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Conflict and Crises Impeding Efforts to Eradicate Hunger

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Strife and violence in some countries in the Near East and North Africa are casting a shadow on prospects for Zero Hunger across the entire region by 2030, according to a new report.

The 2017 edition of the Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) by FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, throws limelight on how ongoing conflicts and protracted crises are opening a wide “hunger gap” between countries being affected by intensified violence and those that are not.

NENA countries include, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.…

Planet Earth Suffers as Politics Rearranges the Deck Chairs on the Titanic

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio

Following is a slightly modified version of an article, which first appeared on Other News, published by the writer, an eminent proponent of “information that markets eliminate”. You may read his articles and comments on Facebook @robertosavioutopia. He warns that while the world is heading for catastrophe, the governments are not taking their responsibility seriously.

ROME (IDN) – The European Union (EU) appears to have decided to scale down its commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change which was adopted by consensus by all the 195 member states of the UN Climate Convention and the EU, and has been ratified by 172.…

UN Expert Reveals Shocking Facts about Poverty in the U.S.

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – More than one in every eight Americans, numbering 40 million, equal to 12.7 % of the population, are living in poverty, and almost half of those – 18.5 million – in abysmal poverty, according to a new report.

Though the United States is one of the world’s richest, most powerful and technologically innovative countries, “neither its wealth nor its power nor its technology is being harnessed to address the situation,” stresses Professor Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in his statement on a two-week visit to the USA.

Alston, an international law scholar and human rights practitioner, is John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, and co-Chair of the law school’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. (P39) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH
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The Price of Forest Degradation and Biodiversity Loss for Livelihoods

By Fabíola Ortiz

BONN (IDN) – Forest degradation and biodiversity loss carry a very heavy price for climate and people’s livelihoods. Restoring forests matters when it comes to growing resilience to climate variation and securing a healthy environment for future generations. This was the main message delivered by experts and community leaders who met in Bonn (December 19-20, 2017) to discuss a more sustainable path to conservation.

“We should stop seeing indigenous peoples, natural resources and forests as a problem. We could see them as a solution,” said Robert Nasi, director general of the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) which hosted the Global Landscapes Forum, a large science-based platform on sustainable land use. (P38) CHINESE TEXT VERSION PDF | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH
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Focus on Prevention As Conflicts Become More Intractable

By António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

Following are extensive excerpts from UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at open debate of the Security Council on ‘Addressing complex contemporary challenges to international peace and security‘ on December 20, 2017 during Japan’s presidency of the Council for the month. – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN-INPS) – I would like to make three main points today. First, we are seeing not only a quantitative but also a qualitative change in threats to international peace and security. The perils of nuclear weapons are again front and centre, with tensions higher than they have been since the end of the Cold War.

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U.S. Politics Increasingly Governed by Policy of Unilateralism

By Rodney Reynolds

NEW YORK (IDN) – The politics of the Trump administration are being increasingly governed by the twin policies of unilateralism and isolationism.

After Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016, he withdrew from a historic 2016 climate change agreement signed by 195 countries – and the only signatory to do so.

And this year, he announced plans to dilute the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal signed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC), namely the U.S., UK, France, China and Russia, plus Germany and the 28-member European Union (EU) – much against warnings by all the other signatories. (P37) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN TEXT VERSION PDF
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Global Forum Underlines Need for Universal Health Coverage

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA | TOKYO (IDN) – Nearly half of the world’s population of 7.6 billion lacks access to essential health services at present and for almost 100 million people health expenses are high enough to push them into extreme poverty.

Against this perturbing backdrop, revealed by a recent report, a global Forum in Tokyo has underlined the need to extend by 2023 the health services coverage to 1 billion additional people and halve to 50 million the number of people being pushed into extreme poverty by health expenses.

The year 2023 is the midpoint towards 2030, the target date for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), says the ‘Tokyo Declaration on Universal Health Coverage’ emerging from the global Universal Health Coverage Forum 2017 from December 12-15.…

Global Upturn Offers Prospects For Sustainable Growth

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Despite an upsurge in world economic growth, which has reached 3 per cent – the highest since 2011 – very few least developed countries (LDCs) are expected to reach the Sustainable Development Goal target for GDP growth of “at least 7 per cent” in the near term (SDG 8.1), says a new United Nations report.

Goal 8 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals – with 169 targets – adopted in September 2015 by the international community envisages promoting “inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all”. Its target 1 stresses the need to “sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances and, in particular, at least 7 per cent gross domestic product growth per annum in the least developed countries.” (P36) ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | TURKISH
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One Planet Summit Spotlights Funding to Fight Climate Change

By A.D. McKenzie

PARIS (IDN) – Financing is key in the fight against climate change, said delegate after delegate at the One Planet Summit in Paris December 12, and this meeting was all about the money: where to invest it and where not.

The World Bank Group announced that it would not be financing upstream oil and gas after 2019, except for certain projects in the “poorest countries”, where there is a clear benefit in terms of energy access for those in need. “The policy will change and change dramatically,” said World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.

The One Planet Summit – with many participants sporting “#make our planet great again” buttons – was held on the second anniversary of the Paris Agreement on climate change, bringing together heads of states and representatives from more than 100 countries, businesses, civil society, youth and the world’s media. (P35) FRENCH | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF |

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EU & UN Aid African Countries in Fighting Wildlife Trafficking

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – African and Asian countries face a huge challenge in protecting their wildlife from the illegal killing and trafficking that has already endangered some species.

Over the years, national and regional efforts to combat the threat have met with mixed success and wildlife and their products continue to be sold in many countries around the world.

Figures released in March 2017 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) under its Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme showed that by 2016 the trend in poaching of African elephants – which had increased steadily since 2006, peaking in 2011– had been halted and stabilised. Nevertheless, the levels of illegal killing still remained unacceptably high overall.…

Watch out for our new project website https://sdgs-for-all.net

Conflict and Crises Impeding Efforts to Eradicate Hunger

Planet Earth Suffers as Politics Rearranges the Deck Chairs on the Titanic

UN Expert Reveals Shocking Facts about Poverty in the U.S.

The Price of Forest Degradation and Biodiversity Loss for Livelihoods

Focus on Prevention As Conflicts Become More Intractable

U.S. Politics Increasingly Governed by Policy of Unilateralism

Global Forum Underlines Need for Universal Health Coverage

Global Upturn Offers Prospects For Sustainable Growth

One Planet Summit Spotlights Funding to Fight Climate Change

EU & UN Aid African Countries in Fighting Wildlife Trafficking

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