The Week With IPS 7/7/17

2017/7/7	Click here for the online version of this IPS newsletter
	G20’s Record Does Not Inspire Hope Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram The G20 leaders meeting in Hamburg, Germany, on 7-8 July comes almost a decade after the grouping’s elevation to meeting at the heads of state/government level. Previously, the G20 had been an informal forum of finance ministers and central bank governors from advanced and emerging economies ... MORE > >
	An African Atlas for Youth and Sustainable Development Tharanga Yakupitiyage As its population changes, Africa has the potential to transform its society into one that is productive and prosperous, according to a new report. With increasing life expectancy and declining mortality and fertility rates, many African nations are seeing profound shifts in their ... MORE > >
	U.S. “Dumping” Dark Meat Chicken on African Markets Friday Phiri The United States and Europe’s preference for white meat is hurting Africa’s poultry industry, says Luc Smalle, manager at the agro firm Rossgro in South Africa’s Mpumalanga area. With 3000 Ha of maize and 1000 Ha of soya, as well as 1,500 heads of beef cattle, Rossgro mills its own feed, which ... MORE > >
	The Asian Financial Crisis -- 20 Years Later Martin Khor It’s been 20 years since the Asian financial crisis struck in July 1997. Since then there has been an even bigger global financial crisis, centred in the United States starting in 2008. Will there be another crisis in the near future? The Asian crisis began when speculators brought down the ... MORE > >
	1997 Asian Crisis Lessons Lost Jomo Kwame Sundaram After months of withstanding speculative attacks on its national currency, the Thai central bank let it ‘float’ on 2 July 1997, allowing its exchange rate to drop suddenly. Soon, currencies and stock markets throughout the region came under pressure as easily reversible short-term capital inflows ... MORE > >
	Funding Climate Resilience Benefits All Nations – Yes, the U.S. Too Kenton X. Chance A leading climate change mitigation and adaptation activist and former climate negotiator in the Caribbean says that the United States could protect its economic and political interest by helping the region to go green. Further, James Fletcher, a former Minister of Sustainable Development, ... MORE > >
	Progress on World Hunger Has Reversed Tharanga Yakupitiyage World hunger has increased, reversing years of progress, said a UN specialised agency. During its biennial conference held in Rome, Italy from 3-8 July, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) noted that the world is facing it’s worst food crisis since World War II. Credit: FAO/Carlo ... MORE > >
	Is the United States Preparing for a War in Syria? Farhang Jahanpour Although US policies during the past few months have been quite puzzling and unpredictable, the events of the past few days have been truly bewildering and alarming. On Monday 26th June, the White House released a statement saying that the United States had “identified potential preparations for ... MORE > >
	Governments Support Trump’s Aim to Block Central American Migrants Edgardo Ayala Trying to make it into the United States as an undocumented migrant is not such an attractive option anymore for Moris Peña, a Salvadoran who was deported from that country in 2014. “The situation in the United States is getting more and more difficult,” the 39-year-old construction worker from ... MORE > >
	Time Stands Still for Nepal’s Conflict Victims Marty Logan “Reconstruction and reconciliation require finances and physical structure, but the families of the victims of the conflict first and foremost need their integrity protected. Physical and financial compensation mean little without justice,” wrote Suman Adhikari nearly 11 years ago, during a ... MORE > >
	The Greater Caribbean Raises Funds to Protect its Sandy Coasts Ivet González Almost no Caribbean beach escapes erosion, a problem that scientific sources describe as extensive and irreversible in these ecosystems of high economic interest, that work as protective barriers for life inland. “The phenomenon of erosion is widespread in the Caribbean,“ geographer Luis Juanes, ... MORE > >
	Caribbean Seeks to Climate-Proof Tourism Industry Desmond Brown The tourism industry is the key economic driver and largest provider of jobs in the Caribbean after the public sector. Caribbean tourism broke new ground in 2016, surpassing 29 million arrivals for the first time and once again growing faster than the global average. Visitor expenditures also ... MORE > >