Until recently, if I were asked to imagine ship-breaking operations, I would automatically think of one of those documentaries where skinny barefoot children crawl around inside beached and broken ships, pulling and cutting off the salvageable material, including scrap metal for recycling. For their efforts they receive only pennies plus a host of injuries and ailments. The … [Read more...] about We need more steel. Here’s one way to mine it safely from old ships
Environmental and Social Safeguards
Labor Principles for Businesses that Respect Child Rights
In Latin America, 13 million child laborers can be found selling goods alongside the roads, working beside their parents on farms, as domestic workers in homes, and doing hard labor in hazardous industries. Globally, however, the number of children involved in child labor has declined by one third since 2000, from 246 million to 168 million children. This is due, in part, to … [Read more...] about Labor Principles for Businesses that Respect Child Rights
Poverty Erodes Coastal Biodiversity in Haiti (Lamizè ap devaste plant ak bèt ak tout anviwònman yo sou bodmè peyi d Ayiti)
São Paulo’s Water Crisis Sparks Innovation and Shower-Strikes
Nine year old Gregório refuses to shower. Yes, you read that correctly! He absolutely refuses to shower, not because of childish stubbornness, but because he is fully committed to helping his 20 million neighbors in São Paulo find creative ways to conserve water during the unprecedented drought that has plagued the city over the past year. Gregório is adamant about his … [Read more...] about São Paulo’s Water Crisis Sparks Innovation and Shower-Strikes
Moving Beyond the Buzzword: Sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean
"Sustainability” has become a buzzword for everything from food production to business models, as much as a way to describe how economic growth can happen without high social and environmental costs. Yet the urgency to get it right in Latin America and the Caribbean has grown as the region faces the challenge of increased productivity needs in the midst of rapid … [Read more...] about Moving Beyond the Buzzword: Sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean