Apr 5th, 2012 at 2:00PM: Pay to volunteer? While many people assume volunteering is always free, going abroad to participate in community service projects often costs money. I realized this the first time I volunteered abroad teaching English in Thailand. After doing weeks of research, I found there are a lot of companies charging a small fortune ‒ sometimes thousands of dollars ‒ to have travelers come over and spend ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
UnitedNations posts
10 Volunteer Programs For Budget Travelers
Apr 5th, 2012 at 2:00PM: Pay to volunteer? While many people assume volunteering is always free, going abroad to participate in community service projects often costs money. I realized this the first time I volunteered abroad teaching English in Thailand. After doing weeks of research, I found there are a lot of companies charging a small fortune ‒ sometimes thousands of dollars ‒ to have travelers come over and spend ...Ivory poaching on the rise thanks to Asian demand and a legal loophole
Jan 2nd, 2012 at 4:00PM: The poaching of elephant tusks is a growing problem due to increased demand from Asian nations, the Kenyan newspaper Business Daily reports.
A loophole in the UN law regulating the ivory trade allows Japan and China to legally purchase some ivory from selected nations under tightly controlled contracts. This has encouraged poachers to smuggle their illegal goods to Asia. Once there, it's much ...Developing nations see huge gains in tourism revenue
May 26th, 2011 at 8:00AM: According to data collected by the United Nations World Tourism Organizations (UNWTO), developing countries have seen significant gains in both the number of tourists visiting those nations and the amount of revenue generated from visitors over the past decade. In many of those countries, tourism ranks in the top three categories for economic development, demonstrating that travel can play a vital ...Rwanda pledges to save the environment
Mar 12th, 2011 at 8:00AM: The United Nations has declared 2011 as the "Year of the Forests" as it continues to work to encourage nations across the globe to take sustainable actions to protect the planet's woodlands. One of the first countries to answer the call to action is Rwanda, which has laid out an ambitious plan to protect its jungles, even as it struggles to develop economically.
As most people know, Rwanda was ...Bolivia campaigns to legalize coca
Jan 20th, 2011 at 10:30AM:
Four Loko, meet Coca Colla. CNN reports that Bolivia has launched a campaign to legalize coca, a native plant that has been used for medicinal purposes and as a mild stimulant by the indigenous peoples of the Andes for thousands of years. And yes, coca does contain trace amounts of cocaine. The leaves are used in purified forms of the narcotic, which is what led the United Nations to ban coca ...
American-Muslim group urges Palestinians to visit Holocaust Museum
Dec 23rd, 2010 at 8:30AM:
The Islamic Society of North America is defying Hamas and urging Palestinian youths to visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., the Jewish news service JTA reports.
A group of A-students from the Gaza Strip are to visit the nation's capital on a UN-sponsored educational visit. Their tour is to include the Holocaust Museum, but Hamas, which runs the Palestinian Authority, ...Feds threaten: cruise line pollution must stop
Dec 9th, 2010 at 4:30PM: New emission rules for cruise ships and other large vessels are set to go into effect in late 2013.
A United Nations plan to control emissions from ships sailing within 200 nautical miles of the U.S. and Canadian coasts initially excluded the U.S, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico which pretty much left the Caribbean wide open for uncontrolled cruise line pollution.
Ships often use lower ...American arrested for stealing 299 stuffed birds
Nov 13th, 2010 at 3:00PM: Here's a new low in the annals of crime. An American man has been arrested in England for stealing 299 stuffed birds from the Natural History Museum in Tring, Hertfordshire, England.
The unnamed 22 year-old has been arrested in connection with a break in at the museum back in June. The birds that were stolen were all rare and would have fetched a fair amount on the black market, showing that ...Ethiopia tops list of African nations improving quality of life
Nov 4th, 2010 at 2:00PM: Ethiopia suffers from a bad image thanks to the war and famine of the 1980s. As my series on travel in Ethiopia showed, however, this is a land of friendly people, beautiful nature, and fascinating historic sites. Infrastructure is slowly improving and the Ethiopians are making serious efforts to boost education, access to clean drinking water, and other improvements to the quality of life.
...Ghost Forest brings attention to rainforest threat
Jul 12th, 2010 at 4:30PM:
A Ghost Forest is stalking Europe.
Giant trees from Ghana have appeared in Copenhagen, Trafalgar Square in London, and now Oxford. It's called the Ghost Forest Art Project, and it's an innovative way to bring the plight of the world's rainforests to public attention.
Artist Angela Palmer wanted to share her concern with the public about tropical rainforests, which are disappearing fast. An ...Namibia clamps down on poaching in national parks
Apr 13th, 2010 at 9:00AM: There's been a rise in poaching in Southern Africa in recent years. Hunters are killing rare animals and selling their pelts, ivory, and other body parts to a multibillion dollar international network of dealers. The southwestern African nation of Namibia, however, has managed to avoid this trend.
This is due to strong criminal penalties and new measures implemented by the Ministry of ...Discount hotel coming to Haiti
Jan 10th, 2010 at 4:30PM: Choice Hotels is headed to Haiti! The discount lodging company will be the first to hit the country in close to a decade. Its first hotel, a Comfort Inn, is expected to open in May. It'll be located in the city of Jacmel, which is on the Caribbean coast. A 32-room motel is planned, but this is only the start for Choice Hotels' plans for the unlikely destination. It is also looking at building an ...North Korea prohibits the use of large suitcases, a model to be replicated?
Jan 7th, 2010 at 12:00PM: The effect of monetary policy on the travel industry can be profound in any economy, but in North Korea, it's usually more complicated. In a developed market, for example, a monetary policy that leads to inflation can make travel more expensive (duh, right). Well, in North Korea, you have to look past the implications of monetary policy to the underlying political drivers ... because the root ...Stevie Wonder named UN Messenger of Peace
Dec 3rd, 2009 at 10:30AM: Stevie Wonder is singing a new tune. Okay, not literally, but he has just taken on a new role: UN Messenger of Peace. Blind since birth, Wonder will support the United Nations' work, specifically to advocate for people with disabilities, through planned public appearances, interaction with international media, and humanitarian work. The winner of 25 Grammy awards, Wonder may be best known for ...Norway world's best place to live
Oct 6th, 2009 at 1:00PM: I'm not sure if everybody wants to live in Norway, but it's certainly at the top of the global list. The United Nations Development Program determined this based on data GDP, education and life expectancy – among other metrics – to find the best of the best, as well as the other end of the spectrum. The data's from 2007, though, so it doesn't reflect a post-financial crisis world. ...World tourism to be slower than expected this year
Jul 6th, 2009 at 9:00AM: The UN World Tourism Organization just changed its mind about global travel and tourism this year. I guess forecasting is easy when you can always issue a new one ... as long as the previous efforts are forgotten. Well, I wish I could tell you that the UN believes we've turned the corner – and that travel is going to spike this year. But, it isn't. The group has added a bit more doom and ...Undiscovered New York: Roosevelt Island
Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:30AM: The average visitor to New York has already seen Roosevelt Island. Or rather, they've seen it from a distance. You know that crazy island sitting in the middle of the East River across from Midtown? The one with the tram ride that lets you use your public transit card? Everyone knows it's there, but not nearly as many make the effort to go for a visit. You know what? Let them miss out. A ...Everglades to be put back on U.N. endangered list?
Jul 1st, 2009 at 10:00AM: Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is meeting with a task force charged with overseeing the restoration of the Florida Everglades this week. He intends to tell them that the Obama administration will ask the United Nations World Heritage Committee to put the national park back on its endangered list when the committee meet in Spain this week. Two years ago, in what has been viewed as a ...UNESCO adds sites to World Heritage list, and drops one too
Jun 30th, 2009 at 9:30AM: The UNESCO World Heritage List has just gotten a lot longer. Officials meeting for the 33rd session of the World Heritage Committee have added more than two dozen sites of great cultural, historical, or natural value to the list, and they're considering more.
Among the new entries are an aqueduct in Britain, a stately home in Belgium, and a sacred Buddhist mountain dotted with monasteries in ...Undiscovered New York: King of Corona Park
May 27th, 2009 at 1:00PM: It's good to be the king. All the world lies before your gaze, waiting to be discovered. You entertain visitors from far-away lands. Someone is ready with refreshments whenever you desire. Sounds good, doesn't it? Then we suggest on your next trip to New York, you stop in Queens, home to an area little-known to tourists called Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Corona Park is staring New York ...
