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Monday, July 15, 2024
News and Views from the Global South
Poverty & SDGs
Women & Girls Find their Sexual & Reproductive Health on the Frontlines of a Battle they Didn’t Start
Droughts, cyclones, floods and extreme temperatures – these are the ‘new abnormal’ of a world in which weather-related events are becoming increasingly prolonged, intense and frequent.
Adding Life to Years – Demographic Change in Asia and the Pacific
World Population Day on 11 July provides an excellent opportunity to take stock and look ahead regarding population issues that are affecting all aspects of society in Asia and the Pacific.
While Global Population is Rising, East Asia is Shrinking
Across East Asia, birthrates are plummeting. Japan’s has been falling for eight straight years and recently hit a record low of 1.2 children per woman, the lowest since record keeping began in 1899.
Justice, not Impunity, for Sexually Assaulted Indigenous Girls in Peru
The main fear facing women leaders who have denounced the systematic rape of girls from the Awajún indigenous people in the northeastern Peruvian department of Amazonas is that, despite the media coverage and sanctions announced by the authorities, it will all come to nothing.
A Tax on the Super-Rich to Fight Hunger Gains Ground
A global agreement could levy a small tax on the world's 3,000 richest people, with fortunes in excess of US$ 1 billion, and use the money to fight world hunger, a study by the Brazilian government and the European Union's Tax Observatory has shown.
Fiscal Reform Can Help Dominican Republic Attract Greater Investment
The Dominican Republic leads Latin America in GDP growth, with an average annual rate of around 5 percent per year since the 1970s. The Caribbean nation has made great strides in reducing poverty and improving living standards.
Bangladesh Can Boost Growth & Climate Resilience by Investing in Women
Bangladesh has made major gains for its population, the world’s eighth largest with more than 170 million people. Per capita incomes, one of the best measures of broad economic well-being, have risen seven-fold in the past three decades while poverty has been reduced to a fraction of former levels.
Youth Speak Out Against Big Tobacco
Each year, millions of children worldwide fall prey to the targeted tactics of the tobacco industry in its attempts to lure new customers. This year’s World No Tobacco Day (May 31), aptly themed “Protecting children from tobacco industry interference”, saw global youth unite to confront the pervasive influence of Big Tobacco.
Bringing Drought and Floods, El Niño Hits the Most Fragile in Southern Africa
Kaponde Likando does not know how his family will survive until the next farming season. “We are not going to have anything (to harvest),” said the 60-year-old from Chingobe village in southern Zambia after his maize, sorghum, groundnut and sweet potato crops failed. “This has been the very opposite of what we expected.”
Commonwealth Secretary-General Calls for Concrete Finance Commitments for Small Island Developing States
Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness Patricia Scotland is calling for concrete commitments to climate finance that will acknowledge the multi-dimensional vulnerability faced by the world’s small island developing states (SIDS).
Reclaiming the Narrative in African Philanthropy: A Community-Based Organization’s Perspective
In recent years, the African philanthropy landscape has been undergoing a profound transformation. Or has it? Historically, the narrative of aid and development in Africa has been dominated by external donors and International Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs).
Lessons From Youth-Focused ‘Future Action Festival’ Ahead of UN Summit of the Future
The world has crossed the halfway point to the end of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) era amid multiple, unprecedented, and significantly destructive global shocks. Two of the most pressing global challenges are the climate crisis and the threat of nuclear armament. Of serious concern is a severe lack of youth engagement on issues of critical global importance. Speaking to IPS during the 2024 UN Civil Society Conference, the outcome of which will inform high-level discussions when the UN hosts hundreds of world leaders, policymakers, experts, and advocates in September at the Summit of the Future in New York, Tadashi Nagai stressed the importance of coalition and movement building and youth engagement to escalate progress towards attainment of the SDGs.
Inclusivity, Impact, and Innovation Needed to Meet SDGs, UN Civil Society Conference Hears
The world is neither on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) nor is it leveraging emerging opportunities to effectively address global concerns such as extreme hunger, poverty, conflict, and climate change. Global concerns have outpaced existing structures for international cooperation and coping.
WHO Africa Advances African Science by Promoting Peer-Reviewed Research
The World Health Organization's African regional office and partners published over 25 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals in 2023 as part of efforts to address the imbalance in global research and ensure that Africa was better represented in the production of health research academic literature, a new report shows.
Latin America’s Shifting Demographics Could Undercut Growth
Latin America’s workforce grew by nearly 50 percent in the two decades before the pandemic, helping boost economic growth. Now demographic trends are turning, and likely to weigh on growth in the coming years.
Trade Deception Returns in Pan-Africanist Guise
The World Bank has exaggerated probable gains from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to promote partial and uneven trade liberalisation that is unlikely to enhance development on the continent.
IPCI 2024: Oslo Commitment Protects Sexual and Reproductive Rights Across All Contexts
Parliamentarians from 112 countries have adopted the IPCI statement of commitment to protect and promote sexual and reproductive health rights, committing to the principle that "life or death is a political statement." As IPCI Oslo drew to a close on Friday, April 12, 2024, parliamentarians adopted a new Statement of Commitment that was “the collective effort of every single delegate,” said Alando Terrelonge, MP from Jamaica and chair of the drafting committee.
To Mitigate Climate Change Associated Disasters That Impact the Agricultural Sector – Launch Multipronged Efforts
Recently, the United Nations in collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization released a report that highlighted the impacts of climate change including on agriculture.
Social Protection, a Key Solution for Directing Climate Finance To Poor Small-Scale Farmers
Climate change is exacerbating inequalities between and within countries, disproportionately affecting poor households in rural areas. In fact, we know that more than half of the resources of the poor – a large part of whom are small-scale farmers - are lost due to climatic hazards. This has negative impacts on the incomes of these people and their ability to meet their essential needs, including food.
“I’m More Optimistic than Before Regarding the Goal of Ending Hunger in Latin America”
"I'm more optimistic than before" about the goal of ending hunger included in the 2030 agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean, said FAO regional representative Mario Lubetkin in an interview with IPS.
Endowment Funds Can Revolutionise Sarcoma Care in Developing Countries
Despite global childhood cancer mortality rates dropping by half over the past 50 years, these promising statistics do not extend to Africa and the Global South, where limited resources mean that most cancers are diagnosed at advanced stages.Next Page »
Since 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been devised to promote strategies for countries to reach a globally unified standard for sustainable living and development. This standard of living must be accessible to all, which addresses the first SDG: No Poverty. As the global community stepped into the Decade of Action of the 2020s, UN member states are expected to deliver on their goals by 2030, and it is crucial to examine the measures taken to recognize and meet those goals. Eradicating poverty will require policy frameworks on the national and regional levels to ensure that by 2030 all have equal rights to access economic resources along with access to basic services.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was estimated that 6 percent of the global population would still live in extreme poverty in 2030. The destabilizing impact of the pandemic could push over 70 million people into poverty, with developing countries most vulnerable. In its wake, the UN COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund were designed to support the communities most disproportionately vulnerable to the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic.
IPS provides comprehensive reporting on the current practices in ending poverty and the social, economic, and environmental factors that present challenges to this goal.
The Week with IPS
NEXT STOP - SDGs
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
