Category Archives: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Global Solutions Lab: Eliminating Urban Poverty

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An announcement from Medard Gabel, Director, Global Solutions Lab

The 15th Annual Global Solutions Lab is June 17–25, 2017, at the United Nations in New York and Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, PA. Participants from around the world will be briefed by, interact with, and question UN experts (from UN Habitat, UN Development Program, UN Environmental Program, UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO, FAO and other UN agencies) and then, working collaboratively in small teams, develop designs, programs and strategies that deal with one of the critical problems facing our world’s urban environments. The participants present their work to a group of UN, corporate and foundation leaders at the end of the program. After this, their work is published in a book.

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Question for this article:

Can UN agencies help eradicate poverty in the world?

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This year’s theme is Eliminating Urban Poverty by 2030. The focus will be on the problems facing the cities of the world— where over 55% of the world’s population currently live (and where 70% are expected to live by 2050). How do we turn sinks into sources? How can we transform urban sinks for food, energy, and water into sources for these valuable resources? How do we do this while simultaneously meeting the needs for housing, education, health care, employment and recreation?

The Global Solutions Lab is a structured learning experience that fosters creativity, disruptive innovations, global perspectives and local solutions. It is intense, fast-paced, and for many, transformative.

If you know any students or others who might be interested in this type of event, have them get in touch with us. They can do this at the Lab’s website, or by emailing us at mg@depaceminterris.org. Further information is also in the link to this PDF flyer.

North America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Top five solar energy inventions from Africa

.. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ..

An article from Deutsche Welle

In 2017, eco@africa featured a host of eco heroes bringing solar power to their communities through innovative business ideas and inventions. Here are our top five solar solutions from Africa.


Nigeria’s solar clock king, Emmanuel Obayagbona
(Note: Each of the examples in the original article includes a photo and a brief video)

5. Cameroon’s green car wash

The residents of Douala in western Cameroon often face water shortages but they still like to have clean cars. The problem is an average car wash in the country uses up to 50 liters of water per vehicle. Entrepreneur Sylvain Honnang came up with an idea that saves water and doesn’t pollute the air. His solar-powered mobile car wash uses just six liters of water per car. His employees also use non-toxic, organic cleaning products.  “It’s not just a machine but a whole concept and teaching people about saving water,” said Honnang, who founded the company Howash to promote the service. 

4. Nigeria’s solar clock king

Most people in southeast Nigeria are connected to the public electricity grid. But power outages are common, leaving communities in darkness at night. The situation inspired electrical engineer Emmanuel Obayagbona to make a solar-powered clock that also doubles as a lamp and a cell-phone charger when the grid fails. It takes about three hours for Obayagbona to make a clock but he hopes to mass produce his invention soon. 

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Question for this article:

Are we making progress in renewable energy?

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3. Bringing solar knowledge to Cameroon

Bolivie Wakam studied renewable energy at an Italian university and wanted to spread this knowledge in his home country of Cameroon. He started training young people in his community to install and use solar panels. Wakam has also installed solar-powered street lights and a water purification plant run on the sun’s rays. The activist wants to see the majority of Africans — particularly those in rural areas with no access to electricity — kitted out with solar panels. “Renewable energy sources can be used over again and people don’t have to pay for electricity because it’s free,” said Wakam, who founded the NGO Africa Tech Solar to promote green energy across the continent.

2. Solar-powered haircuts

In Lagos, Nigeria, many businesses rely on dirty and noisy generators as a back-up when the state’s power supply cuts out. Segun Adaju, the CEO of Consistent Energy Limited, travels around the city promoting solar panels as an alternative for small and medium-sized enterprises. The solar panels last 20 years and can be paid for in increments. Many of the city’s numerous barbershops have made the switch already.

Mobile solar kiosks bring jobs and power

Some 70 percent of Rwanda’s 11.5 million inhabitants have a cell phone but only 22 percent have regular access to electricity. That’s why mobile solar kiosks, which Rwandans can use to charge their devices for a small fee, are starting to take off.  The kiosks are the brainchild of Henri Nyakarundi of Africa Renewable Energy. So far, 40 have sprung up across the country. They are run by independent vendors who pay a proportion of their earnings to the inventor. For Nyakarundi promoting solar energy is important but so is creating jobs for those who have few opportunities to work. He hopes to spread the micro-franchise to neighboring Uganda in 2018. 

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

Africa, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Moonshots are not a question of age: millennial Boyan Slat inventor of The Ocean Cleanup

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Eleonora Bidiville for The Universal Sea

Are you wondering if superheroes exist? 23 years old Boyan Slat, a Dutch inventor and entrepreneur is the living proof.

Boyan Slat is the founder and the CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, a non-profit organisation of professionals  founded in 2013, who invented a new technology to solve a massive societal issue: getting rid of plastic in the oceans.


If the pilot project is a success, Slat plans to launch a bigger system to tackle the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. (Photo: The Ocean Cleanup)

One would think that there is no other possibility than to manually, on boats, gather and pick up the plastic from the water with nets. A quite inefficient and time-consuming solution, leading to vast amounts of carbon emission. However, Slat seems to have found the answer to the problem.

The advanced operation, which is still in evolution, works as a floating barrier taking advantage of the ocean currents, hence working autonomously. The technology follows the ocean’s movements, just like plastics, and thanks to floaters with a solid screen underneath, concentrates the plastic debris and leads them to a collection system. “The system is then slowed down by a drift anchor suspended at an approximate depth of 600 meters, making the system move slower than the plastic and therefore catching it.”

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Question for this article:

If we can connect up the planet through Internet, can’t we agree to preserve the planet?

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The Ocean Cleanup is planning to build a fleet of these floating barriers and leave them in the oceans. The company has estimated to be able to remove 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in a time-lapse of 5 years. An impressive number when we consider that there is already a plastic island three times the surface of France in the ocean!

The obvious following question is: What are we supposed to do with all this gathered plastic now? Boyan Slat and his team also thought about that. The accumulated waste is then brought back to the shore to be recycled and eventually sold to B2C companies. In addition, the money gained from this transaction is used to fund the project’s expansion and be able to clean the other four oceans gyres. The project has already been successfully tested several times in the North Sea in 2016 – 2017 and is set to be finally deployed into the Great Pacific Gyres in May 2018.

The Universal Sea – Pure or Plastic?! promotes such revolutionary organisations. Our goal is to reach out to the great public through artists’ abilities  who sensitise individuals on an emotional base and through the contribution of entrepreneurs, who bring the business component as a base for long-term effects. We want to bring into action a community ready to positively change the world.


The Universal Sea counts on your support to make the world improve!  Register and start sharing your projects, events or initiatives. Thanks to our constantly growing community, we want to offer the possibility to people to join your project against plastic dumping and help you to bring it to the next level.

The Universal Sea, your choice, your action!

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

UNESCO and UNWTO Sign Muscat Declaration on Tourism and Culture: Fostering Sustainable Development

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from UNESCO

Culture, in all of its wondrous expressions, inspires more than 1.2 billion tourists to pack a bag and cross international borders each year. It is an important means to promote inter-cultural dialogue, create employment opportunities, curb rural migration, and nurture a sense of pride among host communities. Yet unmanaged, it can also harm the very heritage cultural tourism relies on.


Photo copyright Ministry of Heritage and Culture of Oman

Recognizing that a sustainable, approach with buy-in from all partners, is crucial to cultural tourism, peacebuilding and heritage protection, on 12 December, the Muscat Declaration on Tourism and Culture: Fostering Sustainable Development was signed by representatives of UNESCO, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), delegations, private sector, local communities and NGOs.

This concluded the two-day World Conference on Tourism and Culture co-organized by UNESCO and the UNWTO and hosted by the Sultanate of Oman. Through the Declaration, some 30 Ministers and Vice Ministers of Tourism and Culture, and 800 participants from 70 countries, reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen the synergies between tourism and culture, and to advance the contribution of cultural tourism to the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

“Cultural tourism is growing, in popularity, in importance and in diversity embracing innovation and change. Yet, with growth comes increased responsibility, responsibility to protect our cultural and natural assets, the very foundation of our societies and our civilizations” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.

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(Click here for the french version of this article.)

Question related to this article:

How can tourism promote a culture of peace?

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Francesco Bandarin, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, emphasized that we need to create a positive dynamic between culture and tourism “that promotes sustainability while benefiting local communities. This dynamic must contribute to safe and sustainable cities, decent work, reduced inequalities, the environment, promoting gender equality and peaceful and inclusive societies.”

Ministers from Cambodia, Libya, Somalia, Iraq and Vietnam discussed the role of cultural tourism as a factor of peace and prosperity, and shared views on the capacity of tourism to support the recovery of their countries.

The Declaration calls for cultural tourism policies that not only empower local communities, but also employ new, innovative tourism models that advance sustainable development, host-guest interaction, and cultural exchange. It promotes integrating sustainable cultural tourism and the protection of heritage in national, regional and international security frameworks. The Declaration also references UNESCO’s 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and 2005 Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in relation to these objectives.

Ahmed Bin Nasser Al Mahrizi, Minister of Tourism of the Sultanate of Oman, highlighted the importance of exchanging experiences and ideas to achieving sustainable tourism development. Participants shared best practices on issues such as community engagement, visitors’ management, and use of resources from tourism in conservation in such diverse locations as the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania, the Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates or the Palace of Versailles in France. Entrepreneurship, SME’s and the protection of traditional knowledge were viewed as compatible with developing sustainable tourism, with examples from India in the hotel sector and in other regions developing local food initiatives. Other examples included World Bank projects revitalizing cultural heritage for sustainable tourism development, and Seabourn Cruise Line’s partnership with UNESCO to raise awareness of World Heritage with their guests.

Following the first UNWTO/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture in Cambodia in 2015, this second Conference was part of the official events of the 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism, so declared by the United Nations. Istanbul (Turkey) and Kyoto (Japan) will host the 2018 and 2019, editions respectively.

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, United Nations,

World Bank Group Announcement at One Planet Summit

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

A press release from The World Bank (bold face added by CPNN)

At the One Planet Summit [Paris, 12 December, 2017] convened by President Emmanuel Macron of France, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank Group made a number of new announcements in line with its ongoing support to developing countries for the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement’s goals.

1. WBG and upstream oil and gas

As a global multilateral development institution, the World Bank Group is continuing to transform its own operations in recognition of a rapidly changing world.  To align its support to countries to meet their Paris goals:

The World Bank Group will no longer finance upstream oil and gas, after 2019. 
(In exceptional circumstances, consideration will be given to financing upstream gas in the poorest countries where there is a clear benefit in terms of energy access for the poor and the project fits within the countries’ Paris Agreement commitments.)

2. Ramping up WBG climate ambition through its Climate Change Action Plan

The WBG is on track to meet its target of 28% of its lending going to climate action by 2020 and to meeting the goals of its Climate Change Action Plan – developed following the Paris Agreement. 

In line with countries submitting updated and potentially more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the World Bank Group will present a stock-take of its Climate Change Action Plan and announce new commitments and targets beyond 2020 at COP24 in Poland in 2018.

3. Transparency and disclosure to drive our own decarbonization

The World Bank Group is working hard to ensure that climate accountability is mainstreamed throughout its operations. In addition to measures already in place:

I) Starting next year, the World Bank Group will report greenhouse gas emissions from the investment projects it finances in key emissions-producing sectors, such as energy. The results will be published in late 2018, and annually thereafter.

II) The World Bank will be applying a shadow price on carbon in the economic analysis of all IBRD/IDA projects in key high-emitting sectors where design has begun since July 2017.  IFC started using carbon pricing in key sectors in January 2017 and will mainstream the same starting January 2018″

4. Mobilizing Finance for transformation in mitigation and climate resilience

To accelerate the mobilization of finance:

I) IFC will invest up to $325 million in the Green Cornerstone Bond Fund, a partnership with Amundi, to create the largest ever green-bond fund dedicated to emerging markets. This is a $2 billion initiative aiming to deepen local capital markets, and expand and unlock private funding for climate-related projects.  The fund is already subscribed at over $1 billion.

II) Last week, the World Bank and the Government of Egypt signed a $1.15 billion development policy loan aimed at reducing fossil fuel subsidies and creating the environment for low-carbon energy development.

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Question for this article:

Divestment: is it an effective tool to promote sustainable development?

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III) The World Bank Group will continue to support investments highlighted at the One Planet Summit which demonstrate opportunities to crowd in different kinds of finance in transformational areas. This includes accelerating energy efficiency in India; scaling up solar energy in Ethiopia, Pakistan and Senegal among other countries; establishing a West Africa Coastal Areas investment platform to build resilience for coastlines of West African countries (partnering with WAEMU, NDF, GEF, GFDRR, AFD, AfDB); and introducing the City Resilience Platform (partnering with the Global Covenant of Mayors) so that up to 500 cities will have access to finance for resilience to climate change.

IV) The World Bank Group will continue to work with the United Nations and other partners on the implementation of the Invest4Climate platform, which will systematically crowd in multiple sources of finance, with a major event showcasing investment opportunities planned for May 2018 at the Innovate4Climate conference in Frankfurt.

V) IFC will work to set a single unifying global standard on green bonds, similar to the Equator Principles, as a means to facilitate the development of the green bond market to crowd in private finance into climate business. And to stimulate the greening of the financial sector, the World Bank Group will partner with the Sustainable Banking Network (SBN) to provide technical support to develop and implement national Roadmaps for Sustainable Finance in six countries. These roadmaps are based on a framework developed jointly with UN Environment.

VI)   AXA Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program (MCPP) will allocate a substantial portion of projects to climate-smart infrastructure investments.  IFC and Finland launched the Finland-IFC Climate Change Program, a €114 million returnable capital contribution to spur private sector financing for climate-change solutions,targeting low-income countries focused on investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, green buildings, climate-smart agriculture, and forestry.

5. Working in partnership

To further accelerate climate action, the World Bank Group will be working with various partners to deepen climate action:

I) For the first time, all the Multilateral Development Banks and all International Development Finance Club Members issued a joint statement aligning their finance with the Paris Agreement and identifying areas where they will work together to advance climate-smart development.

II) Canada and the World Bank will work together to accelerate the energy transition in developing countries and, together with the International Trade Union Confederation, will provide analysis to support efforts towards a just transition away from coal.

III) Working with France’s AFD and the Kingdom of Morocco, the World Bank will work to accelerate adaptation in agriculture for Africa.

IV) The World Bank will support a unique partnership between Caribbean leaders and people, multilateral organizations, and local and international private sector to define a vision for the world’s first climate-smart zone. The key priority areas for action include renewable energy, resilient infrastructure, innovative financing, and capacity building.

V) The World Bank Group will support, through the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, the proposed Carbon Markets of the Americas initiative.

VI) Together with Ethiopia, Fiji, Germany, the United Kingdom and other government, NGO and private sector partners so far, the World Bank will support the new InsuResilience Global Partnership with the goal  of significantly scaling up climate risk finance and insurance solutions in developing countries, with a focus on poor and vulnerable people. It will stimulate the creation of effective climate risk insurance markets and the smart use of insurance-related schemes to protect lives and livelihoods from the impacts of disasters. More than $125million has been committed to the initiative so far. It is built on strong G20 and V20 support and has 40 members so far.

VII) The Principles on Blended Concessional Finance, first published in 2013, have been recently enhanced with more detailed guidelines developed by a working group (chaired by IFC) representing Development Finance Initiatives (DFIs) that annually invest more than $35 billion a year in private sector solutions. These principles include promoting commercially sustainable solutions so that the use of scarce public concessional finance is minimized; and state the need for high social, environmental, and governance standards.

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, United Nations,

Greenpeace: Great news for the Arctic AND the Antarctic!

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

A blogpost by Louisa Casson for Greenpeace (reprinted for educational purpose)

Last night, [November 30] governments from around the world agreed to protect a huge part of the Arctic Ocean against all commercial fishing. Thanks to the millions of you who supported our Save the Arctic campaign, an area roughly the size of the Mediterranean Sea will be safe from industrial fishing for at least the next 16 years.


caption: Polar Bear on Sea Ice in Baffin Bay. Copyright Greenpeace.

This means we have an even stronger platform to push countries to commit to more long-term protection for this vulnerable ocean and remove the threats of destructive fishing and fossil fuels for good.

On the other side of the planet, a massive ocean sanctuary in the Antarctic’s Ross Sea comes into force today. An area of ocean twice the size of Spain is now protected from all kinds of extractive industries and can remain one of the most exceptional shallow oceans left on Earth.

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Question for this article:

What is the relation between the environment and peace

Despite the vested interests of companies and governments, Can we make progress toward sustainable development?

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This is amazing news for polar bears AND penguins – as well as all of us who depend on healthy oceans across the world.

These two victories are proof that people power works. When we work together, incredible things can happen. So if anyone tells you it’s impossible to save the Arctic or create the biggest protected area in the Antarctic, show them this blog. It always seems impossible until it’s done.

But we’re not stopping here. Back in the 1980s, millions of people persuaded their governments to ditch plans to open up the continent of Antarctica for mining and protect it forever. Now we have an opportunity to make history by creating the largest protected area on the planet, in the Antarctic ocean.

An Antarctic Ocean Sanctuary would not only be a safe haven for penguins, whales and seals, but it would keep those waters off-limits to huge industrial fishing vessels sucking up the tiny shrimp-like krill, on which all Antarctic sea life relies.

This historic day for the protection of polar oceans is a reminder that together we can succeed.

So celebrate these decisions, keep going and help us restore our blue planet – all the way from the Arctic to the Antarctic!

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Norway: ‘Biggest Pile of Money on the Planet’ To Dump Fossil Fuels Holdings

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Julia Conley for Common Dreams (reprinted according to terms of Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License)

Environmental advocates on Thursday applauded the latest organization to shift away from continued support of the fossil fuel industry—Norway’s national bank.

In a move 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben called “astonishing,” Norges Bank, which oversees the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, advised the Norwegian government to dump all of its shares in oil and gas companies, leaving those entities out of its $1 trillion fund.


About six percent of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is invested in oil and gas companies—but the countries central bank advised that all those shares be dumped, amid falling oil prices and expectations of a dim future for fossil fuels. (Photo: Guy Beauchamp/Flickr/cc)

The bank’s decision comes two years after Norway’s parliament approved a measure calling for the fund to begin divesting from coal companies.

Norges Bank made the new recommendation in light of falling oil prices. Oil and gas are seen as increasingly risky investments as more countries turn to cleaner energy sources in order to meet requirements under the Paris climate agreement, which aims to keep global warming under two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

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Question for this article:

Divestment: is it an effective tool to promote sustainable development?

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While Norway has built much of its sovereign wealth through oil and gas development in the past—six percent of the fund is invested in fossil fuels—it’s now home to a fast-growing solar power sector, with solar installations rising by 366 percent from 2015 to 2016.

“It is not surprising that we see the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund managers no longer prepared to take the increasing risk associated with oil and gas assets, which do not have a long-term future,” said Paul Fisher of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, in an interview with the Guardian.

McKibben compared the bank’s recommendation to “the moment when the Rockefellers divested the world’s oldest oil fortune” in 2014, when the heirs to Standard Oil said that if founder John D. Rockefeller were alive in the 21st century, “he would be moving out of fossil fuels and investing in clean, renewable energy.”

“This is the biggest pile of money on the planet, most of it derived from oil—but that hasn’t blinded its owners to the realities of the world we now inhabit,” said McKibben.

Nicolò Wojewoda of 350.org Europe was also hopeful about the implications of Norges Bank’s decision, calling it “yet another nail in the coffin of the coal, oil, and gas industry.”

“To stop climate catastrophe, fossil fuels need to stay in the ground. Investing in them is no longer financially sound, nor morally acceptable, and this proposal is a clear recognition of that,” Wojewoda added.

Europe, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Tunis: Strengthening the scientific partnership between Iran and the Arab countries

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from Web Manager Center (translated by CPNN)

Arab and Iranian academics who attended the third international scientific congress of universities in Iran and the Arab world, held in Tunis on November 11-12, stressed the importance of strengthening the cultural and civilizational exchange between the countries of the Arab world to break the stereotypes created by politicians and the media that no longer fit the reality of today.

The conference culminated in the publication of a press release containing scientific recommendations, including the valorization of the fruitful scientific partnership between Arab and Iranian universities and the need to engage in in-depth dialogues to develop scientific strategies capable of strengthening academic relations between both parties for a better and promising future to the Arab-Persian academic partnership.

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(Click here for the original French version of this article.)

Question for this article:

How can we ensure that science contributes to peace and sustainable development?

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The recommendations also emphasized the importance of science as a human heritage that transcends ethnic conflict, calling for enhanced exchanges and the promotion of objective information and the culture of peace and tolerance.

The participants also called for a real debate among Muslims to better position Islam with other religions and to promote the common scientific heritage to educate young people with common civilizational foundations and spread the Arabic and Persian languages. They also stressed the importance of promoting the efforts of translation as a means of spreading the culture and science of the countries and the intensification of academic meetings and exchanges between Arab and Iranian students, professors and researchers.

It should be noted that this congress, organized under the supervision of the University of Manouba, saw the participation of presidents of Arab universities in Tunisia, Lebanon, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Iraq and Tunisia. Syria in addition to the participation of 11 Iranian universities.

Conferences on the sidelines of this event focused on ways to strengthen the university partnership between the countries of the Arab world and Iran.

Mideast, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Jordan: Peace through science

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An editorial from the Jordan Times

His Majesty King Abdullah inaugurated on Tuesday at the Dead Sea the World Science Forum 2017, which this year had “Science for peace” as its theme, a topic strongly supported by this distinguished meeting that normally seeks to highlight the role of science in building and fostering a culture of peace at all levels of society, and the potential of science to create mechanisms that promise peaceful opportunity.


Jordanian Princess Sumaya, chair of the World Science Forum 2017 and president of the Royal Scientific Society, speaks during the opening ceremony of the World Science Forum 2017 in Sweimeh, Jordan, on Nov. 7, 2017. Photo from Xinhua Net

The forum, first held in Hungary in 2003, was attended this year by visiting Hungary President János Ader, who joined some 3,000 scientists, policymakers, Nobel laureates, academics and investors from over 120 countries at this meeting held for the first time in the area.

The King honoured several prominent Jordanian scientists who made remarkable achievements in various fields and said, on the occasion, that knowledge can help realise stability and development for “our world and the future of our generations”.

With so much turmoil and fighting laying the Middle East to waste, it is no wonder that this year’s forum wishes to highlight the role of science in building and fostering peace.

But equally important to achieving peace is food, water and security, as highlighted by the Hungarian president who, mentioning the region’s rich historical lessons, pointed out the reasons this year’s forum focuses on these issues: “If we look at only its past 100 years, we can see that competition for natural resources — like arable land, water and energy — has almost always contributed to conflicts within and between countries. It is no accident that this year’s forum focuses on the issues of food security, water and energy. All three of these areas are fundamental to security.”

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Question for this article:

How can we ensure that science contributes to peace and sustainable development?

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They certainly are, particularly when knowing that, as the president said, 2 billion people have no access to safe drinking water, 4 billion have no access to adequate sanitation, in 36 countries, per capita water supplies have fallen to a critical level and around 80 per cent of waste water is dumped, untreated, into the biosphere, all problems with great potential to create instability or worse.

As such, HRH Princess Sumaya, chairperson of this year’s forum and president of the Royal Scientific Society, expressed hope that the “stark and shared” challenges and “critical needs of our world” can be addressed, “to create a future that is worthy of our human spirit”.

As she also aptly put it, “knowledge is the key to our future, and science and technology must be empowered to acknowledge those truths that are challenged today”.

Indeed, only through knowledge and daring pioneering work can mankind hope to better its lot, harness nature’s bounty and caprices, overcome petty instincts and avoid savage conduct; only thorough scientific knowledge can it understand the world around, live harmoniously and succeed in combating the scourges of our days: radicalism and terrorism.

Only through it can it hope to survive as a species and save this planet so aggressively exploited.

Theoretical physicist, best-selling author and renowned futurist Michio Kaku said it better: “The future belongs to the educated, dreamers and the curious young people… .”

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is now considering articulating a “general comment” on the right to science as a means to upgrade human thinking and intellectual integrity, an issue on which the forum organisers might wish to collaborate with the UN.

Knowledge means power, progress and emancipation. Spreading it is the duty of all those who possess it. The forum is essential to that endeavour.

Mideast, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

World’s Largest Tropical Reforestation to Plant 73 Million Trees in Brazilian Amazon

. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from Ecowatch

The largest tropical reforestation effort in history aims to restore 73 million trees in the Brazilian Amazon by 2023. The multimillion dollar, six-year project, led by Conservation International, spans 30,000 hectares of land—the equivalent of the size of 30,000 soccer fields, or nearly 70,000 acres. The effort will help Brazil move towards its Paris agreement target of reforesting 12 million hectares of land by 2030.

“This is a breathtakingly audacious project,” Dr. M. Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International, said in a statement. “Together with an alliance of partners, we are undertaking the largest tropical forest restoration project in the world, driving down the cost of restoration in the process. The fate of the Amazon depends on getting this right—as do the region’s 25 million residents, its countless species and the climate of our planet.”

The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest, home to indigenous communities and an immense variety and richness of biodiversity. The latest survey detailed 381 new species discovered in 2014-2015 alone.

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Question for this article:

Despite the vested interests of companies and governments, Can we make progress toward sustainable development?

When you cultivate plants, do you cultivate peace?

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But this precious land has been threatened by decades of commercial exploitation of natural resources, minerals and agribusiness, as Conservation International editorial director Bruno Vander Velde writes, “leading to about 20 percent of original forest cover to be replaced by pastures and agricultural crops, without securing the well-being of the local population.”

“The reforestation project fills an urgent need to develop the region’s economy without destroying its forests and ensuring the well-being of its people,” he notes.

Fast Company reports that instead of planting saplings—which is labor- and resource-intensive—the reforestation effort will involve the “muvuca” strategy, a Portuguese word that means many people in a small place. The strategy involves the spreading of seeds from more than 200 native forest species over every square meter of deforested land and allowing natural selection to weed out the weaker plants. As Fast Company notes, a 2014 study by the Food and Agriculture Organization and Bioversity International found that the muvuca technique allowed more than 90 percent of native tree species planted to germinate. Not only that, they especially resilient and suited to survive drought conditions for up to six months.

According to Rodrigo Medeiros, vice president of Conservation International’s Brazil office, priority areas for the restoration effort include southern Amazonas, Rondônia, Acre, Pará and the Xingu watershed. Restoration activities will include the enrichment of existing secondary forest areas, sowing of selected native species, and, when necessary, direct planting of native species, Medeiros said.

The Brazilian Ministry of Environment, the Global Environment Facility, the World Bank, the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund, and Rock in Rio’s environmental arm “Amazonia Live” are also partners in this effort.

Latin America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT