Articles

10 Items

Rural Energy Workshop in Hon, Benin

CC Flickr

Magazine Article - DW

Economic Factors Driving Africa's Climate Innovation

    Author:
  • Sonia Phalnikar
| June 11, 2013

"In an email interview with Global Ideas, [Calestous] Juma touches on the challenges and opportunities raised by climate change in Africa, the economic drivers behind a rash of innovations, the role of African universities and why dogma is holding back the continent's full research potential."

The kernels on the left are conventional white maize kernels. The maize kernels on the right are enhanced with a provitamin A trait using biotechnology. This maize would benefit Africa where millions of children suffer from vitamin A deficiency.

AP Photo

Newspaper Article - The East African

Africa Needs to Invest More in 'Life Sciences' to Benefit from Technology

    Author:
  • Steve Mbogo
| August 18, 2012

Africa is yet to adopt full scale technology-led development. Steve Mbogo spoke to the Director of the Belfer Center's Science, Technology, and Globalisation Project and professor at Harvard University Calestous Juma on the opportunities that await the continent as a late comer.

Magazine Article - Outreach

Profile: Calestous Juma

| December 15, 2011

"The Rio+20 process is an important reminder of the urgency to guide global production and consumption patterns with sustainability principles. Sadly, there is really no genuine global institution that is championing sustainable development. The vision that inspired Rio has been supplanted by two extreme positions. The first is a group that believes economic growth will have trickle-down benefits for the environment. The environmental camp has successfully replaced the spirit of Rio with a one-sided agenda that leaves little room for recognising the central role that human wellbeing plays in natural resource management."

Director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Jose Graziano da Silva looks on during a press conference at the Itamaraty palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Aug. 3, 2011.

AP Photo

Magazine Article - Comments

AgroDiplomacy: Growing Relations between Latin America and Africa

| Julio-Agosto 2011

"The rising concern over global food price volatility has put agriculture at the center of international diplomacy. But unlike the 1950s when food aid became a major tool in international relations, modern interactions among states are being defined by trade and knowledge transfer. A new field — agricultural diplomacy (AgroDiplomacy) — is emerging as countries learn more about their shared ecological experiences and agricultural trade interests. The prospects for building such relations are evident in the rise in cooperation between Africa and Latin America."

A man sells charcoal in Nairobi, Kenya, June 27, 2006. Continued land degradation, wasteful water use, & climate change threaten the livelihoods of more than 70% of Africans.

AP Photo

Magazine Article - allafrica.com

Africa: From Crisis to Opportunity Through Clean Technology

    Author:
  • Cindy Shiner
| March 8, 2010

"African governments have a unique opportunity to turn the climate crisis into an opportunity. The starting point is for them to start creating domestic markets in clean technologies, many of which are now widely available. They need to define themselves as leaders in "green innovation" since they have not committed themselves too excessively to polluting technologies. They should be vigilant against import of polluting technologies. It is a chance for them to build a new image around their moral standing of being the lowest polluters."

Journal Article - Science

Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being

| January 25, 2008

"I would urge every scientist and engineer with an interest in the intersection of S&T with sustainable well-being...to 'tithe' 10% of your professional time and effort to working in these and other ways to increase the benefits of S&T for the human condition and to decrease the liabilities. If so much as a substantial fraction of the world's scientists and engineers resolved to do this much, the acceleration of progress toward sustainable well-being for all of Earth's inhabitants would surprise us all."