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Friday, April 19, 2024
News and Views from the Global South
SDGs
“Sanitation for All” a Rapidly Receding Goal
World leaders on Friday discussed plans to expand sustainable access for water, sanitation and hygiene, focusing in particular on how to reach those in remote rural areas and slums where development projects have been slow to penetrate.
World Bank, IMF Urged to Act on New Inequality Focus
Global income inequality threatens economic and social viability, according to a World Bank report released Thursday, reiterating a new but increasingly forceful narrative from both the bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Biofortified Beans to Fight ‘Hidden Hunger’ in Rwanda
Joane Nkuliye considers herself an activist. She is part of a select group of farmers producing biofortified crops on a commercial scale in Rwanda.
Youth Around the World See Meagre Opportunities
Although half the world’s population is under 25 years old, young people in more than two dozen countries feel that their opportunities for educational, economic and societal advancement are limited, according to new research released here Thursday.
A Call for Universal Access to Safe, Legal Abortion
Lawmakers and civil society leaders from over 30 countries are calling for universal access to safe, legal abortion.
Women Seek Stand-Alone Goal for Gender in Post-2015 Agenda
The 45-member U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) concluded its annual 10-day session Saturday with several key pronouncements, including on reproductive health, women's rights, sexual violence, female genital mutilation (FGM) and the role of women in implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Women Still Walk Two Steps Behind in Arab World
In much of the Arab world, women's participation in the labour force is the lowest in the world, according to the United Nations, while women in politics are a rare breed both in the Middle East and North Africa.
OP-ED: The Care Imperative
As the debate about a future global development agenda to succeed the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 gathers pace, there is broad agreement that gender equality and women’s empowerment are crucial components.
U.N. Focuses on Faltering Goals: Water, Sanitation, Energy
When the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) reach their deadline in 2015, there will still be a critical setback: millions of people in the developing world without full access to safe drinking water, proper sanitation and electricity in their homes.
Growing Inequality Mars 20 Years of Women’s Progress
As the world moves closer to the 2015 end mark of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a new U.N. report illuminates how far global society has come, but also how far it still must travel to achieve its objectives.
U.N.’s Post-2015 Agenda Needs a Triple Play
As the international community fleshes out a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be unveiled next year, civil society activists and U.N. officials agree their success will hinge on policies that address the nexus of poverty, hunger and environmental degradation.
Small Islands Demand U.N. Protection
Threatened by rising seas, some of the world's small island developing states (SIDS) are demanding that the U.N.'s new set of Sustainable Development Goals place a high priority on the protection of oceans and marine resources.
When Poverty Quietly Morphs into Catastrophe
Wambui Karunyu, 72, and her seven-year-old grandson are the only surviving members of their immediate family. Karunyu’s husband and five children all succumbed to the hardships of living in the semi-arid area of lower Mukurweini district in central Kenya.
Walking an Economic Tightrope with No Safety Net
With the richest one percent of the population now owning 40 percent of global assets, and the bottom half sharing just one percent, inequality is fast being recognised as a stubborn underlying obstacle to development.
Conserve Water or Perish, Warns U.N. Chief
Just 17 years from now, nearly half the global population could be facing water scarcity, with demand outstripping supply by 40 percent.
Q&A: The Eleventh Hour for Climate Justice
Climate justice – the nexus between human rights and climate change – must be a pillar of the post-2015 development agenda, says former Irish president Mary Robinson.
For the Disabled, Progress Unearths More Questions
When U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened a recent high-level meeting on disability and development that promised a place for the issue in the post-2015 agenda, he cited three examples of incapacity.
Disabled Make Do with Scraps from the Aid Table
Amidst the incomprehensible suffering that followed the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, international aid agencies rushed to provide services to the displaced and injured.
Poverty Declines as Inequality Deepens
As world leaders from 193 countries evaluate the successes and failures of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) during high-level meetings and special events here, the United Nations claims that extreme poverty worldwide has been cut in half.
OP-ED: Sustainable Development Goals After 2015
Reducing the proportion of undernourished people by half until 2015 was one of the Millennium Development Goals that the international community set in 2000. It will not be reached: At least 870 million people worldwide – and one child in five – still go hungry; this in a world where we already produce enough food today to feed nine billion people in 2050.
Q&A: Faith Groups as Partners in Development
The United Nations is considered one of the world's most secular institutions, with 193 member states representing peoples of different faiths and cultures and professing religious and agnostic beliefs.« Previous Page — Next Page »
As world leaders look towards a world development agenda beyond 2015, they are faced with unfinished business in poverty eradication, education, gender equality and health. While some countries have made strides towards the Millenium Development Goals and managed to foster equitable growth, a trend of rising inequality within countries continues to accompany economic development. IPS reporting exposes progress and setbacks of the current MDGs and the preparation of a new post-2015 development agenda.
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Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
