ZARUMA, Ecuador — Gold has been mined in the city of Zaruma in southern Ecuador for over 500 years. The area has suffered a complicated history of extraction and exploitation, and now stands as a prime example of the challenges currently facing the Ecuadoran mining industry.
Approximately 10,000 people in the area surrounding Zaruma make their livings from “artisanal,” or small-scale subsistence mining. The work is backbreaking and the profit margins generally narrow. It is hardly the most efficient way to access the country’s estimated 280.4 tons of unmined gold.
Recognizing what the underground stores of gold, copper, and silver worth an estimated $200 billion could mean for a country with more than a quarter of its population living below the poverty line, President Rafael Correa introduced a bill aimed at encouraging new investment in the mining industry. The measure seeks to diversify the Ecuadoran economy, which is heavy in oil and exports, and to attract companies to make big investments in large-scale mining projects.
Unfortunately for President Correa, the pending legislation was not enough to entice one of its major targets, Canada’s Kinross Gold Corporation, into following through with a planned $1.3 billion mining project in southeastern Ecuador. The development of the Fruta del Norte mine was scrapped after more than two years of negotiation, and is now expected to be taken over by Chinese investors.
China has been an increased presence in Ecuador over the past several years, and Chinese investor groups seem eager to continue the expansion. Having already established a strong presence in the oil sector through China National Petroleum’s and Sinopec’s local subsidiaries, investors are keen to deepen their involvement with the mining industry. Last year Chinese-backed Ecuacorriente signed a $1.4 billion deal with the government to open a large-scale mining project in the Mirador copper deposit. The company is currently negotiating another deal to expand their operations to the Panantza-San Carlos copper deposit.
These concessions to major foreign investors with superior capital and technology have not gone unnoticed by concerned indigenous groups. Many groups across the country have protested. Some — like the Shuar — have even marched to Quito. The fear is artisanal miners cannot survive in an industry dominated by huge corporations.
Communities like Zaruma are at the heart of the debate. On one hand, the seemingly inevitable expansion of foreign companies into the area now home to subsistence miners would bolster an important Ecuadoran industry, despite the risk that such an expansion could cause social unrest.
On the other hand, there is the idea that investments should be focused on local mining businesses, like many already operating in Zaruma. The investments would allow these businesses to increase their capital and technology so as to be able to compete for government concessions. Their operations would be smaller projects but would keep the profits in the local community.
The mining of precious metals in Ecuador has a difficult, haunted history, and in many ways the uncertain future of communities like Zaruma demonstrates how complex the issues surrounding the industry remain even today.
– Lauren Brown
Source: BBC, The Financial Times
Photo: Ecuador Times
USAID Distributes 12 Mil Mosquito Nets in Ghana
The Promoting Malaria Prevention and Treatment (ProMPT) Project in partnership with USAID and the Ghana Health Service has developed an innovative way to distribute mosquito nets in Ghana. The ProMPT project has delivered over 12 million mosquito nets to prevent the spread of malaria in Ghana. The four year project has given households training on how to use treated mosquito nets that are covered with insecticide to kills the mosquitoes. USAID was a major donor of the $20 million dollar project and support from the U.S. and Ghana governments was strong.
The Ghana Health Service has worked hard to educate citizens against malaria. The ProMPT project strengthened malaria prevention through door-to-door mosquito net distribution, increasing prevention efforts geared towards pregnant women, and improving malaria treatment in health care facilities. The project also utilized community volunteers to educate households on the proper way to hang a mosquito net.
USAID acknowledged the success of the project was only possible through the collaborative efforts of the USAID, the Ghana Health Service, and the government of Ghana. The holistic nature of the project and the inclusion of factors relating to prevention, education, and treatment led to a drastic reduction in malaria-caused deaths. Program officers encourage other organizations to adopt the collaborative model in other malaria prevention projects.
In Ghana, malaria is a major problem for the country’s overall health. Over 40% of outpatient illnesses and visits in health care facilities are contributed to malaria as well as a third of all admissions. The World Health Organization attributed around 14,000 annual childhood deaths in Ghana to malaria as well. The goal is to reduce the impact of malaria in Ghana by 75% by the year 2015.
The program worked to put at least one net in every dwelling place as well as educate health care workers on proper malaria management and prevention. Areas of focus were especially on women who are pregnant and health care facility management of malaria care. The program has so far trained 21,000 health care workers in over 2,000 health care facilities. The ProMPT project officially ended in March,but Ghana plans to continue the efforts began in the prevention of malaria.
– Amanda Kloeppel
Source: Science Codex
Photo: Ghana Health Nest
Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps works to save and improve lives in some of the most impoverished places on earth. Since it was founded in 1979, the NGO has worked in war-torn and poverty-ridden countries to turn crises into opportunities. 95% of their staff are local residents working in nations like Somalia, Afghanistan, the Congo and Iraq.
The countries in which Mercy Corps works have several things in common. Usually children’s lives are at risk, women’s education is ignored, and there is little chance for economic growth. The organization helps to provide and build food security and create educational and economic opportunities. Their method is to listen to the locals and prioritize urgent needs first. They look at long-term and innovative solutions that bring systemic change. Through taking responsible risks and thinking big, the organization is able to help large numbers of individuals.
Mercy Corps believes communities work best when they work for their own growth and change. They believe local markets provide sustainable recovery and good governance is the foundation to success. They focus their work on places in transition either from conflict, natural disasters, or political upheaval. They start with emergency relief and move to long-term goals to create communities that can withstand future shocks.
To get involved with Mercy Corps, check out their website at www.mercycorps.org. They have lots of opportunities from donating money to fundraising to attending events or visiting their office in Portland. They also have a list of open positions and offer internships for those interested in a longer or more permanent position.
It is evident that the organization is making a difference in some of the toughest places on earth. Lives are being saved and communities are being changed through the work Mercy Corps does.
– Amanda Kloeppel
Source: Mercy Corps
Spotlight on Plant With Purpose
Who would have known that planting a single tree could pull individuals and entire communities out of poverty? Plant With Purpose has utilized this simple and effective method since the Christian environmental non-profit organization was founded in 1984 by Tom Woolard. After volunteering with a relief agency in the Dominican Republic, Woolard realized that despite their efforts, the crisis of poverty was worsening. He saw that there was a clear connection between poverty and the environment that was not being addressed. Woolard further recognized that much of the world’s poor are rural poor. Many are farmers and therefore rely on the environment for survival. Deforestation across these poor regions has created land that does not provide for production like it used to, creating new hardships for the farmers.
Plant With Purpose focuses on planting trees because they believe it is one of the most effective components of sustainable rural development. Trees provide a means by which farmers can grow crops and in turn support themselves and their families. Trees also play a vital role in protecting our water supply because without trees, water sources vanish. In addition to planting trees, they create economic opportunities through micro-credit loans, micro-enterprise and the implementation of agriculture programs.
Plant with Purpose uses a three-part environmental, economic, and spiritual approach to sustainable development. Their mission for each community is to: 1) improve quality of life, 2) restore relationships between communities, the environment and God, and 3) make self-sufficiency possible.
Since its founding, Plant With Purpose has succeeded in planting 10,092,380 trees. They work in a total of 250 communities throughout Haiti, Mexico, the Dominican Republican, Tanzania, Burundi, and Thailand, and are exploring working in additional countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Guatemala. To determine where Plant with Purpose is most needed, a variety of measures are used including the rate and extent of deforestation, governmental corruption, and the percentage of people living on less than one dollar per day.
“As our focus shifts from the sustainable development of families to the sustainable development of entire villages, the community takes over and Plant With Purpose takes on more of an advisory role,” says Wollard. The greatest reward for Plant With Purpose is a community that doesn’t need them anymore.
– Alexandra Warlich
Source: Interaction
Photo: Stay Classy
Stem Cells 101 – Regenerative Medicine, to What Extent?
This article is intended to give a basic understanding of what stem cells are, and their potential use for improving human health.
1. What are stem cells ?
Stem cells “have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth.” Accordingly, they have the potential to regenerate tissue, thereby serving as a sort of “internal repair system” to replenish a damaged, diseased or aging tissue throughout life. This remarkable potential stems from an asymmetrical division process: “When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.”
2. What differentiates Stem Cells from other cells ?
Stem cells also have specific properties: they are not fully differentiated, and they can divide and renew themselves for long periods of time. Stem cells can be found in embryonic, fetal and adult tissues. Understanding the regulation mechanisms and processes underlying long-term self replication is critical to both basic and applied life sciences as it could lead to a true cure of degenerative diseases as opposed to merely managing their symptoms.
3. Different types of stem cells
Human embryonic stem cells are typically derived from unused 5-days-old embryos, given to science under informed consent after an in-vitro fertilization. By its very nature, this type of stem cell thus has the potential to differentiate into any of the cells of a human being. By contrast, fetal and adult stem cells have a limited spectrum of differentiation, for example, hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow typically differentiate into blood cell lineages only. Sometimes, the differentiation potential of stem cells is limited to very specific cellular lineages to ensure tissue renewal throughout life (e.g, skin progenitors).
4. Potential uses and obstacles
The therapeutic potential uses of stem cells -including progenitor cells- are tremendous, from curing genetic and/or degenerative diseases to curing cancer. For instance, fully controlling the processes of cellular differentiation might lead to replacement cells for regenerative medicine. Stem cells, and their progeny, could also be used to discover or test new drugs and therapies.
5. Still a long way to go…
Stem cell research is viewed as a pillar for medical innovation as it could provide realistic solutions to treat diseases and conditions for which there is no or very limited medical options today.
However many questions remain unsolved, from the potential rejection of embryonic stem cells if they are viewed as foreign cells by the patient’s immune system, to the potential damaged state of stem and progenitors cells extracted from a diseased or aging patient. Despite the fact that there is today no evidence that stem cells can actually be curative, the frenzy fueled by the myth of an “eternal life” has generated many parallel businesses, from the hundreds of companies throughout the world proposing to bank your own stem cells, to private clinics in countries with no or permissive legislation advertising treatments for desperate patients in need (stem cell tourism).
– Lauren Yeh
Sources: NIH
Photo:
Do War Crimes Affect the World’s Poor?
For hundreds of years, humans have been developing the modern-day laws of war to determine what is legal in the context of armed conflict. For the most part, such laws have been set to govern international armed conflict, such as the Geneva Conventions. Nonetheless, the Internet, traditional media sources, and social media connect us to daily atrocities, carried out under the guise of war that continue to violate international humanitarian law and prey on the extreme poor. As a result of violations that inhibit domestic and international aid, millions of people face hunger and disease in association with extreme poverty that goes unaddressed by international courts.
In 1945, when WWII was won by the Allied Forces, with 6 million dead in concentration camps, the responsible Nazi officers were tried for war crimes. All of the Allied nations, though not initially supporting the format of the trials themselves, backed the justice meted out by the Allied courts as a response. Some of the officers faced death, while others were sentenced to prison.
Today, the international body charged with bringing justice to war-torn nations, the International Criminal Court, fails to be recognized by the United States and many other influential countries that affect the global-political environment of the United Nations. Without having all countries as signatories, the ICC struggles to address atrocities being committed in some of the world’s poorest and most disenfranchised communities.
Because the ICC depends on participation from countries hosting alleged criminals to assert jurisdiction over the criminals within that host country’s borders, a lack of participation effectively cripples the ability of the Court to perform its duties in upholding international humanitarian law. In some cases, domestic courts are left to deliver justice, which, in the context of Syria, becomes all but impossible, seeing as the target of charges is the country’s president.
Because the poorest communities are often targeted by the perpetrators of war crimes, such as leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army Jospeh Kony, it may be all the more necessary that international courts acquire jurisdiction over these otherwise ungoverned warlords. The most impoverished are often the first casualties of war and feel the effects of a diminished food supply, lacking sanitation, and inadequate first aid facilities. Refugees of war in Africa and Asia are particularly vulnerable in the face of natural disasters and the long-term effects of climate change.
– Herman Watson
Source: USHMM, International Criminal Court, WarChild UK
Photo: Save the Children
What was Different about the Decade of Extremes?
The debate over global warming has been a heated one over the past decade, but it is clearer now more than ever that our climate is changing. The UN has released a report, The Global Climate 2001-2010, A Decade of Extremes, which reports the unprecedented climate extremes experienced in the past decade. The report states that more national temperature records were broken during this period than ever before. This decade was the warmest for both hemispheres and both land and ocean temperatures were at the highest since measurements began in 1850. This heating of the ocean has caused the melting of Artic sea ice and ice sheets.
“Rising concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are changing out climate, with far reaching implications for our environment and our oceans, which are absorbing both carbon dioxide and heat,” said Michel Jarraud, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
In the past decade our world has experience extreme floods, droughts, and tropical cyclones. 370,000 people have died as a result of these climate extremes. Tropical cyclones, such as Hurricane Katrina, were responsible for the death of 170,000 people and affecting over 250 million; the damage caused by these cyclones is estimated around $380 billion. Floods were the most frequently experienced climate extreme of the past decade; Eastern Europe, India, Africa, Australia, and Pakistan were severely impacted by flooding. Droughts were the most detrimental climate extreme because of their long-lasting nature. Regions most affected by long-term droughts were Australia, East Africa, and the Amazon Basin.
This report was released as the first session of the Intergovernmental Board on Climate Change Services began. The Intergovernmental Board on Climate Change Services oversees the Global Framework for Climate Services which is attempting to improve and expand science-based climate research to help society cope with climate change.
“We are already seeing the effects of climate change and so we need to take action through the use of scientifically-based climate services to cushion the impact on our environment, our economies and our societies,” said Mr. Jarraud.
– Catherine Ulrich
Sources: UN News, The Guardian
Sources: Political Blindspot
IKEA Designs Better Homes for Refugees
IKEA has teamed up with the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, to improve living conditions for refugees. The Swedish company is developing a program that will build modular shelters for displaced people throughout the world.
Like IKEA’s furniture, each shelter is produced in a ready-to-assemble format. The shelters are made of durable materials and can be constructed in four hours. They are expected to be low-cost and to last longer than current refugee tents, which are only made to withstand six months of use. The IKEA shelters are designed to be more durable than the tents, with a guaranteed life of three years, and to provide better protection for the refugees. UNHCR states that on average, refugees live in their shelters for 12 years.
Each IKEA shelter will come with a solar panel to produce electricity. IKEA hopes that the electricity will make tasks like sewing and cooking easier and will allow children to do homework at night. The shelters will also have specially-made walls constructed with materials that can “deflect heat during the day and retain it at night.”
UNHCR states that 26 shelters have already arrived in Ethiopia. The next nations expected to receive the IKEA shelters will be Iraq and Lebanon in efforts to help create more durable living situations for refugees from the civil war in Syria.
Each IKEA shelter currently costs $8,000, however UNHCR hopes that each unit cost will be reduced to $1,000 in the future. Each refugee tent costs $500, meaning the IKEA shelters will be twice as expensive, but are guaranteed to last six times as long.
While IKEA is helping to fulfill the housing needs in refugee camps, UNHCR is bringing health care, education, and job training to those in need. Together, IKEA and UNHCR are looking to help the 35.8 million refugees throughout the world who strive for a better future.
– Jordan Kline
Sources: IKEA Foundation, Public Radio International, News 24
Photo: FC
Challenges for Ecuador’s Mining Industry
ZARUMA, Ecuador — Gold has been mined in the city of Zaruma in southern Ecuador for over 500 years. The area has suffered a complicated history of extraction and exploitation, and now stands as a prime example of the challenges currently facing the Ecuadoran mining industry.
Approximately 10,000 people in the area surrounding Zaruma make their livings from “artisanal,” or small-scale subsistence mining. The work is backbreaking and the profit margins generally narrow. It is hardly the most efficient way to access the country’s estimated 280.4 tons of unmined gold.
Recognizing what the underground stores of gold, copper, and silver worth an estimated $200 billion could mean for a country with more than a quarter of its population living below the poverty line, President Rafael Correa introduced a bill aimed at encouraging new investment in the mining industry. The measure seeks to diversify the Ecuadoran economy, which is heavy in oil and exports, and to attract companies to make big investments in large-scale mining projects.
Unfortunately for President Correa, the pending legislation was not enough to entice one of its major targets, Canada’s Kinross Gold Corporation, into following through with a planned $1.3 billion mining project in southeastern Ecuador. The development of the Fruta del Norte mine was scrapped after more than two years of negotiation, and is now expected to be taken over by Chinese investors.
China has been an increased presence in Ecuador over the past several years, and Chinese investor groups seem eager to continue the expansion. Having already established a strong presence in the oil sector through China National Petroleum’s and Sinopec’s local subsidiaries, investors are keen to deepen their involvement with the mining industry. Last year Chinese-backed Ecuacorriente signed a $1.4 billion deal with the government to open a large-scale mining project in the Mirador copper deposit. The company is currently negotiating another deal to expand their operations to the Panantza-San Carlos copper deposit.
These concessions to major foreign investors with superior capital and technology have not gone unnoticed by concerned indigenous groups. Many groups across the country have protested. Some — like the Shuar — have even marched to Quito. The fear is artisanal miners cannot survive in an industry dominated by huge corporations.
Communities like Zaruma are at the heart of the debate. On one hand, the seemingly inevitable expansion of foreign companies into the area now home to subsistence miners would bolster an important Ecuadoran industry, despite the risk that such an expansion could cause social unrest.
On the other hand, there is the idea that investments should be focused on local mining businesses, like many already operating in Zaruma. The investments would allow these businesses to increase their capital and technology so as to be able to compete for government concessions. Their operations would be smaller projects but would keep the profits in the local community.
The mining of precious metals in Ecuador has a difficult, haunted history, and in many ways the uncertain future of communities like Zaruma demonstrates how complex the issues surrounding the industry remain even today.
– Lauren Brown
Source: BBC, The Financial Times
Photo: Ecuador Times
The Gambia Receives Child Malnutrition Grant
BANJUL, The Gambia – UNICEF has recently committed $300,000 to the nation of The Gambia to fight child malnutrition. The Gambia, a nation half the size of New Jersey and located on the west coast of Africa, has acquired an additional $15 million for the issue of food security out of $1.7 billion UNICEF has dedicated to the Sahel region of the continent.
The Gambia is especially in need of this child malnutrition grant since nearly 50% of its population of 1.7 million consists of children under the age of 18. UNICEF’s work is particularly important to this nation because of its large youth population.
Overall, 34% of Gambians live under the poverty line. Fortunately, however, most Gambians are fully immunized and have access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities. UNICEF is working to ensure that all Gambian children are fully immunized, well-nourished, have access to clean water and sanitation, and receive an education. Ultimately, The Gambia’s future will be greatly impacted by UNICEF’s work, as it not only improves children’s lives now, but it also provides the nation with the tools it needs to have a healthy and productive population in subsequent years.
– Jordan Kline
Sources: UNICEF, The Daily Observer
Income Inequality, Brazil, & World Cup
Income inequality is at the heart of the protests currently raging across several Brazilian cities. Originally, the protests were about the twenty-cent price hike for bus fare. Eventually, however, they turned into protests about everything that’s wrong in Brazil.
Next year’s World Cup has added to the public dissent. Brazil’s rampant political corruption has resulted in huge expenditures. The government has spent twice the amount as Germany and South Africa spent on the World Cup.
It is predicted that FIFA will make over one billion dollars from the tournament, but Brazil will benefit very little. Originally, it was presumed that the Cup would be paid for by private investors and corporations, and that the public funds would go toward bettering the existing infrastructure. But then the Brazilian government lent money to build brand-new stadiums. Essentially, the government is spending billions of dollars on a private event that is so expensive that only the rich can attend.
It has become a bit of a paradox — a country that is a symbol of soccer to many has turned against the sport’s largest event. The huge public expenditure has left the people wondering: why can the country invest millions on a soccer tournament but can’t seem to find funds to fix the broken healthcare and education systems?
The independent protestors have balked at any specific political party that has tried to claim leadership in the demonstrations, preferring instead to remain a party-free dissident entity. Even the large Workers Party was shooed away.
The impact of the country-wide protests have already been felt. President Dilma Roussef went on TV and invited protestors into the head of the government to talk about what’s going on. She met with the Movimento Passe Livre, the university free fare group that started the protests, and ultimately ceded the twenty cent transport fare increase.
While the positive impacts have been felt, it is doubtful that any more progress will be made on the issue. With so little political cohesiveness within the demonstrators themselves, it appears that the dissidence will continue into the foreseeable future.
– Kathryn Cassibry
Sources: Fair Observer, The Guardian