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Photo: Some urban Zimbabweans have resorted to growing vegetables in their backyards to supplement their food amidst rising inflation in the country. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/ IDN.

Urban Dwellers in Southern Africa Turn to Backyard Farming

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — At unoccupied swathes of land behind houses in Bloomingdale, a medium-income suburb in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, numerous maize fields and vegetable gardens have emerged as urban dwellers enduring economic hardships switch to backyard farming.

Zambia, despite emerging from an economic crisis during former President Edgar Lungu’s reign that ended last year, has dozens of urban dwellers taking up agriculture to supplement their earnings. (P26) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI

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

Slim Possibility of Asia-Pacific Getting on Track to Net-Zero

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer is an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) — The recent climate talks in Egypt have left us with a sobering reality: The window for maintaining global warming to 1.5 degrees is closing fast and what is on the table currently is insufficient to avert some of the worst potential effects of climate change.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 13+14+15; 28 November 2022

The 34th World AIDS Day: “Achieving Equity to End HIV”

By Somar Wijayadasa*

Last year, every two minutes, one person got infected with HIV, and every minute one person died of AIDS-related causes.

NEW YORK (IDN) — Every year on December 1, people throughout the world commemorate World AIDS Day to raise awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 3; 27 November 2022

Photo: Gina Cortes of the Women & Gender Constituency leads protest on climate justice and human rights. Credit: Gerimara Manuel, APWLD

Women Highlight Their Under-Representation at UN Climate Conference

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | SHARAM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (IDN) — More than 20 years since the first UN climate conference was held, less than five women have been climate conference presidents out of 110 heads of state and government.

Women are now calling for greater representation at the next conference to be held next year in the United Arab Emirates.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 5; 22 November 2022

Photo: In Harare, the Zimbabwean capital’s medium density suburb called Glaudina west of the city, where a thick forest used to exist about a decade ago, under construction, hordes of homes are emerging instead as trees have vanished. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo | IDN

Growing Urbanization Chewing Away Forests in Southern Africa

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — In Harare, the Zimbabwean capital’s medium-density suburb known as Glaudina, where a thick forest used to exist, homes under construction have emerged instead, with the trees vanishing.

North-West of Zimbabwe, just outside Lusaka, the Zambian capital, slums and shacks have also, over the decades, replaced the once flourishing forests.

According to the UN-Habitat, in the absence of sufficient public low-cost housing in Zambia, urban growth has resulted in a series of housing crises and the growth of unauthorized settlements at the urban periphery. (P25) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 18 November 2022

Photo: The Korean War Memorial in Pyongyang, North Korea, with the pyramidal Ryugyong Hotel in the background. C BY-SA 3.0

Religious & Civil Society Call for An End to Crisis in Korean Peninsula

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — A coalition of over 700 religious and civil society organizations (CSOs) is making a collective appeal to end the crisis in the Korean peninsula and avoid "military action provoking war".

In a recently released statement, the coalition says: "We are here today in a great sense of crisis. The word 'war' feels closer than ever. Tensions are rising like never before as the military exercises of South Korea, the US, and North Korea continue for days."

: Admin; Goal 16; 15 November 2022

Photo: Bahrain Dialogue Forum in session. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun.

Bahrain Dialogue Forum Urges Action for Peaceful Coexistence

By Katsuhiro Asagiri

Manama (IDN) — “Our world today is facing unprecedented challenges where conflicts are multiplying and people whose identities are defined by religion, culture, or ethnicity, continue to be besieged by hatred. Social and cultural divides are deepening; tribalism, ethnic violence, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, hate speech and ultra-nationalism, are in full swing.” said Miguel Angel Moratinos, the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC). He was addressing the opening session of the first Bahrain Dialogue Forum on November 3. (P24) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

: Katsuhiro Asagiri; Project Articles; 14 November 2022

Photo: A view of the 2022 Arctic Assembly. Credit: Arctic Circle

Indigenous Societies Draw Focus of the Arctic Circle Assembly

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) — The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth's ecosystems. The cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions. Life in the Arctic includes zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants and human societies.

Reykjavik—the capital of the Nordic Island nation Iceland—hosted the Arctic Circle Assembly (ACA)—nearly four weeks ahead of the UN Climate conference COP27. The Arctic region is not on the agenda of the 2022 annual gathering in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt). (P23) ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 09 November 2022

Photo: In advance of COP27, public development banks meeting in Abidjan agreed on action points to tackle Africa’s climate finance gap. Source: The African Development Bank Group

Africa Needs A Massive Aid Programme

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Surely a massive infusion of aid into Africa would be to pour money down a rat hole? Isn't this the mistake that was made in the past—enormous generosity by the rich countries only to see it wasted on misconceived projects, bad economic management and, at its worst, siphoned away into war and corruption, as is so evident in say Zimbabwe, Congo and Somalia right now?

: Admin; Goal 17; 08 November 2022

UN’s Development Goals are Not Far Behind COP27

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — When the two-weeklong COP27 climate summit began negotiations on November 6, the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were not far behind.

At the conference centre in the Egyptian coastal town of Sharm el-Sheikh, the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) is hosting an SDG Pavilion for interactive dialogues and discussions on key SDG thematic areas, particularly clean energy, water, forests, the ocean, and climate synergies—all of which will be on the forefront of the climate summit.