[Tech Alert] Mobile phones: not just for talking anymore
Africa has the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world, and many are being used in development projects. One Grameen Foundation project in Uganda uses mobile phones to track banana diseases. Read the New York Times article about this project. And, if you think that is cool, mobile phones are getting even more powerful: [...]
G20 agrees to phase out fossil fuel subsidies
World leaders met at the UN in New York the week of September 20, 2009, and expectations were high for what was dubbed “Climate Week.” In the end, according to most critics, it was less-than-exciting. In President Obama’s much-anticipated speech, he reinforced the U.S. commitment to renewable energy, but gave few details on other commitments. [...]
Paying farmers to not-cut trees
People in developing countries can be paid to not cut down their forests as part of carbon offset schemes for richer countries. The idea is called “avoided deforestation” or “reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation” (REDD) and is being promoted internationally, but faces many challenges. [See article]
US: Fair Trade Fund call for proposals
The Fair Trade Fund channels the financial contributions of our U.S. based partners into small-scale and high-impact efforts to build the global Fair Trade marketplace. Applications for CRS projects valued at up to $25,000 are requested by October 31, 2009. A Country Program can participate in two ways: a) sponsor a Fair Trade producer group [...]
Global: IWRM Learning Alliance Kicks Off
An IWRM Learning Alliance workshop was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with 34 participants from 14 countries, including partner staff from Ethiopia. The first two days of the workshop focused on an introduction to the EARO IWRM Strategy and an exchange of IWRM, NRM and conservation agriculture innovations from EARO, WARO, LACRO, Afghanistan and India. [...]
Wall Street is back; which street are you on?
The Dow Jones industrial index, the global barometer of economic activity, has surpassed the 10,000 mark again. This represents over a 65% gain from its darkest moments in March of this year when it fell to 6500. Apparently the stimulus packages worked; global output has stopped shrinking, the IMF has raised expectations of global GDP [...]
Market Watch
The major market indicators are looking reasonably stable at this time, as the economic stimulus packages from around the world maintain market confidence. The Dow Jones, as with all major market indexes, has had a good run of late and appears to be firmly into the 9,000+ territory.