By Beth Bader •
May 22, 2008
Here’s a look at a few interesting headlines as the world deals with the food crisis and debates on food technology.
Food Aid Also Gives a Helping Hand to GMO Agribusiness
As countries around the world try to grapple with the food crisis, the Bush Administration’s The $770 million aid package causes a bit of a controversy by including language that would promote the use of genetically modified crops in food-deprived countries. (Chicago Tribune).
Agribusiness Profits Rise Dramatically Alongside Food Prices
An article in The Independent discusses how major players in the agriculture industry are enjoying record increases in profits, doubling in a three month period in some cases, from both the demand for food and biofuel. Investor speculation plays a significant part in the profits, as well as in driving up food prices. (The Independent).
More issues and updates.
By Sam Aola Ooko •
March 6, 2008
There is no recent conflict in Africa that has elicited so much debate around the world and in the United States, in particular, as Darfur. Not even the post election political skirmishes in Kenya drew so much attention. Kenya, once the darling of the continent, the erstwhile adversaries are today sharing a cup of tea as well as power, something unthinkable only two months ago.
In a 2007 newspaper article, UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said: “Almost invariably, we discuss Darfur in a convenient military and political shorthand - an ethnic conflict pitting Arab militias against black rebels and farmers. Look to its roots, though, and you discover a more complex dynamic. Amid the diverse social and political causes, the Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis, arising at least in part from climate change.”
What does this mean? The Darfur conflict inflicts even more damage on Sudan’s environmental degradation with nearly two million internally displaced people putting pressure on the fragile environment as they clear land and source ground water to survive.
