The crowd-funded NGO Librii is ready to open the first web-connected libraries in Africa, where members can print books and training manuals. [The Guardian] UNICEF: as many as 100,000 children forced to work in Philippines illegal sex trade. [CNN] After just fifteen minutes of talks about strengthening an Afghan women’s rights law, traditionalists stop the [...]
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Press Review: Record levels of carbon dioxide & Insects seen as weapon against hunger
As concentrations of carbon dioxide reach record levels, climate change experts warn that hundreds of millions of people will find themselves displaced in the next century due to desertification, floods, and rising seas. [The Guardian] The geopolitics behind the Syrian conflict and the instability in the Arab world. [The Guardian] After severe conflict in northern [...]
Signs of the NY Times: Talks of Syrian talks. Haitian angst. Persecution in Pakistan. Iraq descending.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Christopher R. Hill, has high hopes for the upcoming talks between Russia and the U.S., as they try to facilitate steps to ending the civil war in Syria. In his recent Op-Ed piece in the NY Times, he expressed these hopes while criticizing U.S. diplomacy early on in the crisis, [...]
Press Review: Labor laws changed in Bangladesh & Genocide in Guatemala
Bangladesh’s government votes to allow garment workers to form trade unions without approval from their bosses. [The Guardian] Rios Montt is found guilty of genocide in Guatemala and sentenced to 80 years in prison. [Huffington Post] Over 5,000 refugees displaced by violence in Myanmar have been evacuated to higher ground in preparation for Cyclone Mahasen. [...]
MIDDLE-EAST NEWS ROUNDUP: Anti-Austerity Protests in Israel, Turkish-Syrian Tensions, Egypt’s Latest Controversy
Anti-Austerity Protests in Israel This may come as a surprise for those who thought that anger over austerity plans was a sentiment confined to Europe. However, in Israel public frustration over rising living costs has been growing for some time. Never before had so many demonstrators taken part in street protests like in 2011; with [...]
Press Review: Malaria in the UK & Preventing Landgrabs with Mobile Technology
Despite a statistical decrease in global poverty, the numbers aren’t as positive when China is removed from the picture. [CNN] Sexual violence in Syria is widespread, but international aid for the survivors of rape is non-existent. [Huffington Post] As the UK’s climate warms, health experts urge the British government to take immediate public health precautions [...]
Signs of the NY Times: Private schools in Bangladesh. Water shortage in Yemen. Quagmire in Syria. Civil war in Iraq?
Opinionator Tina Rosenberg has detailed the remarkable educational innovations and success of BRAC, the world’s largest NGO. Although BRAC (formerly the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) has rather large field of action that includes health, microfinance, agriculture and water, its chain of “private” schools is perhaps its most inspiring. BRAC schools are private in that they [...]
Press Review: Arctic Ocean rapidly acidifying & Fighting desertification in the Sahel
Combating desertification in the Sahel is seen as a solution to the eradication poverty, hunger, and terrorism. [BBC] An Israeli airstrike near Damascus heightens fears that Syria’s civil war will expand outside its borders. [Washington Post] A former garment factory worker turn labor rights lawyer talks about the positive influence that multinational corporations and retailers [...]
MIDDLE-EAST NEWS ROUNDUP: Google & Palestine, Israel & Syria, Women’s Sport in Saudi Arabia
Google Recognises Palestine: If the twenty-first century truly is the century of the internet, it is no wonder that the recognition of Palestine by Google was accredited with considerable significance by the international media. This kind of evidence for the increasing interconnectedness between global politics and the online world is by no means a first. [...]
Press Review: Mali faces food shortages & EU votes to ban pesticides linked to bee deaths
Instability, displacement, and rising food prices threaten Mali with severe food shortages. [The Guardian] By forcing the government to uphold indigenous land rights, Canada’s First Nations leaders hope to protect the country’s rich natural resources from industry. [The Guardian] Improved healthcare and education in northern Ghana help end the ritualized killings of children born with disabilities. [...]
Signs of the NY Times: Collapse of Bangladeshi Textile Factory. The Keystone XL Pipeline. The Downside of Energy Independence.
This past week there were two Op-Ed contributions spurred by the horrific collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh. The death toll is 300 and rising. Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chairman of the antipoverty organization BRAC, makes a strong case for the argument that boycotting Bangladeshi goods manufactured in such factories would have no [...]
Press Review: 6.5 million displaced in 2012 & Drug-resistant malaria spreads from Cambodia
A new report by the Norwegian Refugee Council finds that 29 million people were living in internal displacement in 2012. [BBC] Somalia’s road to recovery emphasizes the need for creative solutions to help return internally displaced people to their homes. [The Guardian] More than 1.4 million people are currently displaced and reliant on food aid [...]
Rebecca Silus
Rebecca Silus was born in Minneapolis and received her MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2008. She is working as an artist, editor and author.
Survival International
Survival International is the only organisation working for tribal people's rights worldwide. To strengthen their rights Survial International cooperates with hundreds of tribal communities and organisations. It is funded almost entirely by about 250,000 supporters worldwide who are concerned members of the public, it is not taking national government or companies' money since they are the main violators of tribal people's rights. Survival International generates information and materials about the world's most threatended peoples and spreads them through films and actions to raise awareness for the violation against tribal peoples wolrdwide.
Oxfam
Oxfam Deutschland e.V. ist eine unabhängige Hilfs- und Entwicklungsorganisation. Oxfam ist davon überzeugt, dass Armut und Ungerechtigkeit vermeidbar sind und überwunden werden können. Ziel ist eine gerechte Welt ohne Armut.
Blog: Auf dem Weg nach Rio
Stefan hat in Halle (Saale) Medien-und Kommunikationswissenschaften studiert. Der Wahlberliner informiert im Vorfeld des großen Erdgipfels in Rio de Janeiro über Inhalte, Probleme und Herausforderungen des Gipfelstreffens.
Matthias Wahsner
Matthias hat in Bamberg Anglistik, Kommunikationswissenschaft und Europäische Ethnologie studiert. Zur Zeit bringt er als Volontär in einer Berliner Kommunikationsagentur, die vor allem gesellschaftspolitische Medienprojekte betreut, sein Interesse für Menschenrechtsthemen, Journalismus und Film mit ein.
Wissenschaftsjahr 2012 - Zukunftsprojekt ERDE
20 Jahre nach dem ersten Umweltgipfel kommt die Welt in Rio de Janeiro im Juni 2012 erneut zusammen, um nachhaltige Lösungen für die Zukunft unserer Erde zu entwickeln. Auch das diesjährige Wissenschaftsjahr – Zukunftsprojekt Erde steht im Zeichen der Forschung für nachhaltige Entwicklungen. Zahlreiche Partner aus Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft, Politik und Kultur laden ein zur Debatte über die Ziele und Herausforderungen einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung. Die Wissenschaftsjahre sind eine Initiative des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) gemeinsam mit Wissenschaft im Dialog (WiD).
Omid Nouripour
Omid Nouripour wurde 1975 in Teheran geboren und kam 1988 mit seiner Familie nach Frankfurt am Main. Omid Nouripour sicherheitspolitischer Sprecher der Fraktion Bündnis 90/Die Grünen.
WWF
Der World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) ist eine der größten Naturschutzorganisationen der Welt und in mehr als 100 Ländern aktiv. Das globale Netzwerk des WWF unterhält 90 Büros in mehr als 40 Ländern, die rund um den Globus für den Schütz der biologischen Vielfalt kämpfen.
Josef Reich
Josef oder Jossi Reich, Herausgeber von fairplanet, schreibt unter dem Künstlernamen Joe Fleisch auf www.joefleisch.de Kurzgeschichten und Kommentare.
Bundjugend Blog
…und jetzt noch die Erde retten! Die BUNDjugend setzt sich in Kampagnen und Projekten für die Umwelt ein. Wir kämpfen für gentechnikfreies Essen, eine giftfreie Umwelt, machen uns stark für die Natur und für eine gerechte Globalisierung.
