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Saturday, November 14, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Poverty & SDGs
The Hurricanes Didn’t Bring the Hunger
A month after Hurricanes Ingrid and Manuel caused the worst destruction from a natural catastrophe in Mexico in 30 years, another disaster has come to light: hunger in communities that are supposedly served by a rural food supply programme.
Brazil in Reverse
In the last five years, Brazil has joined the ranks of the world’s big polluters, whose main source of greenhouse gases is the burning of fossil fuels.OP-ED: Grenada’s IMF Sunday School
As the International Monetary Fund shares initial proposals for Grenada's debt restructuring during the Washington DC meetings this week, the Caribbean island could gain a reputation for more than nutmeg, calypso, beaches and the 2012 gold medal sprinter Kirani James.
Zimbabweans Head Out for a Better Life
Admire Gumbo, 26, from Harare’s Mabvuku high density-suburb, is loathe to leave Zimbabwe to return to Botswana. However, he feels he has no choice but to return to the neighbouring country where he worked for three years as a manual labourer.
400 Million Children Mired in Extreme Poverty
Four hundred million children under 13 years of age are living in extreme poverty worldwide, according to a new study released by the World Bank here Thursday.
Conserve Water or Perish, Warns U.N. Chief
Just 17 years from now, nearly half the global population could be facing water scarcity, with demand outstripping supply by 40 percent.
Behind Haiti’s Hunger
Haiti has been receiving food aid for half a century - over 1.5 million tonnes from the U.S. alone during the past two decades.
Argentina Blindly Exploiting Groundwater, Scientists Warn
Half of Argentina is supplied with water by invisible underground aquifers, which are crucial in the country’s arid and semi-arid regions, experts say. But Tierramérica discovered that nobody – not even the government – has any accurate scientific data on these groundwater reserves.
Energy Hits New Rocks in Mongolia
Mongolia, 90 percent dependent on fuel imports from Russia and vulnerable to price hikes, is seeking to develop its oil shale deposits of at least 800 billion tons.
OP-ED: Why Keeping Girls in School Can Help South Sudan
Mary K. loved to study and wanted to be an accountant. However, when she was 16 and in class six (grade eight), her father forced her to leave school to marry a 50-year-old man who paid him 60 cows.
World Bank Mulls First Strategic Overhaul in Two Decades
World Bank President Jim Kim has formally put forward a major new proposal to refocus both the bank’s priorities and how it pursues those aims.
Improved Seed Improves Ethiopian Farmers’ Lives
Ethiopian farmers are learning that seed security is the basis of food security.
Syrians Struggle with a Life of Sorts
Free Syrian Army fighters stand guard over the state cable company premises to avoid looting in Khan Al-Assal, a district 14 kilometres west of Aleppo. Much of the rest of the place seems a nightmarish ghost town.
Somalis Caught Between Terrorism and a Border Dispute
Somali militia groups are beginning to operate in Kenya’s remote and arid North Eastern Province, an area that borders southern Somalia – a former stronghold of the extremist group Al-Shabaab.
Pacific Pact – a Minefield for Health Care
The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), the negotiation of which is set to conclude this year, could drive research into new drugs and improve access to medicines. Except – it won’t.
Risk Management Can Ease Poverty, World Bank Says
Successful risk management can be a powerful tool for development, the World Bank said Monday in its annual World Development Report (WDR).
Seeding Ethiopia’s Future Food Security
Datta Dudettu and his seven children know what is like to go hungry. They live in Woliyta, a drought-prone area in southern Ethiopia that has experienced chronic food shortages. But hopefully, thanks to the successful use of hybrid seed, that is now firmly in the past.
How to Tell the Biggest Stories of Our Times
What does gorilla conservation have in common with the provision of contraceptives to women? How does rural-urban migration contribute to global warming? What does city planning in Kenya have to do with coastal erosion in the Philippines?
Some Rice, Served With Rainwater
The quiet Cambodian village of Chouk, set in the beautiful forests of the Cardamom Mountains near the Thai border, seems peaceful. But things are difficult in this largely empty village of simple wooden houses, populated mainly by children and the elderly.
Homeless Again
A police cordon kept everyone out of the Buenaventura “corrala” on Thursday after the police evicted 13 families living in the occupied building in the centre of this southern Spanish city early in the morning.
Africa’s Growth Story Brightens
Not far from the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Ethiopia's capital city of Addis Ababa, a young woman named Bosena, 25, sits on the side of a busy road with a baby in her arms.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Romani people in Cairo, Egypt, forage through trash. Credit: UN Photo/Armineh Johannes
In 2015, the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in an effort to promote “peace and prosperity for people and the planet.” To achieve that goal, it is essential to provide equal opportunities and access to basic services to all people. The 2025 UN SDG Report found that 35% of the 169 SDG targets are on track or making moderate progress, while 18% have reversed compared to the 2025 baseline. One in ten people still live in extreme poverty, one in eleven experience food insecurity, and over 1.1 billion people live in slums without access to clean water and sanitation. It is imperative to acknowledge the societal, technological, economic, and political issues that sustain poverty in countries around the world. Eradicating poverty will require significant frameworks in policy and governance on a national and international scale to ensure that all people will have equal access to basic services and economic opportunities by 2030. Furthermore, a dramatic reduction of United States foreign aid in 2025, including the termination of 83% of USAID programmes, threatens to erode years of fragile development gains.
Throughout the world, violent conflict and natural disasters also contribute to extreme poverty. The complete destruction of infrastructure and blockage of aid has significantly impoverished Palestine since October 7th. The destructive impact of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico left $91 billion in damage. An inadequate US government response also revealed significant and enduring questions within the issue of mitigating poverty: how do we rebuild infrastructure after its destruction? How do we restimulate economic development and bring in financial aid after disasters? Similar questions have been raised in the realm of regional cooperation, as devastating floods have wrecked hundreds of thousands of homes across multiple Southeast Asian nations in the past few years. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly exacerbated the global poverty crisis, particularly in developing countries, setting back the United Nations goal of eradicating poverty by 2030.
IPS is committed to providing comprehensive features that focus on the persisting environmental, sociopolitical, and systemic issues that sustain poverty, and the steps taken worldwide towards poverty eradication.
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Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
