By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 22 October 2024 (IDN) — There’s a lot of end-of-the-world hyperbole around on climate change, as every mass flooding is matched by outrageous wildfires. So there should be. But it blankets out other important causes that are even more imminently important—wiping out malaria, sleeping sickness and introducing pure water […]
Up to 41 billion USD in World Bank Climate Finance Unaccounted for, Oxfam Finds
By Rodney Reynolds NEW YORK | 17 October 2024 (IDN) — Up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance—nearly 40 percent of all climate funds disbursed by the Bank over the past seven years— is unaccounted for due to poor record-keeping practices, reveals a new Oxfam report published ahead of the World Bank and […]
El Niño Forecasts Can Give Early Warning of Crop Failures
By Dr Weston Anderson The writer is assistant research professor at the University of Maryland. This guest post was issued by Carbon Brief MARYLAND, USA | 31 August 2024 (IDN) — Extreme weather is one of the primary drivers of crop failures around the world. Crop failures—the total or near-total loss of a farm or […]
Africa Marks Earth Day With a Campaign Against Plastics
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 22 April 2024 (IDN) — Earth Day today has been marked around the world with demonstrations, conferences and awards for environmental activists. Africa is part of the program. The theme is “Planet vs Plastics” bringing attention to the serious issue of plastic pollution and how it […]
Asia-Pacific Will Not Achieve SDGs Before 2062, Says a UN Report
By Jutta Wolf BERLIN | 15 February 2024 (IDN) — The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has projected a delay until 2062 to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the region, missing the schedule by a staggering 32 years. The world leaders adopted the 17 Goals in 2015 […]
COP28: Little to Celebrate, More to Lament
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 13 December 2023 (IDN) — When the much-ballyhooed climate change “conference of parties” —COP28—concluded on December 12 in the bustling Emirati city of Dubai, it reflected an old Greek proverb: the mountain that laboured to produce a mouse. The London-based Nafkote Dabi, Climate Change Policy Lead at Oxfam International, […]
The Future of Human Civilization Is at Stake
By Franz Baumann This article was issued by Meer and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK | 11 December 2023 (IDN) — A Freudian Slip is a revealing blunder: saying what one really thinks rather than what is expected, polite, or politically correct. A textbook example is Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber’s claim, […]
COP29 Will Explore the Negatives of Eating Meat
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 10 December 2023 (IDN) — As the Dubai conference on climate winds up, some difficult issues may remain on the table for future debates—namely fossil fuel controversies and geopolitical tensions. The central debate among countries is whether to “phase out” or “phase down” fossil fuels. Despite […]
Loss and Damage Fund Is Signed for Climate-Damaged Countries
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 5 December 2023 (IDN) — Diplomats from nearly 200 countries celebrated with cheers and applause at the opening of the UN Climate Conference in Dubai, where a disaster fund to help vulnerable nations cope with the impact of drought, floods and rising seawater was announced. The […]
Climate Crisis Fuels Child Marriages, FGM in East and Southern Africa
By Kizito Makoye DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania | 3 December 2023 (IDN) — At 15, Sarah* was entangled in an early marriage that would change her life forever. The drought spells in Kotulogh village in Kenya’s West Pokot country had pushed many pastoralist families to the brink of survival. Sarah’s mother, desperate for money to […]