South Africa’s parastatals are in a dire state. Instead of being the mandated sites of development and profitability, they are costing the public purse billions and have been abused.
Storm season in the Australian tropical savanna.
Euan Ritchie
Australia’s Great Northern Savannas are the largest and most intact ecosystem of their kind on Earth. But they still face pressure from grazing, mining and agricultural expansion.
U.S. Coast Guard personnel rescue stranded residents in Baton Rouge on August 14, 2016.
U.S. Department of Agriculture/Wikipedia
Recent floods in southeast Louisiana were the most severe U.S. natural disaster since 2012’s Hurricane Sandy. Suburban sprawl and slow execution of flood control projects worsened the damage.
Koala numbers are in decline through increased urbanisation, but they can find a safe passage if one’s provided.
Shutterstock/dirkr
Koala numbers in parts of Australia are in decline as they move from development of their land. But they can learn to take safer routes if they are built as part of the urban design.
Ecuador is known for promoting the ‘Buen Vivir’ development policy agenda. But the state’s response to a recent earthquake brought its commitment into question.
Some countries in Africa are well placed to follow the path of development pioneered by a number of Asian countries.
Shutterstock
It’s important to interrogate the key factors that pushed countries from Third World to First World status in the 20th century. Asia’s experiences hold many lessons for Africa.
Gifted children in poor areas of Africa’s cities are unlikely to make it to secondary school.
Steve Humble
Some believe children who are first-generation learners with illiterate parents are not capable of greatness. But some of the cleverest, most committed and most creative children come from slum areas.
Ghana’s Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor holds a briefcase containing the Government Budget for the year 2010/2011.
Hereward Holland/REUTERS
Sub-Saharan Africa has seen widespread economic growth since 1995. But increased agricultural productivity is needed to translate that growth into poverty reduction.
Soha, seven, is now taller than her 10-year-old sister Suhala whose growth has been stunted.
Jo Currie/World Vision
Many women in developing countries spend hours every day fetching water for their families. Reducing the burden of water work will improve their health and welfare.
Haulage truck at the Rio Tinto West Angelas iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of West Australia.
ALAN PORRITT/AAP
To benefit from the digital revolution, the world needs more than just connectivity.
Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, who died in 2013, wrote stories that offer students from all disciplines valuable insights about the world they want to fix one day.
EPA/Frank May
Students of the social and political sciences can benefit enormously from being taught literature, short stories and watching artistic feature films.
Electricity pylons from Cape Town’s Koeberg nuclear power plant. State-owned companies help to provide infrastructure for economic development.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
State-owned companies are not generally needed to provide goods. Rather, they are needed to provide the foundation for a well-functioning economy and a healthy, well-informed populace.
Emerging markets aren’t in Janet Yellen’s economic club.
Reuters/Joshua Roberts
Monetary policy since the financial crisis has flooded the market with cheap capital. A rate rise will reverse this and put developing economies at risk.
Do companies really mean it when they talk about being socially responsible? Judging by their mission statements and homepages, it seems increasingly that resources firms do, but many retailers don’t.