By Katsuhiro Asagiri Manama (IDN) — “Our world today is facing unprecedented challenges where conflicts are multiplying, and people whose identities are defined by religion, culture, or ethnicity continue to be besieged by hatred. Social and cultural divides are deepening; tribalism, ethnic violence, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, hate speech and ultra-nationalism are in full swing.” said […]
An Attack on Journalists is an Attack on Democracy, Emphasises a UN Conference
A Special Report by Aurora Weiss VIENNA (IDN) — United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA) joined in early November to mark the 10th anniversary of the UN Plan of Action on […]
Community-Driven Decentralization and Reconciliation in Palestine
By Yossef Ben-Meir The writer Dr Yossef Ben-Meir is a sociologist and President of the High Atlas Foundation in Morocco. MARRAKESCH (IDN) — A decentralized governance administration, whose procedures and functioning are defined from implementing a wide range of local development projects across a country, generates results that appeal to a broad spectrum of social […]
Africa: China Ramps Up Funding for Renewable Energy
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — China is one of the main funders of renewable-energy projects in Africa. At last year’s China-Africa Cooperation forum, Beijing committed to ramping up investments in solar, wind, and other renewables across the continent and has made no overseas coal power investments since 2021. It is […]
Funders Commit to Restoring African Forests
But Is Philanthropy the Way to Go? By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — A coalition of climate philanthropies, governments, technical support providers and others, responding to an urgent call by African leaders for environmental funding, has pledged close to $2 billion to help protect carbon reserves and biodiversity.
A New Initiative Seeks to Transform Agriculture & Food Systems
By Bernhard Schell SHARM EL-SHEIKH (IDN) — The Egyptian Presidency of the UN Climate Conference COP27 has launched a new initiative Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation or FAST, to improve the quantity and quality of climate finance contributions to transform agriculture and food systems by 2030. The cooperation programme will have concrete deliverables for […]
Indigenous Societies Draw Focus of the Arctic Circle Assembly
By Lowana Veal REYKJAVIK (IDN) — The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth’s ecosystems. The cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions. Life in the Arctic includes zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants and human societies. Reykjavik—capital of […]
COP27: Leaders Launch Global Alliance Against Future Drought Impacts
By Rita Joshi BONN | SHARM EL-SHEIKH (IDN) — Leaders from over 25 countries and 20 organizations have launched the International Drought Resilience Alliance to accelerate action and help countries to be better prepared for future droughts. Drought represents the most serious hazard to livestock and crops in nearly every part of the world, and […]
COP 27: The World’s Rich Urged to Pay Reparations for Climate Damage
By Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE (IDN) — At COP 27 in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh, the Global South led by Asia and the South Pacific (as well as Africa) are demanding that nature rights and climatic justice be recognized as a human right and COP (Conference of Parties) process go beyond pledges […]
COP27: A Win for Loss and Damage
By Busani Bafana SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (IDN) — After much horse-trading, loss and damage is on the agenda at the COP27 raising expectations of an agreement for funding to promote resilience and address longer-term impacts of climate change. For the first time since the adoption of the UN climate convention, the contentious issue of loss […]