'Unseen' News and Views
1 March 2019 (FAO)* — Knocking on closed doors is something Renu Bala is very good at.
.
Renu Bala is one of thousands of Bangladeshi farmers befitting from agricultural investment programmes supported by FAO with funding from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP). ©FAO/Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
.
First, it was the doors of her neighbours in Panjor Bhanga, her home village in northern Bangladesh. She had an idea for them: what if they formed a milk cooperative?
They didn’t have much to lose. “The women of this village are very poor and raise only local Deshi cattle,” Renu explains. “I thought that if I could start a dairy business, and encourage other women to join, if I could make them aware, then we could all profit.”
Youth Climate Strike US co-leader Isra Hirsi. © Adam Iverson | Photo from Greenpeace International.
Isra Hirsi just turned 16 years old. To celebrate, she came home from school and spent three hours on conference calls.
Isra, a student at South High School in Minneapolis, is one of thousands of students around the world planning a massive Youth Climate Strike for March 15. With a few weeks to go, there are already strikes planned for 47 countries and almost all 50 states. Isra is one of three organizers who are bringing the movement — inspired by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg’s weekly climate strikes — to the United States.
1 Match 2019 (UN Environment)* — The Samburu, a pastoralist indigenous tribe from the vast semi-arid and arid rangelands of Northern Kenya, face many of the same challenges as other indigenous communities around the world.
They have few opportunities to influence or manage activities that affect their environment, and insufficient information and understanding of their entitlements and rights when large development and infrastructure projects come to do business on their lands.
1 Match 2019 (UN Environment)* — Wild for Life is UN Environment’s campaign against illegal trade in wildlife. International and national laws protect many species because their populations are at risk. If animals, plants or their parts are taken from the wild or killed, then they are part of the illegal trade.
This trade is not only pushing species to the brink of extinction, it also poses environmental, economic, development and security risks.
Underwater life is severely impacted by an “onslaught of threats,” but we already have the tools to positively influence ocean conservation, the UN said in a statement marking 2019 World Wildlife Day [3 March] which, this year, is celebrated under the theme “Life Below Water: for people and planet.”
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 