fCAT: innovative peace leadership: 2017-05-28

Friday, June 2, 2017

Preserving cultural heritage, diversity vital for peacebuilding in Middle East – UNESCO chief

"Protecting cultural diversity is vital for peacebuilding in the Middle East, the head of the United Nations cultural agency said... pledging solidarity with the victims of ethnic and religious violence in the region, and highlighting the need for both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ power.

Irina Bokova, the Director-General of the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), made this call at the Madrid Conference, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain. The conference is a follow up to a open debate in the UN Security Council and the Paris Conference on the victims of ethnic and religious violence in the Middle East.

Citing the ongoing cultural destruction and the dramatic situation of persons belonging to communities targeted and threatened for ethnic or religious reasons in the Middle East, the UNESCO chief said: “Violent extremists target both heritage and human lives – they target victims and minorities from all backgrounds, Shebak, Turkmen, Yezidis, Muslims, Christians…, as symbols of the pluralism they abhor.”

"Violent extremists target schools, because they know the power of knowledge to counter their rhetoric drawing on false visions of faith and history, they destroy culture, because they know it can foster dialogue and help people live together in their diversity," she

Source: United Nations News Centre - Preserving cultural heritage, diversity vital for peacebuilding in Middle East – UNESCO chief:

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Innovators, UN discuss using tech to tackle world's development challenges

" From drones dropping food and medicines, to handheld devices that can diagnose Ebola with a drop of blood, the latest technological advances are converging to make the “unthinkable happen,” said global innovators and heads of tech companies invited to the United Nations today to discuss how to emerging technologies can boost achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Living up to his promise to be “disruptive,” Peter Thomson, the President of the UN General Assembly, using the famous Silicon Valley catchphrase, told those gathered for the High-level SDG Action Event on Innovation and Connectivity that he had refrained from wearing a jacket and tie, while Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed kicked off her shoes before addressing the room.

“Today, in this world, everyone is closing their border,” she said, but partnerships are necessary for the SDGs to reach every corner of the globe. Indeed, many innovators know no borders, “like we do in these halls when we negotiate and we talk about red lines, blue lines and green lines.”

Ms. Mohammed underscored: “There are no red, blue or green lines as you walk through the Internet, social media, communicating across those borders. That is what is exciting. Because with that you can share knowledge, with that you can go to scale, with that you can partner to de-risk environments where ordinarily you would not go.”

“We are all here because we have a common belief: that innovation and connectivity have a huge role to play in implementation of the SDGs,” said Mr. Thompson, telling the event that this is important because the Goals are at the heart of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. That framework, together with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is “our recipe for providing a secure place in this world for our children and grandchildren.”

“We need fidelity to those agreements and we need action on their implementation,” he stressed.

The Action Event, which sought to get leading innovators from major global corporations to interact with UN Member States, featured two keynote speakers, with Dr. Peter Diamandis, Chairman of XPrize Foundation and Singularity University, telling the gathering that he believed that in seven years, the entire planet will be connected.

This is what he called the “dematerialization” of things that people used to own, and that are now free on our cell phones."

source: United Nations News Centre - Innovators, UN discuss using tech to tackle world's development challenges:

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Peace Inspiration: ‘Grandpa Oyster’ offers example of sustainable ocean business

"Shigeatsu Hatakeyama’s oyster farm was completely destroyed by the deadly tsunami that hit north-east Japan in March 2011.

“I thought to myself my business was over,” says 74-year-old Hatakeyama, who is known as ‘Grandpa Oyster,’ a nickname given by the schoolchildren in his environmental education programme.

To his surprise, however, the conditions conducive to oyster farming in Kesennuma Bay came back quickly. He believes the recovery can be attributed to the tree-planting movement he and his fishing community initiated decades ago in the upstream of Okawa River that flows into the Bay.

Mr. Hatakeyama is the president of the non-profit organization “Mori wa Umi no Koibito” (The forest is longing for the sea, the sea is longing for the forest), whose activities focus on reforestation and environmental education. He was also one of the recipients of the UN Forest Hero Award in 2012.

Ahead of the United Nations Ocean Conference, Mr. Hatakeyama spoke with UN News and explained how the forest environment is interlinked to marine production.

UN News: What led you to start the reforestation movement “The forest is longing for the sea, the sea is longing for the forest?”

Shigeatsu Hatakeyama: The movement started in 1989. Oysters grow in areas of brackish waters where a river meets the sea. You cannot grow oysters just with salt water. Fresh water is necessary. For instance, Hiroshima, a well-known oyster production site, has brackish water areas at the mouth of the Ota River. Okawa flows into Kesennuma Bay, where our oyster farm is situated. Nutrients from upstream forests that a river carries raise phytoplankton, which oysters feed on."

United Nations News Centre - FEATURE: ‘Grandpa Oyster’ offers example of sustainable ocean business:

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