The Week With IPS

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	Feminism Slowly Gaining Support at United Nations Lyndal Rowlands Achieving gender equality has long been one of the United Nations’ top priorities yet the word feminism has only recently begun to find its way into speeches at UN headquarters. Croatia’s Vesna Pusic, one of 12 candidates for the post of UN Secretary-General, explained why she thought her ... MORE > >
	Malawi Leads Africa's Largest Elephant Translocation Charles Mkoka One of the world's largest and most significant elephant translocations kicked off earlier this month within Liwonde National Park in southern Malawi. Patricio Ndadzela, Malawi country director of African Parks, a non-profit conservation group based in South Africa that is leading the ... MORE > >
	Forests: To Farm or Not to Farm? This Is the Question! Baher Kamal The dilemma is critical: on the one hand, there is an absolute need to produce more food for the world’s steadily growing population; on the other, there is pressing urgency to halt -and further revert- the increasing trend to deplete the forests, which are as necessary for human survival as it is ... MORE > >
	Germany’s Energy Transition: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Emilio Godoy Immerath, 90 km away from the German city of Cologne, has become a ghost town. The local church bells no longer ring and no children are seen in the streets riding their bicycles. Its former residents have even carried off their dead from its cemetery. Expansion of Garzweiler, an open-pit ... MORE > >
	Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals: The Sooner, the Better Phillip Kaeding The first 1000 days after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals are critical, according to a report published last week, urging UN member states to take action quickly. “It’s a little bit like a pension,” Elizabeth Stuart of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) says, “the ... MORE > >
	Fast-track Development Threatens to Leave Indigenous Peoples Behind Aruna Dutt Fast-tracked development often means that indigenous people and their territories get run over and their rights are not taken into consideration, Roberto Borrero, from the International Indian Treaty Council and Indigenous Peoples Major Group, said here Friday. The High Level Political Forum ... MORE > >
	Biodiversity, GMOs, Gene Drives and the Militarised Mind Dr Vandana Shiva A recent report from the National Academy of Science of The United States, titled Gene Drives on the Horizon : Advancing Science, Navigating Uncertainty, and Aligning Research with Public Values”, warns: Dr Vandana Shiva“One possible goal of release of a gene-drive modified organism is to ... MORE > >
	Rewriting Africa's Agricultural Narrative Friday Phiri Albert Kanga Azaguie no longer considers himself a smallholder farmer. By learning and monitoring the supply and demand value chains of one of the country’s staple crops, plantain (similar to bananas), Kanga ventured into off-season production to sell his produce at relatively higher prices. “I ... MORE > >
	Women Empowerment Holds the Key for Global Development Diego Arguedas Ortiz Latin America's inclusion of women in its development model, with greater participation within the work force and improved wage conditions, was a decisive factor in the region's successful diminishment of extreme poverty.  This issue also offers a road map to pursue the elimination of further ... MORE > >
	Indigenous Villages in Honduras Overcome Hunger at Schools Thelma Mejía Barely 11 years old and in the sixth grade of primary school, this student dreams of becoming a farmer in order to produce food so that the children in his community never have to go hungry. Josué Orlando Torres of the indigenous Lenca people lives in a remote corner of the west of Honduras. He ... MORE > >
	Is Sustainable Development Hindering Economic Recovery? Jomo Kwame Sundaram The global economic and employment situation is alarmingly protracted, with recovery not expected any time soon. In October 2012, then IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard indicated he did not see a global economic recovery before 2016. Jomo Kwame Sundaram. Credit: FAONow, in mid-2016, it ... MORE > >