Syria

,

In Today's News: Refugees Face Threat of Coronavirus; Conflict, Climate, Contagion; As Himalayas Warm, Nepal's Climate Migrants Suffer; East Africa's Locusts are Back, Stronger Than Ever

,

Refugees Worldwide Now Face Threat of Coronavirus

About 10 million of the world’s 70 million refugees live in crowded camps and informal settlements. Almost no refugees living in these camps have been tested for the virus, and testing, in short supply in New York, is non-existent in the global south, where ventilators, gloves and masks are scant. A review by Norwegian Refugee Council of 30 countries found virtually no testing before people became sick - many in cramped and abysmal quarters making social distancing and frequent hand-washing near impossible. Refugees have tested positive in Italy, Germany, Iran, Australia and Greece, where 150 people living in a quarantined hotel for asylum-seekers had contracted the virus. In Syria’s war-ravaged Idlib province, where 200 tests have been carried out but no cases yet exist, only one small health facility is ready to treat, but elsewhere, where cases have appeared, 350 health facilities have been bombed, over 900 medical staff have been killed and countless more have fled. In Cox’s Bazaar, the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh, aid workers are racing to build isolation facilities, while in Kenya’s two largest refugee camps, Kakuma and Dadaab, where refugees have lived for decades in exile, there are no tests, no intensive care units and no ventilators, and fears are that the worst is yet to come. (LA Times)

Conflict, Climate and Contagion: Refugees Suffer

As countries shut their borders and refugee resettlement operations grind to a halt, refugees in camps and urban settlements grow ever more vulnerable to the Coronavirus, where social distancing seems largely a privilege. Cox’s Bazaar - the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh - has twice the density of New York City, the current pandemic epicenter. Overcrowded settlements exemplify conflict, climate and contagion’s interconnectedness - all leading reasons for flight. The response to Covid-19 has highlighted the challenges of response in the face of limited resources - prompting questions of whether to treat the elderly over the young or the current workforce? These same ethical questions easily translate to groups defined by immigration status and borders as well, and while the virus has everything to do with mobility, it is migration that has been demonized. And all the while, it is migrants all over the world who have made significant contributions as frontline and essential workers in the medical fields, food and health services that keep the pandemic response moving along. (Newsroom) 

As Himalayas Warm, Nepal’s Climate Migrants Struggle to Survive

High in the Himalayas in a village called Dhye, an exodus of migrants has begun, forced by  dwindling crops, the closed school, and essentially, life made impossible by climate change. Millions of South Asians are at risk as glacial melt has accelerated and with it, made land barren and remapped the Himalayan region, forcing mountain dwellers to build life anew at lower altitudes. One of the most comprehensive studies on mountain warming last year revealed that even if the most ambitious climate change targets were met, at least one-third of the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2100, and warnings are that rising temperatures could spread malaria and dengue to new areas of the region, where mosquitoes have already started to appear in the highlands. Nepal is considered ground zero for the impacts of climate change and while the number of impacted migrants are unknown, local officials estimate it to be in the thousands with officials planning to track the impacts of rising temperatures for the first time in an upcoming census. The climate change migrants who have already left face numerous challenges in resettlement, where new residents have no legal right to land. (NY Times) 

Two New Generations of Locusts are Set to Descend on East Africa Again - 400 Times Stronger

Already farmers and herders across Kenya are reporting the large swathes in an infestation which first arrived last June and wreaked havoc across eight countries. Scientists say they never left and will only increase this year due to higher than average rainfall. East Africa, already a food insecure region for 20 million people, now faces additional challenges made worse by conflict, climate shocks and the expected rise in Covid-19 cases, and experts fear that up to 100% of farmers’ budding crops could be destroyed. Efforts to mitigate losses are underway but Covid-19 poses new challenges with country lockdowns and supply chain disruptions in pesticide shipments. Already, Somalia is three weeks behind in locust control pesticides due to Covid-19. If control activities fail, up to an additional 5 million could be food insecure in East Africa by June. (Quartz Africa) 

In Today's News: US Immigration Policies Compound Coronavirus Pandemic; The Lessons of Coronavirus for Climate Change; The Syrian Refugee Woman Who Developed Virus-Resistant Seeds

Cruel Immigration Policies Make the Pandemic Worse

As the Coronavirus pandemic spreads globally, US immigration agencies continue their raids, detentions and deportations with good indication from the WHO that US deportations to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala imported 1, 18 and 26 cases of the virus, respectively, as of March 23. With its unsanitary and extreme close quarters, detention centers exacerbate the high contagion rate of the virus. Prior to Covid-19, 700 detainees were reported to have mumps and at least three children have died from the flu. The author notes that so many refugees have been forced to flee due to misguided US trade policies, wars and proxy wars, coups, political interventions and now, unchecked greenhouse gas emissions and continued failed climate policies, which threaten to displace millions more who could face similar cruelty in that crisis. (Common Dreams) 

Can the Lessons of the Coronavirus Pandemic Be Applied to Climate Change?

The global economic shutdown has made apparent what is possible if humans commit to reducing its carbon footprint. Since January, China’s emissions have declined 25 percent and satellite imagery has captured huge declines in pollution in Beijing, Los Angeles and New York. Marshal Burke at Stanford University calculated that China’s shutdown has likely saved 4,000 lives of children under 5 and 73,000 lives of adults over 70, 20 times the deaths of Chinese coronavirus cases. In the long run though, as countries re-emerge from the economic loss, the inspired long-term actions needed to avert a climate crisis we sense is coming is unlikely as governments prioritize short-term economic growth over long-term sustainability, all the while loosening environmental regulations, which we already see playing out in some countries like the US and China, and public pressure to combat climate change is subsumed by the economic effects of the coronavirus. (World Politics Review) 

Planting Hope: The Syrian Refugee Who Developed Virus-Resistant Super-Seeds

Kumari, a plant virologist, has been working the past 10 years on solutions to a fueled virus spreading from Syria to Ethiopia affecting livelihood crops known as “poor man’s meat”, vital for both income generation and food security. She says climate change has provided aphids with the right temperature to breed exponentially and spread epidemics. When she finally found a bean varietal resistant to one of the viruses, she safeguarded the seeds with her sister in Aleppo, never believing the Syrian war would expand across the country. Determined to equally safeguard her work, she traveled via Damascus to Aleppo, dodging bombings and dangerous roads over two days, eventually bringing the seeds back to safety with her in Lebanon. But that was only the first hurdle, as the region faced mounting crop production losses and producers began to rely heavily on insecticides with no safety measures. Her work eventually succeeded, providing a cheap and environmentally friendly option with good yields. Turning down offers from virus detection tech companies who wanted to sell the seeds to farmers, Kumari now plans to distribute her seeds free to farmers, saying “it’s our responsibility to provide our solutions to people everywhere.” (The Guardian)