Cities must lead the clean energy drive, says report

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By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 22.09.2017 (SciDev.Net): Cities must lead access to clean, affordable and uninterrupted energy since urban growth and living standards intensify per capita energy use in developing countries, says a new report.

Released on 7 September by the World Resource Institute (WRI), the report highlights fundamental energy challenges facing cities in the global South. It also noted that poor urban households often spend 14 – 22 per cent of their incomes on energy.

The study’s lead author, Michael Westphal of WRI’s Ross Centre for Sustainable Cities, says that cities can implement three practical solutions to meet

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Ride through history, camelback

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Red Sun Camels at Cable Beach in Boome. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Broome, 29.07.2017 (The Hindu): Australia invokes images of kookaburras and cockatoos, sharks and spiders, kangaroos and koalas, but it is also home to thousands of camels.

Camels were brought into Australia from the Indian sub-continent in the 19th century for transporting material for building roads and railways, and carrying food, water, medicines and mail to the isolated and inaccessible pastoral and mining communities of the central and western regions of this arid continent.

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Women Bear the Brunt of Violence in Papua New Guinea

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International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) chief official in PNG, Mark Kessler speaking to Foreign Correspondents in Sydney. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 29.07.2017 (IDN): Violence is one of the most pressing issues, especially in the highlands, of Papua New Guinea (PNG) – one of the world’s most ethnically and linguistically diverse nations.

“Increased access to high-powered guns such as military style M16s and home-made shotguns, and the breakdown of traditional rules of warfare, has amplified the effects of violence, resulting in dozens – if not hundreds – of violent deaths and thousands of displacements each year, especially in the Highlands,” says International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) chief official in PNG, Mark Kessler. ”We are seeing wounds that one would see in war zones.”

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