NAIROBI, Kenya, September 1 (IPS) – Open a can of something fizzy and the reason the sugar doesn’t separate immediately is gum arabic, tapped by hand from acacia trees across the Sahel. Spray on perfume and the reason the scent is still there at dinner is frankincense, a resin cut from Boswellia trees on the dry escarpments of the Horn of Africa. The fat that gives a chocolate bar its snap may well be shea, gathered and pressed by women in the parkland belt of West Africa. The cashmere jumper came from goats that can only be raised on cold, dry rangelands.
The race to build a pandemic-proof world 
Why the UN General Assembly still matters 
UN Crime Congress: Technology is transforming crime – and the response to it 
Less than 4 years from development goals deadline, progress shows what’s possible 
Women and girls pay high price in DR Congo Ebola outbreak 
Sexual violence against civilians and POW’s in Ukraine widespread and ‘abhorrent’ 
Surviving the summer