Following a tradition established in 1992, at the United Nations "Earth Summit' in Rio de Janeiro, when the first TerraViva newspaper was published, this brand has become familiar to participants at every major international gathering and also among thousands of readers of the daily and weekly newsletters, of which the flagship is the United Nations 'Daily Journal', started in 1990 as a fax letter from IPS-New York.

TerraViva is now widely, and righteously, recognized as equal to independent, professional journalism committed to the values of sustainable development, social justice and human rights.

This web site for the first time groups together the various TerraViva publications around the world: UN Journal TerraViva from the UN headquarters in New York, TerraViva Europe from IPS Europe regional centre in Berlin, TerraViva Africa Weekly from IPS Africa regional centre in South Africa's commercial capital Johannesburg and TerraViva en Español from IPS Latin America regional centre in Uruguay's capital Montevideo.

IPS is the only independent global news and communication agency of its kind that operates from Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, the Caribbean and Latin America. It is owned by IPS Inter Press Service International Association which has a consultative status with the ECOSOC. IPS is also recognised by the OECD as one of the "main international non-governmental organisations official contributions to which may be reported as (bilateral) ODA".

IPS is civil society's leading news agency, an independent voice from the South and for development, delving into globalisation for the stories underneath. It is an indispensable instrument for creating public awareness about the Millennium Development Goals agreed in September 2000 by the heads of state and government from around the world during the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations in New York.