The eventual resolution of the US 2012 budget for foreign aid is unlikely to show mercy to international NGOs involved with population issues. Meanwhile, the stories of urgent family planning needs in developing countries keep coming.
Category: Uncategorized
Indecent Development
Exceptional levels of remittances from migrant workers may explain an apparently sharp improvement in poverty figures in Nepal. But there is a human price to pay for this model of development.
Uganda tears up UN deforestation script
The decision by President Yoweri Museveni to convert one quarter of Uganda’s Mabira Forest into a sugarcane plantation will bolster those environmentalists who argue that UN plans for protecting the world’s forests are fundamentally flawed.
Firewood and the forests
Is the collection of firewood in poor countries is a major driver of deforestation? Differences of opinion need urgent resolution.
Beware the boomerang effect in climate media
Imagine you return from holiday to be confronted with an academic study which concludes that your field of work is having the opposite effect to that intended. Then you notice that the co-author is an assistant professor at the university school whose Dean happens to be the senior member of your board of directors.
Precautionary principle: dead or alive?
Faced with decisions on Hurricane Irene and the Keystone XL pipeline, the US government applies opposite application of the precautionary principle.
What does the FAO really think?
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization appears to be cautious about the potential of GM technology to develop drought-resistant maize for Africa. It’s also cautious about the potential of organic farming.
USAID program charged with seed theft in India
A genetically-modified food project funded by the US Agency for International Development faces legal action for bio-piracy offences. The National Biodiversity Authority of India has published its decision to allow the case to proceed.
Banks protected by ban on speculators
Four European countries are protecting their banks from market speculators by slapping a ban on their trading methods. No such luck for poor countries affected by food prices running out of control.
Clutching at straws of climate data
Rebuilding colonial-era networks of meteorological stations is a consistent refrain of climate adaptation plans in Africa.