Environment and Climate Change
Feeding the world sustainably
The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro was memorable for its landmark agreements to guide sustainable development worldwide. The first principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development states: “Human beings are at the centre of concern for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.” Twenty years later we have yet to deliver on this fundamental principle—too many people in this world are still not living healthy and productive lives in harmony with nature. Approximately 925 million people are suffering from hunger. We cannot call development sustainable if one out of every seven persons is left behind. At the same time there is hunger, which is senseless in a world that already produces enough food to feed everyone. Hundreds of millions more suffer from obesity and related medical problems.
Vulnerable countries should take centre stage at Rio+20
As the world’s attention turns to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development or Rio+20 in June 2012, we are all reminded of the multiple crises which continue to bedevil the globe. These crises are all the more evident in resource-strapped nations that continue to battle a myriad of challenges related to poverty and underdevelopment.
HIV/AIDS and climate change a pattern of response
Almost three decades into the hiv/aids pandemic, there is still widespread stigma, denial and government inaction. There are reports of rising rates of infection in the Western industrialized nations and concerns about the possibility of explosive epidemics in the Asian block; yet sub-Saharan Africa, with less than 15 per cent of the world’s population, remains at the epicentre of the epidemic, with over 70 per cent of the infections worldwide.
Tracking climate change from space
For centuries, rural communities in the high plateaus of the Andes have utilized water from melting glaciers that typify this amazing mountain range. But the retreat of these glaciers is forcing the communities to reconsider their livelihoods and ways to adapt. From a wider perspective, the melting of glaciers is an iconic warning to the larger cities in the Andes that rely on glaciers for potable water. Unfortunately for these communities, the source of this particular problem and its potential solution lie far away from their arc of influence due to the fact that local actions contribute very little to remedy this problem.
Livelihoods in peril indigenous peoples and their rights
Inuit hunters in northern Greenland are treading carefully on increasingly thinning ice, while at the same time the key marine species they depend on—seals, walrus, narwhals and polar bears—are moving away from the areas in which they are traditionally hunted, as they in turn respond to changes in local ecosystems. In the high ranges of the Himalaya, Sherpa, Tamang, Kiranti, Dolpali and other indigenous groups are witnessing the melting of glaciers; the same is true in other mountain regions of the world such as the Peruvian Andes, where the indigenous Quechua report that they are worried when they look at the receding glaciers on their mountain peaks. In the Kalahari Desert, the San have learnt to deal with the periodic but all-too-frequent occurrence and experience of hunger and poverty arising from a combination of economic, political, environmental and climatic events. The San, like other indigenous peoples, have had to devise ingenious strategies to cope with environmental change and its consequences, yet they are reporting that the character of such change is now different than many remember. All over the world, indigenous peoples are confronted with unprecedented climate change affecting their homelands, cultures and livelihoods.
Health and food security benefits from climate change mitigation
Societies must find a way to stop the rapid growth in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to avoid a disastrous future for our planet. As the greatest contributor to global warming, CO2 is the natural focus of current climate negotiations. Unfortunately, one of the very properties that makes CO2 so problematic—the long time it stays in the atmosphere—creates high barriers to efforts aimed at reducing its emissions. First, the benefits of limiting CO2 emissions present themselves only after many decades, which is well beyond the focus of most politicians or corporations. Second, nations disagree over how much responsibility for reductions should be based on historical emissions or on current levels.
A hypothesis of hope for the developing world
About 99 per cent of climate change casualties take place in the developing world. While economic growth and development are priorities in all countries, the needs in developing and least developed countries are on a different scale altogether. Developing countries are constrained by their particular vulnerability to the impacts of fickle weather and climate. The poor in these countries are at a higher risk to future climate change, given their heavy dependence on agriculture, strong reliance on ecosystem services, rapid growth and concentration of population and relatively poor health services. Add to this gloomy scenario insufficient capacity to adapt to climate change impacts, inadequate infrastructure, meagre household income and savings and limited support from public services and you have a veritable time bomb ticking away.
Addressing the sustainable urbanization challenge
Over the last two decades, demographic and economic changes have propelled cities and urban centres to become the principal habitat of humankind. Cities are not only where rapid improvements in socio-economic and environmental conditions are possible, but it is, indeed, where such change is most needed. The cities of the world’s emerging economies are increasingly drivers of global prosperity while the planet’s resources are fast depleting. It is, therefore, more critical than ever that Member States and United Nations agencies commit themselves to realize the goal of sustainable urbanization as a key lever for development.
VIH/sida et changements climatiques un modèle de réponse
Presque trois décennies après le début de la pandémie du vih/sida, la stigmatisation, le déni et l’inaction des gouvernements subsistent. Des rapports font état d’une augmentation des taux d’infection dans les pays occidentaux industrialisés et l’on craint une explosion de l’épidémie dans les pays asiatiques. C’est pourtant en Afrique subsaharienne, qui compte moins de 15 % de la population mondiale, que se trouve l’épicentre de l’épidémie, avec plus de 70 % des infections dans le monde.
Amincissement de l’ozone
La formation du trou d’ozone dans l’Antarctique montre la rapidité avec laquelle nous pouvons changer l’atmosphère de notre planète. Il y a de nombreuses autres questions environnementales auxquelles nous faisons face aujourd’hui et nous devons les lier entre elles pour comprendre les causes sous-jacentes et en débattre au lieu de traiter chaque question de manière isolée. L’Antarctique est un continent magnifique. Les glaciers descendent jusqu’à la mer, royaume des pingouins et des baleines. Bien que 70 % de l’eau douce du monde se trouve dans la calotte polaire, le continent est un véritable désert où l’eau douce y est pratiquement inexistante. La glace prend diverses couleurs, du blanc étincelant de la neige fraîche au bleu indigo profond au bas d’une crevasse béante. C’est dans cette terre de contrastes que l’on a découvert le trou d’ozone.
Radio Ambulante: A wealth of Latin American stories
Colombian guru who abused dozens of women while pretending to heal them; a Cuban writer remembering her childhood in Havana; an amateur astronomer who managed to photograph the birth of a supernova from the terrace of his house in Rosario, Argentina. These are some of the diverse stories told on Radio Ambulante, a podcast service in Spanish that for eight years has not spared the imagination or effort to reach more and more people. Carolina Guerrero, one of its founders, explains the mission of this new kind of broadcasting.
Dirty collar crime in Naples
It is true that “green criminology” should be grounded in the principles of environmental justice and help with the production of relevant legislative tools for the defence of the earth. However, there are conducts which violate even the limited and inconsistent existing norms. A variety of such conducts can be detected in the “rubbish crisis” experienced in Naples two years ago.
Giant African pouched rats find landmines and much more
Landmines have been used as weapons of war since 1277, when the Song Dynasty Chinese used them against Mongols who were besieging a city. Concerted efforts to put an end to their use are underway, galvanized by humanitarians such as Jody Williams and Rae McGrath, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for founding The International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Despite these efforts, landmines continue to be placed, adding onto the many remaining from the millions that have been planted since 1900. They cause great harm by denying civilians access to their homes and land, as well as by causing bodily harm, death, and psychological duress. According to a recent report,1 people in more than 70 countries are adversely affected by mined areas, and nearly 500,000 people live with injuries inflicted by mines. Many victims are both severely handicapped and unable to afford the rehabilitation and the other services that they need.
Le pétrole dans une économie à faible emission de carbone
Lorsque l’on parle d’énergie au Moyen-Orient, on pense instinctivement au pétrole – l’or noir qui a été la source des économies stables et saines dans la région. Or, cela est sur le point de changer. Avec la Conférence des Nations Unies sur le climat qui doit bientôt avoir lieu à Copenhague, les gouvernements réalisent que face à la menace imminente posée par le changement climatique, il n’y a pas d’autre choix que d’agir vite. Selon l’Étude sur la situation économique et sociale dans le monde, 2009 : promouvoir le développement, protéger la planète, nous devons transformer notre économie à un niveau similaire à celui des périodes de guerre. Lorsqu’il a annoncé qu’un sommet sans précédent sur le climat aurait lieu au siège de l’ONU le 22 septembre 2009, le Secrétaire général des Nations Unies Ban Ki-moon a dit qu’il nous restait moins de dix ans pour enrayer la hausse des émissions de gaz à effet de serre si nous voulions éviter des conséquences catastrophiques pour les populations et la planète. Les petits États insulaires en développement, qui sont directement menacés par l’élévation du niveau de la mer, demandent de fixer un seuil d’émissions d’ici à la fin de 2010 afin de limiter dès que possible la concentration de gaz à effet de serre à 350 parties par million (ppm) d’équivalent CO2.