13 Aug 2018 – There is almost unanimous agreement among climate scientists and organizations – that is, 97% of over 10,000 climate scientists and the various scientific organizations engaged in climate science research – that human beings have caused a dramatic increase in the amount of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide released into Earth’s atmosphere since the pre-industrial era and that this is driving the climate catastrophe that continues to unfold.
FAO/Giuseppe Bizzarri | Healthy soils help grow our food, clean our water, store carbon, and reduce risks of droughts and floods.
On Sunday [12 August 2018], more than 2,000 scientists gathered in Rio de Janeiro under the theme “Soil Science: Beyond food and fuel,” for a week of exploring the increasingly complex, diverse role of soils; grappling with resilient agriculture practices to address environmental and climatic changes; and confronting threats to food security and sovereignty.
13 August 2018 – On August 9, a U.S.-supported Saudi airstrike bombed a bus carrying schoolchildren in Sa’ada, a city in northern Yemen. The New York Times reported that the students were on a recreational trip. According to the Sa’ada health department, the attack killed at least forty-three people.
Kathy Kelly
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According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, at least twenty-nine of those killed were children under the age of fifteen, and forty-eight people were wounded, including thirty children.
CNN aired horrifying, heartbreaking footage of children who survived the attack being treated in an emergency room.
One of the children, carrying his UNICEF issued blue backpack, is covered with blood and badly burned.
Commenting on the tragedy, CNN’s senior correspondent Nima Elbagir emphasized that she had seen unaired video which was even worse than what the CNN segment showed.
In 2015, the Boko Haram insurgency sweeping northern Nigeria reached the Diffa region of southern Niger, leading to the displacement of more than 250,000 people. However, even before 2015, Boko Haram had carried out some attacks in the region. In the wake of this crisis, people from across the border in Nigeria, and internally displaced people within Niger, sought refuge in Diffa town. What was, at first, an emergency slowly transitioned into a more permanent situation, and people have since made Diffa town their home.
Children from the Fulani tribe at one of the aid distribution sites in Diffa. Photo: IOM/Monica Chiriac
Lumo doesn’t know how old she is, but she believes she was born during the ‘dark wind’ — a year sometime in the early 1960s famous for a dark wind that engulfed the region.
13 August 2018 (FAO)* — Conflict, economic turmoil, climate extremes and poor infrastructure are some of the challenges to food security in South Sudan.
Akuilina Ihurre used to think she was too old to join a farmers’ group but she knew she needed support to overcome years of hunger.
“A very shocking news of passing away of Samir Amin after a brief period of memory loss to brain tumor and suffering,” said the fellow economist on Linkedin.
“The world has lost a towering thinker and activist, a humble comrade and friend. Rest in Power and Peace, dear Comrade Samir,” he added, sending his condolences to Amin’s family and “comrades of Third World Forum.”
Cox’s Bazar, 10 August 2018 (IOM)* – UN Migration Agency medical staff in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, have now carried out over half a million consultations since the Rohingya refugee crisis began nearly a year ago, as monsoon conditions sparked the busiest week of the year for doctors and nurses working in the camps.
Families wait for treatment at an IOM medical clinic in the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Photo: Lydia Moore / IOM 2018
12 August 2018 – After seeing first-hand the complexities of the Ebola response in the conflict-affected region of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Head of the World Health Organization (WHO) called for “free and secure” access to the disease-affected people.
MONUSCO-AVIATION | Medical supplies to fight the Ebola disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are unloaded in Mavivi in North Kivu province in August 2018.
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“All of those participating in the response must be able to move freely and safely in conflict areas to do the work that is needed to bring the outbreak under control,” said Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO’s Director-General.
