When it comes to fighting for a sustainable future, the world’s cities are “critical battlegrounds” and more important than ever to making multilateralism work for all, said the UN chief in a video message on Monday to the United Nations Habitat Assembly.
Despite critical gains by Central African nations in advancing stability and cooperation, the region faces multiple crises, and the coming months mark “an important turning point”, the top UN official there told the Security Council on Monday.
Reforming the global financial system, moving beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of economic progress, and addressing technology challenges are crucial to achieving a more just and equitable future for all, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday.
For Valdecir Nascimento, 63, the Black movement in Brazil was a “turning point” for her as a young woman, leading her from the revolutionary stilt houses in Alagados, to joining more than 1,000 participants last week at UN Headquarters for the second session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.
The humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) remains critical, with more than half the population, 3.4 million people, requiring assistance and protection, the top UN aid official in the country said on Monday.
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 06 (IPS) - The frighteningly rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have triggered the question: is there a UN role for monitoring and regulating it?
Citing a report from the Center for AI Safety, the New York Times reported last week that a group of over 350 AI industry leaders warned that artificial intelligence poses a growing new danger to humanity –and should be considered a “societal risk on a par with pandemics and nuclear wars”.
TEMPE, Arizona, US, Jun 05 (IPS) - It’s time to get together and celebrate the environment! June 5th is the 50th World Environment Day, where each year, the significance of transformative action from across the world is crucial to help people and the planet. This year’s World Environment Day is being hosted by Côte d'Ivoire in partnership with the Netherlands with a theme of ‘Finding Solutions for Plastic Pollution.
Read the full story, “World Environment Day Solutions for Plastic Pollution”, on globalissues.org →
SYDNEY, Jun 05 (IPS) - In the Pacific Islands and many developing and emerging countries worldwide, the informal economy far outsizes the formal one, playing a vital role in the survival of urban and rural households and absorbing expanding working-age populations.
BRASILIA, Brazil, Jun 05 (IPS) - The COVID-19 crisis has shone a light on the danger of pandemics; social crises have shone a light on the danger of inequalities. And the reality is that outbreaks become the pandemics they do because of inequality. The good news is that both can be overcome – if they are confronted as one.