Disarmament Conference Ends with Ambitious Goal – But How to Get There?

A three-day landmark U.N. Conference on Disarmament Issues has ended here – one day ahead of the International Day Against Nuclear Tests – stressing the need for ushering in a world free of nuclear weapons, but without a consensus on how to move towards that goal.

Call for Global Ban on Nuclear Weapons Testing

As the international community gears up to commemorate the 20^th anniversary next year of the opening up of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) for signature, a group of eminent persons (GEM) has launched a concerted campaign for entry into force of a global ban on nuclear weapon testing.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Mayors Plead for a Nuclear Weapons Free World

Seventy years after the brutal and militarily unwarranted atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9, a nuclear weapons free world is far from within reach.

Perfecting Detection of the Bomb

An international conference has highlighted advances made in detecting nuclear explosions,tracking storms or clouds of volcanic ash, locating epicentres of earthquakes, monitoring the drift of huge icebergs, observing the movements of marine mammals, and detecting plane crashes.

EU Calls for Paradigm Shift in Development Cooperation

In the run-up to the international Conference on Financing for Development from Jul. 13 to 16 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the European Union has called for a “true paradigm shift” in global development cooperation.

UNDP Unveils Blueprint for Swift, Unified Crisis Response

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has announced a new 10-year global plan to support country efforts to reduce the risk of disasters that kill people and destroy livelihoods. The plan was unveiled at the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction which ended on Mar. 18.

A Chinese NGO Promotes People-to-People Cooperation in Northeast Asia.

IPS Editor in Chief Ramesh Jaura talked to Professor Huang Haoming, Vice Chairman & Executive Director of China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO), about interaction for people-to-people cooperation in Northeast Asia​ in Sendai, Japan, during the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) from 14 to 18 March 2015.

Key to Preventing Disasters Lies in Understanding Them

The Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction concluded on Wednesday after a long drawn-out round of final negotiations, with representatives of 187 U.N. member states finally agreeing on what is being described as a far-reaching new framework for the next 15 years: 2015-2030.

UNDP Assistant Administrator Izumi Nakamitsu Explains What the Crisis Response Unit Does

IPS Editor in Chief Ramesh Jaura talked to UNDP Assistant Administrator Izumi Nakamitsu, Director of the Crisis Response Unit in Sendai, Japan, at the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) on 17 March 2015, to learn what the Unit is tasked with, the challenges the U.N. Development Programme is facing and its role in disaster risk reduction. The conference concluded 18 March 2015 declaring the participants' determination "to enhance efforts to strengthen disaster risk reduction to reduce disaster losses of lives and assets worldwide".

UNISDR’s Margareta Wahlström on the Nitty-gritty of Disaster Risk Reduction

IPS Editor in Chief Ramesh Jaura talked to Margareta Wahlström - head of UNISDR, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General - in Sendai, Japan, at the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) from 14 to 18 March 2015, exploring the outcome of the conference and its implication for funding and transfer of technology, the future of official development assistance (ODA) and the crucial role of the civil society in general and faith-based organisations in particular in reducing disaster risk.  

Ebola, Women and Disaster Risk Reduction

UNFPA's Liberia representative Remi Sogunro talks to IPS News Agency, explaining the importance of Disaster Risk Reduction strategies to address epidemics such as Ebola and keep women's concerns on top. Sogunro was taking part in the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, from 14 to 18 March 2015.  

From Delhi Through New York to Paris

Credit: Film and Television Unit, TERI

UNIDO Comes a Long Way

The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has come a long way since 1997, when it faced the risk of closure in the aftermath of the end of the Cold War.

OPINION: Towards a Global Governance Platform

Inter Press Service News Agency has braved severe political assaults and financial tempests since 1964, when Roberto Savio and Pablo Piacentini laid its foundation as a unique and challenging information and communication system.

DISARMAMENT: Norway Seeks a New Push

Norway's foreign affairs minister Jonas Gahr Støre has called for giving new priority to nuclear disarmament that has been assigned to oblivion since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.