News headlines in 2017, page 44

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 07 (IPS) - While voters in Venezuela overwhelmingly rejected President Nicolás Maduro's plan to amend the constitution recently, similar tensions and a clash between protesters and state authorities appears to be brewing across the Atlantic in the West African nation of Mauritania.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Aug 07 (IPS) - Since 2013, Jamaica's Met Office has been using its Climate Predictability Tool (CPT) to forecast ‘below average' rainfall or drought across the island. The tool has allowed this northern Caribbean island to accurately predict several dry periods and droughts, including its most destructive episode in 2014 when an estimated one billion dollars in agricultural losses were incurred due to crop failures and wild fires caused by the exceptionally dry conditions.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 04 (IPS) - At the beginning of August, the High Level Independent Panel to Assess and Enhance Effectiveness of UN-Habitat came out with its report. Before commenting on the Panel Report I want to put up front that I know that a lot of the staff in UN Habitat do excellent work and its same they weren't given a proper role in Habitat III.

LIMA, Aug 04 (IPS) - Domestic violence is alarmingly prevalent in Peru. Not only is it statistically more common than in other, more progressive cultures, but Peruvian women tend to accept it as simply a ‘part of marriage.'

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 04 (IPS) - The final declaration of the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 stated that "Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens." However, this rarely happens in Latin America and the Caribbean.

SAN FRANCISCO, California, Aug 03 (IPS) - Gender inequality is the greatest moral and social issue of our time -- and the world's most critical economic challenge. If half of the global population cannot fulfill their human potential, the world's economic growth will falter.

BARTICA, Guyana, Aug 03 (IPS) - At the head of Guyana's Essequibo River, 50 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean, you will find the town of Bartica. Considered the gateway to Guyana's interior, the town has a population of about 15,000 and is the launching point for people who work in the forests mining gold and diamonds.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 03 (IPS) - The United Nations recently released the 70th anniversary issue of its flagship publication, the World Economic and Social Survey (WESS). First published in January 1948 as the World Economic Report, it is the oldest continuous publication analyzing international economic and social challenges. The 2017 issue reviews 70 years of WESS policy recommendations, many of which remain relevant today to address global challenges and to achieve the 2030 Agenda or Sustainable Development Goals.

ROME, Aug 02 (IPS) - Over the centuries, Indigenous peoples who have in-depth and locally rooted knowledge of the natural world , have been increasingly dispossessed of their lands, territories and resources and have lost control over their own way of life.

DHAKA, Aug 01 (IPS) - Experts and policymakers here say regional cooperation is a must to resolve long-standing water problems in South Asian countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India and Nepal, and to harness the full value of water.