MADRID, Jan 6 2022 (IPS)* – There are more under-reported consequences of human activities unmatching the rhythm of Mother Nature. Such is the case, among many others, of the growing salinisation and ‘plastification’ of the world’s soils.
In fact, currently it is estimated that there are more than 833 million hectares of salt-affected soils around the globe (8.7% of the planet). This implies the loss of soil’s capacity to grow food and also increasing impacts on water and the ability to filter pollution.
Soil salinisation and sodification are major soil degradation processes threatening ecosystems and are recognised as being among the most important problems at a global level for agricultural production, food security and sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions, says the UN on occasion of the 2021 World Soil Day.
(UN News)* — UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday [4 January 2022] that a harsh winter in Afghanistan is aggravating already severe conditions faced by millions across the country.
In the past 24 hours, heavy snowfall and rain have impacted a number of areas, disrupting flights to and from Kabul Airport, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“Further snow and low temperatures are forecast in the coming days”, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at the daily briefing for correspondents in New York.
The future is gloomy, with abortion rights threatened, rampant voter suppression and radical Republicans undermining democracy at every turn
The March to Save America rally on 6 January 2021 that preceded the US Capitol ‘insurrection’ | Shay Horse/NurPhoto/PA Images
(openDemocracy)* — Sad to say, when it comes to political life and civil society in the United States, 2021 has not given proponents of democracy and human rights much to celebrate.
(WMO)* — Record-breaking heat and rainfall, devastating fires and debilitating drought were among the extreme weather, climate and water events of 2021, with human, economic and environmental impacts which will far outlast the calendar year.
I would like to announce the publication of a new book which discusses the reasons for our human encroachment on the earth’s ecological systems, and the possible consequences if we do not take steps to correct the problem.
John Scales Avery
The book may be downloaded and circulated free of charge from the following link:
Here are some of the problems that are discussed in the book:
The Threat of an Extremely Large-Scale Famine
There is a danger that by the middle of the present century, population growth, the end of the fossil fuel era, and the effect of climate change on agriculture will combine to produce an extremely large-scale famine, afflicting billions of people rather than millions.
1 January 2022 (UN News)* — The number of Haitians who have tried to migrate by unofficial channels to neighboring countries by boat has increased dramatically in 2021. They are being driven by economic hardship, insecurity, and a recent earthquake, to seek what they believe will be a better life.
IOM | Many migrants leave on boats from Haiti’s northern coast.
“I was trying the reach the Turks and Caicos Islands, but my boat capsized at sea. If there were opportunities to start up my own business, I would stay in Haiti.”
The story of Jacques* a 32-year-old father from Limonade on Haiti’s northern coast is perhaps typical of the increasing numbers of people who try to leave the Caribbean country in unofficial ways and without proper documentation.
Once completed in 2030, it could well be considered the world’s eighth wonder, this time natural. It is the African-led Great Green Wall or the largest living structure on the planet – an 8,000 kilometres natural hit stretching across the entire width of the continent.
Human Wrongs Watch sincerely asks for your indulgence as its daily updates focus on the so many and so inhuman violations of the most basic rights everywhere in the world.
Unfortunately we could not do otherwise. Media generally report on an astonishingly reduced number of events that are either irrelevant to the principle of “All Human Beings Are Born Equal,” or to the basic, pressing needs of the most vulnerable.
And we do so to modestly attempt to call you attention towards the numerous unseen –or unwanted to be seen– news and views.
Human Wrongs Watch wishes for all a new year of peace, serenity, heath and care, much care for Mother Nature.
CUZCO, Peru , Dec 22 2021 (IPS)* – “When I was a little girl we didn’t suffer from water shortages like we do now. Today we are experiencing more droughts, our water sources are drying up and we cannot sit idly by,” Kely Quispe, a small farmer from the community of Huasao, located half an hour from Cuzco, the capital of Peru’s ancient Inca empire, told IPS. | En español
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 