Rivers and lakes are vital ecosystems. They cover less than 1% of the planet’s surface, but their 17,000 fish species represent a quarter of all vertebrates, as well as providing food for many millions of people. Healthy rivers are also needed to supply clean water. Yet only 14% of rivers have fish populations that has escaped serious damage from human activities. Scientists found that the biodiversity of more than half of rivers had been profoundly affected. The worst-hit regions are western Europe and North America. In the UK, there have been no prosecutions or fines issued to farms by the Environment Agency (EA) despite 243 violations of legislation designed to curb the agricultural pollution of waterways in England. The scale of pollution in English rivers from the agricultural runoff of chemicals and sewage pollution was exposed when in 2020, for the first time, no river achieved good chemical status, suggesting that pollution from chemicals and agriculture is having a huge impact on river quality. Sewage wastewater discharges by water companies into rivers account for damage to 36% of waterways, and runoff from agricultural industries is responsible for 40% of the damage.

“Human well-being lies in protecting the health of the planet,” declared the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. “It’s time to reevaluate and reset our relationship with nature.” 

The UN on Thursday released a report on the triple emergency of the climate crisis, the destruction of wildlife and habitats, and deadly pollution in what Guterres described as  humanity’s “senseless and suicidal war on nature.” He added. “Human well-being lies in protecting the health of the planet. It’s time to reevaluate and reset our relationship with nature. 

The UN’s report recommends various reforms such as carbon taxes; a redirection state subsidies and new business models. 

An article by Vandana Shiva, an eco-activists, proposes much more fundamental changes as a solution and it is in the title of this article by her, ‘Reclaiming Our Common Home: Expand the Commons to Include Everything We Need’. 

She explains “Through reclaiming the commons, we can imagine possibility for our common future, and we can sow the seeds of abundance through “commoning.” In the commons, we care and share—for the Earth and each other.”

Her language is not ours, but she reflects our aspirations for a sustainable steady-state economy of common ownership, where production is for peoples’ needs and not for a capitalist’s profit. 

 “Everybody’s worst fear about capital punishment is that innocent people will be wrongfully convicted and executed,” Robert Dunham, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) executive director, said. “But the more we learn about what actually happens in these cases, the worse the problem gets.”

The DPIC added 11 cases to its “Innocence List” that tracks American death row exonerations on Thursday, bringing the total to 185 and raising concerns over the likelihood more innocents – especially people of colour – will be condemned.

DPIC has found wrongful death penalty convictions in “virtually every part of the country, with exonerations documented in 29 states and 118 different counties”, the report found. By their estimate, one in every 8.3 people sentenced to death in the United States since capital punishment resumed in 1970 were exonerated.

The cases reveal trends of “misconduct and racial bias”, the DPIC said. About 70 percent involved misconduct from police, prosecutors or other government officials. Roughly 80 percent “involved some combination of misconduct or perjury/false accusation and more than half involved both”.

Black exonerees saw misconduct in their cases at a much higher rate, 78.8 percent, than white exonerees at 58.2 percent. “Black exonerees spent an average of 4.3 more years waiting for exoneration than white exonerees”, the report said.

A major concern involving cases that involve capital punishment is false evidence, including false confessions – which occur at rates as high as 25 to 30 percent in exonerations won by DNA evidence. Forensic practices, such as hair analysis, bitemark analysis and bloodshot patterns, played an outsized role in wrongful convictions. DNA evidence has played a profound role in exonerations, the DPIC report said. DNA uncovered mistakes in official misconduct, false confessions, mistaken witness identification and more in capital punishment cases at much higher rates than cases where no DNA was present.

Despite concerns over capital punishment, the federal government conducted 13 executions between 2020 and the end of former President Donald Trump’s administration in January 2021, including the first killing of a female inmate since 1953. The executions were uniformly challenged based on faulty evidence or the mental acuity of the condemned, though none won reprieves.

‘We can be sure innocents died’, US death row exonerations show | Crime News | Al Jazeera

 Mexico has made a plea at the UN security council for countries to stop hoarding vaccines against Covid-19 as poorer ones fall behind in the race to vaccinate their citizens.

Three-quarters of the first doses have been administered to citizens in only 10 countries while in more than 100 countries no vaccines have been applied at all.

 “We urge countries to avoid hoarding vaccines and accelerate the first stages of Covax deliveries, to give priority to countries with fewer resources,” Ebrard said. “It is urgent to act, to reverse the injustice that is being committed because the security of all humanity depends on it,” Ebrard said.

So far no vaccines have been distributed under the global Covax initiative. Officials from the Pan American Health Organization said on Wednesday that countries could expect confirmation of their Covax vaccine shipments soon, although the first batches were expected to be small.

Mexico calls on rich countries not to hoard coronavirus vaccines | Mexico | The Guardian

 In Colombia, Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), which was set up as part of the peace process after the left-wing Farc rebels signed the 2016 peace deal with the government. The JEP is a transitional court system which was put in place for a period of 10 years to try all participants in the conflict, be they rebels or state members. Those who admit to their crimes up front will avoid jail time, but will be required to contribute in other ways to reconciliation – such as participating in programmes to remove landmines, build key infrastructure or construct monuments.

 The Common Sense Group of Conservative MPs has proposed that the 1,761 recipients of the Victoria Cross and George Cross be immortalised with a statue in their place of birth. 

The Common Sense Group’s campaign has been warmly greeted by both the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, who said he “looked forward to discussing these ideas further”

Sir John Hayes, the chair of the Common Sense Group,  “Tragically, too many who have given and achieved so much have been all but forgotten. In many places, locals may be unaware that they tread in the footsteps of heroes. Which is why the Common Sense Group has launched a campaign to honour every recipient of the VC and GC through the erection of a statue, immortalising them in their place of birth. Where this is not practically possible, these heroes could be recognised by a plaque or have a public building, park or road named or renamed after them.”

More war hero statues ‘wholly retrograde’ move, says UK women’s group | Heritage | The Guardian

New Zealand’s birthrate dropped to its lowest ever level in 2020, well below the population replacement rate of 2.1. The country’s declining birthrate is in line with trends seen in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan and the US, among others.

The country’s total fertility rate dropped to 1.61 births per woman of child-bearing age (15–49 years), the latest fall in a decade-old trend.

Most babies registered in 2020 were conceived before New Zealand moved to Covid-19 lockdown on 25 March last year, said Hamish Slack at Statistics NZ.

“Fertility rates in New Zealand were relatively stable between 1980 and 2012, but have generally decreased since then,” said Slack. “Since 2013, the number of women of reproductive age has increased by 11% and the number of births has decreased by 2%.”

In 2020, there were 57,753 live births registered in New Zealand, down 2,064 (3%) from the previous year.

Demographer Prof Paul Spoonley from Massey University forecasts for the next 20 years indicated many families would have either one child or be childless.

He said “The results of the demographic transition which we’re going through now is something we’ve never encountered before,” he said. “We’ve never had a society in which one in four people is aged over 65, for example. It is unprecedented.”

New Zealand birthrate sinks to its lowest ever | New Zealand | The Guardian

New Zealand’s birthrate dropped to its lowest ever level in 2020, well below the population replacement rate of 2.1. The country’s declining birthrate is in line with trends seen in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan and the US, among others.

The country’s total fertility rate dropped to 1.61 births per woman of child-bearing age (15–49 years), the latest fall in a decade-old trend.

Most babies registered in 2020 were conceived before New Zealand moved to Covid-19 lockdown on 25 March last year, said Hamish Slack at Statistics NZ.

“Fertility rates in New Zealand were relatively stable between 1980 and 2012, but have generally decreased since then,” said Slack. “Since 2013, the number of women of reproductive age has increased by 11% and the number of births has decreased by 2%.”

In 2020, there were 57,753 live births registered in New Zealand, down 2,064 (3%) from the previous year.

Demographer Prof Paul Spoonley from Massey University forecasts for the next 20 years indicated many families would have either one child or be childless.

He said “The results of the demographic transition which we’re going through now is something we’ve never encountered before,” he said. “We’ve never had a society in which one in four people is aged over 65, for example. It is unprecedented.”

New Zealand birthrate sinks to its lowest ever | New Zealand | The Guardian

Migrants are needed to stop population decline in Scotland, a new report has found.

 Towering Injustice

Forty four months since Grenfell burned, and still

Too many tenants in too many towers

Sleep one eye open through the early hours

For when the shrill fire alarm isn’t a drill.

The wall beyond the curtain’s not secure,

Cheaply dressed, just for appearance sake,

But allows the damp or the flame to take

And negates even the means to insure.

Capital builders will promote facades

To try and disguise what’s shoddy behind,

Sure the poor should be too grateful to mind:

Where profit fails, frustrated need pervades.

People remain disgruntled, yet resigned,

Until, that is, the working class abraids.

D. A.

 Towering Injustice

Forty four months since Grenfell burned, and still

Too many tenants in too many towers

Sleep one eye open through the early hours

For when the shrill fire alarm isn’t a drill.

The wall beyond the curtain’s not secure,

Cheaply dressed, just for appearance sake,

But allows the damp or the flame to take

And negates even the means to insure.

Capital builders will promote facades

To try and disguise what’s shoddy behind,

Sure the poor should be too grateful to mind:

Where profit fails, frustrated need pervades.

People remain disgruntled, yet resigned,

Until, that is, the working class abraids.

D. A.