Book of the Month
The Hot Topic: How to Tackle Global Warming and Still Keep the Lights On
by David King and Gabrielle Walker
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
June 30, 2008
"Get Biotechnology on the Agenda for Africa"
The Japan Times
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project
"Leaders at the Group of Eight industrialized nations' summit in Hokkaido next month need to take strong measures to promote cooperation in using biotechnology to address Africa's food challenges. At present there is resistance from Europe, and even Japan is dragging its feet on this vital issue....While the claims about risks need to be addressed, they no longer carry the same stigma worldwide. South America and Asia have in many cases leapfrogged into the genomics age through the adoption of biotechnology while its use in Africa remains largely marginal."
AP Photo
June 17, 2008
"Japan and African States Discuss Future Partnership"
Online Publication
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project
Japan announced it will double its aid to Africa over the next five year at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) held in Yokohama on May 28–30, 2008....TICAD IV marked a clear departure from previous development conferences, which focused largely on Africa’s immediate crises and challenges, such as corruption and poor governance. Instead, it stressed the importance of human resource development (including higher education and vocational training), industrial development, infrastructure, and trade.
June 2008
"The Truth about Food"
Prospect, issue 147
By Robert Paarlberg, Former Research Fellow, Science, Technology and Globalization
"...it is a mistake to see high prices as a proxy for actual hunger. Most of the world's hungry citizens do not get their food from the world market, and most who rely on the world market are not poor or vulnerable to hunger."
May 29, 2008
"Net Access for African Universities Would Boost Continent"
Daily Yomiuri
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project
"African universities could be the continent's gateways into the global knowledge economy for local diffusion of new technologies. But this potential remains unrealized because universities and research institutes in Africa remain digitally isolated from the rest of the world. This is partly because of government neglect and lack of strategic policies on Internet access....Providing low-cost, high-speed Internet access to African universities will help Africa build the capacity it needs to solve its own problems. It is one of the most strategic investments that the G-8 countries can make in Africa in the coming few years."
May 16, 2008
The Future of the International Whaling Commission: Strengthening Ocean Diplomacy
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project
"Whales symbolize divergent issues ranging from science-based management of natural resources to moral considerations associated with our relationship with the natural world....While much work has been done on the management of terrestrial ecosystems, there is growing concern over the state of the world's oceans and the limited number of comprehensive international regimes that can address critical issues such as the resources that lie beyond national jurisdiction. This problem is compounded by scientific uncertainties associated with the current state of knowledge of marine ecosystems.
But these uncertainties also represent opportunities to position the International Whaling Commission as a flagship organization in ocean diplomacy and science-based conservation and management...."
April 22, 2008
"It's Not the Price That Causes Hunger"
International Herald Tribune
By Robert Paarlberg, Former Research Fellow, Science, Technology and Globalization
"Africa's food crisis grows primarily out of the low productivity, year in and year out, of the 60 percent of all Africans who plant crops and graze animals for a living. The average African smallholder farmer is a woman who has no improved seeds, no nitrogen fertilizers, no irrigation and no veterinary medicine for her animals. Her crop yields are only one third as high as in the developing countries of Asia, and her average income is only $1 a day."
February 29, 2008
"Africa's Organic Farms"
International Herald Tribune
By Robert Paarlberg, Former Research Fellow, Science, Technology and Globalization
"In Europe, meanwhile, some official donors and nongovernmental agencies are working to block farm modernization in Africa. Despite Africa's worsening soil nutrient deficits, European donors like to promote costly organic farming techniques as the alternative to chemical fertilizer use. This is not how European farmers escaped poverty....European governments and NGOs also promote regulatory systems that block the use of genetically engineered crops, including crops capable of resisting insects without pesticide sprays. Europe's own science academies have found no new risks to human health or the environment from any of the genetically engineered crops placed on the market so far, but since overfed Europe can do without this technology, underfed Africa is told to do the same."
