Vulnerability

U.S. Fears Serious Famine in Troubled Sudan Region

      

Argil carries water to her family who are fleeing after fighting broke out, near the Blue Nile state capital al-Damazin (Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah Reuters, REUTERS / September 5, 2011)

- Reuters -  January 24, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States fears a large-scale famine in Sudan's restive border states of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile and is boosting pressure in Khartoum to accept aid or face a unilateral assistance operation, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.

"We are feeling a lot of pressure, if there's no international access, to look at ways in which assistance would be carried across the border without their approval," Princeton Lyman, the Obama administration's special envoy for Sudan, told reporters.

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Preliminary Results of Assessments Done in South Sudan

Preliminary results of assessments done in South Sudan . . . CERF allocates $104 million to 13 underfunded crises (including South Sudan and Haiti) . . .

(Juba, 7 January 2012): Humanitarian agencies are mounting a major emergency operation in Jonglei State in South Sudan to help people affected by the recent wave of inter-communal violence. “The Government of South Sudan has declared Jonglei a disaster zone and asked humanitarian agencies to accelerate life-saving assistance. We’re responding to that call,” said the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan Ms. Lise Grande.
. . .

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Resilience Alliance

There are many definitions of resilience from simple deterministic views of resilience anchored in Newtonian mechanics to far more dynamic views of resilience from a systems perspective, including insights from quantum mechanics and the sciences of complexity.  One baseline perspective of resilience sees it in terms of the viability of socio-ecological systems as the foundation for sustainability.  For those that are ready to look beyond resilience as the ability to return to the "normal state" before a disaster, take a look at:

http://www.resalliance.org/

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Solar Storms And 13 Other Unusual Risks That Should Have You Freaking Out This Year

submitted by Jonathan King

by Sam Ro - businessinsider.com - January 25, 2012

      

Photo/NASA

Risk management is a part of our everyday lives.  Everyone knows to look both ways before crossing the street. Most also know to diversify their investment portfolios to limit the impact of a stock market crash.

But, what about the less obvious risks?

(READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Slow Response to East Africa Famine 'Cost 'Lives'

BBC News - January 18, 2012

       

The US government says 29,000 children under five years old died between May and July 2011

Thousands of needless deaths occurred from famine in East Africa last year because the international community failed to heed early warnings, say two leading British aid organisations.

Oxfam and Save the Children say it took more than six months for aid agencies to act on warnings of imminent famine.

Between 50,000 and 100,000 people have died in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Video - Dr. Upmanu Lall - Water Shortages

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Will the Next War Be Fought Over Water?

by Megan Erickson - bigthink.com - December 23, 2011

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NASA: Warming Will Transform Natural World

By PAT BRENNAN - The Orange County Register - miamiherald.com - December 19, 2011

       

Global warming could bring a major transformation for Earth's plants and animals over the next century, a NASA study says, driving nearly half the planet's forests, grasslands and other vegetation toward conversion into radically different ecosystems.

The ecological stress could give a boost to invasive species, but at the expense of natives, reducing the diversity of plants and animals overall.

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Mystery Kidney Disease in Central America

by Kate Sheehy - PRI's The World - BBC News - December 12, 2011

      

A mysterious epidemic is sweeping Central America - it's the second biggest cause of death among men in El Salvador, and in Nicaragua it's a bigger killer of men than HIV and diabetes combined. It's unexplained but the latest theory is that the victims are literally working themselves to death.

In the western lowlands of Nicaragua, in a region of vast sugar cane fields, sits the tiny community of La Isla.

The small houses are a patchwork of concrete and wood. Pieces of cloth serve as doors.

Maudiel Martinez emerges from his house to greet me. He's pale, and his cheekbones protrude from his face. He hunches over like an old man - but he is only 19 years old.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Gallup Poll: 37% Support Occupy Wall Street Movement

A recent poll is showing that very large numbers of Americans support the Occupy Wall Street movement and that this support may be growing.  This story also shows the general difference between OWS protesters and Tea Party protesters.  OWS protesters are tending to blame the private sector.  The Tea Party protesters are tending to look at government as being at the heart of the problem.  As the OWS movement grows many Tea Party protesters are realizing that they too are part of the 99% embraced by the Occupy Everywhere movement. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/23/occupy-wall-street-poll_n_1027109.html

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