#global development professionals network

[solarpunkwitchcraft]

The three wonders of the ancient world solving modern water problems

In Peru, Kenya and India, NGOs are helping communities overcome water scarcity using wisdom from the past

[southeastasianists]

The dark side of wildlife tourism: thousands of Asian elephants held in cruel conditions

Elephants are being exploited to entertain tourists in south-east Asia, and kept in harsh conditions, says a new report from an animal rights NGO

[sataniccapitalist]

Wealth redistribution and population management are the only logical way forward | William E Rees

Globalisation and trade have enabled too many countries to overshoot their capacities and run ‘ecological deficits’ with other nations

[solarpunks]

Arid land to a fertile Eden: permaculture lessons from Portugal

Tamera’s ecology experts transformed an area at risk of desertification – and say they can do the same anywhere in the world

The land is called Tamera, the name given to these 330 acres in southern Portugal by a community of 30 people who moved here from Germany in 1995. Today, 200 people from all over the world live here. Through simple practices of digging swales (ditches) and creating water retention spaces, Tamera’s ecology experts have transformed an area on the brink of desertification – and say they can do the same anywhere in the world.

“The ecological knowledge is there and its effectiveness can be proved in so many cases,” he says. “The problem lies in political strategies and social habits.”

(via Arid land to a fertile Eden: permaculture lessons from Portugal | The Guardian)

WATER IS LIFE - The Water Retention Landscape of Tamera

Sepp Holzer and Bernd Mueller explain the construction, the effect and the basic ideas for the construction of a water retention landscape: a local and natural solution to the global problem of disturbed water balance.

(via WATER IS LIFE - The Water Retention Landscape of Tamera | Grace Media)

[buffleheadcabin]

Our best shot at cooling the planet might be right under our feet

Studies suggest that regenerating soil by turning our backs on industrial farming holds the key to tackling climate change

[underpaidgenius]

Kate Raworth, Old economics is based on false ‘laws of physics’ – new economics can save us

It is time to ditch the belief that economies obey rigid mechanical rules, which has widened inequality and polluted our planet. Economics is evolving

Think ecologically, not economically:

So how can economic policymakers be more like gardeners in their approach? They should think of policy as an adapting portfolio of experiments, says Eric Beinhocker, a leading thinker in the field of evolutionary economics. We should mimic nature’s process of natural selection, which can be summed up as diversify-select-amplify: set up small-scale policy experiments to test out a variety of interventions, put a stop to the ones that don’t work and scale-up those that do. Nobel-prize-winning political scientist Elinor Ostrom agreed. “We have never had to deal with problems of the scale facing today’s globally interconnected society,” she wrote. “No one knows for sure what will work, so it is important to build a system that can evolve and adapt rapidly.”

Realising that the economy is ever-evolving is an empowering insight. If complex systems evolve through their innovations and deviations, then this gives added importance to novel initiatives – from complementary currencies to open-source design – that are at the leading edge of new economic design.

[accfirmslondon-blog]

‘They call him the millionaire’: the refugee who turned his camp into a business empire

After fleeing persecution in Ethiopia, Mesfin Getahun arrived in Kakuma with nothing. Now he runs a business based on trust, friendship and charitable givingIt’s a sweltering afternoon in the Kakuma refugee camp, and workers are busy loading crates of Coca-Cola bottles into a run-down car stationed in front of Mesfin Getahun’s store. Clad in a pair of denim jeans and a matching shirt, the 42-year-old Ethiopian wholesaler moves swiftly inside the large room filled with piles of bulk powder milk, canned tomatoes and sacks of grain, attending to customers’ requests and giving orders to staff. A small crowd of refugees and members of the local Turkana tribe have gathered to socialise, sitting on plastic chairs by the shop’s entrance.In 2001, Getahun fled neighbouring Ethiopia amidst political turmoil, settling in this sprawling camp located in arid, isolated and underdeveloped Turkana County, in north-eastern Kenya. Nobody, including himself, would have predicted that in 16 years he would go from sweeping floors to make ends meet, to being one of the camp’s premier wholesalers whose $10,000 (£7,779) monthly income has earned him the nickname “the millionaire.” Related: The scientists who had to start over: ‘five years of my career have been wiped out’ Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/may/10/millionaire-refugee-mesfin-getahun-kakuma-refugee-camp

[stocknewspaper-blog]

"Brazil army deploys in Rio slum as drug-related violence worsens" has been added to my site. Please visit for details. http://www.stocknewspaper.com/brazil-army-deploys-in-rio-slum-as-drug-related-violence-worsens/