Sustainable Industrialialisation

Photo: Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi. Source: New African

Dirty Coal to Replace Africa's 'Fancy Blue Diamond' As Part of a New Initiative

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | GABORONE (IDN) — There may be a lump of coal in Botswana’s Christmas stocking if the southern African country goes through with plans to wind down its famed diamond industry and replace it with unsustainable dirty coal.

President Mokgweetsi Masisi, at the Investing in African Mining Indaba, unveiled the country’s new direction acknowledging an abysmal year for the diamond market which hurt government revenue. It is “more imperative than ever”, he said, “to diversify into other commodities and curb the nation’s overdependence on precious stones".

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Sustainable Industrialisation; 30 November 2021

Photo: Top African leaders at the IATF2021. Credi-pt: IATF2021

Intra-African Trade Fair Aims to Strengthen the Continent's Industrial Base

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW | DURBAN (IDN) — South Africa is hosting a weeklong Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2021), which provides a unique and valuable platform for businesses to access an integrated African market of over 1.2 billion people with a GDP of over US$2.5 trillion.

Organized by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in collaboration with the African Union and the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), it is the 2nd edition of the IATF, taking place in Durban from November 15-21.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 18 November 2021

Photo. Lami residents rally against harmful chemicals emitted by cement factories in the area. Credit: Josefa Babitu

Fiji Islands: Gasping for Air Residents Await Government Action

By Josefa Babitu

* The writer is a final year Journalism student at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji Islands. This article is a collaboration between University of South Pacific’s student’s newspaper Wansolwara and IDN-InDepthNews.

SUVA, Fiji Islands (IDN) — “I have never been in a situation where I’ve had to fight for our right to breathe clean air,” says Sydel Whippy, a resident of Lami, an urban township north-west of the Fijian capital Suva.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 18 November 2021

Four Shot Over Gold Mining in the DR Congo As COP26 Opened

By Lisa Vives. Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — “Gold mining is one (of the) most destructive industries in the world. It can displace communities, contaminate drinking water, hurt workers, and destroy pristine environments. It pollutes water and land with mercury and cyanide, endangering the health of people and ecosystems.”

Those factors alone, cited by Earthworks.org, a Washington, DC environmental organization, would appear to be reason enough to reconsider expansion of the Kibali gold mine—already one of the largest gold mines in Africa—in the northeast part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 16 November 2021

Photo: Glencore heads a consortium of private lenders, which are negotiating loan restructuring among others with Chad. On its part, chronic food shortages and malnutrition continue to beset Chad’s population, 40% of whom live in absolute poverty. Collage of People of Chad. CC BY 2.0 and Glencore corporate name.

Oil and Water – Testing G20’s Faith in Private Creditors

By Alexander Kozul-Wright

Alexander Kozul-Wright is a consultant for the Third World Network (TWN) based in Penang, Malaysia.

GENEVA (IDN) — At the end of October, Glencore—the world’s largest commodities trader—revealed that core earnings were on course to top $3.2bn, eclipsing the company’s guidance expectations. For context, last year’s trading profits of US $3bn (before tax and interest) marked a record high.

In 2020, the Switzerland-based group took advantage of an unprecedented drop in oil prices to buy cheap barrels of crude and then sell them in futures markets for significant profits.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Sustainable Industrialisation; 13 November 2021

How Effective Communication Between Africans Can Help Boost Intra-African Trade

By Mosh Matsena

The writer is the founder and CEO of a 100 per cent black female-owned company Africa Consulting, a South African-based strategic communications and business solutions agency.

NEW YORK (IDN | Africa Renewal) — January 2021 marked a historic event for African economic development—the launching of free trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The agreement promotes socio-economic growth and development in Africa through liberalised trade processes and structures.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 November 2021

Photo credit: Outflow_Designs/Shutterstock

UN Role in Restraining the Dark Side of Emerging Technology

Viewpoint by Denise Garcia

This article was issued by Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

BOSTON (IDN) — In May 2021, the United Nations Security Council met for the first time to discuss the role of emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), in peace and security. In the following month, the Security Council met to discuss how to keep peace in cyberspace, also for the first time, ushering emerging technologies to the highest level of diplomatic efforts at the United Nations (UN).

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 03 November 2021

WTO Extends Measures for LDCs to Access Knowledge, But Why not Go the Whole Way?

Viewpoint by Teresa Hackett

The writer is Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager at Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL). She oversees the development and delivery of a unique, copyright service for libraries in developing and transition countries, providing specialist resources in multiple languages, and individual assistance on legislative issues.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (IDN) — When members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) recently agreed to extend the transition period by which Least Developed Countries (LDCs) must apply WTO rules on intellectual property, it was a welcome decision.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 19 October 2021

Photo: Women planting an olive tree in the Marrakech-Safi region of Morocco (High Atlas Foundation, 2021)

Decentralisation Vital to Achieving the UN's Global Goals

Viewpoint by Yossef Ben-Meir

The writer is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and president of the High Atlas Foundation.

MARRAKECH (IDN) — The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are aspirationally universal, addressing globally relevant issues with earnest objectives. Despite the profound good that they represent, fundamental problems exist with the Goals. They lack prescriptiveness, even to the extent of not explicitly aligning with what we know is indelible to sustainability: local people’s participation.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 June 2021

Photo. Colombo Port City (land reclamation) seen from Galle road. CC BY-SA 4.0

New Commission to Govern Colombo Port City Soon

Sri Lanka Embarks on Ambitious Project to Create Another Asian Financial Hub

By Sugeeswara Senadhira

COLOMBO (IDN) — The Sri Lankan Supreme Court’s determination on the proposed Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill will be placed before the parliament on May 18, paving way for the legal act to establish the Commission, with an amendment in accordance with the judiciary's verdict. The Supreme Court conveyed its decision to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, who will discuss with party leaders on May 18 on fixing a date to debate the Bill.