MADRID, Nov 17 2022 (IPS)* – As much as wars –or even more–, climate disaster represents a great business opportunity, so don’t bother those who pour their fortunes into fueling them with talks about stopping it.
See what happens.
A new analysis of the “investments of 125 of the world’s richest billionaires shows that on average they are emitting 3 million tonnes a year, more than a million times the average for someone in the bottom 90% of humanity.” Credit: WA
Investing in wars
A couple of dozens of companies involved in manufacturing the most inhuman weapons of mass destruction– the nuclear warheads, have been supported by over 150 big banks by lending them money or underwriting bonds, according to the Nobel Peace Laureate International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
(Greenpeace International)* — Since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, it has only become less likely that the world will meet that pact’s goals. Emissions must now be halved by the end of this decade to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
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Don’t Gas Africa Event during COP27. Campaigners call for an end to fossil-fuel-induced energy apartheid in Africa and ask to scale up cost-effective, clean, decentralized, renewable energy to end energy exclusion and meet the needs of Africa’s people.
Making finance flows and services consistent with this pathway is essential not only for the planet, but for the financial sector itself. Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance company, adopted a new policy last month excluding oil insurance and reinsurance.
It’s not a single actor: As of October, 41 insurers — including industry heavyweights such as Allianz, Munich Re and Swiss Re — representing 39% of the market for primary insurance and 62% for reinsurance had withdrawn or reduced cover for coal.
(UN News)* — Without urgent investment in climate mitigation and adaptation, countries in the Sahel risk decades of armed conflict and displacement, exacerbated by rising temperatures, scarcity of resources and food insecurity, the UN has warned in a report published on Wednesday [].
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe | A displaced family walks through Ouallam camp in Niger.
Moving from Reaction to Action: Anticipating Vulnerability Hotspots in the Sahel, says that, left unchecked, the climate emergency will further imperil Sahelian communities as devastating floods, droughts and heatwaves decimate access to water, food and livelihoods, and amplify the risk of conflict.
This will ultimately force more people to flee their homes.
7 Nov 2022 – “The destabilisation of the Earth’s climate systems is the consequence of violating the ecological processes and cycles of the earth, violating the Rights of the Earth, Rights of Indigenous People, and the Rights of Future Generations.
Fossil fuels have driven how we grow our food and produce our clothing over the past century. Energy slaves have been used to displace the creative work of farmers who care for the land and craftspeople in creating beauty and culture.
MADRID, Nov 14 2022 (IPS)* – For those who have it, a toilet is that ‘thing’ in the bathroom, next to the bidet, the hand-washing sink with hot and cold water faucets, and the bathtub.
Given their ‘unprestigious’ function, some billionaires, in particular in the Gulf oil-producer kingdoms, fancy to pose their buttocks on a solid-gold toilet. Once they are there, why not also solid-gold faucets.
A Dalit woman stands outside a dry toilet located in an upper caste villager’s home in Mainpuri, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Credit: Shai Venkatraman/IPS
Many others prefer a more comfortable use of their toilets, thus endowing them with both automatic heating and flushing. And anyway, being given-for-granted, nobody would give a thought to the high importance of all these ‘things’.
Governments should move the discussions of a treaty on autonomous weapons systems, also known as “killer robots,” away from meetings of an existing weapons treaty, where they are stalled.
Such weapons systems operate without meaningful human control, delegating life-and-death decisions to machines. Several countries are investing in the technology to develop them.
(UN News)* — In a report issued on Tuesday [], UN human rights experts outline how discrimination affects black boys and girls worldwide to the extent that they are not considered children, even in the eyes of the law.
They said unresolved legacies of trade and trafficking in enslaved Africans, as well as colonialism, post-colonial apartheid and segregation, continue to harm these children today.
The report by the Working Group on people of African descent highlights discrimination in areas that include the administration of justice, law enforcement, education, and health. It has been presented to the UN General Assembly in New York.
(UN News)* — Food import costs globally are projected to reach nearly $2 trillion this year, or higher than previously expected, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a report published on Friday [].
FAO/Ami Vitale | Conflict, rapid population growth and a heavy reliance on food imports pose serious challenges for food security in the Near East and North Africa.
The new forecast of $1.94 trillion would represent an all-time high and a 10 per cent increase over the record level of 2021.
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However, the pace of increase is expected to slow down in response to higher food prices and the depreciation of currencies against the United States dollar, according to the latest Food Outlook report.
MADRID, Nov 11 2022 (IPS)* – While grain exports continue to regularly flow to world’s markets since the July 2022 Turkey-brokered agreement between Russia and Ukraine to resume cereals and fertilisers shipments from both countries, food prices are still skyrocketing everywhere. How come?
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In each of the three global food crises studied, financial speculation has caused steep increases in prices, making food inaccessible to hundreds of millions of people. Credit: Bigstock
The handiest answer by establishment politicians and media is that it’s all about the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February.
Another argument they use is that it is Russia who interrupted its gas and oil exports, omitting the fact that it is West US-led sanctions that have drastically cut this flow to mostly European markets, causing a steady rise in energy costs, food transportation, etcetera.
While we are inundated with reports of varying credibility about the war instigated by US/NATO against Russia being fought in Ukraine, evoking justifiable hand-wringing over needless loss of life, threat of nuclear Armageddon and ever-growing windfall profits to weapons makers, we would do well to pay closer attention to Haiti, ground zero for resistance against Western colonialism and exceptionalism.
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Demonstration in Ti Gwav, Haiti, against US occupation, Oct. 2022. (Photo by Haiti Information Project)
Barely a blip on the radar of mass media, we’re occasionally seeing brief reports of unrest in Haiti that belie the true scope and nature of the current uprising.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 