News headlines in 2023, page 173

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A staggering 315,000 grave violations against children in conflict took place between 2005 and 2022, said UN Children’s Fund UNICEF on Monday, describing it as a “stark illustration of the devastating impact of war” on the young.

As international negotiators committed to hammering out a draft treaty by November on ending plastic pollution, the UN chief stressed in his message for World Environment Day on Monday, the importance of curbing the “catastrophic” consequences of waste plastics.