ENVIRONMENT-MALAYSIA: Soft Loans for Reforestation or Deforestation?

With a dozen timber firms set to receive new government soft loans to finance ‘reforestation’ projects, critics are saying that the money will translate into logging subsidies for the timber lobby.

DEVELOPMENT: Mutiny Shakes U.S. Food Aid Industry

One of the largest international aid organisations in the world turned the food aid industry on its head recently by declaring that they will turn down 46 million dollars in food subsidies from the U.S. government.

ENERGY: Biofuel Seen as Boost for Poor Farmers

The world's rural poor could benefit from a boom in fuel wrung from crops, despite worries that an accompanying surge in food prices could result in more hunger, say environmental and food experts.

ENVIRONMENT-PAKISTAN: Drip Irrigation – Answer to Water Shortages

Faced with acute water shortages, the Pakistan government has launched a 1.3 billion US dollar subsidised drip irrigation programme that could help reduce wastage over the next five years.

BRAZIL-MEXICO: Lula’s ‘Ethanol Diplomacy’ Yields Harvest

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has incorporated Mexico into his regional strategy to promote ethanol production.

BRAZIL: Amazon Fruit Gatherers Face Biofuel Dilemma

The babaçú, an abundant native palm tree in the eastern Amazon and in the north and northeast of Brazil, has great potential for the production of "biodiesel" and biomass fuel, but the women who make their living from gathering its fruit fear the loss of their traditional source of income.

Q&A: South-South Cooperation &#39Can Change the Geography of the Planet&#39

Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who also heads his country's delegation in multilateral trade negotiations, believes cooperation among developing countries can change the way people perceive the world.

AGRICULTURE-MALAYSIA: Big Top-Down Farm Revival Powered By Business

The Malaysian government is unveiling an economic master-plan that it hopes will "revolutionise" farming and transform the economies of four northern states.

ENERGY: Biofuels Pushing Up Food Aid Prices

A dramatic increase in the production of biofuels has led to rising food prices with serious implications for developing countries reliant on food aid to combat famine.

ENVIRONMENT: EU Finds Green Reasons Against Biofuels

European Union officials have signalled that they will ban subsidies for biofuels in cases where their production causes serious environmental damage.

CLIMATE CHANGE: U.S. Backs Clean Energy – In Asia

The United States and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are joining forces to coax Asian nations to switch to cleaner forms of energy, in hopes of averting a predicted spike in carbon emissions by the world's fastest-growing region.

ENERGY-SRI LANKA: Solar Power Gets A Boost

There may be nothing new in a recent World Bank credit facility to provide electricity through renewable power to thousands of rural homes. But for the growing solar power sector here, it is a giant step in taking the industry forward.

CHINA: Food First, Not Fuel

A customary Chinese greeting from the years of rations and shortages - "have you eaten yet" - is being jokingly resurrected here as the public watches the prices of key staples, particularly pork, soaring by the day.

ECONOMY-IRAN: Fear of Sanctions Drives Petrol Rationing Plans

As Iran reluctantly begins implementing Thursday a plan to reduce consumption of mostly imported petrol by cutting massive consumer subsidies, it is with an eye to possible tightening of international sanctions for the country's controversial nuclear programme.

G8-BRAZIL: Guest Brings Biofuel Arguments to Summit

As a guest at the G8 summit this week in Germany, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will present arguments to convince the leaders of the world's eight richest countries of the importance of biofuels in the fight against global warming.

CUBA: Sugarcane – Source of Renewable Energy, But Not Ethanol

Like other Latin American countries, Cuba is focusing on the development of renewable energy sources. But unlike Brazil, a leader in biofuels, this Caribbean island nation has ruled out the production of ethanol fuel based on sugarcane, because of President Fidel Castro's opposition to using food crops to produce biofuel on a large scale.

ARGENTINA: Privatised Railways – a Timebomb

A riot by commuters enraged over delays, who destroyed part of the busiest train station in Buenos Aires, has drawn attention to the profound crisis afflicting Argentina's privatised railways, which have severe shortcomings despite the huge subsidies they receive from the state.

BIODIVERSITY: Farming Will Make or Break the Food Chain

As the world population swells to nine billion by 2050, global biodiversity will be under extreme pressure unless new ways to grow food are developed, experts say.

CLIMATE CHANGE: EU Emissions to Rise, Despite Claims

One month after the European Union's leaders promised robust action against climate change, green campaigners have accused key EU bodies of implementing policies that will lead to increased emissions of greenhouse gases.

DEVELOPMENT: Biofuels vs Food Crops?

While South Africa is planning on increasing biofuels production some experts warn the move may hurt subsistence farmers and cause more hunger in impoverished areas of the country.

TRADE-KENYA: Farmers Ask Germany to Intervene in EPAs

Fears are high among Kenyan farmers that a new trade regime following a forthcoming deal between developing countries and the European Union (EU) may drive them deeper into poverty.