Natural resources
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Following their Paris meeting on the 22 and 23 June 2011, the G20 agriculture ministers decided to improve the regulation of agriculture markets and prevent food crises. Dacian Ciolos, European Commissioner for Agriculture, said these measures were “entirely in line” with his proposed reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), due to be put forward in September 2011.
Agriculture was the focus at the negotiating table of the...
Without volcanoes Iceland would not exist. The Icelanders know it and have not only learned to live with the fact but to welcome it as a life source. Despite - or perhaps due to - being always on the alert, they cultivate a gentle way of life and show genuine affection for their rumbling mountains.
“Very often when people see our car they come and ask us about the latest seismic activity in the area or if something...
You mention Iceland? Images of the financial crash and the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull immediately come to mind.
Two “crises” that Iceland survived without too much difficulty. Certainly the Icelanders will be paying for a long time to come for the mistakes of their financiers – these ‘utrasarvikingar’ or modern-day Vikings blinded by easy profit – and nobody has forgotten the terrible eruptions of the...
The hot underground rocks in East Africa’s Rift Valley are thought to be a promising solution for energy production. The first results were recorded in Kenya, under the auspices of the United Nations and the expertise of the Icelanders.
In Africa, high-temperature geothermal resources – used to generate electricity – are usually found in areas of tectonic and volcanic activity, particularly in the East African Rift area. The...
Caribbean tourism has been showing signs of recovery in 2011, following two of the toughest years on record. But while international arrivals have been improving and returning to 2008 levels, visitors have been spending less in a market leading to worries about the sector’s diminishing profits in a still unpredictable global environment.
Tourism in the Caribbean is the region's biggest employer after the public sector and the...
A four-year European Union-funded project is targeting increased visitors, foreign exchange and jobs for the Pacific states of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of countries. Financed under the regional budget of the 10th European Development Fund (2008-2013), the ‘Pacific Regional Tourism Capacity Building Programme’ is due to lift off before the end of 2011.
Tourism is one industry the region’s...
Bar the occasional shock, in terms of arrivals numbers, there has been virtually uninterrupted growth in the tourism sector since the 1950s, according to the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), a specialised United Nations agency. The sector creates employment - especially in small island nations - and triggers development in other areas of the economy; construction, agriculture and telecommunications. Recognised for its potential to harness...
The 2005 peace agreement makes provision for the sharing of oil revenue, three-quarters of which is obtained in South Sudan. It also makes provisions regarding the concluding of international treaties, including the treaty on sharing the waters of the Nile. To these two sensitive issues, a third must be added that is not covered by the peace agreement: land ownership.
Whereas in North Sudan the land theoretically belongs to the state -...
Published in February 2011, a European Commission Communication highlights the challenges Europe faces in commodity markets and on raw materials – issues affecting Africa too. Proposals to ensure access to resources have won praise from industry, while NGOs have reacted with scepticism.
Africa’s share in the global production of raw materials is relatively limited. The potential of the continent is, however, enormous, with much...
Last December the European Union granted financing of €30M to support phase five of the Programme for Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa (ECOFAC).
The financing agreement, signed on 17 December in Libreville (Gabon), links the EU and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECOCAS). The budget, allocated by the 10th European Development Fund (EDF), is part of the renewal effort under the programme for the conservation and...
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