Showing 1 - 10 of 57
COP30 must be more focused on human welfare
Oped, Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 13/11/2025
» With the United Nations climate summit, COP30, now in full swing in the humid jungle city of Belém, Brazil, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has cut through the noise with a blunt truth: these UN climate gatherings must zero in on lifting human lives, rather than fixating solely on slashing emissions or dialling down global temperatures. It's a perspective that's long overdue yet seems so obvious.
Reimagining agriculture for young people
Oped, Maximo Torero, Published on 22/09/2025
» Is the agriculture sector fated to die out? Globally, the average age of farmers has been steadily creeping up, approaching 60 in developed countries. This leaves the sector, which supplies roughly one-quarter of jobs worldwide, in a bind: Unless it attracts large numbers of young workers, it could decline precipitously.
Stepping up the poverty fight
News, Akinwumi A Adesina & Ilan Goldfajn, Published on 15/09/2025
» Faced with a slowing global economy and rising debts, many developing-country governments may be tempted to scale back anti-poverty programmes. That would be a grave mistake. Combating poverty is not just a moral imperative; it is also crucial for economic stability, conflict prevention, and long-term development.
The world needs a new approach to water crisis
Oped, Mariana Mazzucato, Published on 21/08/2025
» As African leaders gather in Cape Town for the African Water Investment Summit, there can be no equivocation: the world faces an unprecedented water crisis that demands a paradigm shift in how we value and govern our most precious resource.
High rates hurt public healthcare
Oped, Serah Makka and Rosemary Mburu, Published on 14/07/2025
» May's 78th World Health Assembly (WHA) -- the annual meeting of the World Health Organization's member states -- ended on a self-congratulatory note. From an agreement on pandemic preparedness to increases in assessed contributions to the WHO, there were plenty of achievements to tout. But there was an elephant in the room, hiding behind a banner reading "One World for Health": the high borrowing costs faced by African countries.
Africa's example to end malaria
Oped, Jean Kaseya, Published on 26/05/2025
» Despite being preventable and curable, malaria has continued to claim African lives. In 2023, the continent accounted for about 95% of the 597,000 deaths from malaria worldwide, 76% of which were children under the age of five.
Theatre of white refugees from South Africa
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/05/2025
» As my flight landed in South Africa on Sunday, I looked in vain for the plane that was due to take off with the first 49 white, Afrikaans-speaking "refugees" of the many thousands who are supposedly going to find safety from racist persecution in Donald Trump's United States.
Sudan's war and the Africa we don't see
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/04/2025
» Last Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: "Many have given up on Sudan, but that is wrong. It's morally wrong when we see so many civilians beheaded, infants as young as one subjected to sexual violence, more people facing famine than anywhere else in the world.... We simply cannot look away."
Cross at your peril
Oped, Postbag, Published on 05/04/2025
» Re: "French tourist killed on zebra crossing in Kanchanaburi", (BP, April 4).
The key to universal energy access
Oped, Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven and Francesco La Camera, Published on 18/03/2025
» Our planet and its inhabitants are in trouble. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that to meet the targets of the 2015 Paris agreement and keep global warming below 2° Celsius (relative to preindustrial levels), renewable energy must supply 70-85% of the world's electricity by 2050. In other words, renewable capacity must triple by 2030 to avert a climate catastrophe.