'Unseen' News and Views
Baku, Azerbaijan, 11 November 2024 – The year 2024 is on track to be the warmest year on record after an extended streak of exceptionally high monthly global mean temperatures, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The WMO State of the Climate 2024 Update once again issues a Red Alert at the sheer pace of climate change in a single generation, turbo-charged by ever-increasing greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.
A flood in Feni City, Bangladesh. Bangladesh, which is one of the most climate-sensitive regions in the world, is particularly vulnerable to climate shocks, such as rising sea levels. Credit: UNICEF/Alaa Seoudy
As a new UN report shows that rapid urbanization and industrialization have adverse effects on the environment, causing a rise in sea levels, prolonged rainfalls and flooding, and an increase in overall temperature.
Over half of all children aged two to 17 worldwide – some one billion – are estimated to suffer some form of violence, such as child maltreatment (including corporal punishment, the most prevalent form of childhood violence), physical or emotional abuse and sexual violence.
Every 4 minutes, somewhere in the world, a child is killed by an act of violence
NEW YORK, 4 November 2024 (UNICEF)* -— As world leaders, civil society, advocates, survivors, and young people gather this week for the inaugural Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children in Bogotá, Colombia, UNICEF is calling for urgent action to combat violence that devastates the lives of millions of children worldwide.
Violence against children – whether physical, emotional, or sexual – is a global crisis happening in homes, schools, communities, and online.
(UN News)* — The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, has called for “urgent international support” as the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide reaches 123 million, with ongoing conflicts in Lebanon, Sudan and other areas driving further displacement.
Geneva, 6 November 2024 – Climate change is taking a toll on the six countries of the Caucasus, causing glaciers to shrink and impacting river flows, finds a new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report launched ahead of the UNFCCC COP29.
Photo credit: Ansgar Fellendorf
Glaciers have already retreated by an average of 600 metres over the past century, while more than 11 billion tonnes of freshwater — previously stored in ice — has been lost since the year 2000, according to the second edition of the Caucasus Environment Outlook (CEO-2) report.
Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development met in Bahrain to to address water scarcity. Credit: APDA
Worst still, 13 countries fall below the absolute water scarcity threshold of 500 cubic meters per person per year.
The carbon footprint of a super-rich European, accumulated from nearly a week of using super yachts and private jets, matches the lifetime carbon footprint of someone in the world’s poorest 1 percent, a new Oxfam report on 28 October 2024 reveals.
The first-of-its-kind study, “Carbon Inequality Kills”, tracks the emissions from private jets, yachts and polluting investments and comes ahead of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, amidst growing fears that climate breakdown is accelerating, driven largely by the emissions of the richest people.
“The super-rich in Europe are treating our planet like their personal playground. Their dirty investments, their private jets and yachts are not just symbols of excess; they are fuelling inequality, hunger and even death”, said Chiara Putaturo, Oxfam EU tax expert.
4 November 2024 — With millions of people already displaced by climate change disasters in Africa, the richer countries most responsible for global warming must agree at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan to fully pay for the catastrophic loss of homes and damage to livelihoods taking place across the continent, Amnesty International said.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 