April, 2016

YUVA RDR: Understanding Climate Change and its impacts in Mauritius

In line with its Goal 8: Climate Change, YUVA District Riviere Du Rempart, held a half day Seminar at the University of Technology, Mauritius, to mark the International Mother Earth Day 2016, on Thursday, 21 April.

“According to the World Risk Report 2014, Mauritius is ranked 14th among countries with the highest disaster risk, where the Flash Flood of 30 March, 2013 proves the fact that our island is not adapting to the effects of global Climate Change.” – President of YUVA District Riviere Du Rempart, Soveeta Chengappa Naidu

The seminar started with a portrait of the current situation of Climate Change and its impact on the island of Mauritius, followed by resource persons from the Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development-Climate Change division, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Center and academic staffs from the University of Technology, Mauritius, later ended by an interactive session from YUVANs of Goodlands along with a medicinal and decorative plants distribution.

To combat climate change it is important that we take consciousness of the facts that we are now entering the sixth mass extinction and we have, before us, the most serious challenge in the name of climate change. This project has been initiated because climate change is not a myth. We need to assume our responsibility because the future of the world depends on us. After reports from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, it has been established that humans are the main cause of global warming. We are now experiencing man-made climate change because of human activities and because of our interference with the Earth’s system. It is a fact that the majority of people are still unaware of how their daily activities are causing climate change. This project may be a pioneer in bringing forth the hidden pain and the unheard cries of Mother Earth.

We cannot deny that several human activities are causing the Earth to heat up, to be wounded, to cough and to melt. Firstly, our oceans are being depleted and we are filling them with untold amounts of trash, chemicals and plastic. Plastic takes years to biodegrade and kills many marine animals.

The second main issue is the everyday destruction of rainforests. The lungs of the planet, the Amazon rainforests, are being cleared at an unprecedented rate, and today, more than 91% has already been destroyed. If we do not act, the last place on Earth where orangutans, rhinos, tigers, elephants and sunbears live together, faces the real risk of disappearing before our very eyes. The damage we’re causing to the Earth cannot even be quantified. Our climate crisis is now a global challenge and there is no turning back. The leading cause of climate change is a hard-hitting fact. Animal agriculture, which exists because of meat consumption, is a large emitter of methane, which has a global warming power of 86 times than that of CO2 and is 25 to 100 times more destructive than CO2.

Let’s get real. For years now, environmental organizations and governmental officials have encouraged society to carpool, ride bikes, conserve electricity, compost, recycle, but it is clearly not enough. This initiative may be a milestone in reversing climate change, and may be one of the most vital steps taken for a better world.

This seminar aimed in the end, that every individual attending takes as their mission the following:

Addressing climate change at all fronts
Educating people about the impacts of their daily activities on the Planet
Involving the community at large in fighting climate change
To cater for a better world by engaging people into sustainable actions.

Our Mother needs us! Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

“When it comes to climate change, it is clearly a point of no return. It needs to be tackled as efficiently and effectively as possible because we are not just fighting the impacts of climate change – we need to stop and reverse climate change.” – Oorvashi Panchoo, Project Leader

22 April: International Mother Earth Day

This year, Earth Day coincides with the signing ceremony for the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which will take place at UN Headquarters in New York.

The Agreement was adopted by all 196 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP21 in Paris on 12 December 2015. In the agreement, all countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and given the grave risks, to strive for 1.5 degrees Celsius. The signing ceremony takes place on the first day that the Agreement will be open for signatures, marking the first step toward ensuring that the Agreement enters into legal force as quickly as possible.

The General Assembly, recognising that Mother Earth is a common expression for the planet earth in a number of countries and regions, which reflects the interdependence that exists among human beings, other living species and the planet we all inhabit, and noting that Earth Day is observed each year in many countries, decided to designate 22 April as International Mother Earth Day in 2009, with resolution A/RES/63/278.

2016 Theme: Trees for the Earth

Earth Day was first celebrated in the United States in 1970 and is organised by the Earth Day Network. Its mission is to broaden and diversify the environmental movement worldwide and to mobilise it as the most effective vehicle to build a healthy, sustainable environment, address climate change, and protect the Earth for future generations. With this year’s theme, looking forward to its 50th anniversary, it sets the goal of planting 7.8 billion trees over the next five years.

Why Trees?

Trees help combat climate change.
They absorb excess and harmful CO2 from our atmosphere. In fact, in a single year, an acre of mature trees absorbs the same amount of CO2 produced by driving the average car 26,000 miles.
Trees help us breathe clean air.
Trees absorb odours and pollutant gases (nitrogen oxides, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and ozone) and filter particulates out of the air by trapping them on their leaves and bark.
Trees help us to counteract the loss of species.
By planting the right trees, we can help counteract the loss of species, as well as provide increased habitat connectivity between regional forest patches.
Trees help communities and their Livelihoods.
Trees help communities achieve long-term economic and environmental sustainability and provide food, energy and income.

Harmony with Nature

The world has been slow to respond to the emergencies posed by global warming and the damage human activities are causing the planet. In 1972, the United Nations organised the first UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. It marked the beginning of a global awareness of the interdependence that exists among human beings, other living species, and our planet.

International Mother Earth Day promotes a view of the Earth as the entity that sustains all living things found in nature. It honours the Earth as a whole and our place within it. It does not seek to replace other events, such as Earth Day, which has been celebrated by many people around the world on 22 March since the 1970s, but rather to reinforce and reinterpret them based on the evolving challenges we face.

In 2009, at its Eighth Session, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues requested special rapporteurs to prepare a Study on the need to recognise and respect the rights of Mother Earth. At its Ninth Session, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues will discuss the findings of the study, as well as works toward establishing a Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth.

Key documents on Mother Earth and Harmony with Nature

Source: United Nations

6 April: International Day of Sport for Development and Peace

After fifteen years of progress in the unprecedented Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the world turned its attention to the successor Sustainable Development Goals in a period of transition to the newly adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Sport has proven to be a cost-effective and flexible tool in promoting peace and development objectives. In the Declaration of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sport’s role for social progress is further acknowledged:

“Sport is also an important enabler of sustainable development. We recognize the growing contribution of sport to the realization of development and peace in its promotion of tolerance and respect and the contributions it makes to the empowerment of women and of young people, individuals and communities as well as to health, education and social inclusion objectives.”

For these reasons, states, the United Nations system and, in particular, the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace, relevant international organizations, and international, regional and national sports organizations, civil society, including non-governmental organizations and the private sector, and all other relevant stakeholders are invited to cooperate, observe and raise awareness of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.

Background

On 23 August 2013, the Sixty-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly decided to proclaim 6 April as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. Previously, the Fifty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2005 as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education to promote education, health, development and peace.

Many organizations of the United Nations system, including the International Forum on Sport, Peace and Development, organized jointly with the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace, have already established partnerships with the International Olympic Committee. The mission and role of the Committee, as set out in the Olympic Charter, are placing sport at the service of humankind and promoting a peaceful society and healthy lifestyles by associating sport with culture and education and safeguarding human dignity without any discrimination whatsoever.

The General Assembly also recognizes the role that the International Paralympic Committee plays in showcasing the achievements of athletes with an impairment to a global audience and in acting as a primary vehicle to change societal perceptions of disability sport.

Documents

General Assembly

UNOSDP

SDP IWG

COMMUNIQUE – Essay Writing Competition 2016

YUVA District of Plaines Wilhems has the pleasure to inform you that the deadline for submission of entries for the Essay Writing Competition 2016 are being extended to Monday, 25 April, 2016.

Read here for more information on eligibility criteria and guidelines.