Today’s mining boom may not be driven by the overt colonialist motives of the past – but the parallels are there, say Dailes Judge and Veronica Zano of Oxfam in Africa.
Down the Line: Oil, Poverty, and a Future Worth Building
Every day, communities around the globe struggle to protect their land, livelihoods, environment, and money. This is the case from the western United States, where residents in poor neighborhoods have lost everything this summer in climate-induced fires, to eastern Africa, where rural villages are navigating the low costs and high risks of oil projects. Whether these communities live downwind or …
Low costs, high risks, and empty promises? The price of oil in East Africa
If constructed, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) would become the world’s longest heated pipeline. Communities that will be impacted are worried about their land, money, environment, and future. Oxfam is urging project developers and the governments of Uganda and Tanzania to listen to these communities and take immediate action.
Solar study lamps in Sierra Leone
Renewable Energy Policy Advisor, Kevin Johnstone, outlines some of the educational benefits of solar study lamp campaigns, and their potential to achieve much more. The cost of night studies Sometimes Bintu’s family couldn’t afford batteries for home lighting, and on those nights, she couldn’t complete her school work. Bintu’s mother explained that if “you don’t have batteries, your children will …
Communicating the vision of a good life for all within planetary limits
Is it possible to achieve a sustainable future where the social needs of all are met without exhausting the planet’s resources? Dr Julia Steinberger shares lessons learnt from communicating her research findings. Earlier this year, my colleagues and I published an article entitled “A Good Life For All Within Planetary Boundaries” in Nature Sustainability. In this article, we aimed to …
How can overcoming educational barriers improve the sustainability of smallholder supply chains?
[buzzsprout episode=’2559220′ player=’true’] In this podcast we speak to Amanda Klarer, the Responsible Farming Program Manager at Marcatus QED, who works with some of the world’s leading and niche consumer brands to develop customised sourcing programmes, innovative products and sustainable supply chains. Marcatus QED is one of Unilever’s supply partners for their gherkin supply chain, and is part of the …
No environmental justice without gender justice
Gender equality and women’s rights are core to attaining sustainable, just human development. Editor, Caroline Sweetman, introduces the natural resource justice issue of the Gender & Development journal. 2017 is on course to be the deadliest year yet for environmental activism: 150 women and men have so far been murdered for defending natural resources and the communities who depend on …
A harvest of dysfunction: Causes and impacts of drought in South Africa
John Magrath introduces the report, A Harvest of Dysfunction: rethinking the approach to drought, its causes and impacts in South Africa. “Interventions to assist poor people affected by drought must start with how drought itself is defined and understood” – so says Sipho Mthathi, Executive Director of Oxfam South Africa in her introduction to a new report that challenges the …