Climate Action

Photo: Cyclone Idai has impacted the lives and livelihoods of almost three million people across Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Credit: UNDP Zimbabwe

Cyclone Ripped Southern Africa Faces Tough Challenges

By Jeffrey Moyo

CHIMANIMANI, Zimbabwe (IDN) – The cyclone will affect the region for months to come after it impacted key livelihoods of fishing and agriculture in the largely rural region, the World Food Programme (WFP) said commenting the havoc caused by Cyclone Kenneth that struck Mozambique on April 25, nearly five weeks after the Cyclone Idai that lashed Southern Africa.

Some 31,000 hectares (76,600 acres) of crops were lost at the peak of the harvest season. “The area is already very vulnerable to food insecurity,” spokesman Herve Verhoosel said.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 May 2019

Photo (Screenshot): UN Secretary General António Guterres delivered remarks at the opening of Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing on April 26. Credit: UN China/Zhao Yun

UN Chief Expects Belt and Road Initiative to Foster 'Inclusive, Sustainable and Durable' Development

By Sean Buchanan

LONDON (IDN) – China’s international trade and economic development plan – known as the Belt and Road Initiative – could contribute to a more equitable and prosperous world, and help reverse the negative impact of climate change, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Addressing Chinese President Xi Jinping and dozens of other state leaders at the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing on April 26, Guterres urged the international community to “come together” in mobilising resources to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and “stop runaway climate change.”

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 26 April 2019

Zambian Villagers Win Landmark Ruling in Water Poisoning Case

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Zambian villagers whose livelihoods were turned upside down by a toxic spill from a copper mine will finally have their day in court. They succeeded against the odds in a case pitting their claims against a worldwide mining company which denied responsibility for the spill caused by a local Zambian company it controlled.

It wasn’t the first claim against the Vedanta company, based in the UK. In January, a factory in Tamil Nadu, India, was ordered closed by the local pollution board for having “irreversibly polluted the groundwater in and around the Thoothukudi district”.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 23 April 2019

Inadequate Funding Threatens Sustainable Development Goals

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Much to the United Nations’ dismay, desperately missing funds are imperiling realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Investments that are critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals remain underfunded and parts of the multilateral system are under strain, warned a new report as the fourth Forum on Financing for Development opened on April 15, 2019 at the UN Headquarters.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 15 April 2019

Image: Reversing the financial interests in fossil fuels and the nuclear arms race. Credit: nuclearweaponsmoney.org

Moving Money for a Nuclear-Free and Eco Friendly World

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA | BASEL (IDN) – While Fridays for Future protests underline a global dissatisfaction with the continuing failure of governments and industry to protect the climate, the setting of the Doomsday Clock hands to 2 minutes to midnight in January 2019 signifies a continuing high risk of a nuclear clash with disastrous consequences for human beings and the planet Earth.

But devastating climate change and the risk of a nuclear war will not be prevented unless the international community tackles the economic and political influence of the fossil fuel and nuclear weapons industries: this is the crux of the message expected to emerge from an international conference organized by the Basel Peace Office and taking place in Basel, Switzerland on April 12-13, 2019.

: Jamshed Baruah; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 11 April 2019

Call for UN Summit on Digitalization and Sustainability

By Rita Joshi

BERLIN (IDN) – A new report has called on Germany and the European Union to convene a United Nations summit on 'Digitalization and Sustainability' in 2020 – 30 years after the UN Conference on Environment and Development, widely known as the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

The central theme of the summit should be reaching agreement on the necessary fundamental steps to be taken to achieve digitally supported sustainable development and to avoid the risks involved in digital change, say the authors of the report entitled 'Towards our Common Digital Future', presented by the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) to Federal Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek and Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze on April 11, 2019.

: Rita Joshi; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 11 April 2019

Photo: Participants in the April 1-3 meeting in Apia. Credit: SPREP

15 Pacific States Build Resilience to Climate Change

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS | APIA, Samoa (ACP-IDN) – Leaders of the Pacific Island Forum, the region’s premier political and economic policy organisation, have repeatedly identified climate change as the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and well-being of the peoples of the Pacific. A three-day meeting, concluded on April 3 in Apia, Samoa, marked a major milestone in helping to build Pacific island resilience to this threat with the start of a EUR 12 million project spanning 15 countries.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 04 April 2019

Image: Male and female capelin. Credit: The Navigator

Ocean Warming Blamed for Lack of Iceland’s Capelin

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – After five research expeditions in search of capelin, Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (IMFRI) has decided not to recommend a quota for it this year, arguing that global warming is probably responsible for the lack of the fish.

According to Thorsteinn Sigurdsson, head of the Pelagic Division at the institute, capelin (Mallotus villosus) is a cold-water fish and mostly chooses to be at a marine temperature between 1-3°C. “Concomitant with ocean warming north of Iceland before the turn of the century, changes started to appear in the distribution of capelin off Iceland and instead of being spread out to the north of Iceland and the West Fjords, it was mostly found off the east coast of Greenland,” he said.

: Lowana Veal; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 02 April 2019

Photo: UN Chief addressing High-level meeting on Climate and Sustainable Development for All on March 28. UN Photo/Manuel Elias

UN Chief Calls for Urgent Action to Address Dangers Linked to Climate Change

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – Concerned about rising global temperatures and disastrous consequences, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on Heads of State to attend the Climate Action Summit in New York on September 23, and achieve positive change.

“Don’t come with a speech, come with a plan,” he said, adding: “This is what science says is needed. It is what young people around the globe are rightfully demanding.”

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 29 March 2019

The Campaign Against Greta is an Index of the Loss of Values

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio*

ROME (IDN | OtherNews) – Since the powerful march of hundreds of thousands of students in 1,000 towns against climate change, an unexpected campaign of delegitimation, ”demystification” and demonisation has started against Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who started the movement. After searching the media, social media and websites, this campaign can be divided into four different groups.

The first could be called the stupid. A writer reports pictures of Greta eating a banana, claiming that this proves she has double standards. She wants to reduce gas emissions, and then she eats banana which come from far away. Why does she not eat an apple, which are produced locally in Sweden?