IDN-InDepthNews

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-03-272023-07-10

Renewable Energy Investments Rising but ‘Not Quickly Enough’

By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

FRANKFURT | NAIROBI (IDN) – Impressive strides were made on renewable energy investments amounting to $266 billion in 2015 – more than double the estimated $130 billion invested in coal and gas power stations, according to a new United Nations backed report. But UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has issued a cautious note.

In his foreword to the report titled Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016, Ban said: “In spite of these positive findings, to keep global temperature rise well below 2 degrees and aim for 1.5 degrees, we must immediately shift away from fossil fuels. Sustainable, renewable energy is growing, but not quickly enough to meet expected energy demand.”

UN INSIDER2016-03-262023-07-10

UN Official Urges Israel and Palestine to Negotiate a Two-State Solution

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations envoy for the peace process in the Middle East has questioned the political will of both Israel and Palestine to address the main challenges blocking peace efforts.

today warned the Security Council that the prospects for an independent Palestinian state are disappearing, and questioned

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, has made an impassioned plea for both Israel and Palestine to “actively take steps that would demonstrate their commitment to, and create the conditions for, an eventual return to negotiations so as to achieve a viable Palestinian State and ensure Israel’s long-term security”.

The international community must send a clear message to both Israel and Palestine that a two-State solution is the best road to peace, Mladenov, told the Security Council on March 24. He was reacting to the current bloody wave of escalating violence, including stabbings and shootings in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-03-262023-07-10

UN Official Urges Israel and Palestine to Negotiate a Two-State Solution

By J Nastranis | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

today warned the Security Council that the prospects for an independent Palestinian state are disappearing, and questioned

UN INSIDER2016-03-262023-07-10

U.S.-Kazakhstan Cooperation on Nuclear Security and Nonproliferation

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – The Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC on March 31-April 1, to be joined by 50 world leaders, is the fourth under the leadership of President Barack Obama who stated in his speech in Prague in 2009 that nuclear terrorism is the most immediate and extreme threat to global security.

Obama announced an international effort to secure vulnerable nuclear materials, break up black markets, and detect and intercept illicitly trafficked materials. The first Nuclear Security Summit was held in Washington, DC in 2010, and was followed by Summits in Seoul in 2012 and The Hague in 2014.

The Summit will take place against the perturbing backdrop of the murder of a security guard who worked at a Belgian nuclear plant. That the terrorists who perpetrated bomb attacks at Brussels airport and on a crammed metro, slaying and injuring people on March 22, killed the guard and stole his pass two days later, has fuelled fears that they might be seeking to get hold of nuclear material or planning to attack a nuclear site.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-03-262023-07-10

U.S.-Kazakhstan Cooperation on Nuclear Security and Nonproliferation:

By J C Suresh | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

UN INSIDER2016-03-252023-07-10

UNESCO Promotes Journalists’ Safety and Coverage of Refugees

By Guy Berger, Director, IPDC Division of Freedom of Expression and Media Development.

PARIS (IDN) – Media development matters moved ahead at the 60th anniversary meeting of the Bureau of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC).

The two-day (March 17-18) meeting of eight Member States, chaired by the Netherlands, focused attention on contemporary media issues, including the Sustainable Development Goals, security of journalists, gender equality, and the refugee crisis.

An evaluation report about IPDC’s contribution to the safety of journalism, discussed at the meeting, noted: “Never has the UN advanced so much on the issue of journalistic safety in so little time as in recent years.”

Almost $900 000 in funding was allocated to 51 media development projects worldwide, and six other initiatives focused on ending impunity for attacks on journalists.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-03-252023-07-10

UNESCO Promotes Journalists’ Safety and Coverage of Refugees

By Guy Berger | IDN-InDepthNews Viewpoint

The writer is Director, IPDC Division of Freedom of Expression and Media Development.

PARIS (IDN) – Media development matters moved ahead at the 60th anniversary meeting of the Bureau of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC).

UN INSIDER2016-03-252023-07-10

Call for Gender-Responsive Implementation of Agenda 2030

By J C Suresh

TORONTO | NEW YORK (IDN) – UN member states committed themselves to the gender-responsive implementation of Agenda 2030 as the 60th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60) concluded on March 24 agreeing on a set conclusions, calling for stronger laws, policies and institutions, better data and scaled-up financing.

The Commission recognized women’s vital role as agents of development. It acknowledged that progress on the Sustainable Development Goals at the heart of Agenda 2030 will not be possible without gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

The conclusions agreed at CSW60 urge a comprehensive approach to implementing all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets through thorough integration of gender perspectives across all government policies and programmes. Eliminating all forms of gender-based discrimination depends on effective laws and policies and the removal of any statutes still permitting discrimination. Temporary special measures may be required to guarantee that women and girls can obtain justice for human rights violations.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-03-252023-07-10

Call for Gender-Responsive Implementation of Agenda 2030

By J C Suresh | IDN-InDepthNews Analyisis

Asia-Pacific2016-03-242023-07-10

China’s Release of Mekong Waters Reflects an Environmental Crisis

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the fifth in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

SINGAPORE (IDN | Lotus News Features) – China would like to project the release of Mekong River waters from its dams in March to “assist” drought-stricken farmers and fisheries further downstream, especially in Vietnam, as a magnanimous gesture from a friendly neighbour. But that action is in fact the reflection of a greater environmental and political crisis that is brewing in the region.

China announced middle of March that in response to a Vietnamese request, it will discharge from March 15 to April 10 water from the Jinghong hydropower station on the Mekong River in Yunnan province to the lower reaches of the Mekong River to alleviate drought in Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.