Tread Softly

12/6/2023: A ministerial meeting on UN Peacekeeping has addressed recent challenges, including reputational damage and mistrust, particularly in Africa. Member countries also pledged more women's participation and providing training that would benefit troops.

Source: DW

12/6/2023: The annual assessment of the state of arms and disarmament by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute finds that there are more usable nuclear warheads in military stockpiles in the world than last year. Communication and relations between the main nuclear powers is at its lowest point for decades.

Source: DW

5/6/2023: Rich polluting countries are now three years overdue on their promise to mobilize $100 billion a year in climate finance for low- and middle-income countries. Oxfam's latest report shows that while donors claim to have mobilized $83.3 billion in 2020, the real value of their spending was at most $24.5 billion.

Source: Oxfam International

6/6/2023: A 0.5-meter rise in sea level could force 27-53 million Nigerians to relocate by the end of the century. Developed economies have agreed to set up a loss and damage fund but questions remain over its implementation. Meanwhile the city of Ayetoro is disappearing in rising ocean surges.

Source: African Arguments

6/6/2023:  Debt interest payments for the world’s poorest 28 nations have doubled over the last decade, according to World Bank data. The Bank is calling for creditors from the Group of 20 major economies to offer debt relief to these countries.

Source: Devex

1/6/2023: India is expected to overtake China to become the world’s most populous country sometime in July. However, India's total fertility rate has dropped below the replacement level of 2.1 and population is not the only determinant of environmental problems; it is their consumption pattern that leads to environmental degradation.

Source: Down to Earth

22/5/23: Global military spending reached a record $2.2 trillion in 2022, enough to cover the year’s UN global humanitarian appeal more than 42 times. Across the world, ongoing conflict has been the primary driver in pushing 117 million people in 19 countries to extreme hunger.

Source: Oxfam International

22/5/2023: The Amazon biome has already lost about 20 per cent of its original area, and experts say it is rapidly reaching a "point of no return", pushing it towards becoming a savannah. There are four key elements that could trigger a rapid and systemic transformation for the protection of the Amazon and its peoples.

Source: UN Environment Programme

17/5/2023: Wealthy Group of Seven countries owe low- and middle-income countries $13.3 trillion in unpaid aid and funding for climate action, according to new analysis from Oxfam ahead of the G7 Summit. Despite failing to pay what they owe, G7 countries and their rich bankers are demanding that Global South countries pay $232 million a day in debt repayments.

Source: Oxfam International

16/5/2023: Amnesty International's annual review of the death penalty reveals that a total of 883 people were known to have been executed across 20 countries, marking a rise of 53% over 2021. Saudi Arabia executed 81 people in a single day. 

Source: Amnesty International