World Bank: Water scarcity poses a greater risk of turmoil under climate change – Global water shortages to deliver ‘severe hit’ to economies

By Pola Lem4 May 2016 (ClimateWire) – Water scarcity is expected to increase globally as populations boom and climate change sharpens uncertainty around the resource’s availability, according to a report by the World Bank. The conclusion adds to a growing body of research, and it comes days before this year’s Climate Action 2016 summit in […]

Why is U.S. productivity so weak? Three theories

[cf. U.K. parliamentary group warns that global fossil fuels could peak in less than 10 years] By Neil Irwin28 April 2016 (The New York Times) – More than 151 million Americans count themselves employed, a number that has risen sharply in the last few years. The question is this: What are they doing all day? […]

Children bear brunt of southern Africa’s devastating drought – ‘I have never seen what I am seeing today’

By Lucy Lamble 21 April 2016 Harare and Lilongwe (The Guardian) – Chidyamakondo high school, near Masvingo in southern Zimbabwe, has won the national girls’ football championships three years in a row. But that cherished record – and far, far more – is now at risk. “Students are fainting, struggling to concentrate in lessons, dropping […]

Mongolia: Weather disaster kills more than 800,000 farm animals so far in 2016 – Number of livestock deaths may exceed 1.2 million during the spring

14 Apr 2016 (ReliefWeb) – [Download PDF] Highlights As Mongolia transitions to spring, 20 per cent of the country still has snow cover with 23 districts (soums) in six provinces (aimags) experiencing white dzud or nearly white dzud conditions. Conditions remain unseasonably cold and there are concerns of an iron dzud emerging in some parts. […]

World Food Programme to assist one million Haitians hit by three-year drought – An estimated 3.6 million people, or one-third of Haiti’s population, face food insecurity

18 April 2016 (UN) – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today it will launch an emergency operation in Haiti to assist one million people devastated by three years of prolonged drought exacerbated by the El Niño weather phenomenon. An estimated 3.6 million people – or one-third of Haiti’s population – face food […]

Growing inequality among children in high income countries, UNICEF reports – Japan and U.S. in bottom third for income inequality

FLORENCE/NEW YORK, 14 April 2016 (UNICEF) – A new UNICEF report presents evidence on how inequality affects children in high-income countries. Innocenti Report Card 13, Fairness for Children: A league table of inequality in child well-being in rich countries, ranks 41 EU and OECD countries according to how far children at the bottom of the […]

Drought takes a terrible toll on poor Filipino farmers

By Keith Bacongco8 April 2016 ARAKAN, Philippines (UCA News) – Swathes of corn stand withered on the parched rolling hills near the farming town of Arakan in the southern Philippines, while shallow cracks scar what were once fertile rice paddies. El Nino is wreaking havoc in agriculture-rich Cotabato province. Allan Salon, a member of the […]

Sierra Leone’s ex-civil war fighters battle poachers

By Aurelie Marrier d’Unienville10 April 2016 GOLA FOREST, Sierra Leone (Al Jazeera) – Beneath the dense forest canopy, Vandi Konneh carefully picks his way along the rocky footpath. Beads of sweat gather at his temples as he scans the undergrowth for signs of the poachers who roam here. Working as a park ranger in the […]

Rising hunger in Central America and Haiti as El Niño follows prolonged drought – World Food Programme

7 April 2016 (UN) – The United Nations food relief agency committed today to assisting 1.6 million people hit by droughts exacerbated by El Niño in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Haiti and building resilience against future climatic shocks. Speaking at the end of visits to El Salvador and Guatemala to see the compounded impact […]

UN refugee agency warns of spike in asylum-seekers fleeing violence in Central America

5 April 2016 (UN) – The number of people fleeing violence in Central America has surged to levels not seen since the region was wracked by armed conflicts in the 1980s, the UN refugee agency warned today, urging action to ensure that unaccompanied children and others receive the protection which they are entitled to. Last […]

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