IDN-InDepthNews

Gender Equality2016-11-182023-07-10

Why Women Matter for Effective Climate Change Solutions

By Fabíola Ortiz

MARRAKECH (IDN) – Establishing a clear path forward and including women and girls in global efforts on climate change were some of the biggest challenges the delegations and non-state actors faced at the latest United Nations Climate Change Conference in Marrakech.

Formally known as the Twenty-Second Conference of Parties (COP22), the conference had a special day (November 14) for discussing exclusively gender issues within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

“Study after study has shown that women are the most vulnerable to climate change and that’s why there is a need for strong leadership on this issue,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa.

Quality Education2016-11-172023-07-10

ICTs Between Money-Spinners and SDG Champions

By Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) – At the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) annual flagship event ITU Telecom World 2016 from November 14 to 17, there was much discussion about the profit-making motives of technology providers and the need to integrate social goals to help achieve the UN’s new catchcry Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In opening remarks to the event, ITU’s Secretary General Houlin Zhao from China reminded over 8,000 industry leaders and policy makers from across the globe that “the digital divide is very much still with us”, a division that includes geography, gender, education and resources. “It is imperative that we continue to work to close that digital divide,” he declared.

OPINION2016-11-172023-07-10

Looking Back at UNIDO, Moving Forward

By LI Yong, Director General of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

VIENNA (IDN-INPS) – UNIDO is turning fifty years old. The anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on the past. It is also an opportunity to chart a new path for a sustainable future.

Looking back at what UNIDO has achieved throughout all these years, I am amazed by the success of its technical cooperation activities, its normative function and its policy advice, and its contribution to the global discussion of industrial development.

The history of the Organization started on November 17, 1966, when UNIDO was established as a special organ of the United Nations General Assembly to assist, promote and accelerate the industrialization of developing countries, with a particular emphasis on manufacturing. After moving its headquarters to Vienna in 1979, it became a specialized agency in 1985.

Climate Action2016-11-162023-07-10

Finance and Investment Key to a New Dawn in Climate Change

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – While there is “a new dawn for global cooperation on climate change”, greater efforts are required to mobilize funding to address climate change, especially to support developing countries, according to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

“Finance and investment hold the key to achieving low-emissions and resilient societies,” Ban said in remarks read by his Special Advisor on Climate Change, Bob Orr, to a High-Level Ministerial dialogue on climate financing at the 22nd Conference of Parties Conference (COP 22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Africa2016-11-152023-07-10

Morocco Hosts Africa’s Coordinating Office on Desertification

MARRAKECH (IDN) – Morocco has agreed to host the Africa Regional coordination Unit of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) with a view to providing the Bonn-based secretariat with vital support services that the Parties to the Convention need to effectively implement the Convention in Africa.

The announcement to this effect was made on November 14 by Abdeladim Lhafi, Morocco’s High Commissioner for Water and Forests and the Fight against Desertification and Commissioner of the 22nd session of Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Conference (COP22), from November 7 to 18 in Marrakech.

OPINION2016-11-152023-07-10

Peace in Antarctica Exemplary for International Relations

By Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – In 1772, sailing to the far south, Captain James Cook deflated the prevailing myth of Antarctica, that it was a temperate land, fertile and populated. Although he never landed on the continent he saw the vast icebergs, the frozen sea and the “worst weather anywhere in the world”. He wrote that “it is a continent doomed by nature” and doubted that man would ever find a use for it.

The words had not been long out of his mouth before governments started to make tentative grabs. The British were the first to make a move, claiming sovereignty on the grounds that the government needed to regulate commercial whaling.

Africa2016-11-152023-07-10

Telling the African Story Through the African Media

By Ronald Joshua

KIGALI (IDN | GIN | The New Times) – Media practitioners from around the continent have called for more emphasis on principles of independence, fairness and accountability as prime kits to tell the African story through the African media.

Driven by the concept of ‘Africa that we want’ motto through the ‘Africa Media We Want’ mantra, the call was made when journalists gathered in Kigali, Rwanda, on November 7, for the Africa Information Day, which was celebrated in parallel with the eighth National Media Dialogue.

Africa2016-11-152023-07-10

After Trump’s Election Africans Assess U.S. Landscape

NEW YORK (IDN | GIN) – Africans were tweeting and messaging about the surprise outcome of U.S. elections that left many around world worried for the future. Kenyan-American and distinguished professor Makau Mutua was “quarterbacking” as a “day after” couch potato who second-guesses why his team lost.

“Hillary Clinton was defeated by “white-lash”, as opposed to “white backlash”, he wrote, an opinion shared with CNN analyst Van Jones, the African-American Harvard-educated lawyer,

Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture2016-11-152023-07-10

FAO Joins the South Centre to Boost South-South Cooperation

By Bernhard Schell

MARRAKECH (IDN) – The South Centre and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN have decided to join together to foster South-South Cooperation with the aim to improve food security, boost rural development, and address climate change in the Global South.

The five-year cooperation agreement – in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) – builds on years of collaboration between the two organizations. It was signed on November 11 on the sidelines of the 22nd Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) taking place in Marrakech; Morocco from November 7 to 18, 2016.

Gender Equality2016-11-142023-07-10

UN Women Launches 16-Day ‘Orange the World’ Initiative

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – On November 25, the United Nations and civil society commemorate the International Day to End Violence against Women. That same day, UN Women – the global champion for gender equality – will kick off 16 days of global activism, until December 10, to halt a gross violation of women’s human rights that affects at least 1 in 3 women and girls worldwide.

“It is a pandemic that we must stop. To do so, we need everyone’s help,” says Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women.