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Thankfully, 2020 is in the books. Looking ahead to 2021, we’re trying to balance optimism with a realistic look at how multilateralism can recover. This year will be brighter, but let’s keep expectations in check. While 2021 could feature seven COPs, five summits, and five key conferences, these come with the giant caveat of immunization. Governments, civil society, and the World Health…

Building a global coalition for carbon neutrality by mid-century will be the UN’s “central objective”, the world body’s top official told a conference on climate action on Monday. “All countries need credible mid-term goals and plans that are aligned with this objective”, Secretary-General António Guterres said, addressing the virtual COP26 Roundtable on Clean Power Transition. “To achieve…

Women are more likely to experience food insecurity than men, and the pandemic has exacerbated this divide. Women continue to shoulder more household responsibilities, but also now bear the burden of increased poverty and health risks. Part of our Focus on: Gender Data This focus area, powered by UN Women, highlights how data is being used to inform policy and advocacy to advance…

This past year has been a lesson in the challenges of predicting. For the global development community, the best laid plans of the so-called “Decade of Action” had to be shelved as the coronavirus pandemic swamped every other issue. Maybe this year will be no different. Nonetheless, it’s worth it to at least try to look ahead and see what may be coming in 2021 for global development leaders…

As climate extremes and human practices degrade land in the Sahel, donors boost backing for a major initiative to halt desertification that is lagging behind its goals By Thin Lei Win ROME, Jan 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Growing up in a village in Burkina Faso, Georges Bazongo remembers his parents and neighbours cutting down trees each year to expand their farmland so they…

11 January 2021, source edie newsroom The Prince of Wales is hoping to get major businesses to commit to "accelerating and mainstreaming sustainability", by signing a new charter on the green recovery. Developed after the prince’s call for a “marshall-like plan for nature, people and planet” at Climate Week NYC in September 2020, the so-called “Terra Carta” outlines ten areas of…