The Week With IPS 9/4

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	Europe Invaded Mostly by “Regime Change” Refugees Thalif Deen The military conflicts and political instability driving hundreds of thousands of refugees into Europe were triggered largely by U.S. and Western military interventions for regime change – specifically in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria (a regime change in-the-making). The United States was ... MORE > >
	Opinion: Can Nuclear War be Avoided? Gunnar Westberg The Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons had as members former leading politicians or military officers, among others a British Field Marshal, an American General, an American Secretary of Defence and a French Prime Minister. The commission unanimously agreed in its report ... MORE > >
	Sustainable Settlements to Combat Urban Slums in Africa Busani Bafana Slums are a curse and blessing in fast urbanising Africa. They have challenged Africa's progress towards better living and working spaces but they also provide shelter for the swelling populations seeking a life in cities. Rural Africans are pouring into towns and cities in search of jobs and ... MORE > >
	Two Indigenous Solar Engineers Changed Their Village in Chile Marianela Jarroud Liliana and Luisa Terán, two indigenous women from northern Chile who travelled to India for training in installing solar panels, have not only changed their own future but that of Caspana, their remote village nestled in a stunning valley in the Atacama desert. “It was hard for people to accept ... MORE > >
	Opinion: Women in the Face of Climate Change Renee Juliene Karunungan After surviving the storm surge wreaked by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in November 2013, women in evacuation centres found themselves again fighting for survival … at times from rape. Many became victims of human trafficking while many more did anything they could to feed their families ... MORE > >
	Who Will Pay the Price for Australia’s Climate Change Policies? Neena Bhandari Rowan Foley has spent many years as a ranger and park manager, caring for Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park Aboriginal lands in the spiritual heart of Australia’s Red Centre in the Northern Territory. He has been observing the effects of soaring temperatures and extreme weather events on his people, ... MORE > >
	Urban Farming Mushrooms in Africa Amid Food Deficits Jeffrey Moyo There is a scramble for unoccupied land in Africa, but this time it is not British, Portuguese, French or other colonialists racing to occupy the continent’s vacant land – it is the continent’s urban dwellers fast turning to urban farming amid the rampant food shortages that have not spared ... MORE > >
	Strong Words, But Little Action at Arctic Summit Leehi Yona After a one-day summit in the U.S. Arctic’s biggest city, leaders from the world’s northern countries acknowledged that climate change is seriously disrupting the Arctic ecosystem, yet left without committing themselves to serious action to fight the negative impacts of global warming. The Aug. ... MORE > >
	Local Development, the Key to Legitimising Amazon Hydropower Dams Mario Osava In the case of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in Brazil, the projects aimed at mitigating the social impacts have been delayed. But in other cases, infrastructure such as hospitals and water and sewage pipes could improve the image of the hydropower plants on Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rivers, ... MORE > >
	Stop Food Waste – Cook It and Eat It Silvia Boarini A new grassroots initiative born in the northern England city of Leeds has set itself the ambitious goal of ending food waste, once and for all. Founded in December 2013, ‘The Real Junk Food Project’ (TRJFP), is the brainchild of chef Adam Smith. It consists of a network of ‘Pay As You Feel’ ... MORE > >
	Activists Criticise Offshore Drilling as Obama Prepares for Arctic Summit Leehi Yona A one-day summit taking place here on Aug. 31 hopes to bring Arctic nations together in support of climate action against a backdrop of criticism of offshore oil drilling in the region. The meeting on ‘Global Leadership in the Arctic – Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement, and Resilience ... MORE > >
	Will New Sri Lankan Government Prioritize Resettlement of War-Displaced? Amantha Perera The new Sri Lankan government that was voted in on Aug. 17 certainly didn’t inherit as much baggage as its predecessors did during the nearly 30 years of conflict that gripped this South Asian island nation. 3But six years into ‘peacetime’, the second parliament of President Maithripala Sirisena ... MORE > >
	Disarmament Conference Ends with Ambitious Goal – But How to Get There? Ramesh Jaura A three-day landmark U.N. Conference on Disarmament Issues has ended here – one day ahead of the International Day Against Nuclear Tests – stressing the need for ushering in a world free of nuclear weapons, but without a consensus on how to move towards that goal. The Aug. 26-28 conference, ... MORE > >