Plastic garbage is offloaded from a fishing boat on the east coast of China. Credit: UNEP/Justin Jin At 22 pages, the current draft text contains 32 draft articles which will be discussed in fine detail, according to the UN. The text is designed to shape the future instrument and will serve as a starting…
By Thalif DeenUNITED NATIONS, Aug 12 2025 (IPS) The United Nations, facing a liquidity crisis, has been threatening to lay-off about 20 percent of its estimated 37,000 employees world-wide: a proposed move that has triggered widespread protests from staff unions both in New York and Geneva. But in a new development last week, the Office…
By Jomo Kwame SundaramKUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug 12 2025 (IPS) The accumulation of still growing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in an increasingly unequal world is accelerating planetary heating. It is also worsening disparities, especially between the rich and others, both nationally and internationally. Unequal emissions In our grossly unequal world, international disparities account for two-thirds…
Lionel Ngukusenge (18), a Burundian refugee in Kenya staying at Kakuma refugee camp, has planted 70 trees at his homestead. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS By Jeffrey MoyoKAKUMA, Kenya, Aug 11 2025 (IPS) For 18-year-old Lionel Ngukusenge, a refugee from Burundi, where he was forced into hiding because of a repressive regime, he has found another foe…
Announced by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in March, the UN80 Initiative works along three tracks to increase the world body’s efficiencies, review the implementation of all UN mandates, and consider structural changes and program realignment. If undertaken skillfully, UN80 reforms can reinforce the even more far-reaching actions adopted through the Pact for the Future last…
The first harvest of Amazonian fish from one of the ponds contributing to the food security of indigenous families, using solar energy. The initiative is expected to be replicated in a second phase, reaching more indigenous communities in two provinces of the Peruvian Amazon. Credit: Corpi-SL By Mariela JaraLIMA, Aug 8 2025 (IPS) “Our organization…
Carlos Andres Oliveira Caballero, a youth representative from Bolivia, speaking during the closing plenary of the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries. He said that with support, the youth declaration would usher in a new era for young people in LLDCs. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS By Joyce ChimbiAWAZA, Turkmenistan, Aug 8 2025 (IPS) As…
I recall with nostalgia, my younger years in active journalism in the 80s. This was before Facebook, Instagram and other social media stuff taken for granted by the Gen Z generation. There were also no smartphones to facilitate instant communication between people.Neither were there desktop computers, LinkedIn, Zoom, WhatsApp Apps or remote jobs. Yet, you…
A buoy in a sea of Vladivostok, Russia is tracking movement of waves. Early warning system is vital for effective disaster management. Credit: Unsplash/Ant Rozetsky By Temily Baker, Morgan Schmeising Barnes and Sanjay SrivastavaBANGKOK, Thailand, Aug 8 2025 (IPS) Significant progress has been made globally in implementing national and local disaster risk reduction strategies. Yet,…
“Progress towards gender equality and equity remains uneven and far too slow. One in four women in landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) live in extreme poverty, and this is nearly 75 million women,” said Rabab Fatima, Secretary-General of the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries or LLDC3 ongoing in Awaza, Turkmenistan. Fatima, who is…
