Voice of climate-by Naseem Sheikh

  09:00-10:00 — Nordics spur global uptake of private investments in climate action by 2030 Announcement of Nordic and UK financial commitments towards green investments by 2030, to be reported on annually. Presented by Nordic governments and pension funds, it builds on the 2019 Danish pension fund commitment of US$50bn to be invested in climate solutions and green investments by 2030. ‍ Government leaders from the Nordic countries and UK H.E  Sauli Niinistö  , President of the Republic of Finland H.E  Mette Frederiksen,  Prime Minister of Denmark H.E  Stefan Löfven , Prime Minister, Government of Sweden H.E  Jonas Gahr Støre,  Prime Minister, Government of Norway H.E  Katrín Jakobsdóttir , Prime Minister, Government of Iceland H.E  Bárður á Steig Nielsen , Prime Minister, Government of the Faroe Islands H.E  Mute B Egede , Premier, Government of Greenland   Private sector speakers Stephanie Pfeifer,  CEO, Institutional In...

Marine plastic is malediction now a days causing many health and environmental hazards difficult and v. expensive to recycle especially for poor nation countries. Appreciations to a revolutionary new process made possible by Coca-Cola, this set-back may become a thing of the past. The company – in partnership with Ioniqa Technologies, Indorama Ventures and Mares Circulares (Circular Seas) – has already made 300 prototype bottles from 26% recycled marine plastic – retrieved from the Mediterranean Sea and beaches – which was formerly considered impracticable, low-quality marine waste plastic. The unrecyclable plastic was successfully upcycled into high-quality plastic by using this innovative new technology! Coca-Cola states this could be the future of packaging. A Greenpeace report from 2018 showed how Coca-Cola was found to be the world’s largest corporate plastic polluter. The report detailed a survey of 239 clean-ups in 42 countries across six continents, in which volunteers coll...

Public personalities play an ever-important role in advancing sustainable development issues. Some raise public awareness about the challenge of land degradation, desertification and drought. Others are drawing the attention of decision makers and other stakeholders to the importance of placing land use planning and management and ecosystem restoration in policy agendas. Highly regarded UNCCD Land Ambassadors can draw even greater attention to the issues promoted by the UNCCD and provide the impetus needed to fully implement the objectives of the UNCCD 2918-2030 Strategic Framework. The objective of the UNCCD Land Ambassadors programme is to raise public awareness about the work of the Convention and inspire the public and decision makers to take practical and policy action to address to achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030 and the related Sustainable Development Goals. The programme is also aimed at reaching specific target groups such as youth, children and women.  E...

Several bamboo varieties are used to revive a plot of land in critical condition, formerly the site of illegal gold mining, in Dharmasraya, West Sumatra. Besides being good for re-greening, bamboo absorbs mercury.  Thousands of bamboo trees about 1.5 meters tall stand in rows some five meters away from the banks of the Nyunyo River in Jorong Bukit Mendawa, Nagari Tebing Tinggi, Dharmasraya Regency, West Sumatra. The bamboo trees were deliberately planted as starter vegetation to resuscitate a plot of land formerly used as an unregistered goldmine owned by the community. “The ravaged land has to be revived back immediately so it can be used as a tourist destination and for developing local businesses,” said Dharmasraya Regent, Sutan Riska Tuanku Kerajaan, when visiting the site on Tuesday, July 16. Restoration efforts for the plot formerly used as an illegal goldmine is conducted by the Dharmasraya Regency administration in conjunction with the ministry of environment and forest...

China has lifted more than 700 million people out of poverty in the past decades and the Chinese people have enjoyed a better standard of living, which is the biggest achievement since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, said Yongjing Zhang, associate professor of economics in the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. China has also made great achievements in pollution control, forest coverage, desertification control, and garbage and sewage treatment, Zhang said in a recent interview with Xinhua before the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. “People in Beijing and Shanghai are seeing more days of blue sky, like this in Ottawa today,” Zhang said. Zhang added China is still on the direction of Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China’s reform and opening up since the late 1970s. “China wants its people to improve their lives.” According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, In 2018, 121 of the 338 citi...