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New Year ... Let Us Unite Against the New Obscurantism!

Viewpoint by Michele Zizzari*

CASTELLAMMARE DI STABIA, Italy (IDN) – What can we say about the fact that we live in such an inhuman world ... where even the most superfluous of personal whims, the smallest interest or private profit is enough to make us completely ignore others or consider them (especially if poor, or for some other reason) only with annoyance and disdain?

A narrow, widespread, often gratuitous, induced, unmotivated egoism ... that we even try to justify invoking a banal and misunderstood sense of peaceful life ... which then translates into an even less noble "let's mind our own business" or "who makes us do it?"

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 01 January 2018

As the First Central Asian Country Kazakhstan Assumes Security Council Presidency

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – When Kazakhstan joined the 15-nation United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on January 1, 2017 as a non-permanent member for two years, President Nursultan Nazarbayev pledged "adapting the . . .Council and the entire UN system to the threats and challenges of the 21st century."

"We will seek to strengthen the understanding of Security Council members on the importance of creating a renewed model of international relations that accurately reflects the realities of the 21st century and shapes a collective responsibility for meeting global and regional challenges," President Nazarbayev declared.

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 01 January 2018

Photo: António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, at the Security Council meeting on Non-proliferation/Democratic People's Republic of Korea on December 15, 2017. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias.

UN Chief Issues 'Red Alert,' Calls for Defending Shared Values

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has issued "a red alert for our world" in his message on the occasion of 2018 New Year. It's probably the first time ever a UN Chief has done so.

He does not explicitly refer to the nuclear muscle-flexing between the United States and North Korea, but warns: "Global anxieties about nuclear weapons are the highest since the Cold War."

Red alert is "a state of alert brought on by impending danger". The full text of his message on December 31 explains why he perceives a sword of Damocles hanging over our heads. But there is something the international community can undoubtedly do to avert the impending danger. Here the full text of Guterres' video message:

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 31 December 2017

Photo: IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano (left) and OFID Director-General Suleiman J Al-Herbish (right) at the conclusion of an agreement to increase food security and promote sustainable agriculture in Asia. Credit: OFID.

OPEC Fund Supports UN Atomic Energy Agency to End Hunger

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund for International Development (OFID) has joined hands with the United Nations atomic energy agency in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 on ending hunger, achieving food security

Backed by the OFID grant of US$ 600,000, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) projects will benefit especially poor farmers in developing countries in Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal and Vietnam.

OFID Director-General Suleiman J Al-Herbish and IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano signed an agreement for the purpose on December 21. Al-Herbish said: "Grant financing is an important part of OFID's development operations and we are pleased to be working with the IAEA in support of agriculture in Asia."

: Jutta Wolf; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 30 December 2017

Photo: In Iraq, displaced civilians and their livestock flee fighting. Conflict in some countries in the Near East and North Africa is sparking spikes in hunger. Credit: FAO Cengiz Yar.

Conflict and Crises Impeding Efforts to Eradicate Hunger

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Strife and violence in some countries in the Near East and North Africa are casting a shadow on prospects for Zero Hunger across the entire region by 2030, according to a new report.

The 2017 edition of the Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) by FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, throws limelight on how ongoing conflicts and protracted crises are opening a wide "hunger gap" between countries being affected by intensified violence and those that are not.

NENA countries include, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

: Santo D. Banerjee; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 29 December 2017

Planet Earth Suffers as Politics Rearranges the Deck Chairs on the Titanic

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio

The writer is publisher of Other News, an eminent proponent of "information that markets eliminate" and founder of IPS-Inter Press Service News Agency. This article is being reproduced courtesy of Other News with the writer's permission. He can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and his articles and comments can be read on Facebook @robertosavioutopia. He warns that while the world is heading for catastrophe, the governments are not taking their responsibility seriously.

ROME (IDN) – The European Union (EU) appears to have decided to scale down its commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change which was adopted by consensus by all the 195 member states of the UN Climate Convention and the EU, and has been ratified by 172.

When Europe’s 28 Environment Ministers met in Brussels on December 20, to discuss the Commission's plan for reducing emissions, to comply with the Paris Agreement, they decided, with some resistance from Denmark and Portugal, to follow the direction taken by President Donald Trump who has meanwhile withdrawn from the Paris Agreement to privilege American interests – and this without any attention to the planet.

: Roberto Savio; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 28 December 2017

Photo: The Bahamas National Trust. Credit: IUCN

Investment Boosts Protected Areas Across 79 ACP States

By Jaya Ramachandran

BRUSSELS (IDN | IUCN) – "The protection and sustainable management of biodiversity in ACP countries requires a comprehensive approach that extends beyond the establishment of protected areas," according to Patrick I. Gomes, Secretary-General of the ACP Group.

It is against this backdrop that the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) Group of States supports the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) Programme, which not only contributes to the protection of terrestrial and marine biodiversity but also seeks to provide relevant data and information to decision-makers at all levels, to enhance biodiversity conservation in ACP countries, Gomes added.

: Jaya Ramachandran; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 27 December 2017

Photo: Demonstration in Tel-Aviv against nuclear weapons. Credit: The Israeli Disarmament Movement.

Israeli Disarmament Movement Steers Through Nuclear Ambiguity

By Bernhard Schell

AMMAN (IDN) – The Israeli media ignored the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in honour of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) on December 10, 2017 in Oslo. The Israeli Ambassador to Norway however attended the event.

The silence of the Israeli media, according to observers, was not surprising though ICAN's eminent partner in the Middle East, the Israeli Disarmament Movement (IDM), founded and chaired by Sharon Dolev, has influenced the Israeli public discourse for the past six years.

ICAN also has partners in Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen.

: Bernhard Schell; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 27 December 2017

Photo: President Trump delivers remarks on tax reform in the Grand Foyer of the White House on 13 December 2017. Credit: Official White House Photo by Stefanie Chazes.

Uncertainties Abound on the Threshold of 2018

By Martin Khor

Martin Khor is the Executive Director of the South Centre. He can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This analysis first appeared on South Bulletin 100, December 2017 with the caption: 'In 2017, Donald Trump dominated the year by using US clout to change many aspects of global relations, and not for the better.'

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) – What a year it has been! As 2017 slips away, and 2018 dawns, many wonder if the world will ever be the same. Credit or blame goes mainly to United States President Donald Trump for this radical change. This time last year, after he won the presidential elections, it was a toss-up whether Trump would implement his campaign promises or become a more statesmanlike President.

: Martin Khor; OPINION; 27 December 2017

Photo: Fumiyasu Akegawa addressing an audience during one of his visits to Thailand and Vietnam. Credit: DEVNET Japan

Promoting Sustainable Development in Southeast Asia

Viewpoint by Fumiyasu Akegawa

Fumiyasu Akegawa is founder and president of DEVNET Japan.

TOKYO (IDN) – Since DEVNET Japan participated in August 2015 in Expo 2015 hosted by the Italian city of Milan, the organization set up in March 2013 to promote Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly in Southeast Asia has made considerable strides.

It was one of the notable non-official participants of the universal exhibition. Then known as DEVNET Tokyo Foundation, we availed of Milan Expo 2015 to throw light on our agenda focused on promoting seven themes: poverty alleviation; food security; humanitarian support; environmental protection; advanced technology and energy saving; support of women entrepreneurs and improvement of women's status; and the establishment of sustainable developing society.