20 April 2023 - NPWJ News Digest on Environmental Justice and Human Rights

Articles

‘Frightening’: record-busting heat and drought hit Europe in 2022
The Guardian, 20 Apr 2023

Continent set for further drought in 2023, scientists say, as unstoppable impacts of climate crisis mount. The climate crisis had “frightening” impacts in Europe last year, with heatwaves killing more than 20,000 people and drought withering crops, an EU report has found. Its writers said drought was already baked in for many farmers in 2023. The only way to limit the rising damages of global heating was rapidly to cut carbon emissions, they said.

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Accelerating melt of ice sheets now 'unmistakable'
BBC, 20 Apr 2023

If you could shape an ice cube out of all the ice losses from Greenland and Antarctica over the past three decades, it would stand 20km high. An international group of scientists who work with satellite data say the acceleration in the melting of Earth's ice sheets is now unmistakable. They calculate the planet's frozen poles lost 7,560 billion tonnes in mass between 1992 and 2022. Seven of the worst melting years have occurred in the past decade. Mass loss from Greenland and Antarctica is now responsible for a quarter of all sea-level rise. This contribution is five times what it was 30 years ago.

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India’s heat putting economy, development goals at risk: Study
Al Jazeera, 20 Apr 2023

The sizzling heat is underestimated by India’s legislators and officials as well as slowing the nation’s development. Killer heatwaves are putting “unprecedented burdens” on India’s agriculture, economy and public health, with climate change undermining the country’s long-term efforts to reduce poverty, inequality and illness, a new study shows.

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Current avian flu strain deadlier than in past and could become endemic, study says
The Guardian, 19 Apr 2023

Scientists raise alarm over avian influenza strain’s unprecedented deadliness and reach from farmed poultry and wild birds. The current strain of the avian influenza, which has been decimating bird populations globally, is perilously different than previous disease outbreaks, according to US researchers who are calling for urgent action.

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‘Rights crisis’: Amnesty report documents abuses in Nicaragua
Al Jazeera, 18 Apr 2023

The human rights organisation Amnesty International has warned that the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo is deepening repression in the Central American state. In a report released on Tuesday, the organisation stated that the government has engaged in abuses such as arbitrary detention, torture and stripping dissidents of citizenship.

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'Pristine' coral reef discovered in Ecuador's Galapagos Island
Sky News, 18 Apr 2023

A coral reef with flourishing marine life has been discovered off Ecuador's Galapagos Islands. Previously, it was believed only one Galapagos reef made it through the "El Nino" weather phenomenon of 1982-83, which devastated the ecosystem of the archipelago.

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G7 puts focus on push for global fossil fuel phase-out deal
Al Jazeera, 18 Apr 2023

Climate ministers commit to accelerate the hydrocarbon phase-out to achieve net zero in energy systems by 2050, but many questions remain. A commitment by wealthy countries to phase out fossil fuels faster has been welcomed as a potential step towards a global deal for all countries to do the same. However, the announcement by the Group of Seven (G7) is facing criticism for not matching the pledge with firm action.

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EU Parliament backs overhaul of Europe's biggest climate policy
Reuters, 18 Apr 2023

The European Parliament on Tuesday approved sweeping reforms to make EU climate change policies more ambitious, including an upgrade of the bloc's carbon market that is set to hike the cost of polluting in Europe. Europe's carbon market forces power plants and factories to buy CO2 permits when they pollute. It has slashed those sectors' emissions by 43% since 2005, but is facing a revamp to hit more ambitious EU climate change targets.

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Rights of people with disabilities: Council of Europe concludes that France violated the European Social Charter
Council of Europe, 17 Apr 2023

In a decision made public on 17 April the European Committee on Social Rights of the Council of Europe (ECSR) concludes that there is a violation by France of the European Social Charter because of the failure of the authorities to adopt effective measures within a reasonable timeframe with regard to the access to social support services and to financial support, the accessibility of buildings, facilities and public transport, as well as to develop and adopt a coordinated policy for social integration and participation in the life of the community by persons with disabilities (Article 15§3).

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