A boy walks with his bicycle on a flooded street in Georgetown, Guyana. About 80 percent of wastewater that enters the Caribbean Sea is only partially treated or untreated. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Nov 30 2013 (IPS) – It’s a dirty, smelly business, but wastewater is gaining prominence across the Caribbean as countries from … Read more
“We are making history: Uruguay approves the regulation of marijuana” reads this poster by an advocacy group that lobbied for state regulation and control of marijuana. Credit: Courtesy Proderechos. MONTEVIDEO, Jan 12 2014 (IPS) – Uruguay, about to become the first country in the world where the state will fully regulate production, sale and distribution … Read more
Zimbabwe has seen a significant increase in the number of teen mothers in recent years. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS BULAWAYO, Mar 14 2014 (IPS) – She is only 17, but each morning is a reminder of her losses in life. As Pretty Nyathi* forces herself out of bed, feeds her baby, bundles him on her back … Read more
UNITED NATIONS, May 6 2014 (IPS) – A report released Tuesday by the London School of Economics (LSE) depicts drug prohibition as a massive failure, a financial drain on economies and a violation of the basic human rights of citizens. “The pursuit of a militarised and enforcement-led global ‘war on drugs’ strategy has produced enormous … Read more
Camels wait for treatment from the Liyu police veterinarian teams outside Bulali town in Ethiopia’s Somali region. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS SOMALI REGION, Ethiopia, Jun 30 2014 (IPS) – When he was a young boy, 20-year-old Abdi, who comes from a small pastoralist community in Ethiopia’s Somali Region, “knew about school, reading and writing but did … Read more
As part of student sexual safety training at Yindian Central Primary School, in Suizhou, central China, a six-year-old girl learns how to identify private parts on human bodies. Credit: Xinyu Zhang courtesy/UN Women UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 2014 (IPS) – A normally quiet second-grade student, Yuan Yuan* suffers from a mild mental disorder that impacts … Read more
Palestinian families take shelter at an UNRWA school in Gaza City, after evacuating their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, July 2014. UNRWA has now launched a humanitarian reconstruction programme. Credit: Shareef Sarhan/UNRWA Archives RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sep 17 2014 (IPS) – The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has launched an ambitious recovery plan for … Read more
An Irula couple fishes in the creeks of the Pichavaram Mangrove Forest in Tamil Nadu. Credit: Malini Shankar/IPS PICHAVARAM, India, Nov 13 2014 (IPS) – When the Asian tsunami washed over several Indian Ocean Rim countries on Boxing Day 2004, it left a trail of destruction in its wake, including a death toll that touched … Read more
Organisations in the Pacific Islands believe that achieving the post-2015 development goals depends on getting implementation right. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS SYDNEY, Jan 19 2015 (IPS) – As the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of poverty-alleviation targets set by the United Nations, come to a close this year, countries around the world are taking stock … Read more
Haidee Swanby is a researcher with the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), a non-profit organisation based in Johannesburg, South Africa. The ACB’s work is centred on dismantling structural inequities in food and agriculture systems in Africa and directed towards the attainment of food sovereignty. Mariann Bassey Orovwuje is a lawyer, as well as an environmental, … Read more