Rising sea levels force Tuvalu to move to the Metaverse: COP27 speech

What happens to a country without land? As rising sea levels threaten to submerge our home, we have made a radical plan for the survival of our nation. Watch Tuvaluan Minister Simon Kofe’s address at COP27 and visit https://www.tuvalu.tv to find out how you can help.

Climate crisis in Bangladesh: Stories from the ground

 

Adit Adhikary lives in Bangladesh’s southern coast, where land is going underwater, salinity is destroying agriculture and drinking water is scarce. Will conversations at COP27 reflect the needs of his community? Source: BRAC

Disappearing land in Bangladesh

 

Where do people go when their homes are washed away? In the 12 months since COP26, half of Lokkhi Mondol’s house has gone underwater.

Ground zero of the climate crisis

 

As COP27 ramps up, come with BRAC’s ED Asif Saleh to the frontline of the climate crisis in southern Bangladesh - where homes are now going underwater every day. We need climate action that gets to the ground, now. Source: BRAC

Former War Zones in El Salvador Obtain Water with the Help of the Sun – VIDEO

Several community-run water projects powered by solar energy have improved the quality of life of thousands of rural families in areas that were the scene of heavy fighting during El Salvador's civil war in the 1980s.

Elephants ivory trafficking East Africa

 
Social media usage has allowed smugglers of wildlife products to expand their network’s reach using Rwanda as a transit route, an investigation by IPS correspondent Aimable Twahirwa shows. Twahirwa reached out to wildlife traffickers using the medium during his investigation of how traders use one of the busiest border crossings, known as “Petite Barrière,” to hide the contraband among other goods.

WORLD FOOD DAY 2022

In 2022, an ongoing pandemic, global conflicts, climate change, rising prices and international tensions… …are affecting global food security.

How to Stop the ‘Hunger Pandemic’ Part 2: How to Reduce Food Loss

A group of middle school students living in Asia filmed this video on their campaign to reduce food waste. They learned many lessons: Only take as much food as you can eat; don’t waste, eat ugly fruit and compost. In this production, they spoke to experts about how to ensure that everybody has something nutritious to eat.

Sharing Minds Can Change the World (Part 2)

When Elena Seungeun Lee discovered the extent of education inequity, she decided to do something about it. She started a YouTube channel, We Learn to Share, to teach online what she learned at school. We Learn to Share has become a student-led global NGO dedicated to bridging educational gaps, with more than 50 teenage volunteers from 11 countries and 29 high schools, and three universities around the world. We Learn to Share is solely led and run by teenagers who have beautiful sharing minds. This video was produced by Elena and fellow student Hyunsung Julie Lee.

Biomethane from Garbage: Turning a Climate Enemy into Clean Energy – VIDEO

Garbage that has accumulated since 1991 in the two landfills in the municipality of Caucaia has become a biomethane deposit that supplies industrial and commercial companies, thermoelectric plants and homes in Ceará, a state in northeastern Brazil.

Humanitarian Crisis Unfolds With Pakistan in the Eye of Fiercest Climate Change Storm

The heavy and incessant monsoon downpours across Pakistan in the last two months have triggered floods wreaking havoc across the country, submerging entire villages and vast tracts of land and entrapping people. Anything coming in the way of the relentless water is being destroyed, including roads, bridges, and standing crops.

Brazilian Metropolis Struggles for – and Against – Water: VIDEO

Torrential water in the streets and none coming out of the taps are two disasters that plague Brazil's metropolises, especially those located along the upper stretches of rivers, such as Belo Horizonte, capital of the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

Webinar: Lessons in Development from the Global South: 50 Years of BRAC

 
This virtual event was hosted by BRAC, the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN, and the Permanent Mission of Rwanda to the UN on the sidelines of the 2022 UN High Level Political Forum.

‘When it Comes to Gender Equality, Our Best is Not Good Enough’: says Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted lives all over the world. According to this report, gender is emerging as a significant factor in the social, economic and health effects of Covid-19. Women have been hit much harder socially and economically than men. The greatest and most persistent gender gap was seen in employment and uncompensated labour, with 26% of women reporting loss of work compared with 20% of men globally in September 2021.

Taliban: The Return of Misogynistic Gynophobes in Afghanistan

Gynophobia is defined as an intense and irrational fear of women or hatred of women, it may be characterized as a form of specific phobias, which involves a fear that is centered on a specific trigger or situation, which in the case of gynophobia is women.

War & Peace 2.0: Ukraine Showing the World How to Fight Back

It has been over 100 days since Russia first invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, turning the country into a slaughterhouse. The United Nations (UN) in this report says that, as of 1 June, 2022, more than 6.9 million refugees have left Ukraine and 2.1 million have returned, while eight million people are displaced inside Ukraine itself. War in Ukraine has caused the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II.

Those Who Dare: Voices of Women in the MENA Region

When it comes to gender equality and development, the Middle East, North Africa (MENA) and the Arab States region continues to be in a paradoxical situation. While within the region, several laws, policies and programming focused on gender equality are growing, women’s representation in government jobs, corporate roles, and national programming seem to be dismissed. Healthcare, education have seen improvement, most countries have become tech inclusive as well, but access to hospitals and educational institutions –at times due to social programming or gender-related policies continues to prevent women from accessing them and using them.

World Press Freedom Day 2022

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issues an annual report evaluating press freedom globally. This year’s index focused on 180 countries across the world.

Autism Awareness Day 2022

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) refers to a broad range of conditions. Each person with autism has a distinct set of strengths and challenges. Sometimes, they show as challenges with social skills.

Bangladeshi Lawyer Rizwana Hasan Awarded International Women of Courage Award

In an exclusive interview to IPS UN Bureau, journalist Sania Farooqui is in conversation with Bangladeshi lawyer, Rizwana Hasan who was recently awarded the 16th Annual International Women of Courage Awards by the U.S Department of State. Hasan works primarily to protect the environment and defend the dignity and rights of marginalized Bangladeshis. Through landmark legal cases over the past 20 years, Hasan has changed the dynamics of development in Bangladesh to include a people-centered focus on environmental justice.

International Women’s Day 2022

One of our greatest challenges is advancing gender equality in the face of the climate crisis. They constitute the majority of the world’s poor.