South America – Page 13 – Desdemona Despair

Monthly evolution of global CO2 emissions in 2020, relative to 2019. After hitting a low in April 2020, global emissions rebounded strongly and rose above 2019 levels in December. Global CO2 emissions were 2 percent, or 60 million tonnes, higher in December 2020 than they were in the same month a year earlier. Major economies led the resurgence as a pick-up in economic activity pushed energy demand higher and significant policies measures to boost clean energy were lacking. Many economies are now seeing emissions climbing above pre-crisis levels. Graphic: IEA

March 27, 2021

After steep drop in early 2020, global carbon dioxide emissions have rebounded strongly – “The rebound in global carbon emissions is a stark warning that not enough is being done to accelerate clean energy transitions worldwide”

2 March 2021 (IEA) – The Covid-19 crisis in 2020 triggered the largest annual drop in global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions since the Second World War, according to IEA data released today, but the overall decline of about 6% masks wide variations depending on the region and the time of year. After hitting a low in […]

A fitness instructor accidentally caught part of Myanmar's military coup unfolding on camera in the country's capital, Naypyitaw. Aerobics teacher Khing Hnin Wai posted the footage to Facebook on Monday morning (1 February 2021), in the background, a convoy of armoured cars can be seen streaming by, suggesting all is not as it seems. At the time, the Myanmar army was in the process of detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders from her party National League for Democracy. Video: Khing Hnin Wai / BBC News

March 7, 2021

Militaries are getting better at overthrowing elected governments – “Coups over the last decade or so have a far higher success rate than in previous periods”

By Joshua Kurlantzick 25 February 2021 (The Washington Post) – Early this month, Myanmar’s armed forces took control of the country. Moving overnight, they detained most leading politicians and many civil-society activists, barricaded roads, cut off Internet access, arrested people in the darkness, and made an announcement of the coup on state television. In the […]

Workers in decontamination suits spray down the deck around the “Christ the Redeemer” statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: Dado Galdieri / The New York Times

March 3, 2021

Brazil’s Covid crisis is a warning to the whole world, scientists say – “The acceleration of the epidemic is leading to the collapse of public and private hospital systems”

By Manuela Andreoni, Ernesto Londoño, and Letícia Casado 3 March 2021 RIO DE JANEIRO (The New York Times) – Covid-19 has already left a trail of death and despair in Brazil, one of the worst in the world. Now, a year into the pandemic, the country is setting another wrenching record. No other nation that […]

Video clip showing a cloudburst and flooding, shown in Aon’s “Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight: 2020 Annual Report”. Video: Aon

January 30, 2021

2020 was costliest year on record for severe convective storms – U.S. hit by record-breaking 12 named storm landfalls – China saw most widespread Yangtze River floods since 1998

CHICAGO, 25 January 2021 (Aon) – Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement, and health solutions, today launches its global Weather, Climate & Catastrophe Insight: 2020 Annual Report. The report evaluates the impact of global natural disaster events to identify trends, manage volatility and enhance resilience. The report reveals […]

Satellite view of wildfires on the U.S. West Coast between 12 September 2020 and 16 September 2020. Video: Michael Benson / CIRA / NOAA

December 30, 2020

Watching Earth burn – “The war has started. We’re losing.”

By Michael Benson 28 December 2020 (The New York Times) – I have a pastime, one that used to give me considerable pleasure, but lately it has morphed into a source of anxiety, even horror: earth-watching. Let me explain. The earth from space is an incomparably lovely sight. I mean the whole planet, pole to […]

The global COVID-19 lockdowns caused fossil carbon dioxide emissions to decline by an estimated 2.4 billion tonnes in 2020 - a record drop according to researchers at the University of East Anglia, University of Exeter and the Global Carbon Project. It means that in 2020 fossil CO2 emissions are predicted to be approximately 34 GtCO2, seven per cent lower than in 2019. Emissions from transport account for the largest share of the global decrease. Those from surface transport, such as car journeys, fell by approximately half at the peak of the COVID lockdowns. Total CO2 emissions from human activities - from fossil CO2 and land-use change - are set to be around 39 GtCO2 in 2020. Video: UEA

December 12, 2020

COVID lockdown causes record drop in carbon dioxide emissions for 2020

11 December 2020 (UEA) – The global COVID-19 lockdowns caused fossil carbon dioxide emissions to decline by an estimated 2.4 billion tonnes in 2020 – a record drop according to researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA), University of Exeter, and the Global Carbon Project. The fall is considerably larger than previous significant decreases […]

An Ecuadorian navy officer looks at a radar after a fishing fleet of mostly Chinese-flagged ships was detected in an international corridor that borders the Galapagos Islands' exclusive economic zone, in the Pacific Ocean, on 7 August 2020. Photo: Santiago Arcos / Reuters

August 9, 2020

Ecuador navy surveils huge Chinese fishing fleet near Galapagos Marine Reserve

By Santiago Arcos 9 August 2020 ABOARD ECUADOREAN NAVY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) – Ecuador’s navy is conducting surveillance of a massive Chinese fishing fleet that is operating near the protected waters of the Galapagos Islands, amid concerns about the environmental impact of fishing in the area of the ecologically sensitive islands. The navy conducted a patrol […]

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 […]

A Brazilian Indigenous leader of the Guajajara tribe attends a meeting calling on EU lawmakers to exert pressure on the Brazilian government to protect the rights of indigenous communities, 12 November 2019. Photo: Thomas Samson / AFP

August 1, 2020

Highest number of land and environmental activists murdered in one year – In 2019, 212 people were killed for peacefully defending their homes and standing up to the destruction of nature

29 July 2020 (Global Witness) – Global Witness today revealed the highest number of land and environmental defenders murdered on record in a single year, with 212 people killed in 2019 for peacefully defending their homes and standing up to the destruction of nature. The NGO’s annual report also shed a light on the urgent role […]

Map showing the most commonly used opioid, 2018 or latest available data. Data: UNODC, responses to the annual report questionnaire. Graphic: UNODC

June 26, 2020

UN World Drug Report 2020: Global drug use increased 30 percent from 2009 – COVID-19 has far reaching impact on global drug markets

VIENNA, 25 June 2020 (UNODC) – Around 269 million people used drugs worldwide in 2018, which is 30 per cent more than in 2009, while over 35 million people suffer from drug use disorders, according to the latest World Drug Report, released today by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The Report […]