'Unseen' News and Views – By Baher Kamal & The Like
New York/Geneva, 19 April 2021 (WMO)* – Extreme weather combined with COVID-19 in a double blow for millions of people in 2020.
However, the pandemic-related economic slowdown failed to put a brake on climate change drivers and accelerating impacts, according to a new report compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and an extensive network of partners.
– Since the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) was launched in 2006, yields have barely risen, while rural poverty remains endemic, and would have increased more if not for out-migration.
Timothy A. Wise
AGRA was started, with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, to double yields and incomes for 30 million smallholder farm households while halving food insecurity by 2020.
There are no signs of significant productivity and income boosts from promoted commercial seeds and agrochemicals in AGRA’s 13 focus countries. Meanwhile, the number of undernourished in these nations increased by 30%!
When will we ever learn?
What went wrong? The continuing Indian farmer protests, despite the COVID-19 resurgence, highlight the problematic legacy of its Green Revolution (GR) in frustrating progress to sustainable food security.
President Biden announced a removal of all U.S. troops by September 11, but he failed to include some important details.
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An Afghan taxi-driver in Vancouver told one of us a decade ago that this day would come:
Giving a voice to soil organisms – our silent allies in the fight against hunger. FAO-hosted Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity kicks off
Closeup of worm culture. Worms are used to improve soil quality.ROME, 20 April 2021 (FAO)* –– The Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 19 April 2021 kicked off with a call to preserve this vast community of living soil organisms and the vital ecosystem services they provide.
(UN News)* — Although they represent the greater part of the world’s cultural diversity and speak the major share of its languages, indigenous people are three times more likely to live in extreme poverty, the UN chief told the opening session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on Monday [19 April 2021].
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 