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 …
The Mayans penchant for building places of worship brought their downfall In 2001, when a hurricane ripped through the jungles of northern Guatemala, an uprooted tree at the base of the ruins of a pyramid exposed stones bearing one of the longest texts of hieroglyphs ever found. The inscriptions belong …
Scientists expect climate change to dramatically affect coffee production in Central America in the coming decades, but some lowland farmers in Guatemala say they are already feeling the effects. The United Nations forecasts temperatures will rise one to six degrees over the next century, which will make some lower-lying coffee …
A powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake shook Honduras on Thursday, killing at least five people, knocking down flimsy homes and causing damage in neighboring Guatemala. The offshore quake destroyed some 60 houses and damaged scores of other buildings across the north of Honduras, a poor country of 7 million people, and …
Marijuana to cancer: Scientists in Seattle have found that young men smoking marijuana were at a higher risk of developing an aggressive form of testicular cancer called nonseminoma than those who had never tried the drug. The disease is known to strike men in there 20s and 30s and is …
A Project that originated at a boutique ad agency to help Unicef deliver clean drinking water to children in developing countries is expanding in its third year as more firms join to support the cause. The Tap Project, as the initiative is called, is adding cities and sponsors and is …
Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela are closer to ensuring their citizens have the chance to break the cycle of poverty than many of their neighbours in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the World Bank
Accurately determining stove use is important in assessing the impacts and dissemination dynamics of improved stoves programmes. It is also a key component in the calculation of emission reductions for trading carbon offsets, understanding changes in fuel use and estimating impacts on indoor air quality. This article outlines the use …
Forestry decision-making is still largely centralised in Guatemala. Nevertheless, elected municipal governments can now play a key role in local forest management. These local governments, with some exceptions, are the principal local institutions empowered to participate in natural resource authority. Some theorists argue that such elected local officials are the …
This report explores industrial demand to distinguish and promote sustainable and fair community forest products in the market. Its ultimate goal is poverty reduction - or more specifically
In this paper I address the general perception that agricultural activities are the principal threat to primate biodiversity in the tropics and argue that in Neotropical landscapes some agricultural practices may favor primate population persistence, and that this situation merits attention and investigation. To explore these issues, I examined three …
This publication takes a broad look at several dimensions of carbon trading. It analyses the problems arising from the emerging global carbon market pertaining to the environment, social justice and human rights, and investigates climate mitigation alternatives. It provides a short history of carbon trading and discusses a number of …
A leaked internal audit has revealed the World Bank's stark negligence in its involvement with a notoriously controversial new gold mine in Guatemala. The confidential draft report by the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (cao), an internal watchdog at the International Finance Corporation (ifc)
Since its inception the Chixoy, Guatemala's largest dam, has generated more ills than electricity. Unwilling to put up with more, on September 8, 500 Maya Indians seized control of it and threatened to cut off power supplies. The protests also sent out warning signals to the government which has only …
A nationwide strike, sparked by the recent spurt in eviction of predominantly indigenous families from their traditional lands, left Guatemala paralysed. A regressive tax proposal and the newly signed Central American Free Trade Agreement (cafta) also stoked the protests. The strike was organised by a diverse coalition of over 100 …
www.landaction.org Whether it is the problem of land accessibility in violence-ridden Palestine or an unknown but powerful movement to gain access to land in Guatemala, this website is an unending seminar for issues related to lands. Aimed at bridging the information gap between the people agitating for land and civil …
The United Nations has been condemned by Guatemalan environmental activists for distributing genetically engineered corn to drought-hit farmers in the Central American nation through its World Food Programme (wfp). Environmental group Madre Selva said us laboratory tests on a sack of un-distributed corn it acquired in eastern Guatemala detected genetically …
Thousands of children under five years of age are suffering from malnourishment after a drought devastated subsistence crops in Guatemala. This was recently revealed by Deborah Hines, un World Food Programme (wfp) senior regional programme advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean. The wfp has delivered several thousand tonnes of …
