Hong Kong’s first blog for SDG education news and announcements
Highly recommended read in IISD by Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) - Food System Transformation to Boost Biodiversity and Feed the Planet. She makes the point that agriculture needs to be considered as part of our ecosystems, not somehow magically separate from them and thus a holistic approach to biodiversity needs to embrace agriculture and other forms of human ecosystem interventions to truly deliver on its goals. “Unsustainable production and consumption patterns that contribute to biodiversity loss need to be reversed – including by addressing inefficient use of natural resources like water, soils and inputs for production, water scarcity, floods and pollution, land degradation and desertification, soil nutrient depletion, large-scale deforestation, overexploitation of fishery resources and pasture, and of course, climate change. If managed sustainably, agrifood systems contribute to the conservatio . . .
Every year on 18th December, the UN asks the world to mark International Migrants Day, a day set aside to recognize the important contribution of migrants while highlighting the challenges they face. This is something which has come to hold a near permanent place in the politics of many countries, especially those HICs which are often perceived as the main destination for international migrants. However, “85% of the world’s refugees live in low and middle-income countries (LICs and MICs). Nearly half of all migration flows are intra-regional, between LICs and MICs. Yet the disparity between data and analysis available on public attitudes towards refugees and other migrants in high-income countries (HICs) versus MICs, and LICs in particular, is stark.” (Leach & Hargrave, ODI) As an international migrant myself and as a child of migrants, I feel it is paramount that progressive attitudes to migration are pushed to overcome the narrow views that currently dominate, . . .
Without Indigenous leadership, attempts to stop the tide of destruction against nature will fail (The Conversation) New food technologies could release 80% of the world’s farmland back to nature (The Conversation) New York to ban animal sales at pet stores in 2024 (Reuters) Tokyo makes solar panels mandatory for new homes built after 2025 (Reuters) After developing country walkout, ministers arrive to rescue nature talks (CHN) Which countries are ‘particularly vulnerable’ to climate change? (CHN) Environmental Impact of Food Not the Same Around the World, New Report Finds (green queen) Why Climate Grief is the Next Mental Health Crisis (green queen) Green tariffs: what are they and why do they matter? (The Guardian) 18 brands called out for greenwashing in 2022 (Eco-business) . . .
I came across a very interesting article by Matthew Wills in The Conversation entitled Crabs have evolved five separate times – why do the same forms keep appearing in nature? After dealing with the crab story he also highlights birds as another recurring organism and then moves on to bring up the interesting case of how mammals have evolved in two distinct groups - placental and marsupial - and yet similar species appear in both. The adaptations which evolution selects for success tens to recur. He uses his observations to suggest that any form of life would follow the same principles and thus could well exist in another part of the universe (or multiverse anyone?). But it made we wonder as well, whether, if us humans drive ourselves to extinction by causing environmental change quicker than we can evolve to survive under new conditions, does it mean humans could reappear in the future if the earth’s environment returned to that which gave rise to us the first time r . . .
Last Saturday was the UN’s observance of Human Rights Day. 10th December commemorates the day in 1948 when UNGA adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - a milestone document the like of which had never been seen before. The UDHR still underpins much of the way the international law is structured, how governments expect each other to set policy and provides a useful starting point for the way that every person in the world can see how they should be treated and indeed how they should behave in a global context. It is an agreement that sets out the rights that every human has. The theme in 2022 is Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All to mark a year of celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Declaration. Since its inception more and more people around the world have found discrimination against them reduced. There is still some way to go and so the year will also particularly celebrate the activism which underpins translating the 30 Articles into real laws, policies and . . .
COP15: three visions for protecting nature on the table at the UN biodiversity conference (The Conversation) Why you’re less likely to get rich these days if your parents aren’t already wealthy (The Conversation) What would a green World Cup look like? (Future Planet) Stop Buying So Many New Clothes Or Face a Climate Disaster, Report Finds (green queen) 18 brands called out for greenwashing in 2022 (Eco-business) Investing in a just energy transition: What we need to do now (Eco-business) EU agrees law to crack down on deforestation in supply chains (CHN) Tiny fish could unlock big gains in tackling global malnutrition (Science Daily) 'Bomb cyclones' in North Pacific up 20%; more typhoons hit Tokyo (Nikkei Asia) New criminal code rings alarms for environmental protection in Indonesia (Mongabay) Transparent wood could soon replace plastics (SciDev) . . .
In Finland a small experimental project is starting to shape up as a possible solution to one of the renewables sector’s most intractable problems - both in reality and in the popular perception of conservative and skeptical populations. That is, how to provide consistent and reliable energy when the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine (amongst others). By enclosing a modest 100 tonnes of low grade “builder’s sand” enclosed in a silo and heating it to 600C with renewable sources the energy is retained and can be called on to produce electricity for about 100 homes by using heat exchange pipes. The immediate benefits are that it is a cheap, relatively low-tech alternative to the battery problem, with much lower negative impacts in the production and disposal phases and should therefore be able to be implemented at a global scale regardless of development level or financial position. . . .
On 26th November, after ten weeks of intense learning, 34 young nominees graduated the 2022 YAAP Programme run by the ITS Foundation in conjunction with UNITAR. Over the course, they were taken through the Social Enterprise Framework in conjunction with the Systems Work of Social Change (Bonnici & Rayner) and had expert impact from Brijesh Singh (Mumbai smart traffic), Henry Yang (Microsoft), Cameron van Breda (Hollo), David Pope (AVT), Victor Abuja (Ghan Energy Commission) and Prof Takeda Tomoko. The day was a pitch event where each Ambassador - along with a team they had put together independently - presented a solution to a problem they had identified in their own communities (in the context of the SDGs). The venue was provided by Microsoft at their Experience Centre in Cyberport, Hong Kong and the overseas participants dialled in to present from Japan, Singapore and Afghanistan. Three 2021 graduates, Anna Wei, Justin Cheng and Aiden Howe, joined Cameron van Breda and Ivan Won . . .
