The Week With IPS 2018/3/2

	Argentina’’s Patagonia Rebels Against Oil Field Waste Pits Daniel Gutman A project to install a huge deposit of oil field waste pits has triggered a crisis in the north of Argentina’s southern Patagonia region, and brought the debate on the environmental impact of extractive industries back to the forefront in this Southern Cone country. Catriel, in the province of ... MORE > >
	A Long Way Still to Achieving Gender Equality: International Women's Day Akinwumi A. Adesina International Women's Day is a call to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of women and a reminder that globally, we are a long way from achieving gender equality. Akinwumi A. Adesina Today, women in Africa lag behind men politically, socially and economically, even though they make ... MORE > >
	Costa Rica Studies Its Land, to Keep from Losing It Daniel Salazar Donald Vásquez points to the soil on a farm located in one of the most degraded basins on the Pacific Ocean side of Costa Rica. Below, where he points with his index finger, there is a huge layer of white earth, with dozens of bare coffee plants struggling to produce beans in the next ... MORE > >
	Monsoon Season Threatens More Misery for Rohingyas Naimul Haq More than half a million Rohingya refugees crammed into over 30 makeshift camps in Cox’s Bazar in southeast Bangladesh face a critical situation as the cyclone and monsoon season begins in a few weeks’ time. The United Nations and international and local NGOs, along with the Bangladeshi ... MORE > >
	Keeping Jewelry Companies Accountable: Where Do Our Gold and Diamonds Come From? Will Higginbotham How many people know where their gold and diamond jewelry comes from? How many people consider the human cost of its production? Not many consumers ask these questions, and, shockingly, neither do many of the world’s leading jewelry brands. It’s a trend that Human Rights Watch (HRW) is ... MORE > >
	UN Relies on DNA for Paternity Claims Against Sexually Abusive Peacekeepers Thalif Deen As sexual abuse and paternity claims continue to rise against UN peacekeepers overseas, the United Nations is actively collaborating with troop contributing countries (TCC) in collecting DNA samples: a protocol introduced back in 2014. The number of paternity claims – or potential paternity ... MORE > >
	Inclusive Green Growth Must Shape Thailand’s Future, Says GGGI Chief Sinsiri Tiwutanond Energy efficiency in industries presents a unique opportunity for Thailand’s environmental and economic policies as regional trends push towards more inclusive and sustainable green cities for the country and its neighbors, says the Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Dr. ... MORE > >
	Model Trade Deal Con Jomo Kwame Sundaram In early 2016, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement -- involving twelve countries on the Pacific Ocean rim, including the USA -- was signed in New Zealand. Right after his inauguration in January 2017, newly elected US President Donald Trump withdrew from the TPP, effectively killing the ... MORE > >
	Dung-Eating Earthworms Restore Soil Nutrients in Bangladesh Rafiqul Islam Sarker In Kaliganj village, 20 kilometres south of Rangpur city in Bangladesh, small farmers are turning to vermicomposting after crop yields started dropping. The problem was that soil fertility eroded due to organic nutrient depletion. “In the early 1980s when I began cultivating crops with ... MORE > >
	Citizen-Generated Energy Enters the Scene in Argentina Daniel Gutman The Argentine population can now generate their own energy through clean and unconventional sources and incorporate surpluses into the public grid, thanks to a new law. This is an important novelty in a country embarked on a slow and difficult process, with a still uncertain end, to replace fossil ... MORE > >
	A Burger That Saves Emissions Taking 2 Million Cars off the Road Richard Waite, Daniel Vennard and Gerard Pozzi Burgers are possibly the most ubiquitous meal on Americans’ dinner plates, but they’re also among the most resource-intensive: beef accounts for nearly half of the land use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the food Americans eat. Although there’s growing interest in plant-based ... MORE > >