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Wednesday, May 16, 2012 20:32 GMT

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The real challenge for Rio+20
Don de Silva

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, MAY 2012

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, known as Rio+20, will be held in Rio de Janeiro from June 20-22 to assess the implementation of the resolutions of the Earth Summit of 1992, writes Don de Silva, a journalist, environmentalist, and communications specialist.

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink?
Mikhail Gorbachev

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, MAY 2012

The deficit of fresh water is becoming increasingly severe and widespread. Unlike other resources, there is no substitute for water. Accessible supplies of fresh water are limited, and people's needs keep rising, writes Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union from 1985-1991.

Victory of Hollande a Cause for Hope in Europe
Mario Soares

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, MAY, 2012

French president-elect Francois Hollande is man of broad vision and precisely what France needs to pull itself out of the current crisis and put in place a policy for economic and social recovery. But his victory Sunday goes far beyond this: it is a resounding confirmation of numerous signs that Europe has recognised the failure of neoliberal ideology and is changing course, writes Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal.

Improving Tense U.S.-Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations
Johan Galtung

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, APRIL 2012

Five long-term trends form the backdrop for U.S. relations with Afghanistan and Pakistan: the fall of the US empire; the de-development of the West; the decline of the state system in favour of nationalisms from below and regionalisms from above; the rise of the rest of the world, and in particular China, writes Johan Galtung, rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University and author of ‘The Fall of the US Empire -And Then What?’

"Crowdfunding" 2.0?
Hazel Henderson

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, APRIL 2012

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act signed by President Barack Obama on April 4th, 2012, had been loaded with provisions pushed by Wall Street lobbyists to include "small" companies capitalised at up to one billion dollars and perverted by relaxing both requirements of Security and Exchange Commission reporting and compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley financial regulations passed in response to the 2008 crisis, writes Hazel Henderson, author, president of Ethical Markets Media (United States and Brazil), creator of the Green Transition Scoreboard, and co-creator of the Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators.

Renewed Mandate for UNCTAD After North-South Wrangling
Martin Khor

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, May 2012

After often bruising negotiations along North-South lines, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has obtained a renewed and broad mandate for its future work, including on global economic issues, writes Martin Khor, executive director of the South Centre in Geneva.

Hedging on Hunger
Anuradha Mittal & Jeff Furman

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, APRIL 2012

The GAI conference is the premier agriculture investment event in the world. The 3,000-dollar admission tickets in New York were not for the small landholders from Africa but for institutional and global end investors and fund managers –all mulling over the economic opportunities agricultural lands have to offer, write Anuradha Mittal, founder and executive director, and Jeff Furman, member of the Board of Directors, of the Oakland Institute.

Threat of "Nuclear Terror" Diverts Abolition Efforts
Kevin P. Clements

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, APRIL 2012

President Barack Obama indicated in Prague in 2009 that he was interested in achieving a "world without nuclear weapons." Since that bold statement (which was one of the reasons for his Nobel peace prize) he has been persuaded by his foreign policy advisors and pressured by the Nuclear Weapons Laboratories to put nuclear abolition on hold and to focus instead on issues such as nuclear safety and nuclear security, writes Kevin P. Clements, professor at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago, New Zealand.

Will India Still Supply Cheap Drugs to the World?
Martin Khor

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, APRIL 2012

India may be famous for the Taj Mahal, its religious ceremonies, Bollywood films and one of the highest economic growth rates in recent years. But more importantly, India has had a positive global impact through its supply of vast quantities of low-cost, good-quality generic medicines, which have saved or prolonged millions of lives, writes Martin Khor, executive director of the South Centre in Geneva.

Solutions to the Economic Crisis
Johan Galtung

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, APRIL 2012

Germany, with decreasing unit labour costs, high employment, quality export products, and a single euro currency, had an eurozone trade surplus growing from 64 to 140 billion euros in the period 2002-2009. They financed the trade deficits of Greece-Italy-Portugal-Spain-Ireland (GIPSI) with credits from German banks, which amounted to 522 billion euros by 2009. They do not invest in GIPSI, but offer high interest credits to be paid back, thereby putting the GIPSIs in debt bondage, writes Johan Galtung, rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University and author of the forthcoming book "Peace Economics: From a Killing to a Living Economy"

Is the staggering rise of the South sustainable?
Yilmaz Akyuz

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, APRIL 2012

Growth in developing economies (DEs) has accelerated significantly in the new millennium. Whereas in the 1980s and 1990s their average growth was barely higher than that of advanced economies (AEs), from the early years of the 2000s until the global crisis, the difference shot up to 5 percentage points. It widened further during 2008-11 with the collapse in AEs. Although there is diversity, the acceleration is broad-based with all developing regions enjoying faster growth than in the past. The notable exception is China, which has grown in the new millennium at broadly the same (albeit rapid) pace as in the 1990s, writes Yilmaz Akyuz, chief economist of the South Centre, Geneva.

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