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By Reinhard Jacobsen
BRUSSELS (IDN) – To bring "Asia and the Americas into closer bonds of friendship" with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and "strengthen South-South solidarity", Secretary-General Dr. P. I. Gomes is keen to "build bridges with India on technical cooperation" and initiate a "new partnership" with Peru. He was speaking at the 'ACP Day' celebrations.
Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens
GENEVA (IDN) – June 8 has been designated by the United Nations General Assembly as the World Oceans Day to highlight the important role that the United Nations has played in creating the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Nevertheless there are maritime delimitation disputes that are currently dangerous and require good-faith negotiations to prevent increased tensions. World Citizens have played an important role in the Law of the Sea Conference (UNCLOS) negotiations and in the creation of the International Seabed Authority and its Tribunal on maritime deliberation issues.
Viewpoint by Michael Fishbach and Dr Palitha Kohona
"Like elephants on land, whales in their watery domain, have claimed our attention now for roughly the same reasons. Ancient, large and driven to the edge of extinction by human greed, we must double our efforts to conserve them," say the authors of this article. Michael Fishbach is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Great Whale Conservancy. Dr Palitha Kohona spent time in Antarctica in the last Antarctic summer.
Viewpoint by Michael W. Lodge and Vladimir Ryabinin
The following is a joint op-ed by Michael W. Lodge, Secretary-General of International Seabed Authority, and Vladimir Ryabinin, Executive Secretary of IOC-UNESCO.
KINGSTON, Jamaica (IDN) – There has never been a time of greater promise or greater challenge for the future of our oceans. This is the topic on everyone’s minds as the international community gathers in Copenhagen (May 13-15) for the first Global Planning Meeting for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK | PARIS (IDN) – UN biodiversity experts have warned in a hard-hitting report into the impact of humans on nature that "the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide" are being eroded. Current efforts to conserve the earth’s resources will likely fail without radical action, said Sir Robert Watson, chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
By Lowana Veal
REYKJAVIK (IDN) – After five research expeditions in search of capelin, Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (IMFRI) has decided not to recommend a quota for it this year, arguing that global warming is probably responsible for the lack of the fish.
According to Thorsteinn Sigurdsson, head of the Pelagic Division at the institute, capelin (Mallotus villosus) is a cold-water fish and mostly chooses to be at a marine temperature between 1-3°C. “Concomitant with ocean warming north of Iceland before the turn of the century, changes started to appear in the distribution of capelin off Iceland and instead of being spread out to the north of Iceland and the West Fjords, it was mostly found off the east coast of Greenland,” he said.
Viewpoint by Gemma Van Halderen
The writer is Director, Statistics Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). This article appeared as blog on the UNESCAP website on January 2, 2019.
BANGKOK (IDN) – The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set an ambitious agenda of 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 169 global targets and 232 global indicators. But wait, there is more. The indicators are to be disaggregated not by one or two but at least eight different characteristics: income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability and geographic location, or "other". And all "in accordance with the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics" which recognize appropriate and reliable data needs to adhere to certain professional and scientific standards.
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK (IDN) – The concept of sustainable blue economy is gaining momentum, including at the highest levels of decision making, encouraging proponents of the growing movement to believe that humans can use the ocean as a tool for lifting people out of poverty, all the while protecting its valuable ecosystems.
It was not surprising, therefore, that the first-ever Sustainable Blue Economy Conference, held in Kenya in November 2018, brought together thousands of ocean experts and activists to discuss how to sustainably use the ocean, and according to experts, the conference proved to be an important stepping stone towards the next anticipated UN Ocean Conference in 2020.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Six counties in Kenya’s coastal region have been tagged for technical training in the blue economy – what some have called "the new frontier of the African Renaissance". The goal is to enable young people to find jobs in the maritime industry.
Kevit Desai, a Kenyan vocational training principal, says institutions of higher learning must begin to focus on developing skills, nurturing innovations and enterprise creation for this "overlooked opportunity". He suggested a post-Blue Economy Conference workshop to create awareness and enhance community participation in this vision for the future.
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.
