Global Issues
News headlines for “Free Trade and Globalization”, page 332
Fisheries in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific – Immense Opportunities, Critical Challenges
- Inter Press Service
BRUXELLES, Sep 13 (IPS) - Fish is big business. The latest figures show that more than 165 million tonnes of fish are either captured or harvested in a year, with each person consuming more than 20kg of fish annually, according to the world average. Roughly US$ 140 billion worth of fish is traded globally per annum, with millions of people relying on jobs in fishing and fish-farming, not to mention the seafood industry which involves processing, transport, retail and restaurants.
Improved Fish Processing Brings Dramatic Gains for Women
- Inter Press Service
MONGU, Zambia, Sep 12 (IPS) - Fishing is the capture of aquatic organisms in marine, coastal and inland areas. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), marine and inland fisheries, together with aquaculture, provide food, nutrition and a source of income to 820 million people around the world, from harvesting, processing, marketing and distribution. For many, it also forms part of their traditional cultural identity.
South-South trade cooperation key to sustainable and inclusive model of globalization
- Inter Press Service
GENEVA, Sep 12 (IPS) - Thanks to globalization and trade liberalization of commodities, services and goods, global trade has reached an unprecedented level. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, world trade in goods was valued at approximately USD 16 trillion. North-North trade generates the highest trade volume at approximately 6 trillion; trade flows within and between countries of the Global South amounts to 4.6 trillion. Trade between the Global South and the Global North -approximately between 2.5 and 3 trillion - add up to less than the trade flows within the Earth's two main poles.
Much more climate finance now!
- Inter Press Service
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Sep 12 (IPS) - Funding developing countries' climate change mitigation and adaption efforts was never going to be easy. But it has become more uncertain with President Trump's decision to leave the Paris Accord. As a candidate, he threatened not to fulfil the modest US pledge of US$3 billion towards the 2020 target of US$100 billion yearly for the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
114 Nations Seek Support to Implement UN’s 2030 Development Agenda
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 09 (IPS) - Two years have passed since the world came together to adopt a truly remarkable framework for common progress: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Agenda is transformative and inspiring its own right. That it was agreed at a time of severe political divisions on so many other issues was especially encouraging. Since then there has been very promising momentum around the world.
Latin America Discusses How to Finance the Sustainable Development Agenda
- Inter Press Service
BUENOS AIRES, Sep 08 (IPS) - Is it possible for the financial sector of Latin America and the Caribbean not only to think about earning money but also to contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development? The answer was sought in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at a regional roundtable on sustainable finance.
How Aid in Cash, Not Goods, Averted a Famine in Somalia
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 08 (IPS) - In February, when the government of Somalia sounded an alarm to the UN about risks of a famine in the country, the UN's Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), besides quickly shuffling a response team, was acting from a steep sense of history. The Office, instead of sending out massive aid packages, distributed cash vouchers to families who could spend it to buy goods according to their needs.
Transformative Power of Literacy in Today’s Digitalized Society
- Inter Press Service
GENEVA, Sep 08 (IPS) - The vision of a literate world has guided the United Nations in its efforts to eliminate illiteracy worldwide. According to UNESCO, the world literacy rate now stands at 91% up from 79% in 1980. In the Arab region, the literacy rate is currently at 86%; a 22% increase from 1980 where the literacy rate stood at 64%. Although world society has witnessed significant progress in eradicating illiteracy, approximately 750 million adults and 264 million children worldwide are still considered as illiterate. Thus, the cloud of world illiteracy overshadows the geography of world poverty. Nonetheless, the Sustainable Development Goals have translated the vision of a literate world into a concrete action-plan: Sustainable Development Goal 4.6 calls upon all member States of the United Nations to ensure that youth, both men and women, "achieve literacy and numeracy" by 2030. In the words of formerSecretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan
How Ivory Fell into the Hands of Organized Criminal Syndicates
- Inter Press Service
CAMBRIDGE, Sep 07 (IPS) - "Ivory is like a drug and you have to be careful with it. If you are serious and desire it, you can get all you want, but you have to be patient and act very carefully," a Cameroonian man selling ivory items from a network of shops across Central Africa, told TRAFFIC investigators in 2014.
Scaling up Development Finance
- Inter Press Service
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Sep 05 (IPS) - The Business and Sustainable Development Commission has estimated that achievement of Agenda 2030 for the Sustainable Development Goals will require US$2-3 trillion of additional investments annually compared to current world income of around US$115 trillion. This is a conservative estimate; annual investments of up to US$2 trillion yearly will be needed to have a chance of keeping temperature rise below 1.5°C.
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