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Photo: COP24 closing plenary meeting in Katowice, Poland.

World's Poorest Look Forward to 2019 Climate Summit at the UN

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK | KATOWICE (IDN) – The year 2018 has been marked by a series of natural disasters underlining that no country is immune to the impacts of climate change. But it is the nearly 1 billion world's poorest people living in the 47 least developed countries (LDCs) that are often hit the hardest, suffer the most, and have the least capacity to cope with the catastrophic consequences, says Ethiopia's Gebru Jember Endalew, Chair of the Least Developed Countries Group.

"While there are parts of the package that could and should have been stronger, the implementation guidelines adopted . . . provide a strong basis to start implementing the Agreement. The next step, of course, is for countries to take urgent, ambitious action to fulfil their Paris Agreement commitments," LDC Group's Chair added.

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 15 December 2018

Photo: Graça Machel at the World Economic Forum on Africa 2010. CC BY-SA 2.0

Africa – Realising The Promise of the Demographic Dividend

Viewpoint by Graça Machel

The author, who writes this piece following the recent publication of the Africa Report on Child Wellbeing and the African Child-Friendliness Index, is the widow of Nelson Mandela and former First Lady of both South Africa and Mozambique. She is Chair of the International Board of Trustees of the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF).

ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – Nelson Mandela famously said “History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children.”

Africa’s rapidly increasing child and youth population is predicted to reach 750 million by 2030 and one billion by 2050, providing a unique window to overcome the challenges that plague Africa or leave us in complete disarray – a choice between a demographic dividend or a burden.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 14 December 2018

'Ugly' Is the New Delicious in Singapore

By Nadia Amirah Binte Kamsani

SINGAPORE (IDN) – As Asian societies become affluent, their modern lifestyles are leading to much wastage in the food chain to satisfy the high standards of hygeine and freshness consumers demand. To combat the issue of higher food wastage in Singapore – one of the most affluent countries in the world – a student-led initiative ‘UglyFood’ has kicked its gears to raise awareness on such food wastage, by selling cold-pressed juices and ice creams made from “ugly-looking produce”.

Food wastage is a growing concern in this small Southeast Asian island state. According to the National Environmental Agency (NEA), the amount of food waste generated in Singapore has increased by about 40 per cent over the past 10 years. Last year, 676,800 tonnes of food waste was discarded, and up to 15 percent of that food is wasted due to cosmetic filtering; discarding produce because they “don’t look pretty” for the market.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 14 December 2018

Photo: Chief Fortune Charumbira. Credit: Brigitte Meuwissen

EU Should Speak Against the Ill-Treatment of Eritreans

Viewpoint by Chief Fortune Charumbira

The author is from Vice President of the Pan African Parliament (PAP), and President of the Chief Council in his home country Zimbabwe He gave an opening speech to the Conference titled 'We the People: Peace in the Horn & the Safety and Future of the Eritrean People' 12-14 December 2018. He noted that the success of the conference has "the potential to transform" the lives of millions of Eritreans "who have been suffering for several years". The EU that preaches the respect for human rights as enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "must be louder in calling for the end of ill treatment of migrants". The following are extensive excerpts from his address.

: Robert Johnson; OPINION; 14 December 2018

Photo: A glimpse of Brussels conference participants. Credit: Eritrea Press

EU Urged to Evacuate Eritreans from Libyan 'Death Camps'

By Ramesh Jaura

BRUSSELS (IDN) – When the Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed signed in July a peace deal after two decades of war and ensuing violent border clashes, "a new era of peace and friendship" was felt to have begun in the Horn of Africa comprising Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

Six months on, African leaders and close observers of the situation in the region, attending the Eritrean diaspora conference in Brussels, have expressed grave concern that "peace and friendship" have yet to dawn on relations between the government in Asmara and Eritreans.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 December 2018

UNDP Welcomes Significant Rise in German Funding

Berlin a 'Launch Partner' to UNDP’s Accelerator Labs in 60 Countries

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has greeted the German government's decision to raise a further 25 percent in funding from its 2019 core resources, which follows a 60 percent increase for 2018. Germany is currently the largest government donor to UNDP.

Germany – which assumes a seat in the UN Security Council on January 1, 2019 as a non-permanent member for 2019-2020 – has also confirmed that it will become a “launch partner” in supporting UNDP’s pioneering and groundbreaking launch in January 2019 of Accelerator Labs in 60 developing countries.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 13 December 2018

Photo credit: Sunrise Movement / @SunriseMvmt. Source: Common Dreams.

Why Green New Deal Advocates Must Address Militarism

Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Alice Slater*

Where is the call for the New Peace Deal that would free up hundreds of billions from the overblown military budget to invest in green infrastructure? ask the authors of this article that first appeared on Common Dreams on 12 December 2018.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – In the spirit of a new year and a new Congress, 2019 may well be our best and last opportunity to steer our ship of state away from the twin planetary perils of environmental chaos and militarism, charting a course towards an earth-affirming 21st century.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 12 December 2018

Photo: High Atlas Foundation works in rural areas of Morocco to target the most marginalized communities. Credit: High Atlas Foundation.

Participatory Development is a Humane Alternative to Migration

Viewpoint by Yossef Ben-Meir and Manon Burbidge

While Yossef Ben-Meir, Ph.D. is a sociologist and President of the High Atlas Foundation, based in Marrakech, Manon Burbidge is a post-graduate studying Human Ecology at Lund University, Sweden and currently interning at the High Atlas Foundation.

MARRAKECH (IDN) – December 2018 is gearing up to be a pivotal month for migration on the world stage, and the epicentre is here, in Marrakech, Morocco, with two high-level fora taking place concerning development and migration.

However, in order for the discussions that take place at such conferences to be impactful on the lives of ordinary people.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; UN INSIDER; 12 December 2018

Photo: The Awood Center is a place for the East African Community to learn, defend our rights at work, and build East African worker power. Credit: Awood Center

East Africans Score Victory for Minneapolis’ Amazon Workers

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Somali women packers for the giant Amazon distribution center in Minneapolis are fired up and refusing to speed up the production line, becoming the first known group to defy Amazon management and bring them to the bargaining table.

“Nobody would assume a Muslim worker with limited language skills in the middle of Minnesota could be a leader in a viable fight against one of the biggest employers in the world and bring them to the table,” said Abdirahman Muse, executive director of Awood, the Somali word for “power.”

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 December 2018

Photo: Entrance to a new boma built by the displaced Maasai. Credit: The Oakland Institute.

Maasai Fight Efforts to Convert Their Lands to Game Parks

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – “The water that quenches our thirst, the air that we breathe, the trees that provide shade and the animals that give us company, all make life real and creation complete.”

So begins a prayer by an elder of the Maasai people of Tanzania whose traditional knowledge encompasses herbal medicine, grazing practices, landscape ecology, the behaviour of animals, livestock management, and the gathering of wild plant foods.

For centuries, Maasai communities lived in harmony within the rich ecosystems of East Africa. But in recent decades, evictions under the banner of “conservation” and “tourism” have been carving out huge chunks of Maasai lands.