Environment

Saving the Oceans, Saving the Future: Officials Tackle Marine Pollution

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
The oceans’ health is only getting worse and the cycle of decline must be reversed, said representatives at the opening of a high-level UN conference.

Charting a Course to a Blue Commonwealth

By Patricia Scotland
The United Nations Ocean Conference offers an historic opportunity to safeguard the ocean environment and support small island and vulnerable developing coastal states, who depend on the seas for national economic growth and sustainable development.

US Pull-out from Paris Deal: What it Means

By Martin Khor
By withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement, President Donald Trump abdicated not only leadership but membership of the community of nations cooperating to tackle climate change, the most serious crisis facing humanity.

Asia – Indigenous Women Fight for Justice, Influence and Equity

By Julie Koch
Indigenous women in Asia are setting examples in their efforts for a more peaceful, fair and equal world. But discrimination, poverty and lack of recognition still hinder indigenous women from fully participating in developing their societies.

Re-Connect with Nature Now… Before It Is Too Late!

By Baher Kamal
Now that president Donald Trump has announced the withdrawal of the world’s largest polluter in history—the United States, from the Paris Accord, perhaps one of the most specific warnings is what a United Nations independent expert on rights and the environment has just said: “We should be fully aware that we cannot enjoy our basic human rights without a healthy environment.”

New Research to Unearth UAE’s Renewable Energy Potential

By Rabiya Shabeeh
A report by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) states that supplying the world with 95 per cent renewable sources by 2050 will not only reduce 80 per cent of GHG emissions from the energy sector but also save four trillion euros annually.

Why We Need to Save Our Oceans Now—Not Later

By José Vicente Troya
What if the blue fades away as seawaters become brown and coral reefs become white as marine grasslands wither and life below water vanishes?

Mixed Reactions to U.S. Withdrawal from Climate Deal

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
The United States is expected to withdraw from the landmark Paris climate agreement, prompting mixed reactions from civil society and political representatives.

A UN of the Future to Effectively Serve all Member States

By Secretary-General António Guterres
Through a series of recent global agreements on sustainable development, climate change, sustaining peace, disaster risk reduction, and financing for development, Member States have provided a broad vision of the future they want. I am committed to advancing meaningful reforms to adapt the United Nations to this complex world, so that it can effectively serve all of its Member States in achieving that future and managing shared challenges and opportunities along the way.

How to Produce More Food with Less Damage to Soil, Water, Forests

By IPS World Desk
Massive agriculture intensification is contributing to increased deforestation, water scarcity, soil depletion and the level of greenhouse gas emission, the United Nations warns.

Business Unusual: Valuing Water for a Sustainable Future

By Paula Fray
Valuing water is more than simply assigning costs to a scare resource - it is an essential step for transforming water governance to meet the needs of a prosperous future.

The ‘Water-Employment-Migration’ Explosive Nexus

By Baher Kamal
Water--everybody talks about it, warns against its growing scarcity, excessive waste, the impact of climate change, the frequent severe droughts and so on. Now, a global action network with over 3,000 partner organisations in 183 countries comes to unveil the dangerous nexus between water, employment and migration, in particular in the Mediterranean region.

Africa Drives Global Action Against Mercury Use

By Miriam Gathigah
With a new international treaty, an increasing number of African countries are committing to phasing out mercury, a significant health and environmental hazard.

Forty-Five Years Since Stockholm, Twenty-Five Years Since the Earth Summit and Five Years Since Rio+20

By Felix Dodds
Over the past five years, I have written with a number of co-authors the history of the sustainable development movement at the global level prior to the first UN Conference on Human Environment held in 1972 through the 1992 Earth Summit and Rio+20 to the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. I like to think of these books as the ‘Vienna Café Trilogy’ after the café in the basement of the United Nations headquarters in New York, where many deals are done over coffee. Also, with deference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts, this trilogy may also have future books.

Valuing Water Beyond the Money

By Paula Fray
Amid the worst drought in a century, South Africans are kick-starting a global consultative process to agree on the values of water in a bid to ensure more equitable use of the finite resource.

Asia: 260 Million Indigenous Peoples Marginalised, Discriminated

By Baher Kamal
Asia is home to the largest number of indigenous peoples on Earth, with an estimated 260 million of a total of 370 million original inhabitants worldwide. In spite of their huge number-equaling half of the combined population of Europe-- they are often victims of discrimination and denial of their rights.

In a “World of Plenty,” G7 Must Fight Famine

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
World leaders must step up and take action in fighting famine to prevent further catastrophic levels of hunger and deaths, said Oxfam.

Big polluting lobbyists may be forced to declare interests at UN talks

By Rabiya Shabeeh
Is the presence of the fossil fuel industry necessary in global climate change negotiations, or does their presence in these talks represent a conflict of interest and undermine global progress?

Slow Growth Stalls SDGs’ Progress

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
The world will not be on track to eradicate poverty by 2030 if current growth trends continue, a UN task force found.

Q&A: “It’s a Crime” that 35 Million Latin Americans Still Suffer from Hunger

By Orlando Milesi
The fight against hunger has been “remarkably successful” in Latin America and the Caribbean, but “it is a crime” that 35 million people still go to bed hungry every day, FAO regional representative Julio Berdegué told IPS.

The Ocean Conference: An Integrated Vision that must be Delivered

By Jan Kellett
In March 2015 at the Sendai World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction, the then President of Kirbati, Anote Tong, made it very clear how vulnerable his country was to climate and disaster risk, when he informed the room (which was sadly less than half full) that his country had purchased land in Fiji.
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