NextBillion
- Aryty: productizing remittances through cell phones. Aryty allows users to remit pre-paid airtime, or “load” as it’ called, to friends and relatives back home in the Philippines. Aryty users are not sending money; they just send pre-paid airtime.
- Rising Ventures: harnessing the ingenuity of the base of the economic pyramid (BOP). Natura Fibretech became the first company to produce coirply, a wood made from coir (a fiber made from coconuts) with a high quality comparable to teak. But its potential has yet to be fully realized in India’s growing construction industry.
- Convergence of the corporate sector and civil society? C.K. Prahalad talks about harnessing market forces and the power of civil society to bring real benefits and full citizenship in the global economy to 4 billion people.
EarthTrends
- US fish consumption continues to rise, putting increasing pressure on global fisheries.
- Forest certification and sustainable forest management. Despite notable gains in some countries, the MA reports that 54 countries have lost 90 percent of their forest cover.
- A review of the Global Environmental Outlook Yearbook 2007. The GEO Yearbook 2007 from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)focuses on sustainability and globalization.
