AFRICA: In October, firefighters in Tanzania had to tackle a number of fires on Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest mountain and the largest free-standing mountain in the world. The mountain and surrounding forests fall into Kilimanjaro National Park, named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. According to studies done by Andreas Hemp and his colleagues, fires always played a role in shaping the vegetative belts of the mountain.
ENERGY: Renewable energy has increased its market share by displacing fossil fuels in power generation. Global leaders are gradually transitioning to the clean energy act as the brunt of the pandemic gradually lessens. According to Reuters, renewables accounted for 44 percent of power generation in the European Union in the second quarter, compared against 37.2 percent in the same period a year earlier
EUROPE: Europe has become a pacesetter towards achieving the sustainable development goals. Although specific gaps, such as gender equality (SDG 5), have widened, the region has nonetheless made progress in Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions (SDG 16).
FOOD: Crop and grazing land for food production cover about one third of the global land area; our food system is responsible for up to a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. The study from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) projects that -- if current trends continue -- global food demand will increase by about 50% between 2010 and 2050, the demand for animal products like meat and milk will approximately double, a development that requires more and more land. According to their findings, by 2050, more than 4 billion people could be overweight, 1.5 billion of them obese, while 500 million people continue to be underweight.
SDGs: In the wake of the Great Reset Initiative, reconsideration about improving geospatial skills to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs has been adopted. Prior to this development, there has been little understanding of the imperative of geography as a crucial factor in underpinning the SDGs. Thankfully, Walker Kosmidou-Bradley, a geographer on the Afghanistan team in the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Global Practice, has made it his mission to map every road across the country to ramp up sustainable development initiatives.