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Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
The writer is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
BANGKOK (IDN) – The past five years have been the hottest on record in Asia and the Pacific. Unprecedented heatwaves have swept across our region, cascading into slow onset disasters such as drought. Yet heat is only part of the picture.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – Issues such as highlighting how governments, civil society and individuals can take action on climate, sharing updates on the Sustainable Development Goals, and celebrating outstanding figures whose actions have had a transformative positive impact on the environment will take centre stage when world leaders gather in New York City for the high-level week of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly from September 21 to 26.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW (IDN) – Keen to intensify and widen bilateral relations, Russia and Mozambique have signed several intergovernmental documents as well as business agreements during President Jacinto Filipe Nyusi’s visit here. Its highlights were talks with President Vladimir Putin and the Russian-Mozambican business forum, the first gathering of businesspersons from Russia and representatives of companies from Mozambique, in Moscow.
The importance of the August 20-23 visit is underlined by the fact that it has taken place in the run-up to the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi on October 23-24. However, because of general elections in Mozambique on October 15, President Filipe Nyusi might not be able to attend the summit, reports said.
By Delia Paul, IISD
FUNAFUTI, Tuvalu (IDN) – Pacific leaders sounded an urgent call to world leaders to maintain security in the Pacific region by seeking to limit global warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels and meeting their global climate finance commitment of USD 100 billion per year by 2020.
The ‘Kainaki II Declaration,’ a document accompanying the formal communiqué from the meeting, puts forward a range of actions whereby the international community can step up actions to mitigate climate change and increase support for Pacific-led initiatives on resilience.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW (IDN) – As Russia prepares to strengthen its overall corporate economic profile during the African leaders' summit in Sochi in October, policy experts are questioning agreements that were signed – many of them largely unfulfilled and forgotten – at least in the past decade with African countries.
Experts, such as Professors Vladimir Shubin and Alexandra Arkhangelskaya from the Institute for African Studies in Moscow, have argued that Russia needs to be more strategic in aligning its interests, and be more proactive with instruments and mechanisms in promoting economic cooperation in order to reap the benefits of a fully-fledged partnership.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – In the run-up to the UN Climate Action Summit on September 23, twenty-eight leading companies have responded to a call-to-action campaign and committed themselves to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels with a view to reaching net-zero emissions by no later than 2050. In doing so, they are contributing to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), endorsed by the international community in September 2015.
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK (IDN) – Norway's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Mona Juul, has taken over from Rhonda King of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines the presidency of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), who chaired the recently-concluded High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development. Having served as one of the four ECOSOC Vice-Presidents, Juul was elected by acclamation on July 25 seventy-fifth President of the Council.
By Edda Pleitez
The writer, a student at the University of Texas, Austin and 2019 GFI Summer Intern, explains how some of the world’s most advanced economies and free societies implement the SDGs. This article first appeared in Global Financial Integrity.
AUSTIN, Texas, USA (IDN-INPS) – The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of measurable, attainable and time-bound objectives that were accepted by all 193 Member States of the United Nations in 2015.
By Sean Buchanan
NEW YORK (IDN) – The world’s people are demanding “transformative change that is fair and sustainable,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said July 16, calling on government leaders to use key United Nations meetings in September to “kickstart a decade of delivery and action for people and planet.”
The key meetings are the Climate Action Summit, the Sustainable Development Goals Summit, a High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage, a High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development and a high-level review of commitments to small island developing States and their accelerated modalities of action pathway (SAMOA).
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.
IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses, features, reports and viewpoints that impact the world and its peoples. It has been online since 2009. Its network spans countries around the world.