Inter Press Service ( IPS) and the International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ) have partnered to commission environmental journalists to contribute in-depth, independent reporting on sustainable development. The IFEJ network of individuals and national associations of specialised environmental journalists is working with the IPS network of writers and editors. Articles contributed by local journalists writing from all regions about key sustainable development issues will be distributed through the IPS global wire service and other partner networks. This partnership was created within, and is supported by, the Alliance of Communicators for Sustainable Development, COM+. IPS and IFEJ are both founder members of COM+.
RSS FEED IDEMS: IPS Inter Press Service In-depth: Sustainable Development
- DEVELOPMENT-BURKINA FASO: "Sanitation Costs a Lot, But It's Not a Luxury"
OUAGADOUGOU, Dec 31 (IPS/IFEJ) - For some in Burkina Faso's capital,
Ouagadougou, rainy seasons have spelt trouble -- at least from
the point of view of sanitation.
- ENERGY: German Biodiesel Forced to Compete
BERLIN, Dec 29 (IPS/IFEJ) - Until a few months ago, the production of
crop-based fuels was the best energy business imaginable in
Germany, thanks to growing demand supported by the government.
That's no longer the case.
- SUDAN: "Contractors Have the Freedom To Do What They Want"
KHARTOUM, Dec 28 (IPS/IFEJ) - An oil-fuelled construction boom is giving
Sudan's capital, Khartoum, an ever shinier veneer. However,
some fear that this building spree is taking place at
environmental cost.
- ENVIRONMENT-JAMAICA: Regulators Mull Viability of Ferti-irrigation
BLACK RIVER, Jamaica, Dec 26 (IPS) - Appleton Estates seemed to have solved the
centuries old problem of what to do
with distillery waste when
they started a new project eight years ago. However,
they are
yet to convince regulators and locals that it is a viable option.
- GUATEMALA: Waking Up to a Better Coffee
GUATEMALA CITY, Dec 22 (IPS/IFEJ) - "Before, we didn't know how to market the
coffee, or who would buy it in other countries, all we knew about
was planting and harvesting," says Guatemalan coffee grower
Pablo Pérez.
- CLIMATE CHANGE-US: Wildfires Rekindle Global Warming Debate
BOSTON, Dec 21 (IPS/IFEJ) - The massive wildfires that roared and twisted their
way through southern
California in 2007 are a glimpse of what a
future of global warming may hold,
scientists say.
- CLIMATE CHANGE: Solar Energy Firm Says Carbon Credits Don't Work
BANGALORE, Dec 21 (IPS) - A small but successful solar energy company
involved in rural electrification in India is complaining that
the Kyoto Protocol’s clean development mechanism (CDM) has been
of no practical use to it.
- ENVIRONMENT-KENYA: Turning Trash Into Cash
NAIROBI, Dec 19 (IPS/IFEJ) - From carrier bags, to takeaway cutlery, to
containers lining the aisles of grocery stores, plastic is found
virtually everywhere in Kenya's capital, Nairobi: for better
and for worse. The widget that is useful in the first instance is
likely to become a polluting eyesore after it gets tossed away,
as the city struggles to come to grips with recycling its plastic.
- TRANSPORT-SOUTH AFRICA: Culture Puts the Brakes on Women's Mobility
CAPE TOWN, Dec 16 (IPS/IFEJ) - The bicycle has been hailed as having done
"more than anything else in the world…to emancipate
women" -- the words of 19th century American feminist Susan
B. Anthony. But for many women in South Africa, culture and
tradition make it difficult to take advantage of the increased
mobility and access to social and economic opportunities, not to
mention the reduced carbon footprint, offered by bicycles.
- CLIMATE CHANGE: The Bali Forecast - Low Expectations
NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Dec 11 (IPS/IFEJ) - The multitudinous United Nations Conference on
Climate Change under way since Dec. 3 on the tropical Indonesian
island of Bali has oscillated between optimism and quiet reserve.
- /CORRECTED REPEAT*/ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Subsidised Tourism Worsens Andamans' Woes
PORT BLAIR, Dec 6 (IPS/IFEJ) - Tourism, promoted as a major economic activity and
employment generator in India’s far-flung Andaman Islands, has
run into opposition lately. Concerns are being raised,
ironically, by local residents and tour operators who are
supposed to be the prime beneficiaries.
- ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Thorns in the Booming Cut-Rose Industry
BANGALORE, Dec 4 (IPS/IFEJ) - The atmosphere looks sleepy: four women inside a
plastic-covered shed, or greenhouse, quietly tending neat rows of
rosebeds; two more walk leisurely about the premises, carrying
buckets of bright-hued roses on cut stems.
- HEALTH-CUBA: Venomous Hope
HAVANA, Nov 29 (IPS/IFEJ) - With equal doses of caution and hope, Cuban
researchers are moving forward with studies to test the
cancer-fighting properties of the toxin produced by the blue
scorpion (Rhopalurus junceus), a species endemic to this
Caribbean island.
- ENVIRONMENT-PHILIPPINES: Aerial Spraying Issue Turns Seesaw Court Battle
DAVAO CITY, Mindanao, Nov 29 (IPS/IFEJ) - The villagers in the mountains surrounding Davao
city are bracing for the day the crop-dusting planes resume
dropping fungicide on the banana plantations -- and the wind
blowing toxic fog over their houses, water supply and children.
- BRAZIL: Sanitation a Reality on Paper Only
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, Nov 23 (IPS/IFEJ) - The main sanitation plan for the southern Brazilian
state of Rio Grande do Sul is 12 years old, has survived four
state governments and carries a price tag of 220 million dollars
-- but has yet to be implemented.