Dredging barges operated by miners illegally mining gold converge on the Madeira River, a tributary of the Amazon River in Autazes, Amazonas state, Brazil, 25 November 2021. One of Brazil’s biggest gold refiners, which has been accused of processing gold mined illegally deep in the Amazon rainforest, has been stripped of an important industry certification that global manufacturers from Apple to Tesla rely on to root out abuses in their supply chains. Photo: Edmar Barros / AP Photo

Big Brazilian gold refiner delisted amid Amazon mining probe – “In Brazil, as in so many gold-producing countries, illegality enters into the supply chain very early on”

By Joshua Goodman and David Biller 5 October 2022 MIAMI (AP) – One of Brazil’s biggest gold refiners, which processes gold suspected of being mined illegally in the Amazon rainforest, has been stripped of an important industry seal of approval that global manufacturers from Apple to Tesla rely on to root out abuses in their […]

Colombian natives and activists during a protest in Bogotá, Colombia, on 23 August 2019. Photo: RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP / Getty Images

Countries where the most people are killed defending the environment

By Angelo Young 15 October 2022 (24/7 Wall St.) – As the world comes to the realization of the profound damages human beings are causing to natural environments worldwide, groups across the globe have long been trying to protect the local land and environment. In some places, these struggles are not always peaceful, and last […]

A boy stands beside a sugarcane field, which is submerged by floodwaters due to heavy monsoon rains, in Dera Allahyar area of Jaffarabad, a district of southwestern Baluchistan province, Pakistan, Saturday, 17 September 2022. Photo: Zahid Hussain / AP Photo

Fear of widespread hunger after Pakistan floods wreck crops – Dengue surges, hospitals overwhelmed by sheer number of patients – “These rains have destroyed everything for us. We don’t even have anything to eat.”

27 September 2022 (Grain Brokers Australia) – A food crisis of epic proportions is brewing in Pakistan due to torrential rains and catastrophic flooding in late August and early September. Less than 40 per cent of Pakistan’s land area is arable, yet around one-third of the country’s land mass was submerged, demonstrating the sheer scale […]

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on 20 September 2022. Photo: Anadolu Images

UN meeting produces sense that a “new epoch” is arriving – “We are gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction. Our world is in peril – and paralyzed.”

By Edith M. Lederer 27 September 2022 UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The war in Ukraine and its global fallout transfixed the meeting of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly this year. When it wasn’t out front, it lurked in the background of virtually every speech. There were near-unanimous calls for an end to the […]

World corn stocks in consumption days, 2008-2022 and projected to 2023. Poor weather in key agricultural regions from the United States to France and China is shrinking grain harvests and cutting inventories, heightening the risk of famine in some of the world's poorest nations. Data: International Grains Council. Graphic: Prinz Magtulis / Reuters

Droughts, Ukraine war push global grain stocks toward worrying decade low – “It’s lining up to be like 2012. No one wants to admit it, but it’s true.”

By Tom Polansek 26 September 2022 CHICAGO (Reuters) – The world is heading toward the tightest grain inventories in years despite the resumption of exports from Ukraine, as the shipments are too few and harvests from other major crop producers are smaller than initially expected, according to grain supply and crop forecast data. Poor weather […]

Women carry belongings salvaged from their flooded home after monsoon rains, in the Qambar Shahdadkot district of Sindh Province, of Pakistan, 6 September 2022. The war in Ukraine, the lingering coronavirus pandemic and climate change are putting intense pressure on the world's poorest, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned. Photo: Fareed Khan / AP Photo

OECD: Russia war, COVID virus, and climate hurting world’s poorest – “We are in an era defined by multiple crises, shocks, and uncertainty″

By Paul Wiseman 19 September 2022 WASHINGTON (AP) – Russia’s war against Ukraine, the lingering coronavirus pandemic and the damage of climate change are putting intense pressure on the world’s poorest, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Monday. [States of Fragility 2022 –Des] The Paris-based OECD reported that 60 states, territories and locations […]

Aerial view of Venezuelan migrants in Atacama desert. Photo: Gema Cortes / IOM

Hypothermia, dehydration, and 5,000 km on foot: Venezuelan migrants risk their lives for a better future – “It was the first time we experienced cold weather”

17 September 2022 (IOM) – Venezuelans desperate to leave the economic crisis in their country are risking their lives in the hope of a better future, braving extreme weather, border crossing, and bandits along the way. Jhonny, 26, along with his pregnant wife, Cribsel, 19, sits with their two children at a migrant reception centre […]

Sadness, Stress, and Worry scores for Afghanistan, 2008-2021. In 2021, Sadness, Stress and Worry hit record-high Levels in Afghanistan. Graphic: Gallup

Who are the unhappiest people in the world? In Afghanistan and Lebanon, more people live in misery than anywhere else on the planet

By Julie Ray 8 September 2022 (Gallup) – Unhappiness continued to rise worldwide in 2021, as the world overall became a sadder, more worried and more stressed-out place. But in two countries — Afghanistan and Lebanon — more people were living in misery than anywhere else on the planet. Last year, Afghanistan and Lebanon posted […]

Electricity fed into the German power grid from conventional and renewable sources (percent) in 2021 and 2022. Graphic: Destatis

Germany generates almost one-third of its electricity from coal as it replaces Russian gas before winter – Coal-generated electricity up 17 percent in 2022 on the same period in 2021

By Zahra Tayeb 8 September 2022 (Insider) – Germany is relying more on coal to generate electricity, as Russian gas cuts force the country to seek alternative sources of fuel before winter.  The European nation produced 82.6 kilowatt-hours of electricity from coal-fired power plants in the first six months of 2022, a 17.2% rise from […]

Global Human Development Index, 1990-2021. In 2021, the global Human Development Index value had declined two years in a row, erasing the gains of the preceding five years. The periods of the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic are indicated. Graphic: UNDP

Human Development Report 2022: For the first time, the Global Human Development Index declined for two years in a row, erasing the gains of the preceding five years – “The world is scrambling to respond to back-to-back crises”

NEW YORK, 8 September 2022 (UNDP) – The world is lurching from crisis to crisis, trapped in a cycle of firefighting and unable to tackle the roots of the troubles that confront us. Without a sharp change of course, we may be heading towards even more deprivations and injustices, warns the United Nations Development Programme […]

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