Millions of people are being moved from the Yangtze floodplain as a result of the reversal of Mao’s drive to create croplands by shrinking vast wetlands, Jasper Becker writes.
Ethiopia’s food aid addiction
(February 2, 2006) Like a patient addicted to pain killers, Ethiopia seems hooked on aid.
Economic transition fails to inspire foreign confidence
(February 2, 2006) While China needs to attract outside investment, foreigners have stayed away from the market after several cases of the Chinese reneging on power puchasing deals.
Dam will raise temperatures in central China, scientist says
The Three Gorges dam will create a reservoir massive enough to raise temperatures and force crop changes in nearby areas, a government meteorologist predicts.
Why foreign aid to Haiti failed
(February 1, 2006) Although it proudly lays claim as the second oldest republic in the Hemisphere, and the only nation whose slave population defeated a colonial power to become free,Haiti is, and has been, among the worst governed and most undemocratic states. Few places in the world, and no places in the Western Hemisphere, are poorer than Haiti.This paper2 explains why, after consuming billions in foreign aid over three decades, and hundreds of millions specifically for governance and democratization programs, not to mention billions for other programs, Haiti remains politically dysfunctional and impoverished.
Experts call for better dam quality
The Three Gorges Dam must stand the test of time with aplomb for generations to come, according to China’s top advisory body seeking to improve the world’s largest hydroelectric project’s quality control.
‘Cracks’ in China’s Three Gorges dam
(January 30, 2006) A senior Chinese official says cracks have appeared in the controversial Three Gorges hydroelectric dam being built on the Yangtze river.
Blighted village raises fears about south-north water scheme
(January 29, 2006) A cancer cluster that has been linked to water pollution in a village downstream of the Danjiangkou dam in Hubei province highlights the human misery caused by China’s poisoned rivers.
Declaration on debt from the World Social Forum
(January 24, 2007) A Declaration on Debt drafted by participants at this year’s World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, last month calls on governments and lenders in the global North to examine loans they have extended to countries in the South and take responsibility for illegitimate debts.
Chinese 1st quarter GDP up 7.6 per cent
China’s finance minister warns that the government cannot go on indefinitely shelling out for big-ticket public works projects such as the Three Gorges dam.
Time to cancel Kenya’s crippling debts
(January 23, 2006) That Kenya’s external debt needs to be cancelled is long overdue. As noted recently by Cabinet ministers and Prof Jeffery Sachs of the United Nations, this debt is crippling the country to the point that Kenya’s ability to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is not just difficult, but it is virtually impossible.
Chinese Power Giant to Sell Carbon Dioxide to Spain under CDM Contract
(January 23, 2006) The Chinese electric utility Huaneng and the Spanish National Power Corporation Endesa have unveiled a pioneering initiative for purchasing emissions credits generated under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), according to the 21st Century Business Herald. The deal, announced January 19 in Beijing, is the first in China’s power sector to be put into implementation. This initiative will generate roughly 3 billion RMB (US $375 million) for Huaneng and benefit the utility’s fledgling wind power projects.
Time to call for debt relief one year after the tsunami
(January 23, 2006) Much of the Indonesia’s debt could actually be classified as odious or illegitimate. The majority of the country’s debt was accumulated during Soeharto’s 32-year regime.
Three Gorges dam project enters new phase
Xinhua reports on the 555 explosions that brought down the kilometre-long cofferdam in 18 seconds.
Ecology institute plan for Shanghai
(January 19, 2006) Shanghai’s Tongji University and the United Nations are to jointly run an ecology and sustainable development institute, scheduled to open in October. Among other projects, it will monitor the environmental impact of the Three Gorges dam.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
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