Archive for ‘Africa’

23/10/2020

Mediterranean Basin Facing ‘Irreversible Environmental Damage’

Athens/Marseille, 21 October 2020 (UN Environment)*– Rising inequality, biodiversity loss, the growing impact of climate change and unrelenting pressure on natural resources could lead to irreversible environmental damage in the Mediterranean basin, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

dubrovnik-512798_1920Pixabay / 21 Oct 2020

Published on 21 October 2020, the State of the Environment and Development in the Mediterranean finds that, unless urgent and resolute action is taken to halt current trends, environmental degradation could have serious and lasting consequences for human health and livelihoods in the region.

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23/10/2020

Classroom Crisis: Avert a ‘Generational Catastrophe’ Urges UN Chief

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — The world is at risk of suffering “a generational catastrophe” as COVID-19 wreaks havoc on the education of students globally, the UN chief said on Thursday [22 October 2020].

© UNICEF/Chansereypich Seng | Teachers and students wear face masks and maintain physical distance at a school in Cambodia.
In a video message to the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Global Education Meeting (GEM), Secretary-General António Guterres reminded delegates that the pandemic had had a “disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable and marginalized children and youth”.
23/10/2020

A Few ‘Green Shoots’, But Future of Global Trade Remains Deeply Uncertain

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Although global trade is making a frail recovery, the outlook remains uncertain, UN trade and development body UNCTAD said on Wednesday [21 October 2020], in announcing its latest COVID-era update.

Unsplash/Jared Sanders | Shipping containers at a port in Miami, USA.
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Estimates show that world trade will drop by five per cent this quarter, compared with the 2019 level. While this is an improvement over the nearly 20 per cent decline in the second quarter of the year, it is still not enough to pull trade out of the red.

Furthermore, UNCTAD expects the value of all good traded to contract by seven to nine percent compared to last year, depending on how the COVID-19 pandemic evolves in the winter months.

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21/10/2020

Food Security Bursts Onto the Global Agenda

Human Wrongs Watch

Mario Lubetkin is Assistant Director General at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

8027244480_1e165074d1_z-629x415-1Women farmers irrigate crops of onions and other vegetables. They participate in a special programme to improve Senegal’s food security. Credit: FAO

ROME, Oct 21 2020 (IPS)* – The month of October 2020 will be recalled as one of the most important moments in raising awareness about world food security, whether in the global debate or in the search for possible concrete solutions. | En español

21/10/2020

One in Six Children – or 356 Million – Were Living in ‘Extreme Poverty’ Before COVID-19, a Figure Set to Worsen Significantly

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — An estimated one in six children – or 356 million globally – were living in extreme poverty before the COVID-19 pandemic began, and this is set to worsen significantly, according to a new World Bank Group and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) analysis released on Tuesday [20 October 2020].

© UNICEF/Niklas Halle’n | Children play outside a metal polishing workshop in a slum in Uttar Pradesh, India.

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21/10/2020

During COVID-19, False Information on Social Media Can Be ‘Deadly’. World Campaign Urging People to Pause Before Sharing

UN OCHA/Gema Cortes | In Venezuela, the Internet is the source of both information and misinformation.
20/10/2020

‘Don’t Ignore Economic Lessons of the Great Recession’

(UN Environment)* — “The world today finds itself in the worst financial and economic crisis in generations. The crisis has triggered an unprecedented policy response: interest rates have been dramatically reduced, in some cases down to almost zero, and hundreds of billions of dollars in liquidity support and fresh capital have been provided to banking systems around the world.”

rawfilm-ihMzQV3lleo-unsplashUnsplash/RawFilm / 13 Oct 2020

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20/10/2020

UN Survives a World Turned Upside Down

Human Wrongs Watch

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 16 2020 (IPS)* – As the United Nations plans to commemorate its annual UN Day, come October 24, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is presiding over a world body which has remained locked down since last March because of the spreading coronavirus pandemic.

The-Future-We-Want_

UN75: The Future We Want, The UN We Need. Credit: United Nations

“In a world turned upside down, this General Assembly Hall is among the strangest sights of all,” said Guterres last month, describing the venue of the UN’s highest policy-making body.

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20/10/2020

Ye Are Many, They Are Few!

Human Wrongs Watch

By John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service*

A New Freely Downloadable Book

John-Scales-Avery

John Scales Avery

I would like to announce the publication of a new book, which discusses the question of how oligarchs maintain their grasp on an excessive share of wealth and power when, as Shelley pointed out, the have-nots are many, while the power-holders are few.

http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Ye-are-Many-They-are-Few-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf

The Peterloo Massacre

Rise, like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number!
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you:
Ye are many, they are few!

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20/10/2020

September Was the Warmest on Record for the Globe

15 October 2020 (WMO)* —  It was the warmest September on record for the globe. The first nine months of 2020 were the second warmest on record (after 2016), according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
September-2020-Global-Land-and-Ocean-Temperature-Percentiles-Map_0