Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

Oceans in Crisis as they Absorb the Brunt of Climate Change Miriam Gathigah Warnings of strong winds, high waves and reduced visibility along the East African coastline are increasingly common. But local fisher folk like Ali Sombo from Kwale County, situated along Kenya's Indian Ocean Coastline, don't always heed the warnings by the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) ... MORE > >

Climate Emergency: A Humanitarian Call to Action Avril Benoit We saw this coming. As humanitarians, our risk assessments in different parts of the world have always factored in the potential for extreme weather events and the spread of vector-borne diseases, of drought, desertification, and mass displacement. Emergency first responders like us work up ... MORE > >

We Have Swung into the Dark Ages, Says Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams Anna Shen Speaking in New York during the United Nations General Assembly’s opening day, United States President Donald Trump continued to float the idea that he should be awarded a Nobel Prize, but that would never happen because the system was rigged. Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams, who won the ... MORE > >

How to ‘Fix the Business of Food’ and Save the Planet Samira Sadeque With up to one billion undernourished people around the world, and agriculture and land use systems increasingly vulnerable to climate change and land degradation, more companies within the global food industry need to start aligning their operations with the United Nations Sustainable Development ... MORE > >

UNGA 2019: No room for coal in Africa’s renewable future: Akinwumi Adesina African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina on Tuesday unveiled ambitious plans to scrap coal power stations across the continent and switch to renewable energy at United Nations climate talks on Monday. Addressing a gathering of leaders and officials from almost 200 countries in New ... MORE > >

At the U.N., it Was the Day of Populist Strongmen Thalif Deen The United Nations is an institution which promotes multilateralism and preaches some of the basic tenets of multiparty democracy and liberalism, including the rule of law, universal human rights, free speech, civil liberties, the rights of refugees and freedom of the press. But, paradoxically, ... MORE > >

UN, African Development Bank High-Level Meeting Calls for Speed and Action on SDGs With an estimated 390 million people living in extreme poverty, hunger and food insecurity, Africa is in a race against time to deliver on its regional and global development goals. On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Sunday, African heads of states and governments met to emphasize ... MORE > >

How Slow Moving Asbestos Regulations Compromise Health Sarah Wolverton Last year, the United States introduced a new asbestos rule that was received both positively and negatively and Canada banned the mineral altogether. Countries like the U.K. and Australia continue to struggle with the health implications of historic asbestos use, despite both having bans for ... MORE > >

Advice to US: When You’re Going to a Gunfight, Bring all Your Friends with Guns Thalif Deen Jim Mattis a former United States Defense Secretary in the Trump administration quotes a Marine Corps dictum in a recently released book titled “Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead”. “When you’re going to a gun fight” he says, “bring all your friends with guns”—a piece of advice obviously directed ... MORE > >

World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates Calls for Decisive Action, With No Time to Waste Anna Shen In a world of increasing fragility and declining resources, can the world foster peace? With a looming climate crisis, is war inevitable? Will nuclear war be the final result? Are women the ultimate peace builders? How do we train and engage youth to promote peace? These are some of the ... MORE > >

50 Days of Kashmir Under Lockdown - in Pictures Umar Manzoor Shah and Umer Asif It is 50 days into the lockdown in Kashmir since roads were blocked off, schools shut, and internet and communication services stopped. On Aug. 5, India’s federal government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a curfew in the Muslim-majority area after amending the law to revoke the ... MORE > >

We Need Biodiversity-Based Agriculture to Solve the Climate Crisis Vandana Shiva The Earth is living, and also creates life. Over 4 billion years the Earth has evolved a rich biodiversity — an abundance of different living organisms and ecosystems — that can meet all our needs and sustain life. Through biodiversity and the living functions of the biosphere, the Earth ... MORE > >

In Southern Brazil, Need Becomes an Environmental Virtue Mario Osava The state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil is the largest national producer and exporter of pork and this year it also leads in exports of chicken, of which it is the second-biggest producer in the country. Economic and productive success, as is often the case, brought serious environmental ... MORE > >

Rural Bangladesh Families Spend 2.0 Billion Dollars on Climate Change ― Dwarfing Government & International Finance Andrew Norton In an alarming imbalance struggling families in rural Bangladesh spend almost US billion a year on preventing climate-related disasters or repairing damage caused by climate change ― far more than either the Bangladesh government or international bodies. In the first report to measure ... MORE > >

Biogas Makes Pig Farming More Sustainable in Southern Brazil Mario Osava Biogas has the potential to provide 36 percent of the electricity consumed in Brazil or replace 70 percent of diesel if purified as biomethane, according to the Brazilian Association of Biogas and Biomethane (Abiogas). This new source of energy is only recently gaining a foothold in this ... MORE > >

Boko Haram’s Youngest Victims Jo Becker “Khadija” was just 8 years old when Boko Haram fighters attacked her village in northeast Nigeria and took her by force to their camp. Her abductors tried to marry her and other captives to members of the armed Islamist group, she told me. When the captives refused, they were locked in a ... MORE > >