Project Articles

Photo: Women in Zambia work inside a greenhouse to increase the production of vegetables for sale at a local market. Credit: ILO/Marcel Crozet.

Three UN Agencies Call for Investments in Rural Employment

Nature-Based Solutions Could Generate 20 million New Jobs

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — A joint report by three UN organisations says that 20 million jobs could be created by further harnessing the power of nature to address the major challenges facing society, such as climate change, disaster risk and food and water insecurity.

According to the report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), investing in policies that support Nature-based Solutions (NbS) would generate significant employment opportunities, particularly in rural areas. (P27) HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 13 December 2022

Photo: Some urban Zimbabweans have resorted to growing vegetables in their backyards to supplement their food amidst rising inflation in the country. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/ IDN.

Urban Dwellers in Southern Africa Turn to Backyard Farming

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

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 30 November 2022

Photo: In Harare, the Zimbabwean capital’s medium density suburb called Glaudina west of the city, where a thick forest used to exist about a decade ago, under construction, hordes of homes are emerging instead as trees have vanished. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo | IDN

Growing Urbanization Chewing Away Forests in Southern Africa

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

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 18 November 2022

Photo: Bahrain Dialogue Forum in session. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun.

Bahrain Dialogue Forum Urges Action for Peaceful Coexistence

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

: Katsuhiro Asagiri; Project Articles; 14 November 2022

Photo: A view of the 2022 Arctic Assembly. Credit: Arctic Circle

Indigenous Societies Draw Focus of the Arctic Circle Assembly

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

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 09 November 2022

Thailand: Education at Fingertips for the Disabled

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

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 05 November 2022

Photo: A common morning "merit making" ritual across Thailand where people give food to monks. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne.

Thailand: Secularism Hinders Buddhists to Address Mental Health Crisis

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

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 04 November 2022

Developing Nations Risk Missing Development Goals Long Before 2030

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The late Everett McKinley Dirksen, an American politician. once famously said: "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money".

Perhaps that remark may be applicable to the funding of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where developing nations continue their relentless search for billions of dollars—now rising to trillions—to help achieve these targets by the year 2030. (P20) HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 24 October 2022

Photo: A woman crafts a mosaic depicting a peace dove in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. © UN Women/Christopher Herwig

Slow Progress for Women Helping Forge Peace

By Caroline Mawanga

NEW YORK (IDN) — Defending women's rights and promoting greater inclusion is a proven strategy for peace and stability, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told a recent Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, which focussed on Secretary-General António Guterres's annual report as envisaged with a landmark resolution adopted 22 years ago. (P19) GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 23 October 2022

Photo: Zimbabwean farmer Ruth Rugejo runs a hydroponics sytstem that uses recycled plastic bottles at her home in Gweru. Credit: Kudzai Mpangi.

Zimbabwe: Growing Lettuce in Empty Plastic Bottles

By Farai Shawn Matiashe

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — Ruth Rugeje, 38, monitors plants of cabbages, a pale green leafy vegetable, grown in empty two-litre bottles in the backyard of her home in Mutapa, a high-density suburb in the central Zimbabwean city of Gweru.

This innovative farmer picked these plastic bottles from the illegal dumping sites in her neighbourhood and reused them in hydroponics. (P18) CHINESE | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI