24 January 2021 (UN News)* — A young woman scientist in Burkina Faso is researching the role of micro-organisms in fighting desertification in the Sahel Region, as part of a UN programme to restore degraded land in Africa.
30-year-old Barkissa Fofana studies the relationship between acacia trees, and they way they interact with different fungi and bacteria, in the hope that it will help to explain how they resist drought. This kind of research is an important way to build resilience against climate change, and make land in the Sahel green and productive.
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Ms. Fofana’s work is part of Action Against Desertification (AAD), a programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which has restored over 7,000 hectares in Burkina Faso. You can find out more about her projects, the impact of AAD, and the Great Green Wall initiative, here.
Sheldon Cooper/ SOPA Images/Sipa USA via Reuters / 20 Jan 2021
22 January 2021 (UNEP)* — Along with a vow to return to exercise, upping personal intake of fruit and vegetables tops the list of New Year’s resolutions for many. But what if this year’s resolution didn’t end with the eating – and extended to reducing the amount of healthy, nutritious produce that gets trashed?
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
Stephen F. Somerstein/Getty Images
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was signed into law as a federal holiday in 1983. I do not wish to trivialize this accomplishment: it took great persistence by civil society groups and it had to conquer serious opposition. Yet what it has established is an indigestible paradox in the nation’s list of saints and heroes.
(UN News)* — The COVID-19 pandemic “will not end for anyone, until it ends for everyone”, an independent UN human rights expert said on Friday [22 January 2021], advocating for an equitable and globally-coordinated vaccine distribution programme.
“The virus can still travel from the vastly unvaccinated massive population of the Global South to the Global North, including in its increasingly mutating forms”, Obiora Okafor, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and international solidarity, said in a statement.
He explained that with mutations constantly evolving, only inoculating rich countries would likely “complicate or delay” the eradication of the virus.
With an intensive information campaign the Danes would learn to see themselves as members of a multi-cultural society
Denmark is still better known for H.C. Andersen, The Little Mermaid | Image fromWall Street International.
Bernie Sanders points to Denmark
22 January 2021 | Wall Street International* — Denmark is known as a country where social justice prevails and where everyone has secured a daily life without having to live in worry about tomorrow, even if sickness and unemployment knock on the door. I was born in Denmark, two generations ago, and couldn’t help but feeling a bit proud, when the Democratic candidate for the US presidency, Bernie Sanders, pointed to Denmark as a model to be emulated by the USA. What is it worth to be big and mighty, if it does not contribute to give better living conditions to people, asked Sanders.
Nairobi, 22 January 2021 (UNEP)* – ‘Reset Earth’ is an innovative educational platform for adolescents about the fundamental role of the ozone layer in protecting the planet. The platform launches on World Education Day (January 24th) with an original animation film that explores options for collective positive action. The film’s plot continues in a challenging mobile game for Android and IOS (February 10th). The platform is initiated by United Nations Ozone Secretariat to sustain the protection of the ozone layer through the sensitization and engagement of Gen Z.
New to ozone? Or perhaps you’re familiar and just want to learn more. The Ozone and You section is the place to start.
Ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) like CFCs, HFCs, HCFCs have been widely used throughout the 20th century, mostly for refrigeration, in air conditioners and aerosol sprays. ODSs threaten the earth’s upper atmosphere, drive up temperatures and account for close to 11 per cent of total warming emissions to date.
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 22 2021 (IPS)* – A war-mongering president, with his finger on the nuclear trigger— and who threatened to attack North Korea and Iran– was unceremoniously drummed out of office on January 20.
Launching of “Reverse the Trend” and welcoming the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Credit: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
And two days later, the world rejoiced the historic entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) – a landmark event greeted by peace activists and anti-nuclear campaigners worldwide.
But still there are two lingering questions: Does the TPNW, along with the inglorious departure of an irrational Donald Trump from the White House, make chances of a nuclear war only a remote possibility?
22 January 2021 (UN News)* — The first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty in more than two decades, came into force just after midnight on Friday [22 January 2021], hailed by the UN Secretary-General as “an important step towards a world free of nuclear weapons”.
UN Photo/DB | The remains of the Prefectural Industry Promotion Building, after the dropping of the atomic bomb, in Hiroshima, Japan. This site was later preserved as a monument.
António Guterres said that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) also represents a “strong demonstration of support for multilateral approaches to nuclear disarmament” overall.
In a video message and statement, the UN chief commended the States that have ratified the Treaty and welcomed the “instrumental role of civil society in advancing the TPNW’s negotiation and entry into force”.
The report stresses how social protection systems and transfers can promote the affordability of healthy diets for the poor and most vulnerable.
20 January 2021, Bangkok/Rome – The economic impact of COVID-19 on the world’s most populous region is threatening to further undermine efforts to improve diets and nutrition of nearly two billion people in Asia and the Pacific who were already unable to afford healthy diets prior to the pandemic, says a new report published today [20 January 2021] by four specialized agencies of the United Nations.
© FAO/Gideon Vink | Barkissa Fofana, a young microbiologist from Burkina Faso, is confident that science can help combat climate change and desertification.
