Global Issues
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Green Taxes Seek a Spot in Mexico’s Reform Bill
- Inter Press Service
MEXICO CITY, Mar 14 (IPS) - As the Mexican government prepares a broad tax reform bill, experts and activists see it as an opportunity to include new "green taxes" aimed at raising funds for curbing pollution.
Latin America Won’t Lose Cheap Oil from Venezuela
- Inter Press Service
SANTIAGO, Mar 14 (IPS) - Venezuela will keep in place the regional energy integration policies promoted by the late president Hugo Chávez if he is succeeded by acting president Nicolás Maduro, experts on regional relations told IPS.
Media Face a Palestinian Kick
- Inter Press Service
RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank, Mar 14 (IPS) - In an extraordinary move, a civilian has been sentenced to a year's imprisonment for posting a picture on Facebook of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas dressed in a Real Madrid soccer outfit and kicking a ball. The sentencing is among several instances of a targeting of media in Palestinian areas.
Pak-Iran Pipeline Carries Energy and Defiance
- Inter Press Service
, Mar 14 (IPS) - After almost two decades of non-stop negotiations, and two years of intense U.S. opposition, the much-delayed and controversial 7.5 billion dollar Iran-Pakistan pipeline is well on its track to full operation in the next 15 months.
Cameroonian Farmers Find Justice in Fair Fruit
- Inter Press Service
DOUALA, Cameroon, Mar 14 (IPS) - The fruit farmers in Njombe, a small town in the coastal Littoral Region of Cameroon, learned a life lesson about "making lemonade out of lemons" - or rather "dried fruit out of fruit" when their land was taken from them by the government and leased to an international farming company.
Afghanistan Faces “Massive Economic Constriction” after U.S. Withdrawal
- Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON, Mar 14 (IPS) - Next year's drawdown of U.S. forces and decline in U.S. aid will leave in its wake an Afghan political system lacking legitimacy and stability, according to interviews with Afghanistan experts, news reports and congressional studies.
U.S. Claims No Indefinite Detention at Guantánamo
- Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON, Mar 13 (IPS) - In unusual public testimony, the U.S. government has publicly stated that no "indefinite detention" is taking place among detainees at the military prison in Guantánamo Bay.
Native Women Bring Solar Energy to Chile's Atacama Desert
- Inter Press Service
SANTIAGO, Mar 13 (IPS) - Three indigenous communities from the Chilean highlands have just received solar panels, which will be set up and maintained by unlikely solar engineers: five native women who travelled halfway around the world to India and overcame language and other barriers to bring photovoltaic energy to their villages.
Young Spaniards Exiled by Unemployment
- Inter Press Service
MALAGA, Spain, Mar 13 (IPS) - "They wanted to hire me, and that was something that hadn't ever happened to me before," says Marta Seror, a 25-year-old college graduate from Spain who is now working in an outsourcing company in Poland.
Q&A: Water Disputes Get Resolved While Other Conflicts Rage
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 13 (IPS) - What has education, science and culture to do with one of the world's most scarce and finite resources?
Plenty, says the United Nations, which has designated the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as the lead agency to promote the 2013 International Year of Water Cooperation (IYWC).
Asked if water is more an area for potential conflicts or an area for mutual cooperation, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova told IPS, "Water acts as a unifier."
She said the historical record shows that water disputes do get resolved, even among bitter enemies, and even as conflicts drag out over other issues.
"Some of the most vociferous enemies around the world have negotiated water agreements or are in the process of doing so," said Bokova, a former foreign minister of Bulgaria, who studied at the University of Maryland and at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
In an interview with IPS, she said "it is often said that water can be a source of conflict.
"But at UNESCO, we are guided by the opposite idea - we want to see water as a tremendous resource for cooperation, for exchange and joint work between States and societies," said Bokova, the first woman to head UNESCO, and who is expected to run for a second four-year term, come October.
According to the United Nations, the IYWC will highlight "the history of successful water cooperation initiatives, as well as identify burning issues on water education, water diplomacy, trans-boundary water management, financing cooperation, national/international legal frameworks, and the linkages with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)."
Bokova said, "We need a new vision that marries social equity, environmental protection and sustainable economic development as part of a single agenda for a more sustainable world."
She said UNESCO strongly believes that water must lie at the heart of this vision, and water diplomacy is an essential tool of 'soft power' for a more peaceful world.
Excerpts from the interview follow.
Q: What are the specific areas of cooperation between, and among, countries now?
A: The Mekong Committee has functioned since 1957, exchanging data throughout the Vietnam War. Secret "picnic table" talks have been held between Israel and Jordan since the unsuccessful Johnston negotiations of 1953 to 1955, even as these riparians until only recently were in a legal state of war.
The Indus River Commission survived through two wars between India and Pakistan. And all ten Nile riparians are currently involved in negotiations over cooperative development of the basin.
There are numerous examples where trans-boundary waters have proved to be a source of cooperation rather than conflict. Nearly 450 agreements on international waters were signed between 1820 and 2007. And over 90 international water agreements were drawn up to help manage shared water basins on the African continent.
Q: Are the U.N.'s efforts at "water cooperation" feasible against the backdrop of water-sharing conflicts between India-Pakistan? Israel-Jordan? Palestine-Israel?
A: The role of the United Nations is to offer a platform for dialogue and communication through the tools that are available to the system. Each agency facilitates cooperation from a specific angle of intervention.
UNESCO, for example, uses education and science as a means to intervene in a situation where cooperation needs to be established or enhanced. Two unique programmes provide the organisation's member states with the scientific backbone needed for any water management issue at any level - from the local to the national, regional and international levels.
Firstly, the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) is the only intergovernmental scientific cooperative programme that aims at helping member states manage their water resources and address the needs of their peoples through science and education.
And, secondly, he World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) which provides invaluable data and regular assessments of the planet's water resources, without which decision makers cannot move forward with their decisions making processes.
Q: Any concrete examples?
A: Example 1: UNESCO's Potential Conflict to Cooperation Potential (PCCP) programme, which is an associated programme of both IHP and WWAP, facilitates multi-level and interdisciplinary dialogue to foster peace, cooperation and development by building capacity to manage trans-boundary water resources.
For example, research on Lake Titicaca involved stakeholders from both Bolivia and Peru. A joint document was prepared outlining the status of conflict and cooperation in this trans-boundary water body.
In 1992, Bolivia and Peru created the Bi-national Autonomous Authority of Lake Titicaca recognising the importance of the joint management of the lake.
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