Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

TO UN DESA NGO MAJOR GROUP & OTHER STAKEHOLDERS
NGOs attending the ECOSOC Partnership Forum who wish to make brief interventions during the Q&A at the morning and/or afternoon sessions are invited to meet at 9:00 am at the UN Secretariat, S-26MM2. FYI -- The ECOSOC Partnership Forum will be webcast at http://webtv.un.org/. Please find attached a copy of the special presentation to be made by Dr. Nils Simon on Thursday for the afternoon dialogue. The partnership webinar presentations may be found here: http://www.civicus.org/images/Second SDG Partnerships Webinar.pptx
http://www.civicus.org/images/Beisheim_Partnerships_Webinar_20160302.pdf
http://www.civicus.org/images/A%20history%20of%20the%20UNs%20involvement%20in%20%20Multi-stakeholder.pptx
http://www.civicus.org/images/Beisheim%20Simon%20ECOSOC%20Partnership%20Forum%20160311.pdf
http://www.civicus.org/images/2015partnerships_background_note.pdf
http://www.civicus.org/images/2016%20ECOSOC%20Partnership%20Forum_Concept%20Note.pd…

Another sad day for the world of environment and sustainable development with the passing of Dr. Mostafa Kamal Tolba. In 1972, he led Egypt’s delegation to the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment which gave rise to UNEP. Initially he was appointed as Maurice Strong’s Deputy Director and took over from him in 1975 serving as UNEP Executive Director until 1992. He worked tirelessly to promote the environment in the 17 years as Executive Director and built UNEP into a global voice for the environment. The idea of a global commission on environment and development was first promoted by Canada in 1982 at the ten-year anniversary of Stockholm. This would become the World Commission on Environment and Development which subsequently birthed the Rio Earth Summit. His work will probably be best remembered around the development of the Framework convention on Ozone Depleting Chemicals in 1985 and its subsequent Montreal Protocol reducing CFCs in the world in a very short time. Originally …

One of the great authors of the early part of the 20th century was Edgar Rice Burroughs best known for his creations of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter. One of his least well known books in Beyond 30 (later called ‘The Lost Continent’) – written in 1915 and published in March 1916 – one hundred years ago this month. 

The story was heavily influenced by the events of World War I, and it reflects U.S. sentiments at the time of writing. Many Americans were predominantly isolationist and did not want to be drawn into an European war. The story focuses around the US severing contact with Europe and then imagines a future in two centuries time, when for the first time the US comes into contact with Europe and the  rest of the world.   This short plot uses the same idea but in reverse. It imagines countries shocked at the possibility of the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. They decide to ban together and to isolate the US - so that th…

CMMB Announces $500 million Commitment to UN’s SDGs


On the 21st of March at the United Nations Headquarters,CMMB-Healthier Lives Worldwide announced a $500 million commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the updated Global Strategy on Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health.

For more than a century, collaboration has been a core CMMB value, essential to achieving far reaching impact in the global health arena.  While the last few decades have seen dramatic progress in global health, it is still estimated that nearly 800 women die each day from largely preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth; 99 percent of these deaths occur in developing countries.

CMMB President and CEO, Bruce Wilkinson said,
“We know from experience that reaching the most vulnerable populations, especially women and children, will take a renewed commitment. CMMB is taking a bold step by providing $500 million over the next 5 years for general support of the United Nation…