AFRICA: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray have escalated the ongoing conflict, extending it to the refugee crises in the region. The conflict exerts more pressure on the region that has had over a decade of refugee crises, causing tens of thousands of people to flee for safety.

ASIA: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking at the G20 Riyadh summit spoke of the need for a reformed multilateralism in a post-COVID world. During the second day of the summit which focused on building an inclusive, sustainable and resilient future, Modi stressed on the importance of Agenda 2030 and “leaving no one behind.” He made mention of the development strategy: Reform-Perform-Transform which India has adopted in order to become self-reliant and a major contributor to global economy and supply chains. Modi, during a side event at the summit, underscored the need for climate change to be fought in an “integrated, comprehensive and holistic way.” At the close of the summit, the issuance of a G20 leaders’ declaration called for “coordinated global action, solidarity, and multilateral cooperation to combat 21st century global challenges.

ENERGY: Scientists have proffered the establishment of space-based solar system as the solution to global energy crisis. According to their argument, since climate change is a prominent global disaster and energy is inevitable, we cannot continue to rely on fossil fuels for our energy supply. They supported the space-based solar system by highlighting the limitation of wind and solar energy systems on earth. Although much work still needs to be done, advances made by China is encouraging, as China plans to set up a space-based solar system by 2050 that will distribute 2 GW of power into earth’s grid at peak time. The scientific world hopes that this innovation will be pivotal in our fight against climate change.

SDGs: The sustainable development goals are helping to fight global poverty by solving the root causes of world crisis. Despite the progress being made, SDGs report of 2019 has stated emphatically that the goal of zero poverty by 2030 is unachievable. However, only 6% of the world will be in poverty by that time. One of the primary challenges is as a result of climate change which is accelerated through greenhouse gas emission. Also, gender inequality has left women vulnerable to the perils of poverty, extending developmental challenges and slowing down the actualization of “leaving no one behind.”

USA: Trump has bashed the Paris Climate Agreement at the G20 summit on Sunday, stating to global leaders that it was “draconian” and detrimental to the US economy. His statement read that his withdrawal was to protect the American workers from an Agreement which was one-sided and unfair. President Trump withdrew from the Agreement few months after his election into the white house in June 2017. However, President-elect Joe Biden has promised to rejoin the pact when he resumes the Oval office in January 2021.