SUSTAINABILITY

The Climate Crisis Cannot Be Solved by Capitalism

To Fulfil the Paris Agreement, Germany’s Climate Policies Need to Look Beyond Market-Based Strategies

Viewpoint by Kai Niebert*

ZURICH (IDN-INPS) – It’s time to get tough – that’s how Chancellor Angela Merkel set the tone for Germany’s climate policies in 2019. But the question remains: will the federal government manage to reduce emissions in line with its international obligations and help to end the climate crisis?

Warnings from government figures are coming thick and fast: Merkel calls the climate crisis a ‘challenge to humanity’, Vice-chancellor Olaf Scholz calls for ‘forceful steps’, and the Bavarian MP and environmental convert Markus Söder describes inadequate climate protection as ‘a sin’.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 01 October 2019

Photo: Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters on 28 July 2019. CC BY 2.0

The Roots of Hong Kong’s Crisis

By Henry Huang*

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) – Hong Kong, the pearl of the East, yet lives in such a turmoil. The ongoing political crisis and massive protest have drawn a large amount of international concern and attention. There are multiple explanations of what has happened in Hong Kong. Some may say it is for a “wider demands for democratic reform.”^[1] On the mainland side, some may argue, “‘The demonstrations in Hong Kong are not about rights or democracy. They are a result of foreign interference.’”^[2]

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 30 September 2019

Image credit: World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.

Nobel Peace Laureates Call for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Ten Nobel Peace Laureates and 30 organisations bestowed that honour have expressed profound concern that 74 years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons “continue to pose an existential threat to humankind”, reiterated the warning of “the catastrophic consequences of nuclear war”, and accentuated the need to strengthen basic freedoms.

: J Nastranis; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 September 2019

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres (fourth from left) and Tijjani Muhammad-Bande (left), President of the seventy-fourth session of the General Assembly, attend the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas. 26 September 2019.

UN Chief Warns of Nuclear Disarmament Going Reverse

By Shanta Roy

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the United Nations commemorated its annual International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons September 26, Secretary-General António Guterres underlined two political realities facing the world community.

Firstly, not only has progress on nuclear disarmament come to a halt, but “it is going in reverse,” he warned. Secondly, relations between nuclear-armed States are mired in mistrust while dangerous rhetoric about the utility of nuclear weapons is on the rise, he noted.

: Shanta Roy; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 29 September 2019

Photo: Group photo at the signature and ratification ceremony of the treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Credit: UN.

12 States Join the Nuclear Ban Treaty at Signature Ceremony

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN | UNODA) – For the second year in a row, the “core group” of States supporting the Treaty for Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) convened a signature and ratification ceremony on the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, September 26.

At the ceremony, Botswana, Dominica, Grenada, Lesotho, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Tanzania and Zambia signed the Treaty; Bangladesh, Kiribati and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic deposited their instruments of ratification. Maldives and Trinidad and Tobago both signed and ratified.

: Santo D. Banerjee; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 29 September 2019

Photo: Opening Ceremony of Annual Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Group of 77. A wide view of the room as Secretary-General António Guterres (on screen) addresses the forty-third annual meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Group of 77. 27 September 2019. United Nations, New York. Credit: UN Photo/Kim Haughton

Concern About UN’s Smooth Functioning but Kudos for ‘G-77’

Viewpoint by António Guterres

Following are extensive excerpts from UN Secretary-General’ remarks to the opening ceremony of the forty-third annual meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the 134-nation Group of 77 developing countries and China, in New York on 27 September 2019.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Group of 77 and China are on the frontlines of multilateralism and of support for a strong United Nations, consistent with your founding principles. I thank the State of Palestine for its effective Presidency of the Group.

: UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; The Group of 77; 28 September 2019

White Paper Expounds China’s Relationship with The World

By Globaltimes.cn

BEIJING (IDN-INPS) – The State Council Information Office issued a white paper titled "China and the World in the New Era“ on 27 September. This is the first governmental white paper that has comprehensively expounded the relationship between China and the world. The white paper focuses on China's international outlook, its development objectives and the role it plays with a purpose to increase the international community's understanding on China's development.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 28 September 2019

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

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.