Not all about me
Time for something completely different, in the middle of the chaos that is organising my life into boxes and suitcases at the moment.
Some things to be thankful for:
China has promised to provide clean and safe drinking water to 300-million people in the country in the next 10 years. A government spokesman says billions of dollars will be invested to tackle water contamination and chronic shortages. The problem has been caused by factories dumping toxic industrial waste into rivers and lakes, and by the heavy use of pesticides and fertilisers. Drought has left 18 million people in China without enough water this year alone.
A United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) led project that uses hybrid varieties of rice to increase production has resulted in unprecedented yields of the staple crop in Egypt, the agency said today. Rice is the world’s most widely-consumed food - some 618 million tonnes were produced in 2005. With the world’s population growing by more than 70 million a year, the FAO estimates that an extra 153 million tonnes of rice will be needed by 2030.
$940 million in pledges were made for Lebanon’s reconstruction yesterday’s international donor conference in Sweden. OCHA also reported today that a World Food Programme (WFP)-chartered vessel had arrived in Lebanon with 10 vehicles and food, while two WFP trucks had left Beirut for southern villages carrying clean water supplied by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The Global call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), which is the worldwide alliance the Make Poverty History campaign came from, is uniting again in global solidarity for the Month of Mobilisation 2006, which runs from September 16th through to October 17th. During the Month of Mobilisation millions of people across the world will Stand Up Against Poverty on October 15th to demostrate against poverty and inequality. Oxfam are organising a series of events for the Month of Mobilisation throughout New Zealand. I’m going to be at the Stand Up Against Poverty in London, but I haven’t got any details yet for anything here in NZ. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.
