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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.

: OPINION; 27 December 2017

Photo: The Security Council unanimously adopts resolution 2397 (2017), condemning in the strongest terms the ballistic missile launch conducted by the DPRK on 28 November 2017 in violation and flagrant disregard of the Security Council's resolutions on non-proliferation. UN Photo/Manuel Elias

UN Chief Expects New Sanctions To Help Make 2018 'A Pivotal Year' for the Korean Peninsula

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres desires to make 2018 "a pivotal year" for the achievement of sustainable peace on the Korean Peninsula.

In a statement attributable to his spokesperson, following the adoption of a new Security Council resolution (UNSCR 2397), he said: "The only way forward for a comprehensive peaceful and political solution requires de-escalation and open communication channels, now."

The resolution was approved on December 22 in response to the latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), widely known as North Korea, on November 28.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 26 December 2017

Photo: City officials in New York allowed a developer to segregate a high-rise condo between rich and poor. According to reports by New York Post, developers of Extell, a condo on the Upper West Side, got the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to approve a separate entrance for poorer residents. Credit: Rolling out

It's Getting Better Except in Trump's America

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Every so often reports emerge that attempt to measure which are the best countries to live in. The Nordic countries plus New Zealand, Holland and Switzerland, usually come out top. Sweden is number one just for the sheer stability of life and security. Denmark is seen as the most agreeable place to live. The highest rate of longevity is found in Japan. The best schools are in Finland, New Zealand and Canada. Political and press freedom put the Nordics at the top of the league.

Last month, the Legatum Institute based in London published a report looking at inequality. Its timing could not be more perfect with the U.S. Congress last week (December 20) passing President Donald Trump’s tax bill which increases inequality by a substantial amount.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 26 December 2017

Photo: Poverty in America Documentary 2017 on YouTube

UN Expert Reveals Shocking Facts about Poverty in the U.S.

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – More than one in every eight Americans, numbering 40 million, equal to 12.7 % of the population, are living in poverty, and almost half of those – 18.5 million – in abysmal poverty, according to a new report.

Though the United States is one of the world’s richest, most powerful and technologically innovative countries, "neither its wealth nor its power nor its technology is being harnessed to address the situation," stresses Professor Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in his statement on a two-week visit to the USA.

Alston, an international law scholar and human rights practitioner, is John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, and co-Chair of the law school's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice.