CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) bulletin of August 1, 2016

PEACE ED AROUND THE WORLD

History is not always reflected in the headlines of the mass media. Sometimes it is the "slow news" – events that are not considered newsworthy – that accumulate and change the course of history. A good example is slow but steady progress in peace education, which we salute in this month’s bulletin.

The website of the Global Campaign for Peace Education gives us a good overall view of the extent of peace education in the world today. One can begin simply with the list of their national and local endorsing organizations, who come from over 50 countries and all six continents.

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CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) bulletin of July 1, 2016

PEACE IN COLOMBIA

The government of Colombia and the FARC guerilla movement have agreed on a ceasefire and plan for demobilization. The bilateral ceasefire and surrender of the weapons will begin with the signing of the final peace agreement (expected in July) and this last point will have a term development of 180 days. A monitoring group composed of delegates from the UN will be created by the FARC and the Colombian government to verify the delivery of the guns. Also announced was the creation of areas and camps for demobilized guerrillas and commitment by the authorities.

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CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) bulletin of November 1, 2016

RENEWABLE ENERGY ON THE MOVE !

Renewable sources of electricity overtook coal last year to become the largest source of installed capacity in the world, according to the International Energy Agency.

A recent graph is spectacular showing how the cost of solar energy has come down while the volume deployed has gone up. In 1975 a silicon solar energy module cost over $50 per watt, while now it is less than $1 per watt. The milliwatts installed have risen from 1 to 115,000 ! Since 2000 the deployment of solar has doubled seven times.

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CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) bulletin of September 1, 2016

CITIES ONCE AGAIN

Once again this month, we find cities in the lead for the various componens of a culture of peace, including sustainable development, tolerance and solidarity, democratic participation, peace activism and disarmament.

Before going into detail, we should celebrate the formal signing of the peace accord for Colombia, which has been under negotiation for several years and which has been followed, step-by-step, by CPNN, as well as the progress towards a peace accord to end 47 years of war between the government of the Philippines and the communist movement National Democratic Front.

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CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) bulletin of June 1, 2016

REFORMING THE UNITED NATIONS

Since its creation over 70 years ago, the United Nations has been the hope of mankind “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” But more and more, we are losing hope that in its present form it can succeed. This was especially evident in recent weeks when the great powers did not bother to send high-level delegations to the UN’s Humanitarian Summit despite the fact that 60 other countries sent their heads of state. While Germany was represented by its Chancellor Angela Merkel, the other great powers were essentially absent: Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia and China.

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