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 …
the World Bank has launched a us $150 million fund to help developing countries invest in cleaner technologies that will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The programme, known as the Prototype Carbon Fund, will be funded by corporations and industrial nations which will receive emission reduction certificates. "We are determined …
education generally denotes either the process or the system that a society uses to determine the path of learning of a child. It is primarily a preparation for the future. The child who receives primary education today will play a role in society for the coming half century. If the …
How are the poor more susceptible to diseases? The poor are more susceptible to diseases because they live in poor environmental conditions. Due to poor sanitation, incidence of gastrointestinal diseases and diarrhoea are very high. The rate of infant mortality is also high because they consume dirty water and fall …
Air pollution continues to violate health guidelines in many cities of the world. Sulphur dioxide and particulate matter are the most commonly recorded pollutants. Independently or in combination, these pollutants cause lung damage and aggravate existing respiratory problems. The air in rural areas is also getting polluted due to excessive …
despite measures, hazardous waste generation continues to grow at the global level. This feeling was echoed by member states on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Basel Convention, dealing with the generation and trafficking of hazardous waste, held in Switzerland in the first week of December. In their …
Advocates of the Convention on Biological Diversity have urged the Thai government to speed up its ratification after a delay of almost a year. They say the government's stalling may lead to stealing or wasting of bio-resources. However, some, like Athit Kutin, dean of forestry at the Kasetsart University say …
Dear Readers, Global environmental negotiations on issues such as climate change, biodiversity and desertification often seem to be far removed from the everyday reality of more pressing environmental problems like pollution. Even environmental groups sometimes underestimate their importance. As a result, decisions taken by government representatives often go unnoticed and …
Briefing paper on climate change for members of Parliament by Anil Agarwal - Calling upon policy makers to recognise India's stake in the international climate change negotiations.
Armed conflict and civil strife were major sources of food insecurity in the 1990s and will continue to be this century, although their number and the losses associated with them may have passed their peak. Depending on which of the various definitions of the term is used, from 30 to …
Armed conflict and civil strife were major sources of food insecurity in the 1990s and will continue to be this century, although their number and the losses associated with them may have passed their peak (see Figure 13). Depending on which of the various definitions of the term is used, …
Sound And Fury Every cause found a supporter at Seattle. Trade was never this politicised It was a victory for every rebel with a cause who had flocked to the us city of Seattle. The World Trade Organization's ( wto ) third ministerial trade talks, held between November 30 and …
The shrimp and turtle case brought up by the US against some developing nations highlights the tremendous influence civil society can wield to monitor environmental governance in other countries. It all started in 1989 when the US Congress passed a law to prohibit the import of shrimp harvested in ways …
It was yet another trade fight and just another instance of the US bulldozing its way to achieve its own purpose. But this time the fight ensued across the border with its neighbour, Canada. Utilising the conflict resolution norms stated in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the US …
Some of the chaos outside seemed to permeate into the Convention Center. It was just another day before attention shifted from the protests outside to the proceedings of the meet, and differences between political groups within the wto began to emerge. There were three main groupings: the us, the European …
The issue that surfaced first at the protest meetings outside the Seattle Convention Center and was touted by many as being the reason for the collapse of the talks was transparency within the World Trade Organization (WTO). The seriousness of the issue became apparent when even delegates at the Seattle …
Anyone familiar with the seemingly endless trade wars between the US and the European Union (EU) would not be surprised about their 1998 battle over the beef trade. It started in the 1980s, when the EU first placed a domestic ban on the use of hormones in cattle breeding. The …
seven years after the 1992 Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, where countries around the world vowed to stop desertification, officials gathered in another Brazilian city of Recife to assess local as well as global regeneration measures undertaken so far. More than 150 countries signed the Recife Initiative, …
biotechnology and bioresources are two issues that have been in conflict for a while. Biotechnology, proposed as "the technology of the next century', has its proponents in the developed countries and users in developing countries. But with companies in the North taking the bioresources from the South, patenting them and …
as the east coast of India was battered by the worst cyclone in years, and Cambodia and Vietnam faced the worst flooding in decades, governments from across the world were at a meeting in Bonn, carefully negotiating ways to wriggle out of commitments to control climate change. The two-way street …
George W Bush(Republican, governor of Texas ) Efforts to improve our environment must be based on sound science, not social fads. Scientific data shows average temperatures have increased slightly during this century, but both the causes and the impact of this slight warming are uncertain. Changes in the earth's atmosphere …
