By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — At unoccupied swathes of land behind houses in Bloomingdale, a medium-income suburb in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, numerous maize fields and vegetable gardens have emerged as urban dwellers enduring economic hardships switch to backyard farming.

Zambia, despite emerging from an economic crisis during former President Edgar Lungu’s reign that ended last year, has dozens of urban dwellers taking up agriculture to supplement their earnings. (P26) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer is an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) — The recent climate talks in Egypt have left us with a sobering reality: The window for maintaining global warming to 1.5 degrees is closing fast and what is on the table currently is insufficient to avert some of the worst potential effects of climate change.

By Somar Wijayadasa*

Last year, every two minutes, one person got infected with HIV, and every minute one person died of AIDS-related causes.

NEW YORK (IDN) — Every year on December 1, people throughout the world commemorate World AIDS Day to raise awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection.

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | SHARAM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (IDN) — More than 20 years since the first UN climate conference was held, less than five women have been climate conference presidents out of 110 heads of state and government.

Women are now calling for greater representation at the next conference to be held next year in the United Arab Emirates.

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — In Harare, the Zimbabwean capital’s medium-density suburb known as Glaudina, where a thick forest used to exist, homes under construction have emerged instead, with the trees vanishing.

North-West of Zimbabwe, just outside Lusaka, the Zambian capital, slums and shacks have also, over the decades, replaced the once flourishing forests.

According to the UN-Habitat, in the absence of sufficient public low-cost housing in Zambia, urban growth has resulted in a series of housing crises and the growth of unauthorized settlements at the urban periphery. (P25) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — A coalition of over 700 religious and civil society organizations (CSOs) is making a collective appeal to end the crisis in the Korean peninsula and avoid "military action provoking war".

In a recently released statement, the coalition says: "We are here today in a great sense of crisis. The word 'war' feels closer than ever. Tensions are rising like never before as the military exercises of South Korea, the US, and North Korea continue for days."

By Katsuhiro Asagiri

Manama (IDN) — “Our world today is facing unprecedented challenges where conflicts are multiplying and people whose identities are defined by religion, culture, or ethnicity, continue to be besieged by hatred. Social and cultural divides are deepening; tribalism, ethnic violence, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, hate speech and ultra-nationalism, are in full swing.” said Miguel Angel Moratinos, the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC). He was addressing the opening session of the first Bahrain Dialogue Forum on November 3. (P24) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) — The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth's ecosystems. The cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions. Life in the Arctic includes zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants and human societies.

Reykjavik—the capital of the Nordic Island nation Iceland—hosted the Arctic Circle Assembly (ACA)—nearly four weeks ahead of the UN Climate conference COP27. The Arctic region is not on the agenda of the 2022 annual gathering in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt). (P23) ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Surely a massive infusion of aid into Africa would be to pour money down a rat hole? Isn't this the mistake that was made in the past—enormous generosity by the rich countries only to see it wasted on misconceived projects, bad economic management and, at its worst, siphoned away into war and corruption, as is so evident in say Zimbabwe, Congo and Somalia right now?

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — When the two-weeklong COP27 climate summit began negotiations on November 6, the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were not far behind.

At the conference centre in the Egyptian coastal town of Sharm el-Sheikh, the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) is hosting an SDG Pavilion for interactive dialogues and discussions on key SDG thematic areas, particularly clean energy, water, forests, the ocean, and climate synergies—all of which will be on the forefront of the climate summit.

By Pattama Vilailert

BANGKOK (IDN) — Quality Education and Reduced Inequalities are two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With 3.3 per cent of Thailand’s population categorized as “disabled”, Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU) has come up with an innovative program to provide a new lease of life to people who would otherwise be left behind in the sphere of higher education. (P22) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | THAI

By Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) — While the massacre of 37 people that included 26 preschool children in a remote north-eastern township of Thailand on October 7 has shocked the nation and exposed the inadequacy of the public mental health system, it is yet to trigger a debate about whether Buddhism could step in to help solve a major social crisis in the majority Buddhist country. (P21) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | THAI

Viewpoint by Nandita Bajaj*

ST PAUL, Minnesota (IDN) — As the global population fast approaches 8 billion, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Dr Natalia Kanem wants us to avoid what she calls “population alarmism.” A fearless advocate for reproductive rights, Dr Kanem, has rightfully noted that reproductive coercion, whether in an effort to limit births or to promote them, is an egregious violation of individual rights.