Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

Guest blog by Joyce Msuya, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, and former UN Assistant Secretary General and UNEP Interim Deputy Executive Director. Originally published here. The most powerful lessons I have learned about multilateralism have not only come from conference rooms at the UN Headquarters, but from the front lines of humanitarian action as well. From witnessing aid workers from different countries in a remote location, working together to carefully put in place plans or structures to save as many lives as possible. I’ve been moved by tireless, behind-the-scenes negotiations that kept a humanitarian corridor open for one more day – long enough for families to receive food, water or urgent medical care. I have met displaced mothers who did not know which flag was on the truck that brought food to their displacement site. The only thing that mattered to them was that it arrived – because someone som...

by Joyce Msuya, Deputy Executive Director, UNEP As I address you today, the challenges ahead of us seems to be daunting. COVID-19 has brought unimaginable suffering around the world. For the first time since 1998, global poverty is set to rise. Meanwhile, climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution remain the underlying threats facing humanity. The Aichi Biodiversity Targets will not be met. The 2020 objectives of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management will not be met. And COVID-19 has come just as we embark on a make- or-break Decade of Action for the Sustainable Development Goals. In other words, humankind’s destruction of the natural world has not stopped.  The IPBES Global Assessment tells us that an estimated 1 million species are facing extinction and are disappearing at a rate hundreds of times higher than the natural rate. This is due mostly to land use change and direct exploitation. We have already altered nearly two-thirds of the face of the ea...

UNEP have a new Deputy Executive Director J oyce Msuya of Tanzania  .  She will succeed Ibrahim Thiaw of Mauritania. M s. Msuya has since 2017 served as Adviser to the World Bank Vice President, East Asia and Pacific Region in Washington, D.C. Ms. Msuya has since 2017 served as Adviser to the World Bank Vice President, East Asia and Pacific Region in Washington, D.C.  She brings to the position more than 20 years of extensive experience in the field of international development spanning corporate, strategy, operations, knowledge management and partnerships, with diverse assignments in Africa, Latin America and Asia regions.  She previously served as the World Bank Special Representative and Head of the World Bank Group Office in the Republic of Korea, as well as Regional Coordinator at the World Bank Institute covering East Asia and Pacific Region, based in China, and Principal Strategy Officer at the International Finance Corporation’s Manufacturing,...