Climate Action

The System, Youth and Democracy

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio*

ROME (IDN | OtherNews) – If we ever needed proof of how the political system has become self-referential and unable to update itself, the latest student march in more than 1,000 towns is a very good example.

Of course, politicians referred to it in declarations and, in a totally demagogic gesture, Jean-Claude, President of the European Community and an old political fox with a lot of mileage, even kissed the hand of Greta Thunberg. She is the 16-year-old Swedish girl who, frustrated with the pace of government action to deal with climate change, launched a "school strike for climate" in 2018, setting off an international youth movement and widespread demonstrations in an unprecedented initiative on climate change.

: Roberto Savio; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 24 March 2019

Photo: Youth attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany. Credit: UNFCCC

UN Chief Emboldens the 'Fridays for Future' Climate Movement

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – "My generation has failed to respond properly to the dramatic challenge of climate change. This is deeply felt by young people. No wonder they are angry," says UN Secretary-General António Guterres in an opinion piece for The Guardian, in the wake of unprecedented March 15 demonstrations by schoolchildren across the world against climate change inaction.

The youth-led School Strike for Climate movement Fridays for Future held the first global climate demonstration in history spanning over more than 100 countries from Australia to America embracing the developing nations of India and Uganda and the Philippines and Nepal – countries acutely impacted by climate change.

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 15 March 2019

UN Environment Assembly Convenes to Ramp Up Solutions for Sustainable Economies

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) – A five-day meeting of the United Nations top body on the environment, which is expected to take bold decisions and produce far-reaching outcomes that move global societies to a more sustainable path, began in Kenya's capital Nairobi on March 11.

Over 4,700 heads of state, ministers, business leaders, senior UN officials and civil society representatives are attending the fourth UN Environment Assembly from March 11-15 at the UN Headquarters for Africa. Prominent world leaders attending are the Presidents of France and Kenya, Emmanuel Macron and Uhuru Kenyatta, and CEOs from major corporations.

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 11 March 2019

Image: Chinese skyline. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

UN Commends Beijing Air Quality as Model for Other Cities

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) – More than two decades after China's capital city Beijing began looking for ways to improve air quality in one of the largest and fastest growing cities in the developing world, its successful efforts provide a model for other cities to follow, according to a new report.

Research by the UN Environment Programme and the Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau (BEE) outlines how Beijing’s air quality management programme has evolved, and makes recommendations for near, medium, and long-term steps that Beijing can take to maintain its momentum toward clean air.

: Santo D. Banerjee; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 11 March 2019

UN Environment Forum Underlines the Science-Innovation-Entrepreneurship Nexus

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) – Eminent scientists, Nobel laureates, artists, ministers, parliamentarians, industry and business leaders, young game changers in the science and business communities, heads of United Nations entities and civil society representatives participated in the UN Science-Policy-Business Forum on the Environment at the UN Headquarters in Nairobi from March 8-10, 2019 in the lead up to the Fourth Session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA 4).

Recommendations from the Forum will inform the UN Environment Assembly from March 11-15, and the UN’s work on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 10 March 2019

Photo: Accra Central. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Ghana Hosts Africa Climate Week as First of Three Regional Climate Events

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN) – The Africa Climate Week, which is being hosted by Ghana from March 18–22 in Accra, is the first of three annual regional climate events this year – the latter two being the Latin America & Caribbean Climate Week and the Asia Pacific Climate Week.

According to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the collective goal of these Climate Weeks is to support the implementation of countries' Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement and climate action to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In so doing, they bring together a diverse array of international stakeholders in the public and private sectors around the common goal of enhancing climate action.

: Rita Joshi; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 01 March 2019

Photo: Photo: Many associated biodiversity species, such as bees, are under severe threat. Credit: FAO/Zinyange Auntony

Shrinking Biodiversity of Plants Cultivated for Food Poses Severe Threat

By Jaya Ramachandran

ROME (IDN) – In the first-ever report of its kind FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, has presented surging and perturbing evidence that the biodiversity that underpins our food systems is disappearing – putting the global population’s health, livelihoods and environment under severe threat.

FAO’s State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture report, launched on February 22 warns that once lost, biodiversity for food and agriculture cannot be recovered.

: Jaya Ramachandran; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 24 February 2019

Writing From A Sinking Vessel

Viewpoint by Federico Mayor Zaragoza*

BARCELONA (IDN) – “Suddenly,” said Leonardo Da Vinci, “there are no poor and rich, no young and old, no white and black on board … only a bunch of passengers toiling, working together to survive, to avoid a shipwreck.”

This is the advice we should convey today through all media so that the “peoples” become aware of the situation humanity is facing for the first time in history. In recent years a series of global threats have been recognised as potentially irreversible processes that need to be confronted and dealt with on time before it is too late.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 08 February 2019

Photo: The IAEA has assisted Sudan in using nuclear technologies to combat the effects of climate change. Credit: N. Jawerth/IAEA

UN Nuclear Watchdog Helps Countries Combat Climate Change

By Noah Mayhew, IAEA

VIENNA (IDN) – Climate change is one of the biggest environmental challenges affecting humanity today, causing a dangerous rise in sea levels and disturbances to the water cycle and leading to more frequent extreme weather events. The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) helps Member States combat climate change on a variety of fronts: mitigating the production and release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and monitoring and adapting to their negative effects.

To further support these efforts, the Agency will host an International Conference on Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power from October 7-11 in Vienna.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 19 January 2019

Photo: Mediterranean forest area is on the rise but increasingly in jeopardy. Credit: CC Klodio70 @Flickr.com.

Expanding Mediterranean Forest Area Increasingly In Peril

By Jaya Ramachandran

ROME (IDN) – The Mediterranean forest area has expanded by two percent resulting in a rise of 1.8 million hectares – about the size of Slovenia, says a joint report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Plan Bleu, Regional Activity Center of UN Environment/Mediterranean Action Plan.

But the report titled The State of Mediterranean Forests 2018 warns that in the period 2010-2015 forests in the Mediterranean have also been considerably affected by degradation and are increasingly in jeopardy from climate change, population rise, wildfires and water scarcity.