GlobalIssues.org Blog

Announcement of new and updated content on the globalissues.org web site. GlobalIssues.org is a web site attempting to look at various global issues to show they are inter-related.

World military spending exceeds $1.5 trillion, continuing upward trend despite economic conditions

In recent years, global military expenditure has increased again and is now comparable to Cold War levels again. Recent data shows global spending at over $1.5 trillion. This is despite the global economic conditions.

The highest...
Addressing biodiversity loss

At the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was born. 192 countries, plus the EU, are now Parties to that convention. In April 2002, the Parties to the Convention committed...
Climate change and biodiversity

It has long been recognized that rapid climate change can have a severe impact on biodiversity and on the ability for ecosystems to naturally adapt.

This page was quite old and had barely any content, so has been completely rewritten to...
Despite increased attempts at conversation, biodiversity loss continues

The Convention on Biological Diversity came into being many years ago. Most nations are party to the convention and agreed to meet a 2010 target to reduce biodiversity loss. Unfortunately, most indicators show those targets have not been met, despite...
Military aid

Military aid can be controversial. Its stated aim is usually to help allies or poor countries fight terrorism, counter-insurgencies or to help fight drug wars.

The aid may be in the form of training, or even giving credits for foreign militaries...
Aid

This web site has provided a number of articles related to aid and they have been categorized under various other issues.

This new issue page simply brings them together and inter-relates some of those issues.

Read full article: Aid
Foreign aid: highest levels ever but still way below promised amounts

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) recently published new preliminary figures for aid in 2009.

It showed official development assistance (ODA) aid from wealthy governments had increased to just over $123 billion in 2009 (at constant 2008 prices). This is roughly 0.31% of GNI (Gross National Income) of the...
Foreign aid: shortfall reaches $3.6 trillion; greater than aid given

Almost 40 years ago, rich country governments agreed to give 0.7% of their GNI (Gross National Income) as official aid to poor countries for development assistance.

The average aid delivered each year has actually been between 0.2 to 0.4%. The shortfall has therefore accumulated to over $4 trillion dollars at 2008...
Today, over 24,000 children died around the world
Over 24,000 children die every day around the world. That is equivalent to:
- 1 child dying every 3.6 seconds
- 16-17 children dying every minute
- A 2010 Haiti earthquake occurring almost every 9-10 days
- A 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring almost every 10 days
- An Iraq-scale death toll...
Beef: subsidies encourage unhealthy food consumption and makes healthy food more expensive

Food subsidies in countries like the US are arranged in such a way that they encourage more meat production and unhealthy food consumption which become cheaper than healthy foods. On top of the environmental degradation caused by industrial farming, excessive...