'Unseen' News and Views
22 May 2021 (FAO)* — Humans rely on a shockingly low number of plants for the majority of our daily calories. In fact, of the thousands of fruit and vegetable species cultivated for food, fewer than 200 make up a substantial part of food produced globally.
Thousands of plant species and varieties that fed our ancestors are already extinct, and we are losing more every day. Diversity is our food’s life insurance. ©FAO/Luis Tato
Everyone will lose unless humanity makes ‘peace with the planet’ – UN Chief.
(UN News)* — Humanity is “waging a war on nature”, threatening biodiversity loss, climate disruption and escalating pollution, the UN chief on 21 May 2021 said.
“We will all be losers if we don’t achieve peace with the planet”, Secretary-General António Guterres told a webinar ahead of the International Day for Biological Diversity, commemorated annually on 22 May. “We should all be advocates for nature”, he said.
New international expert panel to address the emergence and spread of zoonotic diseases
Geneva/Paris/Rome/Nairobi, 20 May 2021 (UNEP)* – International organizations have come together to launch a new One Health High-Level Expert Panel to improve understanding of how diseases with the potential to trigger pandemics, emerge and spread.
20 May 2021 (FAO)* — The origins of tea stretch back more than 5 000 years, but its contributions to health, culture and socioeconomic development are still as relevant today.
Tea is currently grown in very localized areas, and supports over 13 million people, including smallholder farmers and their households, who depend on the tea sector for their livelihoods.
International Tea Day [21 May] is an opportunity to celebrate the cultural heritage, health benefits and economic importance of tea, while working to make its production sustainable “from field to cup” ensuring its benefits for people, cultures and the environment continue for generations.
– Millions of people are expected to die due to delayed and unaffordable access to COVID-19 tests, treatment, personal protective equipment and vaccines. Urgent cooperation is desperately needed to save lives and livelihoods for all.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Vaccine apartheid
Thus far, rich countries have bought up most available vaccine supplies.
By mid-April, rich countries had received more than 87 percent of the more than 700 million vaccine doses dispensed worldwide, while poor countries had received only 0.2 percent.
A quarter of the former’s population had been vaccinated compared to one in 500 of the latter’s!
By mid-May, less than a twelfth of the world’s population had been vaccinated, with ten rich countries getting four-fifths of all vaccines.
The Pfizer vaccine is mainly reaching the world’s rich.
18 May 2021 (United Nations)* — Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats and hummingbirds, are increasingly under threat from human activities.
Pollination is, however, a fundamental process for the survival of our ecosystems.
Nearly 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend, entirely, or at least in part, on animal pollination, along with more than 75% of the world’s food crops and 35% of global agricultural land.
Not only do pollinators contribute directly to food security, but they are key to conserving biodiversity.
14 May 2021 (UNEP)* — As Pakistan prepares to host World Environment Day on June 5, ecosystem restoration, which includes critical ecosystems like mangrove forests, will be the focus.
Mr Quershi, who sadly passed away in December 2020, played a key role in the development of mangrove restoration in Pakistan and will be fondly remembered at the event.“He was a magnificent man.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 