The Week with IPS 10/28/2016

2016/10/28	Click here for the online version of this IPS newsletter
	Cities Address a Key Challenge: Infrastructure Needs Emilio Godoy “We as mayors have to govern midsize cities as if they were capital cities,” said Héctor Mantilla, city councilor of Floridablanca, the third-largest city in the northern Colombian department of Santander. He told IPS that “citizens not only demand public services, but also infrastructure; and ... MORE > >
	Are Public Enterprises Necessarily Inefficient? Jomo Kwame Sundaram From the 1980s, various studies purported to portray the public sector as a cesspool of abuse, inefficiency, incompetence and corruption. Books and articles with pejorative titles such as ‘vampire state’, ‘bureaucrats in business’ and so on thus provided the justification for privatization ... MORE > >
	Climate Doomsday – Another Step Closer Baher Kamal Almost inadvertently, humankind is getting closer everyday to the point of no-return towards what could be called the ‘climate doomsday’. Now, globally averaged concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has surged again to new records in 2016… and will not dip below pre-2015 ... MORE > >
	UN Cuba Embargo Vote: United States Abstains for First Time Tharanga Yakupitiyage After 25 years of voting against a United Nations resolution condemning the United States (U.S.) embargo on Cuba, the U.S. Wednesday chose for the first time to abstain from voting. An overwhelming 191 UN member states voted for the resolution, with only Israel joining the United States in ... MORE > >
	Cuba’s Fish Farming Industry Seeks to Double Output by 2030 Ivet González Protected from the sun by broad-brimmed hats and long- sleeved shirts, workers at the La Juventud fish farm throw fish feed into the tanks for the tilapias, a fish that is scarce and in high demand in the Cuban markets. “Production grew significantly due to a combination of factors: sex reversal ... MORE > >
	Kenya Greens Drylands to Combat Land Degradation Justus Wanzala Faced with growing degradation that is swallowing large swathes of land in arid and semiarid areas, Kenya is heavily investing in rehabilitation efforts to stave off the threat of desertification. Charles Sunkuli, secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, says a programme ... MORE > >
	Who Should Lead the WHO Next? Lyndal Rowlands Health problems increasingly transcend the borders of the World Health Organization’s 194 member states, a challenge which the six candidates vying to lead the global body must address with care. Those 194 member states will pick the next Director-General of the world’s peak health body in ... MORE > >
	Farming Brings Stability to Remote Villages in Papua Kafil Yamin Only two decades ago, Usku, Molof and Namla, three villages in Senggi District, Papua, were the battlefield of feuding tribes fighting for their ulayat (communal land). Afra, the triumphant tribe, then settled in the villages and led a life of hunting and gathering. Their semi-nomadic lifestyle ... MORE > >
	Limitless Cigars and Rum for U.S. Tourists in Cuba Rose Delaney After more than a half-century of a commercial, financial and economic embargo, U.S.-Cuban trade relations took a significant step forward this month. On Oct. 14, the Barack Obama administration announced a round of executive actions designed to increase trade and travel with Cuba. One of these ... MORE > >
	Governments and Social Movements Disagree on Future of Cities Emilio Godoy The Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development and the alternative forums held by social organisations ended in the Ecuadorean capital with opposing visions regarding the future of cities and the fulfillment of rights in urban areas. On Thursday Oct. 20, the ... MORE > >
	Funding Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities in Developing Countries Lindah Mogeni About half of the world’s 65 million school-age children with disabilities in developing countries are reportedly out of school, according to a new report regarding inclusive education funding for children with disabilities. Inclusive, equal and quality education for persons with ... MORE > >