Press Room » Videos

Act now Save Later! New video on disaster prevention

andre.lyra — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:59:33 +0000

“Act now, save later”.

Through this campaign, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) sheds light the exorbitant cost of recovery assistance following natural disasters, and urges wealthy nations to spend now in order to save later.

The campaign aims to raise awareness of the stark economic and human costs of natural disasters. Not only have natural disasters killed more than a million people and affected over a quarter of the global population since 2000; they have also cost the world upwards of US$1 trillion.

Learn more about what the UN is doing on this topic on the website of the Office of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) http://www.unisdr.org

For more information on the campaign please click here

Bringing the Social to Rio+20: New film on Green Economy and Sustainable Development

andre.lyra — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:55:31 +0000

Brasilia and Geneva, 15 February 2012 – The 20^th anniversary of the Rio convention and Agenda 21 will be upon us in a few months. Twenty years ago, a global commitment signaled a fundamental change in development. An honest assessment suggests that while advances have been made and innovations have occurred, we have often failed to consolidate these into new macro-policy frameworks which fundamentally represent a shift from business as usual. Years later, environmental damage of USD 6.6 trillion was estimated for 2008 alone (UNEP, 2010) and a report by the International Energy Agency suggests that energy-related CO2 emissions in 2010 were the highest ever recorded. This year’s Rio +20 cannot be ‘business as usual’ ; there is a credibility gap which all countries must collectively own and take ownership of, despite differentiated responsibilities and capacities.

The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) launched an insightful film on Green Economy and Sustainable Development: Bringing Back the Social as the first of the series “Bringing the Social to Rio+20“. The film,which is available below, uses footage from recordings and interviews from the 2011 UNRISD conference, “Green Economy and Sustainable Development: Bringing Back the Social Dimension“. It explores green economy’s potential as a path to inclusive, sustainable development and poverty eradication.

Rio+20: An opportunity to refocus on social sustainability

Rio+20 provides us with an opportunity to: (i) sustain the focus on people-centred development and to build on last year’s MDG Summit; (ii) undertake a critical review of what has worked and the cause of our failures; and (iii) bring inclusion and inclusiveness more centrally into the discussions. It is for this reason that the focus on institutional frameworks is as important as the green economy itself. Without strong and effective governance mechanisms, including formal and informal mechanisms, for negotiating across competing needs and interests, much of the efforts to “go green” will likely follow up the path of previous efforts.

Often treated as important but not priority or strategic entry points, poverty reduction and gender equality must now move squarely to the center of the agenda. We have often failed to appreciate the way in which poverty forces the poor to rely exclusively on environmental resources for livelihoods and survival or how engines of growth are reliant on the quality and quantity of natural resources. 96% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is dependent on rain-fed agriculture. At present, more than a billion persons still live on less than USD 1.25 a day, more than 2.6 billion lack access to safe and hygienic sanitation facilities (of these more than 300 million are Africans) and women in Africa spend quite substantial hours collecting water annually (ActionAid, 2009). In Sub-Saharan Africa alone about 140 million people live with the constant threat of droughts or floods.

How to advance the social sustainability agenda at Rio+20? Refer to the following IPC-IG and UNRISD resources and publications:

Green Economies with Social Futures [IPC-IG in the media]

The Dimensions of Inclusive Development [IPC-IG Poverty in Focus magazine]

Interview with Leisa Perch on Rio+20 [IPC-IG article]

Mitigation of What and by What? Adaptation by Whom and for Whom? Dilemmas in Delivering for the Poor and the Vulnerable in International Climate Policy [IPC-IG working paper]

UNRISD Flagship Report “Combating Poverty and Inequality”

Understanding food security: Video interview presents key issues for South-South dialogue

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:00:00 +0000

There are 925 million undernourished people in the world today, which means that one in seven people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life (FAO, 2011). The current famine in East Africa has brought the food security issue back to the core of the international development agenda. Ensuring access to food and tackling the root causes of hunger and undernourishment is a growing challenge for most of the developing world. What are the issues behind food security? Which countries are showing progress in providing their peoples with adequate access to alimentation? How did those nations achieve such successes? These and other questions are addressed by IPC-IG senior researcher Darana Souza, who is dedicated to analysing and identifying innovations in food security and social policy in developing and emerging countries, such as Brazil, India and South Africa. In the following video interview, Ms. Souza explains that smallholder farmers - a category that ensembles over 500 million farmers in the world, which are responsible for feeding more than 2 billion people – are key to achieving food security. IPC-IG researcher also advocates for long-term policy interventions to address the root causes of hunger and malnourishment and show us that there are great innovations in the Global South that can inspire and help other countries achieve their national development goals.

watch?v=MVFn_F491sU

Are you interested in this subject? Would you like to learn more about the current crisis in the Horn of Africa and how developing countries are tackling hunger around the world? Refer to the following resources by the UNDP International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) in Brasilia:

East Africa Food Crisis: Understand the Importance of Smallholder Farmers – IPC-IG article

Comparative study analyzes food security situation in Brazil, India and South Africa – IPC-IG publications and evaluations

The future of food security lies in the hands of women farmers – IPC-IG article

The implementation of Brazil’s food security policies – IPC-IG publications and evaluations

Can food security and food procurement initiatives facilitate enhanced production capabilities and market access for smallholder farmers? Lessons from Brazil’s food Acquisition Programme (PAA) - IPC-IG events

Food Security in Brazil, India and South Africa: Cooperation Still Lacking – IPC-IG article

Food (In)security: The Paradox of Hunger and Obesity in the BRIC countries – IPC-IG article