A Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone in the Middle East: Shaping the Contours of Discussion toward 2012 The final document of the 2010 NPT Review Conference includes reference to the convening of a conference in 2012 to discuss the idea of a Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free-Zone (WMDFZ) for the Middle East. Emily B. Landau
Conference Summary: The Great Transformation - Greening the Economy This conference report summarizes the key debates of the two-day conference "The Great Transformation - Greening the Economy". Additionally audio recordings of all sessions are available as well as video recordings of several key notes.
Caught between a rock and hard place Saliem Fakir draws balance over of South Africas economic policy of the last 15 years and derives from it recommendations for a future political agenda. Saliem Fakir
Pakistan's Energy Future: What Role for Chinese Nuclear Reactors? Pakistan is looking to solve its energy supply crisis by importing nuclear reactors from China. However, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, of which China is a member, forbids transfer of any kind of nuclear technology to non-signatories of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty like Pakistan. Prof. Pervez Hoodbhoy
South Africa 2010 Inspires Hope in Africa... as World Cup Fever Grips Nigeria Africa is celebrating. Never in the history of the Mundial has the game of football inspire an entire continent to dream and hope for a brighter future than the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup. The soccer event, brings hope and joy to a continent long ravaged by poverty, wars and diseases. Bayo Olupohunda
Views by Thai NGOs on the Political Situation in Thailand The conflict in Thailand between "Red Shirts" protesters and the government turned violent in May with over 80 people killed. The Thai NGO networks "Coordination Network of NGOs" and the "Anti Civil War Network" condemn the violence and propose solutions to the conflict. Wanun Permpibul and Jost Pachaly
Sustainable Industrial Policy – Engine for a Green Transformation of the Economy How can we switch our economy to a modus operandi that will not emit additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere? How can we feed most resources back into a circular economy? What changes to key sectors of our economy are necessary to achieve this? A green transformation of industry and economy is one of the greatest challenges facing us in the 21st century. Christian Hochfeld and Claudia Kabel
A Green Financial Reform to Pay the Deficit Caused by the Crisis The ecological challenges are enormous. As long as there are financial incentives that point the other way, we will not be able to solve these and other environmental problems within a market economy. State finances will have to be put on a new base. Damian Ludewig
A Bright Future for Solar Energy in China Dynamic growth due to the global fight against climate change has made China the world's number one producer of solar cells. 98 per centof all solar cells were exported. Not even 1 per cent was used in China itself. But Wang Sicheng of the Energy Research Institute is convinced that the focus of the Chinese solar energy industry will gradually shift from foreign to domestic markets. Sun Xiaohua
Risks and Side Effects of Eco-protectionism On the day climate negotiators met in Copenhagen, economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman’s op-ed in the New York Times demonstrated that much has changed in two years of climate debate – and that there actually is hope that we may “save the planet.” A commentary by Reinhard Bütikofer