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Between 1970 and 2019, more than 11,000 disasters were attributed to weather, climate, and water-related hazards, accounting for more than two million deaths and USD 3.64 trillion in losses. • Reducing risk requires identifying and reducing the drivers of risk, which are related to poorly planned urban development, poor land-use planning, disease outbreaks, environmental degradation,…

By Alexander Müller and Jes Weigelt The 15th session of the Conference of Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), is taking place in Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire, from 9 to 20 May 2022. The theme: “Land, Life. Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity.” “We are faced with a crucial choice,” Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told participants: “We can…

Acute food insecurity almost doubled between 2016 and 2021 — report Drought-resistant crops and ‘speed breeding’ could offer solutions Support urged for small-scale farmers, among most at risk Agricultural organisations are joining forces to develop drought-resistant crops for farmers in the global South, amid warnings of a global food crisis that threatens the world’s…

Farmer José Antonio Sosa, known as Ché, stresses the importance of taking into account the direction of the land for planting, and the use of live or dead barriers to prevent rains from washing away the topsoil to lower areas, thus combating soil degradation in Cuba. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS HAVANA, May 23 2022 (IPS) - Thorny bushes and barren soil made it look like a bad bet,…

More than 33 million new jobs need to be created by 2030 in the Middle East and North Africa region by 2030, if the world’s largest unemployment hot spot is to be substantially improved, four United Nations agencies said on Monday. The joint-release by the UN labour agency, ILO, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)…

By Navin Singh Khadka Environment correspondent, BBC World Service Africa has been hit by 14 extreme droughts in the past two years alone - far more than any other continent - and the UN is warning that some 20 million people are at risk in East Africa this year after the rains failed once more. So it was fitting that Ivory Coast hosted this month's UN-convened…