Advocating for a Blue Economy Investment Facility

I recently connected with Felix Dodds and a colleague of his Chris Tomkins about the development around how the Blue Economy prior to the Kenya Government's international conference (26-28 November) on the subject. Felix is a global sustainable development leader who has worked on sustainable development for more than two decades observing and participating in international development meetings, including the negotiations on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, which the Blue Economy is part of and asked for his take on why and how the business and finance community should get behind them.

NGOs Call for Disinvestments in Biodiversity Destruction

A discussion held earlier this week at the ongoing Convention of Biodiversity’s (CBD) Conference of Parties in Egypt highlighted that grants to curb deforestation in the Amazon are not enough if they are accompanied with investments that increase the loss of biodiversity.

The Blue Economy – A New Frontier for Small Island Developing States

The blue economy—a concept and economic model that balances economic development with equity and environmental protection, and one that uses marine resources to meet current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own—is not a new idea.

Thailand First Asian Nation to Join Global Efforts to Control Tobacco

Thailand is set to become the first Asian country to introduce standardized packaging of tobacco. On 14 November 2018, the Thai National Committee on Tobacco Control approved the Ministry of Health Regulation that requires cigarettes in Thailand to be sold in packaging stripped of the fancy, colorful and unique cigarette branding.

UN Commemorates International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

“From the tuk tuk drivers in Cambodia… to the school children in South Africa, women and men and girls and boys are taking a stand to prevent violence against women,” says Executive Director of UN Women and Under Secretary General Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

‘Hate Is a Status Symbol. If You’re Not Being Hated You’re Not in the Game’ Says Celebrity Branding Guru Jeetendr Sehdev

New York Times bestselling author Jeetendr Sehdev believes that chief marketing officers need to start thinking differently about the younger generations they’re struggling to engage with. Ahead of his keynote, ‘Human 2.0: Sacrifice Everything If You Believe In Something’, at The Future of Marketing on November 22, Sehdev chats to The Drum about his book ‘The Kim Kardashian Principle’, how the Nike Colin Kaepernick campaign implemented his rules to create their success and why brands should embrace the hate from social media.

Venture Capital Can Turbo Charge Growth in Emerging Markets

Global poverty is undoubtedly the most critical economic and moral challenge of the 21st century. While economists debate how to raise up the world’s poorest – the more than 800 million people living on less than US$1.25 a day.-- entrepreneurs are spurring innovation and growth in emerging markets.

E-Commerce Giants Under Fire for Retailing Hazardous Mercury-Based Cosmetics

A coalition of over 50 civil society organizations (CSOs), from more than 20 countries, have urged two of the world’s largest multi-billion dollar E-commerce retailers – Amazon and eBay – to stop marketing “dangerous and illegal mercury-based skin lightening creams.”

Kenya Looks to Lead the Way in Developing the Blue Economy’s Potential

For many years now, the economic potential of the African continent has been discussed, promoted and hailed by everyone from economists to policymakers to world leaders – and with very good reason. After all, Africa is a vast, populous, developing continent with enormous natural and human resource riches and a raft of rapidly developing economies which are helping create prosperity and raise living standards and social opportunities through economic growth.

Q&A: All Sustainable Development Goals Relate in Some Way to the Oceans

When Peter Thomson, the United Nation’s Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, heard in 2010 there was going to be a 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, he knew he had to include the ocean question.

Trump’s Anti-Media Rhetoric Resonates Worldwide

A former French president once remarked: Never pick a fight with a little kid or the press. The kid will throw the last stone at you and the press will have the last word. But that obviously does not apply to a teflon-coated Donald Trump because nothing apparently sticks on him – even as he survives a barrage of criticisms from the mainstream media while he continues to utter falsehoods and mouth blatant lies.

Using Data to Restore Land

A new landmark initiative aims to make quality data and tools available to the international community in order to combat an “existential crisis”: land degradation.

Climate of Repression a Dark Cloud over Upcoming Elections in Fiji

Powdery white beaches. Crystal clear turquoise water. Palm trees swaying in the breeze. This is the postcard picture of paradise that comes to mind when tourists think of Fiji. But for many citizens of the South Pacific’s largest island nation, and its media, the reality is anything but blissful.

Northeast Nigeria: Urgent Need to Combat Deadly Cholera Outbreaks

The number of people who have been affected by cholera in northeast Nigeria has increased to 10,000. The disease is spreading quickly in congested displacement camps with limited access to proper sanitation facilities.

Inside a Wagon in the Forest of Compiègne

What is the link between the current civil war in Syria, the austerity policy imposed by Germany during the last economic crisis or the Arab-Israeli conflict? Its origin, which lies in the world that was born a hundred years ago, inside a wagon in the middle of the Forest of Compiègne, northeast of Paris.

Is Excessive Sovereign Debt a Threat to Peace?

Some 30 years ago, the international banks were afloat with petrodollars, deposited by the oil exporting countries. The banks in turn stepped up lending to Latin America, in a big way. The new branch of Société Générale in New York where I was working at the time followed suit rapidly building up its portfolio, as the bank needed to make loans to get its branch off the ground.

The Crumbling Architecture of Arms Control

At a political rally on Saturday, 20 October, US President Donald J. Trump announced that the United States will withdraw from the 1987 Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty). This confirms what has steadily been unfolding over the past couple of years: the architecture of Russian–US nuclear arms control is crumbling.

Amitav Ghosh prepares ‘Gun Island’ for publication in 2019

Amitav Ghosh is one of the world's top novelists writing in the English language today, and Brooklyn-based author of "The Ibis Trilogy" has a new novel set for publication in June 2019.

Ambitious Agenda, Ambitious Financing? UNGA Shows a Long Way Still to Go for SDGs

There was a much-needed focus on financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the September 2018 opening of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Truth Never Dies: Justice for Slain Journalists

Violence and toxic rhetoric against journalists must stop, say United Nations experts.

Cholera Threatens a Comeback Worldwide

Cholera outbreaks across history regularly killed a hundred thousand or more. It isn’t well known today because it was essentially eliminated in the Western world.