Our planet is drowning in plastic pollution (UN Environment Agency)
The Climate Crisis – A Race We Can Win #UN75: Sustainable cities and Plastic-free lifestyle
2020 is the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. In this framework an initiative for promoting dialogue in main global issues was launched to celebrate it along the year. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic marked a disrupting point for the world, compounded by an unprecedented global health crisis with severe economic and social impacts, climate emergency remains one of the most important challenges. The Sustainable Development Agenda urges us to take action to combat climate change (SDG13) which will affect more than 39 million people. Plastic pollution exacerbates climate change and represents a dangerous thread to biodiversity as plastic needs 100 years to degrade in the environment.
According to the World Economic Forum plastic production is expected to double by 2040. Each year, 17,000,000 barrels of oil are used to produce plastic, including 500,000,000,000 plastic bags used yearly. By 2030, greenhouse gas emissions from plastic could reach 1.34 billion tons per year what will affect our capacity to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5˚C. Plastic pollution threats ocean health and marine life as has a strong impact on food safety and quality and human health. Annually, 13,000,000 tonnes of plastic are leak into the ocean and 100,000 marine animals are killed by plastics. Current scientific studies are determining how microplastics can affect phytoplankton’s ability to sequester carbon dioxide.
We need to switch the paradigm and urgent action is needed from the industrial sector but from citizens as well. Single-use plastic products are everywhere and became integral to our daily lives. Actions to slow the flow of plastic at its source and its consumption as well as to improve plastic waste management are needed.
2020 is the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. In this framework an initiative for promoting dialogue in main global issues was launched to celebrate it along the year. However the COVID-19 pandemic marked a disrupting point for the world, compounded by an unprecedented global health crisis with severe economic and social impacts. In these harsh times, more than ever global governance and leadership should be strengthened in order to build a better future for all.
The UN General Assembly each 21 September as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace. The International Day of Peace 2020 is dedicated to “Shaping Peace Together” and aims to celebrate compassion, kindness and hope in world frightened by COVID-19 pandemic. A special moment that the United Nations celebrates in the framework of its 75th anniversary and a programme of global conversations aimed at building the peaceful and prosperous future that we all want.
Young people will be invited to share thoughts on how to weather this storm, heal our planet and build peace[1] and debate on the following questions raised by UN and other proposed by participants during the exchange:
What does peace mean to you?
When you envision a peaceful world, what do you see?
What actions are needed to make your vision a reality?
Kindly note that this session has been postponed and will take place within the International Day of Mental Heatlh. Keep posted or contact us to know more!
As COVID-19 continues spreading in many countries and will stay with us for a while, posing a serious threat to our health, security and lives, our societies are facing unprecedented challenges, especially with regard to social interaction, information, health, education and even global governance and leadership.
3rd Session – Keeping mentally healthy amidst the Covid-19 pandemic?
Since March 2020, most countries in the world have been in lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic, increasing exponentially in people the experience of fear to the new uncertainty or the unknown. The principal factor of fear is to contract the virus, however significant changes to our daily lives as mobility restrictions and social distancing are additional factors increasing the level of distress in people. Moreover, the economic and employment crisis derived from COVID-19 pandemic are creating difficult situations for many social groups who are more exposed to anxiety and depression feelings. The World Health Organisation is providing advice and guidance to governments and workers of health institutions in general to better look after mental health. There is a risk of massive mental health crisis in the coming months due to COVID-19, according to a policy brief issued by the United Nations last 14th of May. Specific population groups – such as health workers, children and adolescents, older people, people with pre-existing mental issues, people working from home – are at particular risk.
As COVID-19 continues spreading in many countries and will stay with us for a while, posing a serious threat to our health, security and lives, our societies are facing unprecedented challenges, especially with regard to social interaction, information, health, education and even global governance and leadership.
Since March 2020, due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, the use of either social media, search engines, video sites and messaging applications (or combinations of these) to get news has increased in most countries (Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism) as well as the spread of false news and misinformation giving their nature to readily share information. Most relevant social networks such as Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, among others, published a joint statement to combat misinformation. As more people are using social media for news and updates, trusting content is more difficult to reach.
Gustavo Cardoso, Full Professor of Communication Sciences at ISCTE – Lisbon University Institute, Portugal and a member of the Innovation Lab Annenberg School of Communication and World Internet Project both based at the University of Southern California – DC Lisbon
Ana Pinto Martinho, Professor at ISCTE-IUL and Editor at the European Journalism Observatory website – DC Lisbon
Gabriela Oliveira, Project manager at Two Impulse, chatbot to combat “fake news” and answering specific questions about the Coronavirus – DC Evora
As COVID-19 continues spreading in many countries and will stay with us for a while, posing a serious threat to our health, security and lives, our societies are facing unprecedented challenges, especially with regard to social interaction, information, health, education and even global governance and leadership.
Since March 2020, most countries in the world have been in lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic increasing exponentially the use of digital services allowing videoconferencing and online collaboration by people, public institutions, private companies and of course, entrepreneurs with the aim of keeping the work going on while staying safe at home. However a high percentage of the society locked and forced to work from home had to quickly learn how better use these tools to continue working during the lockdown. Digital competence, which refers to the confident and critical usage of the full range of digital technologies for information, communication and basic problem-solving in all aspects of life, is nowadays one of the eight key competences. According to the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigComp) it includes 5 areas five areas (information and data literacy; communication and collaboration; digital content creation; safety; and problem solving) and 21 competences. However, only 31% of the EU population possess advanced internet user skills according to the Digital Agenda Scoreboard 2019 and 11% have never been online.