Climate Action

Photo: Peter Eriksson, Minister for International Development Cooperation of Sweden. Source: SIPRI

COVID-19: A Desperate Need for a Green New Deal

Viewpoint by Peter Eriksson

Following is the text of Sweden's Minister for International Development Cooperation Mr Peter Eriksson's address to the live-streamed session on Climate Change: the Other Crisis, at the 2020 Stockholm Forum organized by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

STOCKHOLM (IDN) – The free world and open society, as we know it, has partly and temporarily been shut down for many citizens. Factories have had to close as global value chains have been severely interrupted.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 19 May 2020

Photo: Flamingos at Talawe Wetlands in Navi Mumbai. Source: TERI.

COVID-19 Lockdown Is A Much-Needed Break for Nature

Viewpoint by Siddharth S Edake

NEW DELHI (IDN) – Today, I can see the forests of the Aravali Biodiversity Park at the far end, under a light blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. The air is crisp and clear, and close to around 20 yellow-footed green pigeons locally known as hariyal, a rare sighting for Gurugram, are feasting on the fruits of the shehtut (Mulberry) tree in front of me. The sound of traffic is replaced by the chirping of birds and the tinkling of wind chimes as they sway in the light breeze. For a nature lover and environmentalist, this is as good as it gets in a metropolitan city in India.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 17 May 2020

Massive Die-Off of Fish on Nigerian Coastline Linked to Toxic Discharge

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – An immense blanket of dead fish stretching across three states has sparked anger and frustration among communities along the Atlantic Ocean coastline in Nigeria. The area is known for oil spills that have polluted the waters and left fish and other wildlife inedible.

The massive die-off was first reported in February when community people from Ogbulagha Kingdom of Delta State raised an alarm on the schools of dead fish floating and littering their shores. The silvery fish graveyard stretched from Delta State through Bayelsa State to Rivers State.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 May 2020

Our Oceans Keep Our Health, The Economy and Our Lives Above the Waves

Healthy oceans: keeping Asia and the Pacific afloat

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP.

BANGKOK (IDN) – Memories of idyllic beaches and sonorous waves may seem far away while we remain at home. Yet, we need not look far to appreciate the enduring history of the ocean in Asia and the Pacific. For generations, the region has thrived on our seas. Our namesake bears a nod to the Pacific Ocean, a body of water tethered to the well-being of billions in our region. The seas provide food, livelihoods and a sense of identity, especially for coastal communities in the Pacific island States.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 13 May 2020

After the Pandemic, Will We Return to Business as Usual?

Viewpoint by Francesc Badia I Dalmases*

This article was originally published on openDemocracy. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News

BARCELONA (IDN) – Meteorologists have warned that this year is on track to become the hottest since records began. The climate crisis continues, whose medium-term consequences will be devastating, without being controlled. And meanwhile, all of us are looking with uncertainty at the future that awaits us, and the daily Covid-19 lockdown news leave us dreaming of returning to a lost normality.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 08 May 2020

Image: Collage of the Globe in Hands with 'Agora'

Manifesto 2020 Calls for A Trans-National Citizens' Alliance

Viewpoint by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. of the Inhabitants of the Earth

BERLIN (IDN) – A new public declaration of policy and aims, Manifesto 2020, has issued a clarion call for declaring poverty Illegal. Poverty Is the product of labour regulation within the context of unequal economic growth. It is the result of global pillage of life in the interests and survival of the powerful, declares the Agora of the inhabitants of the earth.

It also calls for a global campaign for the design, manufacture and use of a global, common, public, free vaccine against Covid-19. Humanity does not need a vaccine war.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 03 May 2020

World Conference Calls for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons and Reversing Climate Change

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) -– In a dramatic warning from 13 Nobel Prize winners about the existential dangers of nuclear weapons and climate crisis, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists on January 23 set the hands of its iconic 'Doomsday Clock' to 100 seconds to midnight,

On April 25, during the Covid-19 crisis, over one thousand activists across the peace, climate, and social movements gathered online to take part in the first-ever virtual World Conference: Abolish Nuclear Weapons | Resist and Reverse Climate Change | For Social and Economic Justice.

: Santo D. Banerjee; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 April 2020

COVID-19 Shows How Ecosystems and Human Health Intersect

Viewpoint by Dominick A. DellaSala, William J. Ripple, and Franz Baumann*

This article is being re-published by courtesy of The New Republic, which carried it first on April 20.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The butterfly effect is a thought experiment about how a small change in a system— a butterfly flapping its wings — can ripple through complex, interconnected systems, eventually cascading into larger events, like a tornado in Oklahoma. Despite having been popularized by the 1993 Jurassic Park movie, it’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 30 April 2020

Photo credit: German Environment Ministry | Christoph Wehrer

UN Chief and German Chancellor Call for Rebuilding 'Our World for the Better'

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN (IDN) – German chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary-General António Guterres have accentuated that any coronavirus recovery programme should have a clear focus on climate targets and rebuilding "our world for the better". They were addressing a two-day video conference in Berlin co-organised by Germany and Britain, the latter as the presidency of UN Climate Conference (COP 26).

Scheduled for November, COP26 will take place in 2021 because of COVID-19. In response to the coronavirus crisis, Germany and Britain put the focus of the conference – officially known as the 'Petersberg Climate Dialogue' – on "sustainable recovery".

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 29 April 2020

UN Institute Expects COVID-19 Fallout to Push Half a Billion People into Poverty

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – New research published by the UNU World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) warns that the economic fallout from the global pandemic could increase global poverty by as much as half a billion people, or 8% of the total human population. This would be the first time that poverty has increased globally in thirty years, since 1990.

The authors of the UNU-WIDER study – Andy Sumner and Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez of King’s College London and Chris Hoy from Australian National University – find that a setback of this size would reverse a decade of global progress on poverty reduction.