 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Climate activist Vanessa Nakate of Uganda, together with several young climate leaders, took no prisoners as they called out political and business elites who failed to move the needle on climate change which has been devastating rich and poor countries alike at the present time.
UN 2023 Water Conference will be the first of its kind since 1977
Viewpoint by Gilbert F. Houngbo*
This article was issued by Africa Renewal and is being republished with their permission.
NEW YORK (IDN) — Water flows through all major global issues; from health to hunger, gender equity to jobs, education to industry, disasters to peace.
For that reason, it has to be made an integral part of all global meetings to do with making the world a better, safer and fairer place. Right now, this is not the case.
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — UN Secretary-General António Guterres has never ceased to warn about the impending hazards of climate change worldwide. “We are on a fast track to climate disaster,” he has predicted rather ominously and pointed out that some of the world’s major cities are under water.
“There are unprecedented heatwaves, terrifying storms and widespread water shortages. And the extinction of a million species of plants and animals.”
By Kizito Makoye
DAR ES SALAAM (IDN) — Issa Abdul’s desperate urge for solar power began when he realised a smoke-spewing generator at his barber shop was costing him too much.
“Solar power is very cheap. I regret spending my money on this fuel-guzzling machine,” he said.
The 32-year-old barber in Tanzania’s port city spent roughly Tanzanian shillings 150,000 ($65) to purchase a small solar system, which now powers his hair-cutting business.
By Gareth Bryant, Devleena Ghosh, Jake Morcom, and Priya P Pillai*
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
MELBOURNE, Australia (IDN) — India, like many other countries, is looking to renewables as an antidote to soaring fossil fuel prices and to tackle climate change. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sees renewables as vital for a “developed India”.
But while renewables are seen as a major positive on a societal scale, these large scale facilities can—if done poorly—make life harder for people who live close to them.
UNEP and Other Organisations Support the Call
By J C Suresh
TORONTO (IDN) — Cities are on the front line of the socio-economic impacts of climate change and ecosystem loss. They play a significant role in view of the planet experiencing a decline in nature at rates unprecedented in human history—and the largest loss of animal and plant species since the dinosaurs.
Mayors from 15 cities around the world have therefore availed of the biodiversity conference in Montreal—the largest city in Canada's Québec province—to call for increased direct financing to enable them to implement greening and ecosystem restoration projects.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | JOHANNESBURG (IDN) — Torrential rainfall and flooding came full throttle to Johannesburg for a third time in December, damaging hundreds of houses in Soweto, Roodepoort, Protea Glen and surrounding areas.
The heavy downpour loosened street poles, flooded transformer chambers, uprooted trees and damaged overhead cables and electricity infrastructure. Winnie Mandela’s home was also reportedly damaged in the downpour.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) — Stories abound of the majestic baobab tree landmarks across Africa where they stand tall, adapted to arid landscapes, the basis of myths, the home of vultures and bees, and the giver of fruits that can feed families during drought.
Baobab, or ‘mbuyu’ in Kiswahili, is a gigantic fibrous leafy tree, common in the open semi-arid areas of eastern and coastal counties of Kenya and in 32 African countries. It is not uncommon to find a 5,000-year-old tree, 100 feet tall, 40 feet in diameter—a prehistoric species which predates both mankind and the splitting of the continents over 200 million years ago.
By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA | LONDON (IDN) — Climate uncertainty is creating health threats for thousands of migrants as overcrowding and pollution place huge stresses on humanitarian organisations’ ability to provide sanctuary in refugee camps, a new study reveals.
Locating camps in disaster-prone or climate hotspot areas increases their vulnerability and, coupled with stress from overcrowding that increases pressure on water, sanitation, and hygiene resilience (WaSH), leads to the overexploitation of resources.
Climate Change, Human Mobility and Peacebuilding Draw the Focus
Viewpoint by Volker Boege
Toda Peace Institute issued this article, and it is being republished with their permission.
BRISBANE, Australia (IDN) — While UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his opening speech at this year’s COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh on November 7 stated that humanity is “on the highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator”, a workshop held in Wellington, New Zealand, just a few days before, explored the consequences of this hellish trip for the security and peace of communities and countries in the Pacific region.
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.