The African development model: clone of Asia?
31/1/2019: Labour-intensive export-led industrialisation worked for China, but Africa is not China. It must come up with its own strategies to reduce poverty.
Source: African Arguments
World’s three biggest rainforests face year of precarious politics
28/1/2019: Recent leadership changes in Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and presidential elections in Indonesia this April, are fuelling political uncertainty over the fate of the world’s three biggest rainforests. Source: Climate Home News
Rainforests: storylines to watch in 2019
2/1/2019: 2018 wasn’t a great year for tropical rainforests, with major setbacks in Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar coming on top of back-to-back years of high forest cover loss. Here are ten storylines to follow in 2019. Source: Mongabay
Globalization 4.0 for Whom?
19/12/2018: The elites gathering in Davos next month have yet to acknowledge the need for a new approach to governing the global economy. The neoliberal model of race-to-the-bottom competition has resulted in rising inequality and political discontent. Source: Project Syndicate
World’s largest palm oil trader gives forest destroyers nowhere to hide
10/12/2018: The world’s largest palm oil trader, Wilmar International, has published a detailed action plan to map and monitor all of its suppliers. Eliminating deforestation from its supply chain would have a major impact on the rest of the industry.
Source: Greenpeace International
COP24: Tropical deforestation risks undermining 1.5-degree warming limit
13/12/2018: Of the six countries that account for the greatest expanses of tropical rainforest, only Indonesia is on track to reduce its current rate of deforestation by 2030. The others — Brazil, DRC, Colombia, Peru and Myanmar — are off target. Source: Mongabay
Amazon deforestation at highest level in 10 years
24/11/2018: Deforestation in Earth’s biggest rainforest reached the highest level in a decade, reports the Brazilian government. The American trade war has increased the profitability of Brazilian agricultural products.
Source: Mongabay
Stop importing illegal timber, PNG activists tell China at APEC Summit
22/11/2018: China’s imports of timber from Papua New Guinea (PNG) are winnowing away the country’s forests, according to a group of NGOs, researchers and landowners.
Source: Mongabay
RSPO adopts total ban on deforestation
16/11/2018: The world’s leading certification body for ethically sourced palm oil has ordered a total ban on deforestation by its members, amid growing pressure from both companies and consumers.
Source: Mongabay
Grappling with globalization 4.0
5/11/2018: The forces of the Fourth Industrial Revolution have ushered in a new economy and a new form of globalization, both of which demand new forms of governance to safeguard the public good. Source: Project Syndicate