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The new minister will certainly have his work cut out for him.

The post Everything you need to know about Eric Lombard, France’s new economy minister appeared first on Euractiv.

L'actualité africaine a été riche en événements tout au long de l'année 2024. Nous avons sélectionné pour vous 10 faits qui ont marqué cette actualité.

L'actualité africaine a été riche en événements tout au long de l'année 2024. Nous avons sélectionné pour vous 10 faits qui ont marqué cette actualité.

French Prime Minister François Bayrou believes dozens of people died after the cyclone hit the territory, rather than thousands.

584143 Munira Shoinbekova, OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe

The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe organized an exchange visit for five leading specialists from the Headquarters of the Main Directorate of Border Troops of the State Committee of National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan. This visit took place from 9 to 13 December 2024 in Minsk and Brest, Belarus.

The purpose of the event was to showcase effective practices used by border-related agencies in Belarus to Tajikistan’s Border Troops officers, who are responsible for planning and managing border security at their Headquarters. The focus was on key areas such as information flow management, operational management based on real-time data exchange, risk analysis assessment (strategic, operational, and tactical), and co-operation among relevant agencies.

During the visit, participants learned about the roles and functions of the Belarus State Border Service, the State Border Institute, and Minsk International Airport. The itinerary included visits to the Warsaw Bridge border crossing point, a border outpost, and a border training center in Brest.

This exchange visit enhanced the participants' understanding of effective border management practices and facilitated the development of actionable recommendations based on their observations. It also helped establish connections that could lead to future collaboration in capacity building and technical improvement.

La Société Immobilière et d'Aménagement Urbain (SImAU) lance un appel d'offres international pour la réalisation des travaux de construction du Quartier Culturel et Créatif (QCC) de Cotonou. Ce centre qui vise à être un épicentre des industries culturelles et créatives du Bénin et un point de convergence d'espaces dédiés à l'innovation, à la création, à la diffusion, à la consommation culturelle, à la commercialisation de biens culturels et artistiques assemblant plusieurs équipements et activités interconnectés. Les travaux sont subdivisés en trois (3) lots.
Lot 1 : Travaux de voiries et réseaux divers (VRD), d'aménagement de gros œuvre et d'étanchéité
Lot 2 : Travaux de corps d'état techniques
Lot 3 : Travaux de corps d'état architecturaux.
La date limite de dépôt des offres est fixée au jeudi 27 février 2025.

Az ukrán ügyészség szerint orosz hadsereg egyre több ukrán hadifoglyot végez ki a nemzetközi jog tilalma ellenére. Idén októberben az orosz erők állítólag kilenc fogságba esett ukrán katonát lőttek agyon Kurszk térségében.

A vágsellyei rendőrök egy lopott autót vezető sofőrt üldöztek, akinek jogosítványa sem volt, és kábítószert fogyasztott.

Des transfuges de l'armée affirment que les unités déployées pour combattre l'Ukraine seront fortement motivées par l'idéologie.

Európának egységesen kell fellépnie Oroszországgal szemben, bármelyik európai politikus, ha különutas politikát folytat Putyinnal szemben, megbontja ezt az egységet - jelentette ki Petr Pavel cseh államfő Robert Fico és Vlagyimir Putyin moszkvai találkozójával kapcsolatban.

En 2024, l’opposition au Pacte vert pour l’Europe (Green Deal) a grandi chez les conservateurs du Parti populaire européen (PPE), certaines mesures ayant été affaiblies, souvent en collaboration avec l’extrême droite.

La France, bonne élève aux niveaux européen et mondial en matière de valorisation des déchets textiles, voit sa filière menacée par l'Asie depuis l'été, un phénomène dont les premiers symptômes sont la fermeture des bornes de collecte gérées par les associations.

A fogvatartottak a karácsonyi ünnepek idején számos tevékenységben vehetnek részt, valamint a szentmisén is. Sportolhatnak, olvashatnak és vetélkedőket is terveznek a számukra.

Le président ukrainien Volodymyr Zelensky a accusé lundi 23 décembre le Premier ministre slovaque, qui visitait Moscou la veille, de vouloir « aider » Vladimir Poutine « à gagner de l'argent pour financer la guerre avec Kiev », en pleine tension autour du transit de gaz russe vers l'UE.

Mangroves, Madagascar. Credit: Rod Waddington
 
As part of the Great Blue Wall initiative, the goal is to safeguard 30% of the countries’ Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) by 2030, focusing on achieving a net gain in critical ecosystems such as mangroves, corals, and seagrasses.

By Jean-Paul Adam
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 24 2024 (IPS)

Securing new financing for global good has become more challenging than ever. Negotiations at the recently-concluded COP16 on Nature and Biodiversity failed to reach an agreement on establishing a fund to support the implementation of the Framework for Nature agreed in 2022 under the Montreal-Kunming agreement.

As with all multilateral action, commitments without resources lead to questions on the effectiveness of these global processes. The gap between global commitments and actual resource allocation hits African countries the hardest, as these countries often have limited capacity to generate those resources in the first place.

African negotiators have underscored the need for accountability in honouring multilateral commitments and will continue to maintain this stance at the upcoming climate negotiations.

Meanwhile, many African countries are actively seeking to unlock new funding streams for climate and environmental resilience through financial innovations such as debt swaps, green bonds, and blue bonds.

The Blue Economy has emerged as a key area of focus for Africa, and one of the priorities outlined in AU’s Agenda 2063. However, African countries continued to struggle in controlling and benefitting from their own resources.

A good example is the continuing deployment of harmful fisheries subsidies. The value of subsidies by distant fishing nations for their fleets operating in African waters representing on average twice the value of support that African nations are able to provide for their own fishing fleets.

This disparity undermines local economies and depletes Africa’s Ocean resources, further complicating efforts to build a sustainable and resilient blue economy.

The Great Blue Wall

African countries have sought to redefine the way in which they leverage their oceanic spaces to develop a ‘regenerative blue economy’. This implies re-investing in the ocean to create jobs that engage the community who are the stewards of oceans and coastal eco-systems.

This has been conceptualized through the Great Blue Wall initiative, an ambitious project that seeks to create a network of conserved and restored seascapes that benefit both the natural biodiversity and local communities’ livelihoods.

The initiative aims to protect 30% of the countries Exclusive Economic Zones by 2030 and produce a net gain in critical ecosystems like mangroves, corals and seagrasses. It is hoped that the initiative can contribute up to 70 million livelihoods in the region and up to 10 million blue jobs by 2030.

The Great Blue Wall initiative brings together 10 countries: Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, and France (through its overseas department of La Réunion). These countries are working together to enhance socio-ecological resilience, improve livelihoods, and strengthen climate change adaptation efforts.

Financing

Crucially, the initiative is seeking to raise financing towards a collective goal, while building on efforts being made by individual countries. This brings certain advantages, notably in creating economies of scale.

This common approach can also provide significant leverage in addressing issues such as fisheries management and moving away from the current extractive nature of fisheries subsidies to a community-led approach to the management of the resource.

Additionally, many other African countries are looking to tap into innovative climate finance opportunities to generate resources for investment in their blue economy.

For example, Cabo Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe have entered into agreements with Portugal to convert portions of their national debt into climate investments. For Cabo Verde, the agreement involves a debt swap of $12.9 million (€12 million), while São Tomé and Príncipe’s agreement covers $3.7 million (€3.5 million). These funds are redirected into climate investment projects rather than being paid directly to Portugal.

In Cabo Verde, the focus is on water, sanitation, and energy projects, including the expansion of a photovoltaic plant and the development of desalination and water treatment facilities. The initiative aims to use solar energy to produce desalinated water, addressing both energy and water needs.

São Tomé and Príncipe will similarly channel their debt repayments into a national climate fund, supporting various green investments and climate change adaptation projects.

This innovative approach ensures that the debt repayments contribute to sustainable development and environmental protection in these countries. While the amounts are relatively small, they can be catalysts for mobilizing larger funds.

It is with this in mind that Sao Tome and Principe have also announced the creation of a Conservation Trust Fund aimed at channeling resources into the preservation of their unique natural heritage and leveraging new associated economic opportunities such as eco-tourism.

All of these efforts to mobilize innovative climate financing are rooted in the needs of populations who are on the front line of climate change. This is perhaps the most meaningful part of these efforts, because it underscores the greatest challenge of multilateralism: ensuring that support is delivered to the most vulnerable in the community.

Investing in the nexus between climate, nature, and resilience is one of the most urgent and effective actions we can take. The right investments can help unlock the true value of Africa’s natural assets, estimated by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to be worth as much as USD $6.2 trillion.

We need global processes to deliver on the promise of predictable flows of finance at scale. However, equally important is the need to unlock African-driven initiatives that are built within communities. These innovations are helping to start that journey, paving the way for a meaningful change, empowering communities while addressing the challenges of climate change.

Jean-Paul Adam is the Director, Policy, Monitoring and Advocacy at the UN Office of the Special Adviser on Africa.

Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Written by Ivana Katsarova.

Although origin labelling for food cannot be directly linked to a product’s intrinsic quality, consumers are increasingly interested in local food systems and in short supply chains. While the easiest way to convey origin information is through labelling, European Union (EU) law requires the display of such information only for a limited number of food products. EU consumers and consumer groups have long advocated greater transparency on food product origins.

In force since December 2014, the EU regulation on the provision of food information to consumers updated and harmonised food labelling requirements, set harmonised rules for the presentation of allergen information and tightened up the rules to prevent misleading practices. The regulation allows EU countries to adopt additional national measures concerning the mandatory labelling of food products, as long as these are justified by reasons specifically defined in the regulation.

Indicating the country of origin is currently mandatory for certain food products, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, fishery products, honey, olive oil, eggs, beef and beef products, unprocessed meat of swine, sheep, goat and poultry and the primary ingredient of a food when it differs from the origin given for the product as a whole. In the absence of EU rules, some EU countries have enacted national legislation requiring mandatory origin labelling for certain categories of foods.

As part of its ‘farm to fork’ strategy, adopted in 2020, the Commission intended to revise existing rules to extend the mandatory indication of origin to more categories of food products. However, such a proposal never emerged, and if or when it will be put forward remains unclear.

Read the complete briefing on ‘Food origin labelling: Developments and issues‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Ilir Culaj, jeune archéologue, se souvient avec nostalgie des Noël de son enfance, quand il allait chercher la bûche de Noël, le buzmi, avec son grand-père et ses cousins, puis se rendait à la messe de minuit à la cathédrale de Pristina avec ses amis lycéens, catholiques et musulmans confondus. Récit.

- Articles / Une - Diaporama, Courrier des Balkans, Kosovo, Société, Religions, Alb Religions

Ilir Culaj, jeune archéologue, se souvient avec nostalgie des Noël de son enfance, quand il allait chercher la bûche de Noël, le buzmi, avec son grand-père et ses cousins, puis se rendait à la messe de minuit à la cathédrale de Pristina avec ses amis lycéens, catholiques et musulmans confondus. Récit.

- Articles / Une - Diaporama, Courrier des Balkans, Kosovo, Société, Religions, Alb Religions

Il vient de la gauche mais s'attaque aux migrants et aux minorités, et critique l'Union européenne, l'Otan et la poursuite de la guerre en Ukraine. Le sortant Zoran Milanović ratisse large et aborde l'élection présidentielle en favori.

- Articles / Une - Diaporama, Courrier des Balkans, Croatie droitisation, Croatie, Politique

Il vient de la gauche mais s'attaque aux migrants et aux minorités, et critique l'Union européenne, l'Otan et la poursuite de la guerre en Ukraine. Le sortant Zoran Milanović ratisse large et aborde l'élection présidentielle en favori.

- Articles / Une - Diaporama, Courrier des Balkans, Croatie droitisation, Croatie, Politique