What will the growth of the Mongolian mining industry mean for the country's nomadic herders? Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

Mongolia could soon be home to the largest copper mine in the world.

After years of negotiations, Western mining companies Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe are close to reaching an agreement with the Mongolian parliament to develop significantly the Oyu Tolgoi mine. Mineweb reports that the untapped deposit contains 78 billion pounds of copper and 45 million ounces of gold. If all goes to plan, the massive investment would double the size of Mongolia's economy and create thousands of jobs, according to NPR.

The economic crisis has hit Mongolia harder than most countries in East Asia. One in four people are out of work, NPR reports. The country’s nomadic herders – 40 percent of the population – are struggling after the price of cashmere dramatically declined earlier this year (see Manasi Sharma’s Downturn in the Gobi). Now, some are hailing Oyu Tolgoi as an immediate economic fix.

But there are several obvious challenges. First, Mongolia is highly corrupt. It is ranked 102 out of 180 countries in the latest Transparency International index, an annual rating of perceived levels of corruption (defined as the abuse of public office for private gain). Additionally, the editorial in Mineweb suggests that Russia and China may have inordinate influence over Mongolia’s mining industry. Given these two factors, how much will the average Mongolian gain?

Lastly, there are the social implications of this investment to consider. For many nomadic herders, shifting to industrial mining jobs is far from ideal, but there isn’t much else to turn to. People are desperate now that raw cashmere and other materials do not provide a reliable way to feed and clothe families. "They are losing their land, their animals, and even their culture," reported NPR’s Louisa Lim, "for a few specks of gold."

Boxing is opening new doors for some Muslim girls from India. Photo: flickr(slack12)

An article in Friday's Wall Street Journal looks at how boxing is giving Muslim girls in India an alternative to their "practically scripted" life.

For many of these girls, the Wall Street Journal says life goes like this: "they stay home, help their mothers, and get married so they aren't a burden to their families anymore."

Sabihal Hussain, a women's studies professor at a New Delhi university explains how boxing is opening up new doors for the girls.

They find (boxing) as a way of coming out from conservativeness. They have very limited role — poor Muslim women — in the public sphere. So thes women, these boxers, they find a way to come out and this is an outlet for them to fight poverty.

The boxers train hard and those that are good enough to compete internationally, fight for cash prizes. But for many girls, boxing can be a gateway into a job with the the police or land them a college scholarship for a spot on the university sports team.

Rooftops of a Mumbai slum. Photo: Kaustav Bhattacharya (Flickr)

One in every five people living in Indian cities live in slums. And India wants to move all those people — 62 million to be exact — out of the slums in five years by promoting what they're calling "ultra-low-cost housing."

The Economist reports that ultra-low-cost housing are multi-story flat developments built outside of cities where land is cheaper. Companies like Tata Housing are building units that are teeny and no more than three stories tall so they don't require steel framing or skilled labor to build.

Initial challenges surfaced when low-income citizens failed to meet traditional loan requirements. But recently, two government-backed banks have agreed to provide more capital to finance companies. This allows those companies to provide loans to low-income people that would have previously been rejected.

However, the government banks require the purchasers to validate their income and pay 25 percent of the cost up-front. Some of the cheapest flats are $4,500, and a down payment would be close to $1,200. Slum dwellers usually earn about $1,900 per year. These obligations coupled with transportation costs to and from the developments make ultra low-cost housing much less affordable.

Although India's goal of a slum-free nation is admirable, it is ambitious and quite unrealistic. With India's population ballooning, it will take more than ultra low-cost housing to transition millions on the verge of poverty to the middle class.

Urban overcrowding, like that seen here in Kampala, has lead many Ugandans to build on top of ecologically important wetlands. Photo: kloppster (flickr)

They arrive during the night with their construction tools. Some come with hired security guards. These are the wetland encroachers of Kampala, hoping to claim land before the watchful eye of the National Environmental Management Authority notices and evicts them.

Poverty is compelling many people to build on the wetlands as population growth and urbanization increase land competition. The construction destroys the land's ecological value, Uganda's The Monitor reports.

Uganda's wetlands filter water and prevent destructive flooding downstream. They are also a source of material for profitable products like papyrus. Wetlands provide employment for 2.7 million Ugandans in a country where just five percent of the total work force has a consistent income.

Uganda was the first African country to develop a national wetlands program. The government has spent millions of dollars and partnered with the World Resources Institute (WRI) to develop an information system to track wetland use. Also, Ugandans who build on wetlands without permits are subject to fines and evictions.

The WRI and the Ugandan government are concerned that the services and products wetlands provide, and on which many poor households depend, are at risk. But, despite Uganda's pioneering status in wetlands management, the country faces many trade-offs as it balances land needs with the desire to preserve the ecosystem and alleviate poverty.

One of the many slums in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: World Resources Institute (flickr)

In Brazil, forests are rapidly being destroyed, slums are expanding, and crime has reached an all-time high.

The solution? Government officials in Rio de Janeiro insist that building a nine mile, cinder-block wall around their slums will help to prevent the Atlantic rain forest from further deforestation, and restrict the expansion of these shanty towns. Human rights groups and many residents of the slums — known as favelas — disagree, reports the Wall Street Journal. They claim the purpose of the walls is to further separate the slums from Rio's beautiful beaches and wealthier residents.

To give the government's claims some credit, the expansion of favelas has contributed to Rio De Janeiro's rain forest destruction over the years. In 2004, deforestation reached its peak when 10,588 square miles of forest were destroyed. The Atlantic rain forest, an ecosystem that once was a large and flourishing part of Brazil, has lost 93 percent of its forest cover. The walls are meant to serve as "ecobarriers," to prevent the favelas from expanding into the already at-risk, forested hillsides.

But it seems that the reason for the wall stems beyond the goal to protect the rain forest. The Journal explains:

it's all part of a wider plan by Rio officials to clean up the famously freewheeling city. Under Mr. Cabral, the state intends to hire 22,000 police officers in part to occupy favelas now under control of drug gangs.

Residents of Rio's slums claim the wall will only cage them in and restrict their ability to come and go as they please. Human rights groups are up in arms as well — referring to the proposed wall as a means of "social apartheid."

Representatives of Rochina, one of the many Rio slums in, convinced government officials to replace the high wall with ecological parks, paths, and low walls that still mark the limits of the neighborhood. Other favelas are are trying to follow suit and some government officials are reportedly considering alternatives to the wall. In the meantime, the construction of the walls continue until perhaps a different idea is agreed upon that makes the barrier clear without making residents feel trapped.

By the summer of 2008, the price of rice had increased five times from the average price in 2005. Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

The following post is from One Table, a Mercy Corps campaign to fight world hunger by investing in the world's women.

Today almost a billion people worldwide are unable to buy or grow enough food to avoid malnutrition. That's 120 million more than were hungry in 2006.

What happened? Basically, the world saw dramatic spikes in food prices. But there were many underlying causes of what's known as the global food crisis:

• Drought and other climate-related problems that resulted in smaller harvests
• Changing diets — rise of the middle class in India and China and an increased demand for food, especially meat, which requires large amounts of grain to raise
• Diversion of crops from food production to the production of biofuels
• High fuel prices during 2008 — if it costs more to transport food, prices go up
• Declining investments in agricultural productivity — total agriculture development aid to poor countries plunged from $8 billion in 1984 to $3.4 billion in 2004. At the same time, the developing world's cities have been ballooning with people who do not grow any of their food
• Export bans and restrictions last year in several major grain-producing countries like China as governments sought to lower food prices for their own citizens, with the result of reducing the global supply on hand.

While food prices have come down from their highs of 2008, they remain substantially above historic levels. Many economists feel this trend, which most severely affects those who can least afford it, is likely to continue for some time.

The economic, health and societal costs of the global food crisis have been severe. One of the first things Mercy Corps did to figure out how and where to direct our efforts was to survey the communities where we work. We discovered that within communities Mercy Corps serves, roughly 70 percent of income is spent on food, and 80 percent of the population had been affected by rising food prices over the past year. The survey also confirmed something we already suspected: that families were coping with higher prices by eating fewer meals, selling off household belongings, going into debt and removing children from school so that they can work.

In addition to being a record year for food prices, it's also been a record year for our food security team, allowing Mercy Corps to aggressively respond to this crisis. We now have 17 programs in 13 countries designed specifically to respond to this on-going problem. Through support from donors including USAID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Gap Foundation, the Hunger Site, and private individuals, our Food Crisis Response employs a strategy designed to ensure that the groundwork for increased prosperity in the future is laid — even while addressing the immediate problem of accessing sufficient food.

Food distributions, much of which are specifically targeted to improve child nutrition, are taking place in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, in the Central African Republic, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Nepal, Niger, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Uganda and again Zimbabwe, Mercy Corps is helping hungry households to access food by providing employment opportunities, agricultural training and inputs (such as seeds and tools), and helping people establish and grow small businesses.

Combined, these programs are reaching almost 1.5 million individuals who have been directly impacted by higher food prices. Overall, Mercy Corps’ Crisis Response will lead to a sustainable increase in income for these people, leading in turn to greater food security over the long-term.

Traffic in Brazil. Photo: Fernando Meyer (flickr)

Car sales are down just about everywhere. Brazil is no exception. Sales of passenger cars dropped by 10 percent in April, trucks and buses by a quarter. But one niche market seems to be doing just fine: armored cars.

High crime rates are the norm in Brazil's biggest cities. In Sao Paulo, where armed robbery of pedestrians and motorists is fairly common, resident Craig Bavington tells the New York Times, "It is not a question of if you are going to be assaulted, it is when it is going to happen."

Commuters in high-traffic areas are among the most susceptible. Motorists in congested cities such as Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Recife become sitting ducks for criminals. Having an armored car that can withstand a shot from a .44 magnum provides a sense of security. João Neves feels like he’s "inside a fortress" when he is driving in his armored 2005 Volkswagen Passat. (Other armored choices include Jeeps, Mercedes, and Chevys.)

Sales of armored vehicles in Brazil have increased more than threefold over the past decade. With roughly 120 manufacturers throughout the country, the average cost of an armored vehicle ranges between $22,000 and $55,000. Dealers offer payment plans that make armored vehicles even more enticing for middle-class families.

Brazilians seem to be putting their safety ahead of other spending priorities. Armored car sales are rising as the country experienced its worst quarter of economic growth on record. In Mr. Neves’ opinion, "Even though the crisis does exist, I consider my well-being and my security a priority."

It's been six years since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. In recent months, stability has improved, but the gains will unravel unless progress is made toward strengthening the economy.

The financial crisis and lower-than-expected oil prices have changed things considerably for the Iraqi government. Last month, parliament made big cuts, revising the budget from $79 million to just $58.9 billion.

A major portion of this budget was supposed to be allocated toward rebuilding the infrastructure that has been devastated during the past six years. The New York Times reports that infrastructure projects are being put off, including the cancellation of a $600 million General Electric contract to lay electric cables and upgrade switches to allow the grid to increase electricity output.

Unemployment is also a big issue. A UN report released in February shows that unemployment is estimated to be around 18 percent. An additional 10 percent are underemployed, working part-time.

Adding to the frustration of locals, the government hasn't been able to meet basic needs like providing safe drinking water, electricity and education. The Iraqi Environment Ministry estimates that 36 percent of Baghdad's drinking water is unsafe as raw sewage, which still runs down Baghdad streets, mixes with drinking water. Furthermore, the demand for electricity still exceeds supply.

People expected things to go differently. Just last year, the Iraqi government was flush with cash. Record high oil prices prompted the government to offer big raises to employees. Now the shortfall has left the Iraqi government struggling to pay salaries for government employees and hundreds of thousands of new security troops.

But a shaky Iraq could force the Obama administration to adjust their plans. The Times points out that unless the economy strengthens and security gains continue, President Obama's timetable to withdraw troops could be delayed.

A stable Iraqi economy and an adequately prepared Iraqi military are crucial if American combat troops are to withdraw by August 2010, as aides to President Obama suggested this week. And illustrating just how closely the two countries are still intertwined, a faltering Iraq could also complicate Mr. Obama’s plan to lower the American deficit with billions in savings that would come from such a withdrawal.

Although the progress on the security front has given in a sense of normalcy, but the financial crisis has made it even more urgent for the government to develop a long-term strategy for stabilizing the economy, creating jobs, attracting foreign investment, which will ultimately mean prosperity for the Iraqi people.

According to Hazim al-Nuaimi, a political analyst in Baghdad, “The only thing that has changed is that now there's a light at the end of the tunnel. But it seems six years is not enough to be able to reach that light.”

A man cooks over a wood-burning fire in Kibera. Over 1 million working poor live in Kibera, with few opportunities to make a comfortable living. Photo: Crissy Olson (flickr)

Even UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was surprised by the large number of people who greeted him in Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya. But his surprise quickly became concern when he was told so many young people came to see him because they couldn't find work.

Inspired to act, Ban donated $100,000 of his own money to a UN-sponsored program that helps unemployed youth acquire vocational skills like carpentry, masonry, electrical wiring, plumbing and management. It's called the Youth Empowerment Program (YEP).

Students learn their trade through hands-on activities as they build a training facility that will allow YEP to expand its participant ranks. After graduation, many of the youth are placed in jobs or apprenticeships with private companies or UN-sponsored construction projects in Kibera.

The training program is part of a greater state- and UN-sponsored initiative to upgrade services and infrastructure in Nairobi's slums. Youth skills training also complements another UN-funded effort, the Urban Entrepreneurship Program, that helps to establish construction collectives and aid them in bidding on contracts.

Linus Sijenji, a youth coordinator in Kibera, notes that the combined efforts of the two programs are inspiring the youth and have opened up opportunities for them.

Our aim is to form our own companies that could competitively bid for such contracts on equal level with big companies. Much as this might seem far fetched, the idea is viable, especially with more training opportunities and resources like bank loans.

If these programs work as advertised, Ban will get an even bigger reception next time he comes to Kibera.

Cynthia Changyit Levin's comment about how the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire has sparked conversation and shined a light on poverty in India caught our eye. That's why Cynthia is this week's winner of the comment of the week contest. Her comment:

No matter what people may think about how poverty was portrayed in Slumdog Millionaire, it has definitely sparked a discussion. I have seen poverty-focused editorials, op-eds, and news articles inspired by this film printed in local papers, Newsweek and even the current Entertainment Weekly. But my favorite place to hear it discussed was at a party attended by upper middle class suburban moms. When I heard a woman say "I had no idea that level of poverty existed in India or anywhere!" I was satisfied to think that the film had broken through to her so that she would open the dialogue about global poverty in as unlikely a place as a birthday celebration.

It's great to hear that the film is making an impact among people that weren't previously aware of issues of extreme poverty. Thanks for the great comment!

Police in Reykjavik, Iceland after a violent protest turned into a riot on January 20. Photo: finnur.malmquist (flickr)

It’s a lot worse than just about everyone thought. By some estimates, the economic crisis could cost 50 million jobs worldwide. That's a catastrophic number, and even their potential loss is already fueling some discontent and sounding alarms.

Worried about the ripple effects of widespread unemployment, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency recently added the state of the economy to the agency's list of top security threats. Retired Admiral Dennis Blair, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, warned that "economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they persist over a one-to-two-year period."

On the international stage, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced his concern: "If not handled, today’s financial crisis will become tomorrow’s human crisis. Social unrest and political instability will grow, exacerbating all other problems."

Violent flare-ups over the economic recession and resulting unemployment are already occurring all over the globe.

In Pakistan, chronic power outages have forced many textile factories to close down for hours at a time, triggering thousands of angry protesters to set fire to the state-owned power company's office. Government cuts in Lithuania’s social programs prompted protesters to pelt the parliament building with eggs and rocks ; at least 14 people were injured and 84 detained. Chinese police officers are now undergoing special training to deal with expected social unrest over factory closings that have left millions of migrant workers out of a job.

Iceland and Latvia serve as extreme examples of the devastating consequences from the declining state of the worldwide economy: both countries’ respective governments collapsed under the pressure of the economic crisis.

However, security experts are concerned about other forms of collateral damage that extend beyond protests. Bruno Tertrais, a strategic and security expert at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris tells Time Magazine that he believes the biggest threat to international security is "the collapse of regimes vital to maintaining international order." Tertrais cites Somalia as an example — a place where, after the collapse of its government, piracy has gained a foothold and severely disrupted shipping routes along the horn of Africa.

Extreme poverty has always posed a threat, especially in the world’s emerging economies. However, the breadth and force of the current global economic crisis poses a threat to all nations, whether rich or poor.

Slum life might not be a dead-end for kids in Dharavi, India. Photo: lecercle (flickr)

Even before it cashed in on eight Oscars, Slumdog Millionaire had sparked a global conversation around the film's depiction of slum life in India.

Critics say Slumdog's dramatized images of destitution, squalor and prostitution send a distorted message to audiences. It also overlooks the resilience of India’s hardworking slum-dwellers, Gautaman Bhaskaran writes in the Japan Times:

Is this not what the developed West wants to see of India: its underbelly of crime, corruption and poverty that appears all black, dark and depressing, with little gray or goodness?

Meanwhile, economist Howard Husock draws a more hopeful message from the film: that slum life is not, in all cases, inescapable.

By finding a hero who rises from shacks and degradation, the film reflects a surprising new consensus that even as slums proliferate around the world at a greater scale than ever before, they could, with the right mix of policies, be the launching pads for upward mobility rather than dead-ends.

Over the last half-century, slums around the world have been transformed from temporary settlements into thriving urban centers, Husock writes in Forbes. In Mumbai’s Dharavi slum (where Slumdog was shot), small businesses are multiplying at a staggering rate.

But residents in Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, are less concerned about entrepreneurship and infrastructure than they are about a redevelopment project that would demolish their community. A plan to convert shanties into upscale apartments and office towers would uproot Dharavi residents from homes where they’ve lived for years — in some cases, for generations.

"This city has always been about diversity of habitats," urban planner and activist Rahul Srivastava told India’s Economic Times. "We have low-rises and high-rises, villages and slums. Why can't we make slums acceptable living spaces?"

Workers on a trading ship in Dubai, UAE. Photo: fleshmeatdoll (flickr)

Despite efforts by the local media to paint an optimistic picture, tough economic realities are quickly catching up with the ambitious, fast-growing city of Dubai. One indication of the gathering storm is recent news that approximately 53 percent of the planned $1.28 trillion worth of construction projects in the United Arab Emirates’ most populous city are now on hold.

Feeling the worsening global slowdown, many of UAE’s companies — mainly in the property, construction and financial sectors — have laid off hundreds of workers. Construction companies have delayed or canceled projects, banks are tightening lending and tourism is slowing. Some companies have given their employees a period of two to three months to look for alternative work — but jobs are rare because most companies are freezing recruitment.

This alarming new reality is most noticeably taking a toll on those who’ve come from other countries to seek work in Dubai. Foreigners make up about 85 percent of the local population and 99 percent of the private work force. According to the Ministry of Labor there are 4.5 million foreigners in the country, compared with 800,000 Emirati citizens. About two-thirds of the foreigners are South Asians, including most of the 1.2 million construction workers.

According to figures accumulated by Dubai’s Indian Consulate from airline records, a total of 20,000 workers from the construction sectors are leaving the UAE next month. Approximately 3,000 Filipinos out of the 300,000 in the UAE lost their jobs over the course of a single month because of the global financial crisis. And it is estimated that about 1,500 work permits and visas are being canceled in Dubai each day.

This mass exodus is causing a curious problem in the long-term parking lots of Dubai International Airport: Over the last four months, Dubai police have found at least 3,000 automobiles abandoned outside the airport.

But not all of those with grievances are exiting Dubai. The Dubai Ministry of Labor has been flooded with thousands of labor complaints, mostly from Indian workers. A local newspaper reports that many are seeking advice about pressing charges against their employer after being forced to take pay cuts, or suing for unfair dismissal.

“There are some real tragedies happening,” said Tony Maalouli, the managing director of a firm that has recently seen labor lawsuits increase by 20 percent. “Small to medium businesses are simply closing down and management is running away because of their liabilities. What they are doing is illegal, they are escaping their obligations. This is happening a lot.”

There are increasing signs that the expatriates who once flocked to Dubai in the last years are leaving. A Western diplomat notes, “There is no way of tracking actual numbers, but the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming. Dubai is emptying out.”

As the International Labor Organization predicts that the wages and jobs of more than 1.5 billion workers worldwide will be somehow affected in 2009, we can only anticipate more bad news coming from Dubai.

Over a million people live in Kibera. Photo: Chrissy Olson (flickr)

Trash dumps are being turned into organic gardens in a notorious Nairobi slum.

Youth in Kandimiru, a village within Kibera — known as Africa's biggest urban slum — are growing and selling produce on the former rubbish heaps, potentially easing the food crisis acutely felt by Africa's poor.

The science-fiction site I09 features photos of the transformation, calling it "the future of urban agriculture." It could also be the future of Kibera’s youth: "Most of the members were criminals who have chosen to reform," Mohammed Abdullahi, an official with the Kibera Youth Initiative for Community Development, tells IRIN news.

There are other indicators of change in the Kenyan slum, where vigilante groups rather than police patrol the streets. The Associated Press reports that some residents of Kibera "have helped construct a network of public latrines that recycle human waste into gas for cooking and light" and others, with the help of a Swiss aid organization, "use sunlight to purify drinking water, dramatically slashing cases of waterborne disease."

The most futuristic advance that could arise in Kibera involves using the methane gas from toilets to power people's homes. According to the AP, "Residents pay three cents to use one of eight drop toilets installed around a buried tank. The waste goes into an airtight 'biodigester,' where methane gas filters into an upper tank. The gas can be used to light stoves, turn on lamps, or heat water, although it is not yet pumped to individual homes."

Now that would make news on I09.

Children working in the Stung Meanchey Dump in Cambodia. Photo: EB78 (flickr)

Have you ever wondered what happens to the garbage after you leave it on the curb?

In developing countries, trash from the cities is commonly picked through by the poor and unwanted members of society. These trash pickers go by many names: the Zabaleen in Egypt, pepenadores in Mexico, and ragpickers in India.

These people rely on trash for their livelihoods. They spend hours sorting through these huge piles of rancid waste by hand. For them, almost everything is reusable. Organic materials are used to feed their livestock; recyclable materials are washed and resold. Indian ragpickers make only 100-150 rupees ($2.50-$3.75) for eight hours of sifting.

These overlooked members of society perform an important service for the rest of the population. In Delhi, ragpickers "represent almost 1% of Delhi's total population and handle about 20% of the city's enormous daily waste," according to Paul Colombini, who created a website on which Delhi recyclers can tell their own stories. It is estimated that these ragpickers save the city 600,000 rupees a day in trash disposal costs.

Though this work is dirty and smelly, they take pride knowing the invaluable service they perform.

We don't like attention. Rubbish is never attractive and we're quite happy carrying on quietly ... but our work supports a whole industry that's virtually invisible to most people.