Peruvian lawmaker Jaime Delgado reads out the final declaration of the Sixth Forum of the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean, in Lima. From left to right: John Preissing, FAO representative in Peru; Ecuadorean lawmaker María Augusta Calle; and Uruguayan legislator Bertha Sanseverino, with other participants in the meeting. Credit: Aramís Castro/IPS
Author: WHES
Cotton is one of the most important fibre crops in the global textile industry. But many of the cotton farmers at the bottom of the very lucrative garment industry supply chain, do not receive a living income.
Globally, up to 100 million smallholder farmers depend on cotton for their income. They are, however, at the very bottom of the garment industry chain, largely invisible and without a voice, ignored by a trillion-dollar industry that cannot exist without their produce.
Can farms be good for nature without being organic? The organic-or-not debate ignores a crucial further option. Setting aside tracts of land for wildlife habitat can benefit bees, butterflies and plants without harming crop yields.
Non-organic farmers can do much more to foster wild plants, butterflies and bugs without giving up on pesticides, according to new research, but organic farms still bring the largest benefits for wildlife.
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) work requirements don’t bring stable jobs, higher earnings
House Speaker Paul Ryan has called for another round of welfare reform, “as an exercise to save lives and to get people from welfare to work and realize opportunity and upward mobility.” But the first round of welfare reform didn’t accomplish what Speaker Ryan says it did, according to a new study of former Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients in Maryland.
TIAA-CREF, U.S. investment giant, accused of land grabs in Brazil
SÃO PAULO, Brazil — As an American investment giant that manages the retirement savings of millions of university administrators, public school teachers and others, TIAA-CREF prides itself on upholding socially responsible values, even celebrating its role in drafting United Nations principles for buying farmland that promote transparency, environmental sustainability and respect for land rights.
Myanmar military still big power despite opposition victory
YANGON, Myanmar — Amid the mold-covered facades of downtown Yangon are police stations, a five-story building housing the Special Branch state security agency and government offices where citizens are required to register out-of-town houseguests.
Bangladesh’s climate change migrants
Al-Amin used to be a rice farmer in the fertile plains of Bangladesh’s vast Ganges Delta, but the river washed his land away and now he pulls a rickshaw in a slum in the sprawling capital, Dhaka.
India’s huge need for electricity is a problem for the planet
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Thirty million children, far from home. Here are three of them.
I have two photos on my desk. The first shows a child, a girl of about 10. She is standing behind an enormous pile of her family’s belongings, which have been tightly packed for a long journey. Her face is blank with uncertainty, but she strikes a bossy pose — one hand on her hip, the other planted firmly against the bundles. Her companions are an older woman, probably her mother, and a little boy — her younger brother? Both look directly at the photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson, who took this picture in Dessau, as scores of Germans displaced during World War II began returning home. It is 1945. Where has this girl been, and what has she seen?
We are the solution: African women organize for land and seed sovereignty. An interview with Mariama Sonko.
Mariama Sonko, third from right, with a women farmers’ organization. Photo courtesy of Fahamu.Mariama Sonko is a farmer and organizer in Casamance, Senegal. She is the National Coordinator of We Are the Solution, a campaign for food sovereignty led by rural women in West Africa.
