new Increasing economic activity is deteriorating the world’s freshwater resources, both in quantity and quality. Companies need to take action now on improving their wastewater management. Industries can reduce point source pollution by effectively managing their wastewater in their operations and supply chains as well as transitioning to science-based target setting for water quality. This event will share tools for industrial water users to better understand and reduce the impacts of their wastewater, present examples of action and voluntary commitments, and discuss what is needed to raise ambition from compliance to an impact-driven approach. Speakers will also highlight the importance of voluntary monitoring for formal reporting and the next steps beyond 2030. — World Resources Institute, 37 min ago

new Agriculture is a low-productivity, highly precarious enterprise, with volatile remuneration. The rise in agricultural employment beginning in 2019-20 has reversed the process of structural transformation in which workers move out of low productivity agricultural employment to high productivity sectors like manufacturing. Mehrotra et al. (2014) find that the productivity and wage difference between the two sectors is much higher in India than other Asian economies, such that a regression to agriculture leads to increasing inequality which in turn affects economic growth. — The Wire, 8h ago

new The report notes that “adverse impacts and related losses and damages from climate change escalate with every increment of global warming.” That means every little bit of warming that’s avoided can make a difference. Limiting warming to 1.5 degrees was the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious goal — but 1.6 degrees is better than 1.7, and so on. — E&E News, 9h ago

new According to a recent research study titled, "Surging Business Formation in the Pandemic: Causes and Consequences” by University of Maryland economist John Haltiwanger and Ryan Decker of the Federal Reserve, “Applications for new businesses surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find evidence that surging applications is associated with increased creation of employer businesses and related job and worker flows. Applications rose most in industries rooted in pandemic-era changes to work and lifestyles, with significant cross-industry restructuring. Surging applications were quickly followed by increased births of employer establishments with notable associated job creation, and establishment entry is positively correlated with business applications across industry and geography. — circuitinsight.com, 9h ago

new In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the need to address social and environmental challenges, and this has led to increased attention and action from individuals, businesses, and governments around the world. In addition, societal concerns including wealth inequality, poverty, and access to healthcare and education are gaining popularity. People are recognizing that these issues are interconnected and that addressing them requires a more holistic approach that takes into account both social and environmental factors. Furthermore, investors are increasingly looking to invest in climate-friendly and sustainable projects that address climate change, such as renewable energy, clean technology, sustainable agriculture, and green infrastructure, due to rise in climate change issues. These investments not only generate positive social and environmental impacts but can also offer attractive financial returns. Therefore, increase in awareness of the need to address social and environmental challenges is driving the growth of the impact investing market size. — Allied Market Research, 9h ago

new Air pollution also damages food crops and trees, contaminates soil and surface water bodies, and contributes to the lowering of the Earth’s temperature. Countries, international organisations, and communities are actively working to find solutions to air pollution. Although these efforts have had some impact, much of the world continues to battle the multitude repercussions of worsening air quality. — ORF, 11h ago

new As many people know, this belief is a distortion of the intent of church and state separation, which was meant to prevent a state religion, not to keep religion out of the schools. Also, low-income children may not be able to afford tuition without vouchers. — Ricochet, 21h ago

new The roots of the Sahel rural breakdown lie in failing governance structures. Local authorities, traditional nobilities, and sedentary local power holders have dominated local decision-making bodies, traditional councils, and the committees through which they enacted and enforced policies that deepened local imbalances between and within communities. This has eroded the credibility of local institutions, especially with nomadic pastoralists who have seen their interests and livelihoods being ridden roughshod over. The absence of trust in local governance systems has undermined state authority as many national governments have been unable or unwilling to redress local inequalities and inequities over access to and use of natural resources. The prolonged nature of this crisis of governance of rural areas and the toll it has taken on communities, particularly nomadic herders, constituted a perfect storm for political instability, violent communal conflicts, radicalization, and criminalization. The onset of the Sahel security crisis in 2012 lit the fuse that led to the political and security breakdown in several Sahelian rural areas. — PostX News, 21h ago

new When looking at funding for countries dealing with crisis levels of hunger (or worse), Action Against Hunger found a 53% gap in funding for hunger programs, a 62% gap in WASH funding, and a 55% gap in health funding. The analysis considered both the overall funding levels of WASH programs in 2022 as well as funding for countries that experienced "crisis" levels of hunger in 2021. This approach focused on the need in 2021 and the response in 2022 across the following countries:... — prnewswire.com, 1d ago

new Finally, there is the potential for telehealth to exacerbate existing health disparities. While telehealth has the potential to increase access to care for those who live in rural or underserved areas, there are still many barriers to accessing care, such as lack of reliable internet or computer access. In addition, some patients may not feel comfortable with the technology or may prefer in-person care, which could impact their willingness to seek care remotely. — histalk2.com, 1d ago

new And this narrative is clear: Humans are altering the world’s climate and related natural systems in unprecedented ways, scientists say. And without major policy and behavior changes, the average global temperature is likely to rise above the internationally determined benchmark of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures, likely within the next decade. That’s the point, scientists have estimated, beyond which climate disasters may accelerate and risk irreversible damage to Earth’s ecosystems. — The Christian Science Monitor, 1d ago

new The newly agreed Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework states as one of its objectives that ‘[t]he integrity, connectivity and resilience of all ecosystems are maintained, enhanced, or restored . . .’. Freshwater ecosystems are vital for human beings’ survival and well-being. Human beings depend on freshwater ecosystems for numerous things, such as drinking and irrigation water, food, transport, recreation, and other uses. However, overfishing, dam construction, pollution, invasive species and, linked to climate change, glacier melt and pumped hydro power put these freshwater ecosystems at grave risk. — IUCN, 1d ago

new The call for a socialist democracy demands the creation of visions, ideals, institutions, social relations, and pedagogies of resistance that enable the public to imagine a life beyond a social order in which racial-class-and-gender-based violence produce endless assaults on the social contract, welfare state, immigrants, women, Black and brown people, the environment, and democracy itself. Such a challenge must address an assault by the savagery of neoliberal capitalism on the public and civic imagination, mediated through the elevation of war, militarization, violent masculinity, and the politics of disposability to the highest levels of power. Neoliberal capitalism is a death-driven machinery that infantilizes, exploits, and devalues human life and the planet itself. — LA Progressive, 1d ago

new It adds value to the scant literature on this topic from the Global South, mostly importantly for adolescents, who are known as 'the forgotten population' in food insecurity research. It also paves the way for similar studies from the Global South, and provides evidence for policymakers to come up with proactive solutions to tackle food insecurity during the early stages of children's development. — phys.org, 1d ago

new But with global climate emissions estimated at about 59 billion tonnes in 2019 — 12% higher than in 2010, and 54% higher than in 1990 — the carbon reduction options spotlighted in the report have to scale up, drastically and quickly. In the short term, every region of the world faces “increasing, multiple risks to ecosystems and humans,” including heat-related death and disease, physical and mental health risks, flooding in coastal and low-lying regions, biodiversity loss, food and water scarcity, and more. — Corporate Knights, 1d ago

new I’m also proud of my colleagues here at the State Department – in Washington and at every post around the world – for not only reporting and documenting human rights abuses but also drawing on the power and purpose of American diplomacy to advance human dignity. — United States Department of State, 1d ago

new However, the report also states that some risks related to climate change are likely to be unavoidable and that certain damages that have already been inflicted on the environment may be irreversible “but can be limited by deep, rapid and sustained global greenhouse gas emissions reduction.”... — The Debrief, 1d ago

new ...“Too many communities breathe unhealthy air because pollution from power plants and industrial sources blows across state lines,” said Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association. “This rule will curb emissions that contribute to unhealthy levels of ozone in downwind communities and help achieve cleaner air for people who live near polluting sources.”... — MRO Magazine, 1d ago

new Whether the challenge involves extreme wildfires or more generally existential threats facing humanity, the costs of doing nothing, or of not doing enough soon enough, will far exceed the price of implementing a well-funded, concerted global fire prevention and firefighting strategy. The necessity of maintaining community fire departments, to save lives and minimize property damage, is taken for granted as important and beneficial. Now the fire threat has truly gone global. A collaborative global approach is urgently needed to systematically address this climate-related challenge. — Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 1d ago

new Whether grappling with soft or hard limits to adaptation, the result for vulnerable communities is oftentimes irreversible and devastating. Such losses and damages will only escalate as the world warms. Beyond 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) of global temperature rise, for example, regions reliant on snow and glacial melt will likely experience water shortages to which they cannot adapt. At 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F), the risk of concurrent maize production failures across important growing regions will rise dramatically. And above 3 degrees C (5.4 degrees F), dangerously high summertime heat will threaten the health of communities in parts of southern Europe. — Ecosystem Marketplace, 1d ago

new Still, we see people of courage and conscience standing up, at great personal risk, for universal human rights, to protect the wellbeing of their communities and for the future of their countries. These human rights defenders work tirelessly to expose injustice, corruption, and abuse and to press for transparency and accountability. — United States Department of State, 1d ago

new Psychotherapist LeeAndra Miller has worked in LGBTQ2+ mental health care for over twenty-five years and is the project manager of Families in TRANSition at Central Toronto Youth Services, a virtual, nationwide program that provides psycho-educational support to hundreds of parents whose children have recently come out as transgender. (I helped develop the program’s curriculum while working there between January 2020 and October 2021, and I returned there part time last June.) They push back against the traditional notion that gender is a fixed trait, with gender transition being a linear and permanent shift from one gender to another. — The Walrus, 1d ago

new Poor and vulnerable populations that have contributed the least to global warming are already facing its most severe impacts, including higher risks from heat-related mortality, food- and water-borne illness, and famine, according to the IPCC authors. — Grist, 1d ago

new The third report also indicated that global heating was already wreaking harm: “The rising socioeconomic costs related to weather damage and to regional variations in climate suggest increasing vulnerability to climate change.”... — the Guardian, 1d ago

new Proponents of these policies argue that they can help promote economic stability, prevent inflation, and encourage economic growth in developing countries. On the other hand, opponents of these policies believe they can lead to economic imbalances, exacerbate inequality, and cause financial hardship for individuals and businesses in developing countries. Additionally, some economists question the efficacy of these policies, citing research that suggests that high-interest rates do not always lead to increased economic growth or development. Ultimately, it is difficult to determine which side is right and what the full implications of these policies are for developing countries. — TIME BUSINESS NEWS, 1d ago

new Finally, shared vulnerabilities of various kinds, including economic vulnerabilities such as poverty, and environmental vulnerabilities such as droughts and floods caused by long-term climate change, are conducive to rising fear and intensified inter-ethnic violence. For populations with higher income levels, less hunger, and longer life expectancy, inter-ethnic or intergroup struggles tend to diminish in fervour. The dire facts of poverty and competition for basic economic resources, on top of usual inter-group stresses due to religion, ethnicity, or culture, are therefore conducive to this third kind of war. — Pearls and Irritations, 1d ago

new ...report predicts the 2090 economic damage from climate change. It estimates the dollar value of 22 different categories of potential damage from global warming, measured in 2015 dollars. These categories of damage include harms such as those predicted from rising oceans, mortality from excessive heat or poor air quality, costs from climate-related diseases such as West Nile Virus, and repairs for roads or bridges that are damaged by floods or erosion. Predicting anything 70 years into the future is normally considered a fool’s errand, but such prognostications are required when most of the harm is not expected to be manifested until many decades in the future. — Climate- Science.press, 1d ago

new On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the illegal and war criminal US Alliance invasion of Iraq on 20 March 2003 decent people will pause to reflect on the devastation inflicted on Iraq. Iraqi deaths from violence and war-imposed deprivation totalled about 5 million for the period 1990 onwards. The killing continues in US-devastated Iraq. In 2020, for example, the under-5 infant deaths as a percentage of total population for Iraq was 52 times greater than that for Japan, and 14 times greater than that for impoverished and sanctioned but peaceful Cuba [2, 27]. However this appalling and continuing carnage is resolutely ignored by the mendacious Mainstream media (M3) journalist, editor, politician, academic and commentariat presstitutes of the countries that perpetrated the ongoing Iraqi Holocaust and Iraqi Genocide. — Truth11.com, 1d ago

new ..., cooling cities through urban green infrastructure would reduce by 30% the temperature in cities and the number of death can be potentially prevented. However, recent research has also highlighted the potential problems and ecosystem disservices associated with urban trees, including infrastructure conflicts, public health and safety issues, trade-offs related to the costs of management and maintenance of the trees, and environmentally detrimental effects. — COST, 1d ago

new ..., inculcating an “anti-state” sentiment among the youth. The overall education suffered as these planted faculty resorted to corruption to fill vacant academic positions. The deteriorating education environment and the detrimental influence of widespread violence and conflict intensified the socio-psychological trauma among the people and ruined the lives of thousands of students. — ORF, 1d ago

new Prioritizing emissions reduction in Disadvantaged Communities should help to prevent the formation or co-pollutant emissions despite a reduction in emissions statewide. A broad range of factors may contribute to high concentrations of pollutants in a given location that create a hotspot. The result can be unhealthy air quality, particularly for sensitive populations such as expectant mothers, children, the elderly, people of low socio-economic status, and people with pre-existing medical conditions. — Climate- Science.press, 1d ago

new The Albanese government has been committed to honesty about the challenges we face as the climate continues to warm. This must now extend beyond the domestic consequences to include the international impacts, and it must leverage Australian creativity, enthusiasm and practical know-how to build a more resilient nation. The government has a fundamental responsibility to inform and educate the Australian public about these rapidly emerging regional risks. It’s also a pragmatic way to build public support for the initiatives and investments that will be needed in the years ahead. — The Strategist, 1d ago

new Leena Al Derham, EAA Foundation, said, “Some children face challenges that reduce their chances of staying in school. These include; living in poverty, exposure to conflict-affected environments, suffering chronic illness, having work responsibilities (child labour), and disability. We are happy to support another joint partnership project in Zambia, together with our partner, and other supporters, we are helping children stay in school and providing them with the opportunity to learn and develop the skills they need to access a better future.”... — thepeninsulaqatar.com, 1d ago

new Qatar has been continuously improving its medical services. Hamad Medical Corporation recently announced a set of system changes to enhance the outpatient appointment booking process and improve access to care for patients. Another initiative to soon benefit patients and ensure faster access to care is the upcoming launch of evening clinics at the Ambulatory Care Center in specialties such as ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat, urology and audiology. — The Peninsula Newspaper, 1d ago

new This is why the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Government of Liberia, with funding from the Embassy of Sweden and working with several implementing and local partners, continue to expand their efforts to ensure that adolescents and young people have access to age-appropriate sexual and reproductive health information and services, especially in Southeastern Liberia, the region (Grand Gedeh, Grand Kru, Maryland, River Gee, and Sinoe) which until the start of the intervention in 2017, the 2013 Liberia Demographic and Health Survey indicated had an average teenage pregnancy rate of 49 percent as compared to the national rate of 31 percent. — Liberian Observer, 1d ago

new AccountabilityAndy Vermaut, president of the World Council for Public Diplomacy and Community Dialogue, strongly expressed his support for human rights activists Morris Tidball-Binz, Aua Baldé, Mary Lawlor and Fernand de Varennes. These four individuals are United Nations Special Rapporteurs and work tirelessly to promote human rights worldwide. Tidball-Binz, Baldé, Lawlor and de Varennes are true heroes of the human rights movement who have dedicated their lives to investigating and raising serious human rights violations, such as extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, enforced disappearances, the plight of human rights defenders and minority issues. Andy Vermaut fully supports their efforts and has announced that he will personally raise this issue with the European diplomatic community. He is determined to work to address human rights violations and promote accountability for such actions, which flagrantly violate fundamental principles of human dignity. The World Council for Public Diplomacy and Community Dialogue is proud to partner with these human rights defenders and welcomes all efforts to address human rights issues and fight for social justice worldwide. Andy Vermaut explains:”We call on all governments and organizations to take this cause seriously and unite in the fight against human rights violations. The World Council for Public Diplomacy and Community Dialogue will continue to work with organizations and individuals committed to promoting human rights and social justice worldwide, and will not rest until all human rights are respected and protected around the world.”... — EIN Presswire, 1d ago

new Good article and wide array of comments. For me it’s quite simple. The people that promote global warming eventually changed terms to climate change. They are the same ones that complain about overpopulation. What they are is congenital liars. Why do people listen to people that lie? Wind and solar can be supplemental but can never replace fossil fuels. In California 30% of our electricity comes from out of state. Gavin Newsom is pushing electric cars, wind and solar as the threat of rolling blackouts is a real event. Newsom is a fraud and a liar who destroyed San Francisco as a 2 term mayor. — A Son of the New American Revolution, 1d ago

new This all factors to the need of higher monitoring and shutting down of those illicit crowd-funding networks, significantly these which might be making use of legit banking assets; staying on high of cryptocurrency tendencies with IS and maybe most vital of all getting forward of IS girls who’re smuggling their youth of the camps into the fingers of IS. This requires constructing extra rehabilitation facilities as extra younger boys age into puberty and transferring youth who’re susceptible to be smuggled out as fighters for IS into them and making them enticing locations for the youth to need to go, and if potential, getting their mom’s purchase in as properly, in order that these moms not need to smuggle them out to IS relatively than know their sons are being properly fed, cared for, educated and are protected in such facilities. For some deeply pro-IS girls this will probably be a tall order and maybe unattainable to perform, however given the second writer’s impression of how pleased youth moved into the Orkesh rehabilitation middle seem like and say that they’re, phrase might get again to the youth themselves nonetheless within the camps, that it’s a much better choice to be place in a rehabilitation middle than smuggled out by their moms to grow to be IS fighters. — Bitcoin Press UK, 1d ago

new ...“We are racing against time to prevent deaths and save lives that are avoidable. We have seen, deaths and diseases thrive when hunger and food crises prolong. We will see more people dying from disease than from hunger and malnutrition combined if we do not act now. The cost of our inaction will mean that children, women and other vulnerable people will pay with their lives while we hopelessly, helplessly, witness the tragedy unfold.”... — preventionweb.net, 2d ago

new Nearly 2 million children are at a risk of malnutrition while at least 3.5 million livestock have died, destroying livelihoods, and reducing children’s access to milk and meat. Famine (IPC Phase 5) is still projected between April and June 2023 in Baidoa and Burhakaba districts of Bay region if more resources are not pumped towards the response. We need to invest in livelihoods, resilience, infrastructure development, climate adaptation and durable solutions to break the cycle of chronic and recurrent humanitarian crises in Somalia and ensure that those affected can adapt and thrive. — The IRC, 2d ago

new ...“The scientific advances that have been assessed throughout this IPCC 6th assessment cycle, and now synthesised in the new Synthesis report, have resulted in a better understanding of what the future will look like, depending on the choices we make today and this decade. It is clearer now more than ever that with every increment of warming, the risks, impact and related losses and damages escalate substantially across all regions and sectors, more so for the most vulnerable communities. Choices made in this decade will determine the extent to which current and future generations will experience a hotter and different world. We now have clear understanding that there are multiple feasible, effective, low-cost technological options, available now, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the changing climate. These when coupled with tried and tested policy measures that can achieve deep emissions reductions, provided that they scaled up and applied widely across all regions and sectors.”... — sciencemediacentre.org, 2d ago

new Although there are many types of humanitarian and fragile settings, we focus here on contexts affected by armed conflict and environmental disasters. Attention to the wellbeing of adolescents in such settings is essential because of the detrimental effects these contextual factors have on the physical, social, and cognitive changes experienced during this life stage. As humanitarian crises are often protracted, young people may spend much or all of their adolescence in such settings, with the resulting vulnerabilities continuing throughout their lives. Breakdown of family and supportive networks as populations are forced into displacement creates an unstable ecosystem for adolescents to form meaningful and emotional connections with others. These effects are often exacerbated by poverty, gender inequities, and human rights violations, as well as mental illness from the stressors derived from the crises themselves. These factors increase the vulnerability of adolescents to problems such as misuse of drugs and alcohol, sexual exploitation, academic underachievement because of interruption to schooling, reduced economic prospects, chronic poverty, poor psychosocial outcomes, and sexual and gender based violence. — The BMJ, 2d ago

new As part of pandemic recovery efforts, social protection support must be calibrated to ensure that adolescents with disabilities are able to re-enrol in education and to access medical and psychosocial support services. Longer term, to tackle poverty and economic vulnerabilities of adolescents with disabilities and their families during future crises, social protection platforms should be expanded and adapted to respond to shocks in a timely way, while prioritising the needs of the most disadvantaged adolescents. Programming might include cash to enable distance learning, education fee waivers, covering costs of internet connectivity and devices (for example, Unicef Jordan distributed tablets to adolescents during the pandemic... — The BMJ, 2d ago

new This idea that widespread and violent conflicts inevitably develop over internationally shared water has been prevalent in media and policymaking circles for decades. However, researchers from around the world have demonstrated that water is more likely to be a source of cooperation. Based on the rich information collected in the Transboundary Freshwater Diplomacy Database and its latest updates, the following findings are of particular relevance and interest:... — New Security Beat, 2d ago

new ...of Federal Lebanon, proponents of federalism underscore what they term “Sovereignty First,” or sovereignty and neutrality as a national foundational priority to rid Lebanon, among other things, of political violence, sectarian polarization, corruption, foreign intervention, and illegal weapons. Writing in Lebanon Files, Salim al-Bitar Ghanem argued that national unity and coexistence will not be an obstacle to a new system that prevents hegemony and secures social justice, balanced development, and economic stability. As per the Federal Republic of Lebanon... — The Washington Institute, 2d ago

new Anti-refugee sentiment also appears to be spreading in online forums. As conventional media such as newspapers lose stature, new media platforms like YouTube and internet-based journalism initiatives have grown and gained clout in the refugee discussion. The emergence of hateful alternative forums, paired with a closing space for free media in Turkey, has worsened the prevalence of unsavory and provocative messages against refugees. In response, Ankara would do well to promote freedom of expression and protect the country’s vulnerable refugee population by looking closely at the current state of alternative media and considering amending the government’s restrictive policies on press freedoms. — The Washington Institute, 2d ago

new Third, home-schooled children have parents who want their children to learn some religious principles or some classical languages. Before the mid 1900’s, education was not developed, there was no concept of public school. People have always taught their children at home, for religious purposes, to give them the right to education, which evolved into schools and evolved into what we now know as public schools (” Homeschooling Isn’t” Par1). — Rebellion Research, 2d ago