Aid Groups Warn of Humanitarian Crisis from Turkey’s Assault on Syria
James Reinl
Aid groups operating in northeastern Syria have been raising the alarm about civilian casualties and an impending humanitarian crisis this week, as Turkey began a military assault on the turbulent region’s Kurdish militants. Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other … MORE > >
UN’s Cash Crisis Can Have Serious Consequences, Staff Unions Warn
Thalif Deen
The UN’s smoldering cash crisis, which has threatened staff salaries and payments to vendors, has triggered strong reactions and rattled the over 6,400 staffers who work in the 39-storeyed Secretariat building in New York. The proposed cuts in spending, which also cover about 37,500 UN … MORE > >
“Window of Opportunity to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change is Fast Shrinking”
Stella Paul
“The window of opportunity to avoid catastrophic climate change is fast shrinking,” executive director of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Yannick Glemarec, tells IPS. He was speaking at the GCF Private Investment for Climate (GPIC) Conference, which took place in Incheon, South Korea, from Oct. 7 … MORE > >
The Most Important Meeting You’ve Never Heard Of — & the Grand Challenge on Inequality
Ben Phillips
Last month 195 world leaders once again met in New York for big speeches and grand events. But on inequality, when all is said and done, more has been said than done. Four years after governments across the world committed to fight inequality as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, … MORE > >
UN Women Ambassadors Rise to New Heights But Fall Short of Gender Parity
Thalif Deen
New York’s diplomatic community has continued to be enriched by a record number of women Permanent Representatives (PRUNs)—50 in all, as of October 2 – compared with about 15 to 20 back in the 1980s and early 1990s. But the history-making number is still short of gender parity, falling far … MORE > >
Global Climate Change Investment Heavily Tilted Towards Mitigation and Low on Adaptation
Stella Paul
Good news: the graph depicting climate investments has been steadily increasing. Climbing from the 2012 figure of 0 billion in climate investments across the world to close to 0 billion currently. But despite the upward trend, its not even halfway to the trillion needed each year till … MORE > >
Hollywood and Business Luminaries Spotlight World’s ‘Stateless’ Woes
James Reinl
Movie star Cate Blanchett and businessman Richard Branson spoke up this week for the millions of people around the world who cannot get passports and other papers because they lack an official nationality. The United Nations says the problem — known as “statelessness” — is getting worse, as a … MORE > >
Africa’s Mineral Wealth May Just have to Stay in the Ground to Protect a Changing Climate
Busani Bafana
As a result of climate change, resource extraction industries in Africa will be impacted by asset stranding, researchers say. “Stranding implies that several natural assets are going to become commercially unviable around the world as a result of climate change and the inability of countries to … MORE > >
South Sudan’s Authorities Allow Serious Human Rights Abuses to Flourish and go Unpunished – Report
Maged Srour
Human rights movement Amnesty International has accused South Sudanese authorities for lack of independence as they have allowed allowing human rights abuses, war crimes and crimes against humanity to go unpunished. In a report released today, Oct. 7, Amnesty noted that despite investigation … MORE > >
Brief Reflection on Trump’s Impeachment
Roberto Savio
It is very likely that the idea of impeaching Donald Trump will be a boomerang. Trump fans are listening to a furious campaign which smacks of coup d’etat and call his accusers traitors who deserve to go to jail. In the first three hours after the announcement of the Speaker of the House of … MORE > >
Q&A: Holistic Land Management – Only a Movement can Prevent Desertification
Busani Bafana
Desertification is not cheap. It has social, cultural, environmental and of course economic costs to reverse what it destroys. According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) the scourge of desertification is costing the global economy up to 15 trillion dollars … MORE > >