(UN News)* — A new study released on 8 July 2021 by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) illustrates the devastating impact of COVID-19 on victims and survivors of human trafficking and highlights the increased targeting and exploitation of children during the course of the pandemic.
UN Costa Rica/Danilo Mora | Lilith, not her real name, was trafficked from Nicaragua as a teenager and now lives in Costa Rica.
The study further assesses how frontline organizations responded to the challenges posed and continued to deliver essential services, despite restrictions across and within national borders.
Meanwhile, traffickers took advantage of the global crisis, capitalizing on peoples’ loss of income and the increased amount of time both adults and children were spending online.
8 July 2021 (WMO)* — The record-breaking heatwave in parts of the US and Canada at the end of June would have been virtually impossible without the influence of human-caused climate change, according to a rapid attribution analysis by an international team of leading climate scientists. Climate change, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, made the heatwave at least 150 times more likely to happen.
7 July 2021 (Wall Street International)* — Based on the fact that three EU energy corridors pass through it, the Balkans nowadays represent a significant potential energy hub.
Along with the importance of Central-South-Eastern Electricity connection and the North-South gas interconnections and Oil supply, the justification in proving the statement could unambiguously be found in the emerging Southern Gas Corridor, which will supply the countries of Central and Western Europe with gas, and is expected to soon be not only a geopolitical but also an important energy bridge connecting Europe with the wider regions of the Caucasus and the Middle East.
Measured by the Christian calendar, the period of about 500 years from the fall of the Roman Empire until the end of the first millennium was a time characterized by economic, intellectual and cultural decline in the European Christian world.
In retrospect, it is now referred to as ‘the Dark Age’, even as other cultures, including that of Islam but those in other parts of the world too, thrived during this period.
Since March 2020, a number of fine analysts have carefully documented the true nature of what is happening to our world under cover of what the World Health Organization has labeled the ‘Covid-19 pandemic’.
Climate Catastrophe is staring us in the face. Record temperatures, wild fires, and intense destructive storms can’t be ignored.
The U.S. Military is the largest consumer of oil and largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the world. In the name of “defense” the U.S. military is carbon bombing the planet.
RÍO DE JANEIRO, Jul 5 2021 (IPS)* – Twenty years after the blackout that prompted nine months of rationing to keep the power grid from collapsing, Brazil may see a repeat of the traumatic situation, this time with a more obvious climate change undertone. | En español
View of a wind farm in the interior of Bahia, a state in Brazil’s Northeast region where wind power already provides most of the local electricity and was critical in some years between 2012 and 2018 when severe drought reduced the generation capacity of hydroelectric plants. CREDIT: FP/Public Photos
I spoke with Indian scholar, food sovereignty advocate and environmental activist #VandanaShiva. She speaks about #BillGates‘ book and the colonisation of land and food production. However, she provides us with hopeful and powerful words of advice that might help us challenge these Tech Giants and monopolies.
6 July 2021 (UNEP)* — Unprecedented biodiversity loss, pollution, climate change and the rise of zoonotic diseases have showcased the symbiotic relationship between humans and nature.
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Unsplash / Markus Spiske / 05 Jul 2021
The human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, as well as other human rights, can only be realized where biodiversity thrives and ecosystems are healthy.
(UNEP)* — Deepika Hemrom’s parents pay her school fees with plastic. Not Master Card or Visa but actual plastic waste.
Photo: Akshar Foundation / 16 Apr 2021
They are participating in a ground-breaking scheme in Assam, India, that allows low-income families to use single-use plastic in lieu of money to pay for private schooling.
Deepika’s parents are manual labourers and this unique payment method means the 13-year-old, who dreams of becoming a doctor, can access a quality education, which would otherwise be out of her family’s financial reach.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 