At no point in time did the issue of fast degrading terrestrial ecosystems receive such an attention than from the latter half of the twentieth century. And it continues to be high on the agenda at various national, regional and global forums. It has come about by the fast deteriorating terrestrial ecosystem attributed to human activities giving way to climate change, land degradation, desertification, and biodiversity loss, consequently impinging human life and larger ecosystem. Continue reading →
Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right – and paramount to any democracy. For centuries people have died for the right to speak their minds. Today, those who enjoy it tend to forget their freedom is by no means self-evident. Why people – despite history – still have to fight for it.Continue reading →
Goal 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals was to ‘take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts’. Climate change encompasses within it global warming, which is mainly a surface temperature increase phenomenon, as well as the other changes that are caused by increasing greenhouse gases. The causes of climate change vary from solar irradiation to human activities.
Statements which describe the importance of achieving sustainable consumption and production begin by highlighting that there is a necessity backed by hard facts to embrace this goal: the human population is growing rapidly, being projected to reach 9.5 billion by 2050 – and it needs to be fed. This goal of eradicating hunger has not been achieved even with the comparatively few 7 billion heads we number currently. At the same time we are overexploiting and destroying the majority of ecosystems that we rely today already, painting an even dimmer picture of our prospects of feeding the planet’s growing number of inhabitants. Usually, this is where the executive summaries, issues briefs and extended abstracts stop illuminating the relevance of coming up with sustainable consumption and production patterns. Continue reading →
Life has numerous treaties and conventions that everyone has to face besides happiness. Climate change and demographic expansion inseparably combine an unprecedented challenge to cities. Admittedly, leaders worldwide need more time to allocate respective responsibilities and duties as far as global climate change is concerned. Thus, new impetus has to be formed from the turn of twentieth century – an era which witnessed two major world wars and the birth of United Nations Organization (UN). When the UN was founded in 1945, two thirds of the world’s people lived in rural settings. By 2000, the population balance had shifted, with half of humanity now living in cities.
Inequality, which is one of the main concerns to UN, can be defined as an uneven distribution of resources in terms of social, income, gender, ethnicity, disability and age. It was identified as the most significant trend in 2015 as it ranked 2nd in last year’s economic outlook. In developed and developing countries alike, the poorest half of the population often controls less than 10% of its wealth. While it is true that around the world economic growth is picking up pace, deep challenges still remain very present, including poverty, environmental degradation, persistent unemployment, political instability, violence and conflict. These are often closely related to inequality.
In the early stages, industrial development needs basic human capital; the period needed to absorb simple industrial technologies is short and needs little protection or external support. At this stage, relatively non-selective educational interventions may be appropriate. As development proceeds, more difficult technologies are used and the need for more sophisticated and specialised training grows. We need to aware that technological knowledge is not shared equally among firms, nor is it easily imitated by or transferred across firms. Thus, simply to gain mastery of a new technology requires skills, effort and investment by the receiving firm, and the extent of mastery achieved is uncertain and necessarily varies by firm according to these inputs.
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995 is a visionary agenda for the empowerment of women. It still remains as the most comprehensive global policy framework and blueprint for action today, and is a current source of guidance and inspiration to realize gender equality and the human rights of women and girls worldwide.
After two weeks of political debate, exchange of information on good practice and lessons learned, representatives of 189 governments agreed to commitments that were unprecedented in scope. In addition, The Platform for Action covers 12 critical areas of concern which still classify as relevant challenges today: poverty; education and training; health; violence; armed conflict; economy; power and decision-making; institutional mechanisms; human rights; media; environment; and the girl child. For each critical area of concern, strategic objectives are identified, as well as a detailed catalogue of related actions to be taken by governments and other stakeholders, at national, regional and international level.
Xenophobia can be defined in many ways. For example, Oxford online dictionary describes it as “An intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries”. Based on Wikipedia website, xenophobia is the “unreasoned fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange.” This is a subject that one can argue has not spoken enough or been raised in irrelevant platforms. Unfortunately, almost every country in the world experienced xenophobia.
2014 marks the launch of the United Nations decade of Sustainable Energy for All, which calls for universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Energy access is a vital development goal, and the focus on energy as part of the agenda reflects energy as crucial in solving many development challenges.
The importance of universal access to modern energy services may not be clearly obvious, but its impact on developing countries are wide and far reaching, being critical to a country’s socioeconomic development. Increased access to reliable clean energy is essential for the protection of ecosystems through basic human rights such as sanitation and healthcare, as well as strengthening economies through improving access to education and improving national infrastructure. Continue reading →