By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, May 31, 2012 (IPS) – Canada, in a dramatic political turnaround, has signaled its willingness to recognise water and sanitation as a basic human right.

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By Kanis Dursin

JAKARTA, May 31, 2012 (IPS) – Misradi, a 58-year-old farmer from the Jelok neighborhood in Pacitan, East Java, some 524 kilometres east of Jakarta, has found a way to reduce his monthly expenses by 30 percent: instead of buying produce from the local market, he and his family now harvest most of their vegetables from their own yard.

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Federico Mayor Zaragoza e Mario Soares*

Barcelona, Espanha, 31/5/2012, (IPS) – Vivemos tempos de grande confusão e de enormes incertezas. Uma parte do mundo se vê ferozmente afetada pelas consequências do Estado de total submissão em que se encontram os governos com relação aos mercados financeiros. Continue Reading

Busani Bafana interviews SAMEER DOSSANI, ActionAid International advocacy coordinator

BULAWAYO, May 31, 2012 (IPS) – It is vitally important that governments and civil society organisations start transitioning to a more sustainable global food system in order to achieve lasting development.

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By Marwaan Macan-Markar

KATHMANDU, May 30, 2012 (IPS) – After years of working out of a small, dimly-lit office in a crowded bazaar here, Yug Tamrakar has just moved up a gravel road to occupy five floors of a new building, where sunlight pours through large glass windows.

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Manipadma Jena

YEOSU, Corea del Sur, 30/5/2012, (IPS) – Enquanto aproxima-se a Conferência das Nações Unidas sobre Desenvolvimento Sustentável (Rio+20), entre 20 e 22 de junho no Rio de Janeiro, proliferam as dúvidas sobre a viabilidade de uma “economia verde”.

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Stephen Leahy

Uxbridge, Canadá, 29/5/2012, (IPS) – A Conferência das Nações Unidas sobre Desenvolvimento Sustentável (Rio+20) servirá apenas de terreno onde se tentará cultivar as ideias e os valores que a humanidade necessita para o Século 21.

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By Claire Ngozo

LILONGWE, May 29, 2012 (IPS) – As she sits down to watch the 8pm news on TV, Mercy Kamphoni from Chamtulo Village in Malawi’s Mangochi lake district looks elated. She still cannot believe that she is the new proud owner of a television set, refrigerator and radio.

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Por Fabiana Frayssinet

RÍO DE JANEIRO, 29 may (IPS) – El veto parcial de la presidenta Dilma Rousseff a la polémica reforma forestal de Brasil contraría los intereses “más arcaicos del latifundio”, pero determina la victoria del sector productivo por sobre el desarrollo sustentable, afirman ecologistas.

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IPS U.N. Bureau Chief Thalif Deen Interviews BRANISLAV GOSOVIC, author and former staffer on the Brundtland Commission on Environment

UNITED NATIONS, May 29, 2012 (IPS) – The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro was to a large extent derailed by a North-South divide: a battle between a coalition of rich industrial nations versus the world’s developing countries led by the Group of 77.

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