News headlines in May 2017, page 2

UNITED NATIONS, May 30 (IPS) - Over the past five years, I have written with a number of co-authors the history of the sustainable development movement at the global level prior to the first UN Conference on Human Environment held in 1972 through the 1992 Earth Summit and Rio+20 to the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. I like to think of these books as the ‘Vienna Café Trilogy' after the café in the basement of the United Nations headquarters in New York, where many deals are done over coffee. Also, with deference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts, this trilogy may also have future books.

MEXICO CITY, May 29 (IPS) - Energy poverty afflicts millions of homes in Mexico, with many social, economic and environmental impacts for the country.

AHMEDABAD, India, May 29 (IPS) - There are nearly 420 million young Africans between the ages of 15 and 35 today. And it is estimated that within ten years, Africa will be home to one-fifth of all young people worldwide.

JOHANNESBURG, May 29 (IPS) - Amid the worst drought in a century, South Africans are kick-starting a global consultative process to agree on the values of water in a bid to ensure more equitable use of the finite resource.

ROME, May 29 (IPS) - A highly contagious disease is spreading among farmed and wild tilapia, one of the world's most important fish for human consumption, the United Nations warns, adding that though not a human health risk, Tilapia Lake Virus has large potential impact on global food security and nutrition.

VITORIA, Brazil, May 29 (IPS) - "I am going back to Panama with many ideas," said Gilda Montenegro, a nutritionist with the Panamanian Education Ministry, after getting to know the school feeding system in the city of Vitoria, in central-eastern Brazil.

ROME, May 26 (IPS) - Asia is home to the largest number of indigenous peoples on Earth, with an estimated 260 million of a total of 370 million original inhabitants worldwide. In spite of their huge number-equaling half of the combined population of Europe-- they are often victims of discrimination and denial of their rights.

WASHINGTON DC, May 26 (IPS) - As World Hunger Day May 28 approaches, it is time for us all to redouble our efforts to reach the goal of Zero Hunger by prioritizing the battle against micronutrient deficiency. If the international community pulls together this year to incorporate proven solutions such as biofortifying crops into the UN framework for sustainable development, we could reduce malnutrition on a truly global scale.

ROME, May 26 (IPS) - Women constitute the largest share of informal traders in Africa–about 70 per cent in Southern Africa and more than half in other parts of this vast continent made up of 54 states, home to over 1,200 billion people.

UNITED NATIONS, May 26 (IPS) - World leaders must step up and take action in fighting famine to prevent further catastrophic levels of hunger and deaths, said Oxfam.