GLOBAL COOPERATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE: What Have We Achieved and What Needs to Happen Next?

Climate change has been a source of concern among the international community since the 1970s. Yet, almost fifty years since the issue was first raised in international diplomatic circles by prominent scientists, the situation continues to deteriorate, with rises in temperatures and extreme weather causing ever-magnifying problems around the world.

Middle-Income Country Trap?

In recent decades, failure to sustain economic progress has been blamed on a supposed middle-income country (MIC) trap. Such blaming obscures as much as it supposedly explains.

Lula Meets First Brazilian Chair of IPS

During an official audience at the Planalto Palace, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met on Monday 20 November with writer and journalist Fernando Morais, the first Brazilian to assume the role of Chair at IPS Inter Press Service, one of the international news agencies most committed to democratic communication with developing countries and with civil society at a global level.

What Will Tomorrow’s World Order Look Like?

Ukraine, the Caucasus and the Middle East. The latest eruptions of violence mark the end of Pax Americana. The rise of new powers is shifting the global balance of power. Whether tomorrow’s world will be bipolar or multipolar still remains to be seen.

Improving Livestock Health Is a Net Positive Move Towards Net Zero

The recent downturn in sales of alternative meat products is only the latest evidence that the world is unlikely to give up animal protein completely in the long run.

The World’s Right-Wing & Left-Wing Torturers

Jeanne Kirkpatrick, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, once made the distinction between "friendly" right-wing authoritarian regimes (which were mostly U.S. and Western allies) and "unfriendly" left-wing totalitarian dictatorships (which the U.S. abhorred). Among the “dictators” the U.S. shunned in the 1970s and 80s were Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, Myanmar's General Than Shwe, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Cuba's Fidel Castro, Libya’s Mummar al-Qaddafi, Syria’s Hafez al-Assad and North Korea’s Kim IL-Sung.

Will the UN Ever be Able to Eradicate Systemic Racism Within?

In the midst of the Israel-Hamas conflagration, a significant anniversary at the United Nations --October 24th was the 78th year since its founding--went unremarked by the larger world. But the work of--and significant problems with--the UN continues. Among the problems is embedded institutional racism. It's time that it be deeply addressed--not just by lip service.

Australia: Reconciliation Back to Square One?

Australia had the chance to take a step forward in redressing the exclusion of its Indigenous people – and chose not to. In a referendum held in October, voters rejected a constitutional amendment to establish an institution for Indigenous people to have a say on matters that concern them.

Accelerating Change: Global Call to Action on World Toilet Day to Meet 2030 Sanitation Goals

Celebrated annually on the 19th of November, World Toilet Day aims to inspire concerted efforts in addressing the pressing global sanitation crisis, which currently leaves approximately 3.5 billion people without access to safely managed sanitation.

COP28: Climate Summit in Closed Civic Space

The need to act on the climate crisis has never been clearer. In 2023, heat records have been shattered around the world. Seemingly every day brings news of extreme weather, imperilling lives. In July, UN Secretary-General António Guterres grimly announced that ‘the era of global boiling has arrived’.

A Bigger and More Relevant Role for Youth Within the UN System – Part II

The UN Secretary General’s Policy Brief on Meaningful Youth Engagement in Policy and Decision-making Processes offers several ideas on how to ensure youths have a bigger and more relevant role within the UN System.

Forced Labor: Exposing Dark Web of Fisheries Labor Abuses

It is a terrifying life experience, cut off from the world and trapped in forced labour aboard fishing vessels, often in high seas or seas beyond the territorial waters of any state. The fishers are isolated under hazardous and horrific working conditions under limited regulatory oversight. More than 128,000 fishers were trapped in forced labour aboard fishing vessels in 2021 alone.

A New Youth Envoy: Symbolic Change or Real Hope?– Part I

The recent appointment of Dr. Felipe Paullier of Uruguay as the first Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs is a good news for the United Nations. Yet we need to ask ourselves the following question: Can such development also become a real hope, rather than just a symbolic change, for millions of youths from around the world?

Time to Convert Climate Change Rhetoric into Action, Says WFP’s Gernot Laganda

It is crucial to narrow the gaps and ensure that climate finance goes to where people are most vulnerable, says Gernot Laganda, Director of Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)—especially as the most fragile states only receive USD 2.1 per capita while non-fragile states receive USD 161.

Fast-Track Climate Resilience Building of Small and Vulnerable Nations Ahead of COP28

As the countdown to COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, continues, IPS caught up with Dr Oldman Koboto, Mauritius-based Manager for the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub (CCFAH).

PPPs Fiscal Hoax Is a Blank Financial Silver Bullet

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure and service provision are both costly and risky. Worse, PPPs typically fail to ensure universal, let alone fair access to public amenities.

Commonwealth Civil Society Offers Ministers Crucial Recommendations for Gender Equality Advancement

On August 22, 2023, Women's Affairs Ministers from the Commonwealth huddled in a room at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, they were meeting in person.

Even Rich Nations Now Worried About ISDS

Governments the world over are worried about investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) rules. These allow foreign investors to sue them for billions over new laws or policies reducing their profits.

Can Creativity Change the World?

It all fits into an off-road vehicle that can reach even the most remote parts of Southern Africa to bring cinema where the essentials are lacking, where there's no electricity to power a projector, and where perhaps no one has ever sat in front of a screen to watch a movie. With just the sun and a solar panel, a theater can be set up in areas where people struggle to access food and water and make a decent living. But what it truly requires is the courage to not view creativity as a luxury. Sydelle and Rowand, the founders of Sunshine Cinema, a network of mobile movie theaters, are not just entertaining people; they are crossing a bridge.

Women and War

In 1968, the tobacco company Philip Morris introduced a new cigarette brand called Virginia Slims. Under the slogan “You’ve come a long way, baby” it was exclusively marketed to women. The advertising campaign exploited the civil rights movements of the 1960s, indicating that those cigarettes were enjoyed by strong, independent, and liberated women. A blatant lie – why would “independent” women choose to poison themselves with a commodity which each year causes more than 480,000 deaths in the US alone – nearly one in five deaths? Another question arising from this deceitful ad is: “How far have women come on their way to independence and liberation?”

The UN’s 78th Birthday: Revisiting the Operational Credibility of the United Nations

I thank the United Nations Asia Network for Diversity and Inclusion (UN-ANDI) for inviting me to present the keynote speech on this special occasion for the observance of the United Nations Day.