SDGs for All is a joint media project of the global news organization International Press Syndicate (INPS) and the lay Buddhist network Soka Gakkai International (SGI). It aims to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative goals and targets. It offers in-depth news and analyses of local, national, regional and global action for people, planet and prosperity. This project website is also a reference point for discussions, decisions and substantive actions related to 17 goals and 169 targets to move the world onto a sustainable and resilient path.
Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
The writer is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
BANGKOK (IDN) – The past five years have been the hottest on record in Asia and the Pacific. Unprecedented heatwaves have swept across our region, cascading into slow onset disasters such as drought. Yet heat is only part of the picture.
Viewpoint by António Guterres
The UN Secretary-General met with the Group of Seven (G7) leaders during the 3-day summit to mobilize action ahead of the Climate Action Summit taking place in New York on September 23. Following are extensive excerpts from the transcript of his Press Encounter at the G7 Summit which ended in Biarritz on August 26.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – Issues such as highlighting how governments, civil society and individuals can take action on climate, sharing updates on the Sustainable Development Goals, and celebrating outstanding figures whose actions have had a transformative positive impact on the environment will take centre stage when world leaders gather in New York City for the high-level week of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly from September 21 to 26.
Viewpoint by Tim Christophersen
The growing enthusiasm for forests and trees is a good thing. But we need to be mindful of some pitfalls lurking along the way. With the right approach, we can make the conservation and restoration of ecosystems, including the planting of billions of new trees, a major step in building the sustainable future we all want, says Tim Christophersen, Branch Coordinator, Freshwater, Land and Climate at UN Environment as well as the Chair of the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration in a blogpost.
New UN Report Warns of Huge Economic Losses
By Devinder Kumar
NEW DELHI | BANGKOK (IDN) – Vulnerable and marginalized communities are among the hardest hit by natural disasters that occurred in a relentless sequence in Asia and the Pacific in the past two years, beyond what the region had previously experienced or was able to predict. This, according to the latest report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), is “a sign of things to come in the new climate reality” where economic losses are set to quadruple.
UN Chief Urges Young People Worldwide to Join Online and in Local Communities
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK (IDN) – In an obvious expression of support for the ‘FridaysforFuture’ movement, whose initiator Greta Thunberg is sailing to New York, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is keen to mobilize youth for what he has termed “the defining issue of our time”. One hundred outstanding young climate champions chosen from around the world will receive support to participate in the first-ever UN Youth Climate Summit on September 21 at the UN Headquarters in New York.
By Bagymdat Atabaeva
SOLTON SARY, Kyrgyzstan (IDN) – On August 5 about 300 villagers from Solton Sary area, about 200 km from capital Bishkek, gathered at the Chinese owned Zhong Ji mining company’s office here to protest against gold mining works, which they claimed were killing their cattle. Thus, another mining scandal has erupted in Kyrgyzstan, where most people make a living on raising livestock.
Locals claim the mining company is contaminating their soil on which the cattle and sheep graze. “We have lost about a hundred sheep last month, we are pretty sure that the meat is contaminated and cannot be used as sheep are just dying out and it’s suspicious,” a local activist and a shepherd Osmonov K told IDN.
Viewpoint by Ibrahim Thiaw
Following is the text of the response of Ibrahim Thiaw, UN Under Secretary General and Executive Secretary to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), to Special Report on Climate Change and Land by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in Geneva on August 8.
BONN IDN) – We have known for over 25 years that poor land use and management are major drivers of climate change, but have never mustered the political will to act. With the release of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) – special report on climate change and land, which makes the consequences of inaction crystal clear, we have no excuse for further delay.
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK (IDN) – “We need a new multilateralism to shift the world to sustainable tracks,” United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Liu Zhenmin, has accentuated in a conversation with the UN DESA ‘Voice’, which offers an insider's look at the world body in the area of economic, social and sustainable development policy.
It is produced by the Strategic Planning and Communications Services of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) with articles written by UN DESA staff. This is an electronic publication – no printed edition is generated.
Viewpoint by Amy Fraenkel
The writer is Acting Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (www.cms.int)
BONN (IDN) – This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the United Nations’ Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), the only global agreement between countries aimed at protecting thousands of terrestrial, oceanic and avian animals such as elephants, antelope, gorillas, whales, dolphins, sharks, rays, and many species of birds – that fly, walk or swim across the planet. In February 2020, India will be hosting the 13th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to CMS in the city of Gandhinagar.
