By Julian Reingold* This article was first published in Dialogue Earth. This story was supported by a reporting grant from the Pulitzer Center. BUENOS AIRES | 29 August 2024 (IDN) — Emerging from the sea a light orange colour, the seaweed turns brown once it dries out. But the most distinctive thing is the smell. […]
Ocean Currents Bringing Plastic Waste to Tonga
By Malia Kavai* NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga | 25 June 2024 (IDN | Wansolwara) — Ocean currents across the vast Pacific Ocean are bringing plastic wastes to Tonga. This is the warning from two visiting scholars from New Zealand. The two scholars, Professor Palatasa Havea from Massey University and Dr. Bridie Allan, a lecturer at Otago University, […]
Turning Development Challenges into Opportunities
By Amanda K Serumaga The author is the UNDP Resident Representative, Mauritius and Seychelles. VICTORIA| 30 May 2024 (IDN) — An archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, Seychelles has a population of just over 100,000 in an area covering 457 square kilometres. But while it is classified as a high-income country, this Small […]
The Quad, Maritime Security, and Climate Change
By Robert Mizo* This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission. NEW DELHI | 20 May 2024 (IDN) — The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, colloquially known as the Quad, was re-initiated in 2017 after almost a decade-long hiatus. The members of the informal minilateral—Australia, Japan, India, and the […]
Is China Grabbing the South China Sea?
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 8 May 2024 (IDN) — Napoleon warned us that China was a sleeping giant best left, undisturbed. No longer. As is clear from the visit of President Xi Jinping to France this week, the giant is well awake, even happy to pay a ceremonial visit to Napoleon’s tomb, affirming […]
A Mixed Reception at Talks on an Anti-Pollution Plastic Treaty
By Simone Galimberti* KATHMANDU Nepal | 5 May 2024 (IDN)– The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4), negotiating a draft treaty against plastic pollution, one of the growing environmental hazards, was held in Ottawa, Canada, 23-29 April. But how did the talks end? It depends. Certainly, you do not need to be an […]
UN Conference to Assist Small Island States to Defy Multiple Crises
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | 4 May 2024 (IDN) — “Charting the Course Toward Resilient Prosperity” is the overarching theme of the fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) to be held from 27 to 30 May 2024 in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda at the American University of Antigua. The Conference has […]
Indian Ocean “Zone of Peace” Sinking in Troubled Waters
By Thalif Deen* UNITED NATIONS | 8 April 2024 (IDN) — Just after a group of mercenaries tried to unsuccessfully oust the government of the Maldives in 1979, I asked a Maldivian diplomat, using a military jargon, about the strength of his country’s “standing army”. “Standing army?”, the diplomat asked with mock surprise, and remarked […]
UN’s Ocean Treaty Cries Out for Ratifications
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 6 March 2024 (IDN) — When the UN finalized the text of a long-drawn-out Global Ocean Treaty on 4 March 2023, Secretary-General António Guterres described it as a major breakthrough because it marked “the culmination of nearly two decades of negotiations and builds on the legacy of the United […]
A High Seas Treaty Aimed at Protecting Polluted Oceans is Now a Reality
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS. 16 September 2023 (IDN) — A historic new international treaty, described as “a monumental win for the protection of the world’s oceans”, will be open for signature by member states beginning September 20 during the high-level meeting of world political leaders at the UN General Assembly (UNGA). The treaty will […]