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 …
Industry and freshwater. "The challenge is to create the market conditions whereby sustainability will form the basis of competitiveness," Bausuano added. "Voluntary commitment cannot be a substitute to legislation," said Bjorn Stigson, president, WBCSD. "It can only complement an on-going process. In developing countries, voluntary effort will have to come …
Do industry and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) make strange bedfellows? Not anymore, apparently. In what could be a trend-setting partnership, UNEP and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) have come out with a report titled "Industry, Freshwater and Sustainable Development". Dubbed the "wake up call to …
What should be the future vision of the GEF? What are the areas that it should focus on? There are two things. The first is the issue of land degradation. I am not satisfied with the compromise formulation (in the assembly statement) defining the linkages between land degradation and gef …
For about a billion people in Africa and some of the Asian countries, land degradation and subsequent desertification means one more step to hunger. The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), 1994, is the only environmental convention that addresses the issue of poverty head on. Still, desertification never became a …
President, Global Village of Beijing, an NGO promoting public involvement in environmental protection "The NGO movement needs to be strengthened" • The ngo movement has been growing in China, especially in the last year. The Chinese government is changing its attitude towards ngo s. They now think that ngo s …
Vice-chairperson of the GEF Assembly and minister for development cooperation, Denmark "Developed countries should pay more towards environment protection" • We think that the world needs more progressive policies in the rich countries. The kind of conflicts that are threatening world stability and regional stability in the world today are …
Chairperson of the Climate Institute, Washington, DC " This is a need for tough measures to check artifically induced climate change" • The biggest emitters must make the biggest reductions to induce others to follow suit. • Governments must take difficult decisions. They must use economic incentives (to reduce emission …
- The GEF should be at the cutting edge, being "innovative, flexible and responsive' to the needs of the recipients - Country-driven efforts: - Based on national priorities - Greater outreach with targets, better consultations with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local communities - Promote country ownership of GEF projects - …
Hilary F French, vice-president for Research at the World Watch Institute in Washington DC has authored a research paper where she says that transportation and automobile industries are an example of the spread of hazardous manufacturing processes spurred on by international investment This, in turn, increases the demand in the …
nations of the North and the South met at the first-ever assembly of the Global Environment Facility ( gef ) in New Delhi from April 1 to 3 with an ambitious agenda
Engineers at the University of Calcutta have found that flyash is an excellent catalyst for treating toxic and non-biodegradable chemicals in effluents from the pesticide industry. The results are based on the fact that flyash is nothing but a mixture of oxides. Almost half of its contents are silica or …
industrialised countries and some developing countries who stood to benefit from trade in recyclable hazardous wastes, attempted to sabotage the Basel Convention and remove restrictions from this trade at the fourth Conference of Parties (cop-iv) which was held in Kuching, Malaysia. But the move failed to materialise in the face …
The Basel Convention on Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal came into being in May 1992. Initially, it had been ratified by just 20 countries. India ratified the convention the same year, but has yet to ratify the Basel Ban. Movement of hazardous wastes had become …
From the way the Indian delegation went about its business at COP-IV, it was apparent that they had come to Kuching with a mandate to protect India's economic interests. What was missing, however, was a perspective as far as the environment was concerned. For one, India wanted to discuss the …
The fourth Conference of Parties(COP-IV) to the Basel Convention saw a new NGO representation. The Basel Action Network (BAN) took keen interest in the proceedings. Greenpeace International, dominant in the earlier three COPs, was there too, in full strength. Consisting of
While the fourth Conference of Parties to the Basel Convention managed to keep the threat of amendments to Annex VII at bay, it showed a weak point in the convention which may be attacked again by vested interests. Annex VII had been created at the third Conference of Parties in …
Supply of potable water has been affected by contamination of water sources in most developing countries. Rivers, lakes and groundwater have been polluted by industrial effluents, pesticides and fertilisers from agricultural run-off and urban waste. According to "Critical Trends', brought out by the United Nations, chronic water scarcity is common …
On the importance of the Biosafety Protocol to the developing countries: The protocol is a legal mechanism being hammered out by the nations who have signed the Convention on Biological Diversity (cbd). It seeks to ensure safe transfer, handling and the use of living modified organism resulting from modern biotechnology …
subsidy is an indirect payment given by governments for various economic and social reasons. A major part of the "cost' of the subsidy is paid by the government. At the same time, granting subsidies more than often lead to overuse of goods and services and environmental degradation. With the steady …
