Milagros Salazar

LIMA, Apr 5 2010 (IPS) – A 200-km oil pipeline that Franco-British oil group Perenco aims to build in the heart of Peru s Amazon jungle region is at the centre of a controversy because of the reported existence of uncontacted native groups in the area.
In early 2008, Perenco acquired the exploration and production rights to Lot 67, which has total reserves of over 300 million barrels.

The firm plans to build a 200-km pipeline, which would connect to an existing one, in order to pipe the oil to Peru s Pacific coast.

A Perenco spokesman told IPS that the company plans to invest 1.5 billion dollars in the project and that oil would begin to be pumped in January 2011.

The oilfield is in Loreto, Peru s northernmost, and largest, region. A r…

Tembari Children’s Care is providing protection, food and education to orphans and abandoned children in Port Moresby. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

PORT MORESBY, Jul 17 2012 (IPS) – In an informal settlement of 10,000 people on the outskirts of Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, Tembari Children’s Care – a new grassroots initiative – is providing protection, food and education to orphans and abandoned children who would otherwise join the high numbers of child labourers in this Melanesian country.

Hayward Sagembo and his wife, Penny, who live in Nine Mile Settlement, became deeply conc…

A man lives in the makeshift house behind him in the Slovak Republic, a member of the EU. Photo: Mano Strauch © The World Bank

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 23 2015 (IPS) – When the World Economic Forum (WEF) met last January in Switzerland, attended mostly by the rich and the super-rich, the London-based charity Oxfam unveiled a report with an alarming statistic: if current trends continue, the world’s richest one percent would own more than 50 percent of the world’s wealth by 2016.

And just 80 of the world’s richest will control as much wealth as 3.5 billion people: half th…

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 3 2020 (IPS) – With over 37,500 staffers in its global Secretariat payroll, the United Nations has gone high alert as the deadly coronavirus continues to take a heavy toll worldwide.

The 39-storeyed Secretariat building is perhaps the only sprawling office space in New York city where thousands of staffers and diplomats from 193 countries either work or meet under one roof along with hundreds of journalists and representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs).

Patricia Nemeth, President of the UN Staff Union (UNSU) in New York, told IPS that staff members have “expressed concerns” to the UNSU, “as to what measures are being taken …

• Education and COVID-19: UN helps children continue their learning

There have even been that the coronavirus is related to exposure to new technologies (such as 5G, which can be used to deliver money mobiles services). There are measures authorities can take in response to better protect consumers.

Regulators, providers and consumer protection agencies can alert people to the risks; providers can make sure they have adequate consumer complaint mechanisms in place; and law enforcement can coordinate firm action, not only in country but across borders.

Credit: United Nations

Preying on vulnerable populations in developing countries at a time of cris…

Farmers are producing without knowing market demand for their produce which leads to food waste or scarcity. Technology can fix the food system by ensuring that information is shared timeously across the value chain. Credit: Mantoe Phakathi

MBABANE, Dec 2 2020 (IPS) – Placing an online order for farming inputs saves Velebantfu Dlamini about USD12 in transport fees for a round trip of about 320 kilometres. The 26-year-old vegetable farmer from Nkhungwini in the Shiselweni Region, south of Eswatini, uses a portal to order from the National Agriculture Marketing Board (NAMBoard) Farm Store. NAMBoard then delivers his order leaving Dlamini with time to stay in the field…

Shafi Bhuiyan. Credit : ITMDs file photo

TORONTO, Canada, Jun 15 2021 (IPS) – In Canada, we are fortunate to have many talented newcomers eager to contribute to the country, including thousands of doctors from Africa, Asia and the Middle East who meet Canadian standards but are blocked from becoming practicing physicians. These doctors are Canadian citizens and permanent residents with recognized training and experience.

Internationally Trained Medical Doctors (ITMDs), also known as International Medical Graduates (IMGs) are individuals who obtain their medical license outside of Canada. ITMDs face significant barriers to obtaining a medical license to practice in Canada …

Medical equipment supplied by the World Food Programme (WFP) arrives in Beijing.
Meanwhile, as COVID-19 infections surged in China, coronavirus experts gathered at the UN health agency in Geneva on January 3, to discuss next steps. Photo courtesy of Yingshi Zhang

BRUSSELS, Jan 4 2023 (IPS) – Three years after the coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the Chinese government began in December to abruptly scrap its harsh containment policy known as zero-Covid.

This zero-Covid policy relied on strict lockdowns, use of a Covid tracking app, domestic travel restrictions, and quarantining those who test positive along with their close contacts. But the …