War in Ukraine is morally unacceptable and politically indefensible
31/3/2022: In an address to the 49th session of the Human Rights Council, Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, calls for the hostilities to stop, without delay.
Source: Inter Press Service
US backs away from Green Climate Fund obligations
29/3/2022: The Director of the Green Climate Fund has warned that the pipeline of carbon-cutting projects in developing countries is at risk. President Biden had requested Congress to approve $1.25bn for the Green Climate Fund but negotiations brought the amount down to zero.
Source: Climate Home News
US declares violence against the Rohingya was genocide
28/3/2022: The US decision has came more than four years after 730,000 Rohingya from Myanmar were forced to flee. It’s unclear what action the US may now take, though it has been outspoken about its opposition to the military coup that occurred last year.
Source: Devex
Donors must rethink Africa’s flagging green revolution
23/3/2022: A scathing new analysis of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) finds that the program is failing in its objective to increase food security on the continent, despite massive funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the US, UK, and German governments.
Source: Inter Press Service
War in Syria: eleven years of carnage
22/3/2022: The latest UN Human Rights Council report on the Syrian conflict estimates the poverty rate to be an unprecedented 90 percent, with 14.6 million people dependent on humanitarian aid. More than half of the pre-war population of 22 million has been displaced. More than 100,000 are missing or forcibly disappeared.
Source: Inter Press Service
NGOs seek a summit on financing for development
23/3/2022: Twenty years ago, world leaders adopted the UN’s Monterrey Consensus, with commitments to financing for development of an equitable global economic system. The hard lessons that led to the Monterrey Consensus are still very valid, namely that non-inclusive decision-making leads to an unfair global economic system and never-ending political power struggles between countries.
Source: Inter Press Service
UN talks fail to finalize a treaty to manage the high seas
21/3/2022: UN member states have failed to reach consensus on several key points of a treaty governing the high seas, including how to establish marine protected areas. This was the last of four diplomatic sessions planned since 2017. There is now pressure to complete a treaty in 2022.
Source: Mongabay
Amazon deforestation map shows devastating impact of ranching
22/3/2022: Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project has found that forest loss in 2021 was mostly the result of cattle ranching and other agricultural activities. Most of the deforestation took place in Brazil and Bolivia.
Source: Mongabay
UN report looks underfoot, to solve global water crises
21/3/2022: While groundwater accounts for 99 per cent of all running freshwater on Earth, it is often undervalued, mismanaged, and overexploited, according to a new report by UNESCO. Water use is projected to grow by roughly one per cent annually over the next 30 years, and dependency on groundwater is expected to rise.
Source: UN News
Human rights in Myanmar face profound crisis
21/3/2022: UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet has told the Human Rights Council that Myanmar's humanitarian crisis continues to expand, as systematic brutality by security forces has inflamed pre-existing armed conflicts in multiple ethnic states.
Source: UN News