'Unseen' News and Views
Police officers guard outside the venue where Brazil’s government’s auction for offshore oil fields is held, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 6, 2019. | Photo: Reuters (Photo posted here from teleSUR)..
Greater action is needed to protect the environment during wartime if the world is to realize the goal of a more sustainable future for all people and the planet, the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warned on Wednesday [6 November 2019]. *
— The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO), all dominated by rich countries, have long promoted trade liberalization as a ‘win-win’ solution for “all people—rich and poor—and all countries—developed and developing countries”, arguing that “the gains are large enough to enable compensation to be provided to the losers”.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Yet, the IMF’s 2016 World Economic Outlook has warned that free trade is increasingly seen as only or mainly benefiting the well-off.
The help and compensation needed by those disadvantaged by trade liberalization has rarely if ever been forthcoming, even in most developed economies.
(Greenpeace International)* — “Ada asap berarti ada api” is an Indonesian saying which means, “there is no effect without a cause”. Essentially; there is no smoke without fire. And right now in my home in Indonesia, we are experiencing a lot of smoke, caused by many fires.
6 November 2019 (UN Environment)* — Eighteen years ago, on 5 November 2001, the United Nations General Assembly declared 6 November the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
Image from UN Environment.
Public concern regarding the targeting and use of the environment during wartime first peaked during the Viet Nam War.
The trade tariff spat between China and the United States has been a “lose-lose” situation for both countries and the wider world and it is likely to deteriorate unless a deal is reached, UN economists said on Tuesday [5 November 2019]. *
Vandana Shiva
It is significant that at a time in history when a global economic paradigm shift is being loudly and clearly demanded due to the evident and documented failure of the current system of production, global trade and distribution that is leading us to environmental and climate catastrophe, this same apparatus of enormous corporate interests and highly paid lobbyists that disseminate false information, with ill-concealed concern, are putting to task the Italian Minister of Education, Lorenzo Fioramonti.
4 November 2019 (UNHCR)* — Land route through Africa twice as deadly as Mediterranean, says UNHCR.
Image from UNHCR.
The UN refugee agency’s special envoy for the central Mediterranean, Vincent Cochetel, told a German newspaper, Welt am Sonntag, on Sunday [3 November 2019] that while more than 1,000 people have died or gone missing attempting to cross the Mediterranean this year, the land journey across Africa to reach the Mediterranean is even more lethal.
5 November 2019 (UN Environment)* — Message from UN Environment’s Executive Director on the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict:
The United States announced on Monday [4 November 2019] that it was formally beginning the process of withdrawal from the historic Paris Agreement on climate change, signed by 193 countries in 2015. *
The UN Spokesperson’s Office issued a note to correspondents, in reaction to the notice of withdrawal, which came from US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, addressed to the Secretary-General:
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 