Savings Spurned in Zimbabwe Water Purification

Zimbabwe spends an estimated 100 million dollars a year importing aluminium sulphate for water treatment plants. But a local entrepreneur has developed a technique to extract the needed compound from kaolin and flint clays abundantly available within the country.

HEALTH-DR CONGO: Coming Together to Fight Malaria

Eight faith-based organisations have set up a pilot project in the Democratic Republic of Congo to support the fight against malaria.

KENYA: Farming Butterflies Puts Food on the Table

For 10 years, Roselyne Shikami, sold boiled eggs at the bus station just outside the densely wooded Kakamega Forest in western Kenya, near the border with Uganda. Now she is selling butterflies.

“Radical Reform” Urged for Private-Sector Development Support

Policies and initiatives by multilateral development banks (MDBs) to support the private sector in developing countries need to be carefully reviewed and reformed to ensure they are reducing poverty and protecting human rights and the environment, according to a new report by a coalition of six major non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

NIGERIA: New Law to Promote Locals in Oil Industry

"This bill seeks to address the compelling need for us as a nation to have indigenous participation in the industry." With these words, Nigeria’s acting President, Goodluck Jonathan, signed the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Bill into law.

Crisis Trapping Millions More in Poverty

The global economic crisis is projected to hamper progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and will directly impact MDGs related to hunger, child and maternal health, gender equality, access to clean water and disease control, according to a report released Friday by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

World Court Highlights Environmental Vulnerability of Uruguay River

If anything was left clear by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on the long-running pulp mill dispute between Argentina and Uruguay, it was the weakness of rules and regulations to prevent pollution of the Uruguay River in the 508-km stretch shared by the two countries.

Wanted: World Referendum, Climate Justice Tribunal

A world people's referendum on climate change will be held in April 2011 for the earth's peoples to decide how to address this global problem.

Small Farmers to Get Nearly Billion-Dollar Boost

Representatives of the governments of the United States, Canada, Spain and South Korea, along with Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, joined together Thursday to launch a 900-million-dollar global trust fund to fight global food insecurity.

MALI: Rush For Land Along the Niger

Domestic and international investors are taking over increasing amounts of arable land in Mali.

JORDAN: Women Make Progress But Honour Killings Persist

Earlier this month, a 33-year-old man was charged with hammering his wife to death and dumping her body on the highway leading to the Queen Alia International Airport. The husband confessed to murdering her ''to defend his honour,’’ as she was meeting a male friend.

A North-South Pact to Resolve Water, Sanitation Crisis

An international coalition of over 120 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is demanding a North-South partnership to resolve the spreading global crisis in water and sanitation.

NICARAGUA: Controversy Over Pregnancy-Related Death Toll

Non-governmental organisations in Nicaragua are questioning data on the maternal mortality rate released by the government, which is claiming a historic decline in the indicator, and they warn that the reduction target that the country has committed itself to by 2015 is still out of reach.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Benefits of Working Together on Water

The river basin organisation people are gathered in Botswana again: the theme this year is "benefit-sharing", an approach to allocating water that, it is promised, will accomplish nothing less than to make more water.

MOZAMBIQUE: Weather Service Key to Flood Disaster Management

Mozambique's government learned some tough lessons from the devastating floods that hit the country a decade ago. Experts say the disaster management plans drawn up since are a model for other African countries.

Malaria Funding Falls Short of Six-Billion-Dollar Target

As African countries continue their relentless battle against the spread of malaria, a global fund to fight the deadly tropical disease has fallen short of expectations.

Opposition Mounts to Carbon Compensation Schemes

The World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which opened Monday in Bolivia, will reflect vigorous resistance to financial compensation for forest conservation in return for permits to emit greenhouse gases, activists told IPS.

PARAGUAY: Native Group Defends Land Claim Before Inter-American Court

One of the three public hearings held this week in Lima by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights discussed the responsibility of the Paraguayan state for violations of the right of indigenous communities to collective ownership of their land.

AGRICULTURE: Affordable Solution to Costly Pests

The International Centre for Plant Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), based at Mbita, on the Kenyan shores of the world’s second-largest freshwater body, is advocating "push-pull cultivation" as the answer to feeding future generations in Africa.

NAMIBIA: Banking Water for the Future

In the driest capital city south of the Sahara, water engineers are "banking" ground water to meet future demand, but the enormous costs might sink the project before water can be harvested.

HEALTH: Maternal Deaths Drop, but Progress Still “Slow”

One day closer to an ever-approaching deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced a Joint Action Plan to improve reproductive, maternal and newborn health on Wednesday, flanked by international leaders and development experts.