A project of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate Group with IDN as the Flagship Agency in partnership with Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC
By Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN | LISBON (IDN) — The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has pledged to enable 100 coastal countries including all Small Island Developing States to realize the maximum potential of their blue economies through sustainable, low-emission and climate-resilient ocean action by 2030. (P09) FRENCH | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE…
By Jutta Wolf
BERLIN (IDN) — “Faced with the worst hunger crisis in a generation, the G7 have simply failed to take the action needed. Many millions will face terrible hunger and starvation as a result,” declared Max Lawson, head of inequality policy at Oxfam International. “Instead of doing what is needed, the G7 are leaving millions to starve and cooking the planet,” he added.…
Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana 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) — As the Second Global Ocean Conference opens today in Lisbon, governments in Asia and the Pacific must seize the opportunity to enhance cooperation and solidarity to address a host of challenges that endanger what is a lifeline for millions of people in the region.…
By Jone Salusalu*
SUVA, Fiji (Wansolwara | IDN) — Fiji is home to some 300 islands and is known for its pristine and white sandy beaches that iconically stand as an exotic pride for Fijians all over the world. Many are uninhabited islands with lush green forests and peaks, but most are habited islands with distinctive cultures that are a magnet for foreign visitors.
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By Kalinga Seneviratne
LEVUKA, Fiji (IDN) — This rugged island of Ovalau covered with greenery is only 13 km long and 10 km wide and is situated off the eastern coast of the main Fijian island of Viti Levu. Its only town, the port settlement of Levuka with about 1500 population is Fiji’s only UNESCO Heritage Listed site and a local community leader says that it could well be de-listed if the Fijian government does not pay enough attention to its heritage value. (P08) CHINESE | INDONESIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF …
SUVA, Fiji (IDN) — This week, to coincide with World Ocean Day (WOD) on June 8, South Pacific’s experts and stakeholders on the Oceans met here to plan coordinated action at the United Nations Oceans Conference starting in Lisbon on June 28.
Speaking at a WOD event here on June 8, Fiji’s Fisheries Minister Semi Koroilavesau said that the enormous scale of the challenges facing the oceans today can no longer be ignored. “We are not the only ones that hold the future of our ocean in our hands. The entire world must also do its part and that is the greater challenge that calls us for greater commitment and awareness from us all,” he noted.…
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — At the Stockholm+50 international conference in Sweden in early June, UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed deep disappointment over the failure of rich nations to provide financing to mitigate the devastating consequences of climate change, including droughts, floods, heat waves, pollution and biodiversity loss worldwide.
The shortfall in funding has also derailed the implementation of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including poverty and hunger eradication, by 2030. (P07) GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE…
This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.
Viewpoint by Robert Mizo
NEW DELHI (IDN) — There is no doubt that climate change needs to be addressed by all countries in a concerted manner. The fact remains, however, that there is a wide variance among countries both in terms of capacity to address and culpability for the problem. Developing and least developed countries are likely to suffer disproportionately the effects of climate change.…
Viewpoint by Neil Harrison and Jeffrey D. Sachs
This article was issued by Project Syndicate and is being republished with the authors’ permission.
NEW YORK (IDN) — When US President Joe Biden asked the United States Intelligence Community to determine the origin of COVID-19, its conclusion was remarkably understated but nonetheless shocking. In a one-page summary, the IC made clear that it could not rule out the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) emerged from a laboratory.…
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The world is lather about the jump in world food prices in world food prices. Just this last weekend the Minister of Agriculture of Egypt was saying that, without assured grain supplies from Russia and Ukraine, he expected a rise of widespread malnutrition.
As long ago as 1974, when grain prices had just quadrupled, all the nations of the world meeting at the World Food Conference in Rome promised that by the end of the century “no child would go to bed hungry”. After a steady increase in aid for agriculture for a number of years the momentum slowed.…
