THE WORLD – Page 186 – IDN-InDepthNews

Africa2016-10-212023-07-10

Africa Transforming Agriculture To Combat Climate Change

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) – As Africa grapples with climate change induced extreme weather patterns mechanisms to transform agriculture and ensure food security through adoption of innovative ways are gaining prominence.

In Kenya, like most African countries, small-scale farmers who are the majority are opting for sustainable solutions. One such farmer is Albert Waweru, a retired police officer with 1.75-acre farm in Kasarani on the outskirts of Nairobi. He has 50 dairy cows that produce 290 litres of milk daily. He also rears poultry, dairy goats and has several green houses where vegetables are grown.

Africa2016-10-122023-07-10

Fellowships to Help Avert Brain Drain in Africa

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – A Fellowship Program will fund 69 new projects at African universities in the coming months, bringing 52 professors and scholars from universities in the U.S. and Canada to universities in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda as visiting Fellows.

Together, the teams will develop curricula, conduct research, teach graduate students, and train and mentor students and professors in priority areas that were proposed by the African universities. The program is also accepting new applications from host universities and diaspora scholars for projects to be conducted in 2017. Deadline is December 8.

Africa2016-10-082023-07-10

Off-Grid Renewables to Tackle Africa’s Energy Woes

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) – Nestled in the dry Kajiado County, one and half hour drive from Kenya’s capital Nairobi is the Oloishibor Community Energy Project, an oasis of light in a remote hamlet. It was started in 2009. A brainchild of a community based organisation established by the local pastoral Maasai Community.

Simon Parkesian, the Energy Project’s manager says the community had been facing a myriad of problems ranging from poor health, education to economical. The situation was compounded by lack of electricity.

Asia-Pacific2016-10-082023-07-10

Mountain Women Give a Spin to a Prickly Plant

By Stella Paul

In the upper Himalayan villages of India, hundreds of women have been finding a livelihood in the fiber of a pariah plant: the itchy nettle.

MANA VILLAGE, India (IDN) – Under a grey sky in Mana, the last Indian village before the border of Tibet begins, 36-year-old Bhotiya woman Gayatri Raut is trying hard to sell a basketful of knitwear to the visitors. A few more weeks and the entire population of Mana will migrate to a village far down the mountain to avoid heavy snowfall and extreme cold.

Asia-Pacific2016-10-022023-07-10

Gender Equality Gathers Momentum Among Asian Buddhists

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 11th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

BANGKOK (IDN | Lotus News Features) – The first ASEAN Buddhist Conference held on September 22-23 at Nakhonpathom Rajabhat University, about 100 km from Bangkok, brought together Buddhist Bhikkunis (nuns), Bhikkus (monks) and lay Buddhists from across Asia in a bid to form alliances to empower the increasing community of Bhikkunis in Asia.

Asia-Pacific2016-09-202023-07-10

South Pacific: Foreign Logging Spurs Child Sex Fears

This is the first in a series of features on the South Pacific produced in collaboration with Wansolwara, an independent student newspaper of the University of the South Pacific.

SUVA, Fiji (IDN) – Two women’s rights activists have raised alarm bells about the need to protect Solomon Island children, especially girls, from being exploited by foreigners, who are involved in the South Pacific island nation’s logging industry.

The activists, Sister Doreen Awaiasi and Lynffer Maltungtung, say there are countless incidents in which under-age girls and young women are given to foreigners by their parents, or are lured by riches, but not much is being done to stop these or to educate the locals against engaging in such illegal acts.

Africa2016-09-152023-07-10

Tanzanian Women Getting an Upper Hand Over Land

By Kizito Makoye Shigela

VILABWA, Tanzania (IDN) – At a small village south of Tanzania’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, women rarely talk about land issues because customary norms keep them at bay. “We don’t have the voice, its men who decide everything,” said Saada Hassan a resident of Vilabwa.

The 55-year-old farmer is among many women in the village who have long been campaigning against male dominance in land affairs. “They simply don’t believe a woman can be a good leader or make informed decisions,” she said.

Africa2016-09-152023-07-10

Private Sector Key to Attainment of SDGs in Kenya

Justus Wanzala interviews UN Resident Coordinator Siddharth Chatterjee

NAIROBI (IDN) – Kenya held a national official launch of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on September 14 in an event presided over by President Uhuru Kenyatta. A day to the launch, the government and partners in the private sector and civil society finalised a national road map to guide implementation of the SDGs.

This happened just a month after the appointment of Siddharth Chatterjee as the United Nations Resident Coordinator to the East African Nation. Chatterjee coordinates 25 UN agencies in the country and at the same time serves as the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Before his appointment, Chatterjee was the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative in Kenya.

THE WORLD2016-09-132023-07-10

The G-20 Fiddles While Rome Burns

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – The G-20 Summit in China took place when our world is more divided than ever before, and multi-millions suffer from wars and other calamities.

One showpiece of the Summit – even before it started – was the decision by United States President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping to ratify the Paris Agreement of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, a significant achievement considering the fact that U.S. and China are world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters that cause global warming.

Asia-Pacific2016-09-112023-07-10

Obama’s Final Asian Tour ‘Unpivots’ US War Crimes in Asia

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the tenth in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

BANGKOK (IDN | Lotus News Features) – President Barack Obama’s ‘pivot to Asia’ policy that realigned U.S. relationship to Asia, is largely regarded favourably in this region. Yet, his farewell visit to Asia ‘unpivoted’ a darker side of America’s involvement in Asia – of horrendous war crimes committed by the U.S. in Laos in the 1960s and 1970s for which Washington is yet to be held accountable.