21 February 2019 (FAO)* — When Calista Maguramhinga shows visitors a section of her half-hectare farm, she keeps a small notebook clutched in her hands with details of how she is growing her food.
On her farm, the maize plants are tall with green leaves and chunky cobs nearly ready to harvest. She points to one section: “Maize variety 633,” she says. “Plot prepared with tine ripper plow, planted 20 December with organic compost; fertilizer applied on 3 January and again on 20 January.”
FAO launches the first-ever global report on the state of biodiversity that underpins our food systems
Many associated biodiversity species, such as bees, are under severe threat.
ROME, 22 February 2019 (FAO)* – The first-ever report of its kind presents mounting and worrying evidence that the biodiversity that underpins our food systems is disappearing – putting the future of our food, livelihoods, health and environment under severe threat.
Reversing an earlier decision, the World Health Organization (WHO) now recommends vaccinating pregnant and breastfeeding women against the Ebola virus.
The announcement was issued on Wednesday [] from Beijing after a consultation meeting by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization, which the WHO Director-General established in 1999 to provide guidance on the UN health agency’s work.
Last August, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Ministry of Health declared a fresh outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in North Kivu Province.
22 February 2019 (United Nations)* — Today, there are 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24 years, accounting for 16 per cent of the global population.
The active engagement of youth in sustainable development efforts is central to achieving sustainable, inclusive and stable societies by the target date, and to averting the worst threats and challenges to sustainable development, including the impacts of climate change, unemployment, poverty, gender inequality, conflict, and migration.
India has much diversity — cultural, linguistic, geographic, religious, political and even from the point of cuisine — the food eaten. With its vast coastline and Himalayas, India has the world’s coldest, hottest and rainiest places. The country has all the prominent world religions in addition to the small faiths such as Parsee, Bahaai, Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Dev Samaj etc.
Dr Ravi P Bhatia
With several regions having different climates, the crops grown also vary from region to region. Wheat growing in colder regions of the North, rice being the principal crop in South India and vast varieties of fish found in the large Indian coastline, determine the Indian cuisine and people’s liking for particular foods.
Linguistically, India has 22 official languages including Hindi and English. Hindi, as well as its many dialects, has the largest number of speakers and English is being widely used in judiciary, parliament, science and technology, education, etc.
At least 43 percent of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world today are endangered. Many of these belong to indigenous peoples and if something doesn’t change soon, UNESCO predicts that we will lose as many as 3,000 indigenous languages by the end of this century.
In an effort to raise public awareness of this threat to the world’s cultural and linguistic diversity, the UN General Assembly has proclaimed 2019 to be the International Year of Indigenous Languages.
Languages, with their complex implications for identity, communication, social integration, education and development, are of strategic importance for people and planet. Yet, due to globalization processes, they are increasingly under threat, or disappearing altogether.
.
Students in a classroom at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip. | UNPhoto/Eskinder Debebe
.
When languages fade, so does the world’s rich tapestry of cultural diversity. Opportunities, traditions, memory, unique modes of thinking and expression — valuable resources for ensuring a better future — are also lost.
Concerned that one language goes extinct every two weeks, the United Nations is honouring linguistic diversity and celebrating indigenous languages on International Mother Language Day. And the roots of the Day start in a South-Asian country with a bloody and historic connection to 21 February.
UNICEF/UNI10236/Estey | Girls from an indigenous community read outdoors at Ban Pho Primary School in Bac Han District in remote Lao Cai Province, Viet Nam.
“We have to protect our heritage, our culture, our existence,” said Ambassador Masud Bin Momen, of Bangladesh, the country which successfully lobbied the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1999 to create International Mother Language Day. The UN General Assembly formally recognized the Day in 2008.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 