The damage from storms, droughts and sea level rise is in the news almost daily. Some money is flowing to help poor countries, but what isn’t clear is how much impact the funds are having.
Reducing fossil use and increasing renewable energy worldwide are crucial to both sustainable development and fighting climate change.
Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Energy and climate policies aren’t always headed in the same direction, but if they work together they can tackle two of the biggest challenges of our time.
Many developing countries cannot free up public money to invest in economic stimulus packages. For them to join in the global recovery, they will need assistance.
How can democratic nations help fledgling democracies and others struggling against the tide of autocrats?
Zimbabwe leaders welcome Chinese COVID-19 experts at the Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare on May 11, 2020.
Jekesai Njikizana/AFP via Getty Images
China is providing masks, vaccines, medical equipment and personnel to African countries ignored by the U.S. in recent years, positioning itself as an essential partner to the region.
The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated the need for Canada to develop a global health policy.
(Pixabay)
There’s no better way and better opportunity for Canada to prove it can be a world leader than now, with a comprehensive global health strategy for the post-pandemic era.
A woman counts money outside a U.S. remittance collection agency in San Isidro, El Salvador.
Marvin Recinos/AFP via Getty Images
Remittances to countries like Mexico, Pakistan and Vietnam are keeping pace with 2019’s record levels or in some cases rising, despite spring forecasts of a 20% decline.
Malala Yousafzai, an honorary Canadian citizen and a UN Messenger of Peace, speaks as she sits with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his office during her visit to Parliament Hill for her Honorary Canadian Citizenship ceremony in April 2017.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada is pursuing its international policy on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and scoring points on the world stage by leading the global support for recovery.
Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger speak during “We Day” in Toronto on Oct. 2, 2014.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Hannah Yoon
The “voluntourism” business promoted by WE Charity conflicts with efforts to decolonize global health and international development.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, in Ottawa in June 2019.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
To bring about genuine change, middle-power countries like Canada must adopt a leadership role in pursuing an ethical agenda to ensure the security and survival of humanity.
Is Canada ready to lead?
Haiti had not yet recovered from its devastating 2010 earthquake when it was hit hard by Hurricane Matthew in 2016. It is one of the world’s most vulnerable nations to climate change.
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
Haiti is extremely vulnerable to climate change. It is also very poor. International donors have stepped in to help the country fund climate mitigation, but is the money going where it’s most needed?
The United Nations says people “left behind” include those vulnerable to the effects of climate change, but aren’t the furthest behind those damaging the environment? Here, a man rides a bicycle through a devastated Homs, Syria. Numerous studies say climate change was a factor in record-setting drought, one of several causes of the country’s civil war.
AP Photo/Dusan Vranic
The United Nations Declaration on sustainable development stresses “leaving no-one behind,” but what about the factors that cause many to be behind in the first place?
Theresa May with her South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa.
EPA/Mike Hutchings
International NGOs are promoting a ‘resilience agenda’ that masks their own failings in Palestine.
Farmer-led development projects in places like Tanzania, shown here, can increase access to food and water, and reconnect people to nature.
(Cecilia Schubert/flickr)
There needs to be a more honest debate around the topic of foreign aid – there isn’t much evidence in the claim that it’s a pressing concern for much of the public.
COP 22 President Salaheddine Mezouar from Morocco, right, hands over a gavel to Fiji’s prime minister and president of COP 23 Frank Bainimarama, left, during the opening of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, Monday, Nov. 6, 2017.
AP Photo/Martin Meissner
Although climate change threatens the world’s small island nations, many can find ways to adapt and preserve their homes and cultures – especially if wealthy countries cut emissions and provide support.
Some Peace Corps volunteers already provide computer assistance and instruction.
Peace Corps
The US could help solve a global security problem and boost its image abroad by helping willing experts share their cybersecurity knowledge around the country and the globe.
No need for a bank: Just a smartphone and a blockchain.
Houman Haddad/UN World Food Program