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Photo: Plastic waste on a beach in Hawaii. Credit: NOAA

Pacific Ocean’s Delicate Ecology Under Threat

By Jodie L Rummer, Bridie JM Allan, Charitha Pattiaratchi, Ian A Bouyoucos, Irfan Yulianto and Mirjam van der Mheen*

In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the second article in the series which looks at the Pacific Ocean, an ocean so vast that it may seem invincible. Click here for the first article on the series.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 09 December 2020

Photo: The Indian Ocean could play a major role in future climate change. Credit: Earth.com

The Rich Historical Archive That Is the Indian Ocean

By Isabel Hofmeyr and Charne Lavery*

In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the first article in the series which looks into ancient Indian Ocean trade networks.

JOHANNESBURG | PRETORIA (IDN) – On many beaches around the Indian Ocean, keen observers may spot bits of broken pottery. Washed smooth by the ocean, these shards are in all likelihood hundreds of years old, from centres of ceramic production like the Middle Eastern Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Ming dynasty.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 09 December 2020

Situation Report EEPA HORN OF AFRICA No. 20

Europe External Programme with Africa is a Belgium-based Centre of Expertise with in-depth knowledge, publications, and networks, specialised in issues of peacebuilding, refugee protection and resilience in the Horn of Africa. EEPA has published extensively on issues related to movement and/or human trafficking of refugees in the Horn of Africa and on the Central Mediterranean Route.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 09 December 2020

Photo: President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev at The First Summit in Geneva Switzerland, 19 November 1985. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Biden Would Do Well to Roll Back the Expansion of NATO

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Top of President-elect’s Joe Biden’s foreign policy list must be Russia. Not China, not Europe. Russia has been the West’s mortal enemy since shortly after the end of World War II, with a short break when Communism was overthrown in 1991, until NATO began its expansion in 1999 and the Cold War, supposedly dead and buried, was resurrected. Only Russia and the US with their massive nuclear arsenals have the power to destroy civilization.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 08 December 2020

Photo: Women assembling tea. Credit: Kizito Makoye.

Transforming Tea Trade with Taste and Impact in Tanzania

By Kizito Makoye

DAR ES SALAAM (IDN) – Nothing quite compares the taste of Ginger Mint Fusion tea whose aromatic steam mistily wafts off when served in a cup. As any customer at Salt restaurant in Dar es Salaam will attest, the tasty beverage is probably the best money can buy.

Perched at the posh Oyster Bay neighbourhood with lush vegetation – the restaurant, which boasts a tacky décor and grandiose French Style architecture – is a magnet for tea-lovers.

Whether you take it with milk, sugar, lemon or just plain, ginger tea, which is spiced with exquisite flavours, is irresistibly tasty.

: Kizito Makoye; THE WORLD; Africa; 08 December 2020

Situation Report EEPA HORN OF AFRICA No. 19

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 08 December 2020

Photo: The panorama of Port Vila, capital and largest city of Vanuatu. CC BY 2.0

Vanuatu's Development Success Overshadowed by COVID-19

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana 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 Pacific Island Developing State of Vanuatu has emerged as one of the region’s great success stories. Vanuatu has joined the ranks of Samoa and the Maldives as one of only six countries to graduate from being a least developed country since the category was introduced by the United Nations in 1971.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 08 December 2020

Photo: Artist in the Central African Republic, CAR, painting on walls various tips on how to protect oneself from COVID-19. Credit: MINUSCA/Screenshot

Africa Alliance Launched to Combat Misinformation on COVID-19

By Sean Buchanan

LONDON (IDN) – The World Health Organisation (WHO) has just launched a new alliance, the Africa Infodemic Response Alliance (AIRA), to coordinate actions and pool resources in combating misinformation around COVID-19 pandemic and other health emergencies in Africa.

It brings together 13 international and regional organisations, together with fact-checking groups which have expertise in data and behavioural science, epidemiology, research, digital health and communications.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 December 2020

Photo: Poster for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Credit: UN Women

US Policing and Militarism Perpetuate Sexual Violence

Viewpoint by Olivia Pace*

The original version of this article was published on Waging Nonviolence and is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

PORTLAND, Oregon (IDN) – From the forces of policing to the military, these arms of the US state claim to be arbiters of justice and safety in the most superficial way. In reality, not only do these forces fail to create safety or bring justice to survivors of sexual violence. These systems actively perpetuate sexual violence and gendered violence on their own.