Archive for ‘Mother Earth’

03/02/2021

Indigenous, Rural, and Riverside Communities in Northern Brazil Comprise the Most Vulnerable Populations to the Spread of COVID-19

The International Organization for Migration Helps Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 among Brazilian Indigenous and Riverside Communities

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Indigenous and riverside communities in northern Brazil are receiving hygiene and cleaning kits to help them prevent COVID-19. Photo: IOM/Daniel Boechat

Brasília (IOM)* – Indigenous, rural, and riverside communities in northern Brazil comprise the most vulnerable populations to the spread of COVID-19. Due to economic and transportation restrictions in place across such communities, locals’ access to health, hygiene and cleaning products is limited, making it difficult to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. 

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03/02/2021

‘Millions of Women, Children and Men Worldwide Are Out of Work, Out of School and Without Social Support in Continuing COVID-19 Crisis, Leaving Them at Greater Risk of Human Trafficking’

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Although almost 50,000 victims of human trafficking were detected and reported in 2018 by 148 countries, the “hidden nature” of the crime means that the actual number of victims could be “far higher”, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Tuesday [2 February 2021].  

UNICEF/Michele Sibiloni | The COVID-19 pandemic has created conditions making it easier for vulnerable people to become victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking.
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Migrants and people without jobs were among the groups most targeted by human traffickers, UNODC added, warning that the economic fallout and job losses due to the coronavirus pandemic have exposed millions more to the risk. 

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02/02/2021

As Army Takes Over, Fear and Uncertainty Grip Myanmar Citizens

Human Wrongs Watch

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HYDERABAD, Feb 2 2021 (IPS)* – Yangon resident Ni Ni Aye walked to her office yesterday morning. A couple of hours before, the army had staged a coup by seizing power and declaring a state of emergency in Myanmar. Ni Aye, an employee of one of Yangon’s largest technology firms, tried to call her colleagues and family, but phone services were down. So, she decided to walk to the office and see what was happening.

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Central Yangon, Myanmar (file photo). According to locals there is a high level of uneasy calm right now and the army has focused on taking control of the capital Nay Pyi Taw. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

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02/02/2021

Ajamu Baraka: We Are Entering a New Totalitarian Era

Human Wrongs Watch

By Ann Garrison | Black Agenda Report – TRANSCEND Media Service*

In this interview for Pacifica Radio’s Covid, Race and Democracy, Ajamu Baraka warned of a new era of totalitarian neoliberalism.

“Anybody who is in opposition to the hegemony of the neoliberal project is at some point over the next few years going to experience the heavy hand of the state.”

Ann Garrison: On January 20, we saw Joe Biden carry on about “unity” behind seven-foot fences topped with razor wire and 25,000 plus National Guard troops deployed . One friend of mine said that this pointed to an irony deficiency. Is there anything you’d like to say about it?

Ajamu Baraka: Well, I think it is ironic, but it’s quite understandable that the kinds of activities that the US has been involved in promoting and supporting globally—undermining democracies, subverting states, undermining and destroying any semblance of the rule of law—have basically come back to haunt them.

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02/02/2021

Rising Sea Temperatures and Water Pollution Caused Widespread Bleaching and Loss of Reefs Worldwide – How to Promote Trade While Protecting Marine Species

Human Wrongs Watch

Data highlights species at risk and helps manage trade demands

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Colourful coral colonies make up some of the earth’s most diverse ecosystems. ©Gregory Piper/Coral Reef Image Bank

2 February 2021 (FAO)* — Coral is one of the treasures of the sea, whether it’s illuminating the shallow tropical waters of the Caribbean or hidden in the darker depths of the Pacific Ocean.

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02/02/2021

Circular Economy Coalition Launched for Latin America and the Caribbean

Bridgetown, Barbados, (UNEP)* – A new initiative to support Latin America and the Caribbean in the transition to a circular economy as part of the COVID-19 recovery was launched today [1 February, 2021].

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Pixabay / 01 Feb 2021

The Regional Coalition on Circular Economy was announced during a virtual side event at the XXII Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of the region, hosted by Barbados and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).

The Coalition will support access to financing by governments and the private sector, with special emphasis on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in order to promote resource mobilization for innovation and the implementation of specific projects in the region.

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02/02/2021

Governments, Businesses Leaders, Civil Society and Environmentalists from around the World Set for Pivotal Environmental Assembly

1 February 2021 (UNEP)* — In February 2021, representatives of the 193 Member States of the UN, businesses leaders, civil society and environmentalists from around the world will come together virtually for the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), the world’s highest environmental decision-making body.

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Photo by UNEP / 01 Feb 2021

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) answers frequently-asked questions about this biennial assembly, which aims to galvanize international action on climate change, pollution and ecosystem loss.

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01/02/2021

Making Seawater Potable in Mexico Has High Costs and Environmental Impacts

Human Wrongs Watch

MEXICO CITY, Jan 31 2021 (IPS)* – Mexico is seeking to mitigate water shortages in part of its extensive territory by resorting to seawater, through the expansion of desalination plants. But this solution has exorbitant costs and significant environmental impacts. | En español

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This projected desalination plant in Los Cabos, whose construction received final approval in October 2020, will have a capacity to purify 250 litres of water per second and its cost will exceed 55 million dollars, according to figures from the Baja California Sur state government. CREDIT: Government of Baja California Sur

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31/01/2021

Mega-Rich Recoup COVID-Losses in Record-Time Yet Billions Will Live in Poverty for at Least a Decade

By OXFAM International*

25 January 2021 – The 1,000 richest people on the planet recouped their COVID-19 losses within just nine months, but it could take more than a decade for the world’s poorest to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic, reveals a new Oxfam report today. ‘The Inequality Virus’ is being published on the opening day of the World Economic Forum’s ‘Davos Agenda’.
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Image from OXFAM International.
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The report shows that COVID-19 has the potential to increase economic inequality in almost every country at once, the first time this has happened since records began over a century ago. Rising inequality means it could take at least 14 times longer for the number of people living in poverty to return to pre-pandemic levels than it took for the fortunes of the top 1,000, mostly White male, billionaires to bounce back. 
31/01/2021

Fair Finance: The Women Entrepreneurs Lifting Communities Out of Poverty

31 January 2021 (UN News)*Helping women start and grow businesses in the world’s poorest countries is a path to lifting them and their families out of poverty, the high-profile businesswoman, and new UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) Goodwill Ambassador Sonia Gardner, has told UN News, in the second of our two part series this weekend, on the role the financial sector can play in reducing inequality.
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Moroccan-born Ms. Gardner, is one of the most prominent senior women in the financial sector, and has been an industry leader for over two decades, as president of a multi-billion dollar New York-based global alternative investment fund.