Masimba Tafirenyika interviews David Nabarro
David Nabarro is the new special adviser to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on sustainable development goals (SDGs), a plan of action for ending poverty adopted by UN member states in September 2015 to replace the Millennium Development Goals. Dr. Nabarro will work with member states to implement SDGs by 2030. The following are excerpts of his interview with Masimba Tafirenyika for Africa Renewal. IDN-InDepthNews is republishing the interview by arrangement with Africa Renewal.
Your main task will be to work with member states and other stakeholders to implement the 2030 Agenda. What does this involve?
Most of the work to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is going to be done by the member states themselves —governments and the different institutions within countries. We’re already seeing signs that countries are moving fast to get their national plans aligned with this agenda. They’ll be supported by the UN and backed by a big movement of civil society, business, faith organizations, academic groups, the media and others. My job is to help the secretary-general keep an eye on who’s doing what and where he can put his energy to try and advance the process.
Viewpoint by Toshiaki Kitazato*
TOKYO (IDN) - In the January 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, Kobe City – with its population of 1.5 million – was hit hardest by strong tremors. Nearly 6,500 people lost their lives
Eighteen years later, Japan suffered a great disaster yet again, followed by the massive tsunami caused by the earthquake in deep sea crusts in the Pacific Ocean on March 11, 2013. The East Japan Great Earthquake Disaster not only caused more than 20,000 death casualties but also destroyed the nuclear power plant buildings in Fukushima.
In Indonesia, great tsunamis were generated by the Sumatra earthquake in 2004 that recorded more than 220,000 death casualties in total in Thailand, Sri Lanka, India etc. Four years later, more than 87,000 people were killed by a devastating earthquake in Sichuan province of China. SPANISH | GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE
Analysis by Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) - It is an open secret that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has put his heart into the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit set for May 23 and 24 in Istanbul, the most populous city in Turkey and the country’s economic, cultural, and historic hub.
If successful, the Summit would go down in history as his lasting legacy. Because it symbolizes a cupola supported by four columns: the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Agreement.
The crux of Ban’s message since September 2015, when world leaders endorsed 17 Sustainable Development Goals with 169 targets: “I call upon global leaders to place humanity – the concern for the dignity, safety and well-being of our citizens – at the forefront of all policies, strategies and decision-making. The World Humanitarian Summit must be for the people living on the frontline of humanity. They count on us. We cannot let them down.” (P04) CHINESE TEXT VERSION PDF | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
Analysis by J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) - The Group of 77 and China, representing 134 members from developing countries, has expressed “disappointment” at the outcome document emerging from the three-day United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up – FfD Forum – at UN Headquarters in New York.
Underlining the importance of the Forum, G77 and China Chair Virachai Plasai, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Thailand, explained that the developing countries’ fates “still heavily depend on how to meet the financing gap in order to achieve the goal to end poverty and hunger, as well as Sustainable Development Goals in its three dimensions”.
However, the FfD Forum is not only essential to developing countries but also to the overall global community since it takes stock of the implementation of Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), which is an integral part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and supports as well as complements the latter with concrete policies and actions.
By International Press Syndicate
NEW YORK (IDN) - Asia-Pacific countries have reaffirmed the importance of a regional action-oriented follow-up plan for financing the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development at a high-level event organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
The event was co-organised with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Republic of Korea on the sidelines of the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development from April 18 to 20 in New York.
It provided a platform for discussion on innovative financing source modalities and priorities in Asia and the Pacific for implementation of the 2030 Agenda. It also considered key regional issues with special reference to the least developed countries, landlocked developed countries, and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Analysis by Fabíola Ortiz
WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) - Investing in forests has become the next big thing as an essential segment of the development solution, whether for meeting climate goals, coping with extreme weather, boosting livelihoods, greening supply chains or carbon sinking. However, the world has lost 50 soccer fields of forests every minute, every day, over the last twenty years.
“This is a great tragedy,” says Andrew Steer, President and CEO of the World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organization that works in more than 50 countries. Managing forests has been difficult, he adds. Around one fifth of the global population (1.3 billion people) relies on forests for livelihoods.
According to the World Bank, about 350 million people live within or close to dense forests depending directly on them for their subsistence. And of those, nearly 60 million people – especially indigenous communities – are completely dependent on forests. (P03) CHINESE TEXT VERSION PDF | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | SPANISH
Analysis by J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) - The Mekong Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Drug Control, a framework that incorporates law enforcement, criminal justice, alternative development, and health responses in six countries in East and Southeast Asia continues to be of critical importance more than twenty-five years after it was signed.
Despite significant efforts, the six MOU countries – Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam – that constitute the Greater Mekong Sub-region continue to face challenges in stemming the flow of illicit drugs and precursor chemicals in, to and from the area.
After a decade of steady declines, the illicit cultivation of opium poppy has increased each year since 2006. Today, cultivation is concentrated in Myanmar and Lao PDR. Synthetic drugs, particularly methamphetamine in pill and crystal forms, have emerged as the primary drug threat in the Sub-region. The diversion and subsequent trafficking of precursors chemicals, and the emergence of new psychoactive substances, also continue to impact the area. SPANISH | GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE
A UN Women News Feature
NEW YORK (IDN | UN Women) - On April 25, 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, followed by another powerful 7.3-magnitude quake on May 12. In the ongoing response to the earthquakes in Nepal, UN Women has worked side-by-side with government, UN OCHA and other UN agencies, and women’s group to highlight the distinct needs of women and girls, including protection and resilience, and to promote their role as meaningful participants in eventual recovery, reconstruction and development. As we approach the one-year mark since the earthquakes, UN Women spotlight on Nepali women and girls, their stories and their solutions.
In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, UN Women through its established partnerships with women’s groups, established five multi-purpose women’s centres, by women’s groups in collaboration with local government, and three information centres. UN Women targeted recognized groups of vulnerable women, including widows, disabled women, female household heads, Dalit women, and women with other vulnerabilities, reaching approximately 42,703 affected women so far.
NEW YORK (IDN | GIN) – Once the ancestral land of pastoralists and hunter-gatherers, the Tarangire national park in Tanzania found itself in the crosshairs of tourist developers carving up the wilderness for fancy lodges, luxury tents and other rich tourist amenities.
Lands once shared with the wildebeest, the zebra, and majestic old baobab trees were being “grabbed” by government or companies, without compensation to the Masaai and Hadzaba who resided there.
As countries around the world prepared to mark Earth Day on April 22, the Goldman Environmental Foundation honoured six grassroots leaders including Edward Loure of Tanzania for defending lands at risk from profit-seeking developers.
By Busani Bafana
KIGALI (IDN | Africa Renewal) - Rwanda’s moniker, “land of a thousand hills,” not only attests to the country’s unique geography but also suggests the trajectory of Kigali through its many crises to become a model sustainable city.
Kigali is one of Africa’s rising cities: it is clean and organised and, thanks to an ambitious national development plan, the city has become an ultramodern metropolis that boasts recognizable social, economic and environmental successes. It is a city under construction, in which new buildings are fast replacing outdated ones. Tarred, dual-carriage roads crisscross Kigali, providing a seamless connection between urban settlements and the fog-covered countryside uplands. The city is now a preferred destination for many organizers of international conferences.
It is easy to understand why Kigali sparkles. Among other impressive environmental measures, city government banned the importation of non-biodegradable plastics and designated a day each month for the residents to clean the city and spruce up the surroundings. It is difficult to find litter on Kigali streets.
