By Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE (IDN) – Addressing a media conference at the close of the three-day 33rd ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Summit on November 15, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed fears that “circumstances may come” where the regional organization would have to “choose one over the other”. Though not naming […]
Conserving Biodiversity is Key to Mitigating Climate Change
By J C Suresh TORONTO (IDN) – An area almost the size of Australia – up to 724 million hectares in all – will be required by 2050 for cultivating bioenergy, according to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Platform on Climate Change (IPCC) on limiting climate warming to 1.5C. Models foresee that demand for […]
Slum Dwellers in 79 ACP Countries Draw the Focus
By Robert Johnson BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – Transforming ACP cities, leaving no one behind engaging in large scale investments in slums is the central theme of the three-day 3rd ACP-EC-UN-Habitat International Tripartite Conference in Brussels, headquarters of the European Union and the capital of Belgium. The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) is an […]
Reconciliation Continues to Evade Serbia-Kosovo Relations
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – One hundred years after the end of the First World War, which was triggered by a crisis in the Balkans, peace in the region is nowhere within reach yet. This has been highlighted by a senior United Nations official in his regular briefing to the UN Security Council […]
Aral Sea Promises to Rise Like Phoenix from the ‘Ashes’
By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN) – The zone of destruction created as a consequence of what has been called “one of the planet’s worst environmental disasters” has long crossed the frontiers of Central Asia, demanding urgent measures from the international community. Every year more than 150 million tons of toxic dust from the bottom […]
African States Commit to Conserve Largest Carnivores
By Rita Joshi BERLIN | BONN (IDN) – More than 30 countries hosting African Wild Dog, Cheetah, Leopard and Lion have agreed on establishing a work programme to guide their conservation actions over the next coming years. The move known as the African Carnivore Initiative, emerged from a meeting from November 5 to 8, 2018 […]
Cities Have the Potential to Shape the Future of Humankind
Viewpoint by Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury* The following are extensive extracts from the opening address by Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations, who is the Chairman of the Global Forum on Human Settlements (GFHS) since 2008, at the 13th GFHS Annual Session in Bangkok on 30 October 2018. […]
79 ACP Countries Get Ready for UN Climate Change Conference
By Robert Johnson BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The Intra-ACP GCCA Plus Programme, which has several success stories to tell, is supporting 79 members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) in preparing for the UN Climate Change conference in December in Katowice, Poland. The ACP Secretariat and the Programme hosted a Joint Policy […]
At World War I Ceremony, the Songbird of Togo Reappears
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – At a gathering of world leaders in the French capital of Paris, singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo reprised an hypnotic work of ethereal beauty by a youthful West African singer. With a repertoire of just 17 songs, the diva, Bella Bellow, had won the hearts of presidents, […]
Plan to Pick a Single Candidate to Defeat Kabila Implodes
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | KINSHASA (IDN) – As election day nears in the troubled Democratic Republic of the Congo, the seven leaders of the opposition seemed settled on one person to challenge the handpicked candidate of President Joseph Kabila – but differences unexpectedly arose. The agreement to back Congolese lawmaker […]