Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

9 of the 10 Worst Global Risks are Linked to Water Jens Berggren Every year, the World Economic Forum asks some 1,000 decision-makers from the public sector, business, academia and civil society across the globe to assess the risks facing the world over the decade to come. Since 2012, water crisis has consistently been ranked as one of the threats with the ... MORE > >

VIDEO: Water for All - World Water Day 2019 IPS World Desk Water is a precondition for human existence, and for the sustainability of our planet. It is entwined with almost everything human, from climate change and global economy to gender issues and human rights. Worldwide, 100 million families are stuck in a cycle of poverty and disease, because they ... MORE > >

It’s Simple, but Requires Determination Monika Weber-Fahr I am drafting this on International Women’s Day - March 8 - with an eye towards World Water Day on March 22. On International Women’s Day we celebrate progress in gender equality. At the same time, we recognize how much remains to be done: how many women remain excluded from decision-making across ... MORE > >

Women Take the Lead Tackling Climate Change in Bangladesh Jonathan Farr and Samia Mallik, WaterAid The stakes are high for women when faced with a warming world – their livelihoods jeopardised by labour markets that tend to put men first, their family responsibilities increasing rapidly in the face of droughts and flooding, and politicians who refuse to acknowledge the challenges they face. The ... MORE > >

Three Takeaways from Disaster Relief in Puerto Rico Mark Baker Those of us working in disaster relief know what to expect when a hurricane or earthquake strikes with devastating fury. We know that safe water, food, and shelter will be the most immediate needs for survivors. And we have a good idea of the kind of wreckage we’ll see, although we never cease ... MORE > >

Access to Water Is a Daily Battle in Poor Neighborhoods in Buenos Aires Daniel Gutman "Look at this water. Would you drink it?" asks José Pablo Zubieta, as he shows a glass he has just filled from a faucet, where yellow and brown sediment float, in his home in Villa La Cava, a shantytown on the outskirts of Argentina's capital. In La Cava, as in all of Argentina's slums and ... MORE > >

Local School Is a Model for Energy and Water in Rapa Nui Orlando Milesi A school in the capital of Easter Island (Rapa Nui, in the local indigenous tongue) gives an example of clean management with the use of solar energy, rainwater recovery and an organic vegetable garden, as well as rooms and spaces built with waste materials. Rapa Nui is a Chilean territory in ... MORE > >

Reverse Engineering for SDGs Kakoli Ghosh and Loreta Zdanovaite When young people from small towns and villages seek higher education they have to usually migrate to big cities leaving their local communities behind. On completion of their degree from the Universities, they generally prefer staying in cities, in search of a good job and a successful career. ... MORE > >

Removing Arsenic from Groundwater: We Have the Tools, Let's Use Them Yina Shan, Praem Mehta, Duminda Perera, & Yurissa Varela Cost-effective technologies are available to remove arsenic in groundwater. Why then do tens of millions still fall ill to this chronic problem? High natural levels of arsenic are characteristic of the groundwater supply in many countries, including Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Mongolia, and the ... MORE > >

Moving Beyond Just Building Toilets Pratima Joshi One of the most laudable initiatives of the current government’s regime is the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) that was launched on Oct 2, 2014, with a larger vision of a clean India. The critical aspect of the mission was that—unlike many of the movements that preceded it—this had a measurable outcome ... MORE > >

Wasting & Dining: the New Water Dilemma Jan Lundqvist Concerns about the supply side of food systems are shifting from insufficient production and supply, to issues likely to affect food production in the medium and long term, such as water risks, global warming and environmental consequences. To produce an average diet in rich communities, ... MORE > >