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Photo: Tackling vulnerabilities, building resilience. Credit: UNCTAD.

UN Calls for A Global Green New Deal and Radical Reforms

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – In a bold move, new UN report has proposed a series of reform measures to make debt, capital and banks work for development and finance a Global Green New Deal generating a net increase in global employment of at least 170 million jobs, with cleaner industrialization in the South and an overall reduction in carbon emissions by the target year of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“We can meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, but only if we find the political will to change the rules of the international economic game and adopt policies that scale up the resources needed for a big investment push led by the public sector and set the global economy on an expansionary course, says UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report 2019.

: Jaya Ramachandran; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 27 September 2019

Collage of photos of Brigadier General Mike Nicholas Sango, Zimbabwean Ambassador to Russia against the backdrop of the Zimbabwe Embassy in Moscow. INPS-IDN.

Russia Making Further Inroads into Zimbabwe

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – Russia maintains very friendly relations with Zimbabwe, thanks to ties which evolved during the struggle for independence. Since then, it has had a very strong mutual sympathy with and friendly feelings toward the southern African people, government and country.

One of the fora in which relations between the two countries are discussed is the Russia-Zimbabwe Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Trade and Science and Technical Cooperation.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 27 September 2019

Photo: Ayurveda spas are common in Sri Lanka, and some functions as home-based income generating activity. CC BY 4.0

Ayurveda Could Provide Affordable ‘Health for All’

Viewpoint by Manish Uprety*

NEW DELHI (IDN) – The quest for a healthy life has been an eternal one. In 1978 Alma-Ata Declaration expressed the need for urgent action by all governments, health and development workers, and the world community to protect and promote the health of all people.

The World Health Organization (WHO) launched its "Health For All" campaign and defined Health for All as the attainment by all peoples of the world by the year 2000 of a level of health that will permit them to lead a socially and economically productive life. However, almost two decades later, this goal still eludes many, especially in the developing countries.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 26 September 2019

We Have a Long Way to Go Battling Climate Change, Laments UN Chief

By Shanta Roy

NEW YORK (IDN) – The much-publicized Climate Action Summit, hosted by the United Nations on September 23, took off on a not-so-positive note even though it was billed as a high-level meeting of world political leaders.

Despite dire warnings from UN Secretary-General António Guterres of an impending “climate emergency” – with hurricanes, droughts, floods and heat waves in the far horizon – only 64 speakers, mostly heads of government and heads of state, turned up for the summit.

: Shanta Roy; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 26 September 2019

ACP Ministers of Culture Meet in Niger to ‘Strengthen and Diversify Partnerships’

BRUSSELS (ACP Press) – Cultural Ministers throughout the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States will meet at the Palais des Congrès in Niamey, Niger from October 19 to 20 for the 5th Meeting of ACP Ministers of Culture. The Ministerial meeting will be preceded by a two-day preparatory technical meeting of ACP Senior Officials in charge of Culture.

The main theme of the meeting will be Strengthening and Diversifying Partnerships for ACP Cultures. The meetings will help to assess the implementation of the commitments made by ACP Ministers in Brussels in 2017 and to reach a strong ACP Group position on culture's contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 25 September 2019

Collage with images from SDGs, ACP and EU websites. Credit: INPS-IDN.

ACP, EU Point to Crucial Linkages Between Sustainable Development and Climate Action

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – More than half of the UN members have issued a joint declaration in support of the 2030 Agenda, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) endorsed by the international community in September 2015, and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change adopted three months later.

The joint declaration by the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union (EU) carries significant weight in terms of demonstrating a commitment to Agenda 2030 by countries which together account for over 1.5 billion people, one-fifth of the global population.

: J Nastranis; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 25 September 2019

Image credit: Transparency International

Corruption a Cause for Citizen Concern in Latin America and the Caribbean

By Kwame Buist

BERLIN (IDN) – In the last five years, momentum has been building against corruption in Latin America and the Caribbean. High-level politicians have been found guilty of corruption in Guatemala and Brazil, and a wave of legal action against the perpetrators of grand corruption has swept across the continent, including the Lava Jato – or “Operation Car Wash” – investigation in Brazil.

However, most of the region’s citizens think their governments are not doing enough to tackle corruption and that corruption levels have increased in the past 12 months across the region.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 25 September 2019

Photo: Screenshot of joint ACP-EU press conference on 23 September at the UN. From left to right: Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica; Neven Mimica, European Union Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development; Mamadou Tangara, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Gambia; Patrick I. Gomes, Secretary General of the ACP Group of States. Source: UN Web TV

EU Joins 79 ACP States in Calling for ‘Bold Decisions’ to Achieve SDGs

By J. Tuyet Nguyen

NEW YORK (IDN) – Governments from Africa, Caribbean, Pacific and the European Union issued on September 24 a joint declaration calling for “bold decisions” to implement the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change agreements, saying that the two programs are closely linked.

“Recognizing that the linkages between sustainable development and climate action, we reiterate our strong commitment to implement the Paris Agreement on Climate Change fully and effectively,” the groups said in a Joint Declaration issued in New York.

: UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 24 September 2019

Photo: Local residents in Kaliningrad at "Immortal regiment", carrying portraits of their ancestors who fought in World War II, on Victory Day in Kaliningrad, 9 May 2017. CC BY-SA 4.0

Military Confrontation with Russia in Kaliningrad Is Dangerous

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – “What idiocy”, exclaims Jack Matlock on Facebook. Matlock is one of my “Facebook Friends” because I judge his knowledge of Russia as second to none, having been under President Ronald Reagan the White House’s senior advisor on the Soviet Union and, later, his ambassador to Moscow.

The object of his ire is based on a Newsday article earlier this month. (The Russian, nation-wide, NTV channel carried the same story in a broadcast on September 23.)

: Jonathan Power; THE WORLD; Russia; 24 September 2019

UN Reviews the SAMOA Pathway for Most Vulnerable Countries

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Progress made in addressing the priorities of the highly vulnerable small island developing States (SIDS) will draw the focus of the United Nations General Assembly when it conducts a high-level review of the SAMOA Pathway on September 27 as part of the ACTION FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET that kicked off a week earlier at the UN headquarters.

Fifty two countries and territories are presently classified as SIDS by the UN OHRLLS (UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States). 38 are UN members and 14 are non-UN Members or Associate Members of the Regional Commissions.