted in the future.

Infrastructure Growth Threatens Brazilian Amazon with Further Deforestation

By Mario Osava
The mandatory initial permit granted by Brazil's environmental authority for the repaving of the BR-319 highway, in the heart of the Amazon jungle, intensified the alarm over the possible irreversible destruction of the rainforest.

Of the Far West, the ‘Good Cowboys’… And the ‘Bad Indians’

By Baher Kamal
Nothing --or too little-- has changed since Hollywood started producing its spectacular western movies. Rough men, ranchers, mercenary killers, saloons, cowboys, guns, gold fever, the ‘good sheriff’… and the ‘bad indians”. Those movies were anything but fiction–they were real history.

Indigenous Women at the Forefront of Transformational Change

By Jamison Ervin
The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, commemorated annually on August 9, is a day to celebrate the many contributions of the 476 million Indigenous peoples worldwide.

UN Chief Urges Governments to Tax “Immoral” & Excessive” Oil and Gas Profits

By Antonio Guterres
The war in Ukraine continues to have a devastating impact on the people of that country. Civilians are dying in the most tragic circumstances every day. Millions of lives have been destroyed or put on hold.

Technology Helps Traffickers Hunt Their Victims, Enslave Them, Sell Their Organs

By Baher Kamal
Human beings have proved to be capable of producing innumerable practical inventions while much too often making the worst use of them. Take the case, per example, of how criminal groups heavily rely on digital platforms to trap and enslave their victims also for extracting and selling their organs.

A Demographic Snapshot of the Philippines: One Step Forward, a Half Step Back

By Barry Mirkin
With the national election and transfer of power in the Philippines from outgoing President Duterte to incoming President Marcos Jr. in July 2022, it seems an appropriate time to briefly take stock of the country’s current demographic situation, as well as recent related developments.

Frugal Innovation is Key to Advancing the UN’s Global Goal for Education

By Jaideep Prabhu
The world needs tens of millions of new teachers by 2030, according to UNESCO – an order of magnitude that requires “frugal innovation.” I’ve studied frugal innovation for more than a decade, and it holds a vital key to this global challenge. A model created by BRAC in Bangladesh deserves special attention in this worldwide pursuit.

Salvadoran Farmers Learn Agricultural Practices to Adapt to Climate Change

By Edgardo Ayala
With the satisfaction of knowing he was doing something good for himself and the planet, Salvadoran farmer Luis Edgardo Pérez set out to plant a fruit tree on the steepest part of his plot, applying climate change adaptation techniques to retain water.

Climate Change is Putting Women & Girls in Malawi at Greater Risk of Sexual Violence

By Tsitsi Matekaire and Tara Carey
It is often those least responsible for causing climate change that suffer the most from the impacts. And such is the case with women and girls in Malawi - one of the world’s poorest and lowest carbon-emitting countries but ranked fifth in the Global Climate Index 2021 list of nations worst affected by climate-related extreme weather.

Heat Waves and Agricultural Production: In the Race to Mitigate Extreme Heat, We Must not Forget Strengthening Agriculture

By Esther Ngumbi
Across the U.S., and around the world, particularly Europe, heat records are being shattered. Accompanying these extreme temperatures are fires caused by the heat that are burning both homes and forests. While extreme heat is impacting some areas of the world, flooding is impacting other areas including Colorado and Virginia in the U.S., and in other countries around the world including Brazil and Ecuador.

Pandemic and Poverty Fuel Child Labor in Peru

By Mariela Jara
In the afternoons he draws with chalk on the sidewalk of a downtown street in the Peruvian capital. Passersby drop coins into a small blue jar he has set out. He remains silent in response to questions from IPS, but a nearby ice cream vendor says his name is Pedro, he is 11 years old, and he draws every day on the ground for about four hours.

Canada Lags in Providing for Children, Especially Marginalized Kids

By Marty Logan
Canada and its major cities consistently appear in Top 10 lists of best places in the world to live. But delve into figures about children’s lives in the northern nation known for ice hockey heroics and you see a different picture.

Historic WTO Deal Could Threaten Subsidies, Lifeline for Jamaican Fishers

By Zadie Neufville
In the 21 years it took the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to agree on a historic deal on fishing subsidies, the lives of fisherfolk in Rocky Point, Clarendon, have seen many ups and downs.

Fear Returns to Argentina, Once Again on the Brink

By Daniel Gutman
Darío is a locksmith in Flores, a traditional middle-class neighborhood in the Argentine capital, who will have to stop working in the next few days. "Suppliers have suspended the delivery of locks, due to a lack of merchandise or because of prices," he laments. His case is an illustration of an economy gone mad in a country that once again finds itself on the brink of the abyss.

The Tragedy of Pakistan: Feudalism Camouflaged as Democracy

By Nadeem Qureshi
In recent days, as Pakistan’s economic woes have intensified, a veritable cottage industry has developed to suggest ways of putting the country back on track.
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