What’s the problem?

Trees are more important today than ever before. More than 10,000 products are reportedly made from trees. Through chemistry, the humble woodpile is yielding chemicals, plastics and fabrics that were beyond comprehension when an axe first felled a Texas tree.

  • An African single currency is closer than ever

    An African single currency is closer than ever

    The project for a single currency in Africa seems closer than ever. The fifteen countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) recently agreed to abandon their monetary sovereignty in 2020 and introduce a new common currency: the ECO. This isn’t the first shared currency in post-colonial Africa. The CFA franc is now…

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  • What you should know about Africa’s massive, 54-country trade bloc

    What you should know about Africa’s massive, 54-country trade bloc

    KEY POINTS Leaders from 54 African nations met on Sunday to make a critical expansion to their continental free trade zone. If the massive deal works as hoped, it will connect 1.3 billion people, create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc, and heat up commerce within the continent itself. The African Continental Free Trade Area, which…

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