YAOUNDE, Cameroon, Dec 23 2015 (IPS) – Cameroon is on the path to introduce genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). This would be overseen by the Cameroon Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the National Biosafety Committee, if the Cameroon Cotton Corporation successfully implements a three-year test cultivation of cotton.
The introduction of GMOs is seen by many as a measure to improve Cameroon’s agricultural yields and guarantee food security, despite health risks.
“Genetically modified organisms will help Cameroon solve many problems which researchers of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have not been able to solve using conventional selection and cross breeding. It will definitely guarantee food security and safety,” Dr. David Akuroh Mb…
Millions of Indian women struggle to bathe their children and collect water for household chores. Most poor do not get a home supply, increasing their reliance on erratic government-run water tankers. Credit Neeta Lal/IPS
NEW DELHI, May 3 2016 (IPS) – A staggering 330 million Indians, making up a quarter of the country s population (or roughly the entire population of the United States), are currently reeling under the effects of a severe drought, resul…
A village in the Kalahandi district in the state of Odisha in India. The district still grapples with lack of basic amenities, low crop productivity, and malnutrition. The depleting harvest forces villagers to depend on other forms of manual labor. Credit: Smriti Das
NEW DELHI, ROME, Jun 9 2016 (IPS) – As the seventh largest economy in the world by nominal GDP, India has fared better than many. Through a mix of interventions from the public and private sector, India’s economy has promoted growth and welfare. However, in spite of these developments, the challenge of hunger and malnutrition remain.
According to the assessment of countries’ performa…
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 12 2016 (IPS) – A coalition of over 25 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has launched a global campaign to end a longstanding health and environmental hazard: the use of mercury in dentistry.
Spearheading the campaign is the Washington-based World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, which is seeking to phase out dental amalgam, described as a “primitive pollutant”, by the year 2020.
The environmental health benefits from mercury-free dentistry would be “huge to the world”, says the World Alliance, “”The European Union’s science committee calls amalgam a ‘secondary poisoning’ because its mercury gets into fish and vegetables which children eat.”
A proposal before the European Commission calls for the use o…
Plastic bags are also a major contributor to the 8 million tonnes of plastic dumped in the sea every year. Credit: UNEP
ROME, Apr 4 2017 (IPS) – Good news: Kenya has just joined the commitment of other 10 countries to address major plastic pollution by decreeing a ban on the use, manufacture and import of all plastic bags, to take effect in six months.
The Kenyan decision comes three weeks after the UN declared “war on plastic” through its new UN , launched on at (February 22-24, 2017).
The initiative’s campaign urges governments to pass plastic reduction policies; industry to minimise plastic packaging and redesign products; and consumers to change …
Press Conference on IFAD report at the UN Foundation (06/14/17)
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 15 2017 (IPS) – A new report by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) says the flow of money from migrants—commonly located in developed countries—to their families in lower income countries has doubled over the last decade.
Dubbed the remittance flow, it increased by 51 percent—from 296 billion dollars in 2007 to 445 billion in 2016—lifting families out of poverty across the world.
Migrants in the United States typically send the largest amount of money, making the U.S. the biggest benefactor, closely followed by Saudi Arabia and R…
Young girls line up at a feeding centre in Mogadishu. Credit: UN Photo/Tobin Jones
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 8 2017 (IPS) – In February, when the government of Somalia sounded an alarm to the UN about risks of a famine in the country, the UN’s Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), besides quickly shuffling a response team, was acting from a steep sense of history. The Office, instead of sending out massive aid packages, distributed cash vouchers to families who could spend it to buy goods according to their needs.
The famine between the years 2010 and 2012, which killed more than a quarter of a million people in the country, offered important lessons to the aid co…
IPS correspondent Manipadma Jena interviews the Executive Director of United Nations Environment ERIK SOLHEIM ahead of the Dec. 4-6 3rd UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, where 193 member states will discuss and make global commitments to environmental protection.
Erik Solheim participates in the largest beach clean-up in history at Versova Beach Clean-Up in Mumbai, India, in October 2016. Photo courtesy of UNEP
NAIROBI/NEW DELHI, Dec 1 2017 (IPS) – “Political resolve is the key for succeeding in our fight agains…
Paulina muthoni with her baby, Stephen attending post-natal and well-baby clinic at the Lodwar Referral hospital, Turkana county. With more mothers having access to pre/postnatal health care due to increased sensitization on the importance of seeking professional medical care, maternal/newborn mortality rates have considerably reduced in most of the areas considered high-risk. Credit: UN Kenya/Ngele Ali
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 9 2018 (IPS) – Recently, some of us from the Stanford University and U.C. Berkeley community had the privilege of hosting Siddharth Chatterjee, the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Kenya and his team at the Silicon Valley, where he spoke at the . The Kenya te…
Residents of the Eastern Cape’s Amadiba coastal area gather in September 2015. Many fear mining would threaten their way of life by destroying grazing land and creating rifts in the community.
Courtesy: Nonhle Mbuthuma
PRETORIA, Jun 5 2018 (IPS) – South Africans await judgement to be handed down in a court case that could set a sweeping precedent by empowering communities on communal land with the right to reject new mining projects.
Calling the case a referendum on “the right to say no,” re…