Let's take a moment to reflect on a critical question: In the decade since the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS3), what tangible progress have we made in addressing the challenges faced by our SIDS?
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has restricted international exports and sent food costs soaring – particularly for vulnerable populations still experiencing shocks from the pandemic and who can least afford to pay more to feed their families. Two years on, global food supply chains are still just as susceptible to serious disruptions caused by war, disease, and climate change. Those inevitable disruptions are leaving those on the African continent particularly vulnerable.
As we contemplate the clouded futures of Gaza, Ukraine, and other dire conflict zones that get far less coverage, it may be instructive to recall the surprising success story of a ravaged country that bounced back: Rwanda.
While research into the unequal impacts of climate change on women is growing, more is needed to enable them to realize their rights to climate justice.
Researchers argue that women and girls have unequal access to food, water, health, education, and even income, thanks to climate change. This makes them more vulnerable.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration
paused action on pending approvals for U.S. liquefied natural gas exports to countries without a U.S. free-trade agreement, with President Biden
citing ”the urgency of the climate crisis.” The decision was
hailed by climate activists and criticized by oil and gas industry representatives.
Recently, the United Nations in collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization
released a report that highlighted the impacts of climate change including on agriculture.
The award-winning Hollywood movie
Oppenheimer portrays the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who helped create the atomic bomb, which claimed the lives of an estimated 140,000 to 226,000 people and devastated the two Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
Gearing up for the 30
th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the world’s parliamentarians and ministers are meeting in Oslo to determine the course of action needed to promote sexual and reproductive human rights (SRHR).
Unfortunately, a rivalry that should not exist and did not exist historically between China and India is being stoked by the media and some policy makers, especially in the West. It is not too difficult to discern the Machiavellian geo-strategic objectives of this complex game plan.
Carbon dioxide emission taxes, prices and markets have been touted as key to stopping global heating. However, carbon markets have failed mainly because they favour the rich and powerful.
Two years since President Nayib Bukele announced a “war against gangs” in El Salvador, the country has gone through rapid change.
While the international
consensus and world public opinion are resoundingly clear in demanding an immediate cease-fire to the Hamas-Israel war, it remains uncertain whether a cease-fire will be observed.
One should never lose sight that for people who experienced genocide, the warning signs were there. Genocide is a process. It requires preparation and capacities to carry it out.
The deadly six-month-old Israeli-Hamas war, which has claimed the lives of more than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza and over 1,200 in Israel, has sharply divided the world with vociferous protestors on both sides of the conflict.
But the United Nations is no exception with some of the estimated 35,000 staffers—both in New York and UN affiliates worldwide-- have been increasingly vocal, mostly on social media, critical of either Israel or Hamas.
Russia and Iran currently appear to be pulling firmly in the same direction in terms of foreign policy; ‘What has caused humanity’s suffering is unilateralism and an unjust global order, one manifestation of which can be seen in Gaza today.’ These were the words of Iranian President
Ebrahim Raisi during a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on 7 December.
A minute of silence was observed on April 7 across Rwanda as the country held a memorial ceremony to mourn more than one million people, overwhelmingly Tutsis, who were systematically killed in the 100 days of atrocities between April and July 1994.
In the deserts of Gujarat, something remarkable is happening. On my recent visit I saw hundreds of trucks moving under the warm Indian sun. Thousands of hardworking young people from all corners of Bharat, as Indians now often call their nation, are turning around the previously empty and harsh landscape.
As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza drags into its sixth month on Sunday, April 7, the UN Secretary-General calls for a “true paradigm shift” in the delivery of humanitarian aid.
On Friday April 5, 2024, Secretary-General António Guterres spoke before reporters to mark six months since the October 7 attacks, where 1,200 civilians in Israel were killed in a terrorist attack led by Hamas, which has since led to a military campaign by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) into Gaza.
The fact that Senegal’s election took place on 24 March was in itself a triumph for civil society. That an opposition candidate, campaigning on an anti-establishment and anti-corruption agenda, emerged from jail to become the continent’s youngest leader offered fresh hope for democracy.
Climate change is exacerbating inequalities between and within countries, disproportionately affecting poor households in rural areas. In fact, we know that more than half of the resources of the poor – a large part of whom are small-scale farmers - are lost due to climatic hazards. This has negative impacts on the incomes of these people and their ability to meet their essential needs, including food.
Over four billion people will take to the polls in 2024 as 76 countries are set to hold elections. In Asia, this includes populous countries such as Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Russia.