Bonn/ New York (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)* – UN Climate Change on 26 February 2021 published the Initial NDC Synthesis Report, showing nations must redouble efforts and submit stronger, more ambitious national climate action plans in 2021 if they’re to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise by 2°C—ideally 1.5°C—by the end of the century.
City Skyline | Credit: Pexels
“2021 is a make or break year to confront the global climate emergency. The science is clear, to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C, we must cut global emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2010 levels,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Nairobi, 24 February 2021(UNEP)* –Ministers of environment and other leaders from more than 150 nations on 23 February 2021 concluded a two-day online meeting of the Fifth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) in which the Assembly warned that the world risks new pandemics if we don’t change how we safeguard nature.
The Green Gigaton Challenge backed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners, catalyses public and private funds to combat deforestation, with the goal to cut annual emissions by 1 gigaton by 2025.
25 February 2021 (UN News)* — Yemen remains the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and the situation for the millions of affected people is deteriorating, says the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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YPN for UNOCHA | An internally displaced family living in an IDP site in Al-Dhale’e Governorate, Yemen.
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The grim outlook for Yemen – ongoing conflict, economic collapse and major cuts in donor support for emergency aid – has been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to a significant drop in the amount of money sent home by the Yemeni diaspora, as global work opportunities dry up.
24 February 2021 (Wall Street International)* — Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday of utmost importance for Chinese people around the world. In fact, it represents two celebrations in one.
Traditionally Chinese believe that everyone’s birthday is celebrated on New Year’s Day | Image from Wall Street International.
Chinese New Year (农历新年 nónglì xīn nián) is the official name for Chinese New Year in the Republic of China (Taiwan), while Spring Festival (春节Chūn Jié) or the Lunar New Year, is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a Chinese New Year in P.R. China.
Customs
Traditionally Chinese believe that everyone’s birthday is celebrated on New Year’s Day. This period of time for all Chinese is the time of the year for families to get together and reunite again.
CAMBRIDGE MA, Feb 24 2021 (IPS)* – Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador quietly rocked the agribusiness world with his New Year’s Eve decree to phase out use of the herbicide glyphosate and the cultivation of genetically modified corn. His administration sent an even stronger aftershock two weeks later, clarifying that the government would also phase out GM corn imports in three years and the ban would include not just corn for human consumption but yellow corn destined primarily for livestock. Under NAFTA, the United States has seen a 400% increase in corn exports to Mexico, the vast majority genetically modified yellow dent corn.
Tractor caravan to Mexico City farmer protest demands “Mexico Free of Transgenics”. Credit: Enrique Perez S./ANEC
AL BAB, Northwest Syria, 23 February 2021 (UNFPA)* – Bana, 12, was able to escape her hometown, the city of Aleppo, before the Syrian conflict engulfed her neighbourhood. It was the first of two times she and her family would have to flee violence before settling down here, in Al Bab, northwest Syria. And then the pandemic struck.
Bana, 12, enjoys learning about robotics at a women’s and girls’ safe space in northwest Syria. Image courtesy of Ihsan Relief and Development
“Like all girls in Syria, I live a difficult childhood,” she told facilitators at the women’s and girls’ safe space where she receives support and services. She is a dedicated student, but since the outbreak of COVID-19, her school has often been closed.
“When I can attend school, I behave politely and work hard,” she described.
(UN News)* — Independent UN human rights experts castigated Malaysia on Wednesday [24 February 2021] over its decision to deport more than1,000 detained migrants back to crisis-ridden Myanmar – despite a court order to suspend their return, pending a judicial review.
Unsplash/Alex Hudson | A food market in Kelantan, Malaysia.
Malaysian immigration authorities returned 1,086 migrants, including unaccompanied minors and toddlers as young as three, the UN experts said in a statement on Wednesday.
In defiance of the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s order, the Malaysian authorities “breached the principle of non-refoulement, a rule of jus cogens, which absolutely prohibits the collective deportation of migrants without an objective risk assessment being conducted in each individual case”, they said.
(UN News)* — More collective action is needed to address the risks climate change poses to global peace and security, the UN Secretary-General told a high-level Security Council debate on Tuesday [23 February 2021], as renowned natural historian David Attenborough warned countries that the planet faces total ‘collapse’.
CIFOR/Axel Fassio | Young girls carry water from a source near Yangambi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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Climate shocks such as record high temperatures and a “new normal” of wildfires, floods and droughts, are not only damaging the natural environment, said UN chief António Guterres, but also threatening political, economic and social stability.“The science is clear: we need to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century,” the Secretary-General said.
WFP/Oscar Duarte, women cooking free meals for the children of the community named Guililandia, who were affected by the Hurricane. Part of the rice she has served to the children was WFP rice.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 