Economy & Trade

Women Recyclers in Bolivia Build Hope, Demand Recognition

By Franz Chávez
They haul many kilos of recyclable materials on their backs but receive little in return. These Bolivian women who help clean up the environment from dawn to dusk are fighting for recognition of their work and social and labor rights.

Private and Public Spheres: Sweden and Mugabe

By Jan Lundius
The war in Ukraine continues unabated; young men are sacrificed on battlefields, towns laid waste by aerial attacks, the threat of nuclear disasters is looming. People within an often formerly friendly inclined Europe are now wondering if Vladimir Putin has gone insane. The war in Ukraine is generally called “Putin’s war” and in April 2021 Putin signed a legislation providing him the right to run for two more consecutive terms, thus he could stay in power till 2036.

Can Carbon Trading Stop Global Heating?

By Sarah Razak and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
As our planet continues to heat up at an alarming rate, carbon credits, markets and trading have been promoted as effective measures to combat global warming. While there is an urgent need to curb planetary heating, growing reliance on this innovation is problematic, to say the least.

Grey Market Charcoal East Africa — Why Prohibitionist Interventions Are Failing

By Wambi Michael
At Kampala’s Nakawa market, Lovisa Nabisubi scoops charcoal from a bag and packs it into tins ready for customers. Her bare hands, feet, and clothes are stained black from hours of dealing in this popular household fuel which some equate to “black gold” not just in Uganda but in most of East Africa.

The Dark Side of Wind and Solar Farms as Sustainable Energy in Brazil

By Mario Osava
"Anxiety, insomnia and depression have become widespread. We don't sleep well, I wake up three, four times a night," complained Brazilian farmer Roselma de Melo Oliveira, 35, who has lived 160 meters from a wind turbine for eight years.

Cloud Lingers over Sierra Leone’s Election

By Andrew Firmin
People went to the polls in Sierra Leone on 24 June to pick a president, parliament and municipal representatives. Results were quickly announced and the president sworn in for a second term. But a cloud of doubt lingers.

The Grand Narrative of Private Finance: Over-Reliance on Attracting Investment is Undermining Change at World Bank

By Bhumika Muchhala and María José Romero
One message that was repeated throughout last month’s summit on a so-called “New Global Financing Pact” was that developing countries urgently need mass financing to tackle the climate and biodiversity emergency. And there is not enough of it in public coffers.

Greener Pastures Not So Green for Zimbabweans in the Diaspora

By Jeffrey Moyo
They have high-paying jobs, a high standard of living, and almost everything they need, but for Zimbabweans abroad, all that glitters is not gold. Twenty-eight-year-old Gift Gonye, based in Germany, is one such Zimbabwean, and he is apparently not satisfied with his life abroad.

Transformative Change of our Relationship with Nature: Key to Saving Global Biodiversity

By Arun Agrawal, Lucas Garibaldi, and Karen O'Brien
To most people, ‘transformative change’ is an abstract academic catchphrase. But transformative change is far more than that. It is the foundational response necessary to address the global crisis of biodiversity loss that threatens the wellbeing of every person in every community – and every species in every region.

Climate Change and Development

By Palitha Kohona
There is little doubt that human activity is accelerating climate change. Our activities are causing global warming and potentially disastrous climate change.

Water Harvesting Boosts Agriculture in Brazil’s Semiarid Northeast

By Mario Osava
"The rainwater tanks are the best invention in the world for us," said Maria de Lourdes Feitosa, 46, who recalls the deadly droughts of the past in Brazil's semiarid Northeast region.

African Women Seek to Boost Innovation and Creativity in Agribusiness

By Aimable Twahirwa
Adeline Umukunzi, a 28-year-old woman mushroom farmer in Musanze, a district located about 100 km north of the capital Kigali, said women have often been the unseen faces of agribusiness in Rwanda. "Women have always played a vital role in agriculture, but behind the scenes. We are starting to see more and more female faces in agribusiness," she told IPS.

The Need for More Funding, Especially to Women, Towards Climate Adaptation Goals

By Silvia Baur-Yazbeck
There is a significant funding gap for climate adaptation – especially for women. Public financing will not be sufficient to close this gap, but it will be crucial for supporting the most vulnerable and facilitating private sector investments where funding and support is needed most.

Women’s Savings in Zimbabwe Struggle Under Weight of Unstable Currency

By Ignatius Banda
For years, self-employed and unemployed women in Zimbabwe formed neighbourhood "clubs" where they pooled money together for everything from buying bulk groceries to be shared at the end of the year to meeting funeral expenses.

Huge Increase in Transnational Crime in Asia’s ‘Golden Triangle’

By Baher Kamal
How come that in a world where technology is -or is about to be- able to detect an ant in a jungle, the traffickers of death continue to carry out their lucrative criminal activities everywhere and in all fields, from weapons to prostitution, enslavement and drugs, to deadly fake medicines, through oil, gas and poisoned food.

Biodigesters Boost Family Farming in Brazil

By Mario Osava
"The biodigester really gives a huge boost to those who have the courage to do things," said Maria das Dores Alves da Silva, based on her own experience as a 63-year-old small farmer.

Forus Civil Society Network Urges that Respect for Human Rights, Climate Justice and Accountability should be at the core of the New Global Financing Pact

By Marianne Buenaventura
As the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact unfolds in Paris on 22-23 June, Forus, a global network representing over 22,000 civil society organisations across Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Pacific, calls for the respect of human rights and for meaningful inclusion of civil society in shaping financial systems and structures.

If Governments Have the Tools to Stop Fishing-Related Deaths, Why Aren’t They Being Used?

By Peter Horn
Long before Hollywood highlighted the dangers of commercial fishing in The Perfect Storm, Deadliest Catch and other programming, governments around the world knew that this was one of the most hazardous jobs, killing thousands of fishers every year.

The Rotenberg Files: A Guide on How Russian Oligarchs Dodge Sanctions

By Matti Kohonen
The sanctions against Russian oligarchs who hold billions of dollars have mostly failed to have a real impact beyond freezing a few yachts and properties. So, what went wrong? Now we know.

Beyond the UN Security Council: Can the General Assembly Tackle the Climate–Security Challenge?

By Adam Day and Florian Krampe
The wildfires raging in Canada are yet another reminder that climate change is already having an impact on all our lives. As the smoke clears around the United Nations building in New York, we are likely to see a renewed push for the UN Security Council to tackle the security risks posed by climate change, including in the upcoming New Agenda for Peace policy brief from UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Mexico Needs to Step Up Treatment and Reuse of Water to Address Crisis

By Emilio Godoy
At the entrance to the coastal city of Ensenada in the northwestern Mexican state of Baja California a sign reads: “Every drop matters to us. Take care of the water." The message is important, as the city faces shortages due to hoarding by agricultural producers and builders, as well as the drought that has become more severe because of the effects of the climate emergency.
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