Environment

Has Disability Risen among the Elderly?

By Veena S. Kulkarni, Vani S. Kulkarni and Raghav Gaiha
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 (or RPD Act) is laudable in its intent and procedural detail, but mostly silent on disabilities among the elderly. Indeed, for this reason alone, it is arguable that its overarching goal—“The appropriate Government shall ensure that the persons with disabilities enjoy the right to equality, life with dignity and respect for his or her integrity equally with others” —is mere rhetoric, if not a pipe dream.

Central America Fights Climate Change with Minimal Foreign Aid

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
Despite the fact that Central America is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change, it has half-empty coffers when it comes to funding efforts against the phenomenon, in part because it receives mere crumbs in foreign aid to face the impacts of the rise in temperatures.

Last Mile Connectivity to Bangladesh’s Impoverished North

By Mahfuzur Rahman
Life for Bangladesh’s rural people, particularly in its remote north, is still miserable. Seasonal flooding, river erosion, and the low quality of rural infrastructure and lack of connectivity have made things harder for poor northerners.

US Lags Far Behind in Banning Dental Health Hazard

By Thalif Deen
The United States is lagging far behind its Western allies – and perhaps most of the key developing countries – in refusing to act decisively to end a longstanding health and environmental hazard: the use of mercury in dentistry.

A Green Energy Shift in Barbados, One Streetlight at a Time

By Desmond Brown
The ever-escalating and volatile price of oil, and the high cost of importation, have left Barbados and other island nations in the unenviable position of having the highest electricity prices in the world.

Value of Water Is on the Rise

By Rafiqul Islam
In the wake of recent water-related disasters in Bangladesh, including water-logging and floods that displaced thousands of families, a high-level consultation in the capital Dhaka on valuing water will look at ways to optimize water use and solutions to water-related problems facing South Asia.

Can Economic Growth Be Really Green?

By IPS World Desk
The answer to this big question is apparently “yes” – Economic growth can be really green. How?

Barbados Steps Up Plans for Renewables, Energy Efficiency

By Desmond Brown
With wind, solar and other renewable energy sources steadily increasing their share in energy consumption across the Caribbean, Barbados is taking steps to further reduce the need for CO2-emitting fossil fuel energy.

Sinking Island Seeks Seat in Security Council

By Thalif Deen
The Maldives, one of the world’s low-lying, small island developing states (SIDS) -- threatened with extinction because of a sea-level rise-- is shoring up its coastal defences in anticipation of the impending calamity.

To Achieve Ambitious Goals – We Need to Start with our Basic Rights

By Oliver Henman and Andrew Firmin
Recent protests in Ethiopia have seen people demonstrate in their thousands, angry at their authoritarian government, its favouritism towards those close to the ruling elite, and its failure to share the country’s wealth more equally.

China Seeks to Export Its Green Finance Model to the World

By Daniel Gutman
Hand in hand with UN Environment and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) disembarked in the Argentine capital to prompt this country to adopt and promote the agenda of so-called green finance, which supports clean or sustainable development projects and combats climate change.

Tobago Gears Up to Fight Sargassum Invasion

By Jewel Fraser
As Tobago's tourism industry struggles to repel the sargassum invasions that have smothered its beaches with massive layers of seaweed as far as the eye can see - in some places half a metre thick - and left residents retching from the stench, the island's government is working to establish an early warning system that will alert islanders to imminent invasions so they can take defensive action.

Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast Pools Efforts Against Climate Change

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
Jonathan Barrantes walks between the rows of shoots, naming one by one each species in the tree nursery that he manages, in the south of Costa Rica’s Caribbean coastal region. There are fruit trees, ceibas that will take decades to grow to full size. and timber species for forestry plantations.

Pope Francis Donates to FAO for Drought, Conflict-Stricken East Africa

By IPS World Desk
As an unprecedented gesture, Pope Francis has donated 25,000 euro to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's efforts supporting people facing food insecurity and famine in East Africa.

UAE Leading the Way on Shifting to Greener Energy

By Rabiya Jaffery
Much of the world is moving away from oil for its electricity generation, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which says that globally the fossil fuel has dropped from a 25 percent share to 3.6 percent over the last four decades.

Farming Beyond Drought

By Desmond Brown
The Caribbean accounts for seven of the world’s top 36 water-stressed countries and Barbados is in the top ten. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) defines countries like Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Kitts and Nevis as water-scarce with less than 1000 m3 freshwater resources per capita.

WHO Urges Govt’s to Raise Taxes on Tobacco

By Roshni Majumdar
Seven million people die each year from tobacco-related deaths, according to a new report published by the World Health Organisation today.

Educating Children One Radio Wave at a Time

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Nigeria’s conflict has displaced more than a million children, leaving them without access to education. However, an innovative radio program aims to transform this bleak scenario.

East Africa’s Poor Rains: Hunger Worsened, Crops Scorched, Livestock Dead

By IPS World Desk
Poor rains across East Africa have worsened hunger and left crops scorched, pastures dry and thousands of livestock dead, the United Nations food and agriculture agency has warned in a new alert.

How to Achieve Universal Goals, Strategically

By Roshni Majumdar
Discussion around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a list of 17 goals listed by the UN, was all the buzz in the conference rooms of UN headquarters this week.

Not Just Numbers: Migrants Tell Their Stories

By Baher Kamal
Every single day, print and online media and TV broadcasters show images and footage of migrants and refugees adrift, salvage teams rescuing their corpses--alive or dead, from fragile boats that are often deliberately sunk by human traffickers near the coasts of a given country. Their dramas are counted –and told-- quasi exclusively in cold figures.
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