Trying to tap into the best thinking about the future of global agriculture, as I have tried to do in my work as a reporter, can be an exercise in frustration. Many groups and many bright people go at the problem, but not many of them go at it in a holistic way.
Author: WHES
Kenya: Nancy, “They did very bad things to me”
Millions of girls remain threatened by gender-based violence and cultural practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). In the eastern Kenya regions of Isiolo, Meru and Samburu, hundreds of girls have fled their homes to escape such practices. Others, like 10-year-old Nancy*, have fled to escape sexual violence.
Mexican drug cartels reach into tiny Belize
BELIZE CITY, Belize — The sleepy port towns, mangrove swamps and jungle airstrips of poorly defended, tiny Belize are becoming prime gateways for drug trafficking as Mexico’s billionaire mafias carve out new smuggling routes through Central America.
New edition of FAO publication fails to estimate number of hungry people
Another new report has just become available on the subject of world hunger, and it may frustrate some readers. The new edition of State of Food Insecurity in the World, an annual report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, does not actually estimate the number of hungry people across the globe.
Daughter of ‘dirty war,’ raised by man who killed her parents
BUENOS AIRES — Victoria Montenegro recalls a childhood filled with chilling dinnertime discussions. Lt. Col. Hernán Tetzlaff, the head of the family, would recount military operations he had taken part in where “subversives” had been tortured or killed. The discussions often ended with his “slamming his gun on the table,” she said.
Wangari Maathai, Nobel winner, laid to rest in Kenya
Mrs Maathai, whose Green Belt Movement planted an estimated 45 million trees in Kenya, died last month of cancer.
Thousands of mourners lined the route of the procession to the funeral in Uhuru National Park in Nairobi.
Nobel Peace Prize recognises women rights activists: Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian Leymah Gbowee and Tawakul Karman of Yemen
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded jointly to three women – Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian Leymah Gbowee and Tawakul Karman of Yemen.
With the death of forests, a loss of key climate protectors
WISE RIVER, Mont. — The trees spanning many of the mountainsides of western Montana glow an earthy red, like a broadleaf forest at the beginning of autumn.
Austerity measures risk irreversible impact on children, Unicef warns. UN children’s fund challenges pledges by IMF and World Bank to safeguard poor people from the worst of the global downturn
Pledges by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to safeguard poor people from the worst of the global downturn are being challenged by the United Nations, which is warning of the “extraordinary price” being paid by children and other vulnerable groups as mass austerity programmes sweep across the developing world.
Zambia: Opposition leader wins presidential election; incumbent did not rig election and voluntarily gives up power
Zambian opposition leader Michael Sata has been sworn in as president after beating incumbent Rupiah Banda in a tightly contested election.
