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By Sarosh Bana, Executive Editor of Business India magazine and EWCA Mumbai Chapter President
(Note: This article originally appeared in Business India magazine on April 1, 2013.)
South Asian countries, where wheat is a staple cereal for many, is vulnerably poised in the path of an exceptionally virulent fungus that can wipe out entire farmlands.
Farmers and agriculturist scientists in the region are hunkering down to fortify themselves against this peril that can undermine the food security of millions.
Wheat stem rust fungus.
More than 20 wheat scientists from five South Asian countries – India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bhutan – participated last fortnight in a comprehensive training programme in Kathmandu on wheat rust monitoring and disease management.
Designed to raise a new generation of agro-scientists equipped to identify the more virulent stem, leaf and yellow rusts that can devastate entire farmlands and to create wheat strains that can withstand this scourge, the 2013 SAARC Wheat Rust Surveillance Workshop and Training Programme was the fourth such annual event to be held in South Asia. It was organised by the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat (DRRW) Project, managed by the US’s Cornell University. Continue Reading »
Thank you for taking the time to participate in the EWC Alumni questionnaire. We received an overwhelmingly positive response from over 460 alumni within the two weeks allotted for feedback. We truly value your responses and comments and will incorporate them appropriately as we move forward with the Center’s strategic planning process.
To view the summary of questionnaire responses, click here.
Dr. Abdul Rashid inspects a wheat field in Pakistan.
East-West Center Distinguished Alumnus Dr. Abdul Rashid of Pakistan has received the International Fertilizer Industry Association’s 2013 Norman Borlaug Award for excellence in crop nutrition research. In May, Dr. Rashid and his wife will travel to the IFA Annual Conference in Chicago to receive this prestigious recognition. Continue Reading »
Shaxi, a restored historic town in Yunnan Province, China, faces key tourism development decisions. Photo by APLP Fellow Taku Jindo.
Asia Pacific Leadership Program Fellows Alisha Bhagat and Gretchen Alther report from the field:
Last autumn, a group of 14 Asia Pacific Leadership Progam fellows from the East-WestCenter traveled to China for a fall field study program. China provided the perfect environment to engage in dynamic processes of change and apply classroom learning to the real world. The fellows explored the rapid economic development of China, political change, and the prominence of China in the Asia-Pacific.
During the field study, a team of three students travelled to Shaxi, a historic town in rural Yunnan Province that had recently been restored as a tourism site. Shaxi is an ideal place to see the drivers of change in China occurring in a small space. Continue Reading »
EWC Education Project Specialist Christina Monroe writes:
Just as quickly as you can end the previously hours-long debate on ‘what countries border Moldova’ with a Google search on your smartphone, human rights activists can now eliminate doubts that abuses are happening.
It’s a new open source transparency. But instead of sharing software for free, scientists and NGO workers are sharing tools to document events. These events used to happen in secrecy, but now they’re in the public domain for all to see. These tools, in the hands of willing citizens, can force public accountability and ultimately more transparency from powerful players in every society.
I recently took part in a briefing for East-West Center’s Asia Pacific Leadership Program fellows with the Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC. I’m fascinated by how they use GIS and remote sensing to support human rights organizations.
An analysis of high-resolution satellite images of Aleppo, Syria, appears to reveal the deployment of heavy armored vehicles in civilian neighborhoods as well 117 instances of damage to buildings and infrastructure. Source: American Association for the Advancement of Science.
CHAPTER DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
QUARTERLY REPORTS, EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING (1/17/13)
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED BY Estrella Besinga Sybinsky
HAPPY 2013! Despite the hectic holiday schedule worldwide, seventeen chapters managed to respond to the call for chapter reports. We continue to thank you for your response, though your respective chapter may not have much activity to report.
The following chapters responded: 1) Bali Chapter (Agung Muninjaya) 2) Brisbane Chapter (Iraphne Childs) 3) Chandigarh (India) Chapter (Rajesh Kumar Aggarwal) 4) Chennai Chapter (P. Subramaniyam) 5) Hawaii Chapter (Carl Hefner) 6) Kansai Chapter (Seiko Furuhashi) 7) Korea Chapter (Jeong Taik Lee) 8) Kuala Lumpur Chapter (Gan Siowck Lee) 9) Laos Chapter (Chanthavong) 10) Mumbai Chapter (Sarosh Bana) 11) Nepal Chapter (Nirendra Maske) 12) N.Y., CT, N.J. Chapter (Bill Armbruster) 13) Papua New Guinea Chapter (Solomon Kantha) 14) Singapore Chapter (Alice Seng Seok Hoon) 15) S. California Chapter (Claire Langham 16) Sri Lanka Chapter (GBA Fernando) and 17) Taiwan Chapter (Nora Chiang).
Continue Reading »
The East-West Center and EWC Alumni Association will recognize six outstanding alumni and two alumni chapters for their exceptional accomplishments and service at the EWC/EWCA International Conference in Beijing, Sept. 1-3 at Peking University.
Recipients of the 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award are:
Senen Bacani, former Philippines Secretary of Agriculture under President Corazon Aquino and current Chairman and President of La Frutera, Inc., the Philippines’ largest banana exporter. Bacani established his successful company in the autonomous region of Mindanao helping to bring jobs to the war-torn region. He envisioned La Frutera as a model of how Muslims and Christians can work together.
Amanda Ellis, New Zealand’s Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade in charge of international development. Ellis formerly served as Lead Specialist for Gender and Development for the World Bank, where she played a vital role in economically empowering women in an impressive number of the world’s developing countries.
Continue Reading »
APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 31 MAY 2012
The 5th Annual Summer Institute in
International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
“Business and Human Rights”
Monday, July 16 – Thursday, July 26, 2012
Singapore
Join the Tibet (Himalayas Everest Base Camp) 12-Day Trekking Tour and support EWC Scholarships
Dates: September 4 to 15, 2012
Organized by Jean (Eng) Geer (CLI 78-79), jsgeer@wavecable.com
Ever since I trekked the Himalaya of Nepal to the South Face Everest Base Camp, trekking the Himalaya of Tibet to the North Face Everest Base Camp has been a top “to do in this life.” The Himalaya range is magnificent and the North Face of Mount Everest is described as spectacular. Gary McCue in his book, Trekking Tibet shared: “Nowhere in the Himalaya can the immense height of Mount Everest (29,035 ft, 8850 m) the highest point on Earth, be appreciated as it can be in Tibet. . . . The North Face is arguably its most spectacular side, a sheer wall of rock and ice rising over 2 vertical miles (3.7 km) . . . “
Continue Reading »
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