News headlines in March 2019, page 6

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 19 (IPS) - The United Nations has vowed to eradicate extreme hunger and malnutrition on a self-imposed deadline of 2030.

But it is facing a harsh realty where human-induced climate change – including flash floods, droughts, heatwaves, typhoons and landslides-- is increasingly threatening agriculture, which also provides livelihoods for over 40 per cent of the global population.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 19 (IPS) - Modern slavery and human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal industries and one of the biggest human rights crises today, United Nations and government officials said.

CASTRIES, Mar 18 (IPS) - In 2015, the Caribbean was "the region that could" on the climate change scene. Countries rallied under the ‘1.5 to Stay Alive' banner, in the face of an existential threat. The now former Sustainable Development Minister of Saint Lucia Dr. James Fletcher emerged as a climate change champion at the time. But now, three years on, the scientist is giving regional climate action a C- in an assessment.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Mar 18 (IPS) - Monika Weber-Fahr, is Executive Secretary of Global Water Partnership.

I am drafting this on International Women's Day - March 8 - with an eye towards World Water Day on March 22. On International Women's Day we celebrate progress in gender equality. At the same time, we recognize how much remains to be done: how many women remain excluded from decision-making across many professions. Changing this is urgent. Water – clean and accessible – is getting scarcer at an alarming rate. While working to change this, we cannot afford to exclude women.

WISCONSIN, USA, Mar 18 (IPS) - Yash Bhandari is research editor at Rockay, a clothing manufacturer that focuses on the exclusive use of eco-friendly and recyclable materials.

The U.N.'s World Water day is fast approaching as the state of the world's consumable water supply remains dismal. Billions of people face at least the very real risk of scarcity, if they're not facing scarcity already; and about a third of the world's groundwater systems are in danger of becoming depleted.

WASHINGTON DC, Mar 18 (IPS) - Masood Ahmed is President of the Washington-based Centre for Global Development (CGD) & former Vice President, Poverty Reduction & Economic Management, at the World Ban.

All incoming World Bank presidents bring a public record of their views about the bank and about development more generally. David Malpass, who is on track to become the bank's next presidenthas not been shy in criticizing the role and management of the institution he now plans to lead.

STOCKHOLM / ROME, Mar 18 (IPS) - "Though this be madness, yet there is method in it." - Polonius in Hamlet.

EU Parliament elections take place every fifth year and votes have steadily been decreasing. In the last 2014 election, the overall turnout was 42.54 percent of those entitled to vote, in some nations it was just around fifteen percent. Nevertheless, results will not only be eagerly awaited by pro- and anti-EU activists, but also by ideologist from non-member countries. Particularily vociferous among such people are Steve Bannon, who wants to "Make America Great Again" and Aleksandr Dugin who wants to "Make Russia Great Again".

ROME, Mar 16 (IPS) - Friday, Mar. 15, hundreds of thousands of young people across the world took to the streets to join the climate strike. "We are demonstrating today for our planet and for our future. This is the place where we and those who come after us will live," Jennifer, a 16-year-old girl from Rome, the Italian capital, was one of those who opted to join the protests rather than attend school, told IPS.

LONDON / DHAKA, Mar 15 (IPS) - Jonathan Farr is WaterAid's Senior Policy Analyst on water security & climate change, based in London & Samia Mallik is WaterAid Bangladesh's Communications Officer, based in Dhaka.

The stakes are high for women when faced with a warming world – their livelihoods jeopardised by labour markets that tend to put men first, their family responsibilities increasing rapidly in the face of droughts and flooding, and politicians who refuse to acknowledge the challenges they face. The story of those living on the frontline of a harsher climate is simply not being heard.

SOUTH CAROLINA, USA, Mar 15 (IPS) - Mark Baker is Director of Disaster Response at Water Mission*Those of us working in disaster relief know what to expect when a hurricane or earthquake strikes with devastating fury.

We know that safe water, food, and shelter will be the most immediate needs for survivors. And we have a good idea of the kind of wreckage we'll see, although we never cease to be humbled and sobered by the tragic sights.