Eradicating poverty in all its forms, everywhere, requires indicators that measure sustainable pathways out of poverty, and not only the absence of acute poverty. This paper introduces a trial Moderate Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MMPI) that reflects moderate rather than acute levels of multidimensional poverty. The MMPI adjusts nine of the …
Report on Guatemalan mine accuses the government and company running it, Tahoe Resources, of a military response to opposition A Guatemalan investigative journalist named Luis Solano was in Canada last month to launch a report about a Canadian-owned silver mine in south-east Guatemala. The mine, Escobal, began operating last year …
Global freshwater vulnerability is a product of environmental and human dimensions, however, it is rarely assessed as such. Our approach identifies freshwater vulnerability using four broad categories: endowment, demand, infrastructure, and institutions, to capture impacts on natural and managed water systems within the coupled human–hydrologic environment. These categories are represented …
For hundreds of thousands of farmers in Guatemala, this year's harvest is over before it has even begun. The fields in the east of the country are yellow, the ground bone-dry. For 74-year-old Marco Tulio Lopez Diaz, the situation is getting desperate. He has worked on his land in the …
FAO and the Swedish-based development cooperation organization We Effect have agreed to work together to strengthen small-scale forest and farm producers' organizations in developing countries so they can access land and markets and improve the livelihoods of their members. A partnership agreement signed today will initially involve eight countries: Bolivia, …
EL PINO, Honduras — The jaguar roams jungles and riverbanks from the Amazon to Mexico, and even into the southwestern United States. It’s a powerful and cunning hunter, and a single cat’s territory can stretch hundreds of miles. The Aztecs called their most fearsome warriors “ocelotl” — jaguar soldiers. But …
Each week at least two people are being killed for taking a stand against environmental destruction. Some are shot by police during protests, others gunned down by hired assassins. As companies go in search of new land to exploit, increasingly people are paying the ultimate price for standing in their …
A planned mega-dam in Guatemala, whose carbon credits will be tradable under the EU’s emissions trading system, has been linked to grave human rights abuses, including the killing of six indigenous people, two of them children. Several European development banks and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) have provided …
Latin America has the planet's largest land reserves for agriculture and had the most rapid agricultural expansion during the twenty-first century. A large portion of the expansion replaced forests, as shown by many local and regional studies. However, expansion varied regionally and also replaced other land covers. Further, it is …
Rapid growth in Latin America over the past decade still left one in five residents of the region living on less than $4 a day, the World Bank said in a report on Monday. The report, "Left Behind," for the first time studies those caught in chronic poverty from 2004 …
(Reuters) - A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck off the coast of Guatemala early on Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was recorded at a depth of 33 km (20 miles), at 0830 GMT (3.30 a.m. ET), with its epicenter 89 km south southwest of Escuintia, the USGS …
Rainfall improving in Latin America, with dryness ongoing in parts of West Africa and Ethiopia according to Global Weather Hazards Summary (September 26 - October 2, 2014).
Irresponsible business practices can have a disproportionate impact on indigenous communities, many of which continue to suffer from political and economic marginalization. This report highlights some of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks businesses face in their encounters with indigenous communities. This report looks at six countries where indigenous …
More than 56 million people have been lifted out of poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean in recent years, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). A new UNDP report says poverty levels in the period from 2000-2012 fell from 41.7% to 25.3% of the population. But despite …
The objective of the study was to quantify maternal, fetal and neonatal mortality in low- and middle-income countries, to identify when deaths occur and to identify relationships between maternal deaths and stillbirths and neonatal deaths. A prospective study of pregnancy outcomes was performed in 106 communities at seven sites in …
A strong earthquake rocked much of southern Mexico and Central America on Monday, setting off mudslides, damaging scores of buildings and disrupting communications vital to the relief effort. At least three people died, including a newborn, and dozens were hurt, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina said. The U.S. Geological Survey …
Approaches to integrated landscape management are currently garnering new interest as scientists, policymakers, and local stakeholders recognize the need to increase the multi-functionality of agricultural landscapes for food production, livelihood improvement, and ecosystem conservation. Such approaches have been attempted in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) but …
While the last several decades have witnessed tremendous advances in cure rates for childhood cancer, these improvements have not translated to low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs), where the majority of children reside. In this article, we outline why pediatric cancer should now be considered a global child health priority, describe the need …
The indigenous inhabitants of Margaritas Copón, Guatemala, have survived for more than 100 years by cultivating the land along the Chixoy and Copán rivers with virtually no assistance from the state. The isolated community, close to the Mexican border, has no health clinic, electricity or secondary school, and can only …
