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☆ Middle class wiped out: Half of Myanmar’s people forced into poverty by civil war, UN report finds
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Once considered among the most promising economies in Southeast Asia with a growing middle class, Myanmar is now suffering from soaring levels of poverty as a devastating civil war drives tens of millions further into destitution, according to a new United Nations report. Poverty has not only doubled but people are also more deeply poor, the report found. Wignaraja said Myanmar’s middle class is “literally disappearing.”“A 50% collapse of the middle class over two and a half years is quite astounding for this country, but for any country,” she said. The value of Myanmar’s local currency, the kyat, has plummeted, along with rising costs for food and other basic necessities. “We call on all stakeholders — inside and outside Myanmar — to take action and preserve vulnerable households from slipping into irreversible poverty and despair.”

Persons: Aung, Suu Kyi, ”, Kanni Wignaraja, Wignaraja, Achim Steiner Organizations: CNN, United Nations, UN Development Program, UNDP, Asian Development Bank, Bank, Asia Locations: Southeast Asia, Myanmar, destitution, Suu, Yangon, Mandalay

☆ UN completes removal of oil from decaying tanker off Yemen
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

DUBAI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Friday it had completed the removal of more than 1 million barrels of oil from a decaying supertanker off Yemen's Red Sea coast, averting a potential environmental disaster. The war in Yemen caused the suspension of maintenance operations on the Safer in 2015. The ship is used for storage and has been moored off Yemen for more than 30 years. Technicians work on the deck of the replacement vessel as the transfer of oil from the decaying FSO Safer oil tanker began off Yemen July 25, 2023. "The best end to the story will be when that oil actually is sold and leaves the region altogether."

Persons: Achim Steiner, David Gressly, Steiner, Antonio Guterres, Antony Blinken, Andrew Mills, Imad Creidi, Michelle Nichols, Ismail Shakil, Sharon Singleton, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: United Nations, Salvage, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: DUBAI, Alaska, Yemen, Handout, Yemeni, U.N

☆ The world needs a debt-poverty pause to mitigate poverty: UNDP
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Tania Bryer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe world needs a debt-poverty pause to mitigate poverty: UNDPTania Bryer talks to Achim Steiner, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, about the organization's call for a debt-poverty pause and its push for a new system to allow debt restructuring for developing economies.

Persons: Tania Bryer, Achim Steiner Organizations: United Nations Development

☆ 'Enormous' needs as EU hosts conference to collect money for Syria
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, June 15 (Reuters) - The European Union hosts an international conference on Thursday to collect money for Syria where an earthquake earlier this year aggravated the already dire plight of people who have been caught in war since 2011. About 5.5 million Syrian refugees live in neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq as well as Egypt. The U.N. chiefs said they hoped for a similar level of pledges to the $6.7 billion offered for Syria and its neighbours at a similar conference last year. "Humanitarian funding for Syria is not keeping pace with rapidly increasing needs," said Janez Lenarcic, the conference host and the EU's top official for humanitarian aid and crisis management. Lenarcic also called for extended humanitarian access from Turkey to the northwestern part of Syria.

Persons: Martin Griffiths, Filippo Grandi, Achim Steiner, Janez Lenarcic, Bashar al Assad's, Assad, Lenarcic, Gabriela Baczynska, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: European Union, Three United Nations, UNHCR, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Russia, Iran, Turkish, U.S

☆ Hope for jobs drives recruitment by militant groups in Africa - report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Nellie Peyton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

While worldwide deaths from terrorism have declined in the last five years, deaths in sub-Saharan Africa have risen, making it now the global epicentre of attacks, the UNDP report said, citing an annual survey called the Global Terrorism Index. Countries from east to west Africa have seen Islamist militant groups take over large swathes of territory, displacing millions, eroding faith in democratic government and causing widespread hunger. The UNDP report found that 25% of voluntary recruits to such groups cited job opportunities as their primary reason for joining, while 22% cited wanting to join with family and friends and 17% cited religious ideas. An additional year of schooling reduced the likelihood of voluntary recruitment to extremist groups by 13%, it found. The Global Terrorism Index is produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace think-tank, which draws its data from the Terrorism Tracker database of Dragonfly, a private sector security and intelligence service.

☆ Donors pledge more than $9 billion for Pakistan’s flood recovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Officials from some 40 countries as well as private donors and international financial institutions gathered at a meeting in Geneva as Islamabad sought funds to cover around half of a recovery bill amounting to $16.3 billion. The meeting’s co-hosts, the United Nations and Pakistan’s government, said more than $9 billion had been pledged from bilateral and multilateral partners. Among the donors were the Islamic Development Bank ($4.2 billion), the World Bank ($2 billion), Saudi Arabia ($1 billion), as well as the European Union and China, Pakistan Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said. “Today has truly been a day which gives us great hope,” said Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s minister of state for foreign affairs. Millions of homes, tens of thousands of schools as well as thousands of kilometers of roads and railways still need to be rebuilt, the UN says.

☆ What are people saying about the COP27 deal?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"I urge you to acknowledge when you walk out of this room, that we have all fallen short in actions to avoid and minimise loss and damage. "Too many parties are not ready to make more progress today in the fight against climate crisis." PAKISTAN CLIMATE CHANGE MINISTER SHERRY REHMAN"We have struggled for 30 year on this path and today in Sharm el-Sheikh this journey has achieved its first positive milestone ... MALDIVES CLIMATE CHANGE MINISTER AMINATH SHAUNA"I recognise the progress we made in COP 27 particularly on...the funding arrangements for loss and damage. And we were able to prevent a backslide behind the consensus of Glasgow and Paris (climate summits).

☆ UNDP chief: Biggest disappointment is we are not investing enough in one another
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Tania Bryer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailUNDP chief: Biggest disappointment is we are not investing enough in one anotherAhead of COP27, United Nations Development Programme Administrator, Achim Steiner, tells CNBC's Tania Bryer that wealthier countries need to re-commit to helping the Global South in funding renewables to accelerate the energy transition.

☆ Serious debt crisis unfolding across developing countries - UNDP
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Marc Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The United Nations' Development Programme (UNDP) joined on Tuesday the chorus of institutions and charities warning that a serious debt crisis is now taking hold in the poorest parts of the world. "A serious debt crisis is unfolding across developing economies, and the likelihood of a worsening outlook is high," the report published on Tuesday said. Without effective debt restructuring, poverty will rise and desperately needed investments in climate adaptation and mitigation will not happen. Its proposal was to expand the Common Framework's eligibility so that all heavily indebted countries could utilise it rather just the 70 or so poorest countries, and for any debt payments to be automatically suspended during the process. "Not only have these countries contributed the least to, but bear the highest cost of, climate change".

☆ PNUD atenționează asupra schimbărilor în indicele dezvoltării umane în funcţie de amprenta de carbon
▼ + stars: | 2020-12-15 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: +2 min

Dependenţa de energiile fosile are repercusiuni asupra evaluării progreselor umane, afirmă un raport publicat marţi de Programul Naţiunilor Unite pentru Dezvoltare (PNUD), care ia în calcul pentru prima dată amprentele de carbon, transmite AFP. Evaluarea nivelului de trai în ţările lumii, progresele lor în privinţa sănătăţii şi educaţiei se modifică dacă sunt incluse criterii legate de emisiile de CO2 şi amprenta de carbon, relevă agenţia ONU, informează agerpres.ro. Astfel, în jur de 50 de state ies din grupul celor cu indice de dezvoltare umană foarte ridicat, reflectând dependenţa lor de combustibili fosili şi amprenta lor de carbon. 'Atacând inegalităţile, capitalizând pe inovaţie şi lucrând împreună cu natura, dezvoltarea umană ar putea face un pas înainte structural în favoarea atât a societăţilor, cât şi a planetei', afirmă Pedro Conceiçao, unul din responsabilii PNUD şi autorul principal al raportului. Potrivit şefului PNUD, Achim Steiner, 'oamenii exercită o putere mai mare ca oricând asupra planetei'.

Persons: Pedro Conceiçao, Achim Steiner Organizations: PNUD, ONU Locations: Costa Rica, Republica Moldova, Panama, creştere

☆ ONU: Peste 1 miliard de persoane ar putea trăi în sărăcie extremă până în 2030 din cauza pandemiei
▼ + stars: | 2020-12-03 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: +1 min

Această cifră ar putea fi atinsă dacă revenirea la normal este prelungită şi criza economică persistă, aruncând încă 207 milioane de persoane în sărăcie, potrivit Programului Naţiunilor Unite pentru Dezvoltare (PNUD).Potrivit unui scenariu "de bază" luând în considerare ratele actuale de mortalitate şi proiecţiile recente de creştere ale Fondului Monetar Internaţional, studiul arată că alte 44 milioane de persoane vor trăi sub pragul de sărăcie în următorii 10 ani. "Pandemia COVID-19 este un punct critic şi ceea ce aleg liderii acum ar putea conduce lumea în direcţii foarte diferite", a declarat administratorul PNUD Achim Steiner într-un comunicat de presă. "Avem ocazia să investim într-un deceniu de acţiuni care nu numai că ajută oamenii să se recupereze după COVID-19, dar restabileşte calea de dezvoltare a omenirii şi planetei către un viitor mai corect, mai rezistent şi verde", a notat el.

Persons: PNUD Achim Steiner Organizations: PNUD, Monetar

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