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Reporting the underreported about the plan of action for People, Planet and Prosperity, and efforts to make the promise of the SDGs a reality.
A project of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate Group with IDN as the Flagship Agency in partnership with Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.


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Viewpoint by Tim Westbury

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

BRISBANE, Australia (IDN) — The Pacific Islands security narrative is often dominated by voices and interests outside the region. At the recent Shangri-La Dialogue, among the hype surrounding geostrategic competition in the Pacific, Fiji’s Defence Minister Inia Seruiratu said that the “single greatest threat to our very existence is ... human-induced, devastating climate change.”

Goal 13+14+15

Photo: eyeWitness has helped expose atrocities in countries such as DRC, Ukraine, Senegal, and Palestine. ©Original photos captured by Anastasia Taylor-Lind and TRIAL International

Viewpoint by Dr Márcia Balisciano

The writer is the Global Head of Corporate Responsibility, RELX. She is also Chair of the UN Global Compact Network UK; Chair of the Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Council of the Conference Board; and a founding member of the Board of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens.

LONDON (IDN) — The goal in 2015 was to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. We should have been more than halfway there, but given the tumultuous state of global affairs, we are off track.

We must do more to realise progress.

Goal 16

Image: A collage of Tim Peake, an astronaut of the International Space Station by the British/European Space Agency (timpeake.com), with a special apple tree grown from seeds taken into space. The tree was planted on the Vienna International Centre (VIC) grounds on 26 September 2021 to inspire future generations of space scientists.

A new UNOOSA head is to be appointed soon

By Aurora Weiss

VIENNA (IDN) — Legend has it that a young Isaac Newton was sitting beneath an apple tree contemplating the mysterious universe. Suddenly —"boink!''—an apple unexpectedly hit him on the head. He experienced his "aha moment!". In a flash of light, he understood that the same force that brought the apple crashing toward the ground also keeps the moon falling toward the Earth and the Earth falling toward the sun: gravity. We are talking about real space Affairs in practice, which debuted in his book Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1869). (P13) CHINESE | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN | SPANISH

Goal 16

Image source: UN

Viewpoint by Galina Angarova (Buryat), Executive Director, Cultural Survival

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, USA (IDN) — On August 9, 2022, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous leaders will launch a new site—www.sirgecoalition.org—as part of the official public announcement of a new coalition to Secure Indigenous People’s Rights in a Green Economy (SIRGE Coalition).

Goal 1

Photo credit: WHO

UN Health Agency Calls for USD 123.7 million Until December 2022

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA | NAIROBI (IDN) — The UN health agency, World Health Organization (WHO), has launched a funding appeal for USD 123.7 million to carry out urgent life-saving work in the greater Horn of Africa. The region also faces an unprecedented food crisis.

More than 80 million people in the seven countries spanning the region—Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda—are estimated to be food insecure. Over 37.5 million people are classified as being in IPC phase 3, a stage of crisis where people have to sell their possessions in order to feed themselves and their families, and where malnutrition is rife.

Goal 3

Image: Desertification and drought. Credit: UNCCD

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The African continent of 1.2 billion people, which represents 17% of the world's population, contributes less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions but suffers from extreme weather events, which scientists have warned will become more frequent due to climate change.

Researchers in a new study have now put an actual dollar figure on economic harm caused by the countries most responsible for the climate crisis. The ground-breaking data could serve as a starting point for legal action by Africans against the world's wealthiest nations.

Goal 13+14+15

Ilheus, Bahia, Brazil in December 2021. Credit: Camila-Souza-GOVBA / WMO Report Climate Change and COVID-19 Playing Havoc in Latin America and the Caribbean Viewpoint by Mario Cimoli The writer is the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). SANTIAGO, Chile (IDN) — The Latin America and the Caribbean region is home to some of the widest biodiversity on the planet. From Caribbean marine and coastal oases to the Amazon rainforest and down to the southern-most reaches of Patagonia, the region is filled with natural wealth. However, the increasing impact of climate change and climate variability, compounded by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have not only undermined the productivity of ecological systems in the region, but have also stalled decades of advancement against poverty, inequality and food insecurity in the region. Rising sea levels and warming oceans are threatening the health of marine and coastal ecosystems. Drought, landslides, saltwater intrusion, extreme heat and human-induced land use changes have contributed to deforestation rates reaching their highest levels in 15 years. This trend is impacting terrestrial ecosystems, near-shore urban developments and other human settlements, as well as sustainable livelihoods, soil productivity and tourism opportunities. In the meantime, melting glaciers, mega-droughts, extreme rainfall and flooding are putting food production and water security at risk for both rural and urban populations across the region. The devastation caused by the frequency and ferocity of extreme hydro-climatic events in the Caribbean is especially overwhelming for the small island, low-lying and coastal States of the subregion. Addressing such interrelated challenges and multidimensional vulnerabilities will require a well-articulated, prioritized and integrated effort. The coral reef restoration projects ongoing in the Caribbean and Pacific are good examples of this. They seek to re-establish self-sustaining, functioning reef ecosystems affected by ocean warming and acidification, among other stressors, while demonstrating the advantages of effective collaboration between academia and practitioners for collective problem-solving. Strengthening partnerships and alliances with diverse stakeholders can also create long-term and regional and national solutions. For example, the Climate Action Platform for Agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean (PLACA), launched at the twenty-fifth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25), is as a voluntary regional collaboration mechanism on climate action in agriculture. PLACA promotes collaboration among LAC countries to implement mitigation and adaptation measures that can support regional and national strategies regarding climate change impacts and climate varia- bility in the agricultural sector. The platform brings together representatives from twelve ministries of agriculture in the region, so far, along with six partner organizations and several United Nations organizations, including the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and WMO. The report on the State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean, the second of its kind, is a critical source of science-based information and data. Informed by science, this report serves to support climate-related policy design and decision-making. ECLAC will continue to play an active role through the provision of policy support, capacity building, and the improved dissemination of weather, climate-change and climate variability data and information services. Note: The text of this Viewpoint is taken from preface to The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2021. The report highlights the far-reaching repercussions for ecosystems, food and water security, human health and poverty. Photo: Floods in Ilheus, Bahia, Brazil in December 2021. Credit: Camila-Souza-GOVBA / WMO Report IDN is the flagship agency of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. You are free to share, remix, tweak and build upon it non-commercially. Please give due credit. Opinion Editor THE WORLD Latin America & the Caribbean 29 July 2022 Prev Next Africa An Agenda for Disarmament DECADE OF ACTION Newsletter UN INSIDER BEYOND BREAKING THE NEWS (BBN) Daily News UN News Search PARTNERS SDG Media Compact UN WOMEN RELATED WEBSITES International Press Syndicate Institutional Highlights Nuclear Abolition News and Analysis SDGs for All IDN-InDepthNews - Asia-Pacific ホーム - INPS IPhoto: Floods in Ilheus, Bahia, Brazil in December 2021. Credit: Camila-Souza-GOVBA / WMO Report

Viewpoint by Mario Cimoli

The writer is the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

SANTIAGO, Chile (IDN) — The Latin America and the Caribbean region is home to some of the widest biodiversity on the planet. From Caribbean marine and coastal oases to the Amazon rainforest and down to the southern-most reaches of Patagonia, the region is filled with natural wealth.

Goal 13+14+15

Photo: A mother and her child pass by carcasses of goats and sheep in Luuq, Somalia on 21 March 2022. UN Photo/Fardosa Hussein

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The war in Ukraine is draining millions of dollars away from crises in Africa as funds are being redirected to Europe.

Somalia, facing a food shortage largely driven by the war, could be the most vulnerable. Its aid funding is less than half of last year’s level, while Western donors have sent more than $1.7 billion to respond to the war in Europe.

Goal 13+14+15

Photo: Female lawmakers make up 34.57% of Zimbabwe’s Ninth Parliament. Credit: ZimFact

By Farai Shawn Matiashe

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — Cyberbullying and online sexual harassment are some dilemmas that young women trying to rise in Zimbabwe’s patriarchal and male-dominated political space face.

What started as a debate on the opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), led by young and charismatic politician Nelson Chamisa not having structures, ended up with CCC spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere fighting cyberbullying from the ruling party, Zanu PF sympathisers in courts. (P12) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION  PDF | PORTUGUESE | SWAHILI

Goal 5

Photo: Farmer House—Indo-Fijian cane farmer's house (on top) and abandoned house and property (in foreground) after the expiry of the land lease. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SUVA, Fiji (IDN) — Though sugar cane is thought to be indigenous to the islands of the South Pacific, it was the British who started to grow it as a cash crop in Fiji in the later part of the 19th century. In 37 years, beginning in 1879, they shipped some 60,000 Indians over 7000 miles from home to work as indentured labourers in the newly established plantation for very little or no salary on 5-year contracts. (P11) GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

Goal 2

  1. Pacific Leaders Endorse '2050 Strategy of the Blue Pacific'
  2. The World is in Deep Trouble—& the Sustainable Development Goals in Jeopardy
  3. WHO Calls for Equitable and Global Access to Bacterial Medicines
  4. SDG Roadmap is the Way Forward in the Face of Global Crises
  5. A Tide of Pledges at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon

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