Satellite data brings new insights on Amazon forest loss
30/5/2022: Satellite data can now tell the difference between forest fires and other forms of forest loss. Nevertheless, 2021 was the fourth consecutive year of rising deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
Source: Mongabay
A global food crisis: shortage amidst plenty
30/5/2022: As India and other countries suspend wheat exports, old policy disagreements from the 2007-2008 food crisis may resurface. Is there a real shortage of food or is the global price increase caused by financial speculators and excessive US subsidies for the use of crops in ethanol production?
Source: Inter Press Service
UN mission in China fails to address crimes against humanity
28/5/2022: Amnesty International remains unconvinced that two days spent by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region will result in acknowledgement of the scale and gravity of human rights violations being committed by the Chinese government.
Source: Amnesty International
UN troubled by impending cuts on development aid
30/5/2022: UN agencies are increasingly concerned that military support for Ukraine provided by the US and EU totalling $60 billion will lead to cuts in overseas development assistance. Poorer countries face rising debt difficulties, initially from the COVID-19 pandemic, and now the global grain supply crisis.
Source: Inter Press Service
World Health Organization improves financial independence
24/5/2022: Member states of the World Health Organization have agreed to a gradual increase of membership subscriptions from 16% to 50% of the core budget. This will reduce the WHO’s over-reliance on voluntary contributions, often earmarked for specific areas of work.
Source: World Health Organization
China, Russia veto more UN sanctions on North Korea
27/5/2022: The veto by China and Russia on a US-led sanctions response to renewed ballistic missile launches has split the UN Security Council for the first time since it started punishing Pyongyang in 2006. The UN General Assembly will now discuss North Korea under a new rule effective whenever a veto is cast in the Security Council.
Source: CNA
Africa records strong recovery in remittances
25/5/2022: Remittances to sub-Saharan Africa grew 14 percent to $49 billion in 2021, the strongest gain since 2018, even as the continent remained the costliest developing region to send money. The average cost of remitting $200 ranged from 3.4 percent to 31.5 percent.
Source: The East African
UN Security Council renews arms embargo on South Sudan
27/5/2022: A UN expert panel recommended that that the embargo remain in place over persistent ceasefire violations. The embargo was imposed in 2018 after a peace agreement ended five years of bloody civil war which left nearly 400,000 dead and millions displaced.
Source: The East African
African nations’ dash for gas exposes ‘hypocrisy’ in Europe
25/5/2022: Across Africa, the use of gas as a transitional source of energy dominated talks at the Sustainable Energy for All forum held in Kigali, Rwanda. Donor nations favour priority for renewable energy and green hydrogen, despite their own continued dependence on gas.
Source: Climate Home News
Executions increased 20% in 2021
24/5/2022: Amnesty International's annual review of the death penalty reports that at least 579 executions were known to have been carried out across 18 countries last year. Saudi Arabia executed 81 people in a single day in March. The figures exclude the thousands of people believed to have been executed in China.
Source: Amnesty International