Goal 13+14+15 - SDGs for All

Photo: Working from dusk until dawn, fishermen from around the town of Aral in Kazakhstan haul in a catch from the North Aral Sea, where the water level has risen and salinity has decreased – in stark contrast to the larger South Aral Sea, which has gone nearly dry. Credit: Aramco World

Aral Sea Promises to Rise Like Phoenix from the 'Ashes'

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) - The zone of destruction created as a consequence of what has been called "one of the planet's worst environmental disasters" has long crossed the frontiers of Central Asia, demanding urgent measures from the international community.

Every year more than 150 million tons of toxic dust from the bottom of the dried up Aral Sea are carried long distances by the wind to the people in Asia, Europe and even the thinly populated Arctic. (P17) ARABIC | HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 13+14+15; 14 November 2018

Photo: Cheetah © Jim Zuckerman; African Wild Dog © John Birch; Leopard and Lion © Jacques-Andre Dupont. Source: CMS

African States Commit to Conserve Largest Carnivores

By Rita Joshi

BERLIN | BONN (IDN) – More than 30 countries hosting African Wild Dog, Cheetah, Leopard and Lion have agreed on establishing a work programme to guide their conservation actions over the next coming years. The move known as the African Carnivore Initiative, emerged from a meeting from November 5 to 8, 2018 in Bonn, the capital of former West Germany.

The initiative constitutes the first Africa-wide commitment towards saving African Wild Dog, Cheetah, Leopard and Lion, says a media release by the Bonn-based Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (also known as CMS or the “Bonn Convention”).

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 13+14+15; 14 November 2018

Photo: Nukufetau coastal damages by cyclone in Tuvalu. © EU GCCA+ LoCAL-UNCDF. Photo Hendrik Visser 2016.

79 ACP Countries Get Ready for UN Climate Change Conference

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The Intra-ACP GCCA Plus Programme, which has several success stories to tell, is supporting 79 members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) in preparing for the UN Climate Change conference in December in Katowice, Poland.

The ACP Secretariat and the Programme hosted a Joint Policy Dialogue (JPD) at the ACP House in Brussels on November 5, 2018. The JPD showcased the findings of a draft ACP report analysing the implementation status of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of ACP countries.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 13+14+15; 13 November 2018

Photo: SIDS meeting in Apia, Samoa. Credit: UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.

Small Island Developing States Reiterate Commitment to Sustainable Development

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Confronted with the increased effects of climate change, natural disasters, and the outsized impacts of global economic shocks on small economies, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have resolved to strengthen their efforts to achieve sustainable development.

The 'Apia Outcome' – adopted at the conclusion of a three-day meeting that ended on November 1 in Apia, Samoa – will serve as the basis for the preparation of the inter-governmentally agreed Political Declaration of the High-level SIDS Midterm Review of the SAMOA Pathway, to be held in September 2019.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 13+14+15; 03 November 2018

Island Nation Seychelles Praised for Launching World's First Sovereign Blue Bond

By Jaya Ramachandran

NEW YORK | BALI (IDN) – The Government of the Republic of Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 granite and coral islands in the Indian Ocean, off East Africa, has been acclaimed for showing "the leadership to create the world's first sustainable Blue Bond".

The pioneering financial instrument was launched within four weeks of the High-Level Forum the government of Seychelles organised together with the 79-member African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States at the United Nations headquarters in New York focusing on the emerging new "blue economy" underlining the protection and preservation of the world's heavily-exploited oceans.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 13+14+15; 31 October 2018

Photo: People at a borehole, one of the groundwater sources people have turned to in Zimbabwe's towns and cities as climate change impacts bite. Credit: Construction Review Online.

Southern Africa Turns to Groundwater to Counter Climate Change

By Jeffrey Moyo

CHIMOIO, Mozambique (IDN) – As the blazing heat of the sun beats down on her, 25-year-old Maria Sinorita from Chimoio, a Mozambican town lying approximately 100 km east of the country’s border with Zimbabwe, struggles to draw water from the well in her yard.

For Sinorita, even the water she is drawing from the well is running out and, because she has no option as climate change impacts hit her and many other Mozambicans, she has to dig deeper and deeper for the precious liquid.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 6; 26 October 2018

Photo credit: Rafael Murillo, Courtesy Congress SEE

Costa Rica Pronta para Alcançar a Neutralidade do Carbono até 2021

Por Fabíola Ortiz

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (IDN) – Há vinte anos, a Costa Rica embarcou em seu programa nacional de pagamento por serviços ambientais (PES), o primeiro no mundo a começar um esquema em toda o país para compensar proprietários de terras por manter as florestas de pé para as pessoas e o planeta.

Agora que o mundo luta para reduzir as emissões de gás das estufas e limitar o aumento da temperatura global até o final do século, esta nação centro-americana de cinco milhões de pessoas serve como exemplo das políticas públicas que abordam a taxação de combustíveis fósseis em favor da proteção da natureza. O país promete tornar-se neutro em carbono até 2021.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Languages; Portuguese; 24 October 2018

كوستا ريكا مؤهلة لتحقيق الحياد الكربوني بحلول 2021

كتبته فابيولا أورتيز

سان خوسيه، كوستاريكا (IDN) - مضى اثنان وعشرون عاماً منذ بدء كوستاريكا لبرنامجها الوطني للدفع للخدمات البيئية (PES)، وهو الأول في العالم الذي يقوم بخطة على النطاق الوطني لتعويض أصحاب الأراضي للحفاظ على الغابات من أجل البشر والكوكب.

والآن، ومع الصعوبة التي يواجهها العالم لتقليل الانبعاثات الغازية للاحتباس الحراري، والحد من ارتفاع درجات الحرارة عالمياً بحلول نهاية القرن، أعطت هذه الدولة بأمريكا الوسطى التي يبلغ عدد سكانها خمسة مليون نسمة مثالاً عن السياسات العامة التي تخاطب وضع ضرائب على الوقود العضوي لحماية الطبيعة. تتعهد الدولة بأن تصل إلى الحياد الكربوني بحلول 2021.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Languages; Arabic; 20 October 2018

Costa Rica camino a alcanzar la neutralidad en el 2021

Por Fabiola Ortiz

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica (IDN) – Ya han pasado veintidós años desde que Costa Rica se embarcó en su programa nacional de pago por servicios ambientales (PSA), como primera nación en el mundo en iniciar un plan nacional para compensar a los propietarios por conservar los bosques para las personas y el planeta.

Ahora que el mundo lucha por reducir las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero y limitar el aumento en la temperatura global para finales del siglo, esta nación Centroamericana de 5 millones de personas ha servido como ejemplo de políticas públicas que abordan la aplicación de impuestos a combustibles fósiles para favorecer la protección de la naturaleza. El país se compromete a alcanzar la neutralidad en carbono para el 2021.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Languages; Spanish; 20 October 2018

Costa Rica Set to Achieve Carbon Neutrality by 2021

By Fabiola Ortiz

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (IDN) – It has been twenty two years since Costa Rica embarked on its national program of payment for environmental services (PES), the first in the world to start a nationwide scheme for compensating landowners for keeping the forests standing for people and the planet.

Now that the world struggles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit the global temperature rise by the end of the century, this Central American nation of five million people has served as an example of public policies addressing the taxation of fossil fuels in favour of the protection of nature. The country pledges to become carbon neutral by 2021. (P13) ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | SPANISH