News headlines in December 2019, page 8

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 03 (IPS) - The greatest single climate-induced threat facing the world's 44 small island developing states (SIDS) is rising sea waters which could obliterate some of the low-lying states, including Maldives, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Palau and Micronesia.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 03 (IPS) - On Nov. 11, the Gambia filed a lawsuit against Myanmar in the International Court of Justice for the southeast asian country's atrocities against the Rohingya population. 

MADRID, Dec 03 (IPS) - Tens of thousands of delegates from state parties began working Monday Dec. 2 in the Spanish capital to pave the way to comply with the Paris Agreement on climate change, while at a parallel summit, representatives of civil society demanded that the international community go further.

MADRID, Dec 02 (IPS) - A green economy is "not one to be feared but an opportunity to be embraced", UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Mondayin a keynote speech to delegates at the opening of the COP25 UN climate conference in Madrid on Monday.

ROME, Dec 02 (IPS) - Mass public pressure backed by the weight of scientific reports is starting to bring governments to their senses as the annual UN climate summit kicks off in Madrid today.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Dec 02 (IPS) - A start-up in Zimbabwe is producing high nutrition foods using biofortified crops in a bid to fight micronutrient deficiency.

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) leads to night blindness, illness and death from childhood infections. In Zimbabwe, 36 percent of children under five years of age suffer from Vitamin A deficiency, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

MILAN, Italy, Dec 02 (IPS) - Inter Press Service (IPS) journalist Busani Bafana sat down with Busi Maziya-Dixon, a Senior Food and Nutrition Scientist at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) ahead of the 10th International Forum on Food and Nutrition.

Maziya-Dixon warns there is no country which will achieve economic development with an undernourished population.

More than 2 billion people in the world are suffering from malnutrition. This is the result of diets lacking essential micronutrients such as vitamins, iron and zinc, which are vital for the body to function, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

MADRID, Dec 02 (IPS) - During the 25th round of climate change negotiations starting today in Madrid, Spain, African civil society organisations will call on governments from both developing and developed nations to play their promised roles in combating climate change.