Tourists Causing Water Crisis

Wealthy tourists are causing a water crisis at resorts in developing countries.  You can read a summary of a report by NGO Tourism Concern here.  For more information on Tourism Concern and their campaigns, click here.

South Sudan Update

It is one year since South Sudan gained independence from Sudan.  Read a summary of what has happened in the last year here and here.  For facts and figures, click here and for pictures, try here

Summer Washout!

After several months of water restrictions and we have just had the wettest June on record and all the water companies have lifted hosepipe bans.  For information, including how the Jet Stream is causing our soggy summer, try these links:  The Guardian or The BBC.  For facts and figures about June's record breaking weather. look here.  But it's not just the UK that's suffered from flooding recently - this article  is about floods in Southern R|ussia and explains how human actions and mismanagement of rivers may have made the situation much worse.

South Sudan branded 'enemy' state

Sudan's parliament votes unanimously to brand the government of South Sudan "an enemy" in the wake of the seizure of a disputed oil field. Read the full article here. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17727624 >

America's homeless resort to tent cities

Development isn't always straight forward! Read about America's homeless living n tent cities here.

Syria's escalating conflict

An article about Syria's descent into civil war is here. An interactive timeline showing the escalating conflict is here.

Afghanistan and poverty

According to this report, over half of Afghanistan's families live in poverty. Read the full article here. http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/more-than-half-of-afghanistan’s-families-live-in-extreme-poverty/

Aid needed in the Sahel (again!)

Oxfam says urgent action is needed to stop drought in the Sahel region of West Africa turning into a humanitarian disaster. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17308913

Soldiers loot after coup in Mali

Renegade troops in Mali loot the presidential palace in the capital as the leaders of the coup call for calm and say all borders are closed. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17474946 >

Sudan and South Sudan clash on the border

Clashes break out between Sudan and South Sudan in what is described as the biggest confrontation since the South's independence last July. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17515209 >

Multiculturalism in London's schools

Evidence of multiculturalism (including an interactive map) of various different aspects of multiculturalism in London's schools. http://m.guardian.co.uk/uk/datablog/2012/apr/12/london-school-pupils-poverty-race?cat=uk&type=article

Brazil, conservation and Aid

Brazil lends US 229 billion USD treasury.gov/resource-cente… Norway gives 250 million USD aid/year to Brasil norad.no/en/countries/l… Anyone understand?

South Sudan branded 'enemy' state

So you want a revolution?

Who is Srdja Popovic?

Question: what do the so-called "colour" revolutions – Georgia (2003) and Ukraine (2004), and the rest – have in common with the uprising that drove Egypt's Hosni Mubarak from power? Answer: the great majority of the people involved avoided committing acts of violence; and the organisers took advice from a young Serbian revolutionary called Srdja Popovic and his colleagues.

Read the full article here.

World Bank classification of countries into income groups

Click here to see how the world bank classificies countries according to income. Although there are similar maps in text books it is always useful to see an updated version.

"This map classifies all World Bank member economies and all other economies with populations of more than 30,000 for operational and analytical purposes. Economies are divided among income groups according to 2010 gross national income (GNI) per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method."