TORONTO, Canada, Dec 23 (IPS) – Do you sometimes feel like a hamster on its wheel, or perhaps stuck on a runaway train hurtling towards the abyss? Whatever metaphor one chooses when looking back to 2024, rainbows do not come to mind easily.
The wars and conflicts that were already rampant in the past year have worsened, with horrific violence against civilians, especially women and children, and millions displaced. Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sahel, Haiti. The long list gets longer.
The COP29 talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, were about trying to find agreements on how to deal with the global climate crisis. Two weeks of negotiations, covered in detail by the IPS, came close to collapsing, falling just short of total failure.
As 2024 races toward a place in the record books as the world’s hottest year on record, the ambitious Baku deal on climate finance for poor countries has been stymied once again by powerful countries and their global rivals, arguing against a backdrop of mounting debt. .
In the words of Mohamed Adow, director of the climate and energy organization Power Shift Africa, rich countries have made “a big escape from Baku with no real money on the table and vague and unanswerable promises of money to be raised.” (One might also add that the big manufacturing countries like China and India, which produce power and wealth but refuse to be defined as ‘rich’, also have a slight decline in Baku).
Disputes over the funding of the new fund also marred the COP16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, where exhausted delegates failed to reach an agreement.
To the dismay of those who wanted to prevent the extinction of many species, countries also failed to agree on a new framework to monitor progress in dealing with biodiversity loss.
A landmark new report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) warns that deep, fundamental changes in the way people view and interact with the natural world are urgently needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and protect life on Earth.
IPBES Assessment Report on the Root Causes of Biodiversity Loss and Sustainable Change Decisions and Options for Achieving the 2050 Biodiversity Vision – also known as the Change Report – builds on the 2019 IPBES Global Assessment Reportwhich found that the only way to achieve the global development goals is through sustainable change, and in the 2022 IPBES Heritage Assessment Report.
Important in terms of their contributions to humanity, but sidelined in these larger orchestrations, organizations such as OCHA, IOM and WHO act as crisis markers while trying to carry out important rehabilitation and rehabilitation work during a crisis.
Greg Puley, head of the Climate Team at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued a clear call for an ambitious and fair global financial goal at COP29. “This year alone we have seen floods in the Sahel, extreme heat in Asia and Latin America, and drought in South Africa,” he told IPS.
Also ignored was Israel’s plea in November to halt its offensive in Northern Gaza. Fifteen UN and other humanitarian organizations described the disaster there as a “catastrophe”. In that context, the World Health Organization said its second round of polio vaccination in the Gaza Strip was partially successful.
An analysis by the UN Human Rights Office showed that almost 70 percent of those killed in the war in Gaza were women and children.
“Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children,” said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on November 6. “More journalists have reportedly been killed in the past four weeks than in any conflict in at least three decades.” More United Nations aid workers have been killed than at any comparable time in the history of our organization,” he added.
More than 10 million people have been displaced by the conflict within Sudan and another 2.2 million have fled the country. Militant groups regularly attack civilians, causing serious violence against women. Madiha Abdalla, an activist journalist who was forced to flee Sudan, wrote to IPS explaining how women who fight for human rights are targeted.
Despite the level of suffering in Sudan, international attention is waning and aid is withheld. Russia opposed the UN Security Council resolution.
As the world celebrated the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25, UN Women data showed nearly one in three women worldwide has experienced physical and/or sexual abuse at least once in her life.
Individual activists like Abdalla are particularly vulnerable with little or no backup during conflict. But 2024 has seen organizations all up their sticks and walk away. Haiti is an example. More than 700,000 people have left their homes as gang violence has escalated, especially since the Multinational Security Support mission was deployed.
Doctors Without Borders, which has been working in Haiti for more than 30 years, said it is suspending critical care in the capital Port-au-Prince following repeated threats from local law enforcement to staff and patients. The UN also ordered the evacuation of its staff from the capital in what it vaguely called a temporary reduction of its “measures” in Port-au-Prince. UNICEF said an unprecedented number of children have been recruited by gangs.
Haitian refugees even became a weapon in Donald Trump’s election campaign in the US when he accused Haitian immigrants of eating cats and dogs of residents of Springfield, Ohio. Trump’s false claim – which has been widely debunked – did little to derail his ultimately successful campaign in which the former president repeatedly announced his intention to deport undocumented immigrants if elected.
Ironically, his deportation plans may be inspired by the International Organisation’s World Migration Report 2024 which details an unprecedented number of immigrants worldwide – an estimated 281 million. This has led to an increase in remittances worth hundreds of billions of dollars, making up a “significant” portion of developing countries’ GDP.
Trump’s disdain for international organizations and the binding obligations involved in membership makes it possible that he will repeat the drastic measures taken during his 2016-21 administration, such as the US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and the suspension of contributions to the WHO.
As 2024 draws to a close with the horrific spread of the renewed war in Syria, the isolated US under Trump reminds us of the importance of those unknown organizations that slip under the radar, such as the Sasakawa Foundation campaigning to end leprosy and its stigma; IITA/CGIAR and their commitment to small farms and transforming food systems in Africa; scientists are developing a new vaccine to boost immunity against malaria.
A long and positive list this time. Even on the climate side, progress should be noted and taken care of, even if it comes late and slowly, as the world is expected to see a peak in annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2024, partly due to a large solar leap. and spiritual power.
People have the power to make a difference too, whether they elect Trump or oust a would-be corrupt dictator, as 2024 showed.
Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Chief Advisor to the interim government of Bangladesh and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, spoke in his first speech at the United Nations about “the power of ordinary people”, especially young people, to build a “new Bangladesh.” ” after massive protests against corruption and government violence ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August.
We may be on that train headed for the abyss but we have the knowledge and tools to apply the brakes. If only we could learn the lessons.
Farhana Haque Rahman is the Senior Vice President of IPS Inter Press Service and Executive Director of IPS Noram; served as the elected Director General of IPS from 2015-2019. A journalist and communications specialist, he is the executive director of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
