Valentine's day, and yet another excuse to apply economics to daily life – yes you guessed it, a book called "Spousonomics". But despite my love of all-things-economics, this year I decided to gorge instead on a lovely box of chocolates, …
Most of us love a bit of technology that will make our lives easier or save us money. I don’t know how I got by before I had my iPhone – and I’m a bit of a Luddite. These days there …
A Blog Action Day on water – how can I not write something? My career started in water resource and wastewater management in Johannesburg (I won’t say how many years ago!). I also came across the following quotes in an …
Indians are used to coping with the effects of a variable climate. So many of these effects are related to the availability and quality of water – for agriculture, domestic consumption, industry, power generation and other uses – that water …
A couple of weeks ago I attended a number of fascinating sessions at the International Growth Centre’s Growth Week. One event that particularly stuck in my mind focused on the role China is playing in Africa. At the UN Millennium …
Two events in the last few weeks have focused my attention on the challenges that climate change poses in urban areas, and how DFID can contribute to finding solutions. First I paid a visit to Beddington Zero (fossil) Energy Development, …
Last week I wrote about the importance of protecting our forests. But earlier this week I heard one of the world’s leading development economists say that, “sometimes the right thing to do is to cut down a forest,” if it was essential for …
After all the excitement of the elections, I took the chance to have a couple of weeks off in Uganda and Ethiopia. Now I try not to think about work when I’m having some down time. But when your work …
Regular readers might get the impression that there is only doom and gloom to emerge from Nigeria. Certainly the current violence in Jos with 100’s dead is deeply saddening. An earlier post after a visit I made to Jos between late …
In discussing the ongoing climate conversation I'm having with my brother in my last two blogs, I've talked about the evidence behind the need to tackle climate change, and about why we need to assist developing countries to grow their …
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