Malawi and maize: prices have spiked on the back of bad weather and trade bans

Malawi and maize: prices have spiked on the back of bad weather and trade bans

By Simon Roberts, University of Johannesburg and Namhla Landani, University of Johannesburg Maize is the leading staple food in Malawi and crucial for food security. Typically, local production from smallholder farmers meets and exceeds annual requirements of around 3 million metric tonnes. The country, however, is currently facing a crisis with 4.4 million Malawians (22% of the population) being food insecure. This is due firstly to a […]

March 19, 2024 6

Environment

‘Healthy humans without a healthy planet is a logical fallacy’

A nomadic community preparing a meal in Ladakh, India. Image by Prabhu B Doss via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). By Sonam Lama Hyolmo via Mongabay Dr. Sakib Burza says his fondest memories are climbing the majestic pine trees in the Kashmir Valley where he spent most of his childhood with his family. On a normal day, he would go trekking up the hills into the mountains above the tree line, watching over […]

February 7, 2024 17

Environment

Unmasking the environmental impact of tires

By bhishyant Kidangoor and Sandy Watt via MongaBay Ever since tires were invented, they have rolled into our lives and changed the way we live. From cushioning wheels, one of humanity’s greatest inventions, to moving us around safely, tires have essentially reshaped how we function. The tremendous applications, however, come at an expense. Right from when raw materials are sourced to produce tires up until the time they end up in […]

January 15, 2024 16

Environment

Why understanding limits is the key to humanity’s future

Illustration by Kelsey King By Richard Heinberg, @richardheinberg via Ensia We need to view limits not as restrictions to be fought against, but as boundaries that enable systems to work. Recent news articles about a breakthrough in nuclear fusion research heralded the potential for “limitless” energy. Whenever I read that word limitless I wince. The promise of limitlessness is misleading and sometimes deadly. Limits exist everywhere in nature. They enable the functioning of systems […]

November 29, 2023 8

Africa

Africa’s new online foreign exchange system will enable cross-border payments in local currencies – what you need to know

By Christopher Adam, University of Oxford The high cost of making cross border payments on the African continent has driven governments on the continent to seek options of settling trade and other transactions in local currencies. This has given birth to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System which is scheduled to go live in 2024 under Kenya’s leadership. Development economist Christopher Adam, who has studied the exchange rate policies of […]

November 28, 2023 17