Blog 3 Columns

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Blog 3 Columns

Transition from MDGs to SDGs: a guiding star to the better future for all 0
- Environment and Energy, Op-ed
- 30/12/2015
The global ecological and environmental challenges we are facing can be solved by shifting our ways of thinking from anthropocentric to ecocentric, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be a guiding star on this path.
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UN Sustainable Development Goals; does Africa have what it takes?0
- Environment and Energy, Op-ed
- 29/12/2015
Good governance in African countries is key to achieving the sustainable development goals. Observance of basic tenets of rule of law is the foundation upon which development thrives. I see the success of the sustainable development goals premised on the ability of individual countries to establish and respect the rule of law.
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Fragmented, incoherent & chaotic – Global goals need better orchestration 0
- Environment and Energy, Op-ed
- 29/12/2015
A new universal agenda including 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets was established in New York this September. It is a complex agenda with interlinked issues, which requires an “orchestrator of orchestrators” to ensure an effective and fair implementation process.
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SDGs and Urban Biodiversity: Protecting rats and pigeons?0
- Environment and Energy, Op-ed
- 26/12/2015
The freshly released Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) please ecologists: Unlike the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the SDGs have ‘environment’ firmly enshrined in almost half of the 17 Goals. And yet Goal 15 on biodiversity loss makes us grin to a certain extent, as it seems to assume that nature can only be found on the countryside.
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U-Multirank – shaking up the traditional World University Rankings?0
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 24/12/2015
Caught between two stools? As University’s application deadlines are approaching, some young people might significantly relate to the idiom. Let’s face it, choosing an academic orientation can be a real dilemma. This is exactly why we have today an important number of global university rankings around the World. It was only a matter of time before the European Union also steps in. Launched in May 2014 between critics and excitement, U-Multirank was nonetheless very expected.
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Kosovo: Moving forward with the integration of Serbs?1
- International Relations and Global Affairs, Op-ed
- 23/12/2015
Whether with more or less autonomy, the association seems like the best option for all stakeholders providing a clearer delimitation and consolidation of Kosovo, consequently its potential broader recognition in an international sphere and normalization of relations with Belgrade and with the EU.
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The future we want?0
- Environment and Energy, Op-ed
- 21/12/2015
Resolution A/RES/66/288 of the United Nations, better known as The Future We Want, is an ambitious document published in 2012 to end the World’s major problems through the sustainable development goals. With the post-2015 development agenda soon to take off, and the climate summit in Paris in foresight, The Future We Want is back in the limelight – if ever gone to begin with. The future will be sustainable. Because that is what we want. Is its essential underpinning, globalization, also the future we want? Jaap Rozema guesses not.
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What does the internet mean?3
- Digital Policy and Internet Governance, Op-ed
- 19/12/2015
The United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development declares seeking “to bridge the digital divide”, including as its 9th goal the aim to “[…] significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020”. The op-ed is focused on one particular aspect of the current debate on Net Neutrality, namely zero-rating, and its implications for internet users around the world.
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Women in Afghanistan: a story of hope and despair 1
- Human Rights and Migration, Op-ed
- 18/12/2015
Despite many achievements in women’s rights during the past 14 years, most Afghan women remain suppressed by and excluded from the society. While the Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs) contribution to their advancement were notable, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are expected to preserve and further enhance them.
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