Africa – Page 12 – Desdemona Despair

Income inequality in the United States, 1913-2019. The U.S. shows a rise in the concentration of incomes unseen in other rich nations. The top 10% increase from 34% to 45% between 1980 and 2019. Half of the American population was shut from pretax economic growth. Graphic: World Inequality Database

December 11, 2020

Global inequality data update shows rise in concentration of U.S. incomes unseen in other rich nations – Latin America and the Middle East stand as the world’s most unequal regions

10 November 2020 (WIL) – The World Inequality Lab releases today a major update of global inequality data for 173 countries, making up 97% of the world population and 7.5 billion people. The data published distributes economic growth within each country making it possible to track inequality and poverty over time, countries and regions. These […]

An aerial view shows buildings and roads submerged by floodwaters near the Nile River in South Khartoum, Sudan, 8 September 2020. Photo: Reuters

September 12, 2020

Africa’s record flooding stretches resources already struggling with COVID-19 and conflict – “Sudan is experiencing the worst flooding in 100 years”

By John Sparks 12 September 2020 (Sky News) – Record rainfall across parts of Africa is stretching the resources of government officials and aid workers already struggling with COVID-19 outbreaks, regional conflicts, and other health-related emergencies. In Sudan, a three-month state of emergency has been declared after weeks of heavy rain caused the White and […]

Number of global undernourished, 2010-2020 and projected to 2030 under three Covid scenarios. Graphic: UNFAO

August 2, 2020

UN report sends “sobering message” of deeply entrenched hunger globally – Number of undernourished people in the world continued to increase in 2019

13 July 2020 (UN News) – In much of the world, “hunger remains deeply entrenched and is rising”, the UN chief said on Monday, launching this year’s major UN food security update, highlighting that over the past five years, tens of millions of people have joined the ranks of the chronically undernourished. As countries “continue […]

Forcibly displaced people worldwide, 1990-2019. At the end of 2019, nearly 80 million people were displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, or events seriously disturbing public order. Forced displacement is now affecting more than one per cent of humanity – 1 in every 97 people – and with fewer and fewer of those who flee being able to return home. Graphic: UNHCR

June 20, 2020

UN refugee report 2020: 1 percent of humanity now displaced, doubling since 2010 – “Forced displacement now is not only vastly more widespread but is no longer a short-term and temporary phenomenon”

18 June 2020 (UNHCR) – UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today appealing to countries worldwide to do far more to find homes for millions of refugees and others displaced by conflict, persecution or events seriously disturbing public order. This is as a report released today showed that forced displacement is now affecting more than […]

World consumption of primary energy in exajoules, 1994-2019. Primary energy consumption rose by 1.3 percent in 2019, less than half its rate in 2018 (2.8 percent). Growth was driven by renewables (3.2 EJ) and natural gas (2.8 EJ), which together contributed three quarters of the increase. All fuels grew at a slower rate than their 10-year averages, apart from nuclear, with coal consumption falling for the fourth time in six years (-0.9 EJ). By region, consumption fell in North America, Europe and CIS, and growth was below average in South and Central America. In the other regions, growth was roughly in line with historical averages. China was the biggest individual driver of primary energy growth, accounting for more than three quarters of net global growth. Oil continues to hold the largest share of the energy mix (33.1 percent). Coal is the second largest fuel but lost share in 2019 to account for 27.0 percent, its lowest level since 2003. The share of both natural gas and renewables rose to record highs of 24.2 percent and 5.0 percent respectively. Renewables has now overtaken nuclear, which makes up only 4.3 percent of the energy mix. The share of hydroelectricity has been stable at around 6 percent for several years. Graphic: BP

June 18, 2020

BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2020: Carbon emissions increase for another year, coal still the single largest source of power generation

By Bernard Looney 17 June 2020 (BP) – The COVID-19 pandemic may well turn out to be the most tragic and disruptive event that many of us will ever live through. As I write this – in the middle of June – over 400 thousand people globally have lost their lives to the infection. Millions […]

Map showing the Global Peace Index for 2020. The average level of global peacefulness deteriorated 0.34 percent on the 2020 GPI. This is the ninth time in the last 12 years that global peacefulness has deteriorated. Graphic: Institute for Economics and Peace

June 13, 2020

Global peacefulness falls for the fourth time in the last five years – “We find ourselves at a critical juncture”

11 June 2020 (Institute for Economics and Peace) – This is the 14th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI), which ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness. In addition to presenting the findings from the 2020 GPI, this year’s report includes an analysis of the effect of the COVID-19 […]

Locusts swarm in East Africa, 13 February 2020. Video: Channel 4 News / YouTube

March 29, 2020

East Africa faces dual shock from coronavirus and locust swarms – “My entire life in the world, I haven’t seen something like this before”

By Elliot Smith 23 March 2020 (CNBC) – Already being ravaged by the worst infestation of desert locusts in 70 years, East African economies are now staring down the barrel of the coronavirus pandemic. The region was the standout performer for economic growth in the subcontinent prior to the locust outbreak, which threatens the food security […]

Nations ranked by happiness, 2017-2019. Graphic: World Happiness Report 2020

March 23, 2020

World Happiness Report 2020: Rapid increase in negative affect over last decade continues, driven by sadness, worry, and anger

20 March 2020 (Sustainable Development Solutions Network) – […] We next examine the global pattern of positive and negative affect in the third and fourth panels of Figure 2.2. Each figure has the same structure for life evaluations as in the first panel. There is no striking trend in the evolution of positive affect, except […]

Empirical relationship between system area and regime shift duration in freshwater, marine, and terrestrial systems. Graphic: Cooper, et al., 2020 / Nature Communications

March 12, 2020

Ecosystems the size of Amazon rainforest “can collapse within decades”

By Jonathan Watts 10 March 2020 (The Guardian) – Even large ecosystems the size of the Amazon rainforest can collapse in a few decades, according to a study that shows bigger biomes break up relatively faster than small ones. The research reveals that once a tipping point has been passed, breakdowns do not occur gradually […]

The sky on a beach on Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands is red from the worst sandstorm in 40 years, on 22 February 2020. Photo: Elvira Urquijo A. / EPA / Shutterstock

March 6, 2020

Sandstorm wreaks havoc in Canary Islands, worst such storm to hit the islands in 40 years – “I’m old enough to know all about the calima, but I don’t recall it that strong. Everything just turned red.”

By Raphael Minder 24 February 2020 MADRID – Winds from the Sahara continued to send streams of sand drifting over the Canary Islands on Monday, creating chaos as the swirling sands forced planes to be grounded, disrupted traffic and exacerbated wildfires. Ángel Víctor Torres, the regional president of the islands, a Spanish archipelago, told Spanish […]