Empowering Africa’s Informal Market Traders To Deliver Safe Food

Local informal food markets feed millions of urbanites in bustling African cities, but the consequences of tainted food could be illness and death for unsuspecting consumers.

Hydrogen from Renewables or Fossil Fuels? The Panamanian Question

In 2021, the Panama Canal welcomed a French experimental ship on a world tour, the Energy Observer, the first electric vessel powered by a combination of renewable energies and a hydrogen production system based on seawater.

Small Farmers Feeling Climate Change Heat Find Little Support From the State

The over 20 million residents of Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, in Sindh province in particular, have been experiencing brutal heat since May. But they are not the only ones bearing the brunt of high temperatures and humidity. Up to 15,000 cattle died due to scorching heat mixed with high humidity which Shakir Umar Gujjar, president of the Cattle and Dairy Farmers Association, Pakistan, said was “no joke”.

Gaza Children’s Education, Mental Health Targeted With Emergency Response Grant

Since October 2023, 625,000 children enrolled in schools across Gaza have had no access to education, and more than 370 schools have sustained damage from attacks, according to the United Nations.

Explainer: Why Kenya is Considered a High Climate Risk for Development Banks

Kenya contributes less than 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions every year, yet development banks have flagged the East African nation as a high climate risk. This is due to extreme weather changes that are increasingly threatening the country’s development agenda, widening socio-economic inequalities, and deepening rural poverty and hunger.

Water Stories: The Well Seven Families and 400 Buffaloes Rely On

In the rural village of Khardariya in the Dang district of Nepal, access to clean water is a major issue. Villagers depend on one poorly managed well for drinking water, cleaning, and feeding livestock. Anjana Yadav stood near the well while a neighbor walked toward it to fetch a bucket of water.

Pivotal Shift at Seabed Authority: Nations Rally for Deep-Sea Mining Moratorium

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) Assembly meeting concluded last week with no mining authorized, an unprecedented number of States calling for a moratorium or precautionary pause and a new Secretary-General elected.

Nigeria: Why #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria Protests Gained Traction

Thousands of Nigerians have taken to the streets to protest against bad governance, corruption, soaring inflation, and the rising cost of living, in what has been termed "10 Days of Rage" and believed to mirror Kenyan protests organized by the youth. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and a major exporter of crude oil, citizens claim that the benefits of the country's resources do not trickle down to the masses but to a group of corrupt politicians.

Chilean Fisherwomen Seek Visibility and Escape from Vulnerability

The number of organisations that bring together fisherwomen who seek to be recognised as workers, make their harsh reality visible and escape the vulnerability in which they live is growing in Chile.

How Women Volunteers Are Shaping India’s Water Future

“Daily squabbles at the lone water point in Bhubaneswar’s slums, where hundreds of households depended on this single non-potable water source, have now receded into the past,” says Aparna Khuntia, a member of a large cohort of water volunteers who have played an important enabling role in ensuring households in the eastern India city now have their own on-premises potable running tap water available all 24 hours.

Activists Challenge Pharma Company Gilead Over HIV Medication

Campaigners and experts have demanded a breakthrough HIV intervention hailed as “the closest thing to an HIV vaccine” must be made available as soon and as cheaply as possible to all who need it as its manufacturer faces protests over its pricing. Activists led a massive protest during the 25th International AIDS Conference (AIDS2024) in Munich last week as a study was presented showing lenacapavir—a drug currently sold by pharmaceutical firm Gilead for more than USD 40,000 per year as an HIV treatment—could be sold for USD 40 per year as a form of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to help prevent HIV infection.

Partnering for Progress: Maldives’ Sustainable Ocean Initiatives

The ocean is our lifeline, covering 70 percent of the earth’s surface, it is the source of half of the oxygen we breathe, and it absorbs 26 percent of the carbon dioxide we produce. It is home to millions of marine species, contains 97 percent of all of the water on our planet and offers humankind immense resources. 

79 Years After Hiroshima & Nagasaki: A Grim Reminder of Nuclear Annihilation

The upcoming 79th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which took place on August 6 and 9, 1945, remains a grim reminder of the destructive consequences of nuclear weapons. The US bombings killed an estimated 90,000 to 210,000, with roughly half of the deaths occurring on the first day in Hiroshima.

Intl. AIDS Conference: Trans Man Asks Governments to Pressure Uganda to Repeal Punitive Anti LGBT+ Law

Jay Mulucha, Executive Director of FEM Alliance Uganda, gave an impassioned plea to governments around the world to push lawmakers in his home country to reverse punitive new legislation criminalizing the LGBT+ community.

Sportwashing Allegations at Africa’s Top Football Tournament

Following the recent Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Ivory Coast, a continent-wide campaign has emerged on social media challenging the tournament's main sponsor, TotalEnergies, over its involvement in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

Parliamentarians: Active Aging Enhanced By Using Artificial Intelligence

With projections that by 2060, over 1.2 billion people in Asia will be 65 or older, and by adopting technology, including artificial intelligence technologies, it is possible to plan for active and fulfilled aging, lawmakers attending a regional meeting on Aging Preparedness and Care Economy in Asia heard.

Life or Energy: The Hydroelectric Dilemma in Amazonian Brazil

The decade-and-a-half-long battle for life in the so-called Volta Grande (Big Bend) of the Xingu river, a stretch of the river dewatered by the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant in the Brazilian Amazon, has a possible solution, albeit a partial one.

Government Indifferent to Invasion of Drug Traffickers in the Peruvian Amazon

The invasion of lands inhabited by Amazon indigenous communities is growing in Peru, due to drug trafficking mafias that are expanding coca crops to produce and export cocaine, while deforestation and insecurity for the native populations and their advocates are increasing

Emergency Response: Building Resilient Education Systems in Haiti Amid Multiple Crises

Haiti is witnessing unprecedented levels of lawlessness and brutality from armed gangs, which target schools and hospitals. The groups have plunged the country into a crisis and apart from the gun violence accusations, disturbing reports of ruthless sexual violence, including gang rape. Millions of children are in harm's way; many are out of school and it is estimated that between 30 and 50 percent of armed group members are children.

Will the New Triumvirate—Russia, China & North Korea—Force the South To Go Nuclear?

When Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a pact last month to revive a Cold War-era mutual defense pledge between two of the world’s nuclear powers, it also had the implicit support a third nuclear power standing in the shadows: China.

Kanak Political Grievances Are Fed by Deep Inequality in New Caledonia

New Caledonia, a French overseas territory of about 290,000 people in the southwest Pacific, is facing a challenging recovery from weeks of civil unrest that erupted in mid-May, leaving an aftermath of destruction and political turmoil.