'Unseen' News and Views
3 November 2020 (UN News)* — “Super storm” Typhoon Goni has left several towns inaccessible and destroyed thousands of homes in the Philippines, the UN humanitarian wing has said, adding that relief efforts have been complicated by the coronavirus pandemic.
4 November 2020 (United Nations)* — In 2020, World Tsunami Awareness Day encourages the development of national and community-level, local disaster risk reduction strategies to save more lives against disasters. This year’s observance promotes “Sendai Seven Campaign,” target (e).
3 November 2020 (UNEP)* — To mark World Cities Day, we profile Siyabulela Sokomani, a young South African committed to greening his township.
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Photo: Flickr / Portland Seminary / 02 Nov 2020
The environmental issues he raises awareness about are at the heart of UNEP’s work on forest conservation and restoration, including the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 and UN-REDD, the UN partnership on climate and forests, which has mobilized US $1 billion to help forested developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation.
A New Freely Downloadable Book
John Scales Avery
I would like to announce the publication of a new book. It discusses the role of what might be called decision trees in science, in linguistics, in philosophy and literature, and in our daily lives. The book may be downloaded and circulated free of charge from the following link:
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/The-Road-Not-Taken-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
Decision Trees
During each human life, a child starts with many possible destinations. He or she then makes decisions, and each decision more closely defines who the person is and what it is possible for the person to become.
30 October 2020 (UNEP)* — 31 October is World Cities Day. The theme for 2020 is Valuing Our Communities and Cities.
Photo: UNEP / 30 Oct 2020
For the Day, we look back to one of our Young Champions of the Earth from 2017, Latin America and Caribbean winner Liliana Jaramillo.
In the capital city of Quito in Ecuador, she has been working to build green roofs that host native plant species. Not only do plants beautify urban spaces, but they also reduce air pollution and provide habitat for birds and insects.
Bonn, 29 October 2020 (UNEP)* – Future pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, do more damage to the world economy and kill more people than COVID-19 unless there is a transformative change in the global approach to dealing with infectious diseases, warns a major new report on biodiversity and pandemics by 22 leading experts from around the world.
Rome (FAO)* — Efforts to restore the world’s degraded forests and landscapes must be scaled up to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, said FAO in a new publication released on 28 October 2020.
Land and forest degradation are among the world’s most pressing environmental issues. Globally, 25 percent of the total land area has been degraded. To safeguard the future of our planet, major actions are needed to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide.
27 October 2020 (openDemocracy)* — Despite our best intentions, Trump’s name is on everyone’s lips, yet I have no interest in the sordid details of his psyche. His pathologies are a matter of indifference. It’s clear to me that he’s a violent, dangerous lunatic. His desperate attempts to win attention and adulation likely stem from abuse he suffered as a youth.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 