By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (IDN) — Delegates to the UN climate conference (COP27) reached a compromise to create a fund for disadvantaged countries coping with climate disasters worsened by pollution, mainly from wealthy nations. The meeting of almost 200 countries, ending on November 20 after two weeks […]
Agroecology, The Antidote for Climate Change?
By Busani Bafana SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (IDN) — The world needs to dump the false solutions of industrial agriculture for food and nutritional security and adopt agroecology in tackling climate change, says Edward Mukiibi, president of Slow Food, a global organization promoting local food and traditional cooking. Agroecology rejects chemical fertilizers and tackles climate change […]
Women Highlight Their Under-Representation at UN Climate Conference
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | SHARAM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (IDN) — More than 20 years since the first UN climate conference was held, less than five women have been climate conference presidents out of 110 heads of state and government. Women are now calling for greater representation at the next conference to […]
Done Deal on Loss and Damage but More Work on Cutting Emissions
By Busani Bafana SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (IDN) — Developing countries hard hit by climate change are set to get funds to help them deal with climate disasters after delegates to COP27 agreed to establish a long-sought Loss and Damage Fund but made little progress about cutting carbon emissions responsible for them. Following around-the-clock negotiations that […]
The US Midterm Election: A Rude Awakening for the Republican Party
Viewpoint by Alon Ben-Meir Dr Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies for over 20 years. NEW YORK (IDN) — The result of the midterm election has caused a seriously widening fissure […]
Combating the Migrant Crisis Along the Balkan Route in Europe
A Special Report by Aurora Weiss VIENNA (IDN) — The flow of refugees is unceasing. According to the European border agency Frontex, between January and September this year, 228,000 people “arrived illegally” in the Schengen area, which is 70 per cent more than last year. The vast majority still come from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. […]
India Could Navigate the G20 Next Year in a New Direction
Viewpoint by M. K. Bhadrakumar* NEW DELHI (IDN) — The seventeenth G20 Heads of State and Government Summit held in Bali, Indonesia, on November 15–16 stands out as a consequential event from many angles. The international politics is at an inflection point and the transition will not leave unaffected any of the institutions inherited from […]
Realising Safe Cities for Sanitation Workers in India
By Sameer Unhale, Dr Simi Mehta, Dr Arjun Kumar and Kushgara Khatri NEW DELHI (IDN) — World Toilet Day is held every year on November 19. It has been an annual United Nations observance since 2013, which celebrates toilets and raises awareness of the 3.6 billion people living without access to safely managed sanitation. It […]
UN Military Intervention in Haiti Offers No Added Value but Added Chaos
Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes The writer is the former Secretary-General of The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad & Tobago (IDN) — Haiti’s history of horror and resolute self-determination is once again a subject of controversy and confusion in much of the world’s media.
Growing Urbanization Chewing Away Forests in Southern Africa
By Jeffrey Moyo HARARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — In Harare, the Zimbabwean capital’s medium-density suburb known as Glaudina, where a thick forest used to exist, homes under construction have emerged instead, with the trees vanishing. North-West of Zimbabwe, just outside Lusaka, the Zambian capital, slums and shacks have also, over the decades, replaced the once flourishing […]