Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

Amina J. Mohammed. (2024, April 6). In Wikipedia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amina_J._Mohammed OPINION  by Felix Dodds, Chris Spence  First published by Inter Press Service on Monday, April 15, 2024,  available here .  APEX, North Carolina / DUBLIN, Ireland, Apr 15 (IPS) - Could a UN insider take the top job? Amina J. Mohammed is the current Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. She has been in the role since early 2017, making her something of a veteran within senior circles. With current UN Secretary-General António Guterres set to step down in 2026, who is in the running to replace him? A seven-part series reveal who might be in the running and assess their chances. The potential candidates include Amina J. Mohammed (Nigeria), Mia Motley (Barbados), Alicia Barcena (Mexico), Maria Fernanda Espinosa (Ecuador), Rebeca Grynspan (Costa Rica) and Michelle Bachelet (Chile). These are names that have come up in conversations with UN insiders and othe...

Excellencies, Colleagues, Friends, The COVID-19 pandemic has upended lives and economies around the globe. The consequences for low- and middle-income countries, in particular, have been devastating.  And for many communities around the world, the growing impacts of climate change have compounded their hardship.  We are entering a new era of climate disruption. Yet, this moment also presents us with a unique opportunity to chart a new path.  The choices we make today will determine the course of the next 30 years.  The recovery from the pandemic must be an opportunity to create jobs, close the gender gap and reduce inequalities.  It must also put us on track to meet our climate targets.  Emissions need to fall sharply and permanently, by about 8 per cent every year over the next decade.  We must achieve net-zero emissions globally by 2050 to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C degrees. We need all hands-on deck now.  I see four priorities. First...

The new United Nations Secretary General António Guterres has had his first key appointments. He has hired Amina Mohammed of Nigeria as the U.N. Deputy Secretary-General. We all know and admire her for her work serving as the Special Adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Post-2015 development planning. She played a critical role with the Ambassador Kamal and Ambassador Donoghue in facilitating the process that culminated in the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015. Since then she has been a  Minister of Environment of Nigeria, from 11 November 2015. As his Chef de Cabinet he has chosen Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti of Brazil. Many of us working in New York will remember her as Ambassador for Brazil from July 2007 to November 2013. She played the critical role in following up President Lula's call for a new Summit on sustainable development made in September 2007. First persuading G77 to support the call in October 2008 and ...