TerraViva Europe

Zimbabwe’s Urban Farmers Combat Food Insecurity — But it’s Illegal

By Ignatius Banda
It is harvest season in Zimbabwe and Janet Zondo is pressed to find space on the piece of land she is farming to erect a makeshift granary. Zando says she could very well build a miniature silo, judging by the size of the maize crop that she is preparing to harvest.

Malignant Growth: Battling a New Cancer Pandemic

By Kanya D'Almeida
Few people in the world can claim to be untouched by cancer. If not personally battling it in one form or another, millions are at this very moment sitting beside loved ones fighting for their lives, visiting friends recovering from chemo, or researching the latest treatments for their relatives.

Soaring Child Poverty – a Blemish on Spain

By Inés Benítez
“I don’t want them to grow up with the notion that they’re poor,” says Catalina González, referring to her two young sons. The family has been living in an apartment rent-free since December in exchange for fixing it up, in the southern Spanish city of Málaga.

Indigenous Leaders Targeted in Battle to Protect Forests

By Michelle Tullo
Indigenous leaders are warning of increased violence in the fight to save their dwindling forests and ecosystems from extractive companies.

New Treatments May Defuse Viral Time Bomb

By Cam McGrath
Mohamed Ibrahim first learned he had hepatitis C when he tried to donate blood. Weeks later he received a letter from the blood clinic telling him he carried antibodies of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). He most likely acquired the disease from a blood transfusion he received during surgery when he was a child.

U.S.-Colombia Labour Rights Plan Falls Short

By Jim Lobe
Three years after Colombia agreed to U.S. demands to better protect labour rights and activists, a “Labour Plan of Action” (LPA) drawn up by the two nations is showing mixed results at best, according to U.S. officials and union and rights activists from both countries.

Colombia’s Breadbasket Feels the Pinch of Free Trade

By Helda Martínez
“Things are getting worse and worse,” Enrique Muñoz, a 67-year-old farmer from the municipality of Cajamarca in the central Colombian department of Tolima, once known as the country’s breadbasket, said sadly.

Ukraine Crisis Cements Astana in Russia’s Orbit

By Joanna Lillis
The Crimea crisis is putting pressure on Kazakhstan’s long-standing, multi-vectored foreign policy, which has sought to balance the competing interests of Russia, China and the United States in Central Asia.

Taliban Provokes New Hunger for Education

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Following scattered defiance of the Taliban earlier, a new wave of students is now heading for education in schools and colleges across the troubled north of Pakistan.

Biofortified Beans to Fight ‘Hidden Hunger’ in Rwanda

By Fabíola Ortiz
Joane Nkuliye considers herself an activist. She is part of a select group of farmers producing biofortified crops on a commercial scale in Rwanda. 

Political Web Spun for ‘Youngistan’

By Manipadma Jena
As India votes in its 16th general election Apr. 7-May 12, the youth, comprising nearly half the country’s 814 million voters, could prove decisive. And the internet is being used increasingly to target youth in the world’s largest democratic exercise.

Cuba’s Youth Were the Target of USAID’s ZunZuneo

By Patricia Grogg
The generations born in Cuba in the last two or three decades, permeated by the influences of societies that differ radically from the one their government is trying to build, are in the eye of the ideological storm that feeds the conflict between Havana and Washington.

Italian Doctors Abort a Law

By Silvia Giannelli
Two out of three doctors in Italy are ‘conscientious objectors’ to abortion, according to new data. The Italian Ministry of Health reveals that in 2011, 69.3 percent of doctors refused to carry out abortions, with peaks of over 85 percent in some regions.

Discomfort over Crimea Annexation Among Emerging Powers

By Jim Lobe
Last month’s annexation by Russia of Crimea and the West’s reaction have placed emerging regional powers, which have generally supported Moscow’s position on key geopolitical developments, in a difficult position, according to U.S. analysts.

Brazilian Dams Accused of Aggravating Floods in Bolivia

By Franz Chávez
Unusually heavy rainfall, climate change, deforestation and two dams across the border in Brazil were cited by sources who spoke to IPS as the causes of the heaviest flooding in Bolivia’s Amazon region since records have been kept.

Getting into CAR, When so Many Want to Get Out

By Jonathan Rozen
In a country suffering from what the U.N. has called “ethno-religious cleansing”, a “disappeared” state structure and “unacceptable sectarian brutality,” gaining access to the population of the Central African Republic has proven a difficult and sometimes deadly task for humanitarian workers.

OP-ED: “Cli-Fi” May Be No Stranger Than Reality

By Dan Bloom
When we read novels or short fiction in any language, we read to understand the story. We read to learn something new, and hopefully to get some kind of emotional uplift through the words on the page and the skills of the storyteller.

Misgivings Rise Over Afghan Poll

By Giuliano Battiston
“If Abdullah will become president, the will of [the] Afghan people will be respected. Otherwise – especially if Zalmai Rassoul will be indicated as the winner – a new conflict will start and our country will become more insecure.” The remark by Abdullah Abdullah supporter Qazi Sadullah Abu Aman is typical of the uncertainties and accusations rising as election day draws close on Saturday.

Zimbabwe’s Positive Children, Negative News

By Busani Bafana
Three years ago, Robert Ngwenya* and his father got into a heated argument over medication. Ngwenya, then aged 15, refused to continue swallowing the nausea-provoking pills he had been taking since he was 12 years old, and flushed them down the toilet. 

California Cities Gear Up to Fight “Big Soda”

By Judith Scherr
Mexico is fighting obesity and accompanying diseases with a one-peso per litre tax on sugar-sweetened beverages that kicked in Jan. 1. France implemented its “cola tax” in 2012. Several U.S. states tax sugar-sweetened beverages, including Vermont, Rhode Island, Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia. Illinois legislators are considering such a tax.

Rural Costa Rican Women Plant Trees to Fight Climate Change

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
Olga Vargas, a breast cancer survivor, is back in the countryside, working in a forestry programme in the north of Costa Rica aimed at empowering women while at the same time mitigating the effects of climate change.
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