Dying lands: Farmers fight to save the “skin of the Earth”
ROD NICKEL, AYENAT MERSIE, DAVID STANWAY and XIAOYU YIN, of Reuters, report on how human efforts to preserve soil are proving no match for increasingly extreme weather, which is damaging the living system and depleting its ability to produce food…
UN head urges a “decade of action” to address world crises
New York City, USThomson Reuters Foundation Sweeping goals to end poverty, inequality and other global ills are being derailed by climate change, conflicts and violence, the head of the United Nations told world leaders in New York on Tuesday, calling for a “decade of action”. Sustainable development needs more financing, investment in health and education, […]
Damage to land feeds migration and conflict – UN official
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation Vast swathes of land, from Africa to the Middle East, are being left useless by climate shifts and human pressures such as deforestation, mining and farming, threatening to hike migration and conflict, a senior UN environmental official warned. The accelerating damage could cost the global economy a staggering $US23 trillion by 2050 […]
Drones, data and digital tools lauded as new ways to fight human rights abuses
Thomson Reuters Foundation From “citizen science” identifying slavery to drones mapping degraded land, technology and data can help create a “search bar for the planet” and detect and fight all manner of human rights abuses, experts told a conference last week. Geospatial data and satellite images give analysts and authorities news ways to tackle issues […]
Land degradation drives mass migration, climate change, say experts
Thomson Reuters Foundation Billions of people live on farmland that is deteriorating and producing less food, and this situation could force hundreds of millions of people to migrate over the next three decades, a major report said on Monday. The study, which is backed by the United Nations, said climate change and worsening land quality […]