The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
RESOURCES AND RIGHTS: Even as the debate over access and benefit sharing of genetic resources rages on in the world, plans for a legally binding protocol have begun to take shape in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). A recent meet of the Conference of Parties to the CBD at …
function openmap(){ var popurl="html/20030415_map.htm" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=650,height=500,scrollbars=yes") } Welcome to Wah india, a hazy land born of perfidy and malicious grace. Spread over territory co-extensive with 19 states in India, it is both traceable and unknown. Its physical geography, for instance, is quite virtual: Wah india keeps getting discovered; its expanding contours …
The 1970s and 1980s were a time of massive state investment in rural water development. Not only had more land to be brought under irrigation, but also drinking water supplied. These decades saw an exponential rise in the number of privately-owned pumpsets and wells, even as investment in public wells …
The official attitude towards fluoride-laced groundwater is best seen in the manner the state has gone about solutions. In a 1999 nationwide study New Delhi-based Fluorosis Research and Rural Development Foundation (frrdf) found that "only a few laboratories in the country have specified the methodology for fluoride analysis.' Experts claim …
Human negotiation with its own capacities and actions often tends to be triumphalist. A man admires his muscled torso; an elite believes itself to be the omphalos
It is a story about underground water: when the nectar turns into poison. When a daily task of drinking water from the handpump becomes the source of crippling disease and death. This is not a "natural' disaster
The Third World Water Forum took place recently in Japan to explore methods to optimally harness this vital resource, especially in developing countries. But after a week of countless meetings and seminars, the end result was far from satisfactory. The delegates, including ministers, bureaucrats and representatives of private water companies, …
Oscar Olivera of Bolivia is something of a mascot for anti-globalisation movements across the world. During the recent Asian Social Forum meeting in Hyderabad, Olivera spoke in Spanish. And in spite of the tediousness of translated messages, his dozen-odd speeches found eager listeners in the 15,000 participants at the meeting. …
Only 15 per cent of vehicles are actually tested for pollution in India, reveals a study undertaken by the World Bank (wb). Pollution checking centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune were inspected as a part of the exercise. It was found that the majority of the vehicle owners do …
http://www.icij.orrg Nosy journalists are urged to take a dekko at this website of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (icij). The project is affiliated to the us-based Center for Public Integrity and acquaints the rest of the world with the the organisation's style of watchdog journalism. This popular website plays …
Background of the study is the multi-State India Eco-development Project sponsored by IDA/GEF at the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala, one of the seven Protected Areas (PAs) with the central objective of conserving biodiversity in and around PAs over 5 years (1996-97 to 2000-2001). The Village Eco Development Component (VEC) …
Amongst the 21 countries which are affected by a high amount of arsenic in drinking water, Bangladesh and India (mainly West Bengal) are the worst affected. In Bangladesh, the arsenic level is more than 50 microgrammes per litre in 50 out of its 64 districts with a population of 104.9 …
Millions of dollars invested to test water in those parts of Bangladesh susceptible to arsenic contamination may actually have gone down the drain. More importantly, the plight of the people has worsened. These startling facts were brought to light by a recent research. With the study raising doubts about the …
The World Bank has instituted a new fund that promises to relieve the poorest farmers and rural communities in developing countries of their financial worries. The Biocarbon Fund will invest in their forestry and agroforestry projects in exchange for credits for carbon dioxide (co2) stored in plants and soil. These …
Keeping tabs: A stiff dose of preventives is set to find its way into the European Union's (EU) prescription for curbing the illegal trade of low-cost antiretroviral drugs. The proposal comes in the face of the recent revelation that shipments of cheaper AIDS drugs intended for Africa were intercepted, flown …
an ambitious international project to promote washing hands with soap in Kerala has evoked a sharp response from the hygiene conscious people of the state. Recent media reports suggest that the
