A satellite imagery tool that will make an unprecedented amount of environmental data available freely online has been launched at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 16), in Mexico. Earth Engine, launched by Google on 3 December, aims to enable scientists to monitor and measure changes in the Earth's environment, such as global land cover, and hopefully help slow deforestation in the process.

Mame Penda Diouf talks over car horns and city bus engines as she shows off potted lettuce, mint and potato plants at a traffic circle in the Senegal capital, Dakar. A trader and horticulture trainer, she says micro-gardening creates jobs and allows people to better feed their families. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and many other international and local institutions are pushing just that message – that micro-gardening and other forms of urban horticulture can go a long way to boosting city dwellers’ food security and improving living conditions.

The WikiLeaks Cablegate affair is making it clear to governments that they cannot so easily control what is secret and what is not, said Anriette Esterhuysen, executive director of the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), the world’s longest-running online progressive network founded in 1990. If governments respond rationally, they will realise that it is cumbersome and expensive to keep information secret in a connected networked world and that they should only incur this expense when really necessary, she elaborated.

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers.

As nearly 200 delegates gather at the Conference of the Parties in Cancun, Mexico, writer Dennis Martinez points out that Indigenous peoples and their advocates have no official seat among nations, and yet have experienced the worst impacts of climate change. To solve the problem, delegates of the wealthy nations have a climate-mitigation plan of choice - carbon offsets embodied in a program called Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD). But for healthy and stable ecosystems, Martinez finds that it fails to measure up to an overlooked method: continued indigenous stewardship.

Recently launched was a 'bespoke, low-bandwidth version of Skype for use in 120 hardship locations served by UNHCR staff members around the world'. Many newspapers and blogs picked up on it, including Guardian Tech, Mashable, and the LA Times. Many friends directed me to it, knowing that I am always interested in tech developments in Africa. Unfortunately, 'bespoke' (I had to look it up) means designed and produced for particular customers. So that means this version of Skype is only available to UNHCR staff. It will not be available to anyone else for the foreseeable future - even if they live in places with slow Internet access.

US Army Africa Commander Major General David R. Hogg has praised the 'leading' role of Algeria in fighting terrorism in the Sahel region. Speaking at a 6 December press conference after his two-day visit to the country, the US military official lauded the 'impressive progress' that has been made. 'AFRICOM and the Algerian armed forces are co-operating, and that is the objective of the visit. We are here to discuss what we can learn from one another,' Hogg emphasised.

The United Nations World Health Organisation (WHO) has endorsed a new rapid test for tuberculosis, which it says could revolutionize the way the disease is tackled by providing an accurate diagnosis in about 100 minutes, compared to current tests that can take up to three months. 'This new test represents a major milestone for global TB diagnosis and care. It also represents new hope for the millions of people who are at the highest risk of TB and drug-resistant disease,' said Mario Raviglione, Director of WHO's Stop TB Department.

At 79, Samir Amin has lost none of his militancy. A leading thinker around ‘Third World-ism’, close to particular fathers of independence – like Modibo Keita – and the author of some 50 works on politics and economics, he tracks capitalism and international imperialism in all their forms. Interviewed by Christophe Champin, he discusses the last 50 years of relations between African states and the rest of the world.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the political backlash being mounted against the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks and accused the United States of attacking free speech after it put pressure on the website's host server to shut down the site. The website's host Amazon.com blocked access to WikiLeaks after United States officials condemned the torrent of revelations about political, business and diplomatic affairs that has given people around the world unprecedented access to detailed information from United States sources, much of it embarrassing to leading public figures.

Harvard School of Public Health and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, will release a new manual on 9 December on how to apply and promote human rights in all development work - including in humanitarian emergencies and difficult contexts. Designed for use by development workers and others, the manual provides practical tools for designing and implementing a human rights-based approach, and illustrates the benefits of using such an approach in development work.

As online whistleblower WikiLeaks started publishing hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. embassy cables this week, from unflattering assessments of world leaders to secret plans to topple governments, here's what three IFEX members - ARTICLE 19, Index on Censorship and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) - had to say. 'We're more or less satisfied with WikiLeaks' evolution,' the head of RSF, Jean-Francois Julliard, told AFP. 'We like this partnership with the newspapers and this work to put things in context, verify the information and draw lessons from it,' he said. ARTICLE 19 reiterated its call for governments to improve the public's access to information, and only limit access if governments can demonstrate it would cause a specific and articulated harm.

Developing countries continue to drive the global recovery but are not in a position to make up for slowdown in the advanced countries. Consequently, 2011 does not hold out much hope for the world economy, says a new report by the United Nations. The UN report, titled 'World Economic Situation and Prospects 2011' (WESP), finds that because of the slowdown in the advanced countries and the phasing out of stimulus measures, output growth in the developing countries is expected to shrink to six per cent during 2011-2012, down from seven per cent in 2010.

While some have looked favourably on Essar Africa Holdings Ltd being selected as the preferred private corporation to take on 54 per cent of the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO), Khadija Sharife points out that it’s not all good news.

Patrick Bond’s ‘The Elite Transition: From Apartheid to Neo-liberalism in South Africa’ provides a useful framework for thinking about the effects of the country’s economy policy on the poor, writes Udo W. Froese.

‘There are two monetary systems fighting for control of the global markets,’ writes Ellen Dunn. ‘One system is controlled by US and western European private banks using debt and the other is managed by sovereign states.’

Last year, the world spent $1.53 trillion dollars on the military. We can’t afford this price tag. We have too many other priorities that require our money: poverty, climate change, job creation. It’s time for people all over the world to come together and say no to the generals and the military contractors. Visit the website to find out more.

With Samir Amin speaking in the UK this week, Pambazuka Press is pleased to announce the publication of three of his books, and [mp3].

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers.

The majority of the world's child soldiers are involved in a variety of armed political groups. These include government-backed paramilitary groups, militias and self-defence units operating in many conflict zones. Others include armed groups opposed to central government rule, groups composed of ethnic religious and other minorities and clan-based or factional groups fighting governments and each other to defend territory and resources. This document from the Child Soldiers Initiative provides key facts and figures about child soldiers.