SUSTAINABILITY

Decline in External Finance to Developing Countries Endanger Global Goals

By Krishan Dutta

PARIS (IDN) – "Donor countries have not followed through on their 2015 promise to expand development finance flows," said OECD Development Co-operation Director Jorge Moreira da Silva, launching a landmark report at the Paris Peace Forum.

He was commenting on an important finding of the report that external finance to poor countries is declining, despite a promise by the international community three years ago to increase development finance flows, in particular through private investment.

: Krishan Dutt; SUSTAINABILITY; Global Partnerships; 12 November 2018

Photo: Civil society at the UN General Assembly First Committee, October 2018

Interfaith Statement Pushes for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Faith Communities Concerned about Nuclear Weapons – a group of diverse faith-based organizations and individuals committed to a nuclear-weapon-free world – have called for urgent action for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

"As people of faith, we advocate for the right of all people to live in security and dignity; we seek to heed the commands of conscience and the call to justice; we are united in our determination to protect the vulnerable and to exercise the stewardship that will safeguard Earth for present and future generations," says the group in the public statement submitted in October to the UN General Assembly's First Committee in New York.

: Santo D. Banerjee; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 11 November 2018

Photo: Sri Lanka (Ambassador Azeez on the left) co-chaired the WHO Global Coordination Mechanism for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (GCM/NCD) along with the host country Switzerland. Credit: Sri Lanka Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva.

WHO Determined to Prevent Noncommunicable Diseases

Sri Lanka Co-Chaired Meeting Focuses on Diseases Killing the Poor

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) pose a serious global development challenge. As the year three of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) comes to a close, evidence shows that the international community is not on track to meet a vital goal. This is a disconcerting perspective because NCDs are causing far more deaths and disability than any other group of diseases, according to experts.

: Jamshed Baruah; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 10 November 2018

Graphic: Housing affordability is most problematic in EU cities. Credit: World Bank

'Growing Economic Divides' Trouble Europe

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (IDN) – A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of Growing Economic Divides, which threaten to create tensions not only between the young and the old but also between employers and employees as well as between the low- and high-income earners. At the heart of the growing divides is housing, and these often play out across regions within countries, says a new World Bank report. High-productivity jobs are concentrated in metropolitan regions where housing prices are inflated and rents are high.

: Robert Johnson; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 10 November 2018

Photo: The first migrants from the Aquarius ship arrive at the port of Valencia on an Italian ship, the Dattilo, June 2018. Credit: UNHCR

Migration a Major Issue in EU's Relations with 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific States

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – As the United Nations Global Compact fractures, migration has become a key issue in negotiations between the European Union (EU) and 79 countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) which kicked off in September 2018 to hammer out a successor to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement set to expire in 2020.

The ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, signed in Cotonou, Benin, on June 23, 2000, was concluded for a 20-year period from 2000 to 2020. It is the most comprehensive partnership agreement between developing countries and the EU. In 2010, ACP-EU cooperation was adapted to new challenges such as climate change, food security, regional integration, State fragility and aid effectiveness.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; UN INSIDER; 09 November 2018

Photo: U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power meets Northern Province Governor H. M. G. S. Palihakkara at the Governor's Secretariat in Chundikuli, Jaffna, Sri Lanka on 22 November 2015. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Sri Lanka Needs a Consensus Builder – Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

Viewpoint by H.M.G.S. Palihakkara *

The author is a Sri Lankan civil servant, diplomat and former Governor of Northern Province. This article first appeared in The Island and is being republished in view of its fervent plea for 'building a culture of consensual governance'. – The Editor.

COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) – Many concerned citizens are seen to describe the current state of our Republic as being at a crossroads. It is not difficult to join this conversation, not least because the challenges involved are multiple and touch upon all strata of our national life.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 08 November 2018

Photo: This field visit provided a learning opportunity into two of MLife’s distribution models, micro-entrepreneurs and enterprise associations. Mlife has been in partnership with the Zambia Federation of Associations of Women in Business (ZFAWIB) to provide low-cost funeral insurance services since 2016. Credit: Munich Re Foundation

Insurance Essential for Sustainable Development – But Billions Still Losing Out

By Kwame Buist

LUSAKA, Zambia (IDN) – Billions of uninsured individuals, families and small businesses are exposed to risks which can result in catastrophic losses, delegates to the 14th International Microinsurance Conference (IMC) on ‘Inclusive Insurance for Emerging Markets’ in Lusaka were told.

Despite encouraging signs of increased insurance cover uptake in some markets, climate change and extreme weather events are exposing the poorest and most vulnerable to risk as never before.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 November 2018

Photo: Participants in the opening session. Credit: Global Forum on Human Settlements.

Global Forum on Human Settlements Calls for Urban Innovation

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK | BANGKOK (IDN) – The Global Forum on Human Settlements (GFHS) 2018 has called for greater efforts to speed up the transition to green growth through developing a circular economy, scaling-up financing for sustainable urban infrastructure, sustainably managing urban water, applying innovative technologies for smart cities, building enhanced partnership and creating international green model cities.

GFHS enjoys a special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

: Asia Editor; UN INSIDER; 06 November 2018

Photo: Kazakh peace troops getting ready for UN mission in Lebanon. Credit: Kazakh Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.

Kazakhstan Becomes the First Central Asian Country to Join UN Peacekeeping

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – For the first time in the history of Central Asia, a peacekeeping contingent from the Republic of Kazakhstan is participating in a UN peacekeeping operation. 120 Kazakh peacekeepers have arrived in Lebanon to participate in the mission of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The peacekeeping operation will continue for 18 months.

The arrival of the Kazakh troops on October 31 brings the current number of the UNIFIL's total military strength to some 10,600 men and women from 42 countries.

: Santo D. Banerjee; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 05 November 2018

Photo: SIDS meeting in Apia, Samoa. Credit: UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.

Small Island Developing States Reiterate Commitment to Sustainable Development

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Confronted with the increased effects of climate change, natural disasters, and the outsized impacts of global economic shocks on small economies, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have resolved to strengthen their efforts to achieve sustainable development.

The 'Apia Outcome' – adopted at the conclusion of a three-day meeting that ended on November 1 in Apia, Samoa – will serve as the basis for the preparation of the inter-governmentally agreed Political Declaration of the High-level SIDS Midterm Review of the SAMOA Pathway, to be held in September 2019.