Despite Many Setbacks, The World Is Becoming Happier
August 30, 2022
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — High moments aside, do we know what happiness is? Is the world becoming a happier place? Are we happier than our parents’ or grandparents’ generations? What could give us a little more happiness?
“Homo Sapiens has been around for about 8,000 generations, and for most of that time, life has been rather unpleasant. Most humans who have ever lived have done so under despotic regimes,” wrote Stephen Krasner in Foreign Affairs in March 2020. Life expectancy, he points out, didn’t begin to increase until 1850, just seven generations ago, and accelerated only after 1900. It is still accelerating.…
Why We Need to Advance SDG 16 More Than Ever
August 19, 2022
Viewpoint by Dr Márcia Balisciano
The writer is the Global Head of Corporate Responsibility, RELX. She is also Chair of the UN Global Compact Network UK; Chair of the Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Council of the Conference Board; and a founding member of the Board of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens.
LONDON (IDN) — The goal in 2015 was to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. We should have been more than halfway there, but given the tumultuous state of global affairs, we are off track.
We must do more to realise progress.…
Bringing the Benefits and Peace of Space to Humanity
August 16, 2022
A new UNOOSA head is to be appointed soon
By Aurora Weiss
VIENNA (IDN) — Legend has it that a young Isaac Newton was sitting beneath an apple tree contemplating the mysterious universe. Suddenly —”boink!”—an apple unexpectedly hit him on the head. He experienced his “aha moment!”. In a flash of light, he understood that the same force that brought the apple crashing toward the ground also keeps the moon falling toward the Earth and the Earth falling toward the sun: gravity. We are talking about real space Affairs in practice, which debuted in his book Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1869). (P13) CHINESE | JAPANESE | KOREAN | SPANISH …
Climate Change and COVID-19 Playing Havoc in Latin America and the Caribbean
July 29, 2022
Viewpoint by Mario Cimoli
The writer is the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
SANTIAGO, Chile (IDN) — The Latin America and the Caribbean region is home to some of the widest biodiversity on the planet. From Caribbean marine and coastal oases to the Amazon rainforest and down to the southern-most reaches of Patagonia, the region is filled with natural wealth.
Deep Cuts in Funds for African Drought Victims as Money Flows to Europe
July 25, 2022
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — The war in Ukraine is draining millions of dollars away from crises in Africa as funds are being redirected to Europe.
Somalia, facing a food shortage largely driven by the war, could be the most vulnerable. Its aid funding is less than half of last year’s level, while Western donors have sent more than $1.7 billion to respond to the war in Europe.…
Why Do Zimbabwean Women Shun Politics?
July 24, 2022
By Farai Shawn Matiashe
MUTARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — Cyberbullying and online sexual harassment are some dilemmas that young women trying to rise in Zimbabwe’s patriarchal and male-dominated political space face.
What started as a debate on the opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), led by young and charismatic politician Nelson Chamisa not having structures, ended up with CCC spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere fighting cyberbullying from the ruling party, Zanu PF sympathisers in courts. (P12) JAPANESE | PORTUGUESE | SWAHILI…
Land Lease System Threatens Sustainability of Cane Farming in Fiji
July 23, 2022
By Kalinga Seneviratne
SUVA, Fiji (IDN) — Though sugar cane is thought to be indigenous to the islands of the South Pacific, it was the British who started to grow it as a cash crop in Fiji in the later part of the 19th century. In 37 years, beginning in 1879, they shipped some 60,000 Indians over 7000 miles from home to work as indentured labourers in the newly established plantation for very little or no salary on 5-year contracts. (P11) GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE…
Pacific Leaders Endorse ‘2050 Strategy of the Blue Pacific’
July 22, 2022
Pledge to Promote “Accountable” Development
By Sera Tikotikovatu-Sefeti
SUVA, Fiji (IDN) — The leaders of the Pacific gathering for the first time in three years endorsed the 2050 Strategy for a Blue Pacific at the 51st Pacific Island Forum (PIF) from July 11 to July 14.
“The success of this strategy is down to two things, and that is first, the leaders take accountability, and secondly, the people also be accountable for it, ” said Fiji’s Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, who chaired the PIF meeting. (P10) INDONESIAN | JAPANESE | THAI
The World is in Deep Trouble—& the Sustainable Development Goals in Jeopardy
July 18, 2022
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The warnings came from the highest echelons of the United Nations, from UN Secretary-General António Guterres and President of the 193-member General Assembly Abdulla Shahid.
The message was clear: the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) desperately need help for their very survival, eight years ahead of their 2030 deadline for full implementation.
WHO Calls for Equitable and Global Access to Bacterial Medicines
July 16, 2022
By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA (IDN) — In the first-ever “analysis of bacterial vaccines in preclinical and clinical development: 2021”, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for “equitable and global access to the vaccines that already exist, especially among populations that need them most” because of limited resources at their disposal.
This report is part of the WHO efforts to inform sustainable investment in research and development of new medicines, diagnostic tools, and other interventions to control AMR (antimicrobial resistance).…
SDG Roadmap is the Way Forward in the Face of Global Crises
July 11, 2022
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) — The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 of the United Nations says the climate crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and an increased number of conflicts around the world have placed the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in jeopardy.
The report, released on July 7, highlights the severity and magnitude of the challenges, with these cascading and intersecting crises creating spin-off impacts on food and nutrition, health, education, the environment, and peace and security, and affecting all the SDGs, the blueprint for more resilient, peaceful and equal societies.…
A Tide of Pledges at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon
July 2, 2022
By Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN | LISBON (IDN) — The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has pledged to enable 100 coastal countries including all Small Island Developing States to realize the maximum potential of their blue economies through sustainable, low-emission and climate-resilient ocean action by 2030. (P09) FRENCH | JAPANESE | PORTUGUESE…
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