The Week With IPS 7/31

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	Kenyan Pastoralists Fighting Climate Change Through Food Forests Robert Kibet Sipian Lesan bends to attend to the Vangueria infausta or African medlar plant that he planted almost two years ago. He takes great care not to damage the soft, velvety, acorn-shaped buds of this hardy and drought-resistant plant. ”All over here it is dry,” says the 51-year-old Samburu semi-nomadic ... MORE > >
	U.N.’s Post-2015 Development Agenda Under Fire Thalif Deen The U.N.’s highly ambitious post-2015 development agenda, which is expected to be finalised shortly, has come fire even before it could get off the ground. A global network of civil society organisations (CSOs), under the banner United Nations Major Groups (UNMG), has warned that the agenda, ... MORE > >
	Central America Fails to Take Advantage of Energy from Sun, Wind and Earth Diego Arguedas Ortiz Central America, a place of abundant wind and sunshine, is still chained to thermal power and large-scale hydroelectricity and has failed to include local communities in clean, environmentally-friendly and less invasive projects. Although the region has been trying for years to increase the ... MORE > >
	One Tune, Different Hymns – Tackling Climate Change in South Africa Munyaradzi Makoni Anti-nuclear energy activists are up in arms, and have taken to vigils outside South Africa’s parliament in Cape Town to protest against President Jacob Zuma’s push for nuclear development. The protest has been building since September 2014 when Zuma struck a deal with Russia’s Rossatom to build ... MORE > >
	Digital Era Here to Stay in Argentina’s Classrooms Fabiana Frayssinet The showcases in the Colegio Nacional Rafael Hernández, a public high school in La Plata, Argentina, tell the story of the stern neoclassical building which dates back to 1884. But the classrooms reflect the digital era, thanks to the computers distributed to all public school students as part of a ... MORE > >
	Kenya’s Climate Change Bill Aims to Promote Low Carbon Growth Isaiah Esipisu Alexander Muyekhi, a construction worker from Ebubayi village in the heart of Vihiga County in Western Kenya, and his school-going children can now enjoy a tiny solar kit supplied by the British-based Azuri Technologies to light their house and play their small FM radio. This has saved the ... MORE > >
	Key Constituencies Call for Inclusion in Nepal’s Draft Constitution Post Bahadur Basnet Ending a years-long political deadlock, Nepal’s major political parties inked a 16-point agreement last June to pave the way for the Constituent Assembly (CA) to write a new constitution. It marked the first time since the end of the Maoist insurgency and regime change in 2006 that the parties ... MORE > >
	Multilingualism Opens Doors to the World Nora Happel On Friday, 67 student essay winners from 42 different countries convened at the United Nations General Assembly to present their essays at the Many Languages, One World Global Youth Forum. The students were selected as winners of the Many Languages, One World International Essay Contest among a ... MORE > >
	Faith Leaders Issue Global “Call to Conscience” on Climate A. D. McKenzie “We received a garden as our home, and we must not turn it into a wilderness for our children.” These words by Cardinal Peter Turkson summed up the appeal launched by dozens of religious leaders and “moral” thinkers at the Summit of Conscience for the Climate, a one-day gathering in Paris ... MORE > >
	Opinion: European Federalism and Missed Opportunities Emma Bonino "A serious political and social crisis will sweep through the euro countries if they do not decide to strengthen the integration of their economies. The euro zone crisis did not begin with the Greek crisis, but was manifested much earlier, when a monetary union was created without economic and ... MORE > >
	Clean Water Another Victim of Syria’s War Kanya D'Almeida Caught in the grips of a summer heat-wave, in a season that is seeing record-high temperatures worldwide, residents of the war-torn city of Aleppo in northern Syria are facing off against yet another enemy: thirst. The conflict that began in 2011 as a popular uprising against the reign of Bashar ... MORE > >