Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

Indigenous Knowledge, a Lesson for a Sustainable Food Future Busani Bafana Local knowledge systems rooted in traditional practices and culture passed down generations provide sustainable solutions to food and nutritional insecurity on the back of climate change, a conference heard this week. More than 370 million indigenous people, living in 70 countries, make up ... MORE > >

Five Lessons for Journalism in the Age of Rage-- & Where Lies Travel Faster Than Truth Karin Pettersson The news-media industry has long lamented how the digital revolution has broken its business models. Today, a majority of digital advertising money goes to Facebook and Google, and media companies are struggling to reinvent themselves through digital subscriptions. But the disruption hasn’t ... MORE > >

Zimbabwe Food Crisis: Time to Act Is Now, Says UN Special Rapporteur Busani Bafana Global food systems are ripe for transformation if people are to be nourished and the planet sustainable, says Hilal Elver, Special Rapporteur of the Right to Food of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Hilal Elver, Special Rapporteur of the Right to Food of the United Nations Human ... MORE > >

Tradition and Technology Take Centre Stage at BCFN Food Forum Cecilia Russell A coffee producer will receive a cent and a half from a $2.50 cup of coffee. This one stark fact stood out as scientists, researchers, activists and grappled with solutions for change in food and nutrition practises, which would benefit the greater community. While the solutions are ... MORE > >

Case Against Tobacco Giant Could Protect Children Margaret Wurth Legal action against British American Tobacco (BAT), one of the world’s largest tobacco firms, could see the company punished for profiting from child labor and force the industry to finally confront its treatment of vulnerable workers. The case, brought by human rights lawyers on behalf of ... MORE > >

Inequality and Its Many Discontents Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram Much recent unrest, such as the ‘yellow-vest’ protests in France and the US ‘Abolish the Super-Rich’ campaign, is not against inequality per se, but reflects perceptions of changing inequalities. Most citizens resent inequalities when it is not only unacceptably high, but also rising. Anis ... MORE > >

World’s Crisis-Stricken Oceans Doomed to Destruction Without a Global Treaty Thalif Deen The greatest single climate-induced threat facing the world’s 44 small island developing states (SIDS) is rising sea waters which could obliterate some of the low-lying states, including Maldives, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Palau and Micronesia. The Marshall ... MORE > >

The Story Behind The Gambia’s Lawsuit against Myanmar over the Rohingya Genocide Samira Sadeque On Nov. 11, the Gambia filed a lawsuit against Myanmar in the International Court of Justice for the southeast asian country’s atrocities against the Rohingya population. Over the past years, hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh for refuge, sparking one of ... MORE > >

Climate Summit Kicks Off, Caught Between Realism and Hope Emilio Godoy Tens of thousands of delegates from state parties began working Monday Dec. 2 in the Spanish capital to pave the way to comply with the Paris Agreement on climate change, while at a parallel summit, representatives of civil society demanded that the international community go further. Calls to ... MORE > >

Under Pressure. Can COP25 Deliver? Farhana Haque Rahman Mass public pressure backed by the weight of scientific reports is starting to bring governments to their senses as the annual UN climate summit kicks off in Madrid today. But despite warnings that the planet is reaching critical tipping points, the two weeks of talks with nearly 30,000 ... MORE > >

Biofortified Food, a Business Boost for Smallholder Farmers Busani Bafana A start-up in Zimbabwe is producing high nutrition foods using biofortified crops in a bid to fight micronutrient deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) leads to night blindness, illness and death from childhood infections. In Zimbabwe, 36 percent of children under five years of age suffer from ... MORE > >

Care for Economic Development, Then Care for Food Nutrition, Food Researcher Tells Africa’s Politicians Busani Bafana More than 2 billion people in the world are suffering from malnutrition. This is the result of diets lacking essential micronutrients such as vitamins, iron and zinc, which are vital for the body to function, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The nutritional situation ... MORE > >

Africa’s Civil Society Calls for Action as COP25 Kicks off in Madrid Isaiah Esipisu During the 25th round of climate change negotiations starting today in Madrid, Spain, African civil society organisations will call on governments from both developing and developed nations to play their promised roles in combating climate change. “We're fatigued by COP jamborees which have ... MORE > >

Community Efforts are Key When Addressing HIV/AIDS Ifeanyi Nsofor Three years ago, I led an evaluation of an HIV project that focused on increasing access to quality care and supporting services for people living with HIV in Nigeria. It also aimed to reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination. The project achieved these goals by strengthening support ... MORE > >

Water Is Worth More than Milk in Extrema, Brazil Mario Osava "They called me crazy" for fencing in the area where the cows went to drink water, said Elias Cardoso, on his 67-hectare farm in Extrema, a municipality 110 km from São Paulo, Brazil's largest metropolis. "I realized the water was going to run out, with cattle trampling the spring. Then I fenced ... MORE > >

Nuclear False Warnings & the Risk of Catastrophe Daryl G. Kimball Forty years ago, on Nov. 9, the U.S. Defense Department detected an imminent nuclear attack against the United States through the early-warning system of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). U.S. bomber and missile forces went on full alert, and the emergency command post, known as ... MORE > >

Net Closes on Daphne Caruana Galizia's Killers, Sending a Powerful Signal of No Impunity for Corruption Ed Holt Press freedom campaigners and journalists in Malta are hoping they could soon see justice for murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia – and that a powerful message will be sent across Europe that a free press can deny corrupt officials the power to act with impunity. Caruana Galizia, ... MORE > >