Due South

Exploring the impact of the recession on sustainable development in the South

Will biodiversity loss break the bank?

Is the biodiversity drain speeding up? As Juliette Jowit reports in a recent Guardian, a study by Simon Stuart of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission reveals that humans are driving extinctions ‘faster than new species can evolve’.

That might not surprise some in Madagascar — the California-sized ‘eighth continent’ off Africa’s southeastern coast, and a crucible of species from lemurs to octopus trees. This positively sizzling biodiversity hotspot is in danger of becoming little more than a barren political minefield.

All of which strikes a bleak note in this, the International Year of Biodiversity.

Credit Gap? Micro is beautiful

Many now fondly remember the days of cheap credit and apparent financial stability in the early 2000s. Those were the days where you would deposit your money and earn a reasonable rate of interest while businesses and individuals could receive a loan to open or expand a business, buy a home, go to university, etc..

The past is indeed a strange place: they do things differently there.

Growing problems on the road to recovery

Debate is still raging in Northern economic policy circles on the best way out of the downturn. Meanwhile, Greece has hit the headlines in recent weeks over doubts about its long-term ability to service its national debt without outside assistance from the other euro-wielding members of the Eurozone, or the European Union.

Everyone is worried that if Greece is let off the hook the other PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) will have less incentive to take hard, and unpopular, measures to balance their books.

The majority seem to be looking forward to the day when economic growth returns and the situation returns to ‘normal’, but is a return to growth in the North a good thing? What are the long-term effects of such growth on the ecosystems upon which development and wellbeing depend? Should we be trying to make everything the way it was before, or is it time to challenge our assumptions that growth is always good?

Blogging the corporate monster

Last week, over 100 bloggers reacted to Prem Sikka’s ‘Comment Is Free’ piece in the Guardian, which opined that ‘big business must be forced to temper its obsession with profit and align corporate practice with social justice and democracy’.

Did the bankers do the Amazon a favour?

Deforestation rates in Brazil nearly halved recently — the largest fall in two decades. Not bad for the country that, back in the 20th century, was so often portrayed in the media as losing a chunk of rainforest ‘the size of Wales’. That’s just one example of how the impacts of recession on the environment can tell us an awful lot about the way our economy works.

Happy Mondays — saving the planet one day at a time

What do ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and American actress Gwyneth Paltrow have in common — beyond a place in the celebrity stratosphere?

Shipping news for Southern exporters?

The recession has rocked global shipping and — like some of the super-tankers it operates — it can’t change course as quickly as it might like. But the lack of manoeuvrability in this sector may provide opportunities for other, more nimble actors, possibly opening up a foothold for developing-world exporters.

From Kenya with love

Supermarkets festooned with hearts and crammed with chocolate: Valentine’s Day is nearly upon us. Will it be a romantic meal, roses — or both? Kenyan products have your romantic gestures covered, and more. 

How piracy off the Horn holds thousands hostage

Pirates off the Horn of Africa — a 21st-century hotspot of maritime hit-and-run — are usually reported as victimising the crews of yachts or oil tankers straying into ‘their’ territory. The ordeal suffered by British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler is a case in point.

Still sweet? Fairtrade, Kraft/Cadbury and beyond

The hot debate over US food giant Kraft's bid for Cadbury - manufacturer of iconic British sweets - is still simmering. A new source of tension reared up this week with discussions in the UK Parliament on how much Kraft is committed to sticking to Cadbury's market-leading investment in Fairtrade cocoa.

Bushmeat stew: complexities of a shadowy trade

It’s hard for some to imagine sitting down to a meal of baboon, green monkey and warthog meat.

How mobiles stayed massive — talking down the recession

How is it that mobile phone operators are proving - true to their name - too agile for the long arm of this recession?

The hidden byway to recovery?

The ‘slump as opportunity’ concept is alive and well in UK government. Ed Miliband, the country’s Energy and Climate Change Minister, said today that recession will not deflect government efforts to cut carbon emissions and move to a low-carbon economy.

Farming, financial storms — and keeping a weather eye on volatility

Farming is usually seen as dicing with nature. So how has agriculture managed to weather the financial storms of the last year so well?

Another look at the slump’s silver linings

Few lobbyists or negotiators at the Copenhagen Climate Change conference advocated one solution to the urgent task of slashing greenhouse gas emissions – a deeper, longer, uglier recession.

Christmas means consumption

To give and receive: it’s the essence of Christmas. Strip away the personal significance, though, and we’re really just looking at the process of consumption.

Eat your greens at Christmas

Will your last-minute shopping for holiday feasts bring peace, joy and livelihood security to the world’s poorest? Your Christmas dinner plate could be piled high with support for the poor.

The myth of ‘de-coupling’ as poor catch the recession cold

When did it start to sink in that poor countries are highly vulnerable to the impacts of the global recession?