Graffiti on the Great Wall: The Hidden Street Art Culture of Beijing

Photo credit: Carolynn Look

Beijing, China. Hundreds of buildings tower over the people that bustle between them every day. Some get demolished, some get rebuilt, some just get a fresh layer of paint. But what strikes you as you walk through this eclectic monster of a city is that none of its buildings are covered in tags or graffiti […]

A dedicated journey: One man’s commitment to children’s rights in Cambodia

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“We don’t know when we will die, [so] I like to do as much as I can. I want to try to make a difference.” The words of Nget Thy (pronounced “Tee”), Executive Director of The Cambodian Center for the Protection of Children’s Rights (CCPCR), could so easily be passed off as empty platitudes by […]

Get Monsanto Out of Nepal: An Interview with Sabin Limbu

Monsanto

On September 13, 2011, USAID announced a partnership with Monsanto and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) for introducing and promoting hybrid maize seeds in Nepal. The move became a controversial one and a group of activists formed a nationwide campaign ‘Stop Monsanto in Nepal’. The campaigners also organized a sit-in protest in front […]

The Branch Foundation: Supporting Sustainable Futures for Marginalised People in South-East Asia.

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Unrecognised as a people by governments or, sometimes, even the United Nations, the Karen, Karenni and Shan groups have, for decades, lived hand to mouth in makeshift refugee camps along the Thai/Burma border. Gareth Mace shines a light on one organisation that has given hope to some of the most marginalised in the region. The north […]

India & Pakistan Relations: Implications for Afghanistan

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Pakistan and India has been locked in mutual enmity from the very day both got independence from their English colonizers in 1947. Both countries have fought three formal wars and many informal military skirmishes mostly won by India. Yet the realities of globalization and the criticality of trade for development has seen peace talks between […]

Energy Efficiency in Russia and Central Asia – Time to Conserve?

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Several developing country issues, particularly those concerned with the environment, such as population growth, the greenhouse effect, ecological degradation and natural resource exhaustion, tend to only appear as problems after the fact. When left to languish, they accumulate, creating conditions in the system that cannot be repaired.Prevention is usually cheaper than cure and even, if […]