Nature Contributes to Economic Prosperity and Well-Being
September 29, 2022
By Ramu Damodaran
The author is Senior Fellow at the New Delhi-based Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP).
NEW YORK (IDN) — I was in Athens three years ago this week, on what was to be my last trip outside New York, where I am based, before the pandemic; I have not travelled after that. My journey was to attend the International Conference on Energy and Climate Change, which the Energy and Policy Centre (KEPA) at the National and Kapodistrian University had organized.…
UN Development Goals Can be Best Achieved with Civil Society Participation
September 26, 2022
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — A coalition of over 1,000 civil society organizations (CSOs) from 127 countries, under the umbrella of the Global People’s Assembly (GPA), has declared that the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be best achieved—and on its 2030 deadline—only with the active participation of civil society.…
Navigating Climate-Related Mobility and Human Security in the Pacific Islands
September 23, 2022
Viewpoint by Tim Westbury
This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.
BRISBANE, Australia (IDN) — The Pacific Islands security narrative is often dominated by voices and interests outside the region. At the recent Shangri-La Dialogue, among the hype surrounding geostrategic competition in the Pacific, Fiji’s Defence Minister Inia Seruiratu said that the “single greatest threat to our very existence is … human-induced, devastating climate change.”…
Women’s Equality Makes Our Planet Safe and Secure
September 23, 2022
By Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury
Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury is the Founder of the Global Movement for The Culture of Peace (GMCoP), Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN (1996-2001) and Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations (2002-2007).
The following is based on his inaugural keynote speech at the first “Exceptional Women of Peace” Awards Ceremony hosted by the Pathways To Peace (PTP) on 13 September 2022 (virtual)…
UNICEF Appoints Climate Activist Vanessa Nakate as Goodwill Ambassador
September 19, 2022
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — A Black climate activist, who found her picture snipped out of a news photo of young environmental activists (all white) at a U.N. confab, is finally getting a serious platform for her important work.
Vanessa Nakate, the Ugandan-born fighter for climate protection has been selected by UNICEF, the UN aid and development agency for children, to travel around the continent as their new goodwill ambassador. Other ambassadors included Serena Williams, popular actor Amitabh Bachchan, and Katy Perry.…
Kazakhstan, the Centre of a New Route of Global Relationships?
September 17, 2022
By Kalinga Seneviratne
NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (IDN) — Pope Francis has raised the prospect of Kazakhstan becoming the centre of a new route connecting the East and West, but this time a route that builds on human relations and respect.
Kazakhstan was once the meeting place of traders and travellers travelling from the East to the West, known as the Silk Route. In the 21st century, the Chinese are trying to revive these routes via railways and highways to promote trade across the world known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). (P16) ARABIC | JAPANESE | TURKISH…
Kazakhstan: A Bridge Between West and East
September 16, 2022
By Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kazakhstan
As Kazakhstan hosted on September 14-15 the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, an influential US magazine National Interest published an article by the Kazakhstan President where he dwells on the significance of the two-day congress amid rising global tensions. The following text was re-published by The Astana Times newspaper.
BERLIN | NUR-SULTAN (IDN) — At times like this, we need to build bridges, not walls.…
Religious Leaders Gather to Find Ways to Heal a Wounded World
September 14, 2022
By Kalinga Seneviratne
NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (IDN) — “The whole world is experiencing the ongoing impact of the pandemic, conflicts, sanctions, climatic change and other global issues. We all see the increase in geopolitical tensions and conflicts across the globe,” said Maulen Ashimbayev, head of the Secretariat of the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions on September 13. He was addressing a meeting of the Secretariat. (P15) CHINESE | FRENCH | JAPANESE | SPANISH | TURKISH…
Culture of Peace: An Answer to Intolerance, Hatred, Conflicts & Terrorism
September 9, 2022
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – A High-Level Forum on the Culture of Peace, which took place on September 6, had an explicit message to the world at large.
The Forum underlined the importance of peace at a time when Ukraine, a sovereign nation-state, is being annihilated by Russia, one of the world’s major nuclear powers and a permanent member of the Security Council. (P14) ITALIAN | JAPANESE | KOREAN | TURKISH
Full Gender Equality Still Centuries Away, Warns New UN Report
September 7, 2022
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) — The latest available Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 data show that the world is not on track to achieving gender equality by 2030. At the current rate of progress, it may take close to 300 years to achieve full gender equality, according to the new report by the UN Women and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), titled Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2022.…
UN Agency Slates Clean-up of Nigeria’s Most Polluted Region
September 5, 2022
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — There were high hopes for a one-billion-dollar clean-up of Nigeria’s most polluted region of Ogoniland in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region, the third largest mangrove ecosystem in the world when it got off the ground in 2019. It would address the greasy rainbow sheen over the 386-mile wetlands, the continual ooze from dormant wellheads and active pipelines, the once-lush mangroves coated in crude, and the smells of benzene while farmlands stood charred and barren.…
UN Talks Fail to Finalise High Seas Biodiversity Treaty
September 2, 2022
By Fermín Koop
This article was originally published on China Dialogue under the Creative Commons BY NC ND licence.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (IDN) — While many had hoped this would be the session to do it, after two weeks of talks at the UN headquarters in New York, from August 15 to August 26, member states have failed to conclude a legally binding agreement to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity on the high seas.
Now, governments will have to keep bridging their differences until a new meeting, for which a date has not yet been set.…