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Issues for the year 2010
Global Commodity Trade
One would assume that supply and demand is the simple guiding principal for global commodity trade. But the picture is much more complicated: investments in exploration, mining and transport infrastructure require a long term planning cycle and huge financial resources. Such a long term perspective is superimposed by short term price fluctuations in global commodity prices. Commodity exchanges are the places where short term prices are fixed. Such exchanges might appear like a casino, but they play an important role in the long term stability of raw material supply. ...more
Megacities
Way of life
Istanbul is more populous than Sweden, and Dhaka has nearly double the citizens of Switzerland. So the world's megacities could easily be UN members with the voting power of a few dozen of its member states. Such cities of 5, 10 or more million people are beyond easy comprehension. Standing on a high rise in Guangzhou one might see the sprawling megalopolis below. But cities like Dhaka elude such a visible dimension. The contested space in places with 10,000 or more people per square kilometre is hard to conceive of in societies where sufficient living space for every individual is taken for granted. And yet megacities may be soon the home for a billion human beings. The challenges for administrations and citizens alike are enormous, but once they are accepted, megacities might prove to be the testing ground for solving global problems.
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World Population Trends
Earth planet prepares to become home for 8 billion people. All of earth’s citizens have the right to sufficient food, safe water, energy to heat and cook, education, health services and livelihoods. But it is obvious that access to and provision of such basics is unequal. Vast inequalities between countries and within societies are challenges to social justice as well as to sustainable development in terms of safeguarding natural resources and the environment. Global or regional discrepancies in wealth and opportunities may be lessened by migration, but this in itself poses new challenges to target regions. Even in those societies that have achieved high standards of living for most of its citizens, the demographic change ushered in undermines the delicate balance between age groups and thus threatens the existing health service and pension systems. What is needed is political will and vision to make the planet ready for millions more to come. ...more
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