'Unseen' News and Views
25 October 2020 (UN News)* — In what leading campaigners are describing as “a new chapter for nuclear disarmament”, the ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will now come into force on 22 January, after Honduras became the 50th Member State to ratify on Saturday [25 October 2020].
– This week the world’s Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors meet virtually at the 2020 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and decide on the fate of the world.
Isabel Ortiz
This year’s gathering is particularly important, given that the world is confronting an unprecedented crisis. Governments are struggling to finance emergency care and urgent socioeconomic support to cope with the COVID19 pandemic.
While these short-term expenditures are necessary, countries need more than intensive care units, respirators, tests and emergency support. Governments must continue to invest in long-term public health, universal social protection floors, employment-generating activities and other sustainable development goals.
Photo by JIRCAS Library / 21 Oct 2020
To tackle such issues, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been working with the Shanghai Agrobiological Gene Center to develop strains of rice that are drought resistant and don’t need to be planted in paddies.
Potential Consequence of Failure to Adhere to Universal Principles of Intelligent Life
Anthony Judge
Introduction
In the midst of a global pandemic widely framed as a war, there is a strong case for recognizing both the civilian fatalities and those whose lives are at stake on a daily basis — in order to reduce the risk to greater numbers of humans.
Humans are called upon by authorities to take shelter in their homes to avoid any risk (Cowering for One’s Country in the War against Coronavirus, 2020).
It is therefore appropriate to honour those — effectively “on the front line” — who are dying in far greater numbers in the hope of ending the pandemic as soon as possible. As in conventional warfare, they have little choice in performing this duty, having been conscripted and trained to that end.
Unsplash/Ale Alvarez / 21 Oct 2020
(UN Environment)* — Over 40 per cent of the U.S. population – about 134 million people – face health risks resulting from air pollution, -according to the American Lung Association.
The burden is far from evenly shared. Studies show that in the United States, people of color and low-income communities face a significantly higher risk of environmental health effects, highlighting that the impacts of air pollution are experienced unequally throughout the country.
At the High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges, participants say those who are forcibly displaced are eager and qualified to help rebuild communities devastated by COVID-19. | Español | Français | عربي
Nhial Deng, a South Sudanese refugee living in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp. He and his fellow panelists shared stories of resilience and discussed solutions to the world’s challenges with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. © UNHCR/Samuel Otieno
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Athens/Marseille, 21 October 2020 (UN Environment)*– Rising inequality, biodiversity loss, the growing impact of climate change and unrelenting pressure on natural resources could lead to irreversible environmental damage in the Mediterranean basin, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
Published on 21 October 2020, the State of the Environment and Development in the Mediterranean finds that, unless urgent and resolute action is taken to halt current trends, environmental degradation could have serious and lasting consequences for human health and livelihoods in the region.
(UN News)* — The world is at risk of suffering “a generational catastrophe” as COVID-19 wreaks havoc on the education of students globally, the UN chief said on Thursday [22 October 2020].
(UN News)* — The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered government lockdowns, collapsed consumer demand, and disrupted imports of raw materials, battering the Asia Pacific garment industry especially hard, according to a new report released on Wednesday [21 October 2020] by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The UN labour agency highlighted that in the first half of 2020, Asian imports had dropped by up to 70 per cent.
(UN News)* — Although global trade is making a frail recovery, the outlook remains uncertain, UN trade and development body UNCTAD said on Wednesday [21 October 2020], in announcing its latest COVID-era update.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 