GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

Pacific Islands Forum Issues Strongest-Ever Statement on Climate, Cites Security Threat

By Delia Paul, IISD

FUNAFUTI, Tuvalu (IDN) – Pacific leaders sounded an urgent call to world leaders to maintain security in the Pacific region by seeking to limit global warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels and meeting their global climate finance commitment of USD 100 billion per year by 2020.

The ‘Kainaki II Declaration,’ a document accompanying the formal communiqué from the meeting, puts forward a range of actions whereby the international community can step up actions to mitigate climate change and increase support for Pacific-led initiatives on resilience.

: Admin; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 21 August 2019

Photo (L-R): Ambassador of Equatorial Guinea in Brussels, Carmelo Nvono-Ncá preparing trip modalities for the signing with ACP Group Secretary General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes. Credit: ACP Press

ACP Information Centre for South-South and Triangular Cooperation Established in Equatorial Guinea

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The African, Caribbean and Pacific Information Centre for South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SS&TrC) has been formally established in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea. The Centre is a gift of President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the government and the people of the country in Central Africa, to the people and the ACP Group of 79 member states.

When the Centre was established on August 9, less than a year after it was unveiled on October 4, 2018, President Obiang referred to this inauguration as "historical" and "the most salient token of Southern peoples and countries’ solidarity that is aimed at enhancing their respective autonomy and support their efforts to achieve the international Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) foreseen in the 2030 Agenda.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 15 August 2019

Photo: Ivana Farina, Inger Andersen and Elizabeth Mrema. Photo by Florian Flussstetter/ UN Environmen

Prosecutors Are Key to Progressing Environmental Law

By UN Environment

NAIROBI (IDN) – If human society is to stay within the bounds of critical ecological thresholds, it is imperative that environmental laws are widely understood, respected and enforced. This is the environmental rule of law.

Since the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development of 1992, the world has converged on protecting our ecosystems; to illustrate, environmental laws and agencies have expanded 38-fold in the last few decades.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 12 August 2019

Photo: Plenary session of 2016 ACP Summit Papua New Guinea’s Port Moresby. Credit: ACP Press

Kenya to Host a Momentous Summit of 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific Nations

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The heads of state and government of the 79-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States will gather at a momentous Summit themed ‘A Transformed ACP: Committed to Multilateralism’ from December 9-10 in Nairobi, Kenya. Laying the groundwork for finalizing the Post-Cotonou agreement as well as the revision to its Constitutive Act, the 1975 Georgetown Agreement will top the agenda of what is the 9th Summit.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 11 August 2019

Photo: Interpol protecting Gendama land border.

ACP Group and INTERPOL Plan to Strengthen Cooperation

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States have expressed interest in strengthening the cooperation between the two organizations.

This was underlined by the INTERPOL special representative to the European Union Pierre St. Hilaire’s meeting with the ACP Secretary General Dr. Patrick Gomes and the ACP Committee of Ambassadors on July 18, 2019 at ACP House in Brussels.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 09 August 2019

ACP-EU Partnership Fights Poverty Across Africa

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – From the Horn of Africa to the slums of Capetown and Johannesburg in South Africa, and even further up across West Africa, poverty has over the years reigned supreme affecting millions of Africans.

But since the sub-Saharan African countries joined the Caribbean and Pacific nations, signed the Georgetown Agreement in 1975 and established the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), they have been striving to combat poverty and encourage sustainable development, a vital objective of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

: Jeffrey Moyo; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 03 August 2019

New Multilateralism Vital to Shift to Sustainable Tracks

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – “We need a new multilateralism to shift the world to sustainable tracks,” United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Liu Zhenmin, has accentuated in a conversation with the UN DESA ‘Voice’, which offers an insider's look at the world body in the area of economic, social and sustainable development policy.

It is produced by the Strategic Planning and Communications Services of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) with articles written by UN DESA staff. This is an electronic publication – no printed edition is generated.

: Santo D. Banerjee; SUSTAINABILITY; 01 August 2019

Photo source: Website of Bomet County in Kenya

ACP Honours Former President of Its Parliamentary Assembly

By ACP Press

BRUSSELS (IDN) – On behalf of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the Secretariat, Secretary General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes conveyed his deepest condolences to the family and friends, the Government and People of the Republic of Kenya, particularly the people of Bomet County following the death of their Governor, Dr. Joyce Laboso, on July 29, 2019.

: Europe Editor; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 31 July 2019

Photo: Bakery in Addis Ababa. Credit: UNCTAD

Entrepreneurship for Structural Transformation in LDCs Is Possible

By Paul Akiwumi

The writer, a national of Ghana, is UNCTAD's Director of the Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes. This article was first published in The EastAfrican, print edition (20-26 July 2019).

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) – Meskerem is a middle-aged Ethiopian woman, who runs a café and bakery with ten employees in an affluent neighbourhood of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Decent Work & Economic Growth; 29 July 2019

Photo: The conference room at the UN Office, Nairobi. Credit: ENB | IISD

NGOs Seen to Play Crucial Role in Implementing Global Environment Pacts

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – The civil society and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) supported by local communities can play a critical role in addressing climate change and growing inequalities, and contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, according to participants of the recent High-level Political Forum (HPLPF) at the UN headquarters in New York.