Financing for Development

The mobilization of resources to finance development is a pressing challenge for a world in which 1.2 billion people are condemned to extreme poverty. And it is also key to achieving environmental sustainability of the planet.

Government leaders and development activists from around the world gathered in March in the Mexican city of Monterrey to take part in the International Conference on Financing for Development, and will take up the matter again at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa in late August.

The connection between the two conferences is important, because in Johannesburg the world community will review the commitments made at the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. At that time, the governments issued a document known as Agenda 21, in which they detailed the costs of sustainable development: 600 billion dollars a year.

One of the goals was that industrialized countries would provide some 125 billion dollars a year in development aid, the equivalent of 0.7 percent of their gross domestic products (GDP). They did not achieve that target, however, and in 2000 such assistance averaged 0.22 percent GDP.

A High-Level Panel on Financing for Development, organized by the UN to draft a report prior to the Monterrey summit, warned that if concrete targets are not achieved, the goals established in the Millennium Declaration will not be met, such as halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by the year 2015.

Information available on the Internet exposes the challenges related to mobilizing resources for development, such as the willingness of poor countries to change their economic and financial policies to be more efficient.

One of the objectives for development must be to make the economic globalization process more equitable, say development activists and UN leaders.

El Niño

The El Niño phenomenon is a large-scale climate event that is manifest around the world. And for millions of people it is a cause for concern because it causes excessive rainfall or severe drought, taking a toll on their standard of living.

The alteration of the climate occurs as a result of a rise in surface water temperatures across a large area of the Pacific Ocean, an anomaly that affects atmospheric conditions. The variation is described as an oscillation, as after the temperature rises, it can often fall below normal, creating the climate phenomenon known as La Niña.

El Niño is cyclical, occurring every four to seven years, and its intensity varies. Some of the most severe episodes of the phenomenon have caused temporary climate shifts resulting in starvation - from drought - or at the other end of the weather spectrum, heavy rains with massive flooding.

In Peru, where the warm ocean current arrives from off Australia, is where the name El Niño is thought to have originated, as fisherfolk usually detected the changes in sea temperatures around Christmas, and dubbed it Baby Jesus. Peru is one of the countries that feels the greatest impact from the phenomenon and has institutions that continuously monitor the Pacific's temperatures.

But other countries also keep watch. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) constantly tracks ocean temperatures, using satellites.

Planning is important, given that El Niño is a natural occurrence and cannot be prevented. There are mentions of climate shifts in the distant past that are believed to have been linked to El Niño. And there are historic accounts about the phenomenon dated as long ago as the late 16th century.

NOAA: El Niño
What Is El Niño?
Top 10 El Niño Events of 20th Century
Children of the Tropics: El Niño and La Niña
El Niño for Kids
Yahoo! Directory of El Niño websites

The Elephants

African and Asian elephants are the largest land animals on the planet, the sole survivors of a family known as Proboscidea. Their lives in modern times are marked by a conflictive coexistence with human beings.

In the past, the Proboscidea order was made up of more than 300 different species, but all became extinct, except the two species we know today. The African elephant's scientific name is Loxodonta africana, while the Asian elephant is known as Elephas maximus.

Characteristics such as their great size and their trunks have always caught the attention of humans. But elephants have other unique qualities: the live in close-knit families, express affection in unusual ways and - as the saying goes - elephants never forget.

They also have ivory tusks, an attribute used in self defense that paradoxically has been the main cause of their shrinking population. Poachers kill these giant beasts for their tusks because of the high price ivory fetches on international markets. There are numerous worldwide initiatives aimed at saving the elephants, including sharp restrictions on the ivory trade.

Meanwhile, there are other sources of conflict between elephants and humans who share the same ecosystems.

In some cases, people complain that there are too many elephants in a given area as a result of conservation efforts, and they have even asked for a softening of restrictions on the ivory trade. In others, the elephant families are finding it difficult to survive in areas where the original ecosystem has been altered by farming.

Portal: Elephant Information Repository
WWF: Threatened Species: Elephants
Save the Elephants
Living with Elephants
Elephant Sanctuary
Elephant Care International
Treaty against Ivory Trade