'Unseen' News and Views
That is deeply problematic in a world where 690 million people were undernourished in 2019, a number expected to rise sharply with COVID-19. It’s also bad for the planet. 8-10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions come from producing food that is ultimately thrown away.
(UN News)* — Conflict drives hunger, and when that turns to famine, that then drives conflict, the UN chief told the Security Council on Thursday 11 March 2021, adding that “if you don’t feed people, you feed conflict”.
“When a country or region is gripped by conflict and hunger, they become mutually reinforcing…[and] cannot be resolved separately”, Secretary-General António Guterres said via videoconference to the meeting which focused on how conflict and food security are interlinked.
And when hunger meets inequality, climate shocks, sectarian and ethnic tensions, together with grievances over resources, they then “spark and drive conflict”.
(UN News)* — Over the past decade, violence against women has been “endemic in every country and culture”, according to a new study released by the UN health agency on Tuesday 9 March 2021.
ADEN/SANA’A, 10 March 2021 (WFP)* – The Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme issued an urgent plea for peace in Yemen and called for funding to help the most vulnerable hungry families as he wrapped up a two-day visit to the country where the worst famine the world has seen in modern history is now looming.
Photo: WFP/ Alaa Noman
“Over half of the people in Yemen are facing acute food shortages with millions knocking on the door of famine. These are not just numbers. They are real people and it is heartbreaking,” said David Beasley.
(UN News)* — UN Secretary-General António Guterres has underlined the UN’s determination to continue pursuing a negotiated political settlement to the Syrian civil war, a “living nightmare” that has endured for 10 years now.
Briefing journalists at UN Headquarters on 10 March 2021, the UN chief stressed the need for countries to put aside their differences to support Syrians in finding a solution to the crisis.
“After a decade of conflict, in the middle of a global pandemic, and faced with a steady stream of new crises, Syria has fallen off the front page”, he said. “And yet the situation remains a living nightmare.”
(UN News)* — United Nations officials on 10 March 2021 highlighted the contributions of migrants to economies and societies in Asia and the Pacific, calling on countries to ensure all who live within their borders are fully included in national coronavirus inoculation programmes.
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Just over two months into the new year, 2021 has already seen a flurry of public banking activity. Sixteen new bills to form publicly-owned banks or facilitate their formation were introduced in eight U.S. states just in January and February.
Ellen Brown
Two bills for a state-owned bank were introduced in New Mexico, two in Massachusetts, two in New York, one each in Oregon and Hawaii, and Washington State’s Public Bank Bill was re-introduced as a “Substitution.”
Bills for city-owned banks were introduced in Philadelphia and San Francisco, and bills facilitating the formation of public banks or for a feasibility study were introduced in New York, Oregon (three bills), and Hawaii.
(UN News)* — A “polar vortex” was responsible for the freezing conditions in the US state of Texas last month, UN weather experts said on Tuesday 9 March 2021, before warning of a worrying increase in global carbon dioxide levels.
New data tool offers detailed insights covering role of land use, agriculture, refrigeration, packaging and more, providing critical guidance for holistic mitigation efforts
ROME, 9 March 2021 (FAO)* — The world’s food systems are responsible for more than one-third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, according to a pioneering new study published in Nature Food.
Younger women among those most at risk
(WHO)* — Violence against women remains devastatingly pervasive and starts alarmingly young, shows new data from WHO and partners. Across their lifetime, 1 in 3 women, around 736 million, are subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or sexual violence from a non-partner – a number that has remained largely unchanged over the past decade.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 