MADRID, Apr 29 2022 (IPS)* – Every now and then, experts remind that the Indigenous Peoples are the best (and last?) custodians of the essential web of life: biodiversity.
Brazilian Indigenous people during one of their regular protests in Rio de Janeiro demanding the demarcation of their lands and to be taken into account in environmental and climate measures. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS
There are more than 370 million self-identified peoples in some 70 countries around the world. In Latin America alone there are over 400 groups, each with a distinct language and culture, though the biggest concentration is in Asia and the Pacific– with an estimated 70 per cent.
And their traditional lands guard over 80% of the planet’s biodiversity.
MADRID, Apr 27 2022 (IPS)* – In case you were not aware, please know that humanity used to cultivate more than 6.000 plant species for food, but now instead fewer than 200 of these species make major contributions to food production. Out of these, only 9% account for 66% of total crop production.
If forest loss continues at the current rate, it will be impossible to keep warming below two degrees Celsius as pledged in the Paris Agreement. Credit: José Garth Medina/IPS
Also that 33% of the world’s fish stocks are overfished.
And that 26% of the nearly 8.000 local breeds of livestock that are still in existence are now at risk of extinction.
(UN News)* — Eleven mainly European countries have now reported salmonella food poisoning, linked to popular “Kinder” chocolate products produced in Belgium, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday [27 April 2022].
Unsplash/Tetiana Bykovets | An outbreak of salmonella has been linked to chocolate produced in Belgium.
.The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that there have been more than 150 suspected cases of salmonellosis – from Belgium to the US – after United Kingdom regulators flagged a cluster of Salmonella (S.) Typhimurium cases a month ago, leading to a global recall..Children under 10 have been most affected – comprising some 89 per cent of cases – and available data indicates that nine patients were hospitalised. There have been no fatalities.“The risk of spread in the WHO European region and globally is assessed as moderate until information is available on the full recall of the products,” the UN agency said in a statement.
Refugees and asylum seekers are often used as a political football. I want Westerners to hear their voices directly.
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The UK has announced proposals to resettle asylum seekers in Rwanda | Daniel Chesterton/ PHC Images/ Alamy
21 April 2022 (openDemocracy)* — There are reports of mass graves. There is clear evidence of crimes against humanity. Yet since 2017, more than 90,000 men, women and children have been forced back to Libya – a country run by militias, without a functioning government.
Geneva, 26 April 2022 (UNEP)* – 50 billion tons: enough to build a wall 27 metres wide and 27 metres high around planet Earth. This is the volume of sand and gravel used each year, making it the second most used resource worldwide after water.
Given our dependency on it, sand must be recognised as a strategic resource and its extraction and use needs to be rethought, finds a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Apr 27 2022 (IPS)* – Lebanon is perpetually at a crossroads, one where local, regional, and international interests seem to play against each other—all the more so today with the war in Ukraine.
In Lebanon, the impact of the Beirut port blasts, a rapidly weakening local currency and the effects of COVID-19 have sent more people into poverty. Nine out of 10 Syrian refugee families in Lebanon are now living in extreme poverty. Credit: World Food Programme (WFP)
Now, tiny Lebanon, all too familiar with the ripple effects of global conflicts, has been almost completely cut off from its staple food— wheat — which was almost entirely supplied by Russia and Ukraine before the conflict.
(UN News)* — Although the war in Syria may not be making headlines lately, the international community must remain focused on achieving a comprehensive political solution to the conflict, UN Envoy for the country, Geir Pedersen, said on Tuesday [26 April 2022] in his latest briefing to the Security Council in New York.
Recalling that Syria is “a hot conflict, not a frozen one”, he listed some of the threats resulting from the war, including an uptick in airstrikes, intensified clashes in the northeast, “regular incidents between or involving international actors”, as well as terrorism.
“My message today is simple: focus on Syria”, said Mr. Pedersen, speaking from Geneva.
Britain survived as a state by moving its tyranny and violence out of sight. Priti Patel’s plan to send refugees to Rwanda is business as usual.
The UK government has signed a deal to transport asylum seekers arriving in the UK to a processing site in Rwanda | Allstar Picture Library Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
20 April 2022 (openDemocracy)* — “What do they know of England, who only England know?” was the ode that Rudyard Kipling once sang. His claim was a confession that, if you really needed to know about the structures that govern this island, you shouldn’t look here at all: you should look at India, Jamaica or Nigeria.
(UN News)*— Against the backdrop of shifting population demographics, conflicts, post-pandemic shocks and climate change, the developing world is on the brink of a “perfect storm” of debt, food and energy crises, experts warned the Commission on Population and Development on Monday [25 April 2022].
While sounding the alarm over the planet’s unequal COVID-19 recovery and notable reductions in public spending for youth, older people and other vulnerable populations, officials from across the UN system stressed that this multipronged crisis has a “decidedly female face.”
Zbigniew Brzezinski’s book, The Grand Chessboard, was published 25 years ago. His assumptions and strategies for maintaining ‘U.S. global dominance’ have been hugely influential in US foreign policy.
Rick Sterling
As the conflict in Ukraine evolves, with the potential of escalating into world war, we can see where this policy leads and how crucial it is to re-evaluate.
The Need to Dominate Eurasia
The basic premise of “The Grand Chessboard” is outlined in the introduction:
* With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States is the sole global power
* Europe and Asia (Eurasia) together have the largest land area, population and economy
* U.S. must control Eurasia and prevent another country from challenging US dominance
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 