21 March 2020 (United Nations)* — When we drink a glass of water, write in a notebook, take medicine for a fever or build a house, we do not always make the connection with forests. And yet, these and many other aspects of our lives are linked to forests in one way or another.
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Forests, their sustainable management and use of resources, including in fragile ecosystems, are key to combating climate change, and to contributing to the prosperity and well-being of current and future generations.
Forests also play a crucial role in poverty alleviation and in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Geneva, 20 March 2020 (IOM)*– As the world confronts the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations Network on Migration salutes the immense efforts to date to combat this crisis and urges that all – including migrants regardless of their migratory status – are included in efforts to mitigate and roll back this illness’s impact.
To that end, migrants must be seen as both potential victims and as an integral part of any effective public health response. It is particularly important that all authorities make every effort to confront xenophobia, including where migrants and others are subject to discrimination or violence linked to the origin and spreading of the pandemic.
COVID-19 does not discriminate, and nor should our response, if it is to succeed.
20 March 2020 (World Meteorological Organization)* – Flash floods cause more than 5,000 deaths worldwide annually, exceeding any other flood-related event. They have enough power to change the course of rivers, bury houses in mud, and sweep away or destroy whatever is on their path.
The protests began on Tuesday [17 March 2020] and reached on Wednesday other Brazilian cities and communities.
ultra-right-wing President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro. | Photo: EFE (Photo posted here fromteleSUR).
19 March 2020 (teleSUR)* — For the second day in a row, ultra-right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro was the subject of protests in several Brazilian cities, local media reported Wednesday [18 March 2020].
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 20 2020 (IPS)* – The devastating spread of the deadly coronavirus across every continent– with the exception of Antarctica– has triggered a conspiracy theory on social media: what if the virus was really a biological weapon?
And more specifically, was it an experimental weapon that accidentally escaped from a laboratory in China? Or as others contend, is it a weapon surreptitiously introduced to de-stabilize a country with more than 1.4 billion people and described as the world’s second largest economy, after the United States.
19 March 2020 (UN Environment)* — When you see a new car, you might think of the speed it can attain, the sound system on offer, the upholstery, or its range, if electric. But have you ever stopped to think about the greenhouse gas emissions created by its manufacture—including mining the metals and moulding the plastics that go into its construction?
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In the transport sector, one way to reduce greenhouse gases is to use fewer and recycled materials—a process experts call “material efficiency”.
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 19 2020 (IPS)* – Mina Setra remembers the story clearly. As a Dayak Pompakng indigenous person from Indonesia, when visitors from the city who came into her community; brought bottled water with them because they were worried about the water not being suitable for drinking.
Experts warn that some people who suspect they may be sick with the virus, also known as COVID-19, are going about their daily routines, either because their jobs do not provide paid time off because of systemic failures in our privatized health care system.
Most of us aren’t exactly sure what to do or who to listen to. President Donald Trump has contradicted recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and these mixed messages have narrowed our window of time to mitigate harm from the highly contagious virus.
Protesters march across Brussels’ European district during a rally ‘For a fairer Europe for workers’ in Brussels, Belgium, 26 April 2019. [EPA-EFE/STEPHANIE LECOCQ]
18 March 2020 (UN News)* — A young woman who works as an intern for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in China has been talking about the anxiety she faced after being hospitalized for several days with a suspected case of coronavirus or COVID-19.
UNDP China | UNDP intern, Shuangnan Wu, was admitted into hospital in Zhengzhou in eastern China with a case of suspected COVID-19.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 