02/04/2021
1 April 2021 (UNEP)* — For much of the last three weeks, the Flipflopi, a dhow made from recycled plastic, including a helping of old sandals, has been calling into ports across Lake Victoria. The crew of the 10-metre-long vessel is on a mission to raise awareness about a tide of plastic choking Africa’s biggest lake – and to demonstrate that trash can be turned into treasure.
UNEP / Stephanie Foote / 31 Mar 2021
“Flipflopi was built to show the world that it is possible to make valuable materials out of waste plastic,” said Ali Skanda, co-founder of the Flipflopi.
The boat’s voyage, which is supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), comes at a critical time for both Lake Victoria and Kenya, says Llorenç Milà I Canals, the head of UNEP’s Life Cycle Initiative.
A recent report by UNEP found that 27 per cent of plastic waste in Kenya is collected and, of that, only 7 per cent is recycled in the country.
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01/04/2021
HYDERABAD, India, Apr 1 2021 (IPS)* – As the sun sets over the canopy of Albizia amara trees, a thin blanket of fog begins to descend over the forests of the Malai Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, which lies roughly 150 km south of the Indian city of Bangalore.
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Two elephants cross a stream in Malai Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuary. Thanks to a number of conservation projects run by various government agencies, non-government organisations and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the wildlife population is thriving again. The forest is now home to an estimated 500 elephants and several other big game animals, including bison and tigers. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS
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01/04/2021
(UN News)* — UN rights experts, on 31 March 2021, raised alarm over forced evictions of locals and indigenous peoples, and threats against human rights defenders, to make way for a $3 billion tourism project on the Indonesian island of Lombok.
Unsplash/Atilla Taskiran | A $3 billion tourism project is set to go ahead on Lombok island in Indonesia.
In a joint statement led by Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, the experts highlighted expulsions of local communities and destruction of houses, fields, water sources, cultural and religious sites, as the Indonesian Government and the country’s Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) “groomed Mandalika to become a ‘New Bali’.”
“Credible sources have found that the local residents were subjected to threats and intimidations and forcibly evicted from their land without compensation. Despite these findings, the ITDC has not sought to pay compensation or settle the land disputes”, the experts said.
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01/04/2021
(UN News)* — Around one in eight nations spends more on debt than on social services, according to a new report from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched on Thursday [1 April 2021], calling for debt service relief and restructuring to enable countries to bounce back from the pandemic.
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© UNICEF/Ricardo Franco | Families affected by Cyclone Eloise queue for food at a relocation centre in Beira, Mozambique.
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31/03/2021
(UN News)* — Vulnerable communities disproportionately bear the brunt of environmental degradation caused by plastics pollution, and action is urgently needed to address the issue and restore access to human rights, health and well-being, according to a new UN report published on Tuesday [30 March 2021].
UNEP/Florian Fussstetter | Kenya has limited the use of single-use plastic.
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31/03/2021
PANAMA CITY, 29 March 2021 (UNICEF)* – The number of children migrating up north through the dangerous Darien rainforest between Colombia and Panama has increased more than fifteen-fold in the last four years, UNICEF reported today after a two-day field visit to the Darien border by Jean Gough, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
UNICEF/UN0433742/Moreno Gonzalez
Since 2017, the number of children crossing the Darien Gap has skyrocketed from 109 to 1,653 in 2020, with a peak of 3,956 in 2019. This is fifteen times more children migrating through the Panama jungle in the last four years.
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31/03/2021
We must enter into a time of reflection
30 March 2021 (Wall Street International)* — It has been a year since the Covid-19 virus interrupted and changed our lives forever. The virus attacked not only our bodies but every aspect of our lives, our livelihoods, our children’s care and education, our ability to gather, to even kiss our grandparents.
A virus attacks the bodies of those who are most vulnerable, who have the least strong and healthy immune systems, but most critically those with “pre-morbidity.”
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31/03/2021
By Jenny Barchfield*
With COVID-19 lockdowns depriving many of jobs and income, increasing numbers of refugees and asylum-seekers are going hungry.
Amid downtowns resulting from coronavirus restrictions, displaced people are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. © UNHCR/Kamrul Hasan
31 March 2021 (UNHCR)* — By the time Kimberly Virguez finally took the wrenching choice to leave her native Venezuela, widespread food shortages there had left her 15 kilos lighter. In Peru, where she sought asylum, she quickly put the weight back on.
But then the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Kimberly lost her job, and she and her husband had to start skipping meals to have enough to feed their growing twin boys. After months of eating just once a day, Kimberly again weighs about what she did when she left Venezuela in 2018.
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31/03/2021
(UN News)* — The report from a team of international scientists assembled by the World Health Organization (WHO) to examine how COVID-19 first spread to humans was published on Tuesday 30 March 2021, and was described by the UN health agency’s chief as a welcome start, but far from conclusive.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | A digital illustration of the coronavirus shows its crown-like appearance.
“This report is a very important beginning, but it is not the end”, said WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“We have not yet found the source of the virus, and we must continue to follow the science and leave no stone unturned as we do.”
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31/03/2021
(UN News)* — In a statement released on Tuesday [30 March 2021] the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) has concluded that a 3 January French military airstrike on the central Malian village of Bounty, hit a group largely made up of civilians, killing several of them.
MINUSMA/Sophie Ravier | A traditional Dogon village in central Mali. (file 2013)
The day after the attack, a MINUSMA fact-finding team, made up of 15 human rights officers, and supported by two UN forensics experts and two public information officers, was deployed to investigate the strike, and shed light on the allegations surrounding the deaths.
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UNEP / Stephanie Foote / 31 Mar 2021
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 