Last year’s Baku Climate Conference, the 29th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCCC), concluded with mixed outcomes. While the contentious negotiations on climate finance took center stage at COP29, the plights of the most climate-vulnerable groups, especially persons with disabilities (PWDs), were largely overlooked. PWDs were mentioned only twice in the COP29 outcomes—Global Goal of Adaptation and Gender and Climate.
Fears of floods of the scale of the 2015 deluge are looming over Chennai where at least five people have died in rain-related incidents since last week. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted widespread rainfall in Tamil Nadu in the coming days, with forecasts of heavy to very heavy rainfall in Chennai. The northeast monsoon unleashed its fury in the state last week, swamping large parts of residential areas and commercial centres.
The Chinese government has once again conveyed a clear indication to the world of its ability to administer the local media in its favour during natural and human disasters. Even the government can mould the media reports for its own interest, as happened during and after the Sichuan earthquake. The Chinese media has shown contrasting behaviour with respect to two disasters- the SARS epidemic (2003) and the Sichuan earthquake (2008).
The history of the United Nations peacekeepers goes back to 1948 when 36 unarmed military observers went to supervise the Arab-Israeli war. Since then, it has grown enormously for the cause of world peace, tranquillity and the larger benefit of humanity. The UN peacekeepers initiated as a task force working to ease the tension and prepare grounds for negotiated settlements, maintaining their impartial presence. There are 62,289 Military personnel and civilian police serving in 16 current peacekeeping operations as of 30 September 2004.
Climate change is not a prognosis for the future, as some irresponsible governments believe. All countries are affected by and contribute to the cause of climate change. Some 150,000 human lives are lost each year as a result of climate change. One heat wave killed 20,000 people in Europe alone in 2003. More often invincible (!), the US is more vulnerable to natural disasters than terrorists attack. The successive floods in Bangladesh present the single biggest threat to the national security of such low-lying countries.