Health & Well Being

Image: Beachcomber Resort Island. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne.

South Pacific: Fiji Tourism Is Back on Its Feet with Focus on Sustainability

By Sheryl Lal and Akansha Narayan*

NADI, Fiji (IDN) — Though Fiji Islands was unaffected by the first wave of COVID-19, its tourism sector, the lifeblood of the economy, has been devastated by border closure across the world due to the pandemic in the past two years. Thus, when the Fijian Tourism Expo (FTE) returned after a break of two years, Fiji Tourism’s CEO Brent Hill was in an upbeat mood, especially because they have been able to attract over 500 participants to the Expo in these competitive times for the travel industry. But, having experienced the vulnerabilities, sustainability was very much in focus during presentations at the event here.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 23 May 2022

Ukraine War Constraints UN To Revise Global Growth Estimates

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) — The latest United Nations forecast warns that growth prospects have weakened significantly amid the war in Ukraine, upending the fragile economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, triggering a devastating humanitarian crisis in Europe, increasing food and commodity prices and exacerbating inflationary pressures worldwide.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 18 May 2022

Image: Representational Image. Courtesy: Tribune India

Behind India’s Wheat Fiasco

By V Sridhar

This article was issued by NewsClick, and is being republished courtesy of that independent media organization in India.

NEW DELHI (IDN) — The month of May seems to be the Narendra Modi Government’s favourite month for conjuring a crisis out of thin air. Exactly a year ago, it was the vaccine fiasco; this year, it is the wheat crisis. About a month ago, (Prime Minister) Modi, accustomed to the bombast of a Vishwaguru (world guru), told US president Joe Biden that India, a non-existent player in the global wheat trade, could play a role in feeding the world.

: Asia Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 18 May 2022

Photo: Indigenous communities in South Africa sue, protest off-shore oil and gas exploration. Source: MONGABAY

Big Oil and Gold Miners Get The ‘Unwelcome Mat’ From African Grassroots Groups

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Oil companies and gold mines in Africa are facing increasingly fierce challenges from grassroots community organizations trying to address serious climate concerns.

Shell Oil, to give an example, was hit with legal challenges as both the company and individual Board members faced opposition from Friends of the Earth.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 May 2022

Rock Bottom Spending on Women’s Health in Sierra Leone

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — On its web page titled U.S. Relations with Sierra Leone, the State Department gushes with warmth and affection for the African country—once called the ‘Province of Freedom’—which remains among the world’s poorest countries, ranked 180th out of 187 countries in the United Nations' Human Development Index in 2011.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 09 May 2022

Global Leaders Call for Urgent Action to Stem the Loss of Lives and Livelihoods

By Devendra Kamarajan

ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire (IDN) — Government leaders meeting at the United Nations global conference on land have called on the international community to take urgent action to stem the loss of life and livelihoods that communities all over the world are experiencing due to the increasing and devastating impacts of desertification, land degradation and drought.

: Devendra Kamarajan; UN INSIDER; 09 May 2022

Image Credit: ESIC Medical College Hyderabad.

ALCAP to hold Dialogues for Development “COVID-19 Memories & Memorials with Lutyens” at ESIC-Hyderabad

By Niba Mirza *

HYDERABAD, India (IDN) — As of May 6, 2022, there have been 513,955,910 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, including 6,249,700 deaths, reported to WHO.

Though WHO also claims that the world’s true COVID-19 pandemic death toll is nearly 15 million. And as of May 4, 2022, a total of 11,562,157,794 vaccine doses have been administered.

: Asia Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 08 May 2022

Photo: Overlooking the central Kumasi market at closing time in Kumasi, Ghana, June 22, 2006. Credit: Jonathan Ernst / World Bank (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Ukraine and Africa: Food Crisis, Energy Ambiguity and An Uncertain Political Outcome

This article was issued by The Institute for International Political Studies - ISPI.

Viewpoint by Lucia Ragazzi

MILAN (IDN) — Since the war in Ukraine broke out in Europe, its consequences and side effects have been reverberating across African countries. Rising food and energy prices, supply disruptions, and inflationary pressures have created additional challenges on the road to a post-pandemic economic recovery the continent painstakingly embarked upon, in what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called a 'perfect storm'.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 08 May 2022

Photo: President Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana gives opening remarks at the ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum, 25 April 2022. Credit: UNDESA/Predrag Vasic

A New Integrated Financing Facility to Help Achieve UN’s Development Goals by 2030

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which primarily include the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by 2030, are in deep financial trouble.

The goals have been severely undermined by the cumulative effects of several factors, including the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine and, most importantly, the widespread COVID-19 pandemic which has had a devastating impact on both the world’s rich and poor nations.

: Thalif Deen; SUSTAINABILITY; Poverty; 30 April 2022

Photo Credit: Predrag Vasic/SPCS/OUSG/DESA

Urgent Need to Tackle Inequalities in Financing for Development Worsened by the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Jamshed Baruah

NEW YORK (IDN) — In the face of dramatic reversals in global progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), urgent action is required by the international community to improve developing countries’ access to affordable finance.

Inaugurating the four-day Forum on Financing for Development (FfD Forum) on April 25, ECOSOC President Mr. Collen V. Kelapile, Botswana's Permanent Representative to the UN said: “…The ambition of sustainable development for all is facing perhaps its greatest threat since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda seven years ago.”