Archive for December 14th, 2020

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14/12/2020

A Vaccine That Was Hijacked by the Rich

Human Wrongs Watch

By Thalif Deen*

“Vaccinating the world against COVID-19 will be one of the largest mass undertakings in human history, and we will need to move as quickly as the vaccines can be produced,” says Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director.

A-health-worker_

A health worker fills a syringe with vaccine at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Credit: UNICEF/Patrick Brown.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 11 2020 (IPS)* – There is a longstanding belief that virtually everything in this world is stacked up against the poor and the downtrodden. The Covid-19 vaccine is no exception because some of world’s richest nations, including the US, Canada and UK, seem to have cornered most of the supplies — whilst marginalizing the world’s poorer nations.

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14/12/2020

The Handmaid’s Tale: Making a Drama Out of a Crisis

13 December 2020 (UN News)* — The Handmaid’s Tale, a critically acclaimed television series which has won 38 Emmy awards, may be about a fictional “alternative reality”, but the show’s creators have gone to great lengths to ensure that references to themes such as climate change, human rights abuses, and refugees, are as real and accurate as possible, by collaborating closely with UN experts.
 
George Kraychyk | In the fictional country of Gilead, an environmental disaster has caused infertility amongst women.
 
The TV version of The Handmaid’s Tale is based on the classic 1985 book of the same name by acclaimed author Margaret Atwood, about a dystopian USA, renamed Gilead, ruled by a brutal theocracy in which people, particularly women, have been stripped of their rights.

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14/12/2020

Climate Change Continues to Disrupt the Arctic, with the Second-Highest Air Temperatures and Second-Lowest Summer Sea Ice Driving a Cascade of Impacts

Human Wrongs Watch

Arctic Report Card confirms climate change disruption

Arcticreportcard.jpeg

10 December 2020 (WMO)* —  Climate change continues to disrupt the Arctic, with the second-highest air temperatures and second-lowest summer sea ice driving a cascade of impacts, including the loss of snow and extraordinary wildfires in northern Russia in 2020.

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14/12/2020

Natural Jewels We Should Treasure

A child with her pet and mountains in the background.

A child and her pet in Shangri-La, Yunan Province, China. Shangri-La is unique for its Tibetan culture and alpine landscapes including sacred snow-capped mountains and spectacular gorges. PHOTO:©Sujan Sarkar / Mountain Partnership.

11 December 2020 (United Nations)* — Mountains are home to 15% of the world´s population and host about half of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. They provide freshwater for everyday life to half of humanity. Their conservation is a key factor for sustainable development and is part of Goal 15 of the SDGs.

Unfortunately, mountains are under threat from climate change and overexploitation. As the global climate continues to warm, mountain people — some of the world’s poorest — face even greater struggles to survive.

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14/12/2020

Take a Virtual Journey into the Mountains

Human Wrongs Watch

11 December 2020 (UNEP)* — The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), its Wild for Life campaign, and its Vanishing Treasures programme, invite you on an amazing virtual journey which takes you across four mountain regions to visit and learn about some of the iconic endangered species that roam these wild spaces.

Mountain_thumbnailPhoto: UNEP / 11 Dec 2020

Awe-inspiring videos and fun quizzes help you learn about conservation efforts to maintain the delicate balance between animals and plants in the Tien Shan mountains in northern China; the Virunga mountains in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda; the “third pole” Hindu Kush Himalaya mountain region in south-central Asia; and Europe’s last great wilderness, the seven-country-straddling Carpathian Mountains.

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14/12/2020

Mountain People among the World’s Hungriest as Biodiversity Loss and Climate Change Take Their Toll

Human Wrongs Watch

International Mountain Day 2020 highlights need to protect ecosystems and improve livelihoods

Photo: ©Chris Steele-Perkins/Magnum Photos for FAO

Farmer Goma Panthi Khatri in village of Narapani, Nepal.

ROME, 11 December 2020 (FAO)* — Mountains host about half of the global biodiversity hotspots and are home to a growing number of the world’s hungriest people, according to a new study launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and partners to mark International Mountain Day 2020.

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14/12/2020

El Salvador: The Cup of Coffee that Changed Moisés’ Life

Human Wrongs Watch

Despite the great challenges faced by youth in El Salvador, becoming a barista has given Moisés the opportunity to pursue his dreams
 
man smiling in coffee bars
Access to job opportunities is a challenge for youth in El Salvador. Photo: WFP/Nick Roeder

10 December 2020, Haydee Paguaga (WFP)* — Together with the warmth of its people and beautiful beaches, export-quality coffee is one of the things El Salvador is known for. For 23-year-old Moisés, coffee is what turned his life around.

Like many young people in the country, Moisés has faced several challenges in the pursuit of his dreams.  In a context of violence, mainly associated with youth, the stigma that goes with being young makes it difficult to access job opportunities.

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14/12/2020

Yemen: Food Insecurity a ‘Ticking Time-Bomb’

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — UN experts called on the Security Council on 3 December 2020, along with the international community at large, to put an end to the “surreal and absurd dimension” of human rights violations engulfing war-torn Yemen, where abuses continue unchecked.  

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© UNICEF/Areej Alghabri | An eighteen-month -baby, who has lost an eye due to disease, is treated at a hospital in Sana’a, Yemen.

“We are running out of time…approximately 16 million people cannot put food on their table. This is a disaster, this is a ticking time-bomb and the world needs to act now,” WFP spokesperson Tomson Phiri told journalists at a scheduled press conference in Geneva. 

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