Global Partnerships

Africa’s Great Green Wall a New World Wonder in the Making

By Rodrigo Pérez

RIO DE JANEIRO (IDN-INPS) – Beneath the glitz and glamour, the Samba and Rio’s Carnival-like atmosphere, this year’s Olympic Games Opening Ceremony showcased the most impossible sounding dream of all – Africa’s Great Green Wall.

The initiative started a decade ago. Once completed it will be the largest man-made structure on Earth and a new Wonder of the World.

The progress made shows that land restoration efforts on a mass scale are both possible and offer hope. Senegal has already planted 12 million trees, Ethiopia has restored 15 million hectares of degraded land and Nigeria has created 20,000 jobs in rural areas.

: Rodrigo Pérez; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 August 2016

Photo: ONE WORLD – No Hunger | Credit: German Development Cooperation Ministry

NEWSBRIEF: Sweden’s Petri Gornitzka Appointed New DAC Chair

PARIS (IDN) - Sweden’s Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Director General of the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida), has been appointed as the new Chair of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC).

Petri Gornitzka replaces outgoing DAC Chair Erik Solheim, who recently became Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). She will start her new role on a part time basis from July 11, 2016 and take up full-time duties in the autumn.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Global Partnerships; 08 July 2016

Photo: Of the 24 million land parcels that exist in the Philippines, it is estimated that only half have formal land titles. Here, community members examine aerial maps from a drone survey. Credit: Asia Foundation

South-South Cooperation Vital for Right to Development

By Adriano José Timossi *

GENEVA (IDN | SOUTHNEWS) - A Dialogue on South-South Cooperation in the context of the Right to Development discourse and the launch of a new book India's Approach to Development Cooperation were held on the side-lines of the 32nd Session of the Human Rights Council at the UN in Geneva on June 27, 2016 on the occasion of the commemorations of the 30th Anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development.

Adopted thirty years ago, on December 4, 1986, the Declaration on the Right to Development recognized development as a comprehensive economic, social, cultural and political process aimed at the constant improvement of the well-being of all individuals and peoples, on the basis of their participation in development and in the fair distribution of its benefits. The declaration calls upon states to implement effective development cooperation and for the removal of barriers to development at national and international levels.

: Opinion Editor; FOREIGN AID; South-South Cooperation; 04 July 2016

Image: ACP Secretary General Dr. Gomes speaking at the European Development Days 2016 in June in Brussels. Credit: eudevdays.eu

ACP Group to Engage UK Early On Brexit Implications

By Roland Joshua

BRUSSELS (IDN) - The implications of BREXIT on the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group could be far-reaching and may give rise to many consequences for trade, services, investments and development finance assistance, according to ACP Secretary-General, Dr. P.I Gomes.

In each of these areas, the ACP-UK relations have been longstanding and mutually beneficial, not only for Caribbean countries and other Commonwealth member states, but for the ACP Group as a whole.

For instance, as a contributor of some 17% to the European Development Fund (EDF), the UK has been consistent in its support and has argued in favour of making the EDF less cumbersome in its regulations. “With the UK outside of the EDF Committee the ACP will lose an ally of great value,“ Dr. Gomes said.

: Ronald Joshua; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 03 July 2016

LDC Mid-Term Review: No Graduations, But Good Pupils See Light at End of Tunnel

Analysis by Jacques N. Couvas

ANTALYA | Turkey (IDN) - Commitment to continue the effort by the United Nations and the developed economies to help least developed countries (LDCs) overcome poverty and hunger was the main conclusion of the Mid-Term Review (MTR) conference for the Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries (IPoA), held in Antalya, Turkey, from May 27 to 29.

The purpose of the meeting was to assess whether and how the targets set by the IPoA in 2011 were being met. The results were mixed.

In six plenary sessions, four thematic round tables and 26 side events, officials from 75 countries and international organisations reviewed the progress made by the LDCs towards stimulating growth and improving living conditions in their respective jurisdictions.

: Jacques N. Couvas; UN INSIDER; 31 May 2016

Photo: SGI Exhibition at World Humanitarian Summit at Istanbul on 23-24 May 2016. Courtesy: Soka Gakkai International

Humanitarian Summit in Perspective: Faith Communities Crucial for Disaster Prevention

Analysis by Jacques N. Couvas

ISTANBUL (IDN) - While most of the world’s political leaders shunned the United Nations’ first World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) on May 23-24, the international religious community was alive and kicking in the congress halls and exhibition grounds of the event in Istanbul.

A series of meetings and activities gathered personalities representing a variety of faith movements from the very first hour of the Summit, with the WHS Side Event on ‘One Humanity, Shared Responsibilities: Evidence for Religious Groups’ Contributions to Humanitarian Response’.

Two panels of experts, coordinated by Jean Duff, president of the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (JLIF&LC) and Manu Gupta, head of the Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network (ADRRN), examined the evidence for the contributions made by faith-based organizations (FBO) to humanitarian assistance.

: Jacques N. Couvas; UN INSIDER; 30 May 2016

Photo: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (right). Source: WHS

Humanitarian Summit in Perspective: Falling Short of Lofty Expectations

Analysis by Rodney Reynolds

ISTANBUL (IDN) - The first-ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposed as far back as 2012, failed to meet its lofty expectations despite four years of consultations with 23,000 people in over 150 countries.

“This is a 21st century United Nations gathering,” Ban boasted to delegates in his opening remarks. But the two-day summit, which concluded May 24, did not generate any significant funding nor did it receive the whole-hearted political support of the UN’s Big Five – the UK, U.S., France, China and Russia – whose leaders were conspicuous by their absence.

Besides UK, U.S. and France, even the remaining G-7 leaders were missing in action: heads of government from Canada, Italy and Japan shied away from the summit. Only German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Istanbul to represent the world’s seven industrialized democracies.

: Rodney Reynolds; UN INSIDER; 26 May 2016

Image: Camel caravans in the heart of a desert in Gansu province. The Discovering the Beauty of Silk Road project invites photographers to explore the landscape of western China. Reproduced courtesy: Hu You/ China Daily.

Building Regional Connectivity Key to China’s ‘Silk Route’ Projects

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) - China is keen to demonstrate that its ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, dubbed the “New Silk Route” by the media, is not geared to exclusively serve China’s economic interests, but to build connectivity in the region and beyond for the benefit of all.

This was the message from a high-powered Chinese team taking part in a ‘side-event’ organised by China at the 72nd UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) sessions here May 17-19. It is also an idea that ESCAP is strongly endorsing as it embarks on promoting a new development paradigm for the region.

In an opening address to the event, China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Qian Hongshan said that the ‘Belt’ is designed “to form synergy between the development strategies of various countries, draw on their respective strengths and unleash the huge development potential of this region to achieve common progress”.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 24 May 2016

Photo: Syrian and Iraqi refugees arrive from Turkey to Skala Sykamias, Lesbos island, Greece. Spanish volunteers (life rescue team - with yellow-red clothes) from "Proactiva open arms" http://en.proactivaopenarms.org/ help the refugees. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

On the Front Lines for Humanitarian Action

Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow *

GENEVA (IDN) - The aim of the World Humanitarian Summit organized by the United Nations in the words of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is to see what should be done “to end conflict, alleviate suffering and reduce risk and vulnerability”.

Turkey is on the front lines of the consequences of armed conflict with nearly three million refugees from Syria and Iraq as well as its own attacks against Kurds. Turkey has entered into agreements with the States of the European Union concerning the flow of refugees through Turkey to Europe − agreements that have raised controversy and concern from human rights organizations.

Given the policies of the Turkish government, some non-governmental organizations have refused to participate in protest. Doctors Without Borders − one of the best-known of the relief organizations − has pulled out. However, the Association of World Citizens will participate while working for a settlement of Kurdish issues at the same time.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 22 May 2016

Image: Venue of 8th ACP Conference in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea Hosts a ‘Pivotal’ Summit of 79 Diverse States

Analysis by Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | BRUSSELS (IDN) - Perhaps it would be an exaggeration to say that the world would never be the same again when leaders from the 79 countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States conclude their three-day “pivotal Summit” on June 1 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG).

But top echelons of the bloc are determined to turn it into “a watershed event” that would discuss the future of the ACP Group as a revitalised cohesive force advocating the interests of its member states in the international arena.

They want it to provide the necessary political mandate to reorient the organisation, and offer a basis for more concrete engagement in discussions on the future of ACP-EU relations after 2020 when the Cotonou Agreement ends. The accord is named after the largest city and economic centre of Benin. Formal negotiations for a follow up framework of the Cotonou Agreement are expected to commence in 2017/2018.