-Oxfam Blog As Oxfam’s two week online debate on the future of agriculture gets under way, John Ambler of Oxfam America imagines how it could all turn out right in the end. It is now 2050.  Globally, we are 9 billion strong.  Only 20% of us are directly involved in agriculture, and poor country economies have diversified.  Yet we all have enough food.  Technological innovation has played its part, but increased production...

-IPS News Doha: United Nations climate talks are on the edge of collapse Thursday, according to a coalition of civil society and representatives from half of the world’s countries. Once again, rich industrialised nations are putting nothing on the table in terms of increased emissions cuts and financial support for poor nations, said Celine Charveriat, director of advocacy and campaigns for Oxfam International. “This is just like WTO (World Trade Organisation) negotiations where...

-The Economic Times DOHA: At a time when the reticence of industrialised countries to providing climate finance and reducing emissions is hampering an outcome at Doha , UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon unambiguously called on the industrialised countries to do more. At the same time, the UN top boss made it clear that all countries need to make an effort according to their level ofeconomic development to tackle climate change.  Negotiators from...

-PTI Vedanta group is likely to close its one million tonnes alumina refinery at Odisha's Lanjigarh from Wednesday, a move which would impact about 7,000 jobs in the Eastern state. The mining conglomerate, which runs the alumina refinery through an unlisted subsidiary, Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL), had given a closure notice to the state government three months back citing severe shortage of bauxite as the primary reason for the shutdown. "Suspension of operations...

-Outlook Doha: The climate talks here in the Qatari capital limped into its final week today with hard close-door negotiations yet to yield any visible outcomes amid warnings from highly vulnerable nations that time was running out. The talks have a crucial agenda to decide a treaty which could replace the Kyoto Protocol besides ensuring that the parties to the pact commit to ambitions under the second commitment period which will come...