Climate Action

Photo: Children riding a bicycle in Tuvalu. Credit: UNDP | Silke Von Brockhausen

Quarter of Pacific Islanders Living Below ‘Basic Needs Poverty Lines’

By Sean Buchanan

NEW YORK (IDN) – While there has been progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the past four years, some vulnerable small island developing states (SIDs), such as those in the Pacific, are losing momentum in the run-up to 2030.

In 2015, the United Nations set out a vision for “people, planet, peace and prosperity” through partnership and solidarity, when it adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To date, however, many SIDs still face persistent challenges linked to poverty, inequality and climate impacts.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 15 July 2019

Photo: West Africa has seen impressive economic growth over the past two decades, but the benefits are going just to a tiny few elites at the top. Credit: Oxfam International

West Africa ‘Least Committed’ in Africa to Fighting Inequality

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – “African countries, especially those in West Africa, are simply not doing enough” to “ensure that no one is left behind”, declares a new report, unveiling shocking figures that underline extreme inequality and poverty rampant in the region. West Africa is the African region “least committed to the fight against inequality”, says the report titled ‘The West Africa Inequality Crisis’.

And this in a year that marks the fourth year of the implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to address global challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change and environmental degradation – as envisaged in Goal 1, Goal 10 and Goal13.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 July 2019

Photo: Abdallah Nyambi and his colleagues of the ‘Plastic Recycling and Youth Organisation’, showing pavement slabs made out of plastic waste. Credit: Kizito Makoye | IDN-INPS

Tanzanian Environmentalists Turning Plastic into Paving

By Kizito Makoye with Goodhope Amani

DAR ES SALAAM (IDN) – It is a typically hot and humid afternoon in Gongo la Mboto on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam and Abdullah Nyambi is busy shoving plastic waste into a giant metal kiln with an iron rod ready to make pavement slabs.

With a shiny yellow breathing mask perched on his nose, Nyambi briskly mixes the melting plastic while methodically sprinkling sand on it to make it stiff. “We use any type of plastic to make the slabs,” says Nyambi, with trails of sweat soaking his yellow T-shirt. A plume of black smoke rises into the sky as fierce fire obliterates the plastic material and turns it into a thick liquid.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 July 2019

New Report Calls for Breathing Life into Global Goals

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – A new report finds that while the global community talks a lot about sustainability goals, it does not invest enough in implementing them. The industrialized countries play an ambivalent role in their implementation. On the one hand, they come closest to fulfilling the goals, but on the other, they obstruct by incurring environmental and economic costs for third countries due to high living standards and consumer preferences.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 08 July 2019

Photo: Construction workers at the Trung Son Hydropower project construction site, Vietnam. Credit: World Bank/Mai Ky

World’s Poorest Expected to Suffer Most from Global Warming

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – A spike in heat stress resulting from global warming is projected to lead to global productivity losses equivalent to 80 million full-time jobs or 2.2 per cent of total working hours worldwide and global economic losses of US$2,400 billion in the year 2030, according to a new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO). The poorest countries and citizens will be worst affected. The new ILO report, Working on a warmer planet: The impact of heat stress on labour productivity and decent work , draws on climate, physiological and employment data and presents estimates of the current and projected productivity losses at national, regional and global levels.

: Jamshed Baruah; UN INSIDER; 02 July 2019

BIOPAMA Launches the 1st Call for Proposals for Medium Grants

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) has launched on June 24 the first call for proposals for medium grants (up to € 400,000) in the frame of its "Action component". The Programme assists the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to address their priorities for improved management and governance of biodiversity and natural resources.

BIOPAMA provides a variety of tools, services and funding to conservation actors in ACP countries. It is an initiative of the ACP Group of States financed by the joint ACP-European Union (EU) 11th European Development Fund (EDF).

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 25 June 2019

Photo: Pamir mountains. Credit: Alijon Boynazarov

Climate Change Finds Its Way to the 'Rooftop' in Tajikistan

By Alisher Kukanbekov*

PAMIR, Tajikistan (IDN) – The great mountains of Pamir that have been known as the ‘Roof of the World’ over the centuries is now falling victim to climatic change. One of the largest glaciers here, Garmo glacier, has retreated by a staggering 7 kilometers in the past few decades with the annual mean temperatures recording an upwards trend over the past decade.

Pamir is situated at an altitude of over 2000 meters in the heart of Central Asia. Throughout centuries it has been the hub for many great empires such as the Persian Empire and the Greek Empire led by the boundless Alexander the Great. However, in the recent years, climate change has had its toll on the great mountains here and the whole of Tajikistan.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; CENTRAL ASIA; 24 June 2019

Photo: Mary Robinson and Deon Shekuza. Credit: GlobalGoalsUN

Former Irish President Joins a Namibian Youth in Conversation on Climate Justice

From GlobalGoalsUN

This article is part of reports by the UN SDG Media Compact of which IDN is a member. Watch video.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Science continues to show that as the impacts of climate change accelerate, extreme weather events are taking a major toll in developing countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, home to some of the world’s largest youth populations.

Global warming of 2˚C would put over half of Africa’s population at risk of undernourishment, as as of today, we have already reached about 1°C above pre-industrial levels (1850–1900). Global warming is likely to reach 1.5°C between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the current rate.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 18 June 2019

Photo: UNEP Chief Inger Andersen (left) and her deputy Joyce Msuya. Credit: UN Environment

Danish Environmentalist Takes Over as UNEP Chief

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) – Danish economist and environmentalist Inger Andersen, who took over as Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, brings to the role a passion for conservation and sustainable development, promising to prioritize greater action on climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution during her four-year tenure.

“I am proud and excited to begin work at the UN Environment Programme in beautiful Kenya at a critical time for humanity,” she said. “Good environmental stewardship has never been more important. Climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution in all its forms pose a clear and present danger to human and planetary health, and to prosperity."

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 18 June 2019

Protect Pristine Areas from Relentless Development

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

This article was first published in San Francisco Examiner on May 29, 2019. While Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph.D., is chief scientist for the Geos Institute in Ashland, William J. Ripple, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor of ecology at Oregon State University and the initiator of the Alliance of World Scientists. Franz Baumann, Ph.D., is a former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and a visiting research professor at New York University. – The Editor