The Elusive Search for an African NGO?
The apartheid regime funded, banned and bombed them, the Mugabe regime is legislating them out of existence and the Godfather of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is now questioning their integrity.
Civil Society Must Lead the Way
Two weeks ago, Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi announced, out of the blue, that the drafting phase in the South Africa process for the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) would start this coming Wednesday and end in November.
The Chicago Climate
The Kyoto Protocol may be the first global environmental agreement, but it isn’t the first attempt at creating a market for hot air. The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), a voluntary big-business initiative to curb emissions, pioneered by 28 large American corporations such as Ford and DuPont, opened in early 2003. The scheme involves participants making legally binding pledges to reduce their emissions, and provides for trade between members, along the same lines as Kyoto, to achieve this.
Special Feature: Carbon Trading – A New Source of African Finance
Innovative countries are starting to finance new projects through the Kyoto treaty, which allows industrialised nations to cut emissions by paying for pollution reduction in the South.
What is Carbon Trading?
Under the Kyoto Protocol, each industrialised country is assigned a legally-binding greenhouse emissions quota, which it must meet or face penalties.
Trade Pact Expiry Weaves Worry for Global Textile Industry
The elimination of quotas on the global exchange in textiles and clothing on 1 January 2005 marked the end of one of the most contentious provisions of the international system of trade rules and the start of a wide-ranging shift in the worldwide production of everything from socks to satin sheets.
Revival Can Only Benefit Africa
Who wins in the German election this week may not matter in the short term to Africa. How the new government tackles unemployment and a faltering economy may, however, affect Germany’s developmental and economic engagement with Africa in the medium term.
Zimbabwe Country Report
This report presents historical background and introduction to the parliament of Zimbabwe, including its composition and function.
Tanzania Country Report
This report argues that parliament’s engagement with civil society in Tanzania will be hampered if parliament continues to be subordinate or subservient to the executive.
A French Twist for Trade
Next week, Frances Pascal Lamy, the former European Union trade commissioner, will succeed Thailand’s Supachai Panitchpakdi as director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). What implications does this hold for Africa’s fortunes, in particular, and the Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks in general?