Companies around the world try to make up for their carbon emission by purchasing "offsets," financing projects intended to preserve forests or otherwise compensate for their emissions. In Cambodia, Human Rights Watch recently issued a report about violations against Indigenous people in a carbon offset program in the Cardamom mountains.
At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, leaders from the US and EU have backed a phasedown of fossil fuels, with some qualifications. But many African countries say they deserve to exploit their natural resources and develop just like richer countries.
Microfinance was hailed as a way to change the lives of hundreds of millions of people without access to credit. It worked so well that Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus was awarded a Nobel Prize. But then, banks jumped in to get in on the profits. To manage high debt levels, Cambodians are migrating for work, eating less and even pulling their children out of school.
Brazil has embraced carbon credits as a way to protect the Amazon and mitigate climate change. But many community activists in the Amazon say carbon offset projects can be problematic.
Across the world, higher economic growth has seen a rise in women’s employment, according to the United Nations. But India is bucking that trend, where educated women are working less in paid positions.
Some startups throughout the Americas are establishing loans geared towards migrants. Among them is Galgo, which helps migrants buy motorbikes in order to earn money with delivery apps like Uber Eats.
The Taliban have given all women’s beauty salons in Afghanistan one month to close down. The ultraconservative group, which took power by force in 2021, has consistently chipped away at women’s rights and freedoms in the country.
Incumbent President Julius Maada Bio will face off against against main contender Samura Kamara on June 24. As the country prepares for this crucial election, voters are looking at issues like economic stagnation, corruption and national security.
The bitcoin cryptocurrency has seen its ups and downs lately, gaining and losing 10% of its value in just the past week. Nowhere is this volatility felt more intensely than in El Salvador, which became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender in 2021.
Indian businessman Gautam Adani is one of the world's wealthiest people. Now, his methods for acquiring the enormous wealth and close ties to Prime Minister Narendra Modi are being investigated by India's Supreme Court.
US Vice President Kamala Harris began her weeklong visit to the African continent this week in Ghana. She plans to focus on youth entrepreneurship, and to make a claim for supporting some African countries, as China and Russia have made diplomatic and financial inroads.