#UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum

[indigenouspeopleday]

Calls to Action for Safeguarding Seven Generations in Times of Food, Social, and Ecological Crises – Reporting on the Outcomes of the 2023 UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum (UNPFII Side Event).

Indigenous Youth leaders of the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus with Indigenous Youth leaders who attended the second session of the biennial UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum will report on the outcomes and calls to action deliberated at the Forum.

186 Indigenous Youth from the seven socio-cultural regions, 54 countries, and more than 100 Indigenous Peoples – gathered for a week at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy in October 2023 for the first in-person gathering of the UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum. From a week of discussions with Indigenous Youth, Indigenous Chefs, Member State Countries, UN agencies, foundations, NGOs, universities, and research centers they distilled clear calls to action, and recommendations as it relates to the future of Indigenous Peoples' food and knowledge systems in the context of the intersection of food, social, and ecological crises that humanity is facing. The Coalition on Indigenous Peoples' Food Systems, the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples' Food Systems, and the Youth Hub of the Mountain Partnerships participated in UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum and will share their commitments to partner and advance the work with Indigenous Youth globally. Indigenous Youth are taking action in their communities, and they are ready for organizations, Member States and UN Agencies to listen and support their advancements.

Watch the Calls to Action for Safeguarding Seven Generations in Times of Food, Social, and Ecological Crises – Reporting on the Outcomes of the 2023 UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum (UNPFII Side Event)

[sustainableprosperity2]

A Moment of Truth on Climate Change

Climate Emergency Forum discusses the content of the recent UN Secretary General António Guterres’ speech given at the American Museum of Natural History where the need for urgent action is reiterated, saying "we are flirting with climate disaster.”

This video was recorded on June 12th, 2024, and published on June 23rd, 2024, and represents the opinions of the discussion participants.

The severe and disproportionate impacts of climate change on the world's most vulnerable populations, is highlighted emphasizing that those least responsible for the crisis are the hardest hit. It underscores the plight of the poorest people, particularly in regions like Latin America, Southeast Asia, and India, as well as indigenous communities, women, and girls.

The discussion also points out the staggering inequality in carbon emissions, noting that the richest 1% of humanity emits as much carbon dioxide as the poorest two-thirds. This disparity highlights the urgent need for climate justice, where those who contribute most to the problem should bear the greatest responsibility for addressing it. The dialogue calls for immediate and significant reductions in fossil fuel subsidies and emissions to prevent catastrophic global warming, emphasizing that the current trajectory is unsustainable and dangerous.

Furthermore, the dialogue touches on the broader implications of climate change, including its impact on global health, food security, and the ability to maintain peace and security. The increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events are causing widespread displacement and destruction, making it difficult for communities to recover. The dialogue stresses the importance of collective action and the need for systemic changes to the global economy to address these challenges effectively.

Finally, the dialogue reflects on the role of youth and grassroots movements in driving climate action. It acknowledges the critical contributions of young people and marginalized communities in advocating for climate justice and calls for their inclusion in decision-making processes. The dialogue concludes with a call to action, urging viewers to support climate initiatives and engage in efforts to create a more equitable and sustainable future.

[coopsday]

Cooperatives in Social Development: Supporting Cooperatives as Sustainable and Successful Business Enterprises.

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) conducted an expert group meeting (EGM) on “Cooperatives in Social Development: Supporting Cooperatives as Sustainable and Successful Business Enterprises”. The main objective was to produce insights and a series of recommendations to help expand the sector. The conclusions will support in drafting the 2023 report of the United Nations Secretary-General on cooperatives in social development.

Held at the UN Headquarters in New York from the 31 May to the 1 June, the event consisted of seven sessions where cooperative experts presented ideas and discussed the key challenges and opportunities faced by the cooperative movement and create guidelines and recommendations for governments and other actors to help enhance cooperative development, which would inherently boost social development.

The experts were drawn from various fields including researchers from the academia, practitioners from the cooperative movement and government departments in charge of cooperatives from Argentina, t. The International Cooperative Alliance was represented by Joseph Njuguna, the Director of Policy; Iñigo Albizuri, member of the ICA Board and President of CICOPA as well as Mondragon Corporation’s Global Head of Public Affairs.

Find more information together with the papers and presentations of the expert here.  

Cases from Mondragon Corporation and Kibbutz movement were discussed to evaluate their entrepreneurial ecosystem and analyse a range of support measures for promoting cooperatives. 

“This framework allows policymakers to identify policies and practices that are implemented in each of the ecosystem areas and compare them with other regional experiences. The configuration of the ecosystems may change depending on the context, but the framework serves as a general basis for the analysis of existing situation”, says Joseph Njuguna, ICA Director of Policy. 

Some of the key recommendations proposed includes supporting research on cooperative ecosystems, capacity building of cooperative members and leaders, deepening and widening knowledge on cooperatives and governments’ support in promoting the potential of cooperatives, through inclusion in the national development plans and SDG reporting processes, including Voluntary National Reviews for the High-level Political Forum, among others.

The report of the meeting will be published and shared in due course.

The United Nations has long viewed the cooperative movement as a key partner in enhancing social development and cooperatives as very suited enterprises to achieve the SDGs. The United Nations General Assembly has been adopting resolutions concerning cooperatives in social development since 1950s and systematically every 2 years since 1992.  These resolutions recognize that cooperatives, in their various forms, promote the fullest possible participation in the economic and social development of local communities and all people, including women, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities and indigenous peoples, whose inclusion strengthens economic and social development, and contribute to the eradication of poverty and hunger. 

The most recent United Nations General Assembly resolution on Cooperatives in Social Development adopted in December 2021,  A/RES/76/135, recognizes that cooperative enterprises often serve the socially excluded and vulnerable segments of the population and encourages governments to focus their support to cooperatives as sustainable and successful enterprises that contribute directly to “decent employment generation, poverty and hunger eradication, education, social protection, including universal health coverage, financial inclusion and the creation of affordable housing options across a variety of economic sector.

As a follow-up to these resolutions, the UN Secretary General writes a report to examine their implementation. In his recent report on cooperatives in social development of 2021, the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres recognised the importance of cooperatives as key economic and social actors in the global recovery strategy after the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2023 report will be examining the implementation of the resolution that was adopted in 2021.

[othersociologist]

Policing the Quarantine

Heavy-handed policing was deployed in response to the Covid-19 outbreak in the nine tower blocks in Melbourne where residents are mainly Black, Brown and Asian. Fines have been administered more in suburbs where the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and/or migrant population is higher. But, the same logics of colonial policing used for over 200 years are also affecting other groups at a time when a policing, rather than a public-health oriented, response to the pandemic is being rolled-out by state governments with the use of fines, lockdowns, curfews, and even prison sentences against those who are seen as failing to comply with Covid orders. 

Panellists 

Roxanne Moore is a Noongar woman and human rights lawyer from Margaret River in Western Australia. She is the Executive Officer for the National Peak body on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS ). Previously, Roxanne was an Indigenous Rights Campaigner with Amnesty International Australia and Principal Advisor to Change the Record Coalition. Roxanne has worked for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, as Principal Associate to the Hon Chief Justice Wayne Martin AC QC; as a commercial litigator; and has international experience with UNHCR Jordan and New York University’s Global Justice Clinic. Roxanne studied law at the University of WA, and completed an LLM (International Legal Studies) at NYU, specialising in human rights law, as a 2013 Fulbright Western Australian Scholar. Professor 

Megan Davis is Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous and Professor of Law at UNSW. She is Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court and was recently appointed the Balnaves Chair in Constitutional Law. Professor Davis currently serves as a United Nations expert with the UN Human Rights Council's Expert Mechanism on the rights of Indigenous peoples based in UN Geneva. Megan is an Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court. Professor Davis is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences. She is a member of the NSW Sentencing Council and an Australian Rugby League Commissioner. Professor Davis was Director of the Indigenous Law Centre, UNSW Law from 2006-2016. Professor Davis is formerly Chair and expert member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2011-2016). As UNPFII expert she was the focal point for UN Women and UN AIDS. During this period of UN service, Megan was the Rapporteur of the UN EGM on an Optional Protocol to the UNDRIP in 2015, the Rapporteur of the UN EGM on Combating violence against Indigenous women and girls in 2011 and the UN Rapporteur for the International EGM on Indigenous Youth in 2012. Megan has extensive experience as an international lawyer at the UN and participated in the drafting of the UNDRIP from 1999-2004 and is a former UN Fellow of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. 

Dr Vicki Sentas is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law at UNSW. She researches processes of criminalisation and racialisation in law and policing. She teaches in criminal law, criminology and policing and coordinates the Police Powers Clinic, an experiential learning course, in partnership with Redfern Legal Centre. Her recent and current research projects examine: the effects of counter-terrorism practices on criminal justice and racialised peoples; the criminalisation of armed conflicts, self-determination and diasporas through the use of security lists; police powers and their relationship to diverse forms of regulation including pre-emption and prosecution; police accountability and criminal justice reform.

[phonaesthemes]

Thousands of people across Canada will be participating in a global climate strike Friday calling for action to address climate change.

In Montreal, 15 Indigenous and 15 non-Indigenous delegates at the front of the march will be holding a banner created by Anishinaabe artist Rachel Thusky Cloutier bearing the slogan "Au front pour la Mère Terre, To the front lines for Mother Earth."

Anishinabek Nation Chief Water Commissioner Autumn Peltier will be spending her 15th birthday at a climate change march through the streets of New York City.

Peltier, who is from the Wikwemikong First Nation, is also set to deliver a speech to the United Nations' Global Landscapes Forum on Saturday. It will be her second time addressing the UN.

“"I'm going to be talking about water protection on a spiritual and cultural level, coming from traditional knowledge of elders, talking about what we can do, solutions on how to protect clean water and keep what water we have now safe."“

Rosalie LaBillois, 22, is the co-chair of the Assembly of First Nations national youth council. She is striking Friday in support of the delegation of Indigenous youth from Quebec who will be leading Montreal's climate march.

LaBillois is Mi'kmaw from Eel River Bar First Nation, N.B. and comes from a family of fishermen. She said the livelihood of many Mi'kmaq depends on the ocean.

"My grandmother always said the ocean is our grocery store," she said.

"I'm hoping that this type of strike or engagement can continue to raise awareness of what's happening. I'm hoping it can mobilize our people to help wake them up."

Iotshatenawi Reed, 28, is Kanien'kehá:ka from Kahnawake, Que. For the past two and a half years she's been with Kahnawake's waste management department promoting backyard composting.

"The gases that are created in landfills are one of the causes of climate change," said Reed.

"It's very important to manage our waste in a proper way to avoid contamination in our land and our waterways."

She is attending the National Organics Recycling Conference taking place this week in Guelph, Ont. She said First Nations communities like her own need to be more concerned about climate change and can take simple steps to change daily habits.

[nytech]

🏳️‍🌈 Celebrate Pride with the NYTA!

Hello NY Techies,

We are in June, and that means we are officially in Pride Month! June is a time to celebrate the vibrant LGBTQ+ community, and its continued fight for equality and inclusion. 2019 is a landmark year, as it is the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, considered one of the most monumental events of  LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. In commemoration and celebration, New York City is proud to host WorldPride and welcomes citizens from around the world to participate in a month long series of events. This special edition of our newsletter is a listing dedicated to the many of the conferences, talks, tours, exhibits and social activities happening in celebration.

Happy Pride and remember to be kind to all! ️💖

Be sure to read on for information on networking, professional, and tech events taking place this month, as well as for a list of exciting events in celebration of Pride!

Tech/Networking/Professional Events. 🌈

**LGBTQ+ Impact Entrepreneurship Forum Tuesday June 4th

Join StartOut New York for an evening panel led by LGBTQ+ impact entrepreneurs and representatives from the UN and New York Economic Development Corporation, with the focus on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

**Celebrate Stonewall’s 50th with LGBTQ+ Professionals on a Rooftop Wednesday June 5th

Out Professionals invites you to a special evening Pride networking event at Midtown’s High Bar New York.

**Out in Tech NY: QTPOC Pride Celebration Wednesday June 12th

Join Out in Tech NY in Brooklyn for a special WorldPride event, celebrating the vibrant QTPOC (queer and trans people of color) community.

**Point Source Youth Conference Monday June 17th – Wednesday 19th

A three-day symposium presented by the National Symposium on Solutions to End Youth Homelessness brings together over 700 national leaders from different sectors to find solutions to end youth homelessness.

**LGBTQ Week Monday June 17th - Friday June 28th

A two-week long series of LGBTQ-focused conferences, symposia, workshops, seminars, and events. **World Pride: Being Seen in the Workplace Tuesday June 18th

A Women’s Breakfast event held by Lower Manhattan HQ, where industry leaders will lead a discussion on workplace diversity, inclusion, visibility and identity from the LGBTQ+ perspective.

**Pride Luminaries Brunch Sunday June 23rd

The Pride Luminaries Brunch is an event honoring business leaders who have made a positive impact on LGBTQ+ equality in the workplace.

Color Your World at These Other Events. 🌈

Pride Walking Tour by Pride Tours NYC Entire Month of June

A comprehensive walking tour that tells the detailed story of the Stonewall Uprising.

Stonewall 50 at New York Historical Society Entire Month of June

The New York Historical Society will be opening two exhibitions and a special installion throughout the month of June in honor of Stonewall’s 50th anniversary: Letting Loose and Fighting Back: LGBTQ Nightlife Before and After Stonewall; By the Force of Our Presence: Highlights from the Lesbian Herstory Archives; and Say It Loud, Out, and Proud: Fifty Years of Pride.

Love & Resistance: Stonewall 50 Entire Month of June

The New York Public Library commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots through a new exhibition, a series of programs, book recommendations, and more.

First Fridays: Black LGBTQ WorldPride Edition Friday June 7th

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture presents its 5th annual First Fridays: LGBT Edition, which celebrates and recognizes materials for and by black LGBTQ individuals throughout history.

Brooklyn Pride 2019 Saturday June 8th

A day of Pride celebrations in the heart of Brooklyn with an entire day of events, including the 5K Pride Run, Multicultural Festival, and the Twilight Parade, New York City’s only nighttime Pride parade!

Yonkers Pride 2019 Saturday June 8th

The City of Yonkers invites you to join its citizens for the 2nd Annual LGBTQ+ PRIDE Celebration, with the PRIDE Festival right in the Downtown area!

Tour & Toast in Celebration of Stonewall 50 Thursday June 6th / Monday June 24th / Thursday June 27th

Join the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project on a 1.5-hour walking tour of Greenwich Village, and learn about the origins of the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Pride Changemakers Rooftop: Cocktail Party | Access Labs Thursday, June 13

Show your pride and celebrate diversity in tech, better access to tech education, and an inclusive community on a rooftop with sunset views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.

Ascend with Pride: An Afternoon with Friends & Family at FDR Four Freedoms State Park Saturday June 15th

A free WorldPride celebration for all ages that serves as the unveiling of New York City’s largest LGBTQ+ Pride flag, including a special picnic on the lawn.

Public Forum: Queer & Now Monday June 17th

The Public Theater’s Public Forum invites you to an evening celebration of music, prose, poetry, and theatre with LGBTQ+ artists, activists, and organizers.

OutCinema Monday June 17th – Wednesday 19th

A three-day event presented by NewFest celebrating the diversity of voices, perspectives, and commitment within the LGBTQ+ community and its contributions to film.

Free Rooftop LGBTQ+ Pride Party for Up & Coming Professionals Wednesday June 19th

Out Professionals invites you to a free evening WorldPride networking event in the Lower East Side, on the rooftop of The DL.

Quilt: A Musical Celebration Friday June 21st – Sunday June 23rd

A musical based on stories from the NAMES PROJECT AIDS memorial quilt, celebrating and remembering both those who died from AIDS and those who have survived.

Pride on the Beach: Long Island Pride 2019 Friday June 21st – Sunday June 23rd

A weekend long Pride celebration in Long Beach with events including the Pride 5K, Beach Party, and the 29th Annual Pride Parade.

WorldPride 2019 Black Queer Migrants Networking Event Sunday June 23rd

The Black LGBTQ+ Migrant Project and AfroNYC invite you to an evening cocktail event where stories of black LGBTQ+ migrants will be showcased, allowing attendees to network and gain insight on the growing global LGBTQ+ migration crisis.

March for Bronx Pride 2019 Sunday June 23rd

Kick off the 1 Bronx WorldPride Festival with the March for Bronx Pride 2019!

1 Bronx WorldPride Festival Sunday June 23rd

A Pride celebration and event that focuses on the rich diversity and community of the Bronx borough, with local organizations and companies promoting their missions on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community.

Human Rights Conference Monday June 24th - Tuesday June 25th

A two-day conference where activists, artists, educators, journalists, policymakers, students, and more come together to engage in a global dialogue on LGBTQ+ human rights.

GameChangers Tuesday June 25th

Join GLAAD at the SVA Theatre for an evening of discussion, celebrating leaders in the LGBTQ+ community and how they have impacted the entertainment industry.

Levity and Justice for All Tuesday June 25th

An evening benefit consisting of standup performances, celebrating LGBTQ women and comedy and supporting Project LPAC.

Trans Equality Rooftop Reception Thursday June 27th

Join the National Center for Transgender Equality and NCTE Action Fund for an evening of networking and action regarding the present and future of transgender rights and equality.

Rally: Stonewall 50 Commemoration Friday June 28th

Join community activists, organizers, politicians, and more for a Pride rally celebrating the Stonewall Uprising.

Two-Spirits & HIV Conference 2019 Saturday June 29th

The Two Spirit Indigenous People’s Association invites you to join it for its 2nd Annual Conference, focused on the TSLGBTQ+ Native American population living with HIV.

Aces & Aros Conference 2019 Saturday June 29th

Aces NYC invites you to a WorldPride conference celebrating both the asexual and aromantic spectrum communities.

YouthPride Saturday June 29th

Register today for a Pride celebration in Central Park aimed at LGBTQ+ teens, young adults, families and their allies.

Harlem Pride 2019 Saturday June 29th

Join a daytime WorldPride celebration in Harlem, which also happens to mark the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance and the 10th anniversary of Harlem Pride!

NYC Pride March Sunday June 30th

Celebrate WorldPride and the continued fight for civil rights and equality with one of the largest LGBTQ+ Pride marches in the world, alongside over 550 unique marching contingents and over 100 floats.

NYC PrideFest Sunday June 30th

Join NYC’s free annual LGBTQ+ street fair that combines exhibitors, entertainers, activities, and vendors for a day of fun and celebration.

Queer Liberation March and Rally Sunday June 30th

An alternative grassroots Pride rally and march with no corporate floats and no police presence, with the goal of mobilizing the LGBTQ+ community to address social and political concerns.

[babymilkaction]

Join the civil society opposition the UN Food Systems Summit

Hundreds of grassroots organizations to oppose the UN Food Systems Summit

Civil society and Indigenous Peoples’ organizations launch a global counter-mobilization against the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit from 25 to 28 July 2021 in Rome and online. 

Rome, Italy. 19 July 2021. Over 300 global civil society organizations of small-scale food producers, researchers and Indigenous Peoples’ will gather online (25-28 July) to protest against the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit. The People’s Counter-Mobilization to Transform Corporate Food Systems is the latest in a series of rejections of the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), including a coalition of scientists who petitioned to boycott it.

The People’s Autonomous Response to the UNFSS argues that the Summit distracts from the real problems the planet faces at this critical juncture. Resulting from a partnership between the UN and the World Economic Forum (formed by the world’s top 1000 corporations), the Summit is disproportionately influenced by corporate actors, and lacks transparency and accountability mechanisms. It diverts energy, critical mass and financial resources away from the real solutions needed to tackle the multiple hunger, climate and health crises.

Globalized, industrialized food systems fail most people, and the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the situation. According to the 2021 UN Report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition, the number of chronically undernourished people has risen to 811 million, while almost a third of the world’s population has no access to adequate food. The Global South still reels from Covid-19, unveiling the entrenched structural power asymmetries, fragility and injustice that underpin the predominant food system.

Over 380 million people make up the transnational movements of peasants and farmers, women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, pastoralists, landless, migrants, fisherfolk, food and agricultural workers, consumers, and urban food insecure joining the protest. They demand a radical transformation of corporate food systems towards a just, inclusive and truly sustainable food system. They equally demand strengthening existing democratic food governance models such as the UN Committee for World Food Security (CFS) and respecting its High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE). The UNFSS threatens to undermine CFS, which is the foremost inclusive intergovernmental international policy-making arena. By exceptionally prioritizing a human rights-based approach, the CFS provides a space for the most affected to have their voices heard. Yet the multilateral UN system is being hijacked by corporate interests to legitimize an even more detrimental, technologically-driven and crisis-ridden food system.

This counter-mobilization reflects concerns about the Summit’s direction. Despite claims of being a ‘People’s Summit’ and a ‘Solutions’ Summit, UNFSS facilitates greater corporate concentration, fosters unsustainable globalized value chains, and promotes the influence of agribusiness on public institutions.

False solutions touted by UNFSS include failed models of voluntary corporate sustainability schemes, ‘nature-positive’ solutions which include risky technologies such as Genetically Modified Organisms and biotechnology, and sustainable intensification of agriculture. They are neither sustainable, nor affordable for small-scale food producers, and do not address structural injustices such as land and resource grabbing, corporate abuse of power, and economic inequality.

The parallel counter-mobilization will share small-scale food producers and workers’ realities, and their visions for a human rights-based and agroecological transformation of food systems, highlighting the importance of food sovereignty, small-scale sustainable agriculture, traditional knowledge, rights to natural resources, and the rights of workers, Indigenous Peoples, women and future generations.

Discussions will center on real solutions: binding rules for corporate abuses, ending pesticide use, and agroecology as a science, practice and movement. The program will include the following activities:

25 July 2021:  A Global virtual Rally with small-scale food producers and people’s voices.

26 July 2021: A political declaration followed by three public roundtable discussions on the Covid-19 context, the hunger and climate crises and the Summit’s push for corporate capture of governance and science.

27 July 2021: 15 virtual sessions on people’s alternatives and visions on food systems.

28 July 2021: A closing Panel will present preliminary conclusions and discuss ways to challenge the UNFSS in September.

Further information will be provided during a media briefing on 22 July 2021 from 13:30 to 14:15 CEST, followed by a Q&A session. Please register here to participate.

Media contact

Marion Girard, Media officer at the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSM) for relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) marion.girard.cisneros@csm4cfs.org

Resources

Program and web streaming of the Counter-Mobilization: foodsystems4people.org

Call to action launched in May 2021 to coordinate the peoples’ response to the UNFSS

More information about the concerns of the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism vis-a-vis the UNFSS

Join the civil society opposition the UN Food Systems Summit was originally published on Baby Milk Action

[newscheckz]

Three Entrepreneurs in Botswana, Zambia, and Malawi Win Prestigious SEED Award

New Post has been published on https://newscheckz.com/three-entrepreneurs-in-botswana-zambia-and-malawi-win-prestigious-seed-award/

Three Entrepreneurs in Botswana, Zambia, and Malawi Win Prestigious SEED Award

Winners of the SEED Awards will be awarded matching grants of between EUR 10,000 – 15,000.

A Botswanan company which trains farmers to use bees to stop elephants destroying their farms, a Zambian business which promotes sustainable bee-farming, and a Malawian start-up which turns leftovers into cooking gas have won the SEED Awards for Climate Adaptation (SEED Awards) (www.SEED.uno).

SEED was founded as part of a global partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

In Botswana, local entrepreneur Mavis Nduchwa founded Kalahari Honey to restore the balance between humans, wildlife, and the environment.

The company gives farmers beehives and trains them to create a live fence of bees around their farms to deter local elephant populations.

Not only does this reduce conflict between humans and wildlife, it gives farmers an added income as they can sell their bee products back to Kalahari Honey, which markets to customers globally.

It also increases pollination through the propagation of bee colonies and the introduction of more indigenous, drought-resistant plant species reverses the ongoing desertification.

The company currently works with 500 rural farmers, but under SEED’s expert provision it aims to work with an additional 1,500 farmers over the next year and expand the capacity of its processing factory.

In Zambia, entrepreneur Harry Malichi set up Wuchi Wami to train farmers in sustainable beekeeping.

The company packages, brands, markets and distributes local raw and organic honey from its registered cooperative made up of 2,500 farmers.

It uses modern beehives made from easy-to-plant pine, rather than the local miombo trees, which are destroyed in traditional beehive production.

This type of beekeeping is less labour-intensive, enabling women, youths and orphans to farm honey.

Deforestation is further reduced by providing an alternative income source for women and men engaged in charcoal burning.

Under SEED’s guidance, the enterprise plans to increase the number of smallholder farmers in its cooperative to 10,000 in the coming year.

EcoGen, founded by Clement Kandodo in Malawi in 2019, provides advanced bio-waste bins and biodigesters for households to recycle their leftover food and agricultural waste, turning it into biogas for cooking and organic fertilizer.

The provision of renewable cooking gas, especially to rural customers relying on wood fuel, takes the pressure off local forest resources. Organic fertilizer increases yields and incomes of smallholder farmers, enhancing their climate resilience.

SEED will help EcoGen scale its services to provide 4,000 households and institutions with access to renewable biogas energy by 2023.

Yves Wantens, General Representative of the Government of Flanders in the United States commented: “When it comes to the impacts of climate change, countries like Malawi, Zambia and Botswana are on the front line.

They are the ones who will feel the effects of a rise in global temperature most acutely.

That is why we are so proud to support the SEED Awards, which recognize and scale the impact of eco-inclusive enterprises across these local communities.

As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, MSMEs are at the forefront of enabling green recovery and delivering on SDGs, for the good of the wider community and the planet.” The Government of Flanders is the primary sponsor of the SEED Climate Adaptation Awards.

The SEED Awards ceremony, taking place today at the UN’s High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), will also see SEED present its ‘Green Recovery Snapshot’ (https://bit.ly/3hCJSDP) findings, which calls on governments, donors, and financial providers to increase targeted support for MSMEs as they stimulate economic growth in a post-COVID world.

MSMEs are responsible for creating seven out of ten jobs across emerging markets, and green and social MSMEs deliver environmental and social impact through their activities, products, and services, making them essential actors in achieving a green recovery.

Winners of the SEED Awards will be awarded matching grants of between EUR 10,000 – 15,000 and will receive tailored one-to-one advisory services for up to a year to scale their operations, as part of the renowned SEED Accelerator (https://bit.ly/3AVM4xM) programme.

In line with the principle of ‘awarding the best and moving the rest’, 39 runners-up will also be supported through the SEED Catalyzer (https://bit.ly/3hABXXt) programme, to refine their business models and optimize their impacts while advancing their investment readiness.

SEED’s Director of Operations, Rainer Agster, added: “The calibre of SEED Award entries this year was outstanding, and we extend our congratulations to all nine winners and 39 runners-up.

We hope the enterprises identified and promoted by the SEED Awards will be a source of inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs across emerging economies. Through the SEED Awards, we will support 48 enterprises in 2021, and through our other programmes, several hundreds more.

For each of those, however, there are thousands more eco-inclusive enterprises furthering SDGs which can be amplified with the right support.

Therefore, we strongly encourage policy makers and financial actors to take a closer look at these eco-inclusive businesses and start or scale support programmes for them.”

Of the 2021 SEED Awards cohort, 69 per cent of enterprise leaders are 18-35 years-old and 52 per cent are female-led enterprises.

Since their inception in 2005, the SEED Awards have awarded 311 enterprises in 40 countries and have facilitated the disbursement of over EUR 1 million in grants.

Each individual SEED enterprise has saved an average of 7,300 tonnes of CO2, generated more than 9,399 kWh of renewable energy, and created 28.4 jobs, out of which 32 per cent are offered to people at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP).

For more information on the winners and runners-up, please visit the SEED website (https://bit.ly/3xBgrY8).

[yfeed-org]

How can public transport be inclusive for all genders and cultures? 🙋‍♀️🚴‍♂️🚕🚌 Young women and indigenous people need to be represented in urban planning for mobility, to create truly inclusive urban environments.

We warmly invite all interested peoples to join our special Side Event organized in the eve of the upcoming UN ECOSOC Youth Forum 2021 with the title ''Rethinking Public Transport: Inclusive Urban Mobility for Female and Indigenous Youth'' 🗓️ Tuesday, 06 April 2021 🕛 9:00 AM, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)       4:00 PM, Eastern Africa Time (EAT).

Register online here👇

http://bit.ly/2OS5jVDECOSOCTransportEvent

🗣 UN-HABITAT Friends for Leadership Save A Trike Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY) Global Indigenous Youth Caucus (GIYC) Youth For Environment Education And Development Foundation (YFEED Foundation)

[shirlleycoyle]

Why I Quit Being a Climate Activist

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan battered Southeast Asia, killing 6,300 people in the Philippines alone. The three-storey surge rolled over parts of the city of Tacloban, hitting my family’s neighbourhood the hardest. Schools that were designated storm shelters entombed those taking refuge from the rising waters. My aunt, like many women in the Philippines—a country made up of 7,000 islands—can’t swim. She, my uncle, and cousin were missing or presumed dead.

We only found out they survived after three grief-ridden days, from a family member who had made his way through the ravaged province with the military. Their home and the fish farm they depended on for their livelihood were devastated, and they still haven’t fully recovered.

As a climate activist in Berlin, I felt required to tell my Filipino family’s experience during speeches and rallies because this form of “storytelling” was the only thing that would move a mostly white European audience to an emotional response of climate urgency—even though it was exhausting telling the story, especially since any mention of hurricanes in the news gives me anxiety.

I would hear “great speech,” “so emotional when your voice cracked.”

But after a while I realized I would only be called upon when climate organizations needed an inspiring story or a “diverse” voice, contacts for a campaign, or to participate in a workshop for “fun” when everyone else on the (all-white) project was getting paid.

Whenever I would question the whiteness of these spaces and how strategies didn’t take race into account, I would be met with uncomfortable silences. The last time, at a nationwide movement-building workshop last April, I was asked, “Well then, why are you even here?”

So I decided not to be there anymore. After four years of helping organize direct actions, speeches, workshops, and countless video calls, I started hiding and declining requests. I was burned out.

Karin Louise Hermes in Sibaltan (El Nido) on Palawan in the Philippines. Photo courtesy of author

I felt guilty—like I was letting my people down. But I also felt let down by the lack of support when I had gone to the streets. I stopped talking to people who didn’t relate, including friends who were telling me to come join them now that the marches were becoming more popular. I was also in bed sick a lot. I stayed at home from climate marches telling people my knee was injured and kept to myself, needing to regain all the energy I had put into organizing.

Even being present doesn’t always mean being seen or heard. Last week Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate found herself cropped from a picture and dialogue as the only African on a youth panel in the Davos World Economic Forum. She said the erasure “showed how we are valued.”

Many other climate activists of colour have described similar experiences of tokenism. Māori and disability rights campaigner Kera Sherwood-O’Regan (Kāi Tahu iwi from Te Waipounamu) found that as an Indigenous person at the UN climate conferences, organizers would suggest showing support and “passing the mic,” but the same people would be the ones taking up space in negotiations and speaking to the media.

At the same time, because I am Filipino-German and look ethnically ambiguous, it’s hard for me to emphasize the urgency or danger of climate activism as a Filipina—I am German too after all. Similar to what Colombian American climate activist Jamie Margolin said, my presence “toed a line between inclusion and exclusion.”

When I voiced my exasperation on Twitter, Jefferson Estela, a 21-year-old activist with Youth Strike 4 Climate Philippines, replied, “People are expecting us to do so many things, but when we ask for support no one hears us. White activists can protest whenever they want because they have homes, jobs, a huge amount of freedom of expression. BELIEVE ME, WE WANT TO DO BIG THINGS, but what's stopping us? A future and life that is at risk.”

Climate activism in Germany is mainstream thanks to the longevity and popularity of the German Green Party, which was formed in 1980. But generally the German climate movement is a white space, where there is little awareness of global inequality in the climate crisis.

Sometimes it’s the seemingly little things, like climate action meaning “die-ins,” lynching reenactments, or dancing in the street to disrupt public transport.

Sometimes it’s being asked time and again what whiteness, capitalism, and inequality have to do with climate change.

Other times it’s more major, like how activists here promote veganism as the single biggest way to reduce their carbon footprint, but ignore how people have been killed after protesting against the sourcing of plant-based foods like palm oil on Indigenous lands.

The movement’s failure to address these inequalities is ultimately why I found myself needing to walk away.

In recent years, the Philippines has had the highest number of environmental defenders murdered, where arrests and disappearances have been attributed to combating “communist insurgency.” Targeted groups include the Filipino research NGO I volunteered with during the UN climate conference in Bonn, Germany, and the Filipino women's collective Gabriela, which I also worked with in Berlin before I stepped back.

Anti-racism and anti-capitalism need to be made part of organizing. If “Green” policies fail to consider anti-racism and migrant rights, how is any person of colour supposed to feel voting for them or organizing in the same spaces?

Fortunately, there is now a growing BIPOC Environmental & Climate Justice Collective in Berlin, where we share these experiences of being silenced or tokenized and work together on how to link anti-racism and inequality in climate justice.

As Sherwood-O’Regan said, “As we grow and climate change becomes a harsher reality, privileged activists need to learn to de-centre themselves and meaningfully support Indigenous, disabled, queer, global south, POC, and other marginalized people who are on the frontlines of climate change.”

We need to feel respected and feel valued in our climate activism. Until the rest of the movement understands that our stories may also provide solutions, I am sharing my activism on my own terms.

Karin Louise Hermes has lived in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Hawai‘i, and the Philippines. She is currently a PhD Candidate in American Studies based in Berlin, Germany. Follow her on Twitter.

Have a story for Tipping Point? Email TippingPoint@vice.com.

This article originally appeared on VICE CA.

Why I Quit Being a Climate Activist syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[indigenouspeopleday]

Calls to Action for Safeguarding Seven Generations in Times of Food, Social, and Ecological Crises– Reporting on the Outcomes of the 2023 UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum (UNPFII Side Event).

Indigenous Youth leaders of the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus with Indigenous Youth leaders who attended the second session of the biennial UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum will report on the outcomes and calls to action deliberated at the Forum.

186 Indigenous Youth from the seven socio-cultural regions, 54 countries, and more than 100 Indigenous Peoples – gathered for a week at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy in October 2023 for the first in-person gathering of the UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum. From a week of discussions with Indigenous Youth, Indigenous Chefs, Member State Countries, UN agencies, foundations, NGOs, universities, and research centers they distilled clear calls to action, and recommendations as it relates to the future of Indigenous Peoples' food and knowledge systems in the context of the intersection of food, social, and ecological crises that humanity is facing. The Coalition on Indigenous Peoples' Food Systems, the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples' Food Systems, and the Youth Hub of the Mountain Partnerships participated in UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum and will share their commitments to partner and advance the work with Indigenous Youth globally. Indigenous Youth are taking action in their communities, and they are ready for organizations, Member States and UN Agencies to listen and support their advancements.

Watch the Calls to Action for Safeguarding Seven Generations in Times of Food, Social, and Ecological Crises – Reporting on the Outcomes of the 2023 UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum (UNPFII Side Event)

[abujaihs-blog]

Security, Infrastructure, Jobs Top Nigerians’ Demand From Incoming Govs

Ahead of the inauguration of governors-elect in 29 states of the federation on May 29, 2019, Nigerians have set agenda for the state chief executives. Governorship elections were not held in Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Kogi, Ondo, and Osun states during the 2019 general elections because the tenure of the incumbent governors had not expired. Prominent among the citizens’ demands from the incoming governors are adequate security,  infrastructure, more jobs, and affordable housing. Others are quality healthcare services, education, women and youth empowerment, and soft loans. In a nationwide interview conducted by LEADERSHIP Weekend on their agenda from both the new governors and others re-elected for a second term, Nigerians charged them to rally round all the security agencies to tackle the security challenges facing the country. They lamented that there was no part of the country again where the citizens sleep with their two eyes closed because of the activities of kidnappers, bandits, Boko Haram insurgents, armed robbers, and cultists. According to them, they expect the incoming governors to use their first 100 days in office to hit the ground running by sending a strong message to criminals across the country that it won’t be business as usual for them again.   Mr. Gideon Jomun, a graduate and an indigene of Benue State said that the best legacies Governor Samuel Ortom can leave at the end of his eight-year rule is to quickly address his poor performance during the first term by collaborating with security forces top make Benue safe, tackle the widespread unemployment in the state by empowering women and youths with skills and loans. He said that the people need jobs because the only thriving industry in the state is Okada riding (commercial motorcycling). This has resulted in urban migration, he said, adding that governor should also pay the workers’ salaries and pensions. Dr. Abigail Ubah called for improved healthcare services while Christian Osante, CEO, Bridgetown Integrated Solutions, want security prioritised. Beat Al-Makura’s Record, Nasarawa People Tell Sule Residents in Nasarawa State said that the new governor, Abdullahi Alhaji Sule, who was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), should not think that running the state would be a tea party, considering the humongous challenges before him. They charged him to perform better than the outgoing governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, who they noted executed several projects and infrastructure. In spite of Al-Makura performance, the people said that Sule must revive the Nasarawa On The Move public transport agency which in the past generated huge revenue for the state. “ The incoming governor must revive the once most vibrant transport company in the country to prove that he is a businessman,” Yakubu Adamu said. On his part, Alhaji Mahmmud, an APC stakeholder, tasked the new governor to ensure that his commissioners present their workplan with an inbuilt targeting system that must be reported upon weekly or bi-weekly at the State Executive Council (SEC) meeting. APC youth leader in the state, Mohammed Ayitogo, said that like other states in the country, Nasarawa has a vibrant teeming population of youths and asked Sule to harness their potential in agriculture, sports, ICT, entertainment and others. Mrs. Olubumi Daniel, a pharmacist said that the incoming government should correct the mistakes of the past governments by providing a congenial working environment for medical professionals to work. Bala Mohammed Tasked On Youth Empowerment, Inclusive Govt In Bauchi State, a human rights activist, Mbami Sabka wants incoming governor Bala Mohammed to run an inclusive government in appointments and job creation. He said that there should be an effective youth empowerment programme to reduce the crime rate in the state. Sabka who interfaces with prison inmates through his Prison Inmates Development Initiatives (PIDI), explained that white collar jobs had become a mirage hence the governor-elect should ensure that the youths are actively engaged. For Mahmuda Danliti, the new government should empower the youths to guard against idleness. Danliti, a tricycle rider, lamented that many youths who have graduated from schools have no jobs. He, therefore, wants the incoming administration to provide employment for them so that violence and other criminal activities can be reduced. Katsina Stakeholders Want Special Focus On Security Experts, trade unionists, and others in Katsina State have asked re-elected governor Aminu Masari to squarely face the security challenges and speedily implement the new minimum wage of N30,000. Comrade Kabir Garba Matazu, former deputy secretary-general of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), said that the worrisome security situation in the state must not be toyed with and that the take-off of the new wage must not be delayed. Matazu said: “Out of the problems that cut across almost all the six geo-political zones of Nigeria, the foremost is insecurity. There is a need for collaboration between Katsina State and the federal government “to ensure that there is relative peace because without peace nothing works.” The former chairman of Public Service Joint Negotiating Council, Katsina State and former chairman of the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Alhaji Lawal Zingina, enjoined Masari to continue to build on the solid foundation his administration had laid in education, agriculture, health and security sectors. Dr. Lolu Ademoye of Family Care Hospital said that there should be more funding for the health sector especially as many people were dying from diseases and sicknesses that are presentable. Borno Stakeholders Wants Adequate Security, Workers’ Welfare Stakeholders in Borno State have urged the incoming administration of Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum to consolidate on the achievements of Governor Kashim Shettima in the areas of security, human capital development and the resettlement of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). A human rights activist, Hamsatu Alamin called for synergy between the state government and the federal government to end the over 10-year Boko Haram insurgency which has impoverished the people of the state. She lamented that some displaced persons including children orphaned by the terrorists were still wallowing in pains with no hope in sight for them. The newly-elected state chairman of the NLC, Comrade Bulama Abiso, urged the new governor to go back to the drawing board on the welfare of workers. Abiso said that the story of workers in the state is one of mixed feelings of joy, sadness, noting that while workers were joyous for getting the N18,000 minimum wage, some were yet to benefit from the package. ‘el-Rufai Must Tackle Insecurity, Unemployment, Poverty In Kaduna’ A Kaduna-based legal practitioner, Abuul Hiifan, has appealed to returning governor Nasir el-Rufai to immediately address insecurity, unemployment, and poverty in the state. Abuul also tasked him to boost internally-generated revenue for self-reliance than relying on federal allocations. Also, Barr. Suleiman Ahmed Akasawua, national chairman of NPC and president, Democracy Dividends Development Initiatives, charged the governor to tackle the disunity in the state. Citizens Seek Better Business Environment In Kebbi In the next four years, the people of Kebbi State want returning governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu to create a more conducive atmosphere for business to thrive in the state. A businessman in Kebbi, Alhaji Umar Yalli, who sells communication gadgets/recharge cards in the state capital asked the governor to explore more investment sources to develop the hide and skin sector. Yalli said that the state was blessed with abundant livestock and its products hence the need to take advantage of it for the benefit of the people. ‘’If Bagudu can replicate what is happening in Aba, I mean to construct a similar leather factory in the state, it will certainly help in boosting the economy of the state and providing jobs to our teaming unemployed youths,” he said. A prominent politician and chairman of Kebbi APC Elders’ Forum, Alhaji Sani Hukuma Zauro, implored the governor-elect to invest in human resources and appoint people of integrity to help him deliver on his mandate to people during his second tenure. He said that the only way the state could develop rapidly was by getting people who are trusted, hardworking and innovative to form the new government. Tambuwal’s Govt Too Elitist, Say Artisans, Others Scores of professionals and artisans in Sokoto State have asked re-elected governor Aminu Tambuwal, to do better in his second term by promoting good governance. They urged him to change his governance principle from what they termed “elitist mentality and undue protocols” by allowing the led to have more access to him. Also, majority of the workers in the state said that though Tambuwal has tried in salary payment, they, however, admonished him to consider the implementation of the new minimum wage of N30,000. The artisans and laymen took a swipe at the governor’s approach to governance and lamented that his government is not impacting them like his predecessors.

Agriculture, Industries Deserve Special Attention In Imo In Imo State, Chief Nwadiuto Nnakwe Ubaruo, an Owerri-based businessman said that the recession occasioned by the global economic downturn is still affecting businesses and state affairs. He said:  “I expect the governor-elect, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, to put smiles on the faces of Imolites by putting food on the tables of these embattled class of people.   “Our agricultural sector should be revived and genuinely interested farmers given the necessary incentives to go into intensive and extensive farming,” he said. Nze Benson Nkwachukwu Ugwegbulem, a school teacher said that “the governor-elect should create jobs for the teeming unemployed youths, adding that the state’s school system needs a surgical operation to promote qualitative teaching and learning.” Chief Nehemiah Iwuchukwu Ohadinjo, a lawyer, asked Ihedioha to establish factories and industries in the state, operate sound economic policies and bring in experts into strategic sectors to boost the economy. Deltans Challenge Okowa On Education, Others For re-elected governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, NUT chairman, Comrade Titus Okotie, said that he should motivate the teachers to give their best. He said: “Another area is university graduates teaching in primary schools. We want a situation during the governor’s second term that justice and fair play reign; that where everyone will be compensated according to his or her qualifications. University graduate-teachers in primary schools should be promoted beyond Level 13 and it should not be a selective exercise. Comrade Sheriff Mulade, an environmental activist, said: “We have a slogan for Okowa’s second term and that is ‘Okowa for Cleaner Delta,’ because when you go round Delta State, especially the major cities, Asaba, Kwale, Agbor, Ughelli, Sapele, Warri, Oghara, they do not show that we are environmentally conscious. Our environment is not friendly.” A youth leader, Ozofere Andrew, said: “We advise him not to embark on discriminating governance, he should run an inclusive government.” Cross Riverians Demand Equity, Fairness From Gov Ayade Mr. Clarkson Otu, a lawyer and chairman of the Cross River State chapter of Trade Union Congress (TUC) called on Governor Ben Ayade to ensure equity, social justice, and fairness in the distribution of the common wealth instead of a few enjoying it while the majority wallow in abject poverty. Clarkson also asked the re-elected governor not to borrow for the construction of a superhighway because it is not important to the state now, Dr.  Margaret Arop, a medical doctor said that Ayade should solve the problems of workers’ gratuities and promotions seriously. She sought special treatment for medical practitioners to boost their morale and ensure effective service delivery.   To Joy Nsan, a teacher, Ayade should with no further delay implement the N30,000 new minimum wage. Enugu, Oyo Electorate Plead For Loans, Improved IGR In an interview with LEADERSHIP Weekend in Enugu, the programme coordinator of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Mr. Kindness Jonah, said that agriculture is one of the pivotal issues that should be looked into by the governor-elect. He advised the re-elected governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, to find out the problems facing the sector and tackle them so that agriculture would occupy its rightful position in the state. A businessman, Mr. Ikechukwu Agu, urged the governor to further provide soft loans for businessmen and women in the state. A cross section of residents of Oyo State has appealed to the governor-elect, Mr. Seyi Makinde, to base his economic blueprint on how to improve on the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). A political analyst, Olusola Ogundele, said that the promised free education, free medical services and other basic needs for the people by politicians during electioneering had become unfulfilled, as most of them could not raise the money to implement them. He, therefore, called on the incoming governor to think outside the box to generate the money to finance his projects and programmes. Barr. Olatunde Ademola said that the outgoing government had laid a solid foundation for modern Oyo State and urged Makinde to raise the bar in infrastructural development. An educationist, Mrs. Abimbola Aweda, said that the development of the education sector would lead to the development of other sectors, and appealed to the governor-elect to increase the sectoral allocation to meet the standard set by UNESCO Lagos Physically-challenged Begs Sanwo-Olu For Assistance The National Association of Persons Living With Disabilities (NAPLWD) Lagos State chapter wants the governor-elect, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to assist its members. The state chairman of NAPLWD, Dare Dairo, urged Sanwo-Olu to institute a culture of inclusion in all facets of government planning, policies and programmes for them to contribute their quota to the development of the state. He also appealed to the governor-elect to implement the Lagos Disability Law when he takes over the mantle of leadership in the state, noting that, “most local government authorities are not aware of the disability law which provides a comprehensive legal and policy framework for the empowerment, welfare and protection of the rights of people living with disabilities in the state.” Dapo Abiodun Should Learn From Amosun’s Mistakes There is, however, uncertainty in Ogun State over the ability and the willingness of the governor-elect, Prince Dapo Abiodun, to fulfil his electoral promises when he assumes office. Most of the residents said that they were worried about the incoming governor’s promises in the areas of security, education, and primary healthcare delivery.   A medical practitioner, Dr. Adewunmi Alayaki, asked the incoming administration to embark on a fact-finding mission across the state to enable him identify those areas where the citizens were not happy with the outgoing governor which made his anointed candidate to lose the election. “Let Dapo Abiodun listen to what the people say about Amosun; look at those areas where he failed and then harmonise them with his programme of actions for the state,” he said.   The national secretary of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Comrade Yinka Folarin, advised the governor-elect to prioritise good governance and enhance participatory government. A legal practitioner, Isaac Izuyan, would want the incoming administration to liberalise the justice system in Ogun. Udom Should Concentrate On Agriculture, Education, Infrastructure In Akwa Ibom State, the people want returning governor Udom Emmanuel to place emphasis on infrastructure, agriculture and human capital development. Barr. Ubong John of Decastle Chambers in Eket said that infrastructure is critical to the development of the state with a population of over four million people. He, therefore, advised the governor to invest in human capital development, healthcare, education and food production through sustainable farming. Pastor James Udo of Flame of Fire Ministry in Ikot Ekpene tasked the governor in his second term to focus on providing basic and functional education in the state, especially in the area of technical and vocational development

  On his part, Mr. Clifford Thomas of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), said: “I don’t think it is possible to solve all the problems in four years, but work should start in earnest on managing the unemployment index of youths in the state to stem the tide of cultism and other social vices For Dr. Lazarus Maigoro, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) chairman, University of Jos, (UNIJOS), both the federal and state government should continue to fund education well in the country . According to him, education is the bedrock of any nation that wants to develop, stressing that any policy on education should be backed up with action, not just a policy statement. Mazi Anthony Eze, a Jos-based businessman who deals in building materials and Dr. Charles Onuh, who owns a private hospital in Jos, the governor should create a business-friendly environment to encourage people to venture into it. They lamented the high rate of foreign exchange in the country and urged the federal government to take drastic action against it to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians. Source:  Leadershipng Read the full article

[phgq]

Legarda: Translate national plans, policies into local action to enhance resilience

#PHinfo: Legarda: Translate national plans, policies into local action to enhance resilience

Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda (PIA NCR file)

CALOOCAN CITY, March 10 (PIA) -- Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda today called for greater solidarity, cooperation, and action in enhancing the resilience of the Asia-Pacific region in light of the intensifying effects of the climate crisis and the crippling effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as Keynote Speaker at the Plenary Session on Policy and Climate Governance of the 7th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum.

“The massive scale of the climate crisis has never been more evident than today. We meet today in recognition of a planet that is fast declining, as record highs of 2020 as the warmest year and the period 2011 to 2020 as the warmest decade on record, worsening effects of climate change, and economic shocks from this pandemic set us back to achieve our goals on sustainable and resilient development,” said Legarda, a three-term Senator who is also Global Champion for Resilience of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and National Adaptation Plan Champion of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The weeklong forum aims to exchange good practices of climate governance at the international, regional, and national levels that support adaptation actions towards building the resilience of sectors, including shaping a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Asia-Pacific region is considered as highly vulnerable to climate and disaster impacts, with the 2019 Asia-Pacific Disaster Report finding that “economic losses due to disasters are larger than previously estimated with most of this additional loss linked to the impact of slow onset disasters in the agricultural sector” and that “multi-hazard average annual loss (AAL) for the region is $675  billion, of which $405 billion, or 60 percent, is drought-related agricultural losses, particularly in rural economies.”

Legarda also cited a study from the Asian Development Bank, which said that “even under the Paris consensus scenario in which global warming is limited to 1.5°C to 2°C above preindustrial levels, some of the land area, ecosystems, and socioeconomic sectors will be significantly affected by climate change impacts, to which policymakers and the investment community need to adapt.”

The legislator, who is also a Commissioner of the Global Commission on Adaptation, stressed that the Asia-Pacific region could expect prolonged heatwaves, coastal sea-level rise, and changes in rainfall patterns, which could disrupt ecosystem services and lead to severe effects on livelihoods, and in turn, affect human health and migration dynamics, and give rise to potential conflicts.

As the author of landmark laws on climate adaptation and mitigation and environmental protection, Legarda said that policies, plans, and programs should be translated into local action with measurable gains through fair and effective enforcement.

According to the GCA’s 2019 flagship report, “Adapt Now: A global call for leadership on climate resilience,” adaptation investments were found to consistently deliver high returns, with benefit-cost ratios ranging from 2:1 to 10:1 and "often creates more jobs per dollar spent than more traditional investment, with superior local benefits.

Legarda also noted that in the recent Climate Adaptation Summit, governments and businesses committed to bring climate finance to 50 percent adaptation from being skewed in favor of mitigation, and addressed the problem that only 10 percent of climate finance actually reaches local communities.

With this, Legarda underscored the need to promote the principles of “locally-led adaptation” where frontline vulnerable populations must have a voice and role in shaping the recovery in every key sector and system.

“The response must address underlying inequities in society affecting the capacity of local actors to adapt even as they stand on the frontlines of climate change, including marginalized communities, indigenous peoples, women and children, and youth. Local planning and investments can help ensure that the best information is shared, resources are made available, and the best policies are enacted,” Legarda added.

In line with the GCA's "locally-led adaptation" principles, Legarda urged policymakers and leaders to: (1) expand financial resources available to local governments and community-based organizations; (2) facilitate efficient access to international and domestic climate finance and the transfer of technology and knowledge on adaptation and mitigation; (3) adopt nature-based solutions, such as wetlands restoration for water storage and soil moisture, reconnecting rivers to floodplains, planting mangroves to protect from coastal flooding, and increasing green urban spaces; and (4) invest in social preparation for the transformation of all sectors towards low carbon development and a green economy, and the sustained implementation and monitoring of outcomes of national climate plans.

“Considering that ecosystems contribute at least 30 percent of climate solutions, mainstreaming biodiversity conservation and nature-based solutions should be at the very heart of discourse, planning, and implementation of climate action, with cross-sectoral, cross-pillar, and multi-stakeholder engagement as its foundation,” Legarda added.

Lastly, Legarda emphasized the need to implement science-based global, national, and local action plans and policies to identify specific risks and vulnerabilities.

“As leaders, policymakers, planners, and implementers in our respective fields, let us give our region and the world the best fighting chance to bounce back better from this pandemic, ready and braced to cope with and to overcome the climate crisis.”

“Through this summit and beyond, let us learn from another, support each other’s adaptation and mitigation actions, advise on strategies, and strike convergence where possible. The Philippines looks forward and stands ready for more meaningful regional partnerships and initiatives that we could scale up at the global level,” Legarda further said.

The 7th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum is being held virtually from March 8-12, hosted by Japan's Ministry of the Environment together with the APAN Secretariat at the UN Environment Programme.

Resilience as the unifying theme of the event is structured around four thematic “streams”: (i) inclusive resilience (ii) nature-based resilience, (iii) economic sector resilience, and (iv) communities and local resilience.

Join in the week-long Forum by registering through this link: https://bit.ly/2YE3Fbt (PIA NCR)

***

References:

* Philippine Information Agency. "Legarda: Translate national plans, policies into local action to enhance resilience." Philippine Information Agency. https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1069218 (accessed March 10, 2021 at 09:03PM UTC+08).

* Philippine Infornation Agency. "Legarda: Translate national plans, policies into local action to enhance resilience." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1069218 (archived).

[miss-harper-reid]

Four Millennials who are Leading the Charge for a Greener Earth

For the last few decades, scientists have been warning with rising urgency about the state of the Earth’s climate and ecology and the damage being done to it by the human species. As environmental conditions gradually worsen, more and more people are waking up to the reality that humanity’s biggest challenge is the need to save our planet. 

Faced with apathy from older generations and uncertain futures for themselves and for generations to come, younger adults are often painfully aware of this environmental emergency. With their fresh perspectives and fierce passion, these young people are inspiring change worldwide. 

4 Inspiring Millennials Who Are Fighting for a Better World

The four young people profiled here all share common attributes. They all believe in speaking truth to power, finding workable solutions and taking bold action. And most of all, they all believe that ours is a world worth saving. Whether through dedicated research, incisive discourse or inspiring creative arts, these young adults are committed to doing all they can to preserve the Earth for future generations to enjoy.

Leading and Inspiring Through Poetry

Hailing from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, poet and activist Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner is all too aware of the looming threat of climate change. Like many other low-lying areas, the islands are under existential threat from rising sea levels due to global warming melting the polar ice caps. In 2014 she addressed the United Nations Climate Summit with her poignant poem “Dear Matafele Peinem”, written to her infant daughter. Fierce yet full of love, the poem is Jetnil-Kijiner’s vow to protect her child from the impending danger of climate change.

Leading Through Speaking the Truth

Sarah Myhre is an academic researcher and science communicator who studies palaeoclimatology and uses the framework of human rights to talk about climate action. She presents a feminist perspective on environmental concerns such as the gendered and intersectional impact of climate change, drawing the ire of climate deniers and misogynists alike. Myhre also calls attention to sexism and harassment in STEM fields and is a tireless champion of women and people of colour in science.

Leading Through Research

Kate Marvel is a research scientist currently working at Nasa, as well as a science writer and communicator. Her research centres around climate modelling and the multitude of effects that clouds can have upon the Earth’s atmosphere. Marvel writes a column, “Hot Planet” in Scientific American which covers the scientific basis of global warming, climate politics and human advocacy efforts. She is relentlessly passionate about educating people of all ages and walks of life about the complex interactions and implications of global warming.

Leading Through Inspiration and Action

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is a musician, indigenous environmental activist and director of the grassroots conservation organisation Earth Guardians. Hailing from an indigenous Mexican Aztec background, he grew up acutely aware of the threat to our planet and has been making waves as an activist since childhood. In 2015 at the age of just 15, he spoke at the UN, and in the same year, he launched a landmark legal case with 20 other child plaintiffs to sue the US Government for failing to take action on climate change. Their case argues that the government has violated their constitutional rights to clean air and a healthy environment. When he is not fighting the system, Martinez is a hip-hop artist who uses his music to share stories and spark inspiration.

Though they are often stereotyped as entitled and self-absorbed, young people are deeply concerned about sustainability and how our everyday choices are affecting the environment. Millennials want their work to be taken seriously, and they are working on their own ways to take action now, asking: if not us, then who? While their paramount concern is for the Earth’s changing climate and the impending threat that it poses to humankind and other species, young people are also deeply troubled by the myriad of other challenges facing our world. According to a 2017 World Economic Forum survey, Millennials cite war, poverty, inequality, government corruption, education and religious conflicts among the most pressing challenges the world faces today. For a famously ‘selfish’, disengaged generation, they seem to be distinctly altruistic and conscientious. Younger generations have a vision of a cleaner, fairer world, and increasingly, they are not waiting for permission to take action. While Baby Boomers still hold much of the institutional power in leadership roles and often seem happy to uphold the status quo, as they age into retirement the new guard is arriving with an urgent mission to fix the mess made by previous generations. Instead of deriding them for their youth and idealism, people of all generations would be well advised to listen to them, support and elect them and signal boost their voices. Millennials want to save the world: the least we can do is let them try. Our future survival as a species may depend upon it.

[notreallyusefultrashgoblin-blog]

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The Indigenous Family Assault Relationship Community forum was founded in 2005 to allow the Government and Aboriginal towns to address issues of Aboriginal family members violence collectively. We assessed normative values around intimate IPV (females can decline sex from her male partner) using items created for the WHO Multi-Country Research on Domestic Violence 1 Men had been http://www.emgraf.pl/ asked if it was appropriate for a woman to refuse sex with her hubby provided the subsequent circumstances: 1) she will not need to possess sex; 2) he is drunk; 3) she is certainly unwell; 4) he mistreats her; 5) she suspects he offers been unfaithful; 6) she knows that he offers been unfaithful; and 7) he refuses to use condoms.

Our set of questions 43 came from violence and health final result modules including the WHO Multi-country Study on Women's Health & Domestic Violence against Ladies 1 , the LSHTM assault and health among women asylum seekers study 5 , and a trial on close partner assault and HIV avoidance in Uganda 38 All men and females were asked the same questions.

Globally, 30% of women antique 15 and more than possess reported physical and/or intimate violence from an close partner during their lifetime 4 Violence against ladies, including physical and intimate misuse, coercion and risks, has been well-recognised as a open public health concern with harmful brief and long-term physical health effects (such as accidental injuries, functional disorders, chronic pain and reproductive and intimate wellness complications), mental health effects (including depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and post-traumatic tension), and intergenerational and social implications (including raising healthcare costs, child misuse and homicide) 2 , 5 - 11.

Male violence against Roma women remains a mainly undetectable sensation in analysis, plans and programmes within the European union. Pursuing the 2004 and 2007 enlargements of the EU, the Roma became the largest cultural minority group in the EU (estimate 10M) and this brand-new construction brought about a further political acknowledgement of the Roma within the European union, which led to the incorporation of Roma issues in the EU politics agenda.

This pattern was verified using data from the community formative study 29 and baseline survey of this trial, 30 simply because well as in additional latest research carried out by our analysis center and others 38 , 39 In addition, we hypothesized that prejudice in male credit reporting (towards underreporting) would likely become even more extreme after get in touch with with a violence prevention treatment, thus potentially inflating effect estimates and producing the treatment appear even more effective at reducing assault than it in fact acquired on participants.

Manavi : Manavi, which means primal girl” in Sanskrit, is a women's rights organization committed to ending violence and exploitation committed against South Oriental ladies residing in the U.Beds. The company provides direct provider to survivors of assault, grassroots corporation aimed at changing areas, and understanding programs on local and nationwide amounts.

Women's right to live free of charge from assault is normally upheld by worldwide agreements like the Conference on the Removal of All Forms of Discrimination against Females (CEDAW), specifically through General Recommendations 12 and 19 , and the 1993 UN Statement on the Eradication of Assault against Women El Females functions with countries at the global level to advance the international normative platform through support supplied to inter-governmental procedures, like the General Assembly and the CSW At the country level, UN Females supports Governments in implementing and enacting legal reforms lined up with worldwide criteria.

In addition to their very own proper response and interventions to deal with home assault and abuse the American Health & Social Care Trust works in collaboration with others through the European Domestic Violence Relationship WDVP to make sure that all organisations with an curiosity in dealing with home assault are working together with common goals to possess the optimum impact in the Traditional western region.

For example, qualitative research possess uncovered that some Latinas think twice leaving their abusers in keeping with traditional norms of remaining in a marriage 13 - 15 and, among undocumented women, for fear that confirming their abuser would lead to their very own deportation 14 In cases when females had been prepared to survey the IPV to an expert or keep the romantic relationship, British literacy and understanding the interpersonal, wellness, and legal systems can serve as significant barriers for security.

In the US, approximately a third of Latina women record a background of IPV 8 Likened to non-Latina whites, Latina females are more most likely to experience more serious adverse effects from IPV, such as depression low self-esteem, and physical problems 9 - 11 Not only the largest and quickest developing minority group in the US, the Latino inhabitants is definitely also the most youthful.

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Youth-Led Solutions for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A Side Event for International Collaboration (UNPFII Side Event).

Youth-Led Solutions for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A Side Event for International Collaboration (UNPFII Side Event)

In today's global landscape, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires innovative approaches and collaborative efforts from diverse stakeholders. Recognizing the pivotal role of youth as drivers of change, this concept note proposes a side event focused on youth-led solutions for advancing the SDGs. This event aims to provide a platform for young leaders to showcase their initiatives, foster international collaborations, and catalyze action towards achieving the SDGs.

In today's global landscape, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires innovative approaches and collaborative efforts from diverse stakeholders. Recognizing the pivotal role of youth as drivers of change, this concept note proposes a side event focused on youth-led solutions for advancing the SDGs. This event aims to provide a platform for young leaders to showcase their initiatives, foster international collaborations, and catalyze action towards achieving the SDGs.

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues - United Nations Economic and Social Council - UN Web TV

Watch the panel discussion on Youth-Led Solutions for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)!