Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Everyone has their favourite sounds – a ball on a cricket bat on a summer’s afternoon, birds singing, waves breaking on the beach, the coffee pot perking on the stove, children playing scoobydoo. Mine are the quiet sounds of the English Lake District- William Wordsworth’s:

‘“A flock of sheep that leisurely pass by one after one; the sound of rain and bees murmuring; the fall of rivers, wind and lakes, smooth fields; white sheets of water, and pure sky.”

Noise is less and less sweet sounds. It is cars and trucks, airplanes and builders, canned music in cafes, a symphony playing an atonal concerto. Some pop music makes so much noise that pure sounds no longer exist.…

By Nobuyuki Asai

Note: The writer belongs to the Office of Peace and Global Issues, Soka Gakkai International (SGI), based in Tokyo. He attended the 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction conference, held in Cancun from May 22 to 26 – The Editor

TOKYO (IDN-INPS) – Clarification of numerical targets was one of the main issues in this conference. According to an expert, relevant statistics standards vary from country to country and, while their unification is a challenge, it was agreed on this occasion that steps should be taken in this direction. Further progress was also made with announcement of the formation of a civil society disaster risk reduction (DRR) advisory group aimed at putting people at the centre of DRR.…

By Taleb Rifai, Erik Solheim and Patricia Espinosa

MADRID | NAIROBI | BONN (IDN-INPS) – Whether it is a chic, zero-emission hotel in Milan where toiletries are 99 per cent biodegradable, or Gaansbai in South Africa, where conservation of native flora and fauna is a community-wide priority, sustainable tourism is growing fast across the globe.

It is a tribute to the myriad entrepreneurs, companies, creative individuals and communities that the United Nations is marking 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

This means that, throughout 2017, activities and initiatives across the spectrum of those involved in tourism will celebrate its transformational power on our global efforts to create a world that is cleaner and greener, more equal and more inclusive.…