Daily Archives: October 15, 2010

Environment

Refugee agency decries the little attention being given to the impact of climate change on displacement

Africa: Climate Change Exacerbating Human Displament, says UNHCR

News from Africa

By Peter Omondi

The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has expressed concerns over the continued displacement of people due to the impact of climate change. Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the Seventh African Development Forum (ADF VII) currently underway in Addis Ababa on the theme, Acting on Climate Change For Sustainable Development in Africa, Mr Chrysantus Ache, UNHCR Representative to the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa said the issue of climate change and its impact on displacement has not been adequately addressed either in Copenhagen or at the ongoing forum. Continue reading Refugee agency decries the little attention being given to the impact of climate change on displacement →

Peace, USA

Johann Hari: Obama’s robot wars endanger us all

The Independent

The drones have killed some jihadis. But the evidence suggests they create far more jihadis than they kill – and make an attack on me or you more likely with each bomb

Imagine if, an hour from now, a robot-plane swooped over your house and blasted it to pieces. The plane has no pilot. It is controlled with a joystick from 7,000 miles away, sent by the Pakistani military to kill you. It blows up all the houses in your street, and so barbecues your family and your neighbours until there is nothing left to bury but a few charred slops. Why? They refuse to comment. They don’t even admit the robot-planes belong to them. But they tell the Pakistani newspapers back home it is because one of you was planning to attack Pakistan. How do they know? Somebody told them. Who? You don’t know, and there are no appeals against the robot. Continue reading Johann Hari: Obama’s robot wars endanger us all →

Church

Chilean Bishops: ‘Let us now work to rescue so many who are in poverty and exclusion’

Independent Catholic News

The Catholic Bishops of Chile issued a statement this morning giving thanks for the rescue of the miners.   Together with a grateful people to the God of Life: With great joy we praise and bless the Lord for the successful rescue of 33 miners, brothers who remained for 68 days trapped in the San José mine in the Atacama region. Continue reading Chilean Bishops: ‘Let us now work to rescue so many who are in poverty and exclusion’ →

Biodiversity

Western lifestyles plundering tropics at record rate, WWF report shows

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The Guardian

Living Planet report shows planet’s resources are being used at 1.5 times the rate nature can replace them – but long-term decline of animal life appears to have been halted.

WWF Living Planet map of ecological footprints worldwide

Join our campaign to tackle the global diodiversity crisis

The Earth’s population is using the equivalent of 1.5 planets’ worth of natural resources, but the long-term decline of animal life appears to have been halted, a WWF report shows.   The latest Living Planet report, published today by the conservation group, also reveals the extent to which modern Western lifestyles are plundering natural resources from the tropics at record levels. Continue reading Western lifestyles plundering tropics at record rate, WWF report shows →