Category Archives: d-sustainable

English bulletin August 1, 2024

MORE VOICES OF REASON AND HOPE

In this world that seems more troubled every day, on the battlefield, in the political arena and by global warming, we cannot have too many voices of reason and hope. The bulletin of May mentioned some of these. This month we add more voices.

Fifty winners of the Nobel Prize have issued an open letter calling for a truce during the Olympic Games in the wars being waged around the world, with mention of the Ukraine, Gaza and Yemen. “We are asking His Holiness Pope Francis, His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV, and Muslim and Jewish leaders to use their moral authority to appeal to all citizens of the world and to their governments.”

Fifty organizations and individuals from Israel’s left and pro-peace camp sponsored a rally that drew thousands of Israelis to Tel Aviv with the message “It’s time to reach a deal. To stop the war. To make peace.” “Our mutual goal here is many different organizations and movement is to build together a peace camp in Israel,” said Alon-Lee Green, co-director of Standing Together, one of the groups that organized the conference.

The International Court of Justice has made a ruling with regard to the Israeli occupation of Palestine that is called “historic” by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Amnesty concludes that ““The international community, and in particular Israel’s allies, must now take unequivocal action to ensure Israel ends its unlawful occupation, starting with the immediate halting of the expansion of Israeli settlements and reversing the annexation of Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and dismantling its brutal system of apartheid against Palestinians.”

With regard to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the organization World Beyond War urges the United Nations General Assembly to use its Resolution 377 (Uniting For Peace) that allows them to act when the Security Council fails. “The General Assembly should NOT escalate the war or deploy armed troops. It should convene an emergency session and use “Uniting For Peace” to impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions on the Israeli government, suspend the Israeli government from the United Nations, and send to Palestine unarmed peacekeepers (who have repeatedly shown their superiority to armed peacekeepers).

In fact, it is clear that the UN Security Council has failed its mission of preserving peace. In that regard, The Elders, a group founded by Nelson Mandela, has urged the UN to undertake a profound reform. “The Security Council, and in particular the veto power, must evolve if the UN system is to prove itself fit for purpose in the 21st century. We were encouraged by some of the innovative reform proposals we heard, and we hope that the Summit of the Future in September will be an opportunity to sow the seeds for lasting, positive change in the years ahead.”

The Summit of the Future is addressed in an article by Jeffrey Sachs, who heads up one of its planning networks. “The Summit of the Future is an invitation to intensive global brainstorming on how to make our deeply interconnected world fit for sustainable development in the 21st century. It is a great challenge that should be welcomed and joined by people all over the world. A great debate will open in September and then continue for years to come.”

With regard to sustainable development, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has addressed the urgent need to protect billions around the world exposed to crippling effects of extreme heat. The appeal comes against the backdrop of record temperatures and deadly heatwaves – from the United States to Africa’s Sahel and Europe to the Middle East – that have killed several hundred people this summer. During the Hajj, for instance, scorching heat claimed over 1,300 pilgrim lives.

While UN reform is necessary, it is also necessary to develop the consciousness and actions that build pressure for peace from below. A leading role is played by the Campaign Nonviolence that will include thousands of actions for peace to take place from Sept 21 to Oct 2, 2024, (Int’l Day of Peace to Int’l Day of Nonviolence). Last year, people held over 5,000 actions, events, and marches across the USA and in 20 countries. Over 60,000 people participated in these events. “The Campaign Nonviolence Action Days are designed to bring together the many issues, movements, and efforts working to end violence and build a world that works for all of us.” In preparation for Campaign Nonviolence Action Days, they propose hundreds of training opportunities offered by dozens of partner organizations.

Twenty four years ago there was a powerful pressure for peace in the 75 million people who signed the Manifesto 2000 during the International Year for the Culture of Peace. Has the time come when we need a new manifesto, like the Manifesto 2025 proposed in our most recent blog?

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

Restore the Olympic peace: Over 50 Nobel laureates have written an open letter calling for a global ceasefire for the duration of the Paris Olympics

HUMAN RIGHTS

World Court Condemns Israeli Apartheid

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The Summit of the Future

WOMEN’S EQUALITY

First Pan-African Conference on Girls’ and Women’s Education in Africa

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

UNAOC Hosts Capacity-Building Workshop for the 7th edition of its Young Peacebuilders programme in Cáceres, Spain

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Campaign Nonviolence Action Days 2024 – Calls-To-Action

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

US Labor Unions Call on Biden Administration to Immediately Halt All Military Aid to Israel

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

The Elders: A message from Ernesto Zedillo, Former President of Mexico

August 1, 2024d-disarmament, d-sustainableenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator

What is the contribution of BRICS to sustainable development?

In an interview with CGTN (in April 2023), the new President of the Bank), Dilma Rousseff explained her goals with the BRICS Bank:

It is very important to me that New Development Bank, the bank of the BRICS, acts as the tool to support the development priorities of the BRICS and other developing countries.

We need to invest in projects that contribute to three fundamental areas:

First, we need to support the countries with regards to climate change and sustainable development goals.

Second, we should promote social inclusion at every opportunity we have.

And I believe we should finance their most critical and strategic infrastructure projects.

That said, we want to promote quality development.

Developing countries still don’t have the necessary infrastructure. They don’t have enough ports, airports, and highways to meet their needs. And many times, the ones they have are not adequate.

They still have to build alternatives and more modern models of transportation, for instance.

I see China, a country that has developed capability for alternative transportation at the scale and quality it needs.

NDB has to support the other countries to also build their quality infrastructure as well, like high-speed trains.

It is very important to invest in technology and innovation, invest in universities for example.

Our countries will not overcome extreme poverty if we don’t invest in education, science, and technology.

When asked what challenges the BRICS and NDB face, Rousseff replied:

The world now is under the threat of high inflation and restrictive monetary policy, particularly in developed countries.

Such monetary policy means a higher interest rate, and therefore a higher probability of reduction in growth and a higher probability of recession.

This presents an important question for the BRICS. We need a mechanism, a so-called anti-crisis mechanism, which must be counter-cyclical and support stabilization.

It is necessary to find ways to avoid foreign exchange risk and other issues, such as being dependent on a single currency, such as the US dollar.

The good news is that we are seeing many countries choosing to trade using their own currencies.

China and Brazil, for instance, are agreeing to exchange with RMB (renminbi) and the Brazilian real.

At the NDB, we have committed to it in our strategy. For the period from 2022 to 2026, the NDB has to lend 30% in local currencies, so 30% of our loan book will be financed in the currencies of our member countries.

That will be extremely important to help our countries avoid exchange rate risks and shortages in finance that hinder long-term investments.

Here are the CPNN articles on this subject:

Los BRICS Ponen en Jaque la Hegemonía del Dólar

BRICS: A New Leader’s Big Banking Opportunity to Improve Global Development

Argentina says has China’s support to join BRICS group

April 19, 2023d-sustainableCPNN Coordinator

English bulletin December 1, 2021

..THE FAILURE OF COP26. . .

Once again, this time the 26th, the Conference of Parties has failed – the conference of the nation-states of the world to deal with the climate crisis.

As described by Greta Thunberg, it was a “greenwashing event” of “blah, blah, blah”: “The leaders are not doing nothing; they are actively creating loopholes and shaping frameworks to benefit themselves, and to continue profiting from this destructive system. This is an active choice by the leaders to continue the exploitation of nature and people and the destruction of presents and future living conditions to take place”.

As described by Amnesty International, “Leaders have catastrophically betrayed humanity at large by failing to protect people most affected by the climate crisis and instead caving into the interests of fossil fuel and other powerful corporations.

The crisis has intensified, but little else has changed since the previous conferences such as those described in CPNN bulletins in 2012 and again in 2015 and summarized here.. After those conferences, CPNN remarked that while the nation-states could not deal with the crisis, the organizations of cities were taking effective action, and young people around the world were mobilizing into a global youth movement.

Again this year, the organizations of cities are showing the way.

Global city partners C40, ICLEI, the Global Covenant of Mayors, CDP, UCLG, WRI and WWF, are working together to recruit cities to the Race to Zero. The 1049 cities and local governments signing onto the Race to Zero represent 722 million people and will pursue ambitious climate action in line with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5℃ – the global standard for climate action. The mayors’ presence at COP26 is the culmination of years of visionary climate leadership from local leaders who have leveraged their influence to bolster global climate ambition. They have promoted their vision for a Global Green New Deal, which aims to place inclusive climate action at the centre of all urban decision-making to create healthy, accessible, liveable, and sustainable cities for all.

And again this year, it is the young people like Greta Thunburg who are seizing the initiative.

At Glasgow there were an estimated 250,000 demonstrators, led by young people and their organizations like Fridays for the Future which was started by Greta Thunberg.. Other demonstrations, largely led by youth, took place in Brussels, Melbourne, Palu (Indonesia), Paris, Berlin, Seoul, Manila, New York, Dharmsala (India), Wellington (New Zealand), Fiji, Istanbul, and Victoria (Canada), just to mention those for which we published photos.

The peace movement recognizes that the struggle for climate justice is an essential part of the struggle for a culture of peace. An example is our report from Mouvement de la Paix in France.

Religious organizations are also mobilizing. Many Catholics joined the demonstrations in Glasgow, inspired by the 2015 encyclical letter of Pope Francis entitled “LAUDATO SI’ drawn from the words of Saint Francis of Assisi. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us.”

A global movement is forming and it is led by youth. Quoting from the website of Fridays for the Future, “Along with other groups across the world, Fridays for Future is part of a hopeful new wave of change, inspiring millions of people to take action on the climate crisis. . . The goal of the movement is to put moral pressure on policymakers, to make them listen to the scientists, and then to take forceful action to limit global warming. Our movement is independent of commercial interests and political parties and knows no borders. We strike because we care for our planet and for each other. We have hope that humanity can change, avert the worst climate disasters and build a better future. Every day there are more of us and together we are strong. Everyone is welcome. Everyone is needed. No one is too small to make a difference.”

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Glasgow
COP26: Thousands of young people take over Glasgow streets demanding climate action

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

France
Some villages in France have found a second life by welcoming refugees

WOMEN’S EQUALITY

UNiTE
United Nations : UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

cities
From LA to Bogotá to London, global mayors unite to deliver critical city momentum to world leaders tasked with keeping 1.5 degree hopes alive at Glasgow’s COP26

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

What I Saw on Election Day in Nicaragua

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

Vanyan
Remembering Georgi Vanyan: for peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia

HUMAN RIGHTS

Amnesty
Amnesty International: Leaders’ catastrophic failure on climate at COP26

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Merida
Mexico: Municipal Mediation Unit of the City of Merida to promote a Culture of Peace

December 1, 2021d-sustainableenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator

Are we seeing the dawn of a global youth movement?

Here are excerpts from the CPNN Bulletin of April, 2019.

Millions of students went on strike from school on March 15 to pressure their governments to address seriously the problem of global warming. Photos from that day on CPNN show their demonstrations around the world: in the UK, Australia, Philippines, Sweden, Italy, Uganda, Belgium, USA, Canada, Portugal, Ukraine, Spain, Chile, Nigeria, France and Bangladesh.

The movement has been inspired by the actions of a girl in Sweden, Greta Thunberg, who sat last year by herself outside the Swedish parliament to demand that they take action. Since then Greta has spoken out in many venus, including the meeting of the world’s richest bankers and executives in Davos, Switzerland. Her words at Davos struck a chord, especially among young people around the world: “Act As If Our House Is on Fire. Because It Is.” She has even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. If Thunberg won, the 16-year-old would be the youngest winner ever and the second after 2007 co-winners former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to be honored for work on climate change.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres has praised the youth movement, saying that ““These schoolchildren have grasped something that seems to elude many of their elders”, he said, adding that “we are in a race for our lives, and we are losing. The window of opportunity is closing; we no longer have the luxury of time, and climate delay is almost as dangerous as climate denial.” The Secretary-General acknowledged that his older generation “has failed to respond properly to the dramatic challenge of climate change. This is deeply felt by young people. No wonder they are angry.”

Representing CPNN, I had the chance to go to the march and demonstration of school students in New York against climate change on Friday, March 15. There were a series of demonstrations ending up with a big enthusisastic crowd at the Museum of Natural History. The average age was under 20. I’d have to back to the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s to remember big demonstrations with majority youth. Are we seeing the dawn of a global youth movement?

Here are the CPNN articles on the question
Are we seeing the dawn of a global youth movement?

Earth Day founder Denis Hayes says young climate activists carry the spirit of his generation

Greta Thunberg, 40+ Other Climate Activists Block Entrance to Swedish Parliament

‘End Fossil Fuels’ Protests Kick Off Worldwide Ahead of UN Climate Ambition Summit

France: “You are, we are, Earth Uprisings”

Youth Statement from the Hiroshima G7 Youth Summit

NAM Baku Summit unique opportunity to find solutions to solve real world issues – Pakistani expert

The Boric effect on Chilean youth

Brazil youth voter drive battles apathy – and could help Lula

‘We Refuse to Go On Like This’: US Students Walk Out to Demand Gun Control

Australia: On our “frightening” future: how this election shows young people are taking back their voice

Amid rain and wind, Catholics join 100,000 demonstrators at COP26 climate march

Fridays for Future: Who we are

COP26: Thousands of young people take over Glasgow streets demanding climate action

Our future, our decisions: young activists call for seat at climate table

India: Activist Disha Ravi, 22, Arrested Over Toolkit, Faces Conspiracy Charge

Montreal: Demonstration for “climate justice”

First Person: Turning ‘apathetic people into climate activists’; a young person’s view

At Major March in Madrid, Indigenous & Youth Activists Slam Global Leaders for Climate Inaction

The best images from school strikes around the world

Photo essay: Climate Change Protests Sweep Europe

Russia: Ecofest, festival for green universities and eco-friendly lifestyle

The kids got it right: Climate Change, pollution and the system

Fridays for the Future: 25000 demonstrate in Berlin with Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg—Swedish Teen who Inspired School Climate Strikes—Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Voices of young climate action activists ‘give me hope’ says UN chief

Kids on strike for the climate in New York

Spanish youth rebel against climate change and begin to strike: “Friday for the future”

Global Climate Strike in Pictures: Millions of Students Walk Out to Demand Planetary Transformation

Mission Statement of American Youth Climate Strike

August 6, 2020d-sustainable, d-toleranceCPNN Coordinator

English bulletin June 1, 2020

. LINK GLOBAL, EAT LOCAL . .

As we have seen in this bulletin in recent months, the global health and economic crisis has inspired many to envisage and prepare for radical change believing that “another world is possible.”

This month we feature two aspects of this movement: 1) towards local food production and consumption, known as food sovereignty; and 2) global rlinkage of activists via webinars and online courses and conferences. Hence a new variation on the old slogan that we should “Think global, act local.”

Food sovereignty

As pointed out by The People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty , the disconnect between food supply and demand has never been this huge. While almost a billion people around the world sleep hungry at night, tons of food are wasted across fields caused by transportation and market bottlenecks. Every year, a third of the world’s food – amounting to as much as USD 1.2 trillion – is lost or goes to waste. With today’s pandemic, lockdowns and supply chain failures have put this problem into overdrive. To meet this crisis, The People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty, has issued 9 demands, including priority to local food production and local markets. One of their demands is to lift sanctions and cease all military aggressions which are exacerbated the crisis of hunger.

Another coaltion, the Planetary Coalition, also based in Asia and including partners around the world, calls for “a new earth Democracy” with a wide range of actions including “local biodiverse food systems.” They remind us that “Contrary to what we are made to believe, it is not globalisation that protects people from famines, which it produces and aggravates, but peoples food sovereignty, where people at the community level have the right to produce, choose and consume adequate, healthy and nutritious food, under fair price agreements for local production and exchange.”

A leader in the food sovereignty movement has long been the international peasant’s movement La Via Campesina, a global coalition of 182 organisations in 81 countries. Now they remind us that “As the world reels under the fallout of a pandemic, now is the time to start building an equal, just and liberal society that embraces food sovereignty and solidarity.”

The North African Network for Food Sovereignty has put forward a series of demands and urgent measures in response to the health emergency including support to subsistence farming activities, subsistence stockbreeding, and coastal subsistence. As well as encouraging the consumption of their products through the creation of direct markets and fighting illegal and monopoly speculation.

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa is working to establish food sovereignty and agroecology as a key policy response to the climate crisis that is negatively impacting Africa. “Agroecology is a reverse response rejecting the industrial monoculture agriculture that contributes more than 90% of greenhouse gas emissions, degrades the environment, depletes biodiversity, erodes diverse cultures, and only feeds less than 30 percent of the world population.”

In the United States there is a rebirth of the Food Sovereignty Movement. This is illustrated by the increased use of urban farms and gardens in the city of Detroit and the program Seeds and Sheep by the Navajo Nation in Utah.

Examples from France, Thailand and Singapore are cited in the article “Grow your own: Urban farming flourishes in coronavirus lockdowns.”

Webinars, online courses and conferences

Increasingly, conferences are taking the form of Webinars so that people can take part from around the world.

The world conference “No Nukes, Climate Justice, Peace” originally scheduled for New York City in April was held instead online with up to 500 people joined by Internet and with simultaneous live streaming so anyone could join by listening in simultaneously or later on a YouTube publication. The conference was sponsored by hundreds of leading nuclear disarmament, peace, climate and justice organizations. Speakers came from the United States, Japan, Germany, Costa Rica, Iran and Australia.

The Webinar “Youth Actions for Climate, Nuclear Disarmament and Sustainable Development” was held on May 14 and 19 sponsored by Abolition 2000 Youth Network, World Future Council, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament and the Basel Peace Office. Speakers came from Switzerland, United States, Canada, Kenya, Morocco, Czech Republic, Philippines, Bangladesh, South Korea and Japan.

The Webinar “How Young People Can Lead Climate Change Action, sponsored by the International Youth Foundation took place in November 2019 and was made available as a video this month on a website called Youthlead.

Nonviolence International has a weekly Webinar series. “Young Women Fighting for Our Planet” took place on April 22 and the video is available online via Facebook. Speakers are from Kenya, United Arab emirates, Canada and South Korea.

Campaign Nonviolence is holding a Weekly Nonviolence Community Course online for six weeks from May 28 through July 2. There are places for 50 participants. Advanced registration is required.

Movimento por la Paz (Spain) is holding an online course “Five paths for peace” beginning on May 18, with places for 20 participants filled in order of registration.

Finally, here at the Culture of Peace News Network, Mirian Castello, based in Brazil, is hosting a weekly Webinar interviewing activists for a culture of peace. Registration is open for people around the world to access the webinar live and submit their questions to the person interviewed. The first three interviews are now available as online videos.

Now we see that the technology is available and is being used for the “global movement for a culture of peace . . . promoted through sharing of information” that was envisaged in 1999 by the United Nations Declaration and Programme of Action.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Earth Day Communiqué – 22nd April 2020 Making Peace with the Earth

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

If Culture of War was a human choice and invention, what if we choose a culture of peace?

HUMAN RIGHTS

Amnesty International: Ignored by COVID-19 responses, refugees face starvation

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

Mexico: Universities of ANUIES to share best practices on culture of peace

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Campaign Nonviolence: Weekly Nonviolence Online Community Course

WOMEN’S EQUALITY

Webinar and Video: Young Women Fighting for Our Planet

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

The New World Citizen Laboratory, Yali Gabon and PAYNCoP Gabon join forces to raise awareness about Covid 19

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

Global military expenditure sees largest annual increase in a decade—says SIPRI

June 1, 2020d-information, d-sustainableenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator

English bulletin March 1, 2020

. CITIES TAKE THE LEAD . .

Nuclear disarmament. New York City is becoming the most recent city to plan for divestment of their funds from the nuclear weapons industry. Public hearings in the city on January 28 heard from a wide range of speakers in favor of this action. Speakers included the global campaign, Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, Mayors for Peace, young peope from Peace Boat and a representrative from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. Participants at the hearing expressed their love of the city and strong unwillingness to see New York, or any other place on the Earth, to be exposed to the threat of irreversible destruction that nuclear weapons poses.

Hundreds of cities have joined the cities appeal of ICAN calling for the total abolition of nuclear weapons. The appeal states: “Our city/town is deeply concerned about the grave threat that nuclear weapons pose to communities throughout the world. We firmly believe that our residents have the right to live in a world free from this Threat. Any use of nuclear weapons, whether deliberate or accidental, would have catastrophic, far-reaching and long-lasting consequences for people and the environment. Therefore, we warmly welcome the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by the United Nations in 2017, and we call on our national government to join it.”

The Appeal is also supported by Mayors for Peace with its network of 7675 cities in 163 countries around the world. The most recent city to support the appeal, on January 27, was Oxford in the UK.

Sustainable development. UN Habitat recently sponsored the Tenth World Urban Forum to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by world leaders in 2015. At the meeting, which took place in Abu Dhabi from 8-13 February, the 13,000 participants recognized that “an increasingly urbanized world is a ‘transformative force’ that can be harnessed and steered to boost sustainable development.” Among the organizations of cities taking part in the Forum was ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability), a network of cities in over 100 countries, with global experts in 22 offices.

At the World Urban Forum, the Global Parliament of Mayors presented a project called the Virtual Parliament, an online tool to connect with Mayors around the world, to debate and vote on political issues and to exchange experiences. For example, it has supported an action of the US congress of Mayors against gun violence.

Reducing international tensions. The organization of International Cities of Peace reports that the first City of Peace on the Korean peninsula was established February 5 near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Pocheon. A major celebration was held at City Hall where Mayor Park signed a Proclamation as a crowd of media, dignitaries, and over 100 citizens packed the hall. Pocheon has the potential to help make the dream of Reunification of South and North Korea come true in order to benefit citizens of both countries.

Urban violence. A new initiative, the Strong Cities Network (SCN), is working with a broad coalition to reduce urban violence. According to the SCN, “Today, 83% of deadly violence occurs outside of conflict zones, with the majority of this violence concentrated in cities.” Their report highlights successful initiatives in Glasgow (Scotland), Oakland (California), and cities in Ecuador.

Tackling urban violence is also the priority of the World Forum on Cities and Territories of Peace, which is a project of the United Cities and Local Governments. Previous forums were held in Madrid in 2017 and 2018. The next one will take place this coming October in Mexico City to construct “solutions that promote urban environments capable of eliminating expressions of violence.”

According to the Strong Cities Network,”Nation states have dominated the global political arena for centuries, but with more than half of the world’s population today residing in cities, it may be time to rethink who should be at the table when it comes to decisions on how we can reduce violence.” The same could be said with regard to nuclear disarmament, sustainable development and the reduction of international tensions.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION Strong Cities Network: Reducing violence is not impossible, and cities are proving this	FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION Peace promotion in the Sahel: The best award-winning radio productions	HUMAN RIGHTS Amnesty International: New generation of young activists lead fight against worsening repression in Asia	DISARMAMENT & SECURITY New York City hearings pave the way for nuclear weapons divestment
EDUCATION FOR PEACE For Bob Marley’s 75th Birthday, Ziggy Marley Reflects On His Father’s Legacy	SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The Wet’suwet’en Fight Against New Pipeline Spreads Across Canada with Blockades & Occupations	TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY Switzerland: Lutheran World Federation marks World Interfaith Harmony Week	WOMEN’S EQUALITY Devoted to discovery: seven women scientists who have shaped our world

March 1, 2020d-democratic, d-disarmament, d-sustainableenglish bulletinCPNN Coordinator

Sustainable Development Summits of States, What are the results?

The failures of COP26 and COP28, the United Nations Climate Change Summits, are nothing new. For 25 years now these summits have failed to deal with the enormous problem of global warming.

An exception is the UN Ocean Treaty finally adopted in 2023 after 20 years of negotiations.

Here in the right column are articles about the summits published by CPNN from since the landmark Rio+20 conference in 2012.

CPNN has published several bulletins critiquing the summits. One was published in January 2020. Another was published following COP21 at the end of 2015 which produced the so-called “Paris Agreement.”

At that time we said:

There are many contradictory opinions about the results of the Paris Climate Agreement, so CPNN turned to two of the most independent and scientific authorities, James Hanson, the former Nasa scientist, who first alerted the world to climate change in 1988, and Naomi Klein, Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization (see CPNN review of her most recent book, This Changes Everything).

According to James Hanson the agreement is a complete fraud, diverting us from the real cause of global warming. which is the continued reliance on oil and coal. According to his most recent research, if we do not radically cut this reliance, “the sea level could soon be up to five meters higher than it is today by the latter part of this century [which] would inundate many of the world’s cities, including London, New York, Miami and Shanghai.

According to Naomi Klein, the Paris agreement takes us backwards. At least the Kyoto Accord of 1997 included binding language, while the Paris Accord does not. And Klein makes the link between the reliance on oil and the disastrous wars of recent years: “Do we think Iraq would have been invaded if their major export had been asparagus [as journalist Robert Fisk once asked]? Probably not. We wanted that prize in the west, Iraq’s oil. . . This destabilized the whole region, which was not particularly stable to begin with because of earlier oil wars and coups and support for dictatorships.”

In our bulletin following Rio+20 in 2012, we wrote:

“The events surrounding the Rio + 20 summit of States from around the world have exposed a turning point in history. The states have been unable to advance in the face of the world’s environmental crisis. Instead, it is the civil society, including cities, youth and indigenous peoples who have taken the leadership in preparing for the next stage of human history.”

Here are the CPNN articles on this subject:

The Summit of the Future

COP28 Fails to Deliver a Fossil Fuel Phaseout

Amazon Rainforest Nations Gather to Forge a Shared Policy

United Nations: Behind at halftime, but all still to play for in race to 2030 as top political forum closes

G77 Statement to High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

Historic UN Ocean Treaty agreed – Greenpeace statement

Greenpeace on COP15: A bandage for biodiversity protection

The Elders welcome historic breakthrough on loss and damage at COP27, but call on G20 leaders to phase out fossil fuels faster

Amnesty International: Leaders’ catastrophic failure on climate at COP26 shows they have forgotten who they should serve and protect – humanity at large

Amid rain and wind, Catholics join 100,000 demonstrators at COP26 climate march

COP26: Thousands of young people take over Glasgow streets demanding climate action

At Major March in Madrid, Indigenous & Youth Activists Slam Global Leaders for Climate Inaction

In Final Hours, COP 25 Denounced as ‘Utter Failure’ as Deal Is Stripped of Ambition and US Refuses to Accept Liability for Climate Crisis

The U.S. is trying to get out of paying climate damages to poor countries

‘Morally Unacceptable’: Final Deal Out of COP24 Sorely Lacking in Urgency and Action, Climate Campaigners Say

‘We Have Not Come Here to Beg World Leaders to Care,’ 15-Year-Old Greta Thunberg Tells COP24. ‘We Have Come to Let Them Know Change Is Coming’

Naomi Klein: We are going backwards, COP21 is the opposite of progress

ICLEI Declaration to the Ministers at COP21, Paris, France

Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela Agree to Defend Mother Earth at COP21

‘The World Is Watching and Expectations Are High’, Secretary-General Says at Intergovernmental Negotiations on Post-2015 Development Agenda

ICLEI’s evaluation of the outcomes of Rio+20

Youth: the Spirit of Cosmopolitanism

People’s Summit Closing Press Conference

December 29, 2019d-sustainableCPNN Coordinator

Is there a future for nuclear energy?

Here are some key indicators from the 2019 edition of the World Nuclear Report, which show that the use of nuclear energy is declining.

1. Over the past two years, the largest historic nuclear builder Westinghouse and its French counterpart AREVA went bankrupt.

2. In 2018, ten nuclear countries generated more power with renewable than with fission energy. In spite of its ambitious nuclear program, China produced more power from wind alone than from nuclear plants. In India, in the fiscal year to March 2019, not only wind, but for the first time solar out-generated nuclear, and new solar is now competitive with existing coal plants in the market. In the European Union, renewables accounted for 95 percent of all new electricity generating capacity added in the past year.

3. The number of units under construction globally declined for the sixth year in a row, from 68 reactors at the end of 2013 to 46 by mid-2019, of which 10 are in China, but there is still no construction start of any commercial reactor in China since December 2016.

4. The nuclear share of global electricity generation has continued its slow decline from a historic peak of about 17.5 percent in 1996 to 10.15 percent in 2018.

5. Over the past decade, levelized cost estimates for utility-scale solar dropped by 88%, wind by 69%, while nuclear increased by 23%. Renewables now come in below the cost of coal and natural gas.

Here are the CPNN articles on this subject:

France: Citizen vote against nuclear power

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2017

Swiss ban new nuclear reactors

December 22, 2019d-sustainableCPNN Coordinator

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

This expression, “If we can connect up the planet through Internet, can’t we agree to preserve the planet? “, was inspired by an article by Len Yannielli in the beginning of CPNN back in 2002: Chilean Fisherpeople Fight Salmon Introduction.

Over the years since then, we have carried many articles on this theme. See many of them listed here and here.

Here are the CPNN articles on this subject:

Historic day in the campaign to beat plastic pollution: Nations commit to develop a legally binding agreement

A message from Palestine: This is the time to re-imagine, re-create and restore.

UN Launches First-Ever Global Plastics Report on World Environment Day

NASA Study: First Direct Proof of Ozone Hole Recovery Due to Chemicals Ban

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

Canada: After three decades, Inuit achieve meaningful protections for Lancaster Sound

World’s Largest Marine Reserve Created Off the Coast of Antarctica

South America: A ‘sweeping’ win for the oceans that you didn’t hear about

History Made: New England Ocean Treasures Protected!

A Tiny Reef in the Philippines Offered Early Proof That Marine Parks Also Help Fishers