By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK (IDN) – In the lead up to International Women’s Day on March 8, twenty-six high ranking female officials who have worked across the United Nations have penned an open letter to world leaders calling for greater investment in policies and legal and social frameworks to achieve gender equality and inclusion. […]
Ghana Hosts Africa Climate Week as First of Three Regional Climate Events
By Rita Joshi BONN (IDN) – The Africa Climate Week, which is being hosted by Ghana from March 18–22 in Accra, is the first of three annual regional climate events this year – the latter two being the Latin America & Caribbean Climate Week and the Asia Pacific Climate Week. According to the Secretariat of […]
Shrinking Biodiversity of Plants Cultivated for Food Poses Severe Threat
By Jaya Ramachandran ROME (IDN) – In the first-ever report of its kind FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, has presented surging and perturbing evidence that the biodiversity that underpins our food systems is disappearing – putting the global population’s health, livelihoods and environment under severe threat. FAO’s State of the […]
Democracy Under Threat From Corruption
By Sean Buchanan LONDON (IDN) – Amid a deterioration of trust in democracy, people around the world clearly disillusioned with formal political institutions are turning their anger into protest. Besides being self-seeking, the political class is seen as riddled with corruption, leading to a situation where democratic progress has slowed to a near halt. Indeed, […]
India To Host UN Conference On Land Degradation
By Jutta Wolf BONN (IDN) – India will host the global Conference on desertification, land degradation and drought from October 7 to 18, 2019 in New Delhi. Participants from 197 Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will have access, for the first time, to a wealth of vital new scientific data, says […]
UN Nuclear Watchdog Helps Countries Combat Climate Change
By Noah Mayhew, IAEA VIENNA (IDN) – Climate change is one of the biggest environmental challenges affecting humanity today, causing a dangerous rise in sea levels and disturbances to the water cycle and leading to more frequent extreme weather events. The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) helps Member States combat climate change on a variety of […]
In Quest Of A Charter Of Humanity
By Sean Buchanan This is the first of a two-part report on ‘The Agora of the Inhabitants of the Earth’, organised to find a new paradigm that overcomes the political and ideal gap in which we are living. ROME (IDN) – Some years ago, Riccardo Petrella, an Italian economist, political scientist and a leading figure […]
Antarctica: The Tale Of A Beauty Condemned
By Dr Palitha Kohona The author is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. Dr Kohona visited Antarctica on board the expedition vessel Silver Cloud recently. This is the second of a two-part report. Read Part 1 ‘End of The Antarctic Ice Cap In Sight If We […]
Women To March For Gender Equality Around The World
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Building on the vision and mission of the 2017 National Women’s March in the U.S., women around the world will mark January 19 with marches and other actions “supporting the advocacy and resistance movements that reflect our multiple and intersecting identities”. The main march in […]
End of The Antarctic Ice Cap In Sight If We Do Nothing
By Dr Palitha Kohona The author is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. Dr Kohona visited Antarctica on board the expedition vessel Silver Cloud recently. This is the first of a two-part report . COLOMBO (IDN) – The thick ice cap above the Antarctic continent will […]