Global Partnerships

Photo: BRICS Civil Forum 2020 Credit: civilbrics.ru

BRICS Civil Forum Evolving from Strength to Strength

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) – Since its establishment in 2009, BRICS, an association of five major emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has had a significant influence and expanded in many directions, one of which is the BRICS Civil Forum. Significant to recall that during the 7th summit held in July in the Russian provincial city of Ufa in Bashkortostan, on Russia’s initiative the BRICS established the BRICS Civil Forum.

Its mission is to put public priorities on the BRICS agenda as well as to present civil initiatives to the leaders of BRICS countries. Some of the proposals provide the leaders with an opportunity to look at the current development issues, taking public interest into serious consideration.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 21 October 2020

Photo: Nurses working in a South African COVID-19 clinic, based on a train, which travels to reach different communities. Credit: EPA-EFE

COVID-19: Europeans Can Learn from Developing Countries

Developed Countries Should Change Their Mindset

Viewpoint by Maru Mormina and Ifeanyi M. Nsofor*

OXFORD | WASHINGTON (IDN) – Nine months into the pandemic, Europe remains one of the regions worst affected by COVID-19. Ten of the 20 countries with the highest death count per million people are European. The other ten are in the Americas. This includes the US, which has the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the world.

Most of Africa and Asia, on the contrary, still seems spared. Of the countries with reported COVID-related deaths, the ten with the lowest death count per million are in these parts of the world. But while mistakes and misjudgements have fuelled sustained criticism of the UK’s handling of the pandemic, the success of much of the developing world remains unsung.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 18 October 2020

Photo: Migrants on board a boat headed for Tripoli in July 2019. Critics say the EU should not be helping the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept and return people to a war-torn country where they face abuse and extortion. (Filippo Rossi/TNH)

Migrants Face “Double Threat” Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

By Jacqueline Skalski-Fouts

This article discusses the economic and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic with a particular focus on refugees, asylum seekers, and migrant workers.

VIRGINIA, USA (IDN) – Migrant workers have been at the forefront of the world economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, as essential workers. And this with enormous risk to themselves. They are facing what the International Rescue Committee refers to as an “unimaginable double emergency”.

: Europe Editor; COVID-19; 16 October 2020

Photo: Signing ceremony for exchange of letters between UNOSSC and ACP Secretariat.

South-South Cooperation and Director Jorge Chediek: A Tribute

Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes*

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – The annual observance of UN Day for South-South Cooperation on September 12 was anticipated by a Virtual High-Level Event hosted by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSCC) on September 10, 2020.

The event, chaired by UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for South-South Cooperation and Director, UNOSCC, Mr. Jorge Chediek, was a further milestone of achievements by UNOSSC as it marked the launch of the Volume 3 publication on Good Practices in South-South & Triangular Cooperation for Sustainable Development. This Volume contains 200 good practices from 35 member states, 23 UN entities and other developing partners.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - former ACP Seretary-General; OPINION; 13 September 2020

Photo: Remnants of an old shipwreck on the outer reef of Mauritius where the MV Wakashio would run aground two years later. Robert Blasiak, Author provided.

An Increasingly Crowded Ocean Calls for a New Role for Transnational Corporations

Viewpoint by Robert Blasiak*

STOCKHOLM (IDN) – The MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef in Mauritius in late July 2020, leaking 1,000 tonnes of oil into the crystal blue waters of a lagoon, threatening mangrove, seagrass and mudflat habitats. Since then, dozens of dead dolphins and porpoises have washed ashore. Anger has grown and sadness has deepened.

But this is a different story – it starts two years ago in the same place in Mauritius, and I am walking down a muddy path in a mangrove forest. A guide is telling me about how the community has removed invasive species, cleaned up waste and planted mangroves.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 12 September 2020

Photo: A view of the Secretariat Building, with Members States’ flags flying in the foreground, at United Nations headquarters in New York. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

The UN at 75: A Glass Half Full or One Draining Through the Cracks – Part One

Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona

This is the first of a two-part article by Dr Palitha Kohona, Former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, Former Chair of the UNGA Sixth Committee and the Former Co-Chair of the UN Ad Hoc Committee on BBNJ.

COLOMBO (IDN) – As the United Nations enters its 75th year, faded photographs stare down at corridors emptied by Covid 19 and ageless memorabilia faintly glisten in the semi darkness. Almost a sad reflection of the lofty dreams and aspirations of its founders not fully realised.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; OPINION; 12 August 2020

Photo: Collage of a model of the Alternative-Participatory Development social system by Yossef Ben-Meir (2009) on the left.Photo: Collage of a model of the Alternative-Participatory Development social system by Yossef Ben-Meir (2009) on the left.

Building a Definition of Development

Viewpoint by Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir

The writer is a sociologist and President of the High Atlas Foundation, a U.S.-Moroccan non-for-profit organization dedicated to sustainable development in Morocco.

MARRAKECH (IDN) – The idea of development itself, its definition, and even the method we use for defining it, would be a good place to begin toward discovering its potential in our lives. We cannot rely on any single, or even ten, definitions. We need to look at the full range of literature that arose following the end of World War II, decolonization, and reconstruction from when international development spawned in our era. How has development been defined across the decades?

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 July 2020

Photo: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Credit: Olof von Gawinski, Flickr.

Africa's Largest Hydro Dam Held Hostage as Horn of Africa Countries Wage 'Water War'

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Three neighbouring countries locked in a bitter dispute over rights to the precious waters of the Nile River may provide a preview of water wars around the world as global temperatures rise and droughts leave populations with insufficient water to drink or for farms.

The three countries – Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan – are all claiming rights to Africa’s most fabled river but Ethiopia has already laid claim to the water at the source and has begun siphoning it into a $4.5 billion hydroelectric dam to the dismay of Egypt which relies on the Nile for 90 percent of its water.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 July 2020

China-India Conflict a Potential Threat to Five-Nation BRICS

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – Tension between China and India threatens to paralyse BRICS – the association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. While struggling to manage the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, China and India have locked horns over issues in their "bilateral relations", ranging from border security to trade conflicts and information war.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; SUSTAINABILITY; Global Partnerships; 17 July 2020

Photo: Bill Nichols at the Women’s Cooperative of Tassa Ouirgane, January 2020. Credit: HAF

An Illuminating Farmer-to-Farmer Story in Morocco

Viewpoint by Yossef Ben-Meir

The writer, Dr Yossef Ben-Meir, is a sociologist and president of the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) in Morocco.

MARRAKECH (IDN) – Bill Nichols served as a volunteer consultant to the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) through the Farmer-to-Farmer Program (F2F) for two weeks in January 2020. Originally from New Mexico, now residing in Boston, Bill collaborated as an F2F volunteer with four of HAF’s tree nursery cooperatives in southern Morocco.