Sustainability

Mostafa Kamal Majumder The Workability International Asia will have its next annual general meeting on in Dhaka in November 2020, it was decided at a board meeting of the organisation held on 25-26 November at the Bangladesh Pratibandhi Kalyan Samity (BPKS) complex in the Dakhskin Khan area, on the Northeastern fringe of the metropolitan city of Dhaka. The programme was ... Read More »

8 December 2019 – SDGs – The international community has agreed truly ground-breaking frameworks to advance the rights of persons with disabilities, including in the context of development, but there remains a significant gap between these ambitions and the reality experienced daily by millions of persons with disabilities, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told a conference in Doha on Saturday. Read More »

Mentioning the recent rumours over the scarcity of onion and salt in the market, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday urged all not to pay heed to such propaganda. Read More »

Geneva, Sep (Kanaga Raja) – A Global Green New Deal is needed to reverse the polarization of income within and across countries, create a stable financial system that serves the productive economy, mitigate the threats and seize the opportunities associated with new technologies, and undertake massive investments in clean energy, transportation and food systems. Read More »

New York, Sept 25 (UNB) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday urged the global leaders to live up to their commitments they made to protect the planet aiming to ensure the benefits of SDGs for the most marginalised people. Read More »

24 September 2019 SDGs – “The 2030 Agenda is coming to life”, declared the UN chief on Tuesday, referring to the blueprint for a healthier planet and a more just world, as he launched the first Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit in New York. However, despite encouraging progress, António Guterres warned that much more needs to be done, and “we ... Read More »

by Frank Götmark, Robin Maynard Gothenburg/London – On September 24-25, world leaders will gather at the United Nations in New York to review progress toward the UN’s 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs, which aim “to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all,” are commendable, and summarize the kind of world many of ... Read More »

by Sahana Ghosh on 30 July 2019 • Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Italy’s port city of Genoa is making bioplastics from agro-waste. The institute has tied up with the city’s central vegetable market for sourcing raw material. • The use of agro-waste to churn out biodegradable plastics aligns with the concept of a circular economy and may address the ... Read More »

In six years, 100 Resilient Cities has grown from an idea to a movement. Together, as a community of staff, CROs, and partners, we have shaped how the world understands the opportunities to build resilience. Since 2013, we have evolved from talking about definitions and job descriptions to sharing cutting-edge best practices. Read More »

by Alon Tal Tel Aviv – Electric bicycles and scooters are taking a lot of heat. Concerns about traffic fatalities, terrorized pedestrians, and urban lawlessness have led a growing chorus of politicians and media commentators to conclude that the technology should be banned outright. But these critics are missing the point. Small, portable, electric transportation options are a tremendous opportun ... Read More »

The global response to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has not been ambitious enough, and a renewed commitment and accelerated action is needed to deliver the SDGs in time. This was the key message from the 2019 High-level Political Forum (HLPF), which completed the first four-year cycle of its mandate to review the 17 SDGs and assess progress towards ... Read More »

The world’s people are demanding “transformative change that is fair and sustainable,” Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday, calling on government leaders to use the upcoming slate of key United Nations meetings in September to “kickstart a decade of delivery and action for people and planet.” Read More »

Dhaka, July 13 (UNB) – Speakers at a dialogue in New York said non-state actors including NGOs, think tanks, media and private sectors, in developing countries like Bangladesh, are playing a critical role in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Read More »

12 July 2019 – Citing climate change as being caused by “emissions accumulated throughout history”, the head of China’s Xiamen Airlines told the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York on Friday that heavy carbon dioxide emitters should “take on greater responsibility” to ameliorate the problem. Read More »

PM seeks global solution to climate change Dhaka, July 10 – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the environmental balance of Cox’s Bazar is under threat as settlements are being established there for Rohingyas clearing hills and forests. “For this (Rohingya presence), the natural equilibrium is being destabilised in that area… settlements are being established in the area clearing ... Read More »

New York, 8 July 2019: “The world is off-track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Most governments have failed to turn the transformational vision of the 2030 Agenda into real transformational policies. Even worse, xenophobia and authoritarianism are on the rise in a growing number of countries.” “The implementation of the 2030 Agenda is not just a matter of ... Read More »

Almost a third of the way to the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals, new UNESCO projections prepared for the UN High-level Political Forum show that the world will fail its education commitments without a rapid acceleration of progress. In 2030, when all children should be in school, one in six aged 6-17 will still be excluded. Many children ... Read More »

By Pedro Conceição UN, Jul 1 2019 (IPS) – “People are the real wealth of nations,” began the first Human Development Report (HDR). That 1990 report marked a turning point in the global development debate. During the second half of the 20th century there were growing concerns about the tyranny of gross domestic product (GDP). Many decision-makers seemed to believe ... Read More »

Dhaka, June 29 (UNB) – Stating that no development effort will be effective if it ruins the ecological and environmental balance, speakers at a public dialogue on Saturday urged the government to ensure a more environment-friendly budget. Poribesh Bachao Andolon (POBA) arranged the programme at the Jatiya Press Club. The speakers said development and environment are complimentary to each other ... Read More »

Dhaka, June 21 – Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan), a civil society platform of Bangladesh called for budgetary system reform for sustainable development. The platform recommended the budgetary system be reformed to effectively impact the country’s sustainable development at roundtable programme held at Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka yesterday (Friday). Shujan said in its reaction to the proposed national budget for ... Read More »

He calls for incorporating their voices in the national budget Dhaka, June 20 – Chairman of Centre for Policy Dialogue Prof Rehman Sobhan on Thursday said marginal communities have to gain political power along with increasing their capabilities to end repressions against them. He also underscored the need for protecting traditional rights of small ethnic communities to land and called ... Read More »

From Danielle Nierenberg Greetings from Baltimore! Diets and lifestyles like veganism, vegetarianism, and the Mediterranean Diet help eaters reduce meat consumption and protect the planet. One of these diets, flexitarianism, may make it easier for even committed meat eaters to eat sustainably. But instead of periodically switching out meat products for vegetarian alternatives, products like blended meats allow flexitarians to ... Read More »

07/05/2019 – by Hans Dembowski As the latest UN report on biodiversity shows, the international community must change consumption and production patterns. Otherwise, we are risking our food security, health and quality of life. It is striking that many of the centre-right leaders who called for belt-tightening after the global financial crisis set in a decade ago, are not doing ... Read More »

By Thalif Deen UN, Jun 14, 2019 (IPS) – UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told a Chatham House meeting in London last week that the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), one of the legacies of the late Secretary-General Kofi Annan, “spawned tremendous progress” in the battle against poverty worldwide. She pointed out that the number of people living on less ... Read More »

By Sara Flounders 23 Apr 2019 – The very corporations that are responsible for the problem are denying global warming, with immediate consequences for the whole world. Carbon emissions from the burning of oil, gas and methane are heating the planet, creating a crisis of rising sea levels, droughts, extreme weather, poisoned ground water and polluted air that puts all ... Read More »

Mostafa Kamal Majumder Recent official information and statistics affirm, Bangladesh is on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With four years of the 15-year time span to achieve 17 goals already spent, a government report says, ‘Bangladesh is performing well in various aspects including poverty reduction, gender equality, electricity, sanitation and annual GDP growth.’ Being ahead of other ... Read More »

Chattogram, May 20 (UNB) – The government on Sunday imposed a 65-day ban (from May 20 to July 23) on fishing in the Bay of Bengal, aiming to boost commercial fishing in the country. Catching all types of saltwater fish has been prohibited during the ban. All the commercial trawlers have been requested to abide by the government order, said ... Read More »

LONDON, May 20 2019 (IPS) – The Copenhagen Fashion Summit celebrated its tenth anniversary last week. The summit, which is often referred to as the Davos of fashion, is a key date in the fashion diary for those businesses with a pioneering vision to highlight issues and create solutions for a more sustainable industry. And solutions are very much needed. The ... Read More »

By Ma Jun and Simon Zadek Beijing – Discussions about climate action nowadays often focus on the largest past and current emitters. But, if one looks to the future, the biggest climate risks and opportunities lie in the more than 60 countries that have signed up to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The BRI, which China launched in 2013, is ... Read More »

May 16, 2019 SANDRP Just as all festivities of a fisherfolk life are connected to the river, their dreams and nightmares are riverine too. “For several days I’ve been noticing something different in the river’s flow pattern-familiar calculation just don’t seem to hold. The current where we knew it to be slanted is now straight, where we knew it to ... Read More »