Archive for ‘Climate carnage’

15/09/2024

“A Race against Time”: Pregnant Djamila’s Journey to Hospital by Canoe in Flood-Ravaged Cameroon

Human Wrongs Watch

FAR NORTH REGION, Cameroon, 11 September 2024 (UNFPA)* -– As Djamila* clutched her pregnant belly, the floodwaters rose around her, threatening to engulf the fragile canoe she had escaped in.

 A woman stands in floodwater surrounding a collapsed wooden gate and a house with a thatched roof
A pregnant woman is stranded by her house amid recent flooding in Cameroon’s Far North region. Credit: UNFPA Cameroon / Samuel Sawalda

“The water was everywhere,” she told UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. “I was so scared – not just for myself, but for my babies. Every minute felt like an eternity.”

At 18, this was her first pregnancy – and she was expecting twins.

15/09/2024

Nigeria: Hundreds of Thousands in Need of Aid as Flooding Wipes Out Homes – World Food Programme

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — UN humanitarians are rushing to assist scores of newly displaced people in northeast Nigeria, after torrential rains caused a dam to collapse and flood the area, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday [].

Millions remain displaced across Nigeria due to conflict, climate change impacts and natural disasters. In this file photo, a girl carries water to her shelter at an IDP camp in the country's northeast. (file)
© UNICEF/KC Nwakalor | Millions remain displaced across Nigeria due to conflict, climate change impacts and natural disasters. In this file photo, a girl carries water to her shelter at an IDP camp in the country’s northeast. (file)
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Alau Dam, located just over 10 miles to the south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, collapsed in the middle of the night on Tuesday, forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes.
13/09/2024

Fighting Cholera: Prevention Efforts for Displaced Families in Yemen

Human Wrongs Watch

By Sherbel Dissi

Over 18.6 million Yemenis, more than half of the total population, currently need humanitarian assistance. Many are living in collective sites or camps for displaced people.

Awareness session with Ali Fuad, a displaced person in Amran governorate, Kharef camp. Photo: NRC

12 September 2024 (Norwegian Refugee Council)* — In such sites, cholera, a disease that can be potentially fatal, poses a significant threat. Lack of access to clean water, proper latrines and health education all contribute to the spread of this disease.

13/09/2024

Atmosphere of ‘Desperation, Extreme Fear and Trauma’ Envelops Women of Sudan

Human Wrongs Watch

By Abdelmonem Makki

(UN News)* — An atmosphere of desperation, extreme fear and trauma envelops the women of Sudan in a conflict that has left half of its 50-million-person population in dire need of assistance, according to Laila Baker, a senior regional director from the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA.

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Laila Baker, UNFPA Regional Director for Arab States, talks to a Sudanese displaced woman in Port Sudan.
UNFPA | Laila Baker, UNFPA Regional Director for Arab States, talks to a Sudanese displaced woman in Port Sudan.
10/09/2024

Cooking Smoke Kills Millions Every Year. Here’s What the World Can Do about That

Human Wrongs Watch

5 September 2024 (UNEP)* — For billions of people across the developing world, particularly children and women, mealtime starts by firing up a kerosene stove, lighting a charcoal grill or setting some logs ablaze. 

Credit: Robert Harding via AFP/Lee Frost
10/09/2024

Tackling Climate Change Will Be a Pyrrhic Victory If We Lose Sight of the Poor

Human Wrongs Watch

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ROME, Sep 3 2024 (IPS)** Last July, we were confronted with alarming statistics: 733 million people experienced hunger in 2023, equivalent to one in eleven people globally.

In Africa it was even higher, with one in five people going hungry. Climate change is a significant driver of this crisis.

Social protection programmes have a critical role to play building a future that is mutually beneficial to People and Planet.

A Latin American rural family. Credit: Santiago Billy / FAO

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09/09/2024

Vicious Circle of Climate Change, Wildfires and Air Pollution Has Major Impacts – World Meteorological Organization

Human Wrongs Watch

05 September 2024 (WMO)* — A vicious cycle of climate change, wildfires and air pollution is having a spiralling negative impact on human health, ecosystems and agriculture, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

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The WMO Air Quality and Climate Bulletin includes a special focus on wildfires. It also looks at global and regional concentrations of particulate matter pollution and its harmful effects on crops in 2023. 

09/09/2024

Climate Change: ‘Graveyard of Glaciers’ Lays bare Existential Threat of Melting Ice

Human Wrongs Watch

By Árni Snævarr

Iceland´s glaciers are retreating so rapidly that future generations may wonder how the ancient island nation got its name. No surprise then that the land of the Vikings was chosen to house the world’s first global glacier graveyard which was unveiled at a ceremony last month, close to the capital Reykjavik.

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The glacier graveyard is located close to the Icelandic capital Reykjavik.
© Josh Okun | The glacier graveyard is located close to the Icelandic capital Reykjavik.
09/09/2024

The World Must ‘Wake Up and Help Sudan Out of the Nightmare of Conflict’ – World Health Organization

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Sudan’s health system is “near collapse” after 16 months of war have left the country and its people facing what the UN’s top health official described on Sunday [] as the “perfect storm of crises”, which the world is largely ignoring.

An internally displaced woman cooks in an open space in the El Ban Gadeed settlement in Sudan.
© UNOCHA/Ala Kheir | An internally displaced woman cooks in an open space in the El Ban Gadeed settlement in Sudan.
08/09/2024

The UN Security Council’s Astonishing Silence on Myanmar Atrocities

The United Nations Security Council’s first open meeting on Myanmar since 2019, New York, April 4, 2024.
The United Nations Security Council’s first open meeting on Myanmar since 2019, New York, April 4, 2024.© 2024 John Sifton/Human Rights Watch

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