Sustainability conference in Germany urges action despite conflicts
Around 1,600 people from some 110 countries are expected to attend the Hamburg Sustainability Conference, which is centred on the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The two-day event, first held last October, is being jointly organized by the German Development Ministry and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) along with local foundations.
Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher said "in recent years, the world has changed."
"Crisis, wars, and conflicts increasingly overshadow the focus on climate change and the global pressures on nature and the environment," he argued.
Tschentscher said the SDGs "aim to give 8 billion people worldwide a good life and a secure future with access to education, to health, participation, peace, security, and prosperity."
"Implementing this is a mandate and a great responsibility for the international community of states, because global developments can only be achieved through cooperation and joint efforts," the mayor added.
UNDP head Achim Steiner admitted that "the world has not exactly moved forward" since the last conference in October, and that "this is not a good moment to encourage people to believe in the scope, value, and potential of international cooperation."
"My hope is that here, out of Hamburg, out of this Hamburg Sustainability Conference, emerges a new way to actually think about the future and not only to think, but to act on it," Steiner added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Boston Globe
Israeli airstrikes kill 14 Palestinians in Gaza and another 10 die seeking food
'We are tired. Enough starvation, enough closure of crossing points. We want to sleep in calm where we don't hear warplanes or drones or shelling,' said Jamalat Wadi, one of Gaza's hundreds of thousands of displaced people, speaking in Deir al-Balah. She squinted in the sun during a summer heat wave of over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). Hamas has sought guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. President Donald Trump has pushed for an agreement and will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday to discuss a deal. Advertisement Previous negotiations have stalled over Hamas demands of guarantees that further negotiations would lead to the war's end, while Netanyahu has insisted Israel would resume fighting to ensure the militant group's destruction. 'Send a delegation with a full mandate to bring a comprehensive agreement to end the war and bring everyone back. No one must be left behind,' Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, told the weekly rally by relatives and supporters in Tel Aviv. Advertisement A Palestinian doctor and his 3 children killed Israeli airstrikes struck tents in the crowded Muwasi area on Gaza's Mediterranean coast, killing seven people including a Palestinian doctor and his three children, according to Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. Four others were killed in the town of Bani Suheila in southern Gaza. Three people were killed in three strikes in Khan Younis. Israel's army did not immediately comment. Separately, eight Palestinians were killed near a GHF aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, the hospital said. One Palestinian was killed near another GHF point in Rafah. It was not clear how far the Palestinians were from the sites. GHF denied the killings happened near their sites. The organization has said no one has been shot at its sites, which are guarded by private contractors and can be accessed only by passing Israeli military positions hundreds of meters (yards) away. The army had no immediate comment but has said it fires warning shots as a crowd-control measure and only aims at people when its troops are threatened. Another Palestinian was killed waiting in crowds for aid trucks in eastern Khan Younis, officials at Nasser Hospital said. The United Nations and other international organizations have been bringing in their own supplies of aid since the war began. The incident did not appear to be connected to GHF operations. Much of Gaza's population of over 2 million now relies on international aid after the war has largely devastated agriculture and other food sources and left many people near famine. Crowds of Palestinians often wait for trucks and unload or loot their contents before they reach their destinations. The trucks must pass through areas under Israeli military control. Israel's military did not immediately comment. Advertisement American aid workers injured The GHF said the two American aid workers were injured on Saturday morning when assailants threw grenades at a distribution site in Khan Younis. The foundation said the injuries were not life-threatening. Israel's military said it evacuated the workers for medical treatment. The GHF — a U.S.- and Israeli-backed initiative meant to bypass the U.N. — distributes aid from four sites that are surrounded by Israeli troops. Three sites are in Gaza's far south. The U.N. and other humanitarian groups have rejected the GHF system, saying it allows Israel to use food as a weapon, violates humanitarian principles and is not effective. Israel says Hamas has siphoned off aid delivered by the U.N., a claim the U.N. denies. Hamas has urged Palestinians not to cooperate with the GHF. GHF, registered in Delaware, began distributing food in May to Palestinians, who say Israeli troops open fire almost every day toward crowds on roads heading to the distribution points. Several hundred people have been killed and hundreds more wounded, according to Gaza's Health Ministry and witnesses. The U.N. human rights office says it has recorded 613 Palestinians killed within a month in Gaza while trying to obtain aid, most of them while trying to reach GHF sites. The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children. according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which is led by medical professionals employed by the Hamas government. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but the U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties. Advertisement Kullab reported from Jerusalem.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Iran's UN ambassador: Iran's nuclear enrichment will ‘never stop'
The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Amir-Saeid Iravani, said his country will 'never stop' nuclear enrichment, saying it's an 'inalienable right' that Iran plans on exercising. In an interview on CBS News's 'Face the Nation,' moderator Margaret Brennan pressed the ambassador on whether Iran intends to 'reconstitute a nuclear enrichment program on its soil.' Iravani cited a provision of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that says nonnuclear-weapon states have a right to peaceful nuclear technology, including uranium enrichment, as long as it remains within certain limits. 'So the enrichment is our right, and an inalienable right, and we want to implement this right,' Iravani said. 'So you do plan to restart enrichment, that sounds like?' Brennan responded. 'I think that enrichment will not — never stop,' he said. President Trump ordered U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, as another round of talks were set to begin amid the Trump administration's efforts to secure a nuclear deal with Iran. Many Democrats have said that questions remain about the success of the strikes, which the administration has touted as a resounding success. CIA Director John Ratcliffe and other top intelligence officials briefed lawmakers this past week for the first time about the June 21 strike. The meeting was held as Trump administration officials have worked overtime to push their argument that the attacks left Iran's nuclear facilities 'obliterated.' Reports emerged Tuesday about a preliminary assessment that said the U.S. strikes may have set the Iranian nuclear program back by 'a few months.' The administration has pushed back forcefully at those reports, including at a Pentagon briefing earlier Thursday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
Lefty groups are actually blaming Israel and Gazan aid heroes for Hamas' evil
Hamas is murdering aid workers distributing food in Gaza, so naturally most of the media swallow the terrorists' propaganda and blame Israel. And of course the left-leaning aid-industrial complex chimes in. Per a report from the Israeli-American-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, Hamas has placed bounties on the heads of GHF security workers — including Americans — and has slain at least 12 of the group's staff. Advertisement It's also killing and kidnapping Palestinians working with the aid organization. Yet the lefty Israeli paper Haaretz accused Israeli commanders of ordering IDF soldiers to 'deliberately' shoot 'unarmed Gazans waiting for humanitarian aid.' That claim is preposterous on its face, since this aid effort clearly serves Israel's goals by ensuring that civilians in Gaza get fed without Hamas benefiting. Advertisement Israelis are risking their lives and devoting precious military resources to protect Gazans and help get them food. Yet anti-Israel media throughout the world, as well as the United Nations and assorted charities, keep leveling similar charges. The US-based Intercept, for one, says the Israeli military has killed '410 people trying to get food at Israeli-run aid sites in Gaza in the past month.' Advertisement No: The ones shooting at these civilians are Hamas and its allies — who may take Israeli fire when soldiers intervene to protect the innocent. Hamas and its sympathizers simply claim — often via the Gazan Health Ministry, which Hamas controls and has been pitching lies all war long — that it's all Israelis shooting civilians. The terrorists want GHF shut down so they can regain their monopoly over aid distribution: Back when the United Nations controlled it, Hamas simply stole the food and used it as a lever to control Gaza — handing it out only to supporters or selling it to raise funds. Advertisement Meanwhile, the American and Israeli-backed organization has delivered 52 million meals in just five weeks, and it's the only group not to have its food looted. Those in the media and international community who parrot Hamas' lies and blame Israel for the deaths of civilians are only serving the terrorists' interests. At the top of the list: UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who slammed the GHF for 'killing people.' No less than 171 'charities' also called for an end to the GHF, and a restoration of the pro-Hamas system. Yet some, such as Oxfam, plainly resent the new competition; others are longtime anti-Israel groups such as the Palestine Justice Network of the Presbyterian Church and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship Palestine Justice Network and countless other professed allies of 'Gaza's government' which again means Hamas. Get opinions and commentary from our columnists Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Remember: Hamas started this war by brutally murdering 1,200 innocent civilians. All food shortages are its fault, and groups calling for the end of the GHF are simply playing into its hands — if not consciously promoting it. Advertisement Bottom line: The GHF and the Israeli military overseeing the program aren't killers. They're the heroes here.
