Stories about Development from January, 2010
Global Voices in Haiti: On Reconstruction
With scattered clean-up efforts under way in Haiti, debates have begun about how best to rebuild houses and other structures destroyed in the 12 January earthquake. Georgia Popplewell reports from Port-au-Prince on "the critical matter of shelter for those who have lost their homes".
Pakistan: Depleting Water Resources
Owais Mughal at All Things Pakistan discusses about the depleting water resources of Pakistan and urges the decision makers to “invest in Pakistan’s Water Resources for the stability of the country and the region.”
China: Threatened by American Internet censorship
Reactions from Chinese programmers to SourceForge.net's decision to follow American law and block users from several countries include suggestions for how to work around American censorship of the global Internet.
Morocco: A Charter for the Environment
The Moroccan government launched an ambitious project on environment involving a series of regional meetings, workshops and conferences that sparked a national debate that aims at establishing a Charter for the environment. Bloggers have been commenting on the development.
Belarus: Politics and Economy Update
Belarus Digest reports on the ongoing political repressions in Belarus; the governement's plan “to introduce censorship on the Internet about a year before the next presidential election”; the new price of Belarusian entry visa (if issued at the airport) – 180 euro; and Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom, which...
India: I want my country back, says Munna
Environmental blogger Hemant Anant Jain aka Munna, writes a thought-provoking post on 26th January, the nation's 61st Republic Day, urging people to look beyond the commercial “growing market” tag and work towards restoring the rich environmental heritage of the amazing country that is India.
Haiti: Media Operations Center launched for Haitian journalism
Réseau Citadelle announces the launch of the Media Operations Center, an initiative from Reporters without Borders and Quebecor, aimed at facilitating the field work of local and foreign journalists in Haiti as well as establishing collaboration between the media and NGOs.
Greece: Fiscal Deficit
This month's updates on the 2009 Greek fiscal deficit – by Edward Hugh at A Fistful of Euros: here, here, here, here, and here. And a warning to Hungary – here: “So, Hungarian politicians be warned – You are not Greece right now, but you could so very easily end...
Haiti: Shelter Coming Both Too Slow and Too Fast
Talk is already turning to reconstruction in Haiti. Early reports on the damage pointed mostly to lax construction standards, but Marc Herman takes a closer look.
India: The Need For A Micropayments Infrastructure
Rajesh Jain at Emergic stresses the need for “a friction-free person-to-person micropayments capability, much like PayPal” in India. Read the series here: (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)
Japan: Tokyo as example for how to rebuild Haiti
palmsundae comments on New York Times’ story about post-war Japan's experience in rebuilding Tokyo. The blogger provides more background on the idea of “user generated-cities”.
D. R. of Congo: The hazards of neglect
Congoblog is a marvel. Every post deserves a mention, but here are some of the more arresting posts to have appeared so far in January 2010.
Georgia: Plans for the largest airport in the Caucasus
The Georgian International Media Center says that the largest airport in the South Caucasus might be built near the Black Sea port city of Poti. However, it notes, the idea is not without its controversies, and not least the fact that any development would take place near an environmental reserve...
Hong Kong: The Siege of Legco
DM from Learning Cantonese has a very detailed account of the protest against the government finance plan of the world's most expensive Express Rail Link project on Jan 16, 2010.
Georgia: Patriotic military classes
In the latest edition of Caucasus Watch, a bi-monthly feature of the blog-based Evolutsia, Inge Snip takes exception to a proposal from the Georgian president to introduce patriotic-military classes in schools. Although the blog recognizes the importance of a country such as Georgia being able to defend itself, it says...
Senegal offers free land to Haitian earthquake survivors
Senegalese president, Abdoulaye Wade, has been making headlines by offering free land to any Haitian earthquake survivors who wish to "return to their origins," according to a spokesperson. Online, the proposal has been received with almost universal ridicule.
Haiti: International clashes over humanitarian assistance
Five days after the terrible earthquake which has partly destroyed the capital city, Port-au-Prince and others like Leogane and Jacmel, it has been very difficult for rescuers, medical teams and humanitarian services to reach the population and help the survivors.
Afghanistan: Slow progress on power supply
Nick Fielding says that providing electricity for the residents of Afghanistan is one of the best ways of undermining the Taliban insurgency. However, although reports indicate increase of energy supply in the country, that modest increase hides many problems.
Haiti, Cuba: Cooperation
Espas Ayisyen Toulouse posted a long speech [Fr] by Fidel Castro, who states his pride at the historical cooperation in the field of medical studies between Cuba and Haiti.
People Power Rises in Hong Kong
dm from Learning Cantonese has written a vivid depiction on the recent anti-express rail protest: “It's just like People's Park, Berkeley, in 1967! I feel old.”
Kenya: During severe drought, a role model emerges
People, crops and animals throughout Kenya are suffering from a prolonged drought. One young woman's thoughts are to the future and how to better build her community.
