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Photo: Merengue musicians in the Dominican Republic. Credit: Ministry of Culture

Beer Drinking and Rumba among Choices for Heritage List

By A.D. McKenzie

PARIS (IDN | SWAN) – Many people know of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites, which include structures such as China’s Great Wall and Tanzania’s Stone Town of Zanzibar – “places on earth that are of outstanding universal value to humanity” – but fewer perhaps know of the UN agency’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

This is an international register of cultural practices that are important for communities, in both traditional and modern ways, and 171 UNESCO member states have ratified a convention to safeguard these types of customs.

For ten years now, since the convention came into force in 2006, UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage Committee has met annually to choose nominees for inscription on the List, and next week members are meeting in Ethiopia to focus on traditional songs, rituals, celebrations and, in one case, beer drinking.

Peace with Russia is Possible

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - Trotsky, the one-time close comrade of Lenin, reportedly said, “You may not be interested in war but war is interested in you”.

This is how it seems to have been with President Barack Obama when it comes to his policy towards Russia. Having come to power with President Vladimir Putin open to a closer relationship after the aggressive pushing forward of NATO’s frontier during the time of presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Obama will leave the presidency with a state of hostility between the Russia and the U.S. that most thought had evaporated once the Cold War ended in 1991.

Disaster Relief ICTs SDG Enabler

Note: This article is moved in association with ITU’s media unit

BANGKOK (IDN-INPS) - Participants of an expert panel representing governments, private sector and NGOs at the ITU World Telecom 2016 event here argued that ‘disaster relief’ ICTs could be a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) enabler.

Disasters (earthquakes, floods, cyclones, hurricanes, epidemics etc.) continue to undermine economic development, social development, and environmental protection. Thus existing and emerging ICTs can mitigate the impact of these disasters increasing the chance for countries to attain the SDGs by 2030.

Looking Back at UNIDO, Moving Forward

Viewpoint by LI Yong, Director General of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

VIENNA (IDN-INPS) - UNIDO is turning fifty years old. The anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on the past. It is also an opportunity to chart a new path for a sustainable future.

Looking back at what UNIDO has achieved throughout all these years, I am amazed by the success of its technical cooperation activities, its normative function and its policy advice, and its contribution to the global discussion of industrial development.

The history of the Organization started on November 17, 1966, when UNIDO was established as a special organ of the United Nations General Assembly to assist, promote and accelerate the industrialization of developing countries, with a particular emphasis on manufacturing. After moving its headquarters to Vienna in 1979, it became a specialized agency in 1985.

Photo: Adelie penguins in Antarctica. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Peace in Antarctica Exemplary for International Relations

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - In 1772, sailing to the far south, Captain James Cook deflated the prevailing myth of Antarctica, that it was a temperate land, fertile and populated. Although he never landed on the continent he saw the vast icebergs, the frozen sea and the “worst weather anywhere in the world”. He wrote that “it is a continent doomed by nature” and doubted that man would ever find a use for it.

The words had not been long out of his mouth before governments started to make tentative grabs. The British were the first to make a move, claiming sovereignty on the grounds that the government needed to regulate commercial whaling.

Mixed Global Reactions to Trump’s Shocking Rise to Presidency

WASHINGTON D.C. (IDN-INPS | Press TV) - The victory of billionaire populist Donald J. Trump in the US presidential election is prompting responses from politicians worldwide, ranging from messages of congratulation to tacit expressions of discomfort.

Trump won more than 270 electoral votes in the 2016 presidential election on Wednesday, enough to make him the 45th president of the United States even as vote counting continued in a number of states.

His rise to the presidency wildly contrasted most forecasts within the United States, which had projected a strong win by his rival, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Photo: Official portrait by Pete Souza of the Obama family in the Oval Office in 2011. (From L-R): Michelle Obama, Malia Obama, Barack Obama, and Sasha Obama.

What If Obama Were President for the Third Term

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - An interesting question is what would happen to American foreign policy if President Barack Obama were allowed to have another four year term in office?

It would be a less interventionist presidency than what is about to become. This is not to say that I think the way Obama has handled the war in Afghanistan has been successful. Nor do I believe the attack on Libya was a sensible idea. Nor do I think the way he dealt with Russia and Ukraine in the last four years has been anything but counterproductive.

Lecture Series

Introduction to Lecture Series on GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

by Dr. Brigitte Fahrenhorst

Photo: UNFCCC | Credit: Joshua Mayer / Flickr

Measures to Protect, Restore and Sustainably Manage Forests

MARRAKECH, Morocco (UNFCC) – Leaders in the global drive to protect, restore and sustainably manage forests announced on November 8 a series of measures that show concrete progress is being made towards delivering on the Paris climate pledges and global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

More than a dozen initiatives from Africa to Indonesia to South America are demonstrating how climate mitigation and adaptation actions related to forests and agriculture are firmly anchored in the Nationally Determined Contributions of over 120 Parties to the Climate Convention.

Photo: An overview of the UNGA First Committee. Credit: ICAN

NATO Shores Up Hegemonial Power Through Nuke Deterrence

By Xanthe Hall, IPPNW and ICAN Germany

Note: This article first appeared in the IPPNW Peace and Health Blog on November 3, 2016.

BERLIN (IDN-INPS) - For once, the United States, France and the United Kingdom are in agreement with Russia: plans to negotiate a nuclear weapons ban need to be stopped. Before the vote on October 27 in the UN First Committee, they pulled out all the stops to pressurise other states to vote against or abstain on a draft resolution co-sponsored by 57 states for a conference to be convened in 2017 to negotiate a nuclear ban.