TerraViva Europe Archives

EUROPE: Floods Are Here to Stay

Record floods in Central and Eastern Europe have highlighted some of the challenges of climate change for the continent, as well as the floods' potential to spur populist politics.

The “Secret Treasure” of Food Waste

By Claudia Ciobanu

Twenty-nine-year-old Andrzej W. and his partner lived for almost a year off of food found in the trash bin of the upscale supermarket Piotr i Pawel in Muranow, a neighbourhood near the centre of the Polish capital Warsaw. And they ate in style.

Q&A: Impact Assessment Key in Rural Development Projects

By Marianela Jarroud

The Latin American Centre for Rural Development (RIMISP) is promoting a method for assessing strategies, results, reach and impact of IFAD-funded agricultural projects targeting vulnerable groups in the region.

OP-ED: In South Sudan, Ending Child Marriage Will Require a Comprehensive Approach

By Agnes Odhiambo

Akech B. loved to study and dreamed of becoming a nurse. But when she was 14, her uncle who was raising her forced her to leave school to marry a man Akech described as old and gray-haired. The man paid 75 cows as dowry for Akech. He was already married to another woman with whom he had several children.

Putting Uganda’s Working Kids Back in School

By Amy Fallon

Children around the world may complain about attending school and doing their homework, but not 14-year-old Raya*. For two years she was forced by her illiterate parents to spend every day, rain or shine, selling sugar cane from the family garden to customers on the streets of Entebbe, about 35 km outside the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

NSA Leaks Prompt Lawsuit and U.N. Action

By George Gao

Edward Snowden, 29, left behind a comfortable lifestyle in Hawaii as a private contractor for the Pentagon's National Security Agency (NSA) because he did not want to help create an "architecture for oppression" for fellow citizens.

Intra-Asian Security Ties Good for U.S. – Report

By Jim Lobe

Deepening security ties between East Asian nations offer substantial benefits to the United States as it "rebalances" its military forces towards the Asia-Pacific region, so long as the move is not perceived as a U.S.-led effort to contain China, according to a new report by a think tank close to the administration of President Barack Obama.

Climate Change Threatens Water and Food Security in Antigua

By Desmond Brown

With their islands devoid of rivers or streams, farmers in Antigua and Barbuda have been building dams and ponds for centuries, harvesting rainwater to irrigate their crops and provide drinking water for their livestock.

“Carbon Farming” Makes Waves at Stalled Bonn Talks

By Stephen Leahy

U.N. climate talks have largely stalled with the suspension of one of three negotiating tracks at a key mid-year session in Bonn, Germany.

‘Happy Prostitutes’ AIDS Campaign Sparks Debate

By Fabiana Frayssinet

Happiness, the subject of endless philosophical discussions, has now become the focus of controversy in an HIV/AIDS prevention campaign aimed at prostitutes in Brazil. The campaign chief has been booted out and a further question has been raised: What are the limits of popular participation in the definition of public policies?

Scales Tip Towards Women in Jewish Religious Rights Struggle

By Pierre Klochendler

The struggle for gender equality and Jewish pluralism took a highly symbolic turn on Sunday at the Western Wall, Judaism's most revered site and emblem of unity, as a group of women known as "Women of the Wall" prayed legally and in a way they saw fit.

Cairo’s Poor Convert Kitchen Waste Into Fuel Savings

By Cam McGrath

The bio-gas digester on the roof of Hussein Farag's apartment in one of Cairo's poorest districts provides a daily supply of cooking gas produced from the kitchen waste his family would otherwise discard in plastic bags or empty into the clogged sewer below his building.

Globe Less Peaceful Than Five Years Ago – Report

By Jim Lobe

The world - especially the Greater Middle East – has become less peaceful than it was five years ago, according to the 2013 edition of the annual Global Peace Index (GPI) released here Tuesday by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP).

Ukraine Injects Addicts With Hope

By Pavol Stracansky

As former presidents, senior diplomats and experts meet in the Lithuanian capital to discuss a litany of rights abuses, lethal epidemics and social destruction caused by repressive drug policies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, pockets of hope for drug reform are emerging across the region.

Bishkek Building Boom Sharpens Social Divisions

By David Trilling

Glance at the parking lot outside parliament, at the fleet of Lexus SUVs kitted out with chrome, and you might think Bishkek is the capital of a wealthy country. A block down Chui Avenue, a shiny new Range Rover is parked on the sidewalk. Police drive their own BMWs.

The Girl Who Couldn’t Herd Goats Now Saves Lives

By Miriam Gathigah

When she was nine years old, Jane Meriwas, a Samburu from the Kipsing Plains in Kenya’s Rift Valley region, was considered of no use by her father. After all, nine of his goats had been eaten by hyenas under her watch.

Senegal’s ‘Religious Schools’ Places of Exploitation

By Marc-Andre Boisvert

In Dakar, urban commuters are familiar with kids as young as five years old begging on street corners at all hours of the day or the night, with torn, dirty clothes, collecting donations in an empty tin can.

How to Close Latin America’s Rich-Poor Chasm

By Cydney Hargis

Latin American governments have increasingly been working to lessen inequality in the region, but new data suggests their efforts vary widely in quality and impact.

OP-ED: A Double Standard Won’t Do for Baku

By Eldar Mamedov

Kseniya Sobchak, a well-known Russian political activist and social butterfly, is an outspoken critic of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. But, curiously, she seems to be taking a much softer line on Azerbaijan’s authoritarian-minded ruler, Ilham Aliyev.

U.S., Malaysia Lead Worldwide “Land Grabs”

By Stephen Leahy

Africa is the main target for "land grabs" by foreign investors, according to a new report on large-scale land acquisitions around the world released Monday.