Governments and the public need to recognize, understand and respond to the ageing of human populations in the 21st century, which is the inescapable demographic future of nations worldwide. Credit: Maricel Sequeira/IPS
PORTLAND, USA, Jan 5 2022 (IPS)* – The ageing of human populations is an inescapable demographic future. That evolving and universal future is increasingly challenging governments and the public, who are by and large ill prepared for that certain future.
Whereas the 20th century was one of record setting rapid population growth with world population nearly quadrupling, the 21st century is one of unprecedented population ageing with its economic, social and political consequences reverberating across countries worldwide.
New York, 9 January 2022 – Twenty years after Guantánamo Bay detention operations commenced on January 11, 2002, a new report assesses the massive costs of US unlawful transfers, secret detention, and torture after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
MADRID, Jan 6 2022 (IPS)* – There are more under-reported consequences of human activities unmatching the rhythm of Mother Nature. Such is the case, among many others, of the growing salinisation and ‘plastification’ of the world’s soils.
In fact, currently it is estimated that there are more than 833 million hectares of salt-affected soils around the globe (8.7% of the planet). This implies the loss of soil’s capacity to grow food and also increasing impacts on water and the ability to filter pollution.
Soil salinisation and sodification are major soil degradation processes threatening ecosystems and are recognised as being among the most important problems at a global level for agricultural production, food security and sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions, says the UN on occasion of the 2021 World Soil Day.
(UN News)* — The UN’s benchmark food and commodity prices index rose sharply on average through 2021, compared with the previous year, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) informed on Thursday [6 January 2022].
(UN News)*— Fifty-five journalists and media professionals were killed last year, latest UN data showed on Thursday [6 January 2022], with nearly nine in 10 killings since 2006 still unresolved.
(UN News)* — UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday [4 January 2022] that a harsh winter in Afghanistan is aggravating already severe conditions faced by millions across the country.
In the past 24 hours, heavy snowfall and rain have impacted a number of areas, disrupting flights to and from Kabul Airport, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“Further snow and low temperatures are forecast in the coming days”, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at the daily briefing for correspondents in New York.
The future is gloomy, with abortion rights threatened, rampant voter suppression and radical Republicans undermining democracy at every turn
The March to Save America rally on 6 January 2021 that preceded the US Capitol ‘insurrection’ | Shay Horse/NurPhoto/PA Images
(openDemocracy)* — Sad to say, when it comes to political life and civil society in the United States, 2021 has not given proponents of democracy and human rights much to celebrate.
(WMO)* — Record-breaking heat and rainfall, devastating fires and debilitating drought were among the extreme weather, climate and water events of 2021, with human, economic and environmental impacts which will far outlast the calendar year.
I would like to announce the publication of a new book which discusses the reasons for our human encroachment on the earth’s ecological systems, and the possible consequences if we do not take steps to correct the problem.
John Scales Avery
The book may be downloaded and circulated free of charge from the following link:
Here are some of the problems that are discussed in the book:
The Threat of an Extremely Large-Scale Famine
There is a danger that by the middle of the present century, population growth, the end of the fossil fuel era, and the effect of climate change on agriculture will combine to produce an extremely large-scale famine, afflicting billions of people rather than millions.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 