International
Water, one of the resources most impacted by climate change in Latin America
March 28 |
Water is at risk. Climate change has caused phenomena such as rising sea levels, droughts, floods, and extreme temperatures to affect the water cycle and water quality: an essential resource for living beings, food production, and the socioeconomic development of populations.
The most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations (UN) states that due to the increase in extreme weather events resulting from global warming, water insecurity associated with climate will increase.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) stresses that “between 2 and 3 billion people suffer water shortages for at least one month a year”. Figures that according to the institution will double “from 930 million in 2016 to 1.7-2.4 billion people in 2050”:
“It is said that by 2040 we are going to have such big droughts and so much lack of water that many nations and many populations are going to have to emigrate (…) We are definitely going to have land struggles, land where there is water, where there is drinking water,” Thais Lopez, the director of the Volo Foundation, a private organization that advocates fighting climate change and improving education and health, told Voice of America.
Against this backdrop, Lopez says that “the problems of the poorest countries are going to be exacerbated”.
Situation in Latin America:
According to the World Bank, Latin America has almost a third of the world’s water resources, representing the highest water endowment per capita. However, environmental conditions, exacerbated by climate change, have depleted reserves.
“This is very evident in Chile, Peru and northwestern Mexico, because these arid zones are becoming increasingly hotter and the availability of water is beginning to be a determining factor,” Rodolfo Lacy, Director of Climate Action and Environment for Latin America at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Special Envoy for Climate Affairs at the United Nations, told the Voice of America.
Lacy also stresses that water scarcity is “directly linked” to food production. He explains that if measures are not taken, such as modifying agricultural activities in order to dose water, or implementing infrastructures to monitor climate conditions, food-producing regions, such as the Paraná basin in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, or the Bajío in Mexico, could be affected.
“Agricultural activities that in some way depend on high humidity will also be affected, because as humidity decreases in tropical regions, some super crops such as bananas or coffee will have less chance of being developed as we had been doing so far,” said Lacy.
Another factor that worries professionals is water quality.
Quality water may contain microorganisms and chemical substances that can cause diseases such as diarrhea or intoxication, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
The institution highlights that approximately 7,600 children under 5 years of age die annually from diarrheal diseases in Latin America. The countries with the highest percentages of mortality due to diarrhea among the youngest children are Haiti (23%), Guatemala (10%), Bolivia (7%) and Venezuela (5%).
According to Rodolfo Lacy, aquatic contamination should be prevented through measures such as avoiding dumping waste in the water and reducing fertilizers.
“Water is sometimes used to dispose of all kinds of waste (…) We know very well the problem of plastics in bodies of water both on land and in the ocean, such as chemicals, for example, that dissolve in water (…) Some of them (are) very toxic to animal and plant life.”
The expert points out that the situation is especially complex in Latin America, where sometimes there is no adequate method in wastewater treatment systems.
“We are especially concerned about some ecosystems such as mangroves, which protect us from extreme hydro meteorological phenomena, such as hurricanes or rising seas (…) They can quickly disappear and that is what has happened,” he adds.
“It is said that we eat a card, the equivalent of a credit card, not only because of plastic packaging, because of everything we drink in plastic packaging, but because fish are consuming the plastic that is disposed of in our oceans,” explains Thais Lopez, of the Volo Foundation.
“It’s time to act”:
With the aim of organizing concrete actions related to water and sanitation around the world, the United Nations held a water conference March 22-24 in New York, the first such event in nearly 40 years.
Following the conference, it was proposed to appoint a special commissioner for water, and a multitude of non-binding agreements were drawn up to facilitate access to quality water and sanitation, such as the construction of toilets and the restoration of rivers and lakes damaged by human activity.
The organization’s Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, assured in his final speech that the proposals will be reviewed in July at high-level political meetings, and reiterated the importance of “committing to a common future”.
“There can be no sustainable development without water,” he said: “It is time to act”.
International
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
A 65-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested at a border checkpoint in Croatia after attempting to enter the country in his car with a deceased woman sitting as a passenger, police announced on Tuesday.
The man was detained in a routine check in late November in Gunja, a border area separating Bosnia from Croatia, the police told AFP. Suspicious because they saw “no consciousness or movement” from the passenger, Croatian officers called a doctor, who confirmed the death of the 83-year-old woman, also Austrian, according to her identification.
The woman’s relationship to the suspect is unknown. She had died in Bosnia, and the man intended to repatriate her body to Austria to “avoid the formalities related to transporting a corpse,” according to the police. Croatian media reported that the man was her legal guardian.
Once her death was confirmed, a funeral service took charge of the body.
International
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Colombian authorities arrested two nationals accused of the illegal trafficking of migrants to the United States and of endangering lives due to the disappearance of a boat with 40 people aboard, U.S. Department of Justice officials reported on Tuesday.
Hernando Manuel de la Cruz Rivera Orjuela, 52, and Luis Enrique Linero Pinto, 40, both Colombian citizens, were arrested on December 13 in Colombia at the request of the United States for their alleged involvement in a “transnational human trafficking operation,” the department said in a statement.
According to the charges, the detainees were transporting migrants to San Andrés Island in the Caribbean, where they would then be taken by boat to Nicaragua. The goal was to reach the United States through Central America and Mexico.
The accused are said to have advised the migrants on how to reach San Andrés Island, where they personally received them, arranged accommodations, and “took them to the boats that transported them to Nicaragua so they could enter the United States illegally,” the statement reads.
“These defendants put several migrants on the boat that disappeared off the coast of Nicaragua in 2023,” said Deputy Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, as cited in the statement.
Both men are “directly and personally responsible for the illicit trafficking of migrants on that vessel,” according to the indictment dated October 23.
International
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
Two soldiers were killed and five others were injured by the explosion of homemade landmines planted by a criminal group in a mountainous area of the Mexican state of Michoacán (west), the Secretary of Defense reported on Tuesday.
The attack occurred on Monday morning in the municipality of Cotija, a border area between Michoacán and the state of Jalisco, when the military was conducting a reconnaissance mission after receiving information about an armed camp in the area, explained Secretary General Ricardo Trevilla.
“At that moment, an improvised explosive device detonated. Unfortunately, two soldiers lost their lives, and five others were injured,” the military leader detailed. The affected soldiers were airlifted to hospitals in the region by a military helicopter, while the rest of the team continued with the reconnaissance of the area.
Trevilla stated that before the explosion, the military unit had located the dismembered bodies of three people, and upon continuing the mission, they confirmed the camp was abandoned.
Asked about the individuals responsible for placing the explosives, the general suggested they could be criminals linked to the local group Cárteles Unidos, which operates in Michoacán and uses these tactics in their territorial dispute with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country.
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