#worldbank — Public Fediverse posts

Montenegro Leads Western Balkans in Labor Productivity – Albania Placed Last https://www.byteseu.com/2350118/ #InternationalLabourOrganizationILO #Montenegro #Podgorica #WesternBalkans #WorldBank

https://www.europesays.com/africa/417527/ SoDMA and FAO Discuss Super El Niño Preparedness and Humanitarian Response #Jubaland #Mogadishu #Security #Somalia #SouthWestState #WorldBank

https://www.europesays.com/africa/415840/ South Africa’s Land Partnerships Rewrite the Rules of Conservation #30x30Target #Africa #biodiversity #BiodiversityStewardship #ClimateResilience #CommunityConservation #conservation #DFFE #LandReform #OECMs #ProtectedAreas #RuralDevelopment #SANBI #SouthAfrica #WaterSecurity #WorldBank

Flood control corruption cleanup spooks investors, drags PH growth – World Bank

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/business/world-bank-philippines-economic-update-midyear-2026-edition/

The Indus Waters Treaty Was Never About Water

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.pressenza.com/2026/07/the-indus-waters-treaty-was-never-about-water/

As China’s economy lumbers amid property crisis, why hasn’t AI helped pick up the slack?

Unlike the US, artificial intelligence (AI) may not be a panacea for China’s economy amid its deep property…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Economy #AI #Beijing #Business #China #Europe #Hangzhou #Nomura #OpenAI #Shanghai #southkorea #Taiwan #TSMC #WorldBank #Zhejiangprovince
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/699887/

Energia, cibo e inflazione: il costo reale della guerra in Iran
https://www.metallirari.com/energia-cibo-inflazione-costo-reale-guerra-iran/
Secondo la World Bank, energia, fertilizzanti e sicurezza alimentare globale sono sotto pressione, con 45 milioni di persone a rischio insicurezza alimentare acuta se il petrolio supera i 100 dollari.
#MateriePrime #Guerra #Iran #Petrolio #Brent #WorldBank #Fertilizzanti #SicurezzaAlimentare #Energia #Geopolitica #CommodityMarkets #Hormuz #Inflazione #MetalliRari #Mercati2025

Historians’ rankings of America’s best and worst foreign-policy decisions show the U.S. succeeded when it led cooperatively through multilateral institutions and failed when it turned inward or went rogue. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2026/02/02/world/best-and-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #worldnews #marshallplan #nato #un #brettonwoods #worldbank #imf #gatt #wto #treatyofversailles #parisagreement #monroedoctrine #donroedoctrine #iraqinvasion #donaldtrump

#SEZs in #India: Balancing Economic Growth and #Environmental Concerns

July 27, 2024

"Picture this: vast stretches of industrial land buzzing with activity, modern factories producing goods for global markets, and thousands of job opportunities emerging overnight. This is the promise of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in India. But behind this gleaming facade lies a complex web of environmental challenges and social concerns that demand our attention. SEZs represent one of India’s most ambitious economic policies, designed to accelerate industrial growth and boost exports, yet they often come at a significant cost to the environment and local communities.

[...]

"[T]he rapid expansion of SEZs has raised significant environmental red flags. The most pressing concern is land acquisition, which often involves converting fertile agricultural land into industrial zones. This conversion not only reduces the country’s agricultural capacity but also disrupts local ecosystems and biodiversity.

"The establishment of SEZs typically requires large tracts of land – sometimes spanning thousands of acres. Much of this land is acquired from agricultural areas, leading to the displacement of farming communities who have depended on these lands for generations. For instance, the proposed #RaigadSEZ in #Maharashtra would have required over 14,000 hectares of #agricultural land, leading to massive #protests from local farmers.

"The conversion of agricultural land to #IndustrialUse has long-term implications for #FoodSecurity. As India’s population continues to grow, the loss of productive #farmland could exacerbate food shortage issues in the future. Moreover, agricultural land often has better soil quality and water retention capacity compared to industrial land, making this conversion environmentally costly.

"Industrial activities within SEZs generate various forms of #pollution. Air pollution from #manufacturing processes, water #contamination from industrial effluents, and #SoilDegradation from chemical usage are common problems. The concentration of industries in SEZs can create pollution hotspots that affect air and water quality in surrounding areas.

"#WaterScarcity is another critical issue. SEZs require substantial water resources for industrial processes, often competing with local communities for this precious resource. In water-stressed regions, this competition can lead to conflicts and further environmental degradation.
Human rights and social displacement

"The human cost of SEZ development cannot be overlooked. Land acquisition for SEZs often involves displacing local communities, particularly small farmers and agricultural workers. These communities frequently receive inadequate compensation and struggle to find alternative livelihoods.

"The displacement process can be traumatic for local communities who have strong cultural and emotional ties to their land. Traditional occupations like #farming, #fishing, and #SmallScaleTrading are disrupted, forcing people to adapt to entirely new economic realities. The promised employment opportunities in SEZs often don’t materialize for displaced communities, as they may lack the required skills for industrial jobs.

"Women in these communities face particular challenges, as they often have limited access to alternative employment opportunities and may lose traditional income sources like kitchen gardening or small-scale agricultural activities. The social fabric of rural communities can be severely disrupted, leading to increased poverty and social inequality."

https://csr.education/urban-planning-development/sezs-india-economic-growth-environment/#environmental-concerns-the-hidden-costs

#HumanRights #HumanRightsFreeZone #CorporateColonialism
#IMFLoanSharks #Exploitation #WorldBank #RaceToTheBottom
#HumanRightsViolations
#Pollution #EnvironmentalDegradation
#EconomicSacrificZones
#ForcedRelocation #ForcedDisplacement #TraditionalLifestyles #EnvironmentalRacism #Exploitation
#CorporateColonialism

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/10/wednesday-october-8-2025/

https://www.europesays.com/uk/480867/ Why wealthiest and most developed nations are facing crushing debt – meta – Firstpost #BadDebt #DebtEquityRatio #DebtFund #DebtFunds #DebtMeaning #DebtMutualFunds #DebtOnIndia #DebtRatio #DebtRecovery #DebtToEquityRatio #DebtToGdpRatio #EU #Europe #France #IndiaDebt #IndiaDebt2025 #IndiaDebtIn2025 #IndiaDebtToGdp #IndiaGDP #IndiaTotalDebt #IndianDebt #PublicDebt #TheDebt #TotalDebt #USDebt #UsaDebt #WorldBank #WorldBankDebt

Uzbekistan Halves Child Poverty in Four Years

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://timesca.com/uzbekistan-halves-child-poverty-in-four-years/

‘Without water nothing can exist’: the Malawians repeatedly displaced by drought https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/23/water-malawai-drought-climate-crisis #Globaldevelopment #Extremeweather #UnitedNations #Climatecrisis #Foodpoverty #Environment #Worldnews #WorldBank #Flooding #Business #Drought #Farming #Malawi #Africa #Water

Saturday, July 12, 2025

Ukraine deploying interceptor drones to defend Kyiv amid surge in Russian attacks — Russia targets life: Russian attacks kill 9, injure 42 over past day, damaging maternity hospital in Kharkiv — Ukraine behind new pipeline explosion in Siberia that supplies Russian military-industrial complex — These were not negotiations; Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister on Istanbul talks with Russia in exclusive interview … and more

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/07/saturday-july-12-2025/

@johnquiggin
“Should proposals for recognition of crypto as a reserve asset for the US turn into reality, the result will be to make the $US itself useless as a reserve currency. Governments and financial institutions outside the US should be ready to dump dollars if this looks like becoming a reality. In the meantime, financial institutions should be prohibited from dealing with it [crypto] in any way, and individuals should be required to report crypto holdings and transactions.”

#BRICS #USPol #WorldBank #IMF #Renmimbi #Euro #USDollar #GlobalTrade #GlobalExchange #Economics #Crypto #BrettonWoods #NewBrettonWoods #Auspol #JohnQuiggin

From the Bretton Woods Project: Focus on #MegaProjects

"The [#WorldBank] ’s shift towards leveraging private sector finance for development (see Governance above), which has gained momentum since 2015, includes a particular emphasis on promoting ‘infrastructure as an asset class’, in order to crowd in institutional #investors. This policy initiative is highly dependent on mega-infrastructure projects – and, as noted by a letter sent by concerned economists in October 2018, currently lacks a framework for aligning such mega-projects with the Paris Climate Agreement or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"This is of major concern, given that many planned ‘mega-corridors’ in developing regions are predicated on building a new generation of carbon-intensive infrastructure. In many cases, the Bank continues to support such projects that, while not ‘fossil fuel investments’ per se, are part of such carbon-intensive mega-corridors (see Observer Autumn 2018)."

Paper: Infrastructure Megaprojects as World Erasers: Cultural Survival in the Context of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec

Author: Susanne Hofmann, November 8, 2024

"This article explores the meaning of infrastructural changes resulting from the Corredor Interoceánico del Istmo de Tehuantepec (CIIT) infrastructure project for the cultural survival
of Indigenous peoples resident in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region through the lens of ontological justice. The CIIT is being promoted as a multimodal road and rail transport corridor that will link the Gulf of Mexico with the Pacific Ocean, speed up global trade and benefit local residents. Based on interviews with affected residents in the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz, this research found that there is a strong desire for the continuity of existing, collective life
projects, Indigenous languages, cultural identities, beliefs, spirituality, established political and legal systems, and solidarity economy. De facto, the CIIT infrastructure project functions
as a technology of erasure of other lifeworlds, imposing integration into the One-World World (Escobar, 2016) and assimilation of Indigenous peoples and Afrodescendant communities.
Contemporary legal frameworks are not sufficient to guarantee alterlivability (Hamraie, 2020). Therefore, infrastructural megaprojects based on modern/colonial-extractivist-
developmentalist premises continue to threaten the futurity of Indigenous and
Afrodescendant life projects.

[...]

"An increasing number of infrastructure corridors, such as the Corredor Interoceánico, are currently being built across the globe (e.g. the Belt and Road Initiative/China, Corredor Bioceánico/Paraguay; Corredor Interoceánico/Chile-Bolivia-Brazil; The Northern Transport Corridor in East Africa/Kenya-Ethiopia-South Sudan – just to name a few). These projects are directed at reducing ‘economic distance’ –i.e. speeding up the transport of goods across
geographical distance whilst lowering the cost (Hildyard, 2016: 20). In the process, infrastructure megacorridors restructure whole regions into purpose-specific zones for export, logistics, transit, housing development, resource extraction, manufacturing etc.

"Thereby, they fragment geographic space, generating a distinctive reterritorialisation of the space to develop sites of capitalist growth. Megacorridors connect what Lerner (2010) called 'sacrifice zones' – geographic areas where processes of natural resource extraction cause permanent environmental damage – to global circuits of capital. Across Latin America the social and environmental impacts of extractive megaprojects and resistance against them has
been widely documented (Aguilar Rivero & Echavarría Cango, 2019; Domínguez, 2015, 2017;
Domínguez & Corona, 2016; Ibarra García & Talledos Sánchez, 2016; Pérez Negrete, 2017; Rodríguez Wallenius, 2015). This article explores the meaning of infrastructural changes resulting from the CIIT project for the cultural survival of Indigenous peoples resident in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region through the lens of ontological justice."

Original paper:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0094582X241294080?journalCode=lapa

PDF version:
https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/120254/1/SHofmann_infrastructure_megaprojects_as_world_erasers_LSE_eprint.pdf

#MegaInfrastructureProjects #CarbonIntensive #MegaCorridors #SDGs #CIIT #GulfOfMexico #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #DeGrowth #IMFLoanSharks #SacrificeZones #CulturalGenocide #CulturalErasism #EnvironmentalDegradation #EnvironmentalDamage #Capitalism #CorporateColonialism #IndigenousPeoples #CulturalSurvival #IsthmusOfTehuantepec #OntologicalJustice #Tehuantepec #ExtractiveIndustries #Oaxaca #Veracruz #CorredorInteroceánico #BeltAndRoadInitiative #CorredorBioceánico #NorthernTransportCorridor #China, #Paraguay; Corredor #Chile #Bolivia #Brazil #EastAfrica #Kenya #Ethiopia #SouthSudan #IndigenousCulture #AfrodescendantCulture