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Sunday, May 3, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Economy & Trade
Venezuela’s Oil trapped in Hurricane Trump’s Onslaught
Reduced to a marginal oil producer over the past decade, Venezuela has suffered another blow as United States president Donald Trump ordered punitive measures to blockade and further restrict the country’s oil exports.
Kashmir Reels After Pahalgam Attack, Fear Long Term Impacts on Livelihoods
Abdul Majeed Mir strolls leisurely among the purple crocus flower rows in Pampore's saffron fields as the morning mist hovers low over them. His family has been growing this valuable spice, called "red gold," for many generations, but now his hands go through the harvest mechanically. There is a noticeable lack of the typical commotion of tourists haggling over saffron packets.
Financing for Whom? The Financing for Development Summit Must Address Social Dimensions
The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) will bring world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how to finance a better future for all. Yet, in practice, the first drafts of its outcome reveal a glaring omission: people. Despite rhetoric about inclusivity, the drafts are strikingly weak on social issues, as if financing and macroeconomic policies exist in a vacuum, detached from the lives they impact.
‘Noboa Did Not Receive a Blank Cheque: He Will Have to Show Tangible Results’
CIVICUS discusses Ecuador’s presidential election with Jorge Tapia de los Reyes, Coordinator of the Democracy and Politics Department and the Political Funding Observatory of the Citizenship and Development Foundation (FCD). FCD is an Ecuadorian civil society organisation that promotes participation, citizen monitoring and open government.
UN Warns of an Imminent Collapse in Haiti
As gang violence in Haiti continues to target civilians and critical infrastructures, humanitarian organizations and the Haitian National Police (HNP) have found it increasingly difficult to manage the growing scale of needs. The United Nations (UN) and its partners fear that Haiti will approach a nationwide collapse due to numerous shortfalls in funding, a widespread lack of essential resources, and rampant insecurity.
African Countries Still Underfunding Health by as Much as 50 Percent
The majority of African countries are yet to commit 15 percent of their GDP to funding the health sector, despite the growing disease burden weighing down the continent and two decades after the coming into force of the Abuja declaration on health sector funding.
Climate Groups Report 2025 Is Unlikely To Be Hotter Than 2024
On March 19, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) issued a report on the State of Global Climate in 2024, detailing the numerous heightened natural disasters that were a consequence of human-induced climate change. With the past three years having been recorded as the three hottest years in human history, climate scientists are optimistic that 2025 will see slightly cooler global temperatures.
Chel Snakehead: A Fish That Time Forgot, Rediscovered
The Chel Snakehead fish, thought to be extinct, has made a dramatic comeback to the eastern Himalayan ecosystem after more than 85 years of absence near its source river in India.
How Science Solutions Are Saving Africa’s Livestock and Livelihoods
Livestock are a lifeline for millions of farmers in Africa as a source of food and wealth. But devastating diseases are threatening the health and productivity of their animals. Now scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) have unleashed a toolbox of science solutions by outsmarting the parasites and pathogens that cost millions of dollars in livestock losses across Africa. The toolbox includes everything from vaccines that protect livestock from ‘cattle malaria’ to genetics to breed animals tolerant to East Coast fever.
Trump Wants World to Subsidise US Empire
Donald Trump’s top economic advisor claims the President has weaponised tariffs to ‘persuade’ other nations to pay the US to maintain its supposedly mutually beneficial global empire.
Four Rare Snow Leopards Spotted Together on Pakistan’s Northern Peaks
In a remarkable conservation achievement, four rare and elusive snow leopards have been spotted together in the rugged peaks of northern Pakistan, highlighting the success of the ongoing global efforts aimed at protecting this critically endangered species and preserving its fragile habitat.
Hooves Vs. Habitats: Striking a Sustainable Balance Between Livestock and the Environment Is Crucial to Africa’s Future
In my country, Senegal, almost 70 percent of our land is used to graze livestock. Here and across Africa, pastoralists and livestock keepers sustain herding systems which are closely bound up with our landscapes and crucial to nationwide food security, economic growth, and ecological balance.
Bringing Resilience to the Table to Achieve Development Goals
The global risk landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, posing significant threats to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As extreme weather, macroeconomic shocks, conflict, and other risks intensify and intertwine, they can create ripple effects that amplify existing vulnerabilities and put both human and development progress in peril.
Smallholder Farmers Are Not ‘Beneficiaries’, but the ‘Co-Creators of Change’
Eliud Rugut comes from generations of farmers, yet his family expected him to move out of their home and pursue another career.
The ‘Plastic Man’: Turning Trash into Treasure
In a quiet corner of Medina Gounass, on the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal, one man has taken it upon himself to breathe new life into a place many had abandoned.
ECOSOC Forum Highlights the Importance of Educational and Economic Empowerment for Youth
This year, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum’s theme is “Youth at the Forefront: Leveraging Science and Social Inclusion for Sustainable Development”, bringing together government representatives, young leaders and policymakers among other relevant stakeholders, to deliberate over youth involvement in the ongoing efforts to implement the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
While India’s RAMSAR Sites Tally Rises, Wetlands Remain Endangered
Late in February, India’s noted ornithologist and conservationist, Asad Rahmani, wrote a letter to a wildlife warden in north India expressing his satisfaction about the availability of water in four important wetlands in Kashmir, where migratory birds from central Asia and Europe arrive annually for wintering.
Trump’s ‘Shock and Awe’ Tariffs
US President Donald Trump has again seized global attention by arbitrarily imposing sweeping tariffs on the rest of the world. He reminds us America is still boss, claiming to ‘make America great again’ (MAGA) by ensuring ‘America first’ at everyone else’s expense.
Is it Time to Say RIP to the SDGs?
Is it only a decade since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change were agreed? The two deals were inked to a groundswell of hope.
Andean Women Farmers in Peru Face Climate Crisis with Green Practices
"Up here in the highlands, there’s a lot of frost, and everything seems bleak. But I’m so happy since I got my greenhouse and started growing vegetables in a healthy way. I feel like we’re overcoming the challenges of the weather," Anacleta Mamani, a Quechua farmer from the community of Poques (about an hour’s drive from Cusco, the former imperial capital of Peru), told IPS.
CGIAR Gender Accelerator: A Tool to Advance Gender Equality Research in Agri-Food Systems
To advance the participation of women, the youth, and minority communities in the agricultural sector, measures must be taken to recognize and break down the barriers that hold them back. Experts in the agricultural sector agree that even as they constitute a significant percentage of the agricultural workforce, women face persistent challenges. The picture that emerges is a lack of due recognition of their presence and their challenges, such as limited access to resources and knowledge.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Trade has historically been a geopolitical tool, creating significant economic imbalances in developing countries. However, many countries in East Asia and Latin America have been able to alleviate poverty due to increasing trade. Tackling poverty has proven to be much harder in low income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America, and their dismal trade performance is one important reason for that. They remain at the margins of world trade and indeed of the world economy. These articles are aimed at informing readers about the complexities of trade and its varying effects on development, with a special focus on the consequences of the global economic crisis, the potential of fair trade and the gender implications of trade policies.
The Week with IPS
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Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
