Fiscal Austerity May Jeopardize Brazil’s Poverty Alleviation Programme

Latin America’s largest economy, Brazil, has succeeded in lifting 36 million people out of extreme poverty over the past 12 years. But it has still a long way to go towards promoting inclusive and sustainable growth.

Opinion: Farming the Way Out of Poverty in Honduras

For Honduran farmer Salomón Lorenzo Vázquez, Tuesday has become the most important day of the week. As he tends his lettuce, cauliflower, and broccoli on the farm he has maintained for 20 years, he waits for his weekly visit from the USAID-ACCESO field officer, the man who has helped double his income.

Opinion: Food Loss & Waste Has Got to Do a Lot with Sustainable Development

More than 150 world leaders will meet in New York this weekend to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of global targets intended to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and curb climate change. The SDGs will help set the global development agenda for the next 15 years, focusing attention on the opportunities that will allow for more a sustainable future.

Latin America to Adopt SDGs, Still Lagging on Some MDGs

In the last 15 years, Latin America and the Caribbean have met several key targets included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), such as reducing extreme poverty, hunger and child mortality, incorporating more girls in the educational system, and expanding access to clean water.

Opinion: Kenya Cannot Rise If Its Women Are Left Behind

Consider this. A young girl called Amina Mohamed who is the 8th of 9 children, from a modest Muslim home in Kakamega County in Kenya was encouraged by her parents to complete her education and pursue her dreams.

Opinion: Fifteen Years and Forever

The next 15 years will be decisive for our planet’s future. During this period we will face some of the 21st Century’s greatest challenges, amidst an ongoing and profound transition in the global economy.

Chile’s Altiplano Region Seeks Sustainable Tourism

Chile’s altiplano or high plateau region, pounded by the sun of the Atacama desert, the driest place in the world, is home to dozens of indigenous communities struggling for subsistence by means of sustainable tourism initiatives that are not always that far removed from out-of-control capitalism.

Opinion: Global Justice Necessary For Lasting Peace

Last year saw considerable reflection on the First World War, which began a century ago. In reality, it was very much a European war, but with nonetheless profound implications for the last century.

Opinion: South-South Cooperation Crucial for Sustainable Development Goals

World leaders will meet at the United Nations summit from Sep. 25 to 27 in New York at a high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly. This year’s summit is special in many respects.

How to Fix Environmental Woes in Buenos Aires Shantytown

Children have been poisoned by lead in Villa Inflamable, a shantytown on the south side of the capital of Argentina. Resettling their families involves a socioenvironmental process as complex as the sanitation works in one of the most polluted river basins in the world.

Opinion: Dance with the Dragon

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a meeting with India Inc. to discuss the global economic crisis and how the country can seize the emerging opportunities. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government does believe this crisis is indeed an opportunity as the economy’s fundamentals remain strong.

Opinion: Brazil’s Crisis is a Blessing and a Curse

The Lula development model that lifted 35 million people out of poverty and raised living standards for another 20 million people during the governments of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2011) has run its course.

Opinion: Protracted Stagnation Threatens International Solidarity, Development

A new post-2015 international development agenda is to be officially launched next week at a U.N. summit in New York. The ambitious list of 17 development goals includes a call for a revitalization of the global partnership for sustainable development.

Cuban Agroecological Project Foments Local Innovation

Armando Marcelino Pi divides his day between the university, where he teaches philosophy, work on his family farm, and coordinating a group of 33 agroecological farmers, in this mountainous rural municipality in western Cuba.

U.N. to Host Meeting of World Leaders on Refugee Crisis

The 28-member European Union (EU), which was sharply divided over the Greek bailout financial crisis last year, is facing its biggest test of unity over the growing refugee crisis unfolding in European borders.

Opinion: Another U.N. General Assembly Talk Fest Begins

UNGA 70 formally commenced on Sep. 15. In accordance with custom, it elected a new President, Denmark's Mogens Lykketoft, who has picked as the theme for his tenure as the President, "The UN at 70 - A New Commitment to Action".

Costa Rica Finally Allows In Vitro Fertilisation after 15-Year Ban

After banning in vitro fertilisation for 15 years and failing to comply with an Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling for nearly three years, Costa Rica will finally once again allow the procedure for couples and women on their own.

Is Good Governance Good For Development?

Many well-meaning people who would like better governance have been misled into insisting on so-called ‘good governance’ reforms, with the expectation that this would lead to development.

Is Modi Making in India?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' programme is inspired by the East Asian manufacturing export success story of development. Earlier, when he was chief minister of the state of Gujarat, he expressed an ambition of modeling the state on South Korea.

Antofagasta Mining Region Reflects Chile’s Inequality

The inhabitants of the northern Chilean mining region of Antofagasta have the highest per capita income in the country. But some 4,000 local families continue to live in slums - a reflection of one of the most marked situations of inequality in this country.

Africa Sees U.N. Climate Conference as “Court Case” for the Continent

As the clock ticks towards the United Nations climate change conference (COP21) in Paris in December, African experts, policy-makers and civil society groups plan to come to the negotiation table prepared for a legal approach to avoid mistakes made during formulation of the Kyoto Protocol.