An invitation for the reader to analyze and decide which countries, peoples, and/or cultures can be considered civilized in the 21st century—more specifically, in 2025.
A civilization or culture is defined as a set of customs, traditions, ethics, values, language, music, dance, gastronomy, clothing, religion, and social and political organization of a people, ethnic group, tribe, or nation.
British scholars of the 19th century classified the peoples and races as Civilized, Barbarians and Savages, based on their respective “evolutions.” Such classification was based primarily on three factors:
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution;
the Industrial Revolution in the beginning of industrial capitalism; and
the Reformation of the Catholic Church, the schism from which Protestantism arose.
(UN News)* —UN data published on Wednesday [] underscores the tiny amount of cultivable land that remains in the Gaza Strip, contributing to the famine-like conditions now being endured by more than two million people there.
A new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) reveals that just 8.6 percent of cropland in Gaza is still accessible, while only 1.5 per cent of cropland is both accessible and undamaged, as of 28 July.
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More than 86 per cent of cropland is damaged, while 12.4 per cent is undamaged but out of reach, as fighting between Israeli forces and militants from Hamas and other armed groups continues.
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This report comes as Israel’s offensive inside Gaza continues to restrict aid distribution – and starvation-related deaths rise.
By Nargiz Shekinskaya in Awaza and Vibhu Mishra in New York.
(UN News)* — Trapped by geography and squeezed by global market forces, the world’s 32 landlocked developing countries remain among the poorest – and most overlooked.
IFAD/Sanjit Das | In landlocked developing countries like Nepal (pictured), a lack of diversified industries and accessible markets limits local livelihoods – driving a growing exodus of young people seeking work abroad and often leaving older generations behind.
At a major UN conference underway this week in Awaza, Turkmenistan, calls are growing to tackle the high trade costs, investment gaps and growing digital divide that continue to hold these countries back.
Despite progress in some areas, landlocked nations – from Bolivia to Bhutan and Burkina Faso – account for just1.2 per cent of global exports, even though they represent over seven per cent of the world’s countries.
AWAZA, Turkmenistan, Aug 6 2025 (IPS)* ––Agriculture is a critical sector in landlocked developing countries, as more than half (55 percent) of the population is employed in the agriculture sector – significantly higher than the global average of 25 per cent.
As such, the deterioration of food security in landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) is an unfolding catastrophe.
A high-level event focused on agriculture at the ongoing Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
There are 32 LLDCs, with a combined population of nearly 600 million people.
The prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity rose from an estimated 43 percent in 2015 to 51 percent in 2023, and the rate of undernourishment from approximately 15 percent to 19 percent in the same period.
(UN News)* —At a major UN forum opening in Awaza, Turkmenistan, this week, parliamentarians from around the world are being urged to take decisive action to improve the lives of more than 600 million people living in landlocked developing countries (LLDCs).
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe | Final preparations being made at the venue of the LLDC3 conference in Awaza, Turkmenistan.
Speaking at the Parliamentary Forum of the Third UN Conference on LLDCs, senior UN leaders stressed that political will, matched with national legislative action, is essential if a new decade-long development plan is to make a real difference.
There are 32 such countries globally, home to over half a billion people. Many are also among the world’s least developed, hindered by high transport costs, limited access to global markets, and heightened vulnerability to climate impacts.
A civilization or culture is defined as a set of customs, traditions, ethics, values, language, music, dance, gastronomy, clothing, religion, and social and political organization of a people, ethnic group, tribe, or nation.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 