UN AND CLIMATE DIPLOMACY

Cancun has come and gone. But forging a durable global consensus on a new climate accord remains a herculean task. In fact it reminisces of a highly intricate knot that, according to an ancient Greek legend, resisted all attempted solutions until Alexander the Great cut through it with a sword. Climate diplomacy must focus on environmental, development and equity imperatives. READ MORE

WHAT AFTER THE G20 SEOUL SUMMIT?

The G20 Seoul Summit ended in controversy on November 12, leaving it to France, the 2011 chair, to pick up the discussion agenda and move on. Among the issues waiting to be taken up is the controversial idea of institutionalizing a permanent secretariat for the G20, tabled in August 2010 by French President Nicholas Sarkozy. READ MORE

WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY

Ten years after the Security Council issued its landmark resolution 1325 on October 31, 2000, designed to address the "disproportionate and unique impact of war on women", UN officials and international human rights advocates say it is high time the principles it espouses move from paper to reality. READ MORE

GLOBAL WATER CRISIS

In a historic and long-awaited decision, the United Nations General Assembly adopted recently a resolution that recognized the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.READ MORE

QUO VADIS MDGs?

When heads of government and state gather at the United Nations in New York from September 20-22 to review progress, assess obstacles and gaps, and agree on concrete strategies and actions to meet the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, they will not have much reason to rejoice. UN is rather candid in its reports that "without a major push forward, many of the MDG targets are likely to be missed in most regions".
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WHITHER AFRICA?

Towards the close of the 15th African Union summit, Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi said the continent was on its way to the definite establishment of the United States of Africa. This hyperbole appeared to become reality in the AU shielding Sudan president Bashir. But one swallow does not make a summer. READ MORE

TOWARD A NEW DEVELOPMENT AGENDA     Beyond the headlines about the agreement among most developed G20 countries on growth-friendly plans to reduce deficits, though at different speeds in different countries, the Toronto Summit Declaration contains what could become a new development agenda, focusing on support for growth in low income countries. This means that there is much work to do before the G-20 summit in Seoul in November. READ MORE

GOOD AND BAD NEWS FROM AFRICA

Africa is taking a growing role in the world, its population is increasing fast and so too is its need for finance to build for the future. To achieve the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals and close the gap between its infrastructure and the rest of the world’s, the continent requires an annual investment of $93 billion over the next decade, says a landmark new study. READ MORE

EMERGING POWER EQUATIONS

Two acronyms in the alphabet soup of world affairs received heightened attention in mid-April when IBSA and BRIC met in Brasilia to review past performance, assess present needs, and work out their plans for the future. These two important events for the ‘Global South’  will have great resonance for the future shape of South-South cooperation and help bring about new power equations. READ MORE

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' RIGHTS

While preparations begin for a midterm review of the Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (2005-2014), a critical evaluation of human rights initiatives, including the 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has begun. A two-day gathering of Asia-Pacific parliamentarians in Manila, provided an opportunity to cast a close look at what has been achieved and what still needs to be done.

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THE U.S. NUCLEAR POSTURE

Nearly two decades after the Cold War ended, the Barack Obama administration is carrying out the third subsequent assessment of the roles and missions for the U.S. nuclear forces and the associated production and maintenance infrastructure. It is viewed by many as an opportunity for significant progress on nuclear disarmament, energized by President Obama's joint commitment with his Russian counterpart, President Dmitriy Medvedev, to work toward a "nuclear-free world". READ MORE

FROM COPENHAGEN TO BONN & MEXICO

Big expectations on the climate change conference last month in Copenhagen were belied. Will the forthcoming meeting in June in Bonn and the global conference end of the year in Mexico lead to legally binding agreements? UN's top climate official Yvo de Boer prefers not to commit himself. READ MORE

TOWARDS A GREEN ECONOMY

Several initiatives are under way to move toward a global green economy, most of these associated with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and supported, among others, by Germany and the EU Commission. But private investors from industrialized and emerging economies are also actively involved. Read more

SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION

Developing nations are faced with huge economic and financial problems and need funds and technical cooperation from Europe and the United States. But this is only one aspect of reality. They have meanwhile acquired a high profile in world economy and in global decision-making - thanks due to increasing South-South cooperation. Read more

WALK THE DEVELOPMENT TALK

A new report finds that Germany's overall commitment to development is fair to middling. Europe's economic powerhouse ranks 12th among the 22 'donor nations' in the Commitment to Development Index (CDI) 2009, authored by the Washington-based 'Center for Global Development'. The Index is designed to encourage donor countries to adopt policies that are more likely to promote development across a broad range of issues, which define their relationships with poor countries. Read more

CLOSER TO NUCLEAR ABOLITION

Since U.S. President Barack Obama pledged to usher in a nuclear free world this April in Prague, the movement for abolishing atomic weapons has gathered momentum. The UN Security Council's special session on Sep. 24 is not only historic but also a milestone on the long road toward the ambitious goal. Read more

COUNTDOWN TO COPENHAGEN

Whether Europe and the United States like it or not, negotiations in run up to the UN climate change conference this December in Copenhagen leave no doubt that the only global deal developing countries are prepared to consider must include commitments from developed nations to immediate emissions mitigation, more financial assistance, and to giving developing nations greater control of global climate institutions. Read more

GOOD BYE, U.S. DOLLAR?

Brazil, China, India and Russia -- backed by France -- have all questioned the dollar's future as a global reserve currency, a status it has enjoyed since inheriting it from sterling last century. China's central bank earlier this year laid out an alternative to the dollar in the form of a special international reserve currency administered by the International Monetary Fund. However, most experts believe it will take years for the dollar to be eclipsed. Read more

FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT

Has the 'unachievable' been achieved at the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development June 24-26 at the headquarters of the world organisation? Ask the General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann. His reply is: "Definitely yes". Is a global organisation like the UN really an appropriate body to solve the economic crisis the world is confronting now? Ask the German Economic Cooperation and Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. Her reply is: "I would say, yes." However, going by reactions of non-governmental organisations and other development policy activists and experts, not everybody would agree with D’Escoto or Wieczorek-Zeul. Read more

THE DEVELOPING COUNTRY DEBT

The financial crisis threatens a new debt crisis in many developing countries. However, this issue is not high on the EU's agenda, the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) says. This is indicated by the outcome of the development ministers' meeting at the EU's General Affairs and External Relations Council on May 18. Read more

WANTED 2ND 'DELIVERING AS ONE' INITIATIVE

The international discourse on foreign aid has in recent years been dominated by the theme of harmonization and coordination of aid efforts sometimes also referred to as 'Delivering as One'. Read more

TOWARD A BRIGHTER FUTURE

In a globalized world undergoing rapid transformation, transatlantic relations are of central importance. However, the transatlantic cooperation needs to be renewed and the common agenda reformulated in the light of current global challenges, write Gunilla Carlson and Jim Kolbe, Co-Chairs of the Transatlantic Taskforce on Development. Read more

THE GLOBAL GREEN NEW DEAL

When UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a Green New Deal at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznañ last December, the uninitiated thought he was presenting a new concept that would work for all nations, rich as well as poor, in the face of both climate change and the global economy.

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RENEWABLES GO GLOBAL

Renewables have indeed gone global. The newlyfounded world-organisation International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) already represents over two and a half billion people, over a third of the global population. After India joined IRENA as its 76th member, the number of people living in its member states and thus directly impacted by the agency rose to more than 2.5 billion. Read more