“No one has been here since the earthquake. Just like before, the only time we see an outsider round here is when they want our votes,” says Altema Jean Joseph, a 52-year-old farmer who grows vetiver, an ingredient used in expensive perfumes which, despite costing $25,000 (£18,000) a barrel, makes farmers only $4 a week. “So why would we expect them here? 

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck southern Haiti on 14 August killed more than 2,200 and left 30,000 homeless.  Many rural Haitians see an all too familiar abandonment. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, where nearly half of the 11.4m population is food insecure. But the poverty in which rural Haitians – who make up two-thirds of the population – live is startling, even by the country’s own abject standards.

“Haiti has always been divided between an urban professional class and the ignored rural communities,” says Estève Ustache, 58, a researcher on rural development attached to a Methodist church outside Jeremie.

Communities live in shacks built partly from material scavenged in the city. The phone signal is unreliable, and aside from a handful of community-built wells, there is no water supply.

“Everything we have, we built ourselves,” says Moise Magaly, “I don’t know why no one comes for us. We’ve contacted the media and our representatives but we’ve heard nothing.”

“It’s a very poor area, where people don’t have the resources or the funds for materials to build their houses well,” says Kit Miyamoto, a structural engineer who runs a firm and foundation that works in Haiti and around the world to improve earthquake preparedness. “And this is a forgotten disaster because it happens out of the eyes of the world, which means there will be less funding.”

‘A forgotten disaster’: earthquake-hit Haitians left to fend for themselves | Global development | The Guardian

COVID-19 pandemic has not slowed the pace of climate change. Virus-related economic slowdown and lockdowns caused only a temporary downturn in CO2 emissions last year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said. 

“There was some thinking that the COVID lockdowns would have had a positive impact on the atmosphere, which is not the case,” WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said.

 The United in Science 2021 report, which gathers the latest scientific data and findings related to climate change, said global fossil-fuel CO2 emissions between January and July in the power and industry sectors were already back to the same level or higher than in the same period in 2019, before the pandemic. 

Although CO2 emissions from road traffic in 2021 have been below the levels before the pandemic outbreak, concentrations of the major greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming continued to increase, according to the report. 

“We are still significantly off-schedule to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. “Unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale  reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to 1.5C will be impossible, with catastrophic consequences for people and the planet on which we depend.” Guterres said.

UN: Pandemic did not slow advance of climate change | News | DW | 16.09.2021

 UK government, Olivier De Schutter, the UN-appointed rapporteur on extreme poverty, said, “It’s unconscionable at this point in time to remove this benefit,” he said, adding the decision to cut universal credit – which was boosted last year to help people get through the pandemic – was based on a “very ill-informed understanding” of its impact on claimants.

Cutting universal credit by £20 a week breaches international human rights law and is likely to trigger an explosion of poverty, the United Nations’ poverty envoy said.

“For these people, £20 a week makes a huge difference, and could be the difference between falling into extreme poverty or remaining just above that poverty line … If the question is one of fiscal consolidation to maintain the public deficit within acceptable levels then you should raise revenues, not cut down on welfare at the expense of people in poverty.”

There was plentiful evidence showing millions of people would struggle to afford food and pay essential bills as a result.

‘Unconscionable’ universal credit cut breaks human rights law, says UN envoy | Universal credit | The Guardian

 “If market solutions naturally greened the world, we wouldn’t be where we are. Clearly, there’s been a market failure.”

Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary

 Politicians and industrialists have been keen to adopt environment-friendly language in their media statements with lots of promises and pledges that their governments and corporations intend to change to solve the climate change crisis. 

But the new analysis, by Climate Action Tracker, finds almost every country is falling woefully short of their policies to meet what they agreed to in the 2015 Paris climate accord. Every one of the world’s leading economies, including all the countries that make up the G20, is failing to meet commitments made in the landmark Paris agreement in order to stave off climate catastrophe. This means the world is still on course towards calamitous climate impacts.

Climate pledges made by Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia are “critically insufficient.

Australia, Brazil, Canada, China and India are among those deemed “highly insufficient”.

The US, the European Union and Japan are ranked as “insufficient”.

The UK  is “almost sufficient”.

Combined, all these countries make up 80% of global emissions.

Only The Gambia has made commitments in line with the 1.5C Paris goal.

Even countries with strong climate targets are not on track to meet them, while international finance for poorer countries to help cope with the climate crisis is falling short. If current practices continue, the world is on track for nearly 3C in warming.

“An increasing number of people around the world are suffering from ever more severe and frequent impacts of climate change, yet government action continues to lag behind what is needed,” said Bill Hare, chief executive of Climate Analytics, a partner in the new study. “While many governments have committed to net zero, without near-term action achieving net zero is virtually impossible.”

Coal, the most polluting fossil fuel, is still being developed on a large scale by India and China, the report found, while gas infrastructure is being expanded by Australia and the EU.

Jennifer Rokala, executive director for the Center for Western Priorities conservation group, pointed out, “Vision is nothing without action.”

Governments falling woefully short of Paris climate pledges, study finds | Climate change | The Guardian

Almost daily we have reports from experts that detail the damage being done to the planet by the climate crises and the destruction of our environment. Yet governments procrastinate. They postpone policies rather than act immediately. Governments do what capitalism wishes. The first concern of the capitalists is for profit, and what remains very profitable at the present time will not be eliminated. The capitalist system is built upon the accumulation of capital, which means a need for growth. Contracting the market when there is still scope for returns to shareholders will not be on any board of directors business agenda.  There can be no answer to the various climate crises while production-for-profit persists. What is required is a cooperative commonwealth based upon human needs. The fact that we are at the edge of an abyss will not influence investors. They will reluctantly accept a number of reforms if their expectation of financial gains is not threatened. They will happily sell shares in the declining value of fossil fuels and buy into green industries. There is nothing that capitalism cannot fix with money is the mistaken belief held by so many of the ruling class.

 UN chief Antonio Guterres said, “I believe that we are at risk of not having a success in COP26.” 

It is at risk of failure due to mistrust between developed and developing countries and a lack of ambitious goals among some emerging economies.

Guterres explained, “There is still a level of mistrust, between north and south, developed and developing countries, that needs to be overcome. We are on the verge of the abyss and when you are on the verge of the abyss, you need to be very careful about what the next step is. And the next step is COP26 in Glasgow.”

There is now a 40 percent chance that average global temperature in one of the next five years will be at least 1.5C (2.7F) warmer than pre-industrial levels.

On Monday, Guterres and Boris Johnson will host a meeting of world leaders on the sidelines of the annual high-level week of the UN General Assembly in a bid to build the chances of success at the climate conference.

“We need the developed countries to do more, namely in relation to the support to developing countries. And we need some emerging economies to go an extra mile and be more ambitious in the reduction of air emissions,” Guterres said and he continued, “Until now, I have not seen enough commitment of developed countries to support developing countries … and to give a meaningful share of that support to the needs of adaptation,” said Guterres.

Glasgow climate summit at risk of failure, UN chief warns | Climate Change News | Al Jazeera

 In an open letter thousands of academics and scientists from around the world are urging governments to negotiate an international treaty to bring about a rapid and just transition away from coal, oil, and gas—”the main cause of the climate emergency.”

Characterizing the climate crisis as “the greatest threat to human civilization and nature,” the letter notes that “the burning of fossil fuels—coal, oil, and gas—is the greatest contributor to climate change, responsible for almost 80% of carbon dioxide emissions since the industrial revolution.”

The 2,185 experts from 81 countries write: “We, the undersigned, call on governments around the world to adopt and implement a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, as a matter of urgency, to protect the lives and livelihoods of present and future generations through a global, equitable phase out of fossil fuels in line with the scientific consensus to not exceed 1.5ºC of warming.”

Alluding to nuclear treaties created to reduce the threats posed by atomic weapons, the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative argues that swiftly phasing out fossil fuel production and expediting the transition to cleaner and healthier alternatives requires “unprecedented international cooperation in three main areas—non-proliferation, global disarmament, and a peaceful, just transition.”

“Air pollution caused by fossil fuels was responsible for almost 1 in 5 deaths worldwide in 2018,” says the letter, which emphasizes that while the negative impacts “derived from the extracting, refining, transporting, and burning of fossil fuels… are often borne by vulnerable and marginalized communities,” coal, oil, and gas corporations “concentrat[e] power and wealth into the hands of a select few, bypassing the communities in which extraction occurs.”

“The world’s leading scientists could not be clearer,” said Rebecca Byrnes, deputy director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. “Coal, oil, and gas are the primary cause of the climate crisis and are responsible for nearly one in every five deaths worldwide.”

“This is a global emergency,” NASA climate scientist and signatory Peter Kalmus said in a statement. “It requires global coordination to quickly eliminate the immediate cause: deadly fossil fuels.”

 The researchers’ letter calls for the development of a new treaty that establishes “a binding global plan” to:

End new expansion of fossil fuel production in line with the best available science as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Environment Programme;

Phase out existing production of fossil fuels in a manner that is fair and equitable, taking into account the respective dependency of countries on fossil fuels, and their capacity to transition; and

Invest in a transformational plan to ensure 100% access to renewable energy globally, support fossil fuel-dependent economies to diversify away from fossil fuels, and enable people and communities across the globe to flourish through a global just transition.

  U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) released the report (pdf) with the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that warns that the public support mechanisms for agriculture, totaling about $540 billion annually, “are actively steering us away from achieving” the Sustainable Development Goals and the aims of the 2015 Paris agreement. It calls for “repurposing” 87% of this support, or about $470 billion, to meet global environmental and social goals.

Billions of dollars in price incentives and production-related subsidies each year “are inefficient, distort food prices, hurt people’s health, degrade the environment, and are often inequitable, putting big agribusiness ahead of smallholder farmers, a large share of whom are women,” the agencies explained 

“Agricultural policies, while shaping what food is produced, also have impacts well beyond the farm gate,” the report emphasizes, noting the effect on not only nutrition, health, equity, and efficiency but also nature and climate—due to planet-heating emissions; carbon sequestration; soil, freshwater, and forest preservation; and biodiversity loss.

“Repurposing agricultural support to shift our agri-food systems in a greener, more sustainable direction—including by rewarding good practices such as sustainable farming and climate-smart approaches—can improve both productivity and environmental outcomes,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP’s administrator. “It will also boost the livelihoods of the 500 million smallholder farmers worldwide—many of them women—by ensuring a more level playing field.”

Inger Andersen, executive director of  UNEP, said, “By shifting to more nature-positive, equitable, and efficient agricultural support,” Andersen said, “we can improve livelihoods, and at the same time cut emissions, protect and restore ecosystems, and reduce the use of agrochemicals.”

UN Report Calls for ‘Repurposing’ $470 Billion in Agriculture Support to Serve People and Planet | Common Dreams News

Will Big Ag’s lobbyists permit cuts in the generous and lucrative government subsidies provided to industrial farming? 

 Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses a few rich countries of stalling a proposal that could address vaccine inequality after being lobbied by big pharmaceutical companies.

HRW’s Aruna Kashyap, associate business and human rights director:

The push for a waiver of medical patents is back on the agenda this week with talks due to be held at the World Trade Organization, almost a year since it was first proposed by India and South Africa.

Yesterday, medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières called out the UK, EU (led by Germany), Switzerland and Norway as barriers to the proposal. Its supporters say it would allow vaccines to be produced more quickly by tapping into unused capacity around the world and take pricing out of the hands of pharmaceuticals.

The pharmaceuticals have however opposed the move and argued it would not help speed up vaccine production.

 “The interlinked crises of pollution, climate change and biodiversity act as threat multipliers, amplifying conflicts, tensions and structural inequalities, and forcing people into increasingly vulnerable situations,” UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said. “As these environmental threats intensify, they will constitute the single greatest challenge to human rights of our era.”

The UN rights chief cited “murderous climate events”, including the fires in Siberia and California, and floods in China, Germany and Turkey. Bachelet warned severe droughts could additionally force millions of people into misery, hunger and displacement.

Addressing the environmental crisis is, therefore “a humanitarian imperative, a human rights imperative, a peace-building imperative and a development imperative”

Environmental threats ‘greatest challenge to human rights’: UN | Climate Change News | Al Jazeera