Posts by Neena Bhandari

Moving to a Safer World with a Million Pleas Campaign

0 Comments read Nuclear Disarmament

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 01.09.2010 (InDepth News Analysis – IDN): As the threat of nuclear annihilation becomes more real than ever before, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons(ICAN) Australia has launched a `Million Pleas’ campaign, emphasising the urgency to rid the world of these weapons.

“The Million Pleas campaign gives a face and a voice to the issue of Nuclear weapons and the urgency for total disarmament and abolition of these weapons. People do want to see a complete abolition of N-weapons, but they don’t necessarily have a way of getting the message across to world leaders. Through this initiative, they can”, says ICAN Australia’s Campaign Director and Executive Officer, Dimity Hawkins.

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Pelican ponchos and penguin sweaters make animal rescues fashionable

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By Neena Bhandari

Phillip Island (Australia), 25.08.2010 (Christian Science Monitor, USA): As oil spills at sea threaten bird life, hand-knitted sweaters provide hope. At Phillip Island Nature Parks’ wildlife hospital in Victoria, Australia, Little Blue Penguins caught in oil spills and other contaminants are made to wear custom-made sweaters to prevent them from preening and ingesting oil and to keep them warm until they regain their strength.

Sweaters are ideal for penguins as they can be slipped over their small flippers relatively easily. Unlike many other seabirds, penguins don’t have long wingspans.

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It’s not just about more, but better aid

0 Comments read Environment & Development, Features

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 19.08.2010 (IPS): Australia’s foreign aid budget is likely to double by 2015, but civil society groups say this is far from enough if it is to keep to its “fair share” of commitments to poorer countries.

In fact, they would like the government – including a new one that may come after the Aug. 21 polls – to commit not only to meeting the yardstick of aid funds reaching 0.7 percent of Gross National Income (GNI) but to having better- quality official development assistance.

The 72-member Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), an independent association of Australian non-profit aid organisations, is spearheading calls for political parties to commit Australia to playing its full part in helping poorer countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of development targets from maternal mortality to education that the world’s governments pledged to meet by 2015. Continue reading →