Analysis by Jaya Ramachandran
BERLIN | ROME (IDN) - The UN Security Council is faced with a critical if not an unprecedented situation: it has been warned that "protracted conflicts affecting 17 countries" have now driven more than 56 million people into either "crisis" or "emergency" levels of food insecurity and are hindering global efforts to eradicate malnutrition.
At the same time, according to a recent report by UNEP and the World Resources Institute (WRI), about one-third of all food produced worldwide, worth around US$1 trillion, gets lost or wasted in food production and consumption systems. (P23) GERMAN | INDONESIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH | SWAHILI | TURKISH
By Fernando Torres Morán
LIMA (IDN) – Oxapampa is a province in the Pasco Region, in the high jungle area of Peru, which is home to the Oxapampa-Asháninka-Yanesha Biosphere Reserve that was recognised by UNESCO in 2010.
The reserve houses a number of protected natural areas such as the Yanachaga Chemillen National Park, with an area of 122 thousand hectares (spread over the districts of Huancabamba, Oxapampa, Villa Rica and Pozuzo) and the San Matías-San Carlos Protection Forest, with an area of 145,818 hectares (spread over the districts of Palcazu, Puerto Bermudez and Villa Rica).
Over the decades, the area has suffered forest depredation, and Peru's non-governmental Pronaturaleza foundation for the conservation of nature has recently condemned the illegal felling of trees in the Yanachaga Chemillen National Park, including the extraction of one hundred thousand planks of wood from trees such as thyme, cedar and fig. (P22) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH
By Rodney Reynolds
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – The United Nations formally launched on July 11 its global campaign to help ensure the implementation of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at achieving social, economic and environmental advancement for over 7.0 billion people worldwide.
But the lingering question before the 10-day High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on SDGs was whether or not the international community will reach its targets, including the elimination of poverty and economic inequalities by 2030, as envisaged by world leaders in September 2015?
Reiterating the primary theme of the SDG Forum – “Ensuring that no one is left behind” – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the successful implementation of SDGs will depend on its inclusiveness. (P21) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN TEXT VERSION PDF
By Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) - The Department of Political Affairs plays a central role in the United Nations efforts to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts around the world. But it will not be on the radar screen of the Security Council when it opens on July 21 the first round of unofficial ‘straw polls’ to agree on one of the 12 candidates for the post of the Secretary-General.
A candidate who is acceptable to the five permanent members – USA, Russia, China, Britain and France – and is elected later by the General Assembly to succeed Ban Ki-moon, whose second five-year term expires on December 31, 2016, will however have to pay heed to the Evaluation of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs (DPA). (P20) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
- Ramesh Jaura
- Goal 5
Analysis by J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) - As the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development started its first review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) July 11-20, civil society coalitions from around the world brought to New York their own findings, calling on member states to take note of these.
Because the Forum is the UN’s central platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda adopted by world leaders on September 25, 2015. It is slated to adopt a Ministerial Declaration to provide political leadership, guidance and recommendations on the 2030 Agenda’s implementation and follow-up; keep track of progress of the SDGs; spur coherent policies informed by evidence, science and country experiences; as well as address new and emerging issues. (P19) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
By Jutta Wolf
BERLIN | ROME (IDN) - Three Rome-based UN agencies are keen to avert further havoc wreaked by the twins with euphemistic names – ‘The Little Boy’ and ‘The Little Girl’ – and are calling for governments and the international community to ramp up efforts to safeguard livelihoods of some 100 million people around the world.
“The new pattern of climate events (better known by their Spanish designations, El Niño and La Niña) is exposing weaknesses in our preparedness, in international and government systems and in community infrastructure,” says the newly-appointed United Nations Special Envoy on El Niño & Climate Ambassador Macharia Kamau. (P18) JAPANNESE TEXT VERSION PDF
Analysis by Jeffrey Moyo
HARARE (IDN) – Clad in faded trousers and shirt and an old pair of shoes dotted with a mixture of patches and holes, 38-year-old Jemitius Simango trudges along First Street in the Zimbabwean capital with a huge sack containing empty plastic bottles hanging on his back as he rummages through dustbins in search of valuables.
Simango holds a Marketing Diploma from Zimbabwe’s Harare Polytechnic College and at first glance many take him for a lunatic, although he is an ordinary man at ‘work’ trying to earn a living against the backdrop of this Southern African country’s faltering economy. After failing to secure employment, many like Simango have turned to doing various substandard jobs to sustain themselves. (P 17) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH | SWAHILI
By Jaya Ramachandran
BERLIN | CANNES | NEW YORK (IDN) – Nearly six months before Ban Ki-moon relinquishes his post after ten years as UN Secretary-General, his unrelenting efforts underway since January to engage corporate leaders and entrepreneurs for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are beginning to bear fruit.
Speaking at the Lions Festival of Creativity, Cannes, on June 24, Ban said the world’s six biggest advertising and marketing services groups – Dentsu, Havas, IPG, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP – had decided to launch a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Common Ground initiative.
The initiative seeks “to beat ultra-competitors, poverty, inequality and injustice” by supporting a 15-year anti-poverty, pro-planet action plan, adopted by 193 Member States in September 2015. (P16) ARABIC | GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH | TURKISH
Analysis by Jeffrey Moyo
HARARE (IDN) - Despite the hurdles women continue to face in Zimbabwe, this country has made significant headway in achieving gender equality in line with Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be attained by 2030.
There is improved women parliamentary representation and increased numbers of girls in university than their male counterparts now – and this as more women have also taken up once male-dominated jobs.
According to UN Women, the United Nations organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, women’s representation in Zimbabwe’s Parliament more than doubled from 17 per cent following the 2008 general elections, to 35 per cent in the elections on July 31, 2013. (P15) ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI
Analysis by Ramesh Jaura and Katsuhiro Asagiri
GYEONGJU, South Korea (IDN) - Five months after the international community began implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) endorsed by world leaders in September 2015, representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academia have finalized and adopted a global education action agenda.
The agenda affirming the importance of Sustainable Development Goal 4 – ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong opportunities for all – is spelt out in the Gyeongju Action Plan.
It was agreed at the 66th United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) / NGO Conference that concluded on June 1, 2016 after three days of deliberations in Gyeongju, a city on South Korea's southeast coast. (P14) ARABIC | GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | SPANISH | TURKISH
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