Is China's pledge to cut overseas coal funding a game-changer?
22/9/2021: China's pledge to stop funding overseas coal has been welcomed - but the world's top polluter has not set out a timetable. Other questions remain, not least why private banks and institutional investors from Japan, the US and the UK bankroll so many coal projects in the developing world.
Source: CNA
UN report calls for repurposing of agricultural subsidies
14/9/2021: A new UN report finds that 87% of annual government farm subsidies totalling $540 billion includes measures that are both price distorting and harmful to nature and health. Reform of support for the agricultural sector will benefit our planet.
Source: UN Environment Programme
The future of international cooperation
10/9/2021: The UN Secretary-General has released Our Common Agenda, a landmark report setting out his vision of a new era for multilateralism, in which countries work together to solve global problems, with the UN universally recognized as a trusted platform for collaboration. He recommends a Summit of the Future to forge a new global consensus.
Source: UN News
The 'war on terror' and the consequences for the world
10/9/2021: Twenty years ago terrorists challenged the world's only remaining superpower. In response, the United States declared a "war on terror." The world continues to struggle with the consequences.
Source: DW
Making the case for CEDAW ratification by the United States
7/9/2021: The US is one of only a handful of countries that has yet to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in common with Sudan, Somalia, Iran, Tonga, and Palau. There are good reasons why the Biden administration should rally bipartisan support to ratify CEDAW to advance the human rights of women around the world.
Source: Inter Press Service
More than 4 billion people still lack any social protection
1/9/2021: A new report by the International Labour Organization finds that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the social protection gap between countries with high and low income levels. Currently, only 47 per cent of the global population are covered by at least one social protection benefit. The rate in Africa is 17 per cent.
Source: International Labour Organization
Prospects for social protection as global poverty rises
31/8/2021: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased number of social safety net measures to assist low income families. Whilst many of these programmes are temporary, the lessons learned may boost prospects for deployment of this policy in eradicating global poverty and hunger by 2030.
Source: Inter Press Service
UN Refugee Agency contemplates rights for climate migrants
1/8/2021: Evidence has emerged that the UN Refugee Agency is considering whether international refugee law might apply to climate migrants. Such a shift would open the door to unprecedented legal protections for people uprooted from their home countries due to climate change.
Source: PassBlue
Rival visions compete as UN gears up for summit to defeat hunger
26/7/2021: Debate is heating up on whether the famines of tomorrow will best be prevented by intensive production – driven by technology – or by smaller-scale, eco-friendly practices. Many activists and farmers’ groups are boycotting preparations for September’s first-ever UN Food Systems Summit.
Source: The New Humanitarian
Sustainable Development Goals were struggling before Covid-19
30/7/2021: Two international development experts argue that the UN's Sustainable Development Goals were over-ambitious from the start. Poor progress towards 2030 targets should not be blamed entirely on Covid-19.
Source: Inter Press Service