SDGs for All - June 2020 In Retrospect

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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.
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Welcome On Way to Post-Corona "New Normal"

SDGs for All - June 2020 In Retrospect

Sustainable Tourism and Fisheries Key to Growth in Post-COVID Pacific

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer, Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) – Developing countries of Asia and the Pacific are experiencing unbalanced tolls of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grim milestones in infections and deaths have left countlessly devastated. Yet, we must look at the economic and social impacts in small island developing States (SIDS), where setbacks are likely to undo years of development gains and push many people back into poverty.

By Bernhard Schell

AMMAN (IDN) – Highlighting the increasingly dire situation in countries across the Middle East, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned that "deep humanitarian needs will worsen and new ones will emerge if the international community doesn't factor socio-economic aftershocks into our response and protect livelihoods and food security".

The ICRC is, therefore, calling for social protection programs to be maintained or increased, including the most vulnerable, such as low-income workers, households headed by women, farmers and people with disabilities. Existing humanitarian activities focused on food security and nutrition must also be reinforced.

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – The polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth is warming at an accelerating rate and as sea ice continues to melt away, Arctic waters are becoming increasingly navigable to vessels carrying heavy fuel oil (HFO). HFO, which is one of the world's dirtiest fuels, is not only virtually impossible to clean up in the event of a spill, but also produces higher levels of air and climate pollutants than other marine fuels.

Viewpoint by Siddharth Chatterjee

The writer is the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Kenya. Follow Siddharth Chatterjee on twitter- @sidchat1.

NAIROBI (IDN) – When 17-year-old high school student Darnella Fraizer filmed the last minutes of George Floyd’s life under the knee of police officer Derek Chauvin, she could not have imagined that her footage would reignite the explosive global question of racial inequality and the subsequent clamour for reforms in policing. (P09) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI | TAGALOG

By Bernhard Schell

AMMAN | STOCKHOLM (IDN) – Seventy-five governments and non-governmental organisations have pledged $130 million in financial commitments to sustain the operations and services of the acutely underfunded United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). They gave the assurance at an extraordinary global meeting at the ministerial level. Sweden and Jordan hosted the online conference on June 23.

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – The world of work is deeply suffering from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Almost all of the planet's workers, some 94 per cent, were living in countries with some type of workplace closure measures in place in May 2020, according to the UN Secretary-General's Policy Brief on the World of Work and COVID-19 prepared with the International Labour Organization (ILO).

UN Chief António Guterres has, therefore, called for a three-phased response to the situation.

Viewpoint by Roseline Orwa *

BONDO, Kenya (IDN) – COVID-19, the deadly pandemic that has upended our world, is also, according to a new report, “a widow-making machine”. The emerging scientific evidence that many more men than women are dying from COVID-19 shows that the coronavirus crisis is creating new widows even as global economic turbulence affects women who have been struggling with poverty, discrimination and injustice for years.

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – Twenty-two United Nations senior African officials who hold the rank of Under-Secretary-General have in their "personal capacity" signed "Joint Reflections" on the last few weeks of protests at the killing of George Floyd in the hands of police, which they say in no uncertain terms have left them all "outraged at the injustice of racism that continues to be pervasive in our host country and across the world".

"Now Is the Time to Invest in and Step Up Action for Nature"

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN) – At least 40 per cent of the world’s economy and 80 per cent of the needs of the poor are derived from biological resources. These include diversity within species, between species, and between ecosystems. The richer the diversity of life, the greater the opportunity for medical discoveries, economic development, and adaptive responses to such new challenges as climate change and disastrous viruses such as the COVID-19.

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – A gold mine in Ethiopia's most populous and restive region, Oromia, has been anything but a blessing. Residents claim that contamination from the mine, owned by an Ethiopia-born Saudi tycoon, has led to disastrous health problems.

Locals say chemicals used to process gold at the open-pit mine near Shakiso, 222 miles south of the capital, Addis Ababa, have polluted water streams and the air, causing humans and animals respiratory illnesses, miscarriages, birth defects and disabilities.

Viewpoint by Linda Eckerbom Cole

The writer is Director/Founder, African Women Rising, shuttles between Santa Barbara, California and Gulu, Uganda.

SANTA BARBARA, California (IDN) – African Women Rising (AWR) has created a campaign to build 2,000 new Permagardens, which will help feed 15,000 at-risk people who are experiencing food scarcity due to COVID-19. Permagardens empower communities to meet their own food needs and are a long-term solution to hunger. (P08) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – At present, Africa has an only small fraction of more than 7.5 million COVID-19 affected people, nearly 423,000 of whom have died because of the Coronavirus worldwide. The virus has affected about 200,000 people on the 54-nation continent and killed 5,600.

"Swift and early action by African countries has helped to keep numbers low but constant vigilance is needed to stop COVID-19 from overwhelming health facilities," Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, has warned.

By Elena Marmo, Global Policy Watch (GPW)

This article first appeared in the GPW's blog.

NEW YORK (IDN) – Across the UN System, all hands are on deck to address the impact of COVID-19 from immediate humanitarian and health needs, to medium and longer-term socio-economic policy. Various initiatives are circling one another, raising issues of governance, reporting and accountability. Member States in the ECOSOC Operational Activities Segment explored some of these questions as they related to the UN Development System (UNDS). At the same time, in the 28 May and 2 June meetings on Financing for Development, they also explored policy ideas, with an emphasis on accounting for vulnerability in macroeconomic analysis.

Ramesh Jaura Talks to Ian Redmond

A tropical field British biologist and conservationist Ian Redmond has served as Ambassador for the UN Year of the Gorilla in 2009 and for the UNEP Convention on Migratory Species since 2010.

BERLIN | LONDON (IDN) – The fact that ecosystems and human health intersect has been repeatedly emphasized by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. "As we encroach on nature and deplete vital habitats, increasing numbers of species are at risk. That includes humanity and the future we want," he reiterated in a message on the International Day for Biological Diversity, observed on May 22, 2020.

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

Long before the Coronavirus and global warming, the great philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote: "Unhappy men would increase their happiness more by walking 6 miles every day than by any conceivable change in philosophy."

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Shouldn't we be Panglossian when it comes to the progress now being made to defeat the Coronavirus? Pangloss in his youth was unreasonably optimistic. He was in Voltaire's novel "Candide" Candide's mentor, and coined the phrase, "All this is for the best in this best of all possible worlds."

Viewpoint by John Scales Avery*

COPENHAGEN (IDN) – Elimination of excessive economic inequality makes societies happier and better, underlines the incontrovertible evidence that a new freely downloadable book presents.

Going back to history, the Age of Reason or the Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas during the 17th to 19th centuries. Sir Isaac Newton's rational explanations for cosmic phenomena demonstrated that reason is better than superstition.

Diderot's Encyclopaedia and the writings of Voltaire and Rousseau paved the way for the end of Feudalism, the end of the theory of the Divine Right of Kings, and the liberation of serfs and slaves throughout the world. (P07) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH

Call for Addressing Inequality, Unsustainable Debt and Socio-Economic Disparities

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS | NAIROBI (IDN) – Caribbean leaders have joined the United Nations in calling for solidarity and increased funding, as some of the world’s most vulnerable countries scale up their efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. At a virtual summit in Kenya's capital city, Nairobi, they have highlighted the need for "a truly global response" to the pandemic which is devastating the economic systems around the world, particularly impacting 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific states. They also are stressed the need to "strengthen the multilateralism for development", and engage "our institutions to consider innovative solutions".

Viewpoint by Richard Kozul-Wright

The writer is Director of Globalization and Development Strategies, UNCTAD.

GENEVA (IDN) – The COVID-19 crisis is stress testing the capacity of governance arrangements to deal with unexpected shocks.

Results point to considerable variation at the national level, but it’s difficult to give anything above a B minus to the response at the multilateral level.

UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report Update sets out how South-South cooperation, though not a substitute for a proper international response to the crisis, can point towards a better future.

Viewpoint by António Guterres

United Nations Secretary-General launches Policy Brief on the Impact of COVID-19 on Refugees, IDPs and Migrants.

NEW YORK (IDN) COVID-19 continues to devastate lives and livelihoods around the globe — hitting the most vulnerable the hardest.

This is particularly true for millions of people on the move — such as refugees and internally displaced persons who are forced to flee their homes from violence or disaster, or migrants in precarious situations.

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – In a joint statement, ninety-one women's organizations from Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Syria and Yemen have joined a global appeal issued by UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the outset of the pandemic.

On March 23, Guterres urged warring parties across the world to lay down their weapons in support of the bigger battle against COVID-19: the common enemy that is now threatening all the humankind.

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