News headlines in 2016, page 18

NAIROBI, Oct 26 (IPS) - Land degradation already affects millions of people, bringing biodiversity loss, reduced availability of clean water, food insecurity and greater vulnerability to the harsh impacts of climate change.

Bangkok, Oct 26 (IPS) - The emergence of new ideas, technological advancements and innovative market-driven financing solutions has lent confidence to the idea that universal access to energy services is attainable. This is particularly good news in the Asia and the Pacific region, where, despite making significant contributions to global growth and poverty reduction since 2000, nearly half a billion citizens still have no access to modern energy, principally in rural and far-flung areas. Three-quarters of these people live in South Asia alone. Some 70% of the Pacific island households are un-electrified, a level similar to sub-Saharan Africa. The lack of electricity and clean cooking options marginalizes predominantly remote and slum communities who are trapped in energy poverty, preventing them from stepping on the first rung of the ladder to prosperity.

LOS PALACIOS, Cuba, Oct 26 (IPS) - Protected from the sun by broad-brimmed hats and long- sleeved shirts, workers at the La Juventud fish farm throw fish feed into the tanks for the tilapias, a fish that is scarce and in high demand in the Cuban markets.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 25 (IPS) - A UN Human Rights Expert has called on the international community to fight tax evasion and abolish tax havens that siphon off essential resources from human rights protection and global development.

NAIROBI, Oct 25 (IPS) - Faced with growing degradation that is swallowing large swathes of land in arid and semiarid areas, Kenya is heavily investing in rehabilitation efforts to stave off the threat of desertification.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 24 (IPS) - Health problems increasingly transcend the borders of the World Health Organization's 134 member states, a challenge which the six candidates vying to lead the global body must address with care.

LEIDEN, The Netherlands, Oct 24 (IPS) - When disasters strike, children are among the most vulnerable, and humanitarian aid agencies need to be able to respond immediately to save their lives.

SENGGI, Indonesia, Oct 24 (IPS) - Only two decades ago, Usku, Molof and Nambia, three villages in Senggi District, Papua, were the battlefield of feuding tribes fighting for their ulayat (communal land). Afra, the triumphant tribe, then settled in the villages and led a life of hunting and gathering.

Portoroz, Slovenia, Oct 24 (IPS) - Every two years, governments from across the globe gather to debate the fate of the world's whales. And every two years, Japan, Norway and Iceland find themselves in the firing line for their refusal to end commercial whaling.