A world of 10 billion?

Mass extinctions, water shortages, dwindling oil reserves and poverty. Can the world support us all? What will happen if or when the global population reaches 10 billion? Read this article to find out what life might be like.

Withdrawal of British forces from Afghanistan

This article from the Telegraph describes how Britain's withdrawal from Afghanistan will not be straightforward. This is useful background information for the conflicts 'issue' (No development without security and no security without development).

Global development from The Guardian

The Global Development website from the Guardian is an excellent source of updated stories relating to global development issues.

There is also a specific section on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the progress towards them.

Rising Asia - in graphics

As part of the BBC's series they have this website which can be used to compare development indicators for different countries, including NICs.

What happens when aid is withdrawn from a state In political turmoil?

The Guardian poverty blog has a useful article looking at aid and poverty in contrasting locations.

There are a number of other stories here examining the links between poverty, aid and development. Definitely worth a look!

The Power of Asia

The BBC is running a series called 'The Power of Asia' examining different aspects of growth in parts of Asia. I presume the series will be added to but for now there are some useful links identified below.

The central page can be found here


'Indonesia changing quickly as economy booms' article here
An article about China's growth and changing attitudes here
'World Economic Forum seeks to sustain Asian growth' here

Chilean Volcanoes Erupt

A chain of volcanoes in Chile began erupting over the weekend. You can read about what has happened so far here and here. Residents have been evacuated, and people in neighbouring parts of Argentina have been advised to stay indoors. This website has some amazing pictures of the eruptions, as does this one.

E. Coli outbreak June 2011

Big in the news at the moment is the E.coli outbreak in Europe that has already claimed over 20 lives. The BBC has an interactive map here which shows how the disease has spread. There are links below the map to other associated stories as well.

Conflict, security and development

The 'issue' at the end of the Conflicts section of the course is 'No development without security and no security without development'. You will need some evidence that security and development are interrelated. We will be looking at this in relation to Afghanistan but you do need some 'breadth' examples as well.

The world development report from the World Bank (published April 2011) has lots of useful information. The summary (with some nice facts and figures!) can be found here

http://wdr2011.worldbank.org/early-findings and the full report can be downloaded from http://wdr2011.worldbank.org/fulltext

Another Big Dam

The Brazilian government has approved the Belo Monte Dam which will flood 400 000 hectares of tropical rainforest and displace up to 40 000 people, including many of the indigenous Kayapo tribe. You can read about the decision and the dam here - it is worth clicking on some of the links in the article to find out more. This will make a useful case study - there are many comparisons withn the Three Gorges Dam in China.

A Long Hot Summer Ahead?

Netweather.tv is forecasting us a long hot summer, with echoes of 1976 - too long ago for any of you to know about, but as a 9 year old, I remember enjoying it! The reasoning behind their forecast is explained here, but how accurate will it be? It's probably worth mentioning that the Met Office has abandoned its seasonal forecasting after the predicted "barbecue summer" failed to materialise last year!