Laws to leaders: three aims for the anti-slavery movement in 2021
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation With less than a decade for the world to meet a United Nations target of ending modern slavery, experts say gains in tackling human trafficking risk being undone by the COVID-19 pandemic. About 40 million people globally are estimated to be enslaved – in forced labour and forced marriages – in […]
Pandemic makes tackling global woes more critical than ever – Bill Gates
New York City, USThomson Reuters Foundation The coronavirus pandemic has wiped out progress on lofty goals such as ending world poverty and hunger in the next decade, but the economic damage of COVID-19 shows how badly such global development is needed, philanthropist Bill Gates said. Across the world, the virus has deepened social and economic […]
Essay: To reduce world hunger, governments need to think beyond making food cheap
In an article first published on The Conversation, academics MICHAEL FAKHRI, of the University of Oregon, and NTINA TZOUVALA, of Australian National University, look at why cheaper food isn’t the answer to the world’s hunger crisis…
Most people want billionaires to pitch in to aid poverty and inequality
New York City, USThomson Reuters Foundation Eight out of 10 people think billionaires should help end poverty, inequality and a host of global ills, a poll showed on Wednesday, as funding shortages and the new coronavirus stymied hopes of meeting the United Nations’ development goals for 2030. The ambitious plans, known as the Sustainable Development […]
Coronavirus seen threatening global goals to end poverty, inequality
New York City, USThomson Reuters Foundation Ambitious global goals set out by the United Nations to end poverty and inequality are under threat from the coronavirus pandemic, even as they are most needed, experts have warned. A 2030 deadline to meet the UN’s development goals is at risk as economies suffer in the fight against […]
Equality for 2.1 billion women and girls under threat as progress stalls
New York City, USThomson Reuters Foundation More than two billion women and girls around the world face missing out on the advantages of their male peers as progress towards global gender equality goals stalls, advocacy groups warned on Thursday. About half the countries that signed up to the UN target of achieving gender equality by […]
Malala joins thousands of activists urging leaders to “act faster” on global goals
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai and environmentalist Jane Goodall are among more than 2,000 activists who declared a state of “emergency” for people and the planet on Thursday, in a letter demanding urgent action from world leaders. “We need you to act faster”, read the open letter, addressed to world leaders who in 2015 […]
Local water scarcity spilling over into global crisis, researchers warn
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Population growth and climate change are putting increasingly intense pressure on the planet’s limited water supplies, with worsening shortages emerging from the Middle East to Asia and Latin America, researchers and bankers said on Monday. “All the local crises around the world are building up to a global crisis,” Torgny Holmgren, […]
UN head urges a “decade of action” to address world crises
New York City, USThomson Reuters Foundation Sweeping goals to end poverty, inequality and other global ills are being derailed by climate change, conflicts and violence, the head of the United Nations told world leaders in New York on Tuesday, calling for a “decade of action”. Sustainable development needs more financing, investment in health and education, […]
World leaders to take stock of “faltering” global goals
New York CityThomson Reuters Foundation The world is decades behind schedule to achieve ambitious goals to fight poverty, inequality and other ills, development experts warned on Wednesday, as global leaders prepared to meet to weigh their progress. The high-level summit in New York next week will be the first to focus on the sustainable development […]