UNEP’s annual Emissions Gap Report 2020 finds that, despite a dip in 2020 carbon dioxide emissions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is still heading for a temperature rise in excess of 3°C this century.
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08/12/2020
Greece: Lead Poisoning Concerns in New Migrant Camp
Human Wrongs Watch
By Human Rights Watch*
(Athens) Thousands of asylum seekers, aid workers, United Nations, and Greek and European Union employees may be at risk of lead poisoning in a new migrant camp that Greek authorities have built on a repurposed military firing range on the island of Lesbos, Human Rights Watch said on 8 December 2020.
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08/12/2020
Twitter Community Drew Images of What It Means to Be Warm – and We Animated It
By UN Refugee Agency*
8 December 2020 – Writer Neil Gaiman launches animated version of ‘What You Need to Be Warm’ to raise life-saving funds for Syrian refugees left out in the cold.
A submission for the Neil Gaiman #DrawForRefugees initiative. © UNHCR/Christina Clemis
08/12/2020
Global Arms Industry: Sales of Arms and Military Services by the Sector’s Largest 25 Companies Totaled US$361 Billion in 2019, 8.5 Per Cent More than in 2018
(Stockholm) — Sales of arms and military services by the sector’s largest 25 companies totalled US$361 billion in 2019, 8.5 per cent more than in 2018. The largest companies have a geographically diverse international presence. This is according to new data released on 7 December 2020 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
08/12/2020
$818 Million Needed to Provide 54 Million Women and Youth with ‘Essential and Life-Saving’ Services Throughout 2021
As COVID-19 continues to disproportionately impact women and girls hit by multiple humanitarian crises, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency appealed on Monday [7 December 2020] for $818 million to provide 54 million women and youth with essential and life-saving services throughout 2021. (*).
“The rights and needs of women and adolescent girls in emergencies are often overlooked, and COVID-19 has made matters worse, with rising intimate partner violence, sexual violence and child marriage”, said Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
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07/12/2020
Mexico Sticks to Natural Gas, Despite Socio-environmental Impacts
Human Wrongs Watch
“I use gas”, announces a minibus driving along a street in Mexico City. Natural gas is becoming increasingly widely used as fuel for public transportation in Mexico, coming mainly from the United States where it is extracted through hydraulic fracturing or fracking, a technique that requires high volumes of water and toxic chemicals. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy/IPS
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07/12/2020
Can Forest Restoration Reduce the Threat of Megafires?
Human Wrongs Watch
7 December 2020 (UNEP)* — The record-breaking wildfires that engulfed the western United States this year show the danger from global heating and ecosystem decline, but also light up opportunities for forest and landscape restoration to reduce the threat of catastrophic fires.
Reuters / Mario Anzuoni / 01 Dec 2020 (Posted here from UNEP’s article).
Altered rainfall patterns are lengthening fire seasons from the Mediterranean to Australia. Record heat and drought are sucking moisture from trees and undergrowth. And some regions are seeing more violent thunderstorms, whose lightning can provide a fateful spark.
Scientists say forest restoration and other natural solutions could provide up to one-third of the mitigation needed to keep global warming below 2°C.
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07/12/2020
Mountains Host about Half of the World’s Biodiversity Hotspots and 30 Percent of All Key Biodiversity Areas
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7 December 2020 (FAO)* — Mountain biodiversity is the theme of this year’s International Mountain Day.Mountains loom large in some of the world’s most spectacular landscapes.
Their unique topography, compressed climatic zones and isolation have created the conditions for a wide spectrum of life forms.
Mountains host about half of the world’s biodiversity hotspots and 30 percent of all Key Biodiversity Areas.
- ©Instituto Meteorológico Nacional
06/12/2020
Human Society and the Biosphere
Human Wrongs Watch
By John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service*
Mass Extinctions Due to Human Activities
John Scales Avery
According to a recent United Nations report, more than a million species of plants and animals are currently threatened with extinction because of human activities. Rates of extinction today are as much as 1,000 times greater than the normal background rate.
As the greenhouse gas emissions of human society push the earth towards catastrophic climate change, rates of extinction in the biosphere will certainly become higher.
Are Humans Threatened with Extinction?
What about our own species? Are we too threatened with extinction?
There are certainly several threatened catastrophes that might greatly reduce the global population of humans. In a thermonuclear war, followed by nuclear winter, a large part of the world’s population might perish.
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 