Viewpoint by Beate Trankmann*, UNDP Resident Representative in China BEIJING (IDN) – Since its outbreak, the effects of the coronavirus have been felt in countries across the world. With around 110,000 confirmed cases of COVID19 and over 4,000 deaths as of March 10, this epidemic has put public health systems and emergency services under immense pressure. […]
Massive African Infrastructure Projects Often Hurt, Not Help, Local People
Viewpoint by Tom Goodfellow* SHEFFIELD (IDN) – Big infrastructure projects are always controversial. Yet in parts of the world associated with severely deficient infrastructure, the positive value of major infrastructure investments is often taken as a given. This assumption needs to be subjected to much greater scrutiny, as I argue in new research that explores […]
A COVID-19 Vaccine Quickly and Cheaply Is Possible
Viewpoint by John Scales Avery* The writer is a theoretical chemist noted for his research publications in quantum chemistry. COPENHAGEN (IDN) – Public health experts say that if the COVID-19 epidemic is not successfully contained, it could become a global pandemic, perhaps spreading to 80% of the world’s population. With a 1% mortality rate, this […]
Postpone the NPT Review Conference to 2021 and Convene in Vienna
Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf The writer has attended all nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) meetings since 1987 as a delegate, including as senior adviser to the chair of Main Committee I (nuclear disarmament) in 2015 and to the chair of the 2014 preparatory committee; as alternate head of the International Atomic Energy Agency delegation to the […]
New ACP Chief to Enhance the 79-Nation Group’s Effectiveness at the UN
By Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, ACP Secretary General The following are extensive excerpts from the inaugural address of Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, Secretary General of the 79-nation ACP Group of States to the Special Meeting of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors on 2 March 2020 at the ACP House in Brussels. Angola’s Minister of Foreign […]
Our Addiction to Fossil Fuels Can Kill Us
Viewpoint by John Scales Avery* COPENHAGEN (IDN) – The Industrial Revolution marked the start of a massive human use of fossil fuels. The stored energy from several hundred years of plant growth began to be used at roughly a million times the rate at which it had been formed. The effect on human society was […]
Interconnected Dangers to Civilization
Viewpoint by John Scales Avery* COPENHAGEN (IDN) – Cultural evolution depends on the non-genetic storage, transmission, diffusion and utilization of information. The development of human speech, the invention of writing, the development of paper and printing, and finally, in modern times, computers and the Internet: all these have been crucial steps in society’s explosive accumulation […]
25 Years on From Beijing, COVID-19 Highlights Profound Interconnectedness & Persisting Inequalities
Viewpoint by Anita Nayar and Aishu Balaji Anita Nayar is Director and Aishu Balaji Program Coordinator of Regions Refocus. This article is based on the civil society statement delivered at the opening of CSW64/Beijing+25 by Anita Nayar, also Co-Chair of the Gender and Trade Coalition. NEW YORK (IDN) – On March 9, 2020, New York-based […]
Singapore’s Fight Against the Coronavirus on Social Media
Viewpoint by Archana Atmakuri The writer is a Research Analyst at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) at the National University of Singapore. This opinion piece first appeared on East Asia Forum on 6 March 2020. SINGAPORE (IDN) — Over 60 countries are now fighting confirmed and suspected cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), […]
CORVID 19 – The Insatiable Urge to Bash China Surfaces Again!
Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona The writer is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. COLOMBO (IDN) — Historically, the West has always had an equivocal attitude towards China, not to mention the non-white world. A fear, a suspicion, a fascination, an uncertainty, a sense of […]