|
|
News for a Sustainable World
Published by The Non-profit International Press Syndicate Group
with IDN-InDepthNews as the Flagship Agency
Download Sustainable Development Observer
Dear Reader,
We are pleased to send you Edition 48 | 2021. This weekly is the flagship news product of the Non-Profit International Press Syndicate Group with registered offices in Canada, Germany, Japan and Singapore, and correspondents around the world. Feel free to share and re-publish articles pro bono mentioning the source. Previous editions are available on https://newsletter-archive.indepthnews.net. Your feedback is most welcome.
Kind regards from the Non-Profit
International Press Syndicate
Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne
SYDNEY (IDN) — In the early 1980s when I was studying mass communications in Australia, our journalism lecturer told us that as journalists we will have to hold governments to account, and to do that sometimes we may need to depend on leaks from government officials. “You should not hesitate to use that information, while ensuring that you do not disclose the source,” he instructed us, adding, “if anyone asks you (for the source) tell them it fell off the back of a truck”.
Read More
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — “European Union and NATO allies have swung behind the Biden administration’s assessment that Russia may be poised to invade Ukraine following unprecedented sharing of US intelligence on Moscow’s military preparations”, reported Financial Times on December 6. President Joe Biden in a video link was expected to warn President Vladimir Putin of the consequences of such an invasion. Putin was expected to reply that there can be no consequences for an event that is not going to happen.
Read More
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — A Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) in the West African nation of The Gambia has wrapped up a sweeping three-year public inquiry into the rule of former president Yahya Jammeh, an ex-military man who held the nation in his grip with torture, killings and lootings while holding office.
Some 500 victims and witnesses gave statements to the Commission of the “reign of terror” that characterized life under Jammeh’s despotic rule. In their final report, the Commission said it found that abuses resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Gambians and non-Gambians at the hands of the State or its agents.
Read More
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — A South African court has greenlighted plans by Royal Dutch Shell to do seismic oil exploration in a pristine coastal stretch in an area known as “Wild Coast” in Port Edward over the strenuous objections of local environmentalists.
Oceans Not Oil, which describes itself as the public’s voice against offshore oil and gas development, has been driving the campaign and is the organizer of the silent protest beach walk from Muizenberg beach to Kalk Bay harbour.
Read More
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Harsh criticism continues to be heard from Africans and their leaders against UK and U.S. travel restrictions allegedly to control the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant—now showing up in several U.S. states.
"What is expected is a global approach, not selective," Sarafa Tunji Isola, Nigeria's high commissioner to the UK, told the BBC.
He also echoed comments made by the UN's chief, who described restrictions imposed on some southern African countries as "travel apartheid.”
Read More
By Jaya Ramachandaran
PARIS (IDN) — Ministers and high-level representatives from 55 developed and developing countries have proposed a New Deal for Development and stressed the urgency of bridging the vaccine divide and strengthening financing capacities in developing economies. They have called for greater international support for developing countries on the occasion of the Seventh High-level Meeting of the OECD Development Centre, under the heading “Accelerating a just recovery for all” on December 6.
Read More
Viewpoint by Iria Puyosa
This article was issued by Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.
MICHIGAN, United States (IDN) — In their advance towards Kabul, the Taliban were anticipating their military victory through WhatsApp's voice notes, tweets, and Facebook posts. The Taliban insurgency crafted transmedia storytelling on how Afghan army soldiers were surrendering without much fighting.
Read More
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) — A historic agreement defines the common values and principles needed to ensure the healthy development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). All the member states of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have signed the agreement.
The importance of the agreement signed on November 23 is underlined by the fact that AI is pervasive and enables many of our daily routines—booking flights, steering driverless cars, and personalising our morning news feeds. AI also supports the decision-making of governments and the private sector.
Read More
By Josefa Babitu
Suva (IDN | Wansolwara) — Instead of a safe haven for ships, the famous Suva Bay has become a graveyard for derelict vessels, which pose a major risk to shipping and marine habitat. And there are growing concerns over the impact of derelict vessels on the environment and the safety of ships that sail in.
According to the Clear Seas Centre, a research centre in marine shipping in Canada, abandoned ships can harm tourism and fisheries, damage infrastructure, interfere with navigation and pose safety risks to people.
Read More
By Thalif Deen
NEW YORK (IDN) — A longstanding proposal for a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the politically and militarily volatile Middle East remains elusive. Since 1967, five nuclear-weapon-free zones (NWFZ) have been established worldwide—in Latin America and the Caribbean, South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Africa and Central Asia.
Speaking at the second “UN Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and other Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs),” which took place November 29 to December 3, UN Secretary-General António Guterres pointed out that the five existing zones include 60 per cent of the UN’s 193 Member States—and cover almost all of the Southern Hemisphere.
Read More
By Kalinga Seneviratne
SYDNEY (IDN) — The November 2021 issue of Sustainable Development Observer focuses on Climate Change and the COP26 summit in Glasgow. We look at the debate on methane gas reduction from a farming mythology perspective. Indigenous people have called for a stop to ‘war on nature’ and we look at their perspective on climate change.
Read More
Viewpoint by Andrei Kazantsev & Svetlana Medvedeva*
MOSCOW (IDN) — Russia has fundamental interests in Afghanistan. Three Central Asian countries—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan—are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). As a member of the CSTO, Russia guarantees the security of these three countries and maintains military bases and facilities on their territory.
Read More
Viewpoint by Farooque Chowdhury*
DHAKA (IDN) — Unknown is Afghanistan’s trajectory of developments. None of the players, external and internal, knows the highly-contested land’s flight path. All of the players are unsure of the possible impact of each of the tactical moves being taken by each of them. So, there’re compromises or postures to compromise, and contest—cold and hot.
Already an empire has experienced, as has been admitted, strategic failure in that land. At least one faction in the Empire is telling: War in Afghanistan isn’t over. At least two forces within that landlocked land are getting prepared to carry on their bloody fight while at least one force, faction-ridden, is rifle-ready to counter all counter-forces.
Read More
Viewpoint by Leigh Ann Winowiecki, Research Theme Leader, Soil and Land Health, World Agroforestry (ICRAF)
LONDON (IDN) — A world without healthy soil is a world in which little grows. Yet, for those who live in the roughly 25 to 40 per cent of the Earth’s surface that is degraded, this is what the future could hold.
Healthy soil stands at the centre of all our pressing global challenges and will be crucial in achieving the aims of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, launched in June this year.
Read More
|
|
|