WASHINGTON DC, Dec 3 2020 (IPS) – For those of us in the international climate action community, 2020 isn’t ending the way we expected when we rang in the new year. Even before 2020 dawned, countries were hard at work planning for their first updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), in line with the Paris Agreement’s…

The large part of COVID-19 relief funds is going to big corporation. People who are likely to have been impacted the most by the pandemic in the Global South, such as smaller businesses, marginalised communities, women, and those in poverty, have been left out. Credit: Dionny Matos/IPS BRATISLAVA , May 18 2021 (IPS) – Poverty…

Katja Iversen with French President Emmanuel Macron at the G7 2019 Gender Equality Council NEW YORK, Jun 28 2021 (IPS) – As the global gathering for gender equality, the , kicks off in Paris on June 30, 2020, IPS conducted an exclusive interview with Katja Iversen. Iversen is a leading global influencer on leadership, sustainability,…

BANGKOK, Thailand, Aug 25 2021 (IPS) – Over the past two decades, the Asia-Pacific region has made remarkable progress in managing disaster risk. But countries can never let down their guard. The COVID-19 pandemic, with its epicentre now in Asia, and all its tragic consequences, has exposed the frailties of human societies in the face…

STOCKHOLM / ROME, Dec 3 2021 (IPS) – In these times of COVID isolation, social distance get on the nerves of several of us and the effects may be long-lasting, even endemic. Many schoolchildren have interacted and still meet with their teachers through computer networks, while the same phenomenon applies to their contact with others.…

The author is Director, Financial Transparency Coalition LONDON, Mar 3 2022 (IPS) – The war in Ukraine has highlighted Russian kleptocrats funnelling billions of dollars out of the country and investing them in London and other major global financial centres, prompting political leaders in Europe and USA to crack down on this shady money. Russian…

The Ethiad Towers STOCKHOLM, Apr 20 2022 (IPS) – I recently visited Abu Dhabi and my impressions became intermingled with worries about the war in Ukraine. I also happened to read Livy’s The Early History of Rome, written around the beginning of CE, coming across these lines: The study of history is the best medicine…

BANGKOK, Thailand, Jul 15 2022 (IPS) – The start of the “Decade of Action” to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has also marked the start of an unprecedented period of overlapping crises. The Covid-19 pandemic and crises of conflict, hunger, climate change and environmental degradation are mutually compounding, pushing millions into acute…

Tuberculosis has killed 1,5 million people in 2020 – mostly in African and Asian countries – while two million people died of COVID-19 worldwide during the same period. Credit: Athar Parvaiz/IPS CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 19 2022 (IPS) – It is time to treat the scourge of Tuberculosis scourge with the same urgency as…

Some human coronaviruses cause seasonal colds or other mild symptoms. Others can be severe and even fatal. Credit: Unsplash BELLVILLE, South Africa, Oct 4 2022 (IPS) – It’s hard to imagine a time when “coronavirus” wasn’t a household word. But for a long time, this family of viruses had merited very little attention. Believed to…