The report forecasts global economic growth to 2.6% in 2024, barely above the 2.5% threshold commonly associated with a recessionary phase. The report says the prevailing focus on inflation overshadows urgent issues like trade disruptions, climate change and rising inequalities. It advocates for structural reforms and coordinated global efforts, proposing …
FOR THE first time in a decade, developing countries have received more money from developed countries than they returned as interest on debt. But losses caused by declining terms of trade continued to offset the gains in aid. The United Nations secretary general's report, however, cautions this turnaround in resource …
VIKINGS are taking to the market. A thick, yoghurt-like product made by Iceland's Viking inhabitants and pure, bottled water from glaciers are becoming part of the country's efforts to exploit one of the world's most pollution-free environments. Export diversification efforts come in the wake of a sharp fall in cod-catch, …
SHOULD a weed that provides income to villagers be eradicated? This is the dilemma forest officials in Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh face. The lantana bush spreads like a weed and threatens the growth of trees by competing for soil nutrients. But a poor villager can earn up to Rs …
SPICES have drawn intrepid merchants to Indian shores through history, but falling international prices and uncertain demand abroad are worrying Indian growers, who supply about one-third of the world's spice trade. Official figures at the second spice congress in Goa recently show Indian spice exports dropped from 1.12 lakh tonnes …
Drink Cafedirect. Give Third World producers a fair deal! Christian Aid, along with other UK charity groups, has launched a two-year campaign to encourage "fair trade" with an assault on the European Community's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The plan is to encourage shops to stock "fairly traded" goods, having a …
THE STAKES are high in the rifampicin (a new anti-TB drug) sweepstakes. Lupin Laboratories presently dominates the market, which, according to the ministry of chemicals, did a business of Rs 236 crore during 1992-93. To break the monopoly, which enables Lupin to charge as much as 15 per cent more …
Japan, once described as an ecological outlaw in a civilised world, faced punishment in March 1991 for its role in endangering the hawksbill sea turtle. The US administration threatened to restrict import of all wildlife products from Japan, including pearl import worth US $53 million, unless the Japanese mended their …
Norway, Iceland and Japan have all faced pressures and threats of green embargoes over their demand for whaling quotas. These countries want the right to harvest whales "scientifically", particularly the minke whale, a smaller and supposedly not endangered mammal. In July 1990, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) met and, under …
Opposition to US beef imports began in Europe a few years after health conscious European consumers discovered US beef was hormone treated. When this issue was raised in GATT, the US argued there was little scientific evidence to show hormone-treated meat is harmful. But the EC, prompted by politics and …
The timber industry in tropical countries has aroused disapproval and import bans are increasing on tropical wood from forests that are managed "unsustainably". The disapproval is particularly virulent in Europe and Australia, where retail shops, companies and local governments have banned the import of tropical timber unless it can be …
Botswana faced international opposition to its plans to develop the Okavango swamps by dredging channels to supply drinking water to the town of Maun and to a nearby diamond mine. Greenpeace International became incensed by the scheme and threatened to start a boycott of Botswana's diamonds with the slogan, "Diamonds …
A green war raging at sea is the use of driftnets by fishing fleets. Driftnets have been called "walls of deaths" by conservationists as these immense nets, at times 40 km long, strip mine the oceans. The US has already enacted legislation to prohibit trade in fish caught by driftnets. …
IN LATE 1989, Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi demonstrated his government's commitment to the preservation of the elephant by setting fire to nearly 12 tonnes of ivory worth US $3 million. Moi's dramatic act was the climax of a sustained campaign by conservationists, which caught the hearts of many across …
GLOBAL trade wars are turning green and, across the world, battles are raging to enforce environmental decisions through the power of trade restrictions and embargoes on the countries deemed responsible for environmentally unfriendly products. Japan faced punishment for endangering the hawksbill sea turtle whose shell is used to make jewellery. …
FISH TRADERS of Andhra Pradesh have a good market in far away Assam. Even after paying transportation charges of upto Rs 8 per kg of fish taken to Assam, the traders get to put away a tidy sum for themselves. The irony is that Assam itself abounds in wetlands, but …
In this issue, we carry two reports: One on the subject of human rights suppression and environmental degradation, and the other on trade bans against environmentally harmful products. Both trade and human rights are being used today as sticks to beat the South. Northern NGOs have repeatedly raised these issues …
During the protracted negotiations on the Agenda 21 chapter dealing with changing consumption patterns, a strong bid was made by certain northern delegations to underscore the significance of the link between unsustainable consumption and environment. In the last prepcom in New York, the US had even wanted to delete the …
China, this fortnight, detonated its biggest nuclear test ever. The explosion, about 70 times as powerful as the one at Hiroshima, is seen as a sign of China's nuclear prowess. And also as a slight to the US which has been putting India under the cloud for its missile programme. …
TRADE wars between Japan and USA are common, but now there are major technology wars brewing. And the US companies may be getting an upper hand. Japanese electronics have flooded markets worldwide with cheaply-produced and diverse products, but their capacity to be innovative does not seem to match their manufacturing …
THE first deal to trade pollution permits has been signed in USA. This fortnight, two American power plants have agreed to buy from the other the right to emit sulphur dioxide. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will buy the right to emit 10,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide, the main cause …
