Reporting the Dutch Way

Thousands of young readers in Holland are paying one Euro for each issue of a new Dutch daily.

'NRC Next' is attracting young, well-educated people, who were not regular newspaper readers before, according to the World Association of Newspapers.

The circulation of the newspaper reached 70,000 a day, after six months of opening. This is more than the 40.000 copies that were targeted for the first year.

The tabloid newspaper, drives 60 per cent of its content from the evening paper 'NRS Handelsblad', with which they it share the same newsroom The rest is produced by 27 young staff-writers.
Instead of presenting traditional news, NRC Next relies more on commentaries and analysis, presuming that readers have already picked up the routine news from other media. Strong visual elements are used to draw attention to the central themes.

The success is based on the non-conventional editorial approach, unlike other compact models like Die Welt Kompakt in Germany, the Espresso (De Standaard, Belgium) and London’s Standard Lite.

Subscribers have some choices. They can get NRC Next home delivered during the week. For an additional payment on the weekend the Saturday broadsheet of NRC Handelsblad is included.

Digital servicing and participatory journalism are part of the concept. People can order their subscription by SMS. They can send in news items and comments via emails. They can SMS a special code to know more about a certain subject. The editor deal with all reader complaints through a weblog.

NRC’s motto for its morning tabloid, “What’s Next?” has shaken up the Dutch newspaper market. Their secret weapon is adobting the qualities of a smart lifestyle.

Human Rights Video Hub

Witness.org and Global Voices Online joined to highlight videos on the internet that show footage human rights violations, or involve personal testimony of human rights violations, whether they've been shot by organisations, governments, or ordinary citizens.

The website covered stories from Malaysia, China, Eastern Europe, Tunisia, Iraq, Macedonia, Zimbabwe, and One undisclosed location.

There are guidelines for submitting footage safely and securely on the website.

Media for Sustainable Development Survey

This report assess the level at which community radio stations in Africa and Central America are involved in producing programming with content on sustainable development.

Topics included HIV/AIDS, gender, environment, human rights and electoral systems and democracy.

Investigations indicated that community radio stations, in general, are still struggling with producing content on sustainable development.

One of the reasons is the lack of understanding and distinction of what sustainable content is especially in the specific context of the different communities.

However, the stations are making some efforts to produce programmes on sustainable content. They are trying to identify and work with relevant stakeholders for content development.

Countries/regions included in this study are:
Mali, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, Guatemala, Southern Mexico, and Panama.

Click here for this resource in PDF format.

Radio Strategy for MDGs

This paper asserts that information and communication are located at the very core of poverty alleviation processes, from processes of community participation and empowerment, to raising broad awareness of public health issues, to providing humanitarian information during times of conflict, to promoting good governance and accountability, to complex debt relief processes or the promotion of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The author of this paper is Dr. Andrew Skuse from the School of Social Science, University of Adelaide. It was published by the Information and Communication for Development (ICD) team of the United Kingdom (UK)'s Department for International Development (DFID).

The paper provides a summary of the scope of radio's involvment in fulfilling the broader goals and targets of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. While acknowledging that a rich variety of ICD initiatives have used diverse tools - such as face-to-face or interpersonal communication, community-level communication mass-mediated communication, computer-based modes of information retrieval and exchange, and telecommunications via land line or mobile channels - to support achievement of the MDGs, this paper focuses explicitly on radio, which constitutes a communications mainstay for millions of poor people in the South.

The document explores the ways in which radio can play - and has played - a role in raising public awareness and support for the MDGs, which the author suggests is critical to their achievement. Additional chapters detail how radio has been used in specific contexts and ways around the world to sustain livelihoods, help people claim a voice and be heard, support better health and education, and prevent/mitigate conflict and natural disasters.

The paper's core premise is that ICD initiatives are central to upholding the rights of economically poor people to receive and share information - and thus lie at the core of poverty reduction efforts. A key purpose of this paper is on the role of overseas development aid (ODA) in sustaining and supporting radio-based communication initiatives.

To that end, throughout his review of the broad range of radio-based sectoral activity undertaken in support of the MDGs, the author offers specific suggestions for the DFID in sustaining and supporting radio as a communication tool to address poverty and other development issues around the world.

For instance; Stimulating a vibrant media environment could involve supporting civil society and non-governmental organisations to advocate for media deregulation and plurality at community and national level, as well as in making community radio licence applications.

DFID could also continue to help build media environments in which there is a clear separation of state and national media and which are based on regulatory frameworks that emphasise the rights and responsibilities of journalists and broadcasters.

Increasing the equality of access to radio and supporting the realisation of rights could involve enhancing the ability of economically poor people to own or access radio technology and invest in cheap and sustainable energy sources. DFID could also strengthen investigative journalism and radio-based advocacy work within community and national broadcasters.

Finally, supporting radio initiatives that improve women's access, such as through listening groups or training for women broadcasters, is suggested. Strengthening radio's health and educational content could involve providing direct training for public radio staff in pro-poor content creation and by supporting non-governmental organisation (NGOs) which are developing content independently of the sector.

DFID could also consider focusing on radio-based educational opportunities for children excluded from formal learning, as well as content related to child mortality, maternal health, and communicable diseases.

Promoting sustainable livelihoods could involve modernising and strengthening national broadcasters' approaches to farm broadcasting, and deepening radio content related to sustainable environmental management, small enterprise and transition economies, and so on.

Supporting radio's role in conflict and disaster prevention and mitigation could involve providing training to public, commercial, and community broadcasters in conflict prevention, mitigation, and inter-ethnic dialogue and reporting.

DFID could also strengthen humanitarian information by supporting emergency broadcasting interventions and the provision of radio to the vulnerable/displaced, as well as helping develop disaster preparedness and mitigation broadcasting.

Enhancing our knowledge of radio's role in the realisation of the MDGs could involve strengthening work in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) through the development of simple M&E resource guides, such as simple-to-use social research tools for community radio practitioners.

DFID could also help partner governments and the independent ICD sector in developing formative research and impact evaluation strategies.

In conclusion, the author suggests that technological and informational empowerment underpins the ability of poor communities to realise their own voice. Therefore, access to radio and support for the development of useful and useable content remains critical.

When combined, these two capacity building thrusts can help poor people realise a voice, and realising a voice has long been identified as fundamental to effective community participation in development.

Click here for the full document in PDF format.

Youth Radio Manual

Speak out, Make your voice heard!

It is remarkable how many different ways there are to set up and run a program for youth in radio.

There are projects with lots of staff and money and others with none; projects that are part of a station, projects that are part of a high school, and some that are independent.

There are young people learning to write commentaries, report the news, broadcast symphonies, produce radio dramas, host talk shows, stream audio, operate remote equipment, run radio stations.

In this manual you will find descriptions of many programs, sample curricula, information about equipment, additional resources, and stories about lessons learned, obstacles overcome, and challenges still to be met.

Let a Thousand Voices Speak is designed to share information about many projects so that community radio stations, high schools, non-profit arts organizations and community groups can start and grow their own youth in radio programs.

Let a Thousand Voices Speak is supported by the Youth Initiatives Program of the Open Society Institute



All Printed Copies are out of Stock. But, you can download the manual in PDF. Check it @ http://www.nfcb.org/publications/youthmanual.jsp

Making the web accessible for all

By Katie Ledger, BBC
Photo Credit: CatoonStock

Despite many efforts to move away from those most traditional interfaces - the ubiquitous computer keyboard and mouse - they remain the bedrock on which nearly all computer interfaces rest.

But for those who find it difficult to use a standard computer there is a raft of user-friendly add-ons and upgrades to help things go more smoothly.

We live in a world that demands us to communicate in many different ways, usually with the computer at the very heart of it.

For millions, the home office has become a reality that allows us to benefit from flexible working; online shopping is simple, and I cannot even remember the last time I stepped into a real bank.
'Fill in the gaps'

In theory it is all very simple. But stop and think for a moment.

If you could not see the screen, use a mouse or a standard keyboard, how much of a challenge would it be to stay connected?

For some people, when they acquire a disability it is imperative that they learn how to use technology to help fill in the gaps in their lives that their disability has created Pamela Hardaker, AbilityNet

AbilityNet is a charity based in the UK that helps people with different disabilities to get online. Clients range from people with severe paralysis to those dealing with dyslexia, repetitive strain injury or just the effects of getting older.

After an initial assessment, experts advise on the use of specialist hardware and software.

"Only 13% of people are born with their disability, the other 80% - in this country, and I presume it's similar worldwide - acquire their disability," said Pamela Hardaker of AbilityNet.

"So for some people, when they acquire a disability it is imperative that they learn how to use technology to help fill in the gaps in their lives that their disability has created."

Speech recognition

David Morris is the senior policy advisor at the Greater London Authority, advising the London's Mayor on accessibility issues.

He has Spinal Muscular Atrophy and uses a number of technologies to get on with his busy schedule. His favourite is voice recognition accompanied by a Bluetooth headset.

He has been using speech recognition software for almost 10 years, and currently uses Dragon Naturally Speaking.

"Voice activated software enables me to compete on an equal basis. In fact it probably gives me an advantage, because those people who are smart, know that voice-activated software has now reached a point where it's very functional."

Speech Recognition software generally needs a bit of training before it can be used which puts most people off, but the recently released Dragon Naturally Speaking version nine claims that it has overcome that hurdle and now can be used straight out of the box.

The Blackberry is another bit of kit that David has in his bag. Although he likes the great functions, he believes the design could be improved for many people, both the disabled and the left handed.

"For the first time in a long time I can access a keyboard, but it's really inaccessible to me as a one-handed, left-handed person, with the stupid jog wheel, which is really difficult to use. So I have to turn it upside down, which is a strange way to access emails, but it's still very important."

'Life changing'

For pretty much everyone using a computer is liberating, but for some, including Darren Carr, who is paralysed from the neck down, it is life changing.

One of Darren's proudest moments was when he got his degree from London School of Economics.

"I've got a friend who lives in Australia. We chat over the internet and I also use Skype and things like that. It makes communication and things like that a lot easier for someone like myself.

"I can keep in touch with my friends via IM (instant message), and also by emails. It's so much easier than having the phone held up to your ear."

Darren uses a headset and the Wivik virtual keyboard. A signal, transmitted from the control unit, is picked up by sensors on the headset.

By comparing the signal strength from each sensor, the system determines the position of the head and moves the cursor. To click he uses a suck and blow tube.

Eye control

There are newer, more sophisticated technologies out there. MyTobii is one of the few systems using eye tracking technology.

Using high resolution cameras in the monitor it tracks your eyes and follows your gaze. All you need to do is look at wherever you want the cursor to go.

This tool is most effective when used with its sister application, The Grid, which works to simplify the Windows environment.

It can also enable people to interact with their environment by switching on lights, the TV and answering the phone.

"Voice recognition is certainly getting to the level now where people would chose to use it, they wouldn't just use it because they had to," said Pamela Hardaker.

"It is so effective that people would want to use it because it's much easier to do your work that way.

"It wouldn't surprise me if the eyegaze technology doesn't go that way eventually as well. So we have the eyegaze built into our computer and we just look at where we want to click on the screen, and that happens for us automatically."

So what of the future? Will we see more technologies specifically designed for people with disabilities?

Or perhaps it is more likely, as some predict, that all of us see the ease of use and functionality as something desirable.

Africa Community Radio Analysis:

United Methodist Church
Mike Hickcox


Communication is a rare and precious resource in a land where phones lines don’t exist and no one delivers letters. Such lands exist in many parts of rural Africa.

These are lands in which United Methodist bishops try to communicate with their district superintendents and pastors, and pastors with their members, but messages often don’t get through.

These are lands in which health information is hard to distribute, but misinformation travels easily in daily conversation.

Effective forms of communication are powerful tools. They create a new reality in which coordination is possible, information provided, invitations offered and warnings delivered.

There are places in Africa where community radio has done all these things; where radio reaches the ears of those who live in urban shantytown huts, and those who lie at night below grass roofs on vast, dry plains.

There are places where the needs of poor people are heard and addressed by those who care; where the community seeks answers and speaks them to itself through community radio.

In June, I traveled to several African countries to visit some of these radio stations. The trip was initiated by the Rev. Larry Hollon, the top staff executive of United Methodist Communications. Larry sees African United Methodist annual conferences yearning for better communication systems for evangelization, for education and for coordination. He sees that HIV/AIDS is a major cause of death in Africa, and that malaria kills even more. He sees radio as one of the technological pieces that can address some of these needs.

Also on the trip was the executive director of the United Methodist Communications Foundation, Elizabeth Hunter. The foundation is working to find money for worthy projects. The challenge is to identify projects that truly speak to the need.

The question is this: Can the United Methodist Church find ways to help its conferences in Africa reach the people, speak to their own members and alleviate suffering through the development of community radio? We traveled to community radio stations in South Africa, Uganda and Kenya to see what can be accomplished with a transmitter, an antenna and the right approach. Here is some of what we found:

South Africa

In Cape Town, South Africa, we encountered stunning contrasts seldom seen in other parts of the world. The beauty of the Cape Town peninsula is unsurpassed, with gorgeous mountains and tremendous views as the sun sets into the Atlantic over Robbens Island, where Nelson Mandela was jailed off the coast of the city for 18 years.

Not far from the beaches are the colored neighborhoods of small homes placed side-by-side. Also about the city are the black shantytowns of corrugated steel one and two-room houses tightly packed into fields between the main roadways. The people of these neighborhoods and townships listen to Bush Radio, a station of the people, created by the undisputed father of community radio in Africa, Zane Ibrahim.

From Ibrahim we learned a key concept: “Community radio is 90-percent community and 10-percent radio.” Bush Radio remains an ongoing community event. Every Saturday, the Children’s Radio Education Workshop takes to the air. Children and teenagers from the community prepare programming and broadcast from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bush Radio personnel appear in the townships and neighborhoods regularly, bringing a meal and listening to the people. From the people come the issues and the programs that go on air.

When we were there, we traveled with Zane to the township of Khayelitsha, the third largest township in South Africa after Soweto and Sharpeville. On this Bush Radio workday, interns from the University of Southern California scampered across several rooftops in the township, fastening plastic tarps over the corrugated steel roofs, covering seams and holes to keep out the rain.

Uganda

Traveling in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, we found MAMA FM behind high walls on a residential hillside. This station was created in the late 1990s by the Uganda Media Women's Association.

It was the first station in Africa to be initiated and created by women. Calling itself “The Voice to Listen To,” MAMA FM focuses on the needs of women and the poor, and addresses issues such as health care, legal concerns, land, economic empowerment, education, human rights, good governance, leadership, religion, agriculture, peace building, environment and politics. The women journalists bring in experts to speak about these issues. The station also holds public forums.

Also in Kampala, Radio Maria Uganda operates on a different model as a part of a project founded by the Roman Catholic Church in 1983. Radio Maria worldwide operates in more than 30 nations. Radio Maria Uganda also has the technical resources of the larger church available to it, and it extends itself to two repeater stations and two other studios in the country by a satellite link. Broadcasting from a total of five locations allows much better coverage across the country of Uganda. This station also focuses on the issues that face the communities.

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church runs Prime Radio high atop a Kampala hill. This station is funded largely by a successful communication school it operates in one section of its building. The remainder of the building houses the radio station and has space allotted for a future television station. Like the other stations visited, Prime Radio depends on volunteer assistance, but also employs 34 people, far more than other stations we visited.

Kenya

After arriving in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, another flight took us to Kisumu, a small city in Western Kenya on the shore of Lake Victoria. In a small house, with a yard populated by dogs and chickens, is RECA Radio. This station is an outgrowth of Relief & Environmental Care Africa, a nongovernmental organization based in Kenya that promotes environmental protection, sustainable development, literacy and health care.

This station is due to go on air this fall. Most of its programming will be locally produced, with a small percentage delivered by satellite from a health-focused agency in the United States.
As in several other locations, programming needs will be defined with input from the women’s groups in the surrounding villages.

Those groups are already involved in RECA projects for microfinance, agriculture, water and sanitation. The radio station is an outgrowth of the existing health and welfare programs and will be a way to extend the reach of these programs.

EcoNews Africa is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, but with radio stations also in Tanzania and Uganda. Uganda’s station went on the air in 2000, Tanzania in 2002 and Kenya in 2004.


The programming of each station is determined with the support and direction of women’s groups in the villages of the listening areas. These stations also focus on social issues and health, with an emphasis on the needs and resources of women.

Despite the significant use of volunteers, each station still costs the parent organization about $150,000 each year.

Looking ahead

Visiting community radio stations in Africa and the people who operate them yielded a number of common factors and truths. Among them are these:

Radio reaches people wherever they live, in both urban shantytowns and in rural villages.
Radio communicates with everyone, even those who cannot read.

Radio needs to communicate in many languages, including the local colonial language (English, French, and Portuguese), Kiswahili and local languages.

Community radio needs to empower and use the collective power of women’s groups in the region.

Radio is an excellent way to deliver accurate information on health care, and it helps to counter much of the misinformation commonly distributed in conversation.

Community radio in Africa needs money to maintain equipment and facilities, pay a few staff members, and purchase fuel to operate studios and transmitters when the power system fails.
United Methodist Communications is finding new ways to partner with other organizations to better bring health information to Africa. This trip was a significant step in learning how our annual conferences in Africa will be able to broadcast not only to spread the Gospel, but also to coordinate the work of the annual conference, serve the needs of the community, and improve quality of life in both city and countryside.

Community radio is just one possible component of the communication solution, and issues of staffing, financial support and sustainability must be addressed. Cell phones, ham radio, business radio, and the Internet may also be necessary pieces of the answer.

Watch for news stories about UMCom’s communication efforts in Africa. The communicators and the annual conferences in Africa are eager to develop systems that work where they are. United Methodist Communications is eager to help. Once plans and funding are in place, exciting things will happen.

Children’s Day of Broadcasting Award Nominees

Six regional winners are nomined for the International Children’s Day of Broadcasting (ICDB) Award, presented yearly by the UNICEF and the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

“We couldn’t be more proud of these broadcasters who have taken up UNICEF’s call to get youth involved in programming and production,” says Stephen Cassidy, Chief of UNICEF’s Internet, Broadcast and Image Section.

The winner of the 2006 ICDB Award will be announced at the Academy’s 34th International Emmy Awards Gala on November 20, 2006, at the Hilton New York Hotel. A special ceremony will take place at the UNICEF House, as well.

Judging for the regional prizes took place between May and July. The 2005 ICDB theme focused on Sports for Development and Peace.

The ICDB Regional Prizes went to ATN Bangla (Elegy for Dipu); RCN Television (Bichos Bichez); Gambia Television and Radio Services (ICDB: Children in Charge - Every Child Has the Right to Play); Teleradio Moldova (Let’s Play), TVE (Los Lunnis), and Syrian Broadcast TV (Let’s Play).

The ICDB was launched in 1991 to encourage broadcasters worldwide to create awareness for children’s issues. Each December, these youth write, report, produce and present programs that allow them to express their thoughts on the issues that affect them.

In 1994, the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and UNICEF established the International Children’s Day of Broadcasting Award to honor the broadcaster who best embraces the spirit of the ICDB.

The next ICDB will take place on 10 December 2006 with the theme of HIV/AIDS.

Australia Plans World's Largest Solar-Power Plant

AP

The Australian government pledged AU$ 95 million for two projects as part of its new strategy to combat global warming, including the construction of the world's largest solar-power plant.

The projects are the first to be funded under a AU$ 379 million package to prevent global warming.

Australia has been criticized over its refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.The government will contribute AU$ 57 million to a AU$ 319 million project to build a 154-megawatt solar-power plant in Victoria state.

The plant would begin operations in 2008 and reach full capacity by 2013.

The government also announced AU$ 38 million in funding toward a AU$ 274 million project to reduce carbon emissions from an existing coal-fired powerhouse in Victoria.

Women Under Attack in Iraq, Afghanistan

By Edith M. Lederer, AP

Women are facing increasing violence in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, especially when they speak out publicly to defend women's rights, a senior U.N. official told the U.N. Security Council.

Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of the U.N. Development Fund for Women, called on for fresh efforts to ensure the safety of women in countries emerging from conflicts, to provide them with jobs, and ensure that they receive justice, including compensation for rape.

"What UNIFEM is seeing on the ground -- in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia -- is that public space for women in these situations is shrinking," Heyzer said Thursday. "Women are becoming assassination targets when they dare defend women's rights in public decision-making."

Heyzer spoke at a daylong open council meeting on implementation of a 2000 resolution that called for women to be included in decision-making positions at every level of striking and building on peace deals. It also called for the prosecution of crimes against women and increased protection of women and girls during war.

Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno said that, in the past year, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became the first woman head of state in Africa, Liberia adopted an anti-rape law, women in Sierra Leone pushed for laws on human trafficking, inheritance and property rights and women in East Timor submitted a draft domestic violence bill to parliament.

Despite these positive developments, he said, women face widespread insecurity and in many societies violence is still used as a tool to control and regulate the actions of women and girls seeking to rebuild their homes and communities.

"In Afghanistan, attacks on school establishments put the lives of girls at risk when they attempt to exercise their basic rights to education," Guehenno said. "Women and girls are raped when they go out to fetch firewood in Darfur. In Liberia, over 40 per cent of women and girls surveyed have been victims of sexual violence. In the eastern Congo, over 12,000 rapes of women and girls have been reported in the last six months alone."

Assistant Secretary-General Rachel Mayanja, the U.N. special adviser on women's issues, said that from Congo and Sudan to Somalia and East Timor, she said, "women continue to be exposed to violence or targeted by parties to the conflict ... lacking the basic means of survival and health care."

At the same time, Mayanja said, they remain "underrepresented in decision-making, particularly on war and peace issues."

Assistant Secretary-General Carolyn McAskie, who is in charge of supporting the new U.N. Peacebuilding Commission which was established this year to help countries emerging from conflict, said her office will try to ensure that "space is created for women's active participation in political, economic and social life."

"We cannot ignore the voices of the women from the time we broker peace onwards," McAskie said. "Peacemaking is not just an exercise involving combatants, it must involve all of society, and that means women."

At the end of the meeting, the council said it "remains deeply concerned by the pervasiveness of all forms of violence against women in armed conflicts." and reiterated its strong condemnation of all acts of sexual misconduct by U.N. peacekeeping personnel.

Allegations of sexual abuse have also been reported in peacekeeping missions in Congo, Bosnia, Kosovo, Cambodia, East Timor and West Africa

Global push to cut greenhouse emissions

By Chris Giles, London, FT


The drive to tackle climate change gathered pace on Thursday as Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, announced a $3bn plan to invest in the carbon trading market amid mounting evidence that some US states are growing more sympathetic to international action.

The moves come just days before a UK government report is expected to propose a huge expansion of the global market in trading permits for carbon dioxide emissions. It will also propose extending existing mechanisms for western companies to benefit from promoting cleaner energy in poor countries.

A bigger market could offer substantial business opportunities. One recent calculation suggests that global expenditure on curbing the effects of climate change could be worth about $1,000bn (£529bn) within five years of action being agreed.

The European Commission added to the calls for action on Friday when it urged member states to intensify their efforts to reach the targets on emissions agreed under the Kyoto Protocol. “All member states must pull their weight to ensure that we deliver on our collective commitment. Those that are not on track urgently need tostep up efforts to meet their targets, if necessary by taking further national measures to reduce emissions,” it said.

The commercial opportunities were underlined on Thursday as Morgan Stanley announced its big bet on the green energy market. It plans not only to invest most of the $3bn in buying carbon credits around the world but also to set up its own low-emission energy projects.

The prospect of building an international consensus on the back of the findings of the Stern review appeared to strengthen as Citigroup, the world’s largest bank by market value, said in a research note that carbon trading was almost certainly going to become the most important weapon in combating global warming, including in the US.

Certain US states have recently taken steps to establish carbon markets. Seven states in the north-east have agreed a regional move to cap emissions from 2009, while California has set emissions limits.

The UK government-commissioned review, led by Sir Nicholas Stern, former World Bank chief economist, will say that the cost of rising concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere far outweighs the cost of acting now to slow global warming.

It reflects the UK’s efforts to lead the world towards fresh initiatives on climate change before efforts under the Kyoto protocol run out in 2012.

According to the review, big polluters would be able to cut emissions to the level of credits held, buy new credits in the market or earn new credits by making investments in carbon-efficient technologies in developing countries.

The review team has not been discouraged by the slump in carbon prices in the fledgling European carbon-trading market in April when most European countries said they had not used up allocations. One person close to the review told the Financial Times: “We have learnt a lot from Europe’s experience.”

A recent International Energy Agency paper suggested that the most important and available technology for reducing emissions would be carbon capture, in which carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is pumped underground.

Human Activities Increased World Hunger

852 million people were "gravely, permanently undernourished on this planet" at the end of 2005, an increase of 11 million from 2004. Trade practices of wealthy countries and desert encroachment aggravated the problem. A UN rights advocate said in a news conference yesterday.

Much of that increase came in Africa, where drought, climate change and poor farming practices are spreading father southward the Sahara Desert.

The rate of increase of hungry people is greater than the overall increase in the population. Unfair trade practices hurt food production in Africa, where excess food from wealthy countries can be dumped in local markets, undercutting local producers.

To end hunger, the UN advocate suggested planting fast-growing trees to secure fertile lands, building more irrigation canals and employing pesticides early to kill crop-ruining insects.