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Gabon

Green gold for Gabon?

Gold panning in LTTC-Mandra forest concession © Program on Forests ​

  • “Artisanal miners are poor exploited human beings who are forced to dig for minerals under unbearable circumstances. They should be liberated.”
  • “Artisanal miners are elephant poachers who destroy the environment. They should be evicted.”
  • “Artisanal miners are successful small entrepreneurs. They should be supported and stimulated.”
  • “Artisanal miners are economically inefficient. They should be replaced by large scale industrial operators.”
  • “Artisanal miners are illegal and do not contribute any revenue to the state. They need to be registered and controlled.”

Climate Lessons from a Hotter Arab World

Rachel Kyte's picture

Photo credit: Curt Carnemark/World Bank

This week in Doha, the marble corridors of the Qatar National Convention Center resonate with voices from around the world. Over half way through the UN Climate Change Conference, as ministers arrive and the political stakes pick up, a sense of greater urgency in the formal negotiations is almost palpable. But in the corridors, negotiations are already leading to deals and dreams and action on the ground.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the discussions by saying we need optimism, because without optimism there are no results. He reminded us all that Superstorm Sandy was a tragic awakening. He reiterated the call for a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, a global agreement and 100 billion in climate finance by 2020.

Meanwhile our focus was firmly on the region ...

Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Development

Harry A. Patrinos's picture

Blogging from the World Bank's Indigenous Peoples Research Dissemination Workshop in Washington DC.

As is well known, there are more 300 million indigenous peoples in the world.  While they make up fewer than 5 percent of the global population they account for about 10 percent of the world’s poor.  Next year, Cambridge University Press will publish my book with Gillette Hall on the state of the world’s indigenous peoples. 

As part of the dissemination process, we have brought together most of the contributors to our volume for a workshop in Washington D.C. today, to share their research with each other and with an audience of World Bank staff, researchers and others from the development community. We expect a lively discussion on our forthcoming publication, which covers countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. 

Small islands show the way on clean energy

Angus Friday's picture

Today was an exciting day in Cancun. For me, it marked a break from the rhetoric of negotiations to focus on the reality of action on the ground to combat climate change. This morning’s weather was picture perfect as the World Bank’s President, Bob Zoellick arrived at the Press Conference Centre in the Moon Palace to voice the Bank’s support for the concrete actions of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

 

AOSIS consists of 43 island and low-lying countries that encircle the tropical belt around the globe. Given the very real threat posed by climate change, they have been attending international meetings on climate change for the last 20 years and are frustrated at the pace of progress and the lack of ambition. They are here in Cancun to fight for their survival and to call upon their partners and the international community to be ambitious. In the negotiating text, they want to see reference to 1.5 degrees, “loss and damage” and a legal form to the agreement. After 20 years of talks, AOSIS is going beyond negotiations and embarking upon concrete actions to lead by example: They are intent on entering an era of renewable energy and energy efficiency—hence today’s press conference. 

 

Amidst a blaze of flashing cameras, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by the Prime Minister of Grenada in his capacity as chair of AOSIS, Dr. Lykke Friis, the Danish Minister of Climate, Energy and Gender Equality, Helen Clark, Administrator of UNDP and the World Bank President Robert Zoellick. Simon Billett of UNDP who had been stellar in his efforts joined me on stage as we facilitated the signing. This MOU calls for the introduction of renewables and energy efficiency into these island states with an initial injection of US$14.5 million from the Danish Government as part of their Fast Start financing pledge.

Biso na Biso Live on Air!

Scott Poynton's picture

It's been a long time coming but Biso na Biso, the first ever indigenous language community radio station in the Congo Basin, is now live on air.

The project, funded with generous support from the WB Development Marketplace (2005), Congolaise Industrielle des Bois, TFT and the Chirac Foundation, aims to give indigenous people and local communities a voice in forest management decision-making that impacts their livelihoods. The project is a unique collaboration between indigenous communities, a large forest concession company (CIB), Dr Jerome Lewis from University College London, Globecom (a South African radio specialist) and TFT. (Photo by Jérôme Lewis.)

You can listen to some of the initial broadcasts at TFT's 'In Conversation' Podcast site http://tft.podomatic.com/entry/eg/2009-01-30T02_39_27-08_00