The writer is Director/Founder, African Women Rising, shuttles between Santa Barbara, California and Gulu, Uganda.
SANTA BARBARA, California (IDN) – African Women Rising (AWR) has created a campaign to build 2,000 new Permagardens, which will help feed 15,000 at-risk people who are experiencing food scarcity due to COVID-19. Permagardens empower communities to meet their own food needs and are a long-term solution to hunger. (P08) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE
By Elena Marmo, Global Policy Watch (GPW)
This article first appeared in the GPW's blog.
NEW YORK (IDN) – Across the UN System, all hands are on deck to address the impact of COVID-19 from immediate humanitarian and health needs, to medium and longer-term socio-economic policy. Various initiatives are circling one another, raising issues of governance, reporting and accountability. Member States in the ECOSOC Operational Activities Segment explored some of these questions as they related to the UN Development System (UNDS). At the same time, in the 28 May and 2 June meetings on Financing for Development, they also explored policy ideas, with an emphasis on accounting for vulnerability in macroeconomic analysis.
Ramesh Jaura Talks to Ian Redmond
A tropical field British biologist and conservationist Ian Redmond has served as Ambassador for the UN Year of the Gorilla in 2009 and for the UNEP Convention on Migratory Species since 2010.
BERLIN | LONDON (IDN) – The fact that ecosystems and human health intersect has been repeatedly emphasized by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. "As we encroach on nature and deplete vital habitats, increasing numbers of species are at risk. That includes humanity and the future we want," he reiterated in a message on the International Day for Biological Diversity, observed on May 22, 2020.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
Long before the Coronavirus and global warming, the great philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote: "Unhappy men would increase their happiness more by walking 6 miles every day than by any conceivable change in philosophy."
LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Shouldn't we be Panglossian when it comes to the progress now being made to defeat the Coronavirus? Pangloss in his youth was unreasonably optimistic. He was in Voltaire's novel "Candide" Candide's mentor, and coined the phrase, "All this is for the best in this best of all possible worlds."
Viewpoint by John Scales Avery*
COPENHAGEN (IDN) – Elimination of excessive economic inequality makes societies happier and better, underlines the incontrovertible evidence that a new freely downloadable book presents.
Going back to history, the Age of Reason or the Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas during the 17th to 19th centuries. Sir Isaac Newton's rational explanations for cosmic phenomena demonstrated that reason is better than superstition.
Diderot's Encyclopaedia and the writings of Voltaire and Rousseau paved the way for the end of Feudalism, the end of the theory of the Divine Right of Kings, and the liberation of serfs and slaves throughout the world. (P07) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH
Call for Addressing Inequality, Unsustainable Debt and Socio-Economic Disparities
By Reinhard Jacobsen
BRUSSELS | NAIROBI (IDN) – Caribbean leaders have joined the United Nations in calling for solidarity and increased funding, as some of the world’s most vulnerable countries scale up their efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. At a virtual summit in Kenya's capital city, Nairobi, they have highlighted the need for "a truly global response" to the pandemic which is devastating the economic systems around the world, particularly impacting 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific states. They also are stressed the need to "strengthen the multilateralism for development", and engage "our institutions to consider innovative solutions".
Viewpoint by Richard Kozul-Wright
The writer is Director of Globalization and Development Strategies, UNCTAD.
GENEVA (IDN) – The COVID-19 crisis is stress testing the capacity of governance arrangements to deal with unexpected shocks.
Results point to considerable variation at the national level, but it’s difficult to give anything above a B minus to the response at the multilateral level.
UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report Update sets out how South-South cooperation, though not a substitute for a proper international response to the crisis, can point towards a better future.
Viewpoint by António Guterres
United Nations Secretary-General launches Policy Brief on the Impact of COVID-19 on Refugees, IDPs and Migrants.
NEW YORK (IDN) COVID-19 continues to devastate lives and livelihoods around the globe — hitting the most vulnerable the hardest.
This is particularly true for millions of people on the move — such as refugees and internally displaced persons who are forced to flee their homes from violence or disaster, or migrants in precarious situations.
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) – In a joint statement, ninety-one women's organizations from Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Syria and Yemen have joined a global appeal issued by UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the outset of the pandemic.
On March 23, Guterres urged warring parties across the world to lay down their weapons in support of the bigger battle against COVID-19: the common enemy that is now threatening all the humankind.
- Did Japan Beat COVID-19 with a Decentralized Response?
- UN Discusses the Challenges of Combating COVID-19 Pandemic and Silencing the Guns in Africa
- India's Kerala Is Combating COVID-19 Through Participatory Governance
- COVID-19 Endangers 80 Million Children by Disrupting Vaccination Efforts
- COVID-19 Pandemic Provides Opportunity to Revive the Oceans
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