News headlines in 2018, page 45

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, Aug 07 (IPS) - The Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia is home to more than 2,000 native species — of which nearly 200 species occur nowhere else in the world. Though less than 616 square kilometres in area, the island is exceptionally rich in animals and plants.

NELLORE DISTRICT, India, Aug 07 (IPS) - This article is part of a series of stories and op-eds initiated by IPS on the occasion of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, on August 9.

Under the blazing midday sun, a tractor moves slowly along a dirt trail in Macharawari Pallem, a village of the Yanadi indigenous people located some three hours from Chennai city in South India. Atop the tractor, women of the village – 36 in all – sit expectantly, ignoring the heat. Squeals of excitement fill the air as the tractor slowly halts near a stretch of rice fields.

MINNESOTA, United States, Aug 06 (IPS) - Juliana Nnoko-Mewanu is a women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch who has done extensive work on land rights issues.

Violent clashes between farmers and herders in Nigeria's Middle Belt in June reminded me of a smelting hot afternoon a year ago.  I was sitting in my living room watching a herder grazing his cows in my yard in the small town in southwestern Cameroon where I live.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 06 (IPS) - Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya.

Previously characterised by belligerence, based on competition for resources, the border regions of Eastern Africa can sense the blissful wind of peace approaching.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 06 (IPS) - The rising heat waves in the world's middle income and poorer nations are threatening the health and prosperity of about 1.1 billion people, including 470 million in rural areas without access to safe food and medicines, and 630 million in hotter, poor urban slums, with little or no cooling to protect them, according to the latest figures released by the United Nations.

LONDON, Aug 06 (IPS) - Jacqui Hunt* is Regional Director for Europe, Equality Now.

A new report on the scale and extent of sexual abuse and exploitation in the aid sector should come as no surprise. It is now time for international agencies, including the UN, to step up and show some much-needed leadership to tackle this issue once and for all.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 06 (IPS) - Although indigenous peoples are being increasingly recognised by both rights activists and governmental organisations, they are still being neglected in legal documents and declarations. Indigenous peoples are only mentioned in two of the 17 United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and only seen in two of the 230 SDG indicators, says indigenous rights expert Chris Chapman.

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 06 (IPS) - Beef is one of the symbols historically identified with Argentina. After lean years, production and exports are growing, as is the debate on the environmental impact of cattle, which is on the radar of environmentalists and actors in the agricultural value chain.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 05 (IPS) - Domestic violence in New Zealand is one of the highest rates in the developing world and recent legislation there that gives victims of domestic violence 10 days of paid leave, without having to present any documentation in support, has been praised across the globe.

STEPANTSMINDA, Georgia, Aug 05 (IPS) - On Aug. 9 the observance of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples will take place in the Economic and Social Council Chamber at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, bringing together U.N. agencies and member states, civil society and indigenous peoples' organisations.