The new sliding roof over the Wimbledon Centre Court represents an extreme and expensive example of adapting to climate uncertainties. Low cost index insurance is a valuable tool for poor farmers but can it work if climate becomes even less predictable?
Category: Uncategorized
UK climate projections betray Copenhagen agenda
The new UK climate projections published by the Met Office Hadley Centre are a valuable risk management tool for policymakers. But they also speak volumes about the global failure to protect poor countries from climate change.
Children’s rights mirror the global divide
Laws to protect children from sexual abuse in the UK are advanced and actively implemented. The absence of such laws in many developing countries is a major concern to human rights campaigners.
Digital learning and global poverty
School textbooks are history, says Arnold Schwarzenegger. That’s good news for publishers such as OneWorld but do youngsters have adequate concentration spans in the online environment?
Time to burst Dambisa’s bubble
Critics of Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid are missing the point. Worse still, by conducting the debate on her territory, they provide fodder for the anti-aid media circus and damage prospects for the Copenhagen climate change negotiations.
Assorted omens for Copenhagen climate agreement
The mood of last week’s World Business Summit on Climate Change was positive that climate negotiators will reach agreement in Copenhagen in December. But US Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, appears to be in hasty retreat from election promises.
There’s only one festival of economics
Economic troubles have dominated 2009. The Trento Festival of Economics therefore enjoys pole position in the European festival season. Its imaginative programme Identity and Global Crisis addresses questions affecting us all.
Low carbon behaviour needs the selfish gene
What are the most effective strategies to inspire the behaviour change necessary to counter global warming? Less government intervention and more personal freedom might be the answer.
More substance to Nepal than Gurkha sideshow
The fall of Prachanda’s government has no direct connection with the controversial treatment of Gurkha veterans in the UK. But our domestic political dramas should not overshadow the significance of poverty reduction and stability in Nepal.
Sri Lanka forgoes tsunami goodwill
The tragedy of the 2004 tsunami brought peace to Aceh after 30 years of conflict. In very similar circumstances, why did Sri Lanka take the opposite approach and abandon reconciliation?