By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Every year, on December 1, World AIDS Day is commemorated. People worldwide unite to show support for those living with HIV and remember those who have passed on from AIDS-related illnesses. Ten years ago, HIV had infected at least 10 per cent of the population […]
Now is a Good Time for a Ukraine Ceasefire and Peace Talks
Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK (IDN) — As the war in Ukraine has dragged on for nine months and a cold winter is setting in, people all over the world are calling for a Christmas truce, harkening back to the inspirational Christmas Truce of 1914. In the midst of […]
Urban Dwellers in Southern Africa Turn to Backyard Farming
By Jeffrey Moyo HARARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — At unoccupied swathes of land behind houses in Bloomingdale, a medium-income suburb in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, numerous maize fields and vegetable gardens have emerged as urban dwellers enduring economic hardships switch to backyard farming. Zambia, despite emerging from an economic crisis during former President Edgar Lungu’s reign […]
A Workshop Helps Fill the Basket of Knowledge on the Pacific
Climate Change, Human Mobility and Peacebuilding Draw the Focus Viewpoint by Volker Boege Toda Peace Institute issued this article, and it is being republished with their permission. BRISBANE, Australia (IDN) — While UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his opening speech at this year’s COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh on November 7 stated that humanity is […]
Slim Possibility of Asia-Pacific Getting on Track to Net-Zero
Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana The writer is an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). BANGKOK (IDN) — The recent climate talks in Egypt have left us with a sobering reality: The window for maintaining global warming to 1.5 degrees is […]
The 34th World AIDS Day: “Achieving Equity to End HIV”
By Somar Wijayadasa* Last year, every two minutes one person got infected with HIV, and every minute one person died of AIDS-related causes. NEW YORK (IDN) — Every year on December 1, people throughout the world commemorate World AIDS Day to raise awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. The […]
AfDB and OECD Join Hands for Low-Carbon Transition in Africa
By Jaya Ramachandran PARIS (IDN) — The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the OECD Development Centre are joining hands efforts to implement the Equitable Framework and Finance for Extractive-based Countries in Transition (EFFECT), which was launched on November 15 at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
COP27 Agreement (Is it Really?) on Compensation Fund
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — Welcome to our 15th issue of Sustainable Development Observer, focusing almost exclusively on COP 27—or what is known as the annual UN climatic change conference. Three decades after small island states introduced the term “loss and damage” to the United Nations, the world has finally agreed to set up […]
UN Agencies Help Enhance Food Safety and International Trade in 14 Countries
By Joanne Burge, IAEA Office of Public Information and Communication VIENNA (IDN | IAEA) — Animal diseases and crop pests can badly affect food supply and economies. Managing these problems can result in farming practices that involve the use of chemicals, which can lead to another problem: unsafe levels of chemical residues and contaminants in […]
UN’s Top Environmental Award Supports Ecosystem Restoration
By Devendra Kamarajan NAIROBI (IDN) — A conservationist, an enterprise, an economist, a women’s rights activist, and a wildlife biologist have been honoured by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) with its 2022 Champions of the Earth award for their transformative action to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation.