By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – As the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly pointed out, humanity is faced with a “defining moment”, a warning that is highlighted in the 30th-anniversary edition of the Human Development Report (HDR), The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene. Though humankind has achieved incredible progress, we have […]
UN Chief Points to Fragility and Conflict as Major Obstacles to Sustainable Development Goals
By Santo D. Banerjee NEW YORK (IDN) – “Challenges of Maintaining Peace and Security in Fragile Contexts” were the focus of Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the Security Council virtual open debate on January 6. The debate was organized by Mr Kais Saied, the Security Council’s Presidency for the month of January. He called for […]
Clean Energy Set to Grow in 2021
By Marcel Alers The author is Head of Energy of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) NEW YORK (IDN) – The energy sector, still dominated by fossil fuels, is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. We know people and nations need reliable sources of energy to power hospitals and light schools, and to safely cook, […]
Make 2021 A Fairer, Safer, Healthier World for Children
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK (IDN) – More than 371,500 children would be born on the first day of 2021, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The agency’s Executive Director Henrietta Fore said on the eve of the New Year day: “The children born today enter a world far different than even a year […]
The Rich-Poor Gulf Widens 5 Years After Adoption of Sustainable Development Goals
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – 2020 will be remembered as a year in which a contagious virus shut down the world, widened the gulf between the rich and the poor, triggered a spike in poverty for the first time in decades, and pushed back the United Nations efforts to create more equitable societies […]
Sufficient Uranium Resources Exist to Support the Sustainable Use of Nuclear Energy
By Reinhard Jacobsen VIENNA (IDN) – A new report by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that sufficient uranium resources exist to support the long-term, sustainable use of nuclear energy for low-carbon electricity generation as well as for other uses such as industrial heat applications and hydrogen production.
Desert Locust Upsurge Continues to Threaten Food Security in the Horn of Africa
FAO Needs Funds To Safeguard Agricultural Production and Livelihoods By FAO ROME (IDN) – A new generation of Desert Locust swarms is threatening Agricultural and pastoral livelihoods and the food security of millions of people in the Horn of Africa and Yemen, despite intense efforts to control the pest throughout 2020, according to the Food […]
The Southern Ocean an Ocean Like No Other
By Ceridwen Fraser, Christina Hulbe, Craig Stevens and Huw Griffiths* In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the fifth article in the series which looks […]
Effects of Global Warming Dramatic in the Arctic
By Jørgen Berge, Carlos Duarte, Dorte Krause-Jensen, Karen Filbee-Dexter, Kimberly Howland and Philippe Archambault* In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the fourth article in […]
Disrupting the Atlantic’s Ecosystem Can Have Far-Reaching Effects
By Suzanne OConnell and Pascal Le Floc’h* In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the third article in the series which looks at the Atlantic […]