UN Environment Assembly reaffirms collaborative action for the planet
1/3/2024: The recently concluded sixth UN Environment Assembly aimed to boost multilateral efforts to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature loss and pollution. Debates highlighted the historic role of multilateral environmental agreements in addressing the world’s most pressing environmental issues.
Source: UN Environment Programme
People displaced across the Americas to testify on the climate crisis
29/2/2024: The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will take evidence from the frontline of the climate emergency in Mexico, Honduras, the Bahamas and Colombia, as part of a special hearing in Washington sought by regional human rights groups.
Source: The Guardian
Joint NGOs call on UN to urge a ceasefire in Gaza
29/2/2024: Leading non-governmental humanitarian agencies have appealed to the UN to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. This move followed a stark warning given to the UN Security Council that at least 576,000 people in the Gaza Strip are facing famine-like conditions.
Source: Oxfam International
Climate Migration report focuses on the Middle East and North Africa
28/2/2024: A new report from the human rights group EuroMed Rights highlights the growing impact of climate change on human migration patterns in the Middle East, North Africa, and wider Euro-Mediterranean region. Data shows that extreme weather events spur over three times more displacement than armed conflicts.
Source: Morocco World News
UN calls for teachers to be prioritized to transform education
27/2/2024: A panel set up following the 2022 UN Transforming Education Summit has made recommendations for governments to invest in education and offer teachers competitive salaries. New data estimates that countries must recruit an additional 44 million primary and secondary school educators by 2030, including 15 million in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Source: Devex
Somalia-Turkey pact inflames maritime spat with Ethiopia
26/2/2024: The recent Turkey-Somalia defence and economic cooperation agreement comes amid growing frustration over Ethiopia's maritime deal with Somaliland. The future of maritime security in the Horn of Africa rests on the delicate balance between safeguarding legitimate interests and respecting territorial integrity.
Source: DW
The World Social Forum: counterweight to the World Economic Forum
23/2/2024: The 2024 annual meeting of the World Social Forum has been held in Nepal, attended by fifty thousand participants from over 90 countries, exchanging strategies to address the multiple global crises, from climate catastrophes to unfettered capitalism, inequality, social injustice, wars and conflict.
Source: Inter Press Service
Rethink the way we grow food
22/2/2024: There is something fundamentally broken in the world’s agricultural system when you see images of rich European farmers and their poorer counterparts in India straddling tractors to block highways to make their anger heard. Producing cheap food without damaging the environment and without generous subsidies is proving too challenging.
Source: DownToEarth
As conflicts spiral, five ideas to bolster the UN’s peace commission
21/2/2024: The UN Peacebuilding Commission is a small agency working with conflict-affected countries to map out solutions to secure sustainable peace. It operates separately from peacekeeping missions, which are mandated by the Security Council. The Commission could play a part in any moves to strengthen the UN peacebuilding architecture.
Source: The New Humanitarian
Countries draw battle lines for talks on 2025 climate finance goal
20/2/2024: UN climate negotiators are currently staring at a long list of options and no agreed details for a new global climate finance goal that is due to kick in from 2025. The current annual $100-billion pledge had no basis in science and lacked any rules on what activities could be counted.
Source: Climate Home News