SUSTAINABILITY

Photo: IOM transit centres in Niger. Credit: IOM | Amanda Nero 2016

Cooperation Key To Confronting Migration Challenges In West And Central Africa

Viewpoint by Richard Danzinger

The writer is regional director for West and Central Africa of International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN migration agency. This article first appeared on Africa Renewal, December 2018-March 2019 issue.

DAKAR (IDN-INPS) – Without a doubt, migration is a defining issue of this century. One billion people, one-seventh of the world’s population, are migrants. Some 244 million people are international migrants, 40 million are internally displaced and 24 million are refugees or asylum seekers. In 2018, there is no longer a single state that can claim to be untouched by human mobility.

About 423 million people are living in the Economic Community of West African States, a 15-member grouping whose aim is to promote economic integration in a region where the unemployment rate is sometimes 20 percent – inevitably leading to migration.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 21 January 2019

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres makes remarks during the handover ceremony of the Chairmanship of the Group of 77 from Egypt to the State of Palestine. 15 January 2019. New York. UN Photo/Manuel Elias.

'Group of 77' Shows Multilateralism 'Only Way to Address Shared Challenges'

Palestine And Its Citizens Have First-Hand Experience Of Some Of The Most Challenging And Dramatic Global Issues We Face

By António Guterres

The following are extensive extracts from UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks at the handover ceremony of the chairmanship of the Group of 77 developing countries and China, in New York on January 15, as the United Nations embarked on "another critical year of work".

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – The Group of 77 and China has demonstrated strong leadership throughout 2018 and proved once again to be a central force in demonstrating that multilateralism is the only way to address our shared challenges.

: Ramesh Jaura; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; The Group of 77; 20 January 2019

Photo: Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi (left) receives U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad at the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad on January 18. Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

A Crumbling 'Pax Americana' in Afghanistan

Viewpoint by Chayanika Saxena

This article is the first in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. The writer is President's Graduate Fellow & PhD Candidate (Political Geography), Dep. of Geography, National University of Singapore. This article first appeared on the New Delhi based South Asia Terrorism Portal on 19 January 2019. – The Editor

SINGAPORE (IDN-INPS) – Amongst the diverse on-going negotiations on Afghanistan, the one led by the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, has been making the most noise. Reflecting both the urgency and the desperation with which the United States, if not the entire coalition, wants its 'boys back home', the intensity and extensity of talks that are being conducted are telling in their own ways.

: Suresh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 20 January 2019

Photo: The IAEA has assisted Sudan in using nuclear technologies to combat the effects of climate change. Credit: N. Jawerth/IAEA

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 fronts: mitigating the production and release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and monitoring and adapting to their negative effects.

To further support these efforts, the Agency will host an International Conference on Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power from October 7-11 in Vienna.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 19 January 2019

Photo: Mediterranean forest area is on the rise but increasingly in jeopardy. Credit: CC Klodio70 @Flickr.com.

Expanding Mediterranean Forest Area Increasingly In Peril

By Jaya Ramachandran

ROME (IDN) – The Mediterranean forest area has expanded by two percent resulting in a rise of 1.8 million hectares – about the size of Slovenia, says a joint report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Plan Bleu, Regional Activity Center of UN Environment/Mediterranean Action Plan.

But the report titled The State of Mediterranean Forests 2018 warns that in the period 2010-2015 forests in the Mediterranean have also been considerably affected by degradation and are increasingly in jeopardy from climate change, population rise, wildfires and water scarcity.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 18 January 2019

Photo: As the climate change melts sea ice, the U.S. Geological Survey projects that two-thirds of polar bears will disappear by 2050. CC BY-SA 4.0

Global Heating Poses A Serious Systemic Challenge

Viewpoint by Franz Baumann

The following are excerpts from an article first published in the October 2018 issue of 'International Politics Review'. Dr. Franz Baumann is a visiting professor at New York University and a former UN assistant secretary-general, special adviser on environment and peace operations. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Climate change, used here synonymously and interchangeably with global heating and global warming, is happening. To wit: 17 of the 18 warmest years on record have occurred in the twenty-first century. The past three years were the hottest since records began (World Meteorological Organization, 2018a). Distress signals are coming from all corners of the earth (Achenbach and Fritz, 2018; Samenow, 2018; Sengupta, 2018b).

: Franz Baumann; OPINION; 18 January 2019

Photo: The index highlights the relationship between gender-based violence and child sexual abuse, says Dr. Joanna Rubinstein, President and CEO of the World Childhood Foundation USA, top left with children in the collage by IDN-INPS.

New Study Highlights Efforts To End Child Sexual Abuse And Exploitation

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – In Out of the Shadows 2017 thriller, a newly married detective and his pregnant wife move into their dream home unaware of its dark history. When his wife claims their baby is being tormented by a supernatural force and seeks the help of a renegade demonologist, he must investigate the past to save his family.

Out of the Shadows, released by the World Childhood Foundation USA (WCF) on January 15, is a thriller with a difference. Shining light on the response to child sexual abuse and exploitation, it declares: Sexual violence against children takes place mostly in the shadows, but it is happening everywhere, regardless of a country’s economic status or its citizens’ quality of life.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 17 January 2019

Photo: One of the "organisations of world public heritage", proposed by The Agora of the Earth's Inhabitants, held at the Monastery of the Common Good in the village of Sezano, is the UN Security Council for Common Goods. Credit: UN University | Paulo Filgueiras.

Toward Building Organisations of World Public Heritage

By Sean Buchanan

This is the second 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. Read Part 1: 'In Quest Of A Charter Of Humanity' here.

ROME (IDN) – The seventh report presented at The Agora of the Earth's Inhabitants, held at the Monastery of the Common Good in the village of Sezano, near Verona in northern Italy, from December 14-16, 2018, was entitled “Organisations of World Public Heritage”.

Based on the premise that rights to life are the foundation of common rights, it argued that the concept of efficiency today is in stark contrast with the concept of humanity, and it condemned the utilitarian vision of life, which is dominated by the concept of profitability.

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 17 January 2019

Collage: Monastery of Common Good with images from Italiani.net

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 in the anti-globalisation movement, wrote a book entitled Au nom de l'humanité – L'audace mondiale (Audacity, in the Name of Humanity).

The book analysed how we have come to lose the meaning of life, with a progressive idealisation of productivity and efficiency as the only values and with the speculation of uncontrolled finance. Petrella argued that the old policies that reign have led us to a system that is exhausted, with loss of the real and universal values of social justice, cooperation and peace.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 17 January 2019

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 Do Nothing' here.

COLOMBO (IDN) – The outlines of the frozen continent, seen from the approaching expedition ship Silver Cloud, are so hauntingly beautiful, serene and inviting. The snow covered surfaces, the glaciers glistening in the Antarctic sun are stunning. But without much warning the weather changes, the gloom sets in and the scowling glaciers threaten menacingly. The environment of the Antarctic has remained pristine largely due to its inhospitable nature. It is the only continent with no native human population.