United Nations (UN) Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, who arrived in Brazil Thursday at the official invitation of the Brazilian government, urged the international community to urgently enhance climate action, protect biodiversity, promote sustainable food systems, and ensure decent jobs and social protection.
During her discussions with several Brazilian officials, she called for advocacy of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda, reform of multilateral development banks and international financial institutions, and ensuring that developing nations have a strong voice in decision-making processes. She outlined the major challenges facing Latin America, which has been severely affected by the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing poverty, and economic conflicts.
Amina Mohammed expressed her concern about the international community’s lack of progress towards achieving the SDGs. She pointed out that more than 50% of these goals have shown weak or insufficient progress, while 30% have stalled or regressed, including crucial targets related to poverty alleviation, hunger reduction, and climate change mitigation.
She emphasized the importance of the upcoming SDG Summit scheduled for September, to be held on the sidelines of the high-level segment of the UN General Assembly session in New York.
The deputy secretary-general’s visit to Brazil involves talks with a number of senior government officials, UN staff, and civil society about Brazil’s role in accelerating action to achieve the 2030 Agenda and climate commitments. Her itinerary also includes a visit to the Amazon region in the state of Pará and a series of meetings with officials in Belém, the state capital, about the upcoming “Amazon Dialogues”.
In other news, wildfires ravaged 470,000 dunams (approximately 116,000 acres) in seven major forest fires in Greece, which erupted in the second half of July. The Greek Meteorological Department stated in a communique that low atmospheric humidity and unprecedented high temperatures in July exacerbated the forest fires.
The report revealed that the fires destroyed 470,000 dunams in seven major fires on the islands of Corfu and Rhodes, as well as in the regions of Euboea, Dirfys-Messapia, Cova, Karystos, and Nia Aghialos between July 15 and 31.
The total area scorched by wildfires since the beginning of the year has reached 550,000 dunams.
The average annual area of forest consumed by fire in Greece is around 435,000 dunams. In this context, Vasilis Kikilias, the Greek Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, reported that Greek authorities have detained 117 individuals this year in connection with the fires and confirmed the possibility of increasing fines a hundredfold. “Since July 1, we have recorded 1,470 fires. Since the beginning of 2023, 117 people have been detained in relation to these incidents, including 107 for negligence and 10 for arson,” Kikilias said, according to local media.
