Gilles Pison, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)
The world’s population has reached 8 billion and is expected to climb to nearly 10 billion by 2050. Why will population growth inevitably continue? Should we try to reduce or stop this growth?
Brazil has been throwing money at Amazonian cattle farmers, hoping they’ll adopt ‘greener’ crops like fruit or corn. A new study shows why loans won’t fix the environmental issue presented by ranches.
Corruption, not gang warfare, is the root cause of the record violence in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Until public officials stop shielding criminal groups like MS-13, lawlessness will reign.
TV commercials continue to traffic in outmoded gender roles, relegating women to the home. A media scholar explains how these stereotypical portrayals can fuel workplace harassment by powerful men.
Ecuador’s president, Lenin Moreno, has been flirting with conservatives. Beyond irking his base, it has also lead to mass resignations and Twitter battles with his powerful left-wing predecessor.
A court decision securing last year’s peace deal and a new ceasefire have invigorated Colombia’s peace process, but there are plenty of ways it could still go wrong.
Christo Venter, University of Pretoria and Gary Hayes, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
South Africa needs to review its approach to rolling out Bus Rapid Transit systems as the current model is proving to be too expensive and unsustainable.
A brigade of migrants from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala have interrupted their trek north to stay in Mexico and support earthquake recovery efforts.
Gilles Pison, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)
There’s no reason why small families shouldn’t become the norm in Africa. But this will depend on improving education opportunities for women and improving birth control policies.
Seventy-five percent of all abortions in Latin America are illicit. In Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador, where abortion is totally illegal, the bans correlate with a generalized failure of the rule of law.
Bogota’s mayor wants to make the city ‘better for all,’ but repeated police crackdowns have displaced thousands of homeless Colombians. Are clean streets really more important than human rights?
Marcia Tiburi, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO)
Artists, free speech advocates and gay rights activists in Brazil are dismayed after an LGBTQ-centric exhibit was closed because the subject matter offended evangelical Christians.
Levi Gahman, The University of the West Indies: St. Augustine Campus and Gabrielle Thongs, The University of the West Indies: St. Augustine Campus
The Caribbean is facing its second deadly hurricane in as many weeks. This isn’t just bad luck: the region’s extreme vulnerability to disaster also reflects entrenched social inequalities.
Shattered by powerful back-to-back earthquakes, Mexico is facing daunting damages across six states. Now Chiapas and Oaxaca, the country’s two poorest states, which were hit first, fear neglect.
The Tehuantepec gap in southeastern Mexico, where this month’s massive earthquake originated, was long thought to be ‘aseismic.’ On September 7, scientists learned otherwise.
Visiting Scholar, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University; Director of Studies at the Changing Character of War Centre, and Senior Research Fellow, Dept. of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford