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By Ellen Hernandez and Katie Bercegeay *
MARRAKECH (IDN) – Upon hearing the words “Hamdullah wa inshallah,” Mark Apel is transported as if in a time capsule to the many times he and Yossef Ben-Meir, President of the High Atlas Foundation (HAF), uttered them in gratitude for the food set before them or in hope for something good to come of their efforts as Peace Corps Volunteers. “It makes you more mindful of the moment,” he remarked in a recent interview conducted by Yossef for HAF.
![Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo meets with Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 18, 2020. [State Department Photo by Ron Przysucha/ Public Domain]](/images/pompeo_with_ethiioian_president.jpg)
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Based on guidance from President Trump, the State Department is suspending $130 million in security-related aid to Ethiopia over a nearly-completed dam that would lift Ethiopia from poverty and end the shadow of British colonialism that favoured Egypt.
Programs on the chopping block include security assistance, counterterrorism and military education and training, anti-human trafficking programs, and broader development assistance funding, congressional aides said. The cuts would not impact U.S. funding for emergency humanitarian relief, food assistance, or health programs aimed at addressing COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS, they said.
By Anniek Barnhoorn, Florian Krampe, Luc van de Goor, Elizabeth Smith & Dan Smith*
STOCKHOLM (IDN) – As the global climate changes, climate-related security risks are making the existing political, social, and economic challenges even more complicated. The 230 million people who live in the Horn of Africa are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change such as droughts and floods. Political fragility and transnational complexities make water governance a matter of regional high-level politics as well as geopolitical tensions. In short, sustainable water governance is critical for achieving resilient peace.
Viewpoint by Jan Egeland and Jean-François Riffaud
Jan Egeland is Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Jean-François Riffaud is Chief Executive Officer of Action Against Hunger-France.
OSLO (IDN) — President Emmanuel Macron invited the five G5 West African leaders to the French city of Pau in January 2020 to shore up support for international engagement in restive Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. All agreed that more European security support was needed to counter violent extremism in the Central Sahel.
Viewpoint by Inge Kaul*
BERLIN (IDN) – In the face of upsurge of the coronavirus, World Water Day 2020 may seem to have no relevance. But the fact is that water is vital for life on earth. It is inextricably linked to climate change, protecting health and saving lives. Water is essential for practicing hand hygiene and combating the spread of COVID-19 and many other infectious diseases.
Therefore, I am deeply concerned about the relatively low-level of attention and priority accorded to water at the practical-political level.
By Jeffrey Moyo
BLANTYRE, Malawi (IDN) – In Karonga, a district in the northern region of Malawi, 32-year old Mavis Banda, a mother of three daughters busies herself drawing safe drinking water from a borehole located at the heart of her village.
Banda and several other villagers claimed they long abandoned a local well where for years they drew water for domestic purposes, thanks to the initiative by the European Union (EU) ensuring developing African countries like Malawi access safe drinking water – as stipulated in Goal 6 of the UN Agenda 2030, which aims to “ensure access to water and sanitation for all”.
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK (IDN) – As host city to the United Nations, New York is making the most of its position through its ambitious Global Vision, Urban Action (GVUA) platform that uses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a common framework for building a better city for its people and their environment. This programme links multiple New York departments through shared sustainability objectives—and it has been selected as a good practice in a new UN DESA database of SDG actions, which could be scaled up or replicated around the world.
By Reinhard Jacobsen
VIENNA (IDN) – More than 2 billion people live without safe water at home. One in four primary schools have no drinking water service, with pupils using unprotected sources or going thirsty. More than 700 children under five years of age die every day from diarrhea linked to unsafe water and poor sanitation. Globally, 80 percent of the people who have to use unsafe and unprotected water sources live in rural areas.
These are some of the facts reflecting stark reality on the ground, making the motto of the World Water Day 2019 – "water for all by 2030" as envisaged in the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 6 to "ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all" – sound like a pious wish.
By Peter J. Jacques
The writer is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, USA. He recounts what Indigenous Amazigh people told him during field work in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
ORLANDO (IDN) – Life and death for whole communities hang in the balance of achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that include eliminating poverty, conserving forests, and addressing climate change, passed by the United Nations unanimously in 2015. Take for example, the Indigenous Amazigh people who live in the mountains around Marrakech. They are representative of people who need to be served first by sustainable development.
Viewpoint by Gemma Van Halderen
The writer is Director, Statistics Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). This article appeared as blog on the UNESCAP website on January 2, 2019.
BANGKOK (IDN) – The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set an ambitious agenda of 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 169 global targets and 232 global indicators. But wait, there is more. The indicators are to be disaggregated not by one or two but at least eight different characteristics: income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability and geographic location, or "other". And all "in accordance with the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics" which recognize appropriate and reliable data needs to adhere to certain professional and scientific standards.
IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses, features, reports and viewpoints that impact the world and its peoples. It has been online since 2009. Its network spans countries around the world.