SUSTAINABILITY

Make Persons with Disabilities Integral Players in Fully Inclusive Societies

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer is an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) — Ten years ago, the Asia-Pacific region came together and designed the world’s first set of disability-specific development goals: the Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for Persons with Disabilities. This week, we meet again to assess how the governments have delivered on their commitments, to secure those gains and develop the innovative solutions needed to achieve fully inclusive societies.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 15 October 2022

Image: A Collage of the cover of African Women's Report and a picture from Geography name.

Digital Finance Can Drive Women’s Economic Empowerment in Africa

From Africa Renewal

By Economic Commission for Africa

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — A new report reveals persistent barriers in the digital finance sector that limit women’s economic empowerment in Africa while recommending policy responses to overcome them.

Commissioned by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the latest edition of the biennial African Women’s Report was published on October 3. The report analyses the digital finance ecosystem in Africa to examine all its components and how they impact women’s economic prospects.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 14 October 2022

Photo: People in eastern DRC wait for their monthly cash assistance. Credit: Benjamin Anguandia.

WFP Starts Afresh in DR Congo's Violence-Torn Northeast

By Benjamin Anguandia, WFP

KINSHASA (IDN) — Kesereka, who prefers to go by Sadi, accepts a stack of cash from a World Food Programme (WFP) officer in a small room in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s northeastern town of Mabalako.

He counts it carefully, folding it neatly, so it fits in his small pocket.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 13 October 2022

Photo: Protest against GMOs in Ghana. Credit: COFAM | Pambazuka News

GMOs that Promote Poverty and Dependency Gain Foothold in Kenya

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Kenya has officially entered into the cultivation and use of Genetically Modified Organisms—known as GMOs—that have been banned in 26 countries.

This month, Kenyan authorities announced plans to lift the country’s ban on genetically modified crops, in part to deal with a record drought that is causing hunger across the Horn of Africa. The move is opposed by those concerned about potentially harmful effects on health, the environment and small farms.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Poverty; 11 October 2022

Photo: Lesotho’s RFP leader Sam Matekane shakes hands with a party member after the announcement that his party was on track to win a majority in parliament. Credit: Shiraaz Mohamed.

Landlocked Lesotho Votes A Revolution for Prosperity

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A recently organized party led by a millionaire diamond magnate looks set to win Lesotho's parliamentary election, having secured enough for a simple majority, according to preliminary results from the election commission.

By Sunday afternoon, results from the October 7 vote were in for 49 out of a total of 80 constituencies. The Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) party, formed by Sam Matekane in March, had secured 41 seats, the minimum required to reach a simple majority.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 11 October 2022

Image: This image from a series of images shows the collapse of the Mud Creek landslide in May 2017 along the Big Sur coast in Central California, and the subsequent repairs to Highway 1, which was damaged during the event. Credit: Andy Ritchie/USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

NASA Study Finds Climate Extremes Affect Landslides in Surprising Ways

A NASA News Feature

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — Climate change is driving more volatile precipitation patterns around the world—very dry stretches punctuated by storms that drop large amounts of rain or snow in a short amount of time. While wetter and drier spells may have certain effects that are easy to predict, such as on water levels in lakes and rivers, a recent study focused on California reveals that they can affect slow-moving landslides in unanticipated ways.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 11 October 2022

Photo: Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (left) with the governor of Paraíba, João Azevedo (right). Credit: Divulgação

Brazil’s Lula Remerges—in a Very Different Political World

Viewpoint by Sonali Kolhatkar

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Sonali Kolhatkar is the founder, host and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations.

LOS ANGELES (IDN) — Brazil’s first round of elections, held on October 2, yielded a major victory for the man who held the presidency from 2003 to 2010, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Winning 48 per cent of the vote in a multicandidate race, Lula now heads to a runoff against incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro, who won 43 per cent.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 11 October 2022

Photo: The four damaged reactor buildings (from left: Units 4, 3, 2, and 1) on 16 March 2011. Hydrogen-air explosions in Units 1, 3, and 4 caused structural damage. Water vapor/"steam" venting prevented a similar explosion in Unit 2. CC BY-SA 3.0

UN Expert Calls for Unconditional Support to Victims of Fukushima Disaster

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — The Japanese government should give unqualified, human rights and needs-based support to the more than 30,000 people still displaced 11 years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. That approach must also apply to reconstruction in affected areas, said Cecilia Jiménez-Damary, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

: Jaya Ramachandran; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 10 October 2022

Image credit: Geneva Environment Network.

The West Is Exposing Itself to Double Standards by Weaponizing Human Rights

Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) — The recently concluded 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva exposed once again the double standards of the global human rights agenda.

West’s failure to get a resolution adopted at the UNHRC on October 6 on further investigation into the violation of human rights of the Muslim Uighurs in the north-western region of Xinjiang province in China reflects the international community’s scepticism of weaponizing human rights.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 10 October 2022

Warmongering Biggest Threat to Achieving SDGs

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — Welcome to our 13th issue of Sustainable Development Observer, which focuses on warmongering and sustainable development goals, prompted by an event I covered for IDN-InDepthNews from Kazakhstan—the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions—a gathering of over 300 religious leaders representing the Islamic, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and Jewish faiths.