MELBOURNE, Australia, Mar 1 2022 (IPS)* – Food security has long been a high priority for the Chinese central government and has been linked to China’s national security in recent years.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs recently released a national five-year plan under which China will seek to maintain a target to produce 95 percent of the protein domestically until 2025: China aims to become self-sufficient in poultry and eggs, 85 percent self-sufficient for beef and mutton, 70 percent for dairy, and 95 percent self-sufficient in pork.
Genevieve Donnellon-May
These targets intersect with many of the Chinese central government’s current aims to meet the growing demand for protein and dairy, safeguard food security, and other major policies.
Since the 21st century, global protein consumption has risen and is projected to increase. This is also the case for China which has an insatiable appetite for meat. Today, China is estimated to consume 28% of the world’s meat, including half of the world’s pork.
MADRID, Feb 27 2022 (IPS)* – Safety and security are at the base of the ‘hierarchy of needs’ pyramid, second in importance only to life’s absolute necessities—air, water, food and shelter, warns a new report.
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Credit: Parvez Ahmad/Unicef
The report “Why we don’t feel safe,” elaborated by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and released on 8 February 2022, adds that in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, people were on average living healthier, more prosperous and better lives than ever.
“Yet still a growing sense of unease has taken root and is flourishing.”
Rome, 24 February 2022 (FAO)* – The expansion of social protection for rural populations is a prerequisite for a sustainable, inclusive and resilient recovery from COVID-19 and must be at the core of the post-pandemic recovery policies, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said on 24 February 2022 at the Global Forum for a Human-Centred Recovery hosted by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
As citizens we must prevent our politicians from pursuing this insane brinksmanship
In the United States, both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party owe their allegiance, not to the people, not to the voters, but to large corporate donors | Image fromWall Street International.
26 February 2022 (Wall Street International)* —In many countries, and especially in the United States, we do not have “government of the people, by the people, and for the people”, which Abraham Lincoln called for in his famous Gettysburg Address.
Instead, we have government of the people, by corrupt politicians and for the enrichment of corporate oligarchs. In the United States, both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party (with the exception of progressive Democrats) owe their allegiance, not to the people, not to the voters, but to large corporate donors.
International donor-led schemes promote peacebuilding and collaboration rather than pushing Israel to end its occupation
Palestine’s struggle is also a climate and environmental struggle | Eddie Gerald / Alamy Stock Photo. All rights reserved
25 February 2022 (openDemocracy)* — At the core of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is its theft of Palestinian natural resources, including land and water, which exacerbates the climate crisis.
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 25 2022 (IPS)*– As a new political twist to an old saying goes: the dogs bark but the military caravan moves on.
Russian military operations inside the sovereign territory of Ukraine “on a scale that Europe has not seen in decades, conflict directly with the United Nations Charter,” Secretary General Antonio Guterres told journalists February 24. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe
Despite ominous warnings from an overwhelming majority of member states both in the General Assembly and the Security Council— against a military attack on Ukraine —Russian President Vladimir Putin stood defiant when he ordered a full-scale invasion of a sovereign territory.
NARANDIBA, Brazil, Feb 23 2022 (IPS)* – Nothing is wasted from sugarcane, one can conclude from the biomethane production process at the Cocal plant, a Brazilian company that produces sugar, ethanol, electricity and other by-products from sugarcane agro-industrial waste.
Biomethane, equivalent to natural gas, which is methane of fossil origin, is the result of a long chain starting with the planting of sugarcane, originally intended for the production of sugar and spirits.
The economic importance of the tea industry has grown during the pandemic but it must confront key challenges, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu tells the 24th Session of Intergovernmental Group on Tea
Rome, 23 February 2022 (FAO)* – The tea industry can play an important part in the transformation of global agrifood systems, but it must overcome significant challenges, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said on 23 February 2022.
The Wall Street Journal has an article out titled “U.S. Aims to Thwart China’s Plan for Atlantic Base in Africa“, subtitled “An American delegation wants to convince Equatorial Guinea against giving Beijing a launchpad in waters the U.S. considers its backyard.”
The article quotes the former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Tibor Nagy saying “We’d really, really not like to see a Chinese facility” on the Atlantic, and discusses “American concern about China’s global expansionism and its pursuit of a permanent military presence on waters the U.S. considers home turf.”
(UN News)* — UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi urged on Monday [21 February 2022] for greater protection for refugees and asylum-seekers in Europe.
UN Photo | The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, warns of increasing violence and human rights violations at European borders.
He said in a statement that violence, ill-treatment, and pushbacks continue to be regularly reported at multiple entry points at land and sea borders.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 