By Sean Buchanan NEW YORK (IDN) – Like many of the world’s low-lying islands, Tuvalu, the South Pacific island whose highest point is less than five metres above the waves, faces the threat of being submerged under rising seas. “We must stop Tuvalu from sinking and the world from sinking with Tuvalu,” UN Secretary-General António […]
Moving Money for a Nuclear-Free and Eco Friendly World
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA | BASEL (IDN) – While Fridays for Future protests underline a global dissatisfaction with the continuing failure of governments and industry to protect the climate, the setting of the Doomsday Clock hands to 2 minutes to midnight in January 2019 signifies a continuing high risk of a nuclear clash with disastrous […]
Call for UN Summit on Digitalization and Sustainability
By Rita Joshi BERLIN (IDN) – A new report has called on Germany and the European Union to convene a United Nations summit on ‘Digitalization and Sustainability’ in 2020 – 30 years after the UN Conference on Environment and Development, widely known as the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The central theme of the […]
Ocean Warming Blamed for Lack of Iceland’s Capelin
By Lowana Veal REYKJAVIK (IDN) – After five research expeditions in search of capelin, Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (IMFRI) has decided not to recommend a quota for it this year, arguing that global warming is probably responsible for the lack of the fish. According to Thorsteinn Sigurdsson, head of the Pelagic Division at […]
UN Chief Calls for Urgent Action to Address Dangers Linked to Climate Change
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK (IDN) – Concerned about rising global temperatures and disastrous consequences, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on Heads of State to attend the Climate Action Summit in New York on September 23, and achieve positive change. “Don’t come with a speech, come with a plan,” he said, adding: “This is […]
The Campaign Against Greta is an Index of the Loss of Values
Viewpoint by Roberto Savio* ROME (IDN | OtherNews) – Since the powerful march of hundreds of thousands of students in 1,000 towns against climate change, an unexpected campaign of delegitimation, ”demystification” and demonisation has started against Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who started the movement. After searching the media, social media and websites, this campaign can […]
The System, Youth and Democracy
Viewpoint by Roberto Savio* ROME (IDN | OtherNews) – If we ever needed proof of how the political system has become self-referential and unable to update itself, the latest student march in more than 1,000 towns is a very good example. Of course, politicians referred to it in declarations and, in a totally demagogic gesture, […]
UN Chief Emboldens the ‘Fridays for Future’ Climate Movement
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – “My generation has failed to respond properly to the dramatic challenge of climate change. This is deeply felt by young people. No wonder they are angry,” says UN Secretary-General António Guterres in an opinion piece for The Guardian, in the wake of unprecedented March 15 demonstrations by schoolchildren […]
UN Environment Assembly Convenes to Ramp Up Solutions for Sustainable Economies
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) – A five-day meeting of the United Nations top body on the environment, which is expected to take bold decisions and produce far-reaching outcomes that move global societies to a more sustainable path, began in Kenya’s capital Nairobi on March 11. Over 4,700 heads of state, ministers, […]
UN Environment Forum Underlines the Science-Innovation-Entrepreneurship Nexus
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) – Eminent scientists, Nobel laureates, artists, ministers, parliamentarians, industry and business leaders, young game changers in the science and business communities, heads of United Nations entities and civil society representatives participated in the UN Science-Policy-Business Forum on the Environment at the UN Headquarters in Nairobi from March […]