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By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN) - The zone of destruction created as a consequence of what has been called "one of the planet's worst environmental disasters" has long crossed the frontiers of Central Asia, demanding urgent measures from the international community.
Every year more than 150 million tons of toxic dust from the bottom of the dried up Aral Sea are carried long distances by the wind to the people in Asia, Europe and even the thinly populated Arctic.
By Jaya Ramachandran
NEW YORK | BALI (IDN) – The Government of the Republic of Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 granite and coral islands in the Indian Ocean, off East Africa, has been acclaimed for showing "the leadership to create the world's first sustainable Blue Bond".
The pioneering financial instrument was launched within four weeks of the High-Level Forum the government of Seychelles organised together with the 79-member African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States at the United Nations headquarters in New York focusing on the emerging new "blue economy" underlining the protection and preservation of the world's heavily-exploited oceans.
By Shanta Roy
NEW YORK (ACP-IDN) – When the 79-member African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States – along with the government of Seychelles – sponsored a high-level forum at the United Nations on September 26, the primary focus was the emerging new "blue economy" underlining the protection and preservation of the world's heavily-exploited oceans.
The world's Small Island Developing States (SIDS), who comprise some of the most environmentally-vulnerable countries, are being increasingly threatened not only by climate change, resulting in rising seas and shrinking lakes, but also suffering the negative after-effects of pollution, sea-bed mining, illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing and the unauthorized extraction of marine resources in the high seas.
By Robert Johnson
BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The Secretariat of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the government of 115-island Seychelles east of mainland East Africa are organizing a joint event at the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2018 – enabling Small Island Developing States (SIDS) share experiences in harnessing the blue economy and to identify areas of further development.
The event will be taking place one year after Ministers in charge of Fisheries and Aquaculture in ACP countries concluded two days of comprehensive talks in Nassau, the Bahamas on September 21, 2017. They renewed commitment to developing the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in their countries, as well as unlocking the potential of the 'blue economy' through a new 'ACP Blue Growth Initiative'.
By Sean Buchanan
LONDON (IDN) – Worldwide, shipping contributes an estimated 2.5 percent of global emissions, but left unchecked this could grow to 17 percent by 2050, warns Transparency International – an international non-governmental organisation based in Berlin.
Failure to dramatically reduce the sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, says the NGO, will jeopardise the pledges signed by 195 states in the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit planetary warming to “well below” 2°C, and ideally to no more than 1.5°C.
By Bradnee Chambers
Marine experts gathered at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from June 18-22, 2018 to discuss anthropogenic underwater noise. Dr. Bradnee Chambers, Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), describes the impacts of this type of pollution on marine wildlife and sets out some of the solutions.
BONN (IDN) – Humanity's achievements are incredible – the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China, literature, music, telecommunications, medicine and a few decades after the first powered flight, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE (IDN) – A 32-year-old Rajeswari Singh launched on a six-week marathon mission on World Earth Day setting out to walk some 1,100 kilometres from Vadodara in western India to reach New Delhi on World Environment Day on June 5, spreading a simple message 'Stop using plastic', and accentuating it by forgoing all the way any kind of plastic packaged drinks or food.
In fact, she hasn’t used any kind of plastic over the past decade. Besides, her message echoes the theme of this year's World Environment Day – 'Beat plastic pollution' – with India, among the world’s top ten consumers of plastic, playing global host.
By Dr Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General
The following is a slightly modified version of remarks by the ACP Secretary General to the High-Level Forum of Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) and the European Union in Brussels on 23 February 2018 on 'Engaging the OCTs and SDGs and the Post-Cotonou Process'. – The Editor
BRUSSELS (IDN) – Together the ACP Group of States and the European Union constitute a unique partnership grounded in the task of making lives of all humanity meaningful, secure, peaceful and prosperous.
It is for this reason that my remarks wish to express a commitment of the ACP Group of States to build on and strengthen the provisions in the Cotonou Agreement for relations of the ACP with OCTs.
