Optimizing Development Co-benefits to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
A year ago at the United Nations General Assembly, world leaders from 193 nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, along with a bold set of new sustainable development goals (SDGs). While some have hailed the SDGs as a historic moment—where for the first time, all countries have …
Middle East is ‘Promised Land’ for renewable energy investment
The Middle East tripled renewable energy investment last year despite fewer energy dollars being spent globally, with industry insiders characterising the region as a hot spot for green investment. The International Energy Agency (IEA) released a report on Wednesday that showed energy inve…
Child Soldiers in Mali – A Skinny Boy with a Kalashnikov
Abdallah’s war is only a short bus ride away. Mali, Abdallah’s long-suffering country, is 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the house where the shy boy is now crouched on the floor. Abdallah was 11 when Tuareg rebels launched an uprising against Mali’s central government in 2012. He fled westward with h…
12 ideas to save Europe
It’s a big week for Future-of-Europe junkies. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is set to offer his vision in a State of the Union speech Wednesday morning in Strasbourg. EU leaders — apart from Britain’s Theresa May — will meet Friday in Bratislava to kick around idea…
The Taliban’s Latest Battlefield: Social Media
More than a few observers have noted the Taliban’s hypocrisy toward technology. During the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s heyday in the late 1990s, when the militants controlled 90 percent of the country and implemented a fundamentalist, totalitarian vision of religious law, they shunned…
The political priority for climate action
The deadly flood in Louisiana and the severe fire season in southern California in the United States are part of a worldwide rise in climate-related floods, storms, droughts, and wildfires. Their occurrence, alongside epic floods in China, drought in India, forest fires in Canada, and heat waves and…
Reclaiming Our Place at the Table: Empowering African Women Leaders
In Africa, we know something about powerful women. The history of African women working, fighting and ruling alongside men stretches back thousands of years. Queens like Cleopatra of Egypt, Nzinga M’Bandi of Angola, and Taytu Betul of Ethiopia, spiritualist leaders like Nehanda C…
North Korea’s Fifth Nuclear Test and the International Response
North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test (second in 2016) on September 9, 2016, the sixty-eighth anniversary of the country’s founding. North Korea claimed the test would enable it to build a nuclear warhead that is “able to be mounted on strategic ballistic rockets.” South Korean Pres…
Op-Ed: Can CITES cope with the illegal wildlife trade?
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is increasingly expected to control the estimated $19-billion illegal trade in endangered plants and animals. However, a recent paper for the South African Institute for International Affairs think tank notes…
The Role of the UN General Assembly
Since its inception seventy-one years ago, the United Nations General Assembly has been a forum for lofty declarations, sometimes audacious rhetoric, and rigorous debate over the world’s most vexing issues, from poverty and development to peace and security. As the deliberative and representative or…