by Maxwell Gomera Cambridge – In November 2017, scientists working in Sumatra, Indonesia, made an exciting announcement: they had discovered a new species of orangutan, bringing to seven the number of great ape species globally.
Category: Columns
Italy’s agriculture Europe’s ‘greenest’, but unsustainable
While Italian agriculture is in a leading position in terms of organic farming, sustainable agriculture and being at the forefront of biodiversity conservation; water scarcity, illegal workers and the role of women and combined ageing of its workforce remain pressing…
Reflections on 2018, Forecasting 2019
By Robert J. Burrowes In many ways it is painful to reflect on the year 2018; a year of vital opportunities lost when so much is at stake. Whether politically, militarily, socially, economically, financially or ecologically, humanity took some giant…
Food Tank’s successful year 2018 in review
Danielle Nierenberg It’s been an incredible year at Food Tank in terms of our ability to incite, inspire, and spotlight change happening across the food system.
Trump pulling out
By Chandra Muzaffar It is significant that US President Donald Trump has decided to withdraw his troops from Syria. The 14th December decision was followed immediately by another announcement by the President to pull out a sizeable number of soldiers…
Society Stemming Waste of Human Talent
The year now closing, 2018, culminates an extraordinary period in the quest for a world where sexual harassment and assault are, as the words indicate they should be, rare and punished.
Of cockroaches and humans
Rita Levi-Montalcini, the Italian Nobel laureate honoured for her work in neurobiology, once gave a splendid conference with the title “The imperfect brain”. There she explained that man has a brain that is not used completely, while the reverse is…
Migration and the Crisis of Human Rights
The global financial crisis has had a profound effect on European politics. As often happens in such hard times, these events have resulted in an upsurge in tribal, xenophobic instincts. This has been particularly visible in the reaction to the…
Brexit: A national government or “no deal”
In a recent article for the New York Times, the distinguished historian of the Conservative Party, Professor Tim Bale, argued that the “will to power” of the Conservative Party would enable it in the long term to reconstruct its inner…
Biodiversity: Negotiating for nature
Wildlife is being wiped out in an unprecedented rate, and it’s our fault. But a new deal could provide a new pathway forward.
Manifesto for the democratization of Europe
In a critical moment for Europe, this Manifesto (that all European citizens can sign after reading in full below) proposes to escape immobilism and abstract discussions by putting on the table a concrete plan to democratise both European institutions and…
Global Compact for Migration starts its journey against odds
As the red carpets are rolled up in Marrakesh after two days of intense declarations and commitments by more than 160 countries, what are the smaller players in this global phenomenon taking back with them?
The significance of human duties and responsibilities
By Chandra Muzaffar As we observe the 70th anniversary of the adoption and proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the UN General Assembly on the 10th of December 1948, it is imperative that we remind ourselves…
Europe must place sustainable well-being for all at heart
In six months, millions of Europeans will go to the ballot box to choose the next European Parliament (EP). Nationalists and self-proclaimed progressives have already designated this election as a confrontation between democrats and autocrats, and between pro- and anti-Europeans.…
Climate Change on the Menu
By Riccardo Valentini Vitero, Itali – When we think about winning the fight against climate change, most people concentrate on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from cars, trucks, and other machines powered by fossil fuels. But while these emissions sources are certainly…
Gender violence eradication is vital to state security
By Richard Barathe Panama City, Panama, Dec 6 2018 (IPS) – María is a 35-year old Salvadoran woman with three young children. Growing up, María knew her mother but never met her father. When María was six, she started working…
The ‘Climate Chancellor’ takes a bow and leaves a vacuum
COP 24 in Poland starts the exit of Chancellor Angela Merkel from international climate politics. And when she finally leaves in 2021, her exit from negotiations on global warming may create chaos with significant ramifications, if action to “save the…
Evil triumphs when good people do nothing
Corporal punishment is a form of bullying by a ‘teacher’ and it should be remembered that all bullies lose power and back down when confronted.
Artificial Intelligence’s Ethical Implications
We cannot banalize the power and importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in the modern economy. Nor can we legitimize everything it can be used for across Europe and beyond. AI, along with trans-humanism and the like, is the next frontier…
Watering the Paris Agreement at COP24
Most people will experience climate change in the form of water – higher frequency and intensity of floods and droughts, an increase in waterborne diseases, and overloaded sewage systems that are unable to cope with new demands.
No Brexit generation game for the welfare state
Brexit, it is claimed, has widened an intergenerational divide. Baby boomers voted for Brexit, while millennials remained silent. This argument remains although youth turnout in the Brexit referendum was, in fact, relatively close to the UK national average. Focusing on…
Limiting climate change to 1.5 C not impossible: IPCC Chair
When governments set a target in December 2015 of limiting global warming to well below 2ºC above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to hold it at 1.5ºC, they invited the IPCC to prepare a report to provide information on this…
Get ready for COP24: Transition to a sustainable future
By Manuela Matthess Berlin, Dec 3 2018 (IPS) – COP24 is the time for g overnments to act and increase their pledges to prevent global warming ensuring a just transition that leaves no one behind.
The liberal delusion
There’s this prevalent idea that we have to take a firm stand against right-wing populism. Yet all the anti-populist hashtags, public un-invites, and goodwill gigs of recent years have done nothing to halt its rise. Clearly, we need a more…
The brave new world of work
Robert Solow famously remarked that the effects of the IT revolution were showing up everywhere except in the productivity statistics. Other economists suggested that full exploitation of a new technology can take a long time, perhaps decades. Well, one area…
Argentina is no climate leader
by Fernando Cabrera Neuquen – Argentinian President Mauricio Macri claims that exploiting his country’s oil and gas shale reserves – the second-largest in the world – is vital not only to lift the economy out of the doldrums but also…
COP 24 must be the turning point towards ‘Just Transition’
The next round of global climate negotiations, COP 24, takes place in December. It will need to make rapid progress on implementing the Paris Agreement so as to close the gap between what science requires and what countries are doing.…
Water-responsible cos, key to ensuring global water security
By Karin Krchnak Over the past fifteen years, I have seen a rapid evolution in corporate actors in recognizing water risks to their operations. In response, some have taken measures to ensure that all water is returned to its originating…
What fish can do for the WTO
Fish will soon be off the menu, unless global leaders strike a deal ending multi-billion dollar harmful fisheries subsidies blamed for threatening world fish stocks and widening the inequitable use of marine resources.
The dred scott of climate change?
By Robert Dugger Washington, DC – In 2015, 21 young people between the ages of 11 and 22 filed a major lawsuit against the US government for failing to limit the effects of climate change. In Juliana v. the United…