Helen Clark's Diary, August
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SPONGE CITIES
A new report on Sponge Cities: Can they help us survive more intense rainfall?
Can ‘sponge cities’ approach build urban area resilience to more intense rainfall? The new report from Kali Mercier of The Helen Clark Foundation argues persuasively that it can.
WAR IN UKRAINE
After eighteen months of the war in Ukraine
"There is no scenario where Russia becomes less of a danger at the end of this war." Mick Ryan has been a prominent commentator on the war in Ukraine drawing on his extensive background as a Major General retired in the Australian army. Check out our discussion about the latest developments in the war in Ukraine and the Q&A session that followed.
GENDER EQUALITY
Address to G20 Ministerial Conference on Women’s Empowerment
At the beginning of August, I attended the G20 Ministerial Conference on Women’s Empowerment in Gandhinagar, India, in my capacity as Chair of the Board of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (PMNCH). I spoke in the session on “Education, a game-changing pathway to women’s empowerment”. I see education as transformative for individuals, societies, and economies, and it must be fully inclusive of girls and women. I also spoke on the need for comprehensive sexuality education, and on the #1point8 campaign hosted by PMNCH this year as a platform for adolescents to voice their aspirations, perspectives and needs. See my speech here.
Lessons from Women Deliver Conference 2023
The recent Women Deliver Conference 2023 in Kigali was attended by over 6,000 participants and thousands more joined online. Discussions focused on how to advance gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and improve the well-being of girls and women worldwide. Take a look at what Global Women Leaders consider the three main findings of the 2023 conference.
PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS & RESPONSE
From private incentives to public health need
“New approach to R&D with a focus on public health need….equitable access to means for innovation…. and products it generates. A collective commitment to shared ownership and access will increase equity and impact at each phase of outbreak control.” Proud to co-author this new Lancet publication.
Should businesses allow their staff to work if they have Covid19?
A very good question to ask restaurants when booking - do they allow staff who have COVID-19 to come to work? Actually, it’s a good question to ask all businesses interfacing with the public, and an issue for unions and staff associations to take up.
DRUG POLICY
Germany close to making cannabis legal
Germany's “Cabinet has approved plans to legalise the possession of 25 g of cannabis for personal use and growing up to three plants". Overall, Europe is well behind Canada and many US states on legalising recreational and medical cannabis. More on this from Euronews.
NEW ZEALAND
What have we got to be proud of? Here are the numbers!
As we head into an election campaign which focuses on negatives about New Zealand, see Peter Davis’ blog on what we can be proud of.
RIP David McGee
Saddened to read of the death of David McGee, an outstanding Clerk of the New Zealand Parliament for 22 years and later an Ombudsman. A dedicated public servant whose advice could always be relied on. RIP.
THE LATEST FROM THE HELEN CLARK FOUNDATION
Holly Walker in interview on perinatal mental health
“Great to hear former Helen Clark Foundation’s Deputy Director Holly Walker's report on perinatal health referenced on RNZ National yesterday by clinical psychologist Jacqui Maguire. Listen to the interview here.”
“Fascinating graph of the *one hundred trillion dollar* global economy from Visual Capitalist - look for NZ (USD$252b) in green in the bottom left.” See the graph in high res.
NZ researchers build Cornelia, the robot turtle
“Amazing work by Auckland University of Technology researchers to better understand how green turtle can swim so far (50km per day) despite their low energy diet. Developing a robot turtle means no animal testing.” NZ Herald has more.
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