'Unseen' News and Views
Phoenix Express 2021, the AFRICOM-sponsored military exercise involving 13 countries in the Mediterranean Sea region, concluded last week. While its stated aim was to combat “irregular migration” and trafficking, the US record in the region indicates more nefarious interests.
At 32 million doses, Africa accounts for less than one per cent of the more than 2.1 billion doses administered globally.
Just two per cent of the continent’s nearly 1.3 billion people have received one dose, and only 9.4 million Africans are fully vaccinated.
$72.6 billion is how much nine nuclear armed countries spent on their nuclear weapons as the pandemic spread in 2020 and a global treaty banning nuclear weapons took full effect.
The report “Complicit: 2020 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending” details the spending of these nine countries on their arsenals, the companies that profited, and the lobbyists hired to keep nuclear weapons in business.
This amounts to $137,666 every minute, and (after adjusting for inflation) represents an increase of $1.4 billion from last year.
The U.S. spent three times more than the next in line- a whopping $37.4 billion.
China was the only other country crossing the ten billion mark, spending $10.1 billion.
Russia had the third highest spending at $8 billion, though the U.K.’s $6.2 billion and the French $5.7 billion weren’t so far behind.
India, Israel, Pakistan also each spent over a billion on their arsenals, while North Korea spent $667 million.
The ocean produces at least 50% of the planet’s oxygen, it is home to most of earth’s biodiversity, and is the main source of protein for more than a billion people around the world.
Not to mention, the ocean is key to our economy with an estimated 40 million people being employed by ocean-based industries by 2030.
Ahead of G7, coalition of luminaries says “new relationship with the planet” and “transformational action this decade” absolutely necessary.
Students demonstrate holding signs reading “There is no Planet B” during the Fridays for Future climate strikes in May 2019. (Photo: Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images)
A group of 126 Nobel laureates and other experts today called on the leaders of the G7 nations and the United Nations secretary-general to help put the global community on a path to establishing “a new relationship with the planet,” as the world continues to battle the Covid-19 pandemic and faces a coming decade which will be “decisive” in determining whether the Earth remains habitable.
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is one of the biggest threats to our oceans. ©Cristiano Minichiello
IUU fishing is one of the biggest threats to our oceans, impacting the sustainability of fisheries, the livelihoods of fishers and coastal communities and the protection of aquatic ecosystems. It also impacts consumers who could be cheated in terms of what fish they are buying, where it comes from or how it is caught.
Image from Greenpeace International.
Sounds like the premise of a brand new Netflix series, but instead this is the reality of what happens in one of the world’s most lucrative industries. And the secret activity worth billions of dollars? Fish.
ROME (FAO)* – Worsening soil pollution and waste proliferation threaten the future of global food production, human health and the environment, and require an urgent global response, according to a joint report released on 4 June 2021 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme.
KEY MESSAGE 1
Countries need to deliver on their existing commitments to restore 1 billion hectares of degraded land and make similar commitments for marine and coastal areas.
The fulfilment of these commitments is not simply something that is ‘nice to have’.
Restoration is essential for keeping global temperature rise below 2°C, ensuring food security for a growing population and slowing the rate of species extinctions.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 