'Unseen' News and Views
– Nothing is wasted from sugarcane, one can conclude from the biomethane production process at the Cocal plant, a Brazilian company that produces sugar, ethanol, electricity and other by-products from sugarcane agro-industrial waste.
Biomethane, equivalent to natural gas, which is methane of fossil origin, is the result of a long chain starting with the planting of sugarcane, originally intended for the production of sugar and spirits.
The economic importance of the tea industry has grown during the pandemic but it must confront key challenges, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu tells the 24th Session of Intergovernmental Group on Tea
Tea is a labour intensive sector that provides jobs and income to many of the poorest rural communities in the world ©FAO/Roberto Faidutti
Rome, 23 February 2022 (FAO)* – The tea industry can play an important part in the transformation of global agrifood systems, but it must overcome significant challenges, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said on 23 February 2022.
Credit: UNAMA. UN Missions.org
The Wall Street Journal has an article out titled “U.S. Aims to Thwart China’s Plan for Atlantic Base in Africa“, subtitled “An American delegation wants to convince Equatorial Guinea against giving Beijing a launchpad in waters the U.S. considers its backyard.”
The article quotes the former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Tibor Nagy saying “We’d really, really not like to see a Chinese facility” on the Atlantic, and discusses “American concern about China’s global expansionism and its pursuit of a permanent military presence on waters the U.S. considers home turf.”
(UN News)* — UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi urged on Monday [21 February 2022] for greater protection for refugees and asylum-seekers in Europe.
War would be in no-one’s interests. How often have we heard that, in the current Ukraine crisis? But there is one obvious exception.
Jake Lynch
‘Defence industries’ are perennial winners in such situations and – whatever the outcome of the standoff involving thousands of Russian troops at the border – arms dealers will be circling for opportunities to profit.
Stability is no good, from their perspective, if it engenders too great a sense of security. “Actual shooting wars are needed” from time to time, as Ismael Hossein-Zadeh puts it, “not only to draw down stockpiles… but also to display the wonders of what they produce”.
Being able to stamp the brochure for a new weapons system with the words, ‘battle-tested’ is the ultimate marketing ploy. In between open hostilities, however, a period of raised tensions will do nicely.
20 February 2022 (UN News)* — Although child marriage and “bride kidnapping” are illegal in Kyrgyzstan, both practices still exist in parts of the country. An initiative from a UN-backed programme is finally leading to a change in attitudes, and a decline in these harmful practices.
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– A recent Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) study shows the largest farms cultivate a high and increasing share of agricultural land in much of the world.
Vikas Rawal
Farm size concentration
World Agricultural Census data for 129 countries show about 40% of the world’s farmland is operated by farms over 1000 hectares (ha) in size. About 70% is operated by the top 1% of farms, all bigger than 50 ha each.
A rising share of farmland is in larger farms. But farm sizes in developed and developing countries seem quite different.
Farms smaller than 5 ha accounted for 63% of land in low and lower middle-income countries. But such farms covered only 8% of farmland in upper middle and high-income countries.
The “share of farmland farmed on the largest holdings has increased in … several European countries (France, Germany and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and in the United States of America.”
These critical environmental issues, requiring greater attention, are highlighted in the new Frontiers Report published today by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 