Problem

GOMA/The Democratic Republic of Congo - Henry Bongyereirwe/UNICEF

thenewhumanitarian.org - by Amy Daffe - August 1, 2019

. . . One year into the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the epidemic is accelerating . . .

. . . Instead of working with local leaders, outsiders arrived spreading messages that have left communities with more questions than answers. Information has not been well-tailored to different community contexts nor appropriately adapted to local languages or social norms.

As a result, cases are being hidden in communities and worryingly the contacts of those that die are largely unknown, making tracing difficult.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

This is where the world could support new forests. The map excludes existing forests, urban areas, and agricultural lands. J. BASTIN, ET. AL., SCIENCE 365, 76, 2019

CLICK HERE - STUDY - The global tree restoration potential

nytimes.com - by Somini Sengupta - April 25, 2019

. . . What if we grew new forests on vacant city lots, old industrial buildings — even golf courses?

For the first time, scientists have sought to quantify this thought experiment. How many trees could be planted on every available parcel of land on Earth, where they could go, and what impact could that have on our survival?

They concluded that the planet could support nearly 2.5 billion additional acres of forest without shrinking our cities and farms, and that those additional trees, when they mature, could store a whole lot of the extra carbon — 200 gigatons of carbon, to be precise — generated by industrial activity over the last 150 years.

Parts of the study — led by researchers at ETH Zurich, a university that specializes in science, technology and engineering — were immediately criticized.

CLICK HERE - A speech by HRH The Prince of Wales at a Reception for Commonwealth Foreign Ministers, Clarence House, London

princeofwales.gov.uk - July 11, 2019

. . . The next 18 months will see critical meetings that will collectively determine the global agenda for the coming decade. And these, again, as you know better than I, range from the UNSG’s Climate Action Summit this September, to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of Parties in China next October, to the UNFCCC Conference of Parties to be held, I hope, in London that Autumn. Next year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting stands of course at a pivotal point in the middle of these events and will be an absolutely vital moment to consolidate consensus on the way forward, not least of which, will be the deliberations on how to increase the amount of private sector finance flowing towards supporting sustainable development throughout the Commonwealth.

cnn.com - by Ira Helfand - July 6, 2019

America confronts a long list of critical problems and they all require urgent attention. But among them, two issues stand out: catastrophic climate change and nuclear war are unique in the threat they pose to the very survival of human civilization. The enormity and imminence of these twin existential threats cannot be overstated and how to confront them must be the central issue of any presidential campaign.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Editor’s Note:  Ira Helfand, a medical doctor, is a member of the international steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. He is also co-president of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the founding partner organization of ICAN and itself the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.