IDN-InDepthNews

News for a Sustainable World, Peace and Security

IDN-InDepthNews

Category: SUSTAINABILITY

DEVNET

A Practical Way Out of Chronic Poverty

TOKYO (IDN) – Poverty alleviation has been on the agenda of development cooperation since the early 1970s: Robert McNamara declared in 1973 that the World Bank’s mission is to eradicate poverty by 2000, and three years later the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), comprising world’s major donors, adopted the Basic Needs Approach. But the major challenge for the development community has been to find an effective method to provide substantial relief to the poor and deprived.

For some time, this issue was considered ideological, of a choice between growth and distribution. The last attempt at establishing a policy framework from an ideological perspective was the DAC’s policy declaration of 1996: Shaping the 21st Century; the Contribution of Development Cooperation. SPANISH | GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE

DEVNET

UN Sees Key Role for Women in Post-2015 Development Agenda

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – The United Nations, which has launched an intense world-wide campaign to ensure the full implementation of its post-2015 development agenda, is unequivocal in asserting that gender equality and women’s empowerment are indispensable to the realization of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders last September.

And Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is emphatic in his resounding political message: the world will never achieve 100 percent of its development goals until and unless 50 percent of its people — namely women—are treated “as full and equal participants in all realms.”

Reaffirming this message, Assistant Secretary-General Lakshmi Puri, deputy executive director of UN Women, told IPS gender equality and women’s empowerment are indispensable to the realization of sustainable development. SPANISH | GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE

DEVNET

Helping Achieve Sustainable Development Goals

TOKYO (IDN) – In March 2013, I established DEVNET Tokyo, now DEVNET Japan, as this East Asian country’s sole branch of Devnet International, which enjoys since 1995 a Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Before launching Devnet Tokyo, I was engaged as an entrepreneur in manufacturing, processing, sales and distribution with focus on agriculture, fisheries, livestock and forest industries. Based in my hometown in the Yamaguchi prefecture in Japan, I had expanded my business and built a huge distribution network worth more than 55 billion yen (approximately $4.5 billion) annual turnover at the peak time. SPANISH | GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE

SUSTAINABILITY

Trillions Needed to Help Countries Deliver on Climate Commitments

WASHINGTON (IDN) – Trillions, not billions, are required to transition to a low carbon and resilient economy and to prevent more than 100 million people, particularly in Africa and South Asia, being pushed back into poverty over the next 15 years, says the World Bank.

The World Bank Group has committed to increasing the share of its portfolio devoted to climate finance, from the current 21 percent, to 28 percent, over the next five years. “When including financing generated from other partners and associated private sector financing, such financing would amount to a potential $29 billion a year by 2020.”

DEVNET

Study Unveils How Big Philanthropy Shapes Development Agenda

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Global development policy is being increasingly influenced not only by “big business” but also by “big philanthropy”, warns a new study released here.

“They have become influential actors in international policy debates, including, most importantly, how to address poverty eradication, sustainable development, climate change and the protection of human rights”. SPANISH | GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE

Climate Action

Paris Climate Agreement Promises to be UN Chief’s Legacy

NEW YORK | PARIS (IDN) – Ban Ki-moon has reason to be sure that when he completes his second term as the Secretary-General of the United Nations end of December 2016, he would have left behind a proud legacy.

Climate change has been “one of the defining priorities” of his tenure since January 2007, when he took over as Secretary-General. In his remarks at the closing of COP21, Ban stressed: “Over the past nine years, I have spoken repeatedly with nearly every world leader. I have visited the climate front lines, from the Arctic to Antarctica and to the Amazon, from the Sahel to the Aral Sea. I have been to Pacific Islands that are sinking under the waves.”

Climate Action

Most Vulnerable Countries Assured of Fresh Money at Climate Conference

BERLIN | PARIS (IDN) – The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Chairperson Naoko Ishii has welcomed pledges made at the UN Climate Conference in Paris to inject more than 252 million U.S. dollars to help the most vulnerable countries address climate change and its adverse consequences.

In an unprecedented move, Premier Philippe Couillard of Québec, Canada’s largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division, has announced a contribution of 6 million Canadian dollars to the climate fund, hosted by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for the most vulnerable countries.

The commitment, made at the Paris COP21 climate talks, is the first-ever by a sub-national government, and brings total new financing to the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) to more than 252 million U.S. dollars.

The support for the LDCF was included in an announcement by the Québec government on December 5 of new international funding for climate cooperation.

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