The Week With IPS

  2016/10/14

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	The Elusive Woman Secretary-General Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury United Nations’ apex forum, the General Assembly elected the next Secretary-General yesterday by acclamation rubber-stamping the recommendation of the Security Council (SC). I am appalled by the choice of 15 members of the Security Council of another man following eight others in 70 plus years of ... MORE > >
	Cultivating a Different Future for Rural Women in Argentina Fabiana Frayssinet Her seven children have grown up, but she now takes care of a young grandson while working in her organic vegetable garden in El Pato, south of the city of Buenos Aires. Olga Campos wants for them what she wasn’t able to achieve: an education to forge a different future. “I am 40 years old and I ... MORE > >
	Antonio Guterres: New UN Secretary General Farhana Haque Rahman, Director General, Inter Press Service The new UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who takes office on January 1, arrives with strong credentials -- both as a former Prime Minister of Portugal and an ex-UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Farhana Haque RahmanAs a senior UN official, he spearheaded an ambitious but politically ... MORE > >
	Hit by Extreme Weather, South Asia Balances Growth and Food Security Amantha Perera Sri Lanka is literally baking these days. During the first week of October, the Metrological Department reported that maximum daytime temperatures in some parts of the country were between 5 to 2C above average. They hit 38.3C in some parts of the North Central Province, a region vital for the ... MORE > >
	What Happens When a Small Farmer Migrates? Baher Kamal Now that world attention is focused on the fast growing process of urbanisation, with 2 in 3 people estimated to be living in towns and cities by the year 2030, an old “equation” jumps rapidly to mind: each time a small farmer migrates to an urban area, equals to one food producer less, and one ... MORE > >
	Climate Change Adaptation - Key to Reaching Zero Hunger in Latin America Orlando Milesi Climate change is leading to major modifications in agricultural production in Latin America and the Caribbean, and if mitigation and adaptation measures of the productive system are not urgently adopted, threats to food security will be exacerbated. This could reverse the significant progress ... MORE > >
	The Beating Pulse of Food Security in Africa Busani Bafana Elizabeth Mpofu is a fighter. She is one of a select group of farmers who equate food security with the war against hunger and shun poor agricultural practices which destroy the environment and impoverish farmers, especially women. Mpofu grows maize, legumes and different beans on her ... MORE > >
	USD90tn Infrastructure Investment Could Combat Climate Change: Report Lyndal Rowlands The world will need to more than double its current infrastructure stock over the next 15 years - a massive undertaking which could either contribute to or combat catastrophic climate change - according to a new report. Two thirds of the 90 trillion dollar infrastructure investment needed ... MORE > >
	Report Details UN Failings in Juba, South Sudan Violence Lindah Mogeni UN peacekeepers were reportedly unable and, at times, unwilling to respond effectively to violent clashes in Juba, South Sudan in July 2016 according to a new report by the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC). The report details how the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) failed to ... MORE > >
	Resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline: “This Is Not The End” Tharanga Yakupitiyage Resistance towards the controversial Dakota Access pipeline continues after a federal court rejected requests to halt construction on Monday. Since August, members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and thousands of allies from across the North American nation have gathered in North Dakota to ... MORE > >
	Few Families Overcome Forced Displacement by Hydropower Plants in Brazil Mario Osava The construction of mega-hydropower plants in Brazil has been a tragedy for thousands of families that have been displaced, and a nightmare for the companies that have to relocate them as required by local law. But the phenomenon is not exclusive to this country. According to a 2005 study by ... MORE > >
	Life Goes On, Barely, After 50 Years of Occupation Fabíola Ortiz Over almost five decades of Israeli occupation, the number of Palestinian refugees has grown with every generation, saturating basic services in the 19 camps that are home to about 200,000 people in the West Bank run by the United Nations. “Every year, the camp becomes more and more crowded and ... MORE > >
	Low Food Prices: Good for Your Pocket, Bad for Small Farmers Baher Kamal What would be your reaction if you were told that food prices are steadily declining worldwide? Good, very good news, you may say. But do the 600 million small, family farmers, those who produce up to 80 per cent of food in some regions, think the same way? Definitely not at all. In fact, ... MORE > >
	Gang Violence Drives Internal Displacement in El Salvador Edgardo Ayala A basketball court in this small town in western El Salvador was turned overnight into a shelter for some two dozen families forced to flee their homes after a recent escalation of gang violence. But they are still plagued with fear, grief and uncertainty. “I am devastated, I have lost my ... MORE > >
	UN Security Council’s “Perilous Interventions” in War Zones Thalif Deen When the UN Security Council last week discussed the “deliberate” attacks on medical facilities in war-ravaged Syria and Yemen, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon implicitly criticized some of the warring nations lamenting that “even a slaughterhouse is more humane” than the ongoing indiscriminate ... MORE > >