Burkina Faso is a landlocked country, a little larger than Colorado, in west Africa. It is also a country facing multiple challenges, not all of its own making.
For one thing, it is one of the world's poorest countries according to the UN's World Food Programme, with 45% of its roughly 20 million people living on the equivalent of less than $1.25 a day. Food insecurity and undernutrition are chronic problems, with over 10% of children acutely malnourished.
That threatens to get worse as climate change accelerates land degradation: Rising temperatures and increasing drought mean that in just five to 10 years of cultivation, soil is no longer able to ensure the mineral and water supply for food crops, leading to yields collapse. One-third of Burkina Faso's total territory is degraded. Half of the farmland has essentially turned to sand.
That in turn has lead to persistent conflicts over land use and massive, climate-driven migrations. Nearly half a million people were forced from their homes.
But fleeing not just food insecurity, but physical insecurity. Over the past few years there has been an increase in armed conflict and terrorism in the country, including an attack on a mosque in the northern town of Salmossi on October 11 that killed at least 15 and a November 6 attack on workers at a gold mine near Boungou that killed at least 47. Nearly 600 civilians have been killed, and scores more wounded, in recent years.
As climate change increases droughts increases land degradation increases hunger increases migration increases fanaticism increases conflict it is to be hoped that Burkina Faso can find a way out - because we could be looking at a hint of the future.
Panama
https://pridesource.com/article/panama-signals-it-will-comply-with-landmark-lgbt-rights-ruling/ https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/11/06/panamanians-protest-proposed-ban-marriage-equality https://menafn.com/1099253094/Lawmaker-challenges-cop-to-fight-after-rowdy-party?src=Rss
Israel
https://www.axios.com/netanyahu-naftali-bennett-defense-minister-benny-gantz-1d9ec73d-14cb-43d1-b7ed-26182bbfd9fa.html https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-netanyahu-s-likud-merges-with-hayamin-hehadash-bennett-to-be-defense-minister-1.8096675
Kenya - Somalia
https://theconversation.com/western-countries-take-sides-in-kenyas-maritime-row-with-somalia-124745 https://www.dw.com/en/kenya-or-somalia-who-owns-the-sea-and-what-lies-beneath/a-19557277
Brazil
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/10/19/bolsonaro-helping-fuel-explosion-violence-against-indigenous-peoples-brazil https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/24/brazilians-blast-bolsonaros-un-speech-denying-amazon-devastation-total-scam https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/brazil-top-court-ruling-free-jailed-president-lula-191108051743354.html https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/brazil-lula-convicted-2018-election-report-190610055731589.html https://theintercept.com/2019/06/09/brazil-car-wash-prosecutors-workers-party-lula/ https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/08/extraordinary-day-brazilian-leftist-leader-lula-freed-prison https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lula-bolsonaro-brazil_n_5dc792b1e4b00927b2346352
New Zealand
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/07/777259573/new-zealand-commits-to-being-carbon-neutral-by-2050-with-a-big-loophole https://nypost.com/2019/11/07/new-zealand-passes-law-to-help-combat-climate-change/
India
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/11/08/775487863/as-delhi-chokes-on-smog-indias-health-minister-advises-eat-more-carrots https://www.polygraph.info/a/india-pollution-pakistan-poison-fact-check/30260054.html https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-pollution-map-graphic/worlds-worst-air-indias-pollution-crisis-in-perspective-idUSKBN1XI19Y https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/pakistan-may-have-released-poisonous-gas-to-pollute-air-in-india-bjp-leader-vineet-agarwal-sharda-1616080-2019-11-06
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About Lotus
Lotus has been at various times the newsletter of a local peace group, a column in a different group's newsletter, a stand-alone monthly, and now a blog. Posts appear bi-weekly; posts are drawn from my weekly cable-TV show "The Erickson Report," which can be found here.
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Our lives are not our own, we are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future. - author David Mitchell
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country, a little larger than Colorado, in west Africa. It is also a country facing multiple challenges, not all of its own making.
That in turn has lead to persistent conflicts over land use and massive, climate-driven migrations. Nearly half a million people were forced from their homes.
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