Showing 1 - 10 of 17
The scramble for the world's critical minerals
Oped, Rabah Arezki & Rick van der Ploeg, Published on 07/08/2025
» The world's superpowers have developed a seemingly insatiable appetite for the critical minerals that are essential to the ongoing energy and digital transitions, including rare-earth metals (for semiconductors), cobalt (for batteries), and uranium (for nuclear reactors). The International Energy Agency forecasts that demand for these minerals will more than quadruple by 2040 for use in clean-energy technologies alone. But, in their race to control these vital resources, China, Europe, and the United States risk causing serious harm to the countries that possess them.
Indonesia leads Asean into Brics+
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 17/01/2025
» As the new year gets underway with the looming re-inauguration of United States President Donald J Trump, countries and entire regions are having to manoeuvre and realign in view of an accelerated breakdown of the post-Second World War rules-based liberal international order.
Trump's tariff blackmail boosts Brics
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 06/12/2024
» Even before officially taking office, United States President-elect Donald J Trump is shaking up the international system with drama and fanfare unlike any other major leader in recent memory. His most recent outburst to slap 100% tariffs on the "Brics" countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, as well as Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates -- is a case in point. While it will coerce developing economies to think twice about the cost of going their own way, this tariff blackmail and others like it also risk pushing smaller countries away from the US to other rival big powers, particularly China.
The case for funding food security
Oped, Gelsomina Vigliotti & Maurizio Martina, Published on 17/10/2024
» Although enough food is produced to feed the global population, hunger and malnutrition due to conflict, poverty, economic slowdowns, and climate change still threaten millions of lives. In 2023, around 2.3 billion people faced moderate or severe food insecurity and more than 730 million people suffered from hunger, with undernutrition linked to almost one-half of deaths of children under age five.
How South Korea broke the mould
Oped, Keun Lee, Published on 02/07/2024
» South Korea is one of just a few countries to transform itself from a low- to high-income economy and the only country to go from a recipient of aid from the OECD's Development Assistance Committee to a DAC donor. It achieved this not by blindly following a pre-designed development path but by taking the right detours.
The push African women need to escape poverty
Oped, Rudo Kayombo, Published on 12/03/2024
» What do poverty, climate change, and conflict have in common? They are among the biggest challenges confronting Africa, and they all disproportionately affect women living in poverty or on the margins of society.
Global mental health crisis needs new plan
Oped, Dixon Chibanda, Published on 17/01/2024
» The world is in the grips of a mental health crisis. From rising climate anxiety in rich countries like the United States to intense trauma in conflict zones like Ukraine and Gaza (especially among children), psychological suffering has become widespread, and traditional healthcare services cannot keep up. This leaves tens of millions of people at risk of serious pathologies and suicide.
Pay community health workers
Oped, Lennie Bazira & Prossy Muyingo, Published on 26/10/2023
» At least six million women worldwide provide unpaid or grossly underpaid labour in community-health centres, often in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Many work as community-health workers. But, though this is a skilled job that should be salaried, only 34 countries offer community-health workers (CHWs) accreditation, training, and salaries, leaving the majority exploited and therefore less effective for their patients. If we are serious about making "health for all" a global priority, this must change.
If there is no water, let them drink oil!
Oped, Dickens Kamugisha, Published on 19/10/2023
» As a long-time advocate for human and environmental rights, I am terrified by the unprecedented frequency of extreme weather events. With each passing day, it becomes increasingly evident that we are in the midst of an escalating climate emergency. Disasters that past generations would have viewed as biblical or apocalyptic have become our new normal.
Tips on staying calm
Oped, Postbag, Published on 01/07/2023
» Re: "Chadchart urges fire drill revamp", (BP, June 25).