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Photo: Cover of ‘The Disaster Riskscape Across Asia-Pacific: Pathways for resilience, inclusion and empowerment’. Credit: ESCAP

Asia-Pacific Faces a Daunting Spectrum of Natural Hazards

New UN Report Warns of Huge Economic Losses

By Devinder Kumar

NEW DELHI | BANGKOK (IDN) – Vulnerable and marginalized communities are among the hardest hit by natural disasters that occurred in a relentless sequence in Asia and the Pacific in the past two years, beyond what the region had previously experienced or was able to predict. This, according to the latest report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), is “a sign of things to come in the new climate reality” where economic losses are set to quadruple.

: Devinder Kumar; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 23 August 2019

Photo: Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru addressing a mass audience. Source: IISG/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

How the Kashmir Debate in India Is Being Fuelled by Falsehoods

Viewpoint by A.G. Noorani

India’s Union Home Minister Amit Shah claims that if it wasn't for the country’s first prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir would have been in India’s possession. The truth is, if Kashmir is a part of India, it is almost entirely because of Nehru, writes A. G. Noorani, an Indian lawyer, constitutional expert and political commentator. This article first appeared in The Wire on 9 August 2019.

MUMBAI (IDN-INPS) – The Sangh parivar’s hatred of Jawaharlal Nehru is perfectly understandable. At the time of the Partition of India, he stood by Gandhi and bravely fought back the rising surge of hate fostered by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS supremo, M.S. Golwalkar’s plans to exterminate Muslims were detected, as the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Rajeshwar Dayal revealed in his memoir A Life in Our Time.

: Suresh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 23 August 2019

Image credit: Cambridge Science Festival.

Artificial Intelligence Offers Benefits for Africa

By Hugo Bourhis *

NEW YORK (IDN | Africa Renewal) – When some people think of artificial intelligence (AI), they think of humanoid robots turning against their creators in an apocalyptic science fiction movie. In reality, AI is already playing an increasing role in many existing and evolving technologies, from driverless cars to translation software, virtual assistance devices and monitoring agriculture and biodiversity.

Satellite images provided by AI can assist policymakers in finding solutions to problems of hunger, drought and climate change, to name only a few.

: Africa Renewal; THE WORLD; Africa; 22 August 2019

Photo: The U.S. Defense Department conducted a flight test of a conventionally configured ground-launched cruise missile at San Nicolas Island, California on August 18, 2019. Credit: Scott Howe | DVIDS – The Defense Visual Information Distribution Service.

Nuclear Arms Race Is Here

By Jessica Corbett *

MAINE, USA (IDN) – Nuclear experts and disarmament advocates are warning that the world is witnessing a new arms race after the Pentagon tested a new missile August 18 that would have violated a Cold War-era treaty the Trump administration ditched earlier this month.

After years of the U.S. government—under both the Obama and Trump administrations—and NATO accusing Russia of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed in 1987 by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Washington formally withdrew from the deal, which banned ground-launched nuclear and conventional ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,000 kilometers, or about 310 to 3,400 miles.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 22 August 2019

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres launched Youth 2030, the United Nations Youth Strategy, at a high-level Event held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, 24 September 2018. Credit: Mark Garten/UN Photo

Educating Youth for Achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

By Jayathma Wickramanayake

The writer is UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth. Following are extensive excerpts from her article in July 2019 issue of the UN Chronicle. The views expressed do not necessarily imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – At the end of May this year, I visited the Gaza Strip for the first time in my life. I was there to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) with their work on advocacy, policy influencing and resource mobilization. While visiting a school, I met two young people, Deema and Kareem, who were kind enough to show me around. Deema, Kareem and their friends dream of becoming teachers, doctors or engineers.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 22 August 2019

Photo: Code Pink anti-war activists protest U.S. Senators supporting Saudi-U.S. arms deals, December 2017. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0

UN Forced to Close Down Life-Saving Aid Operations in Yemen

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – Because money pledged by Member States has “failed to materialize”, the United Nations is being forced to cease several relief operations in Yemen, which is embroiled in the worst humanitarian crisis triggered by a long-drawn conflict.

“All of us are ashamed by the situation,” Lise Grande, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, said on August 21. “It’s heart-breaking to look a family in the eye and say we have no money to help.” She added: “We are desperate for the funds that were promised. When money doesn’t come, people die.”

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 21 August 2019

Photo: Offshore wind turbines. Credit: UN

‘Green Tickets’ for First Ever UN Youth Climate Summit

UN Chief Urges Young People Worldwide to Join Online and in Local Communities

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – In an obvious expression of support for the ‘FridaysforFuture’ movement, whose initiator Greta Thunberg is sailing to New York, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is keen to mobilize youth for what he has termed “the defining issue of our time”. One hundred outstanding young climate champions chosen from around the world will receive support to participate in the first-ever UN Youth Climate Summit on September 21 at the UN Headquarters in New York.

: Santo D. Banerjee; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 21 August 2019

Collage of photos of Sierra Leone's octahedral diamond crystal and chromite – from Wikimedia Commons.

Diamonds Leave Sierra Leone Villagers Poor and Sick

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Since the first diamonds were found in the 1930s, the villagers of Kono, in the eastern region of Sierra Leone, have seen the wealth under their feet make others rich. Instead of joy, the shiny stones have left a trail of contaminated water, pockmarked mud brick houses, and countless other indignities.

Adi Kalie Bangura, a traditional healer, showed a reporter the black welts that dot his arms and legs as a result of drinking and bathing in poisoned water.

Sierra Leone is one of Africa’s leading diamond producers by value.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 August 2019

Photo: 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition law protest on 16 June, captured by Studio Incendo from Flickr. CC BY 2.0

In Hong Kong the Two Sides Must Meet Each Other Half Way

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – In 1995 in a little remembered event Li Ruthuan, a member of the Chinese Politiburo (containing the top seven in the government), made a speech likening the Chinese take-over of Hong Kong to the case of a lady who had agreed to sell a 100-year-old Yi-Xiang teapot that was famous for the taste of the tea it poured.

Unbeknown to her, its quality derived from the residue that had accumulated on the inside of the pot. In her eagerness to prepare the pot for sale she cleaned and polished it. When the purchaser came to try using the pot the tea was dreadful and he demanded his money back.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 20 August 2019

Photo: UN AIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima. Credit. UNAIDS

New UNAIDS Chief Winnie Byanyima Has an Ambitious Target

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – “The end of AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 is a goal that is within the world’s reach, but I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge ahead,” says Winnie Byanyima, the new Executive Director of UNAIDS. Working with all UNAIDS partners, she will continue to speak up for the people left behind and champion human rights as the only way to end the epidemic.

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, appointed Byanyima as the UNAIDS head and UN Under-Secretary-General “following a comprehensive selection process” that involved a search committee constituted by members of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board. The UNAIDS Committee of Cosponsoring Organizations made the final recommendation on the appointment to the Secretary-General.