Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Julio Godoy HAMBURG, Jan 20, 2012 (IPS) – Shortly before midnight last Saturday, Alexander, a 24-year-old law student, stepped out of his small apartment in Hamburg and set off for a jaunt around the local supermarkets to pilfer their garbage containers. Alex, who did not want his [...]
AFGHANISTAN: Land Triggers New Conflicts
December 5, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Rebecca Murray NANGARHAR, Afghanistan , Dec 4, 2011 (IPS) – A small plot of urban land has pitted Assadullah, 55, against an unwelcome neighbour in a bitter personal property dispute that has stretched on for almost a decade. Assadullah’s story is a common one. A working-class barber [...]
Survival Fear Stalks Millions in West Africa
November 23, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN By Jerome Mwanda IDN-InDepth NewsReport NAIROBI (IDN) – Massive leasing of lands, which the government of Mali justifies with the need to "modernize" the country’s agriculture, is threatening the survival of populations dependent on the water flows of the Niger River in Mali and in the rest of [...]
BRAZIL: Small-Scale Land Speculators Contribute to Amazon Deforestation
July 28, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Stephen Leahy* UXBRIDGE, Canada, Jul 28, 2011 (Tierramérica) – Many migrants from southern Brazil who clear forests in Brazil’s state of Amazonas are making their living as small-scale land speculators and not as farmers or as cattle ranchers, new research has found. This on-the-ground reality and the [...]
Ban Proposed on Export Restrictions that Undermine Food Security
June 26, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Isolda Agazzi GENEVA, Jun 24, 2011 (IPS) – Egypt has initiated a proposal in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to ban export restrictions on farm products to poor countries that are net food importers. The Group of 20 has also exhorted the upcoming WTO ministerial conference to [...]
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Macadamia Trees Offer Lifeline to Small Farmers
May 26, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Elizabeth Eames Roebling SANTO DOMINGO, May 26, 2011 (IPS) – A project to help reforest after the devastation of Hurricane David 32 years ago has grown into a plan to lift small coffee farmers out of poverty, all by the introduction of a gourmet ice cream. Hurricane [...]
COLOMBIA: Displaced Campesinos Want a Say on Land Restitution Bill
May 2, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Helda Martínez BOGOTÁ, Apr 28, 2011 (IPS) – The Colombian government has been extolling a bill on Victims and Land Restitution which is being debated in Congress and is receiving extensive media coverage. But the demands of the victims themselves, forcibly displaced campesinos, are falling on deaf [...]
Millions Stand to Benefit from Farmers’ Co-ops
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Elizabeth Whitman UNITED NATIONS, Nov 22, 2011 (IPS) – The 925 million people who went hungry in 2010 are just one facet of an ever-worsening food security crisis. Both food producers and consumers face the consequences of price volatility and unsustainable agricultural practices – challenges that leave [...]