Economy & Trade

WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS DAY 2023


 

 
This is David. He is becoming an exceptional chess player. This is Mai. She loves beaches and the ocean. This is Kwame. He is a passionate architect. The only thing these people have in common… …is that they all identify as Autistic. Autistic people have a wide range of talents and challenges that are often not recognized by the world they are born into. They continue to face discrimination and other challenges. Levels of awareness and acceptance vary dramatically from country to country. In recent years, however, major progress has been made in increasing awareness and acceptance. Thankfully, we are moving away from the narrative of curing or converting autistic people. We now focus much more on education, support and inclusivity. This is a major transformation for all autistic people, their allies, and neurodiversity. It enables autistic people to claim their dignity and self-esteem. And to become fully integrated as valued members of societies. Without stigma. This year, we celebrate World Autism Awareness Day with a pivotal theme: Transforming the narrative: Contributions at home, at work, in the arts and in policymaking Together, we must transform the narrative around neurodiversity to overcome barriers and improve the lives of autistic people. IPS UN Bureau
 
  

Quo Vadis Republic of Mauritius?

By Ameenah Gurib-Fakim
On 12th March 2023, The Republic of Mauritius celebrates 55 years of post-independence history. It would be an understatement to just say that there has been a lot of water under the bridge on our journey to self-determination!.. Indeed, we have made massive progress since we lowered the Union Jack and unfurled our own flag. It was and remains a moment of great pride whenever I see our flag in any international event, I participate in.

Opposition in Mexico to Mega-Industrial Model

By Emilio Godoy
In March 2021, the community assembly of the municipality of San Blas Atempa, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, approved the sale of 360 hectares for the creation of an industrial park. But part of the community opposed the initiative due to irregularities, such as the falsification of signatures of supposed attendees, including those of people who had already died.

Yes, Lower The Retirement Ages!

By Joseph Chamie
Yes, lower the retirement ages! That is the key message that workers worldwide are conveying to their governments.

A Plan for the Gulf States to Power a Low-Emissions Revolution

By Philippe Benoit
This year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 28, will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates, which, together with its Gulf neighbors, enjoys abundant solar, natural gas and financial resources. At the same time, many poorer countries are struggling to generate the additional affordable electricity they need to power their development — especially as wealthier nations halted their overseas financing for high-emitting coal power plants.

Artisanal Miners Face Onerous Obstacles to Become Legal

By Fawzia Moodley
Greed, poverty, irresponsible legal mining giants which exploited and then abandoned South Africa's mines, together with the government's failure to enforce regulations on the mining giants to rehabilitate mines before closing them, have created fertile ground for a thriving illegal artisanal mining sector called Zama Zama, many of them run by criminal syndicates.

Black Sea Grain Initiative: Russia Reluctantly Agrees to a Two-Month Extension

By Alexander Kozul-Wright
Given the complex interplay between geopolitics and financial markets, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 sent shockwaves across the global economy. Admittedly, the implications both within and between countries have varied. However, there were some common denominators, including higher commodity prices.

Kenyan Entrepreneur Using Organic Microbes to Unlock Hidden Nutrients in Dairy Feeds

By Isaiah Esipisu
Using naturally occurring microbes, a Kenyan entrepreneur has developed a molasses-based supplement that pre-ferments animal feeds to unlock all the necessary nutrients that would otherwise find a way out of the animal through cow dung, and dairy farmers have fallen in love with the product.

One Year into the Ukraine War, Massive Influx of Russians into Georgia Has Consequences for Locals

By IPS Correspondent
Since the war in Ukraine started in February last year, at least 1.5 million Russian citizens have crossed the Russia-Georgia border, official data states. However, as of today, it needs to be clarified how many of them stayed in the country, but walking the streets of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, the presence of Russian nationals can be seen almost everywhere.

Venezuela Makes Timid Headway in Solar Energy

By Humberto Márquez
The installation of solar panels in a remote village in ​​the Andes highlands in late February marked a second incursion by the Venezuelan government into the field of solar energy, previously uncharted territory in this country that for a century was a leading global oil producer.

Championing Sustainability Despite Adversities in Asia & the Pacific

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
As we reach the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it is an opportune moment to reflect on the Asia-Pacific region’s progress and accelerate efforts to achieve our goals.

BP’s Shift ‘Back to Petroleum’ Prods Consideration of a Climate Oil Price Cap

By Philippe Benoit
BP, the oil company that previously brought us “Beyond Petroleum” and more recently robust corporate climate goals, has announced a return in emphasis to its traditional business of producing oil. Drawn by the inescapable appeal of oil’s latest high profits, has BP rebranded itself as “Back to Petroleum?”

Vanuatu Twin Cyclones Underscore the Pacific’s Vulnerability to Compounding Climate-Disaster Risks

By Sanjay Srivastava and Sudip Ranjan Basu
Two destructive Category 4 tropical cyclones, Judy and Kevin, and an earthquake of 6.5 magnitude impacted over 80 per cent of the Vanuatu population from 1 to 3 March 2023. To address this emergency situation, the UN, along with Pacific member States have deployed personnel on the ground to coordinate humanitarian assistance and prepare post-disaster damage assessment.

The Sami People’s Fight Against Norwegian Windmills

By Karlos Zurutuza
There are 151 wind turbines and more than 130 kilometres of connection routes and power lines on the Fosen peninsula, 530 kilometres north of Oslo. Norwegian judges say that they should not be there, and the owners of those lands since time immemorial do too.

The Caribbean’s Role in the Transformation of Agri-Food Systems

By Mario Lubetkin
The global food security crisis reveals an increase in the undernourishment prevalence, reaching higher than in 2015, when countries first agreed to eradicate hunger by 2030 as one of the SDG targets. In the Caribbean, between 2014 and 2021, hunger increased by 2.3 percentage points, affecting 16.4 percent of its population by 2021. Moreover, the Caribbean is a net importer of almost all the main food groups such as cereals, dairy products, fruits and vegetables (except the Dominican Republic), meat and vegetable oils.

Parliamentarians Tackle Youth Employment, SRHR in Post-COVID Asia and Pacific

By Cecilia Russell
With more than 600 million youth aged between 18 and 24 in the Asia and Pacific region, putting their issues front and center is crucial. Speakers at a recent forum, Youth Empowerment: Education, Employment and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, held in Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia, agreed that policy development and implementation should be youth-centered.

International Women’s Day, 2023


 

From the earliest days of computing to the present age of virtual reality and artificial intelligence… …women have made untold contributions to the digital world in which we increasingly live.

Nigeria’s Unbanked, Poor Get Reprieve After Court Rules Naira Deadline Unconstitutional

By Abdullahi Jimoh
Nigerians confronted by hardships over the scarcity of the newly redesigned naira notes in conjunction with the country's cashless policy introduced by the apex bank have had a last-minute reprieve from a policy that had disrupted their lives and exacerbated hunger.

Interwoven Global Crises Can Best be Solved Together

By Paula Harrison, Pamela McElwee and David Obura
When global crises are interlinked, they overlap and compound each other. In such cases, the most effective solutions are those that work at the nexus of all these challenges.

A Geoeconomic Tsunami

By Marc Saxer
When tectonic plates shift, the earth shakes. Tsunamis race around the globe in the form of shock waves. The global economy has experienced three such earthquakes in recent years. The Covid-19 pandemic has made us aware of the vulnerability of a globally integrated economy.

Wildlife Is Much More than a Safari. And It Is at Highest Risk of Extinction

By Baher Kamal
Wildlife is indeed far much more than a safari or an ‘exotic’ ornament: as many as four billion people –or an entire half the whole world's population– rely on wild species for income, food, medicines and wood fuel for cooking.
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