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The global water grab
Around the world, water resources are being targeted by investors, explicitly and implicitly, in what can be called a 'global water grab'. This involves the taking control and the redirection of valuable water resources by financially powerful actors.
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Victory at UNCTAD XIII
After a week of intense negotiations, civil society groups welcomed a rare victory on 26 April in the final Declaration of the UNCTAD XIII conference in Doha, Qatar. The final Declaration provides support - approved by the developing and developed countries alike - for a strong mandate for UNCTAD's vital work on financial and related crises.
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UNCTAD XIII: Which role and mandate next?
WDEV presents here a rolling documentation of the UNCTAD XIII conference taking place in Doha/Qatar from 21 to 26 April 2012. The main theme of the conference is "Development-centred globalisation: Towards inclusive and sustainable growth and development".
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The battle for UNCTAD's future
You wouldn't know it from the mainstream press, but there is a huge fight brewing over the future of global economic governance that came to a head at a conference in Doha, Qatar, this week. There, governments from around the world joined the 13th meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XIII).
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Heavy pressure on UNCTAD before Doha
UNCTAD's analyses of global macro-economic issues from a development perspective have regularly provided alternative views to that offered by the World Bank and the IMF controlled by the west. Now Western countries threaten the mandate of UNCTAD's secretariat to analyse macro-economic issues. In a statement former senior officials of UNCTAD speak out a strong warning against this move to stifle a critical voice.
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Emerging economies: BRICS is here to stay
Not content with the Western-dominated global financial system, five emerging economic powers are paving the way to a new and more egalitarian world order. At their fourth summit on 29 March in India, the BRICS emerging powers, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa took concrete steps towards shaping a multi-polar world.
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BRICS summit pushes to redress power imbalances
Heads of state from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa signed an accord to promote intra-BRICS trade in local currencies and proposed the creation of a new development bank to mobilise resources in the five-country group. Furthermore, the Delhi Declaration demands a major overhaul of the Bretton Woods institutions.
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Rights at risk in Rio+20 preparation process
In an Open Letter an international coalition of over 400 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from 67 countries is challenging the preparation process for UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as Rio+20 scheduled to take place 22 to 24 June in Rio.
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Kim or Ocampo: Who can reinvent the World Bank?
The period for submitting nominations for the position of the next President of the World Bank closed on Friday, 23 March. The race is on. Three candidates take part: Jim Yong Kim from the US, José Antonio Ocampo from Columbia, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from Nigeria. Among civil society the candidates provoked already diverging views. WDEV documents comments by Peter Bosshard and Kevin Gallagher.
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The political economy of a fledgling democracy
History often repeats itself - sometimes as a tragedy, sometimes as a farce. Some editorials over the past few weeks have referred to the Maldives' 2008 elections as a precursor of the Arab spring, now reversed; others are puzzled by the rapidity with which the international community acknowledged the new President, and abandoned ex-president Nasheed.
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Thinking development against the mainstream
Marking the 30th anniversary of one of the world's more influential economic annuals experts pointed out that themes long sounded in UNCTAD's Trade and Development Report retain current prominence - particularly those citing the questionable wisdom of unbridled free markets.
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NGOs urge open selection of World Bank President
In an open letter a global coalition of development activists and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is calling on the World Bank's governors to ensure that the next president is chosen in an "open and merit-based process" that will give borrowing countries a major say in the selection.
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Myanmar - a new darling of the West
After decades of isolation - imposed by major OECD countries out of concern for the country's human rights violations - Myanmar is emerging as a new darling of the "West" - judging by the accelerating succession of visits by senior officials and gurus. New groups of investors are waiting to enter the country as soon as possible.
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The WDEV highlights of 2011
Here you find the articles which have been most read during the past year 2011. Season's Greetings and a Happy New Year to all our readers!
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New step to regional integration in Latin America
Although most Americans have not heard about it, a historic step towards changing this hemisphere was taken in early December 2011. A new organization for the region was formed, and everyone was invited except the US and Canada. The new organization is called the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
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Prognosis 2012: On the brink of a global recession
Persistent high unemployment, the euro area debt crisis and premature fiscal austerity have already slowed global growth and factor into the possibility of a new recession. Now the United Nations have downgraded significantly its forecasts for the world economy in the next year.
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The Development Friends Declaration
The 8th Ministerial of the World Trade Organisation saw more than 100 developing and least developed countries (LDCs) come out with strong statement that reiterated their commitment to the Doha Development Agenda based on its core principles.
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EuroMemo: European integration at the crossroads
In the run-up to the European Council this week the EuroMemorandum Group, the European Economists for an Alternative Economic Policy in Europe, will publish its new memorandum pointing to the need of fundamental changes in the European Union. Any solution of the actual crisis, it says, has to be guided by deepening democracy, solidarity and social justice.
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Back to the IMF? Hungary under siege by creditors
Eastern European states are in for a new round of the crisis. The external control of the banking sector and high reliance on external credit has landed the countries of Eastern Europe in a vulnerable position. Now, credit flows from Western banks are drying up again. Hungary has been the first country in the region to ask for IMF support again.
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The donors' underperformance
With the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea, getting closer, civil society organizations don't hide their disappointment about the expected results of the gathering. In the relative obscurity of closed-door meetings, donor governments are making last-minute attempts to renege on their aid transparency commitments.
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G20: The wrong forum for development policy
While the G20 efforts to manage global aggregate demand, exchange rate management and stronger regulation of the international financial sector have not worked out quite as planned, in Cannes the Group was further solidifying its role in directing the system of multilateral institutions.
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