Good week for
45 Fijian UN peacekeepers, who have been released, after being captured last month by a rebel group in Syria.
President Nicolas Maduro, whose government has secured the backing of Latin America and the Caribbean for Venezuela to obtain a seat on the UN security council.
Bad week for
MH370 families in China,
who were dragged away from a temple by police in Beijing while trying to mark the six-month anniversary of the plane’s disappearance.
Htin Kyaw, an activist in Burma, who has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for taking part in an anti-government march.
Quote of the week
Folawiyo Olajoku, a state government worker in Nigeria, suggests President Goodluck Jonathan’s attempts to stop the inappropriate hashtag #BringBackGoodluck2015 have distracted from the bigger issue of dealing with the country’s insurgents, Boko Haram.
What you’re saying
In response to our article Monoculture is failing Nicaragua’s farmers, commenter BrunoVelde highlighted that a lack of crop diversity is not just a problem for Central America.
New research is showing the same thing in Africa re crop diversity, integrating forestry.”
This week in numbers
$50m was donated by Bill Gates to scale-up efforts by international organisations fighting Ebola.
200,000 sq km of tropical forest was destroyed from 2000-2012 to make way for commercial agriculture, according to a new report from Forest Trends.
460 people were killed and almost 1 million displaced after monsoon floods in Kashmir.
165 Cuban doctors are being sent to Ebola-hit countries in west Africa.
62 new beds for Ebola patients will be available in a Sierra Leone treatment facility being set up by the UK’s Department for International Development and Save the Children.
12m sized crater has been left by a meteorite in Managua, Nicaragua.
Picture of the Week
Milestones
Militants suspected of shooting activist Malala Yousafzai have been arrested, Pakistan’s army announced on Friday (12 September).
Despite being ravaged by war and poverty, The Democratic Republic of Congo has set up the world’s first all-black symphony orchestra.
Facebook hit 100 million users in Africa on Monday. One in 10 Africans now use the site, but only 6% logon to the social network on a desktop computer.
Infographic
Our infographic this week is from The Global Post and looks at which countries have the oldest and youngest populations across the world.
Reading List
- Green skills for rural youth (Plan International)
- Consumer goods and deforestation (Forest Trends)
- The development element: guidelines for the future of communicating about the end of global poverty (How Matters)
- Battle-scarred forest government tactics (IIED)
- Why you should start paying attention to a crisis in Lesotho (UN Dispatch)
- The best books on Thailand (The Guardian)
Coming next week: have your say
- Our live chat on Thursday 18 September 11am-1pm BST is about divestment from fossil fuels and scaling up investment in renewable energy. Contact us at globaldevpros@theguardian.com to recommend someone for the panel.
- Calling all southern voices! We want to hear about new papers published by institutions, thinktanks and NGOs in the global south. Send an email to globaldevpros@theguardian.com to be featured in our reading list.
Join our community of development professionals and humanitarians. Follow @GuardianGDP on Twitter.
