Project Articles

mage: Conclusion of international conference. Source: Stockholm+50

A $100 Billion Pledge to Battle Climate Change Fails to Materialize

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — At the Stockholm+50 international conference in Sweden in early June, UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed deep disappointment over the failure of rich nations to provide financing to mitigate the devastating consequences of climate change, including droughts, floods, heat waves, pollution and biodiversity loss worldwide.

The shortfall in funding has also derailed the implementation of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including poverty and hunger eradication, by 2030. (P07) GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 07 June 2022

Photo: Africa braces for food price inflation as Russia-Ukraine war continues. Anatolii STEPANOV / FAO/AFP

Southern Africa Feels the Pinch of Russia-Ukraine War

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — Life is no longer the same for Zimbabwe’s shop owner, 34-year-old Richwell Mhasi in the capital Harare who has had to park his car at home, switching to his bicycle, cycling to and from work amid the rising prices of fuel since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war this year.

In South Africa’s Musina town closer to the border with Zimbabwe, widowed 43-year-old Laziwe Muleya living in a shack with her three children has now turned to wood fire as she can no longer afford the price of gas for cooking. (P06) ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 2; 22 May 2022

Economic Gender Equality Falls Short—Despite Investments in Girls’ Education

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — A new study concludes that investments in girls’ education have failed to deliver economic equality for women.

The researchers found that while such investments have delivered many other benefits—including better health outcomes for women and their families—the economic returns are often disappointing. (P05) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH | THAI

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 5; 15 May 2022

Photo: Protestors at a February 2022 rally against Russia's invasion of Ukraine march past the statue of Tsar Alexander II in Senate Square in Helsinki. CC BY 2.0

Endless Wars

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is an Ambassador, former United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affair, and President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.

NEW YORK (IDN) — The Charter of the United Nations consolidated important norms of international law. Its Preamble affirms the decision to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind”. At the time of its adoption, the world was deeply shocked by two successive wars that directly involved Europe and other regions. In spite of the lofty purposes expressed in the Charter, several armed conflicts in many parts of the globe have marked the seventy-seven years of the United Nations’ existence. (P04) GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 16; 10 May 2022

Photo: President Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana gives opening remarks at the ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum, 25 April 2022. Credit: UNDESA/Predrag Vasic

A New Integrated Financing Facility to Help Achieve UN’s Development Goals by 2030

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which primarily include the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by 2030, are in deep financial trouble.

The goals have been severely undermined by the cumulative effects of several factors, including the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine and, most importantly, the widespread COVID-19 pandemic which has had a devastating impact on both the world’s rich and poor nations. (P03) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH | SWAHILI | TURKISH

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

Photo: Handful of tourists in a deserted Khaosan which was before the pandemic filled with street stalls and tourists. Credit: Pattama Vilailert.

Street Vending: Covid Seems to Have Killed a Bangkok Icon

By Pattama Vilailert

BANGKOK (IDN) — Street vendors have been an iconic attraction for millions of tourists that visited Bangkok each year before the COVID-19 pandemic. In perfect tune with the Thais' approach to enjoying life to its fullest, including eating and shopping, street vendors have set their carts in the heart of Thai people and Bangkok for a century, serving both Thais and foreigners. (P02) INDONESIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | THAI

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 22 April 2022

Safeguarding The Blue Pacific from Any Further Nuclear Contamination

By Neena Bhandari

SYDNEY (IDN) — The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), the region’s leading political and economic policy organisation, has appointed a panel of global experts on nuclear issues to provide independent scientific and technical advice to Pacific nations in their discussions with Japan over its intentions to discharge treated nuclear wastewater from the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean. (P01) CHINESE | HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 12 April 2022

Photo: A 30-foot-high monument entitled 'Turn off the plastics tap' by Canadian activist and artist Benjamin von Wong stands outside the venue for the UN Environment Assembly that concluded on March 2, 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya. Credit: UNEP/Cyril Villemain

Striving for a Global Treaty to Combat Plastic Pollution, 'One of the Greatest Human-Made Threats our Planet Faces'

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — In the 1967 Hollywood box office hit “The Graduate”—a romantic comedy directed by Mike Nichols and based on a novel by Charles Webb—the newly-graduated Dustin Hoffman gets an unsolicited piece of advice: “The future is plastics”.

The widely disseminated one-liner was hailed as a boost for the world’s plastic industry. But 55 years later, the industry is under fire because of the environmental hazards it generates. (P33) FRENCH | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | TURKISH

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 13+14+15; 12 March 2022

Feminist UN Campaign Report Wants UN Chief to Walk the Talk

By J C Suresh

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — “Talk less, act more …. All words are like feathers in the air,” commented an informant of the Feminist UN Campaign's report on UN Secretary-General António Guterres' commitment to gender equality in his five-year first term.

In fact, key informants reported that staff remain disillusioned with the UN’s “macho culture of impunity,” are profoundly mistrustful of reporting and justice mechanisms in the system and are fearful of retaliation. (P32) ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | TAGALOG

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 5; 09 March 2022

Photo: African leaders at 35th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union. Credit: African Union.

Africa Battles for Rightful Place in the UN

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE | ADDIS ABABA (IDN) — Held in Addis Ababa the Ethiopian capital, the 35th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union early February seems long gone, with loud calls from African leaders for reform of the United Nations system.

The loudest calls came from the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed who boldly took the UN to task. (P31) FRENCH | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH | SWAHILI