Home - SDGs for All

UN Environment Assembly Galvanises Nations to Act on Taming Pollution

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – Amid a cacophony of voices, interests and expectations, the third high level United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), held in Nairobi from December 4-6, had a common denominator – a sense of strong desire and willingness among delegations for action to ensure a pollution-free world.

Some walked the talk. Indeed, in a bid to support the war against pollution, the European Union, Finland, Germany, Norway, Republic of Korea, Sweden and Switzerland committed 35 million dollars to the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), a partnership of five UN agencies to support countries in greening their economies and tackling environmental challenges, while promoting better jobs and stable economic growth.

…

Village Buddhist Monks in Laos Initiate Environmentally-Aware Development

By Toung Eh Synuanchanh

This article is the 19th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

BEUNGSANTHUENG, Laos (IDN) – A quiet revolution is taking shape in rural Laos, where environmentally-conscious village Buddhist monks are teaching people morality and meditation to spearhead a movement mobilising the people to economically develop their communities for living in harmony with nature rather than destroying it in the name of development.

At the Ban Beungsanthueng community, in Nongbok District in Khammouane Province of Laos, about 400 km south of the capital Vientiane, monks educate the villagers in Sila (Buddhist morality) and the way to live a good life (Right Livelihood), while protecting the environment. In this nominally communist country, the monks explain the linkage between humans and nature to villagers, and its importance to their livelihoods and well-being.…

South-South Cooperation Holds the Key To Beating Global Development Challenges

By Jacques N. Couvas

ANKARA (IDN) – “Solutions for the South by the South” was the recurring theme that resounded throughout the duration of the Global South-South Development Expo 2017 (GSSD Expo) from November 27 to 30, 2017 in Antalya, the largest Turkish city on the Mediterranean coast.

This landmark event of the United Nations (UN) system solely for the global South was held in the lead up to the Second High-level UN Conference on South-South Cooperation to be convened in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in March 2019. The Conference will mark the 40th anniversary of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA+40) for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries. A High-Level Forum of National Directors-General for Development Cooperation discussed during the Expo insights and proposals for the preparatory process of the 2019 conference.

…

134-Nation Group Garners Support for SDG 9 at UNIDO Meeting

By Ramesh Jaura

VIENNA (IDN) – “We are in a time when multilateralism is being challenged. Your participation in this General Conference reaffirms the relevance of UNIDO’s work to your governments and the people on the ground,” said Miroslav Lajčák, Slovakia’s Foreign Minister and President of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly until September 2018.

Lajčák was speaking at the opening session of the conference in Vienna, on November 27, nearly one month before the central European country ceases to be a member of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). In a letter signed by him as Foreign Minister, Slovakia had denounced the UNIDO convention in December 2016. Subsequently, it will cease to be a member of the Organization on December 31, 2017.

…

UNIDO Chief Has A ‘Dream’, Urgently Needs Funds

By Ramesh Jaura

VIENNA (IDN) – Li Yong has a ‘dream’, the dream to give young people, living in similarly poor conditions as he experienced in China in his childhood, an opportunity to play a part in “the global fight against poverty”.

Li was re-appointed head of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) on November 27 for four years by the Organization’s supreme policy-making organ, the General Conference (GC) where member states meet once every two years.

He was first elected in June 2013 as the UNIDO’s Director General, becoming as Xinhua noted, “the first United Nations (UN) agency chief from the Chinese mainland”.…

Industrial Development is About a Decent Life for All People

By Miroslav Lajčák, President of the UN General Assembly

Following are extensive extracts from the remarks of Miroslav Lajčák, President of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, at the 17th session of the UNIDO General Conference ‘Partnering for Impact: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’ in Vienna on November 27, 2017. Li Yong was re-appointed for a second term (2017-2021) as the Director General of the Organization at the opening of the session. – The Editor

VIENNA (IDN) – Industrial development often conjures up images of big factories and heavy machinery. We easily think of production lines and construction sites. This may be. But perhaps, you more than anyone, know that industrial development is more than that. The whole purpose of industrialization is to deliver better livelihoods and improved standards. In effect, it is about a decent life for all people.…

Need to Perceive Africa from an African Point of View

By Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, President of Malta

Following are extensive extracts from the speech delivered by Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, President of Malta, at the 17th session of the UNIDO General Conference ‘Partnering for Impact: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’ in Vienna on November 27, 2017. Li Yong was re-appointed for a second term (2017-2021) as the Director General of the Organization at the opening of the session. – The Editor

VIENNA (IDN) – Two years have passed since the adoption of the United Nations’ Agenda 2030. Its seventeen Sustainable Development Goals are still the main benchmark for the international community, to work for the aspirations of humanity, for effective global development in a holistic and an integrated way.…

The Global Fund To Fight AIDS Asked to Change Criteria Discriminating Poor Countries

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – As this year’s World AIDS Day campaign – My Health, My Right – kicks into high gear, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has called on The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to end the use of Gross National Income (GNI) per capita as part of the Fund’s grant eligibility criteria, and thus stop discriminating poor countries.

The Los Angeles based AHF is the largest nonprofit HIV organization that provides HIV care to more than 833,000 patients in 39 countries globally, including in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America & the Caribbean and the United States. (P34) CHINESE TEXT VERSION PDF | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | URDU
…

COP23 Finally Provides a Platform for Indigenous People on Climate Talks

By Stella Paul

BONN (IDN) – Patricia Gualinga has been coming to the UN climate change conferences for several years. She usually receives 2-3 minutes on a panel of a side event on indigenous issues during which she tells about the struggles of her community – the Kichwas of Ecuador.

The struggles are, typically, of surviving in an environment where water is fast depleting, air is polluted, land is taken away and tribe members are evicted from their homes – all in the name of development. Sarayaku – where Gualinga comes from – is an Amazonian province in which the degradation is often caused by large oil explorers. (P33) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN TEXT VERSION PDF |
…

Further, Faster, Together On Climate – From Bonn To Katowice

By Ramesh Jaura

BONN (IDN) – The two-week long intensive and multilevel talks concluded in Germany’s former capital city in the early hours of November 18 tasking the negotiators to focus on ‘Where are we, where do we want to go and how do we get there?’ before they meet in Poland in December 2018.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat said the Bonn Climate Conference – officially known as COP23, the 23rd session of the Conference of Parties to the Convention – had become “launch-pad for higher ambition”. (P32) GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
…

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

UN Environment Assembly Galvanises Nations to Act on Taming Pollution

Village Buddhist Monks in Laos Initiate Environmentally-Aware Development

South-South Cooperation Holds the Key To Beating Global Development Challenges

134-Nation Group Garners Support for SDG 9 at UNIDO Meeting

UNIDO Chief Has A ‘Dream’, Urgently Needs Funds

Industrial Development is About a Decent Life for All People

Need to Perceive Africa from an African Point of View

The Global Fund To Fight AIDS Asked to Change Criteria Discriminating Poor Countries

COP23 Finally Provides a Platform for Indigenous People on Climate Talks

Further, Faster, Together On Climate – From Bonn To Katowice

NEWSLETTER

STRIVING

MAPTING

MAPTING

Copyright © 2016-2023 International Press Syndicate