A recently published Human Rights Watch (HRW) report has highlighted how thousands of Indigenous people and other rural communities have had their lives ‘devastated’ by oil palm plantations in Indonesia – the world’s largest palm oil exporter. Indonesia is home to about 50 to 70 million Indigenous people, and over 2,300 Indigenous communities – about a quarter of the country’s population. Indonesia has about 14 million hectares of land planted with oil palm. Commercial production began with Dutch colonial plantations on the island of Sumatra – which continues to account for 80% of total Indonesian production.

As the HRW report describes, a complex web of domestic and international companies is involved in growing palm fruit, converting palm fruit into oil, manufacturing ingredients, and finally utilizing these ingredients to produce consumer products sold around the world. Palm oil derivatives can be found in many household products such as chocolate and hazelnut spreads, cookies, and margarine. Palm oil derivatives can also be found in some lotions and creams, makeup, soaps, candles, and detergents. Palm oil is also used to make biofuel.

The report is based on interviews with over 100 people, including several dozen members of Indigenous communities, as well as representatives from non-governmental organizations. The report documents how the establishment and expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia have adversely affected Indigenous peoples’ rights to their forests, livelihood, food, water, and culture.   The report is based on research conducted between February and September 2018, and focuses on oil palm plantation disputes involving Indigenous peoples’ claims to customary lands and forests in Pareh and Semunying Bongkang hamlets of Semunying Jaya village in the Jagoi Babang district of Bengkayang regency in West Kalimantan province, and Orang Rimba groups in the Sarolangun regency of Jambi province in central Sumatra.

The report focuses on the plantation operations of two companies – PT Ledo Lestari in Bengkayang regency of West Kalimantan province, and PT Sari Aditya Loka 1 in Sarolangun regency of Jambi province. According to the report, both of these oil palm plantations have had a devastating impact on the rights of two groups of Indigenous peoples: the Ibans, a subgroup of the Dayak peoples indigenous to Borneo (Kalimantan) and the Orang Rimbas, a semi-nomadic, forest-dependent Indigenous people in central Sumatra. Alongside this devastation, the report also highlights that there was a failure to create any mechanism for restitution, or provide just and fair compensation for losses suffered, in consultation with the Indigenous people affected. A crucial issue is the struggle of various Indigenous groups for legal recognition of their identity and collective rights.

Moreover, residents interviewed for the report have noticed that, over time, the nearby Kumba and Semunying Rivers, which they rely on for drinking, fishing, and household chores, have become increasingly polluted. Residents attribute this pollution to increased soil erosion, the use of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, and effluents from the oil palm plantation that seep into the ground and rivers.

Today, in Jambi province in central Sumatra, the Orang Rimba community lives in poverty. Many have been left homeless and live in plastic tents. The Orang Rimba that HRW interviewed said that they had once been self-sufficient, but were now reduced to begging on the highway, or ‘stealing’ oil palm fruits from the plantation area to sell and make money. The plantation employs only a few of the several hundred Orang Rimba adults estimated to live in the area.

Oil palm expansion is often held responsible for deforestation, loss of biodiversity, conflicts over land rights between local communities and oil palm companies, peatland forest fires and related respiratory diseases, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Oil palm expansion therefore also has global repercussions, contributing to anthropogenic global warming.

L'articolo Indigenous Peoples Left “Devastated” by Oil Palm Plantations proviene da InsideOver.

The Vietnam War, or the Second Indochina War, has been argued to be a watershed in United States history – it was the first war lost by the United States. The first official US combat troops arrived in Vietnam in 1965, but the roots of the conflict can be found many decades prior. The Vietnam War is difficult to delimit to a singular time or space. As well as its history stretching back to French colonialism, its geography also encompasses insurgencies fought in Laos and Cambodia. The Vietnam War has also been argued to have been both a civil and interstate conflict, involving a variety of actors over time. Nonetheless, the most intense period was marked to be the military intervention of the United States and allied forces in the period from 1965 to 1975.

In the 19^th century, France colonised Southeast Asia and created what was known as French Indochina, which was composed of the Vietnamese regions of Cochinchina, Annam and Tonkin, as well as Laos and Cambodia. The French imposed a series of land reforms that converted large swathes of Vietnam into rubber plantations. French rubber production in Vietnam was extremely profitable – but for the ill-paid Vietnamese workers labouring in harsh conditions on plantations, it was a different story. As has been argued, particularly in the southern colony of Cochinchina, this state of affairs produced a landless proletariat class dependent on a small, foreign-backed elite. The exploitation of workers was not limited to rubber, and extended to coffee and rice plantations, as well as mining operations. This, coupled with decades of military conquest, disenfranchisement, and economic policies that severely disadvantaged peasants, plunged them into debt, and forced them to pay onerous taxes – contributed to Vietnamese discontent. Japan’s invasion of Vietnam during World War II and France’s consequent capitulation fanned the flames of the growing nationalist cause.

One of the longest wars in US history, second only to the War on Terror, the Vietnam War was part of a wider campaign of US proxy wars, black ops, and direct military conflicts engaged in during the Cold War. Over 6 million tons of bombs and other ordnance were dropped in the former Indochina region at a weight four times greater than in Germany during WWII. Notoriously, one of the most controversial elements of the Vietnam War was the use of chemical defoliants such as Agent Orange, which contains the toxic compound dioxin.  The US military’s defoliation program aimed to strip the forests of life and remove enemy cover. Around 72 million litres of herbicide were dropped during the war, including 42 million litres of Agent Orange. The dispersion of Agent Orange over a vast area of central and south Vietnam poisoned the soil, river systems, lakes and rice paddies, and allowed toxic chemicals to enter the food chain. US soldiers, oblivious of the dangers, sometimes showered in the empty 55-gallon drums, used them to store food, or re-purposed them as barbeque pits. Residual dioxin in the earth continues to thwart the normal growth of crops and trees, and continues to poison the food chain. Vietnam’s natural defences were also weakened – nearly 50% of the country’s mangroves, which protect shorelines from typhoons and tsunamis – were destroyed. The destruction of Vietnamese forests also damaged the natural habitat of rare species such as tigers, elephants, bears and leopards, in many cases irreversibly.

Agent Orange was not the only chemical weapon used during the war – another was napalm, which, when it fell on people, caused severe burns, asphyxiation, and often death. An iconic image of the monstrous effects of napalm is Nick Ut’s photo of 9-year-old girl, Phan Thị Kim Phúc, fleeing from a napalm bombing.

Many veterans of the war, moreover, also did not escape unscathed. It is estimated that around 30 out of every 100 (or 30%) of Vietnam Veterans have had post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, in their lifetime.

Shooting Vietnam

An incredible book has just been published on the Vietnam War – Shooting Vietnam: The War by Its Military Photographers, by Dan Brookes and Bob Hillerby. In spite of my background in, amongst other things, military history, I do not profess to be an expert on the Vietnam War by any means – but this book has allowed me to gain an invaluable insight into the complexities and brutalities of the war.

The book contains images taken by combat cameramen of the US Army and US Marines, rather than civilian photographers. As the book describes,

‘[…] behind the scenes, and unheralded for their camera work, were hundreds of military photographers, just doing what was expected of them as part of their day-to-day job description. Unlike their famous civilian counterparts, many had to endure a year-long assignment that constantly placed them in harm’s way. Sometimes it meant dropping the camera and picking up an M-16 or grenade launcher, or manning an M-60 machine gun, or helping to carry the wounded to a medevac dust-off chopper.’

From 1962 to 1975, military photographers took millions of photographs in Vietnam, with the official mission being to document the war. As the authors argue, the images encompassed everyday activities in and out of combat, the battles with a mostly ‘unseen enemy’, booby traps, helicopter evacuations of the wounded and dead, and ‘anything and everything that went on in the war.’ There was a lack of overall censorship of the war’s coverage, and the images that came out of the war were instrumental in ending it.

Some of the images are shocking, some brutal, some heart-breaking. The last two photographs are of the My Lai massacre that took place on March 16, 1968. Accompanying them are the original captions or text.

L'articolo Images From A War Zone: Military Photographers and The Vietnam War proviene da InsideOver.

A recently published article at JSTOR Daily asked: “Is militarizing rangers really the best way to combat illegal wildlife hunting?”

A rise in environmental security, or what has been termed a “war for biodiversity” or “green militarization”, particularly in the context of Africa, has seen the rise of the use of armed patrols, tracking equipment, and aerial surveillance using helicopters, airplanes and drones. Strictly-speaking however, this is not an entirely new phenomenon, since high incidences of poaching in the 1970’s and 80’s also saw the deployment of military responses by some African governments. Green militarization has been criticized for a number of reasons, including potentially leading communities to feel threatened by the presence of enforcement personnel, as well as engendering resentment.

The illegal wildlife trade involves thousands of wild animals and related products that are shipped daily around the globe as food, pets, medicines, clothing, trophies, and religious amulets. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and INTERPOL have estimated that the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is valued between $7 billion and $23 billion per year. IWT-targeted species include elephants, rhinos, tigers, pangolins, primates, reptiles, birds, and medicinal plants. In Vietnam, there are a number of transnational networks illegally trading rare and endangered wildlife, in particular tigers, panthers, bears, elephants, snakes, and pangolins – with Vietnam being considered a transit country for wildlife and wildlife products to third countries.

The trade is extremely lucrative. A recent estimate has noted that the value of rhino horn can exceed the per kilogram price of gold.  Elsewhere, in countries under conditions of political instability and economic turmoil, illegal bushmeat hunting has emerged as a serious conservation threat. In West and Central Africa, bushmeat hunting is a survival strategy for large numbers of people.

In one study, the highest exporters of IWT were identified as Kenya and Tanzania for elephants, South Africa for rhinoceros, and India for tigers. Intermediaries with the highest influence in the flow of trade were identified as Kenya, Thailand, China and Hong Kong for elephants, China and Vietnam for rhinoceros, and India and Myanmar for tigers. The highest key importers, on the other hand, were identified as China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietnam for elephants, China and Vietnam for rhinoceros, and China for tigers. However, IWT is a global phenomenon and cannot be restricted to certain parts of the world alone.

In the case of Africa, IWT has serious consequences on African economies by destroying and depleting natural resources and biodiversity. Natural capital stocks produce benefits that support societal and individual well-being and economic prosperity, such as clear air, fresh water, and the pollination of crops. IWT also risks damaging entire ecosystems. The cross-border smuggling of live animals and plants also carries risks to human health through the potential spread of disease. The hunting, butchering and preparing of meat from wild animals has been argued to have contributed to the spread of Ebola in several African countries. Diseases like bird flu can also spread to food chains, leading to the mass euthanasia of livestock herds. IWT also has significant security implications, given that in many cases, it is associated with organized crime syndicates, illegal arms trafficking, and in some cases, armed militant groups. Added corruption thrown into the mix also hinders the fight against IWT.

IWT further impedes the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out by the UN General Assembly in 2015, by diverting national budgets away from social or development programmes. In Uganda, for example, the political pressure to curb wildlife crime has been driven by the recognition that wildlife conservation is a crucial aspect of continuing social and economic development. For example, the tourism sector, which is largely dependent on wildlife conservation, is a leading source of foreign exchange and a major provider of employment.

IWT is complex and multi-faceted. Most agree that some law-enforcement, and even armed response, is necessary to protect wildlife – but the potential risks to this approach should also be kept in mind. Elsewhere, the Black Mambas, a predominantly female and unarmed anti-poaching unit, have demonstrated themselves to be more than up to the task of protecting wildlife. Local communities also need to be supported, and the issues of household poverty and unemployment, which may lead people to resort to wildlife crime, also need to be addressed. But what is worth -reiterating is that a number of species, as well as biodiversity, are seriously at risk – and are worth protecting.

L'articolo Combatting the Illegal Wildlife Trade proviene da InsideOver.

As William Davies wrote in a 2016 New York Times Op-Ed, “Facts hold a sacred place in Western liberal democracies”. It is certainly the case and an often-repeated truism that a well-functioning democracy requires a well-informed public. However, the combination of (mainly right-wing) populist movements, alongside the spread of misinformation or disinformation on channels such as social media, are often held as responsible for the rise of “post-truth” politics – where appealing to emotions is dominate, at the expense of factual accuracy. Misinformation specifically refers to information that is false, but not created with the intention of causing harm; disinformation, on the other hand, refers to the deliberate creation and sharing of false and/or manipulated information with the intention to deceive and mislead audiences, either for the purpose of causing harm, or for political, personal or financial gain.

In 2016, the UK’s decision to leave the European Union through the vote for Brexit, and Donald J. Trump’s election as President of the United States, are not only the two events that heralded the rise in so-called “post-truth” politics. This has also been regarded as a populist backlash against “out-of-touch” political “elites”, and a challenge to the traditional institutions of liberal democracy. Jane Suiter argues that “Arguably, what we are witnessing is a toxic combination of policy blunders on austerity, war and globalisation, couple with a new hybrid media and political system dominated by reality TV, social media and filter bubbles.”

Beyond misinformation and disinformation is also the more sidelined issue of what Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall term “industrial propaganda” in their book The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread. Industrial propaganda can refer to advertising, but can also refer to campaigns spearheaded by corporations to undermine reliable evidence that may affect the bottom line. A classic example that Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway provide in the book Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming is the case of tobacco companies. During the second half of the 20th century, tobacco companies orchestrated a strategy to discredit scientific evidence demonstrating a clear link between smoking and lung cancer. Similar tactics have been used by those in the energy industry and others to foster the impression of uncertainty surrounding the severity and causes of anthropogenic global warming.

Within the context of Western liberal democracies at the very least – the role of the journalistic profession seems all the more crucial. It is true that no written work can ever be truly and fully “objective” so far as it can be entirely divorced from gender, class, race, ethnicity, or other social and structural factors. However, what journalism can at the very least do for democracy, as Rasums Kleis Neilsen argues, is “provide people with […] accurate, accessible, diverse, relevant, and timely independently produced information about public affairs.”

L'articolo The Modern Day Importance of Journalism proviene da InsideOver.

Uranium is a naturally occurring, radioactive heavy metal found in the earth’s crust. It is composed of three isotopes: U-234, U-235, and U-238. Depleted uranium, or DU, is created as a by-product of the uranium enrichment process and is about 60% less radioactive than natural uranium. However, DU retains the same chemical toxicity as natural uranium.

The effects of DU are still far from being completely and uniformly understood. However, it has been strongly suggested that DU could be a contributing factor for a number of illnesses, including cancer. Researchers have also argued that there is a strong correlation between DU environmental exposure and birth defects. DU can enter the human body in four ways: inhalation of DU dust; ingestion of DU-contaminated food or water; embedding of DU shrapnel or dust in a wound; and dermal absorption of DU dust.

DU in modern warfare

For decades, the US Navy, by its own admission, has been conducting war game exercises in US waters that use, amongst other things, weapons that contain DU. DU is extremely dense – about 65% more dense than lead – and is highly pyrophoric, meaning that it ignites spontaneously in the air. The military value of DU ammunition derives from their ability to pierce tanks, armoured vehicles, and reinforced bunkers. DU ammunition are also not equipped with an explosive charge like other shells – rather, they penetrate the target and create fires through the pyrophoric release of heat energy.

DU and tungsten are the two heavy metals best suited for use as kinetic energy penetrators. However, DU is available in larger quantities and at a cheaper price than tungsten, and also outperforms tungsten alloy in armour piercing. An additional advantage of DU is that it is a readily available waste material from the uranium industry. Because of their toxicity and radioactivity, wastes from the uranium industry need to be safely deposited for a very long time through processes that are expensive – so, to save money, the uranium industry has been argued to give away DU or sell it cheaply to institutions and others interested in it. Countries that use DU usually have nuclear energy programs and an abundant, low-cost, or even free supply of DU to use in munitions. The use of DU in munitions has also been argued to help governments minimize the sensitive public policy issue of nuclear waste management.

DU weapons were first used on a large-scale in the First Gulf War in 1991 by US and British coalition forces. They were also used in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995, in Serbia and Kosovo in 1999, and in the 2003 war in Iraq. They were also used after 2001 in Afghanistan, where they are apparently still used today.

Today, at least 17 countries are thought to have weapons systems containing DU. However, most DU ammunition has been used by the UK and the US. Both the UK and the US claim that the use of DU ammunition is a military necessity on account of its superior ability to penetrate armour compared to tungsten, which is the main alternative. Of course, DU is also cheaper and more widely available. However, tungsten is not without its controversies either, given that it has also been argued to have health-risks and potentially be carcinogenic.

International responses

As recently as 2018, local authorities in Serbia officially began investigations into whether NATO’s use of DU ammunition in 1999 has increased the number of cases of cancer. For its part, NATO has consistently claimed that DU ammunition used in the 1999 bombardments in the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia more broadly cannot be linked to negative health effects.

At present, there is no treaty explicitly banning the use of DU weapons. However, there are pockets of resistance in the international community. In 2008, the European Parliament called for a global ban on the use of DU weapons. Belgium became the first country in the world to ban the use of inert ammunitions and armour plates containing uranium on its territory in 2007, with the law coming into effect in 2009. Costa Rica became the second country to do the same in 2011.

The UN General Assembly has also passed a number of Resolutions since 2007 highlighting serious concerns over the use of DU weapons. These concerns include a lack of transparency over where DU weapons have been fired, the costs and technical difficulties in managing contaminations, uncertainties over the environmental consequences of DU, and the ongoing concerns of affected communities. The UK, the US, France and Israel have consistently voted against the Resolutions.

The legality of the continued use of DU weapons has been argued to be questionable, given that its effects may affect civilians and therefore breach the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants – a key principle of international humanitarian law. DU exposure has also been argued to have repercussions on the health of veterans. Given the uncertainties that surround DU, its ongoing use in modern warfare therefore merits closer scrutiny.

L'articolo The Dangers of Depleted Uranium Use in Modern Warfare proviene da InsideOver.

The civil war in South Sudan between government forces and opposition forces broke out in December 2013 and is still ongoing. Almost 400,000 people have been estimated to likely have been killed, according to one report, with around half of the lives lost estimated to be due to violence. Nearly 4 million people have been further internally displaced or have fled to neighbouring countries. All parties to the conflict have been accused of committing serious abuses, including unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detentions, attacks on civilians and civilian property, and the recruitment and use of child soldiers.

On 12 September 2018, Salva Kiir Mayardit, the President of South Sudan, Riek Machar, the leader of the People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (Splm-Io), and other rebel factions signed the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-Arcss) in Addis Ababa. The agreement has reduced fighting in many parts of the country, and has also facilitated the return of senior opposition figures to Juba to allow for political dialogue. In late October 2018, Machar returned to South Sudan for a nationwide peace celebration that was meant to mark the end of the civil war. However, conflict and violence continue, including a significant number of incidents of rape and sexual violence against women and girls. Many also remain vulnerable to rising food insecurity.

Further, a humanitarian emergency still affects the majority of the civilian population. Some armed groups also remain outside of the R-Aarcss, including an alliance led by the National Salvation Front Thomas Cirillo. A recent clash involving the National Salvation Front and a faction of the Splm-Io saw at least 9 people killed in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria.

On 13 July 2018, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2428 – which stipulated that until 31 May 2019, all Member States were to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer to South Sudan, from or through their territories — of arms and related material, and withhold training, technical and financial assistance related to military activities or materials. However, it laid out several exemptions to the country’s arms embargo — including for material and activities related to humanitarian activities, such as those intended exclusively for support of or use by UN personnel.

Possible violations of arms embargoes

In its latest report, the Panel of Experts on South Sudan, drawing on its earlier interim report, reiterated a number of likely violations of the arms embargo. The Panel of Experts noted the ongoing arrival of cargo aircraft at Juba International airport during the night, of which there was no meaningful monitoring and which likely included foreign-registered aircraft and aviation companies originating from outside South Sudan. The Panel further noted that no inspection reports were provided by customs agencies of neighbouring States during the mandate period. The Panel emphasized that effective implementation of the arms embargo would benefit from inspections of cargo aircraft destined for Juba International Airport or airports in South Sudan where there is a military presence, and of trucks crossing the Nimule border post on the border with Uganda – which is equipped with sophisticated scanning technology.

There is already a history of possible arms embargo violations. A 2018 report by the London-based Conflict Armament Research (Car) argued that some of the military materiel re-transferred from Uganda to South Sudan was in potential violation of an EU arms embargo. Car’s weapon documentation indicated that the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (Spla) in South Sudan and non-state forces allied with the Spla in neighbouring Sudan had acquired small arms and ammunitions exported from at least three EU Member States (Bulgaria, Romania, and the Slovak Republic) to Uganda since the onset of the current South Sudan conflict.

Deadline extension for national unity government

Most recently, both South Sudan’s government and Machar’s opposition requested a six-month extension to the May 12 deadline of this year for opposition leader Riek Machar to return to the country and once again become Kiir’s deputy in a unity government. The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) Council of Ministers endorsed a six-month extension for the establishment of a Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity. IGAD further stressed that the extension was ‘non-renewable.’

L'articolo South Sudan: Arms Embargo Violation and Extension of Unity Government proviene da InsideOver.

A report by Human Rights Watch and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health released on 4 April of this year sets out a devastating picture of the humanitarian emergency presently occurring in Venezuela. The report is based on 156 interviews with health-care professionals, Venezuelans seeking or needing care for a range of illnesses who had recently arrived in Colombia or Brazil, representatives from international and non-governmental bodies, UN officials, and Colombian and Brazilian government officials.

According to the report, the health-care system is in a state of ‘utter collapse’, and further urges the UN to declare a humanitarian emergency in relation to Venezuela, which would trigger a full-scale response and the provision of food, medicines, and medical supplies. Nicolás Maduro’s government has been held largely to blame for the lack of a co-ordinated international response being implemented through the failure to acknowledge the full scale of the crisis, and through the refusal of outside help. Following years of denial that the country was indeed in the throes of a humanitarian emergency – and with Maduro claiming that such assistance would constitute interference with Venezuela’s internal affairs – the Maduro government finally allowed the Red Cross to send in 24 tons of medical equipment on 16 April of this year.

The roots of the crisis

The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela needs to be understood in relation to the broader collapse of the country’s economy. One of the key factors behind this crisis is oil, of which Venezuela has the world’s highest reserves. Undoubtedly, the high price of oil in between 2003 and 2008, and in between 2010 until mid-2014, allowed for significant social gains particularly during Hugo Chávez’s time as President. These social gains included a doubling of state spending on health-care and education and a reduction of poverty and unemployment by half. However, Venezuela, a petrostate – was over-dependent on oil revenues, at the expense of other industries. Its public spending was further beyond its means.

In 2015, Venezuela’s oil dependency was stark, with oil representing 96% of Venezuela’s exports and comprising over 60% of government revenues. The international price volatility of oil was thus directly correlated with Venezuela’s economic performance, and helped explain the prompt contraction of Venezuela’s GDP after the 2014 oil price fall. Between June 2014 and December 2015, the price of oil fell by two-thirds, from over $100 per barrel to $37 per barrel. This was accompanied with years of steady decline of oil production. Without the revenue from oil exports, Venezuela has struggled to import the things its people need, including essentials such as food and medicine. The International Monetary Fund has predicted that Venezuela’s inflation will reach an astounding 10,000,000% in 2019. The primary cause of this hyperinflation has been attributed to the central bank printing money to fund huge public spending deficits.

A public healthcare catastrophe

The economic crisis in Venezuela has had severe consequences on the country’s health-care infrastructure. Shortages in medications, health supplies, disruptions of basic utilities at health-care facilities, and the emigration of health-care workers have led progressive decline in the operational capacity of healthcare and significantly affected the public health of the Venezuelan people. Venezuelan authorities under Maduro have attempted to conceal the crisis by not publishing official health information. However, epidemiological bulletins for half of 2015 and all of 2016 were released in May 2017, which showed a 30% increase in infant mortality, a 65% increase in maternal mortality, a resurgence of diphtheria, and increases in cases of malaria, Zika, TB, and Hepatitis A. Following the publication of this information, President Maduro dismissed the then Health Minister Antonieta Caporale, and replaced her with a staunch supporter, Luis López. The epidemiological bulletins were taken down from the Health Ministry’s official website and have not been re-posted since. No additional bulletins have been published since then, nor have authorities published any other official health data.

As the Human Rights Watch report provides, Venezuela is now experiencing increased levels of infant and maternal mortality, as well as routine outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases that had once been eliminated from the country. For example, between 2008 and 2016, only a single case of measles was recorded – in 2012. Since June 2017 however, more than 9, 300 cases of measles have been reported, of which more than 6,200 have been confirmed. Further, Venezuela did not experience a single case of diphtheria – an acute and highly infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract and skin – between 2006 and 2015. But more than 2,500 suspected cases have been reported since July 2016, including more than 1,500 confirmed cases. The World Health Organization has additionally reported that confirmed malaria cases in Venezuela have also increased – from 36,000 in 2009 to more than 414,000 in 2017. Hunger, malnutrition and severe shortages of food are also pervasive.

Regional consequences

The threats posed by the public healthcare crisis are not solely restricted to the borders of Venezuela. A recent study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases warned that infectious diseases could spread beyond Venezuela’s borders, potentially causing a regional public health emergency. Indeed, neighbouring countries such as Brazil have reported an escalating trend of imported malaria cases from Venezuela, from 1538 in 2014 to 3129 in 2017. Within such a context, one can only hope that the assistance that the Venezuelans so desperately need is allowed to continue reaching them by the Maduro government.

L'articolo Venezuela, Public Healthcare Catastrophe with Regional Consequences proviene da InsideOver.

Tropical cyclone Idai, which made landfall on Beira, Mozambique on March 14 of this year, with heavy rains continuing until March 20 – was one of the worst tropical cyclones on record affecting the Southern Hemisphere. The storm caused devastating damage in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi – with a death toll of hundreds, if not thousands of people, and a further 3 million affected. Strong winds and extensive flooding destroyed roads, bridges, dams, houses, schools, and health facilities, as well as submerging large swathes of agricultural land. Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi fears that 1,000 people may have died in his country alone. 90% of Beira, Mozambique – a city of more than 500,000 people – has been destroyed by floodwaters.

What role does climate change have to play in Cyclone Idai? UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mami Mizutori, has argued that ‘Cyclone Idai is a clear demonstration of the exposure and vulnerability of many low-lying cities and towns to sea level rise as the impact of climate change continues to influence and disrupt normal weather patterns.’

Although the link between the occurrence of Cyclone Idai and climate change is unclear, climate change certainly had a role to play in the overall devastation that the cyclone unleashed. There are three ways in which climate change exacerbated Idai’s effects. First, a warmer atmosphere holds more water vapour, which makes rainfall more intense – Idai produced nearly a year’s worth of rain in just a few days, which equated to more than two feet of water in parts of the region. Second, the region has been suffering from a considerable drought in recent years, as per climate projections of overall drying in the region. The hard earth was unable to rapidly absorb water, increasing the risk of flash flooding. And third, sea levels are about a foot higher than a century ago, which worsens the effect of coastal flooding.

The world’s poorest regions are already experiencing the effects of climate change. Climate change is not some future hypothetical – it is already happening now, and disproportionately afflicting those who had the least to do with creating it. The wealthiest regions of the world tend to be located in the extratropics, while many of the world’s poorest people live near the equator – thus giving the wealthiest regions an advantage in terms of temperate climate. Further, wealthy countries are better able to prepare and cope with climate-related events than low-income countries.

And yet, the world’s wealthiest countries are not doing enough. The Green Climate Fund, a United Nations program which was established in 2009 to raise a significant portion of an overall funding goal of $100 billion a year by 2020 for climate change adaptation and mitigation in poor countries, as has so far received only $10.3 billion in pledges. The unfairness of the situation is stark, particularly when one considers that Africa contributes the least to global warming in both absolute and per capita terms. Africa accounts for 3.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, in comparison to the largest emitters like China, the US, and the EU which account for 23%, 19%, and 13% of global emissions respectively. And yet, in spite of its low emissions, Africa is one of world’s most vulnerable regions when it comes to climate change.

The affected region is now dealing with the devastating aftershocks of the cyclone. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has designated Mozambique a level three emergency, placing it on par with Syria, Yemen and South Sudan. Cholera, which usually spreads through contaminated water – is now also a major concern. At least 1,428 people have been reported to be infected in Mozambique.

L'articolo Tropical Cyclone Idai, Climate Change, and the North-South Divide proviene da InsideOver.