HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

Human Wrongs Watch

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan 21 2025 (IPS)* – Corporate-dominated food systems are responsible for widespread but still spreading malnutrition and ill health. Poor diets worsen non-communicable diseases (NCDs), now costing over eight trillion dollars yearly!

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Unhealthy food systems
A recent UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) study of 156 countries found that such food systems account for unsafe food and diet-related NCDs.

FAO estimates related ‘hidden costs’ at about $12 trillion annually, with 70% ($8.1 trillion) due to NCDs such as heart disease, strokes and diabetes. Such costs significantly exceed these food systems’ environmental and social costs.

FAO’s annual State of Food and Agriculture 2024 (SOFA) investigated hidden costs worldwide. These were primarily health-related, followed by environmental degradation, mainly in more ‘industrialised’ agri-food systems in upper-middle and high-income countries.

Human Wrongs Watch

By Human Rights Watch*

Vulnerable Populations Most at Risk of Grave Abuses

United States President Donald Trump, on his first day in office on January 20, 2025, issued numerous executive orders that threaten to undermine respect for international human rights both in the US and abroad, Human Rights Watch said today [22 January 2025]. 

Human Wrongs Watch

Melting glaciers | Melanie Biausque/WMO Photo Competition

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21 January 2025 – UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have officially launched the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation on January 21st, 2025, marking a crucial milestone in global efforts to protect these essential water towers that provide freshwater to over 2 billion people worldwide.