'If we cannot decouple economic growth from emissions, we are doomed'
29/1/2021: We need to address the cost of economic development to the environment, societies and our health when measuring human progress, says Achim Steiner, head of the UN Development Program.
Source: DW
Despite a decade of zero-deforestation vows, forest loss continues
13/6/2019: A 2010 resolution by 400 of the world’s largest companies to achieve zero net deforestation by 2020 is nowhere near on track, according to a Greenpeace report.
Source: Mongabay
Biden acts to undo Trump damage to women’s health
28/1/2021: President Joe Biden has issued a presidential memorandum that addresses four regressive policies of the past administration. In particular, it revokes the Protecting Life in Global Health Policy, also known as the “Global Gag Rule.”
Source: Human Rights Watch
Has water as a human right moved from a resolution to reality?
28/7/2020: Ten years on since the UN General Assembly officially recognized the human right to water and sanitation, 1 in 10 people — 785 million in all — still lack access to clean water close to home. One in 4 people, or 2 billion in total, do not have a decent toilet of their own.
Source: Devex
Water-related violence rises globally in past decade
31/12/2019: Recorded incidents of water-related violence have more than doubled in the past 10 years, as water shortages and extreme weather create tension, especially in Middle East and India.
Source: The Guardian
Population panic lets rich people off the hook for the climate crisis
26/7/2020: Rising consumption by the affluent has a far greater environmental impact than the birth rate in poorer nations, says George Monbiot.
Source: The Guardian
Declaring a double emergency
2/1/2021: We are in the middle of a biodiversity and climate change emergency – and the two are inextricably linked. Climate change is driving nature’s decline, and the loss of wildlife and wild places leaves us ill equipped to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to change.
Source: Centre for Alternative Technology
Nobel Prize for the World Food Programme
9/10/2020: This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the UN World Food Programme. A surprising choice but the Norwegian Nobel Committee has underlined the importance of global cooperation.
Source: DW
Agro-ecology risks harming the poor and worsening gender inequality in Africa
30/7/2020: In recent years, agro-ecology has come to be seen as a virtual panacea in sub-Saharan Africa. Now an analysis of conservation agriculture experiments in Africa threatens to completely up-end this dominant paradigm.
Source: Cornell Alliance for Science
The Case for a Real Restructuring of Global Ag-Research Centres
22/7/2020: A group of experts comments on proposals to merge the CGIAR’s 15 legally-independent centres, headquartered in 15 countries, into one legal entity. The impetus has come from some of its biggest funders, notably the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, and the US and UK governments.
Source: Inter Press Service