What We’re Reading 9/30/09

Sep 30th, 2009 12:29 PM UTC
By Robyn Mitchell

The New York Times: Global AIDS Detection and Treatment Sees Major Increase
The ranks of people taking antiretroviral drugs in the developing world rose by more than a million to surpass 4 million people globally, the United Nations reported Wednesday in its 2009 progress report on H.I.V. and AIDS. According to the New York Times, “the number of people being tested for H.I.V. more than doubled in dozens of countries last year, improving detection of AIDS and contributing to a major surge in those being treated.”

The Globe and Mail: Geldof asks Canada to help push his cause
ONE adviser Bob Geldof is striving to capitalize on Canada’s coming role in the global spotlight, as host of the 2010 Olympics, G8 and G20 meetings to help push for eradicating poverty in Africa. Geldof, who was invited to Vancouver this week for the Peace Summit, is trying to mobilize politicians, activists and the media to get African relief on the radar as Canada prepares to enter onto the world stage. “It’s an immense year for diplomacy for your country, whatever your political position is, whatever government you support…you’ve got the world’s attention,” said Geldof.

Financial Times: America has passed on the baton (Op-Ed, Jeffrey Sachs)
In an editorial for the Financial Times, Jeffrey Sachs writes that the establishing of the G20 has officially reduced the U.S.’s influence and leadership in global economic policy. According to Sachs, “even during the 33 years of the G7 economic forum, the US called the important economic shots, and although the US constitutes only about 20 percent of the world economy, it has until recently been the indispensable leader, the key to nearly every significant regional military alliance and to global trade, finance and cutting-edge technology.”

BBC: $100bn a year for adaptation
Adapting to impacts of climate change will cost $75-100 billion dollars per year in the developing world from 2010, according to preliminary findings released by the World Bank at the latest round of UN climate talks in Bangkok. How to finance adaptation, including how much money will be available, is a major theme in the talks that are supposed to produce a new global treaty this year. The major costs and figures, which are said to be “more precise than previous estimates by UN agencies and development charities,” would come mainly from improving coastal protection and protecting transport links.

The Guardian: By 2050, 25m more children will go hungry as climate change leads to food crisis
Researchers believe South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa will be the hardest hit by failing crop yield if global warming continues on its current trajectory, according to a new report released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The Guardian writes that “the grim scenario is the first to gauge the effects of climate change on the world’s food supply by combining climate and agricultural models.” UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, is pressing the industrialized world to step up investment in seed research and to offer more affordable crop insurance to the small farmers in developing countries.

The Guardian: Why sustainable development is so difficult in rural Africa
The Guardian discusses a new integrated development project in Uganda, where both the Guardian and Observer newspaper readers and Barclays Banks have invested £2.5m to help transform the lives of an agricultural community north-east of the capital, Kampala. The project was launched to assess the possibility of creating sustainable farming communities in Africa; however, a recent study of the community indicated that there has not been enough time to embed the changes into the local community and local government structures.

-Robyn Mitchell

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