GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

UN Releases Special 2020 Broadcast Calling for Collective Action

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – In a significant move to mobilise global support, the United Nations, Project Everyone and 72 Films are launching 'Nations United - Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times'. A first of its kind film has been released September 19 on the UN YouTube channel and global broadcast networks.

The importance of the move lies in the fact that with just ten years to go for the 2030 deadline, implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is far from satisfactory. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic is threatening decade of global progress.

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 20 September 2020

Call for a Strengthened and Reformed United Nations System

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – Ahead of the September 21 High-Level Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, a group of prominent former government and UN leaders are calling on current world leaders to take action to strengthen the United Nations system.

According to the UN2020, in an Open Letter published on September 18, former UN and government officials from around the world are calling for the 75th anniversary to lead to “a stronger, more accountable, inclusive multilateral system.”

: J C Suresh; UN INSIDER; 18 September 2020

Uncertainty Hangs Over the UN Surviving Beyond 2045

Viewpoints by Franz Baumann, Fmr. UN Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations and Christopher Ankersen, Global Affairs, New York University.

This is the second of two rounds of Dr Franz Baumann's stimulating exchange with Dr Chris Ankersen posted on PAIRAGRAPH – A Hub of discourse between pairs of notable individuals. The first appeared on 8 September 2020. It can be freely accessed here.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 18 September 2020

Photo: Testing sheep for diseases in Bako, Ethiopia. Credit: International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) | Barbara Wieland.

New UN Report Warns of Future Pandemics If 'Business as Usual' Continues

By J. Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – A new UN report has underlined the importance of biodiversity in addressing climate change, and long-term food security, and concluded that action to protect biodiversity is essential to prevent future pandemics.

The fifth edition of the UN's Global Biodiversity Outlook report, released on September 15, has warned: "The continued degradation of the environment is increasing the likelihood of diseases spreading from animals to humans."

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 17 September 2020

The Great Green Wall Is Paving the Way Ahead to 2030

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN) – The Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative has over the past 13 years restored close to 20 million hectares of land, according to a report released on September 7 at a virtual meeting of environmental ministers from Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti together with regional partners, international organizations and development agencies.

The GGW Initiative was launched in 2007 under the leadership of the African Union Commission and Pan-African Agency, and with the financial support from the government of Ireland.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Forests, desertification, land degradation & biodiversity; 16 September 2020

Image: Building on the traditions of the past, UCD is a university of the future, connected and connecting, engaged and engaging, committed to a sustainable future built on a healthy biosphere. Credit: UCD

Of Joyce, Univ. College Dublin and Sustainable Development

By Ramu Damodaran

The writer is Chief of the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), an initiative that aligns institutions of higher education with the UN. The following article was published on the UNAI website.

NEW YORK (IDN) – An old college friend, Pramesh Ratnakar, shared with me William Butler Yeats’s recollection of his first meeting, at the age of 37, with James Joyce, who was 20. Yeats felt the meeting had gone off well and he had “conquered” Joyce until the younger writer asked him how old he was. When told, Joyce replied “it’s too late now. I wish we had met when you were younger.”

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Quality Education; 11 September 2020

Photo: Zaina's mother, Cremesta, has moved into her daughter's home in Montepuez after fleeing from c UN Mozambique/Philip Hatcher-Moore conflict.

COVID-19 Pandemic Threatening Peace and Security

By Rosemary DiCarlo
UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs

Following are extensive excerpts from Ms DiCarlo's briefing to the Security Council on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on peace and security.

NEW YORK (IDN) – It is sobering to realize that the risks the Secretary-General identified to this Council on 2 July are manifesting in a number of countries across the world.

But we are also witnessing resilience, innovation and inclusive political action to mitigate the impact of some of them.

I would like to begin by highlighting three heightened risks.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 10 September 2020

Photo: The La Mojana region of Colombia is highly vulnerable to climate-change induced floods and droughts. By building resilience to these impacts, the project also insulates communities from other shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: UNDP Colombia/Mauricio Enriquez O.

UN Report Presents A Unified Assessment of The Critical State of Our Earth System

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – As global temperatures continue to hit new highs, the choice, according to the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, is between "business as usual, leading to further calamity, or using the recovery from COVID-19 to provide a real opportunity to put the world on a sustainable path".

Speaking at the launch of the report United in Science 2020 on September 9, he emphasized that there is "no time to delay" if the world is to slow the trend of the devastating impacts of climate change, and limit temperate rise to 1.5 degree-Celsius. "Whether we are tackling a pandemic or the climate crisis, it is clear that we need science, solidarity and decisive solutions," he said.

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 09 September 2020

Photo: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Source: SADA ELBALAD.

The Press Freedom Climate in Algeria Has Changed for The Worse Under New President

Viewpoint by M ElHaies

The writer is a consultant in CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program. This article is being republished courtesy of CPJ which first carried it on its Website on August 26.

NEW YORK (IDN) – Two weeks after the imprisonment of a high-profile Algerian journalist, a former reporter has been sentenced to prison for his online commentary, cementing fears that Algeria’s new president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, is on track to match his predecessor’s record of enacting restrictive policies toward the press even as he has promised democratic reforms.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 30 August 2020

Photo: The sculpture Non-Violence by Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd, in front of UN headquarters at New York City. CC BY-SA 3.0

The UN at 75: A Glass Half Full or One Draining Through the Cracks – Part Two

Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona

This is the second of a two-part article by Dr Palitha Kohona, Former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, Former Chair of the UNGA Sixth Committee and the Former Co-Chair of the UN Ad Hoc Committee on BBNJ. Click here for Part One.

COLOMBO (IDN) – The way UN’s constitution (The Charter) is formulated ensures that its powers are strictly constrained. At the same time the rights and privileges of those who won the Second World War are well and truly entrenched in a blatantly undemocratic manner in the Charter, causing much disenchantment in a world where the political, economic and social power centres have shifted significantly.