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La Slovénie a fermé ses frontières le 8 mars à minuit, entraînant le blocage de toute la « route des Balkans ». Plus de 50 000 réfugiés sont pris au piège en Grèce. À Idomeni, à la frontière avec la Macédoine, 10 000 personnes attendent dans des conditions indécentes depuis la fin février. Après l'accord du 18 mars à Bruxelles, l'Union européenne s'en remet au bon vouloir de la Turquie. Lundi 4 avril, les déportations ont commencé sous la surveillance de Frontex. Retrouvez toutes les infos en temps réel.
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/ Croatie, Slovénie, Grèce, Roumanie, Macédoine, Bulgarie, Serbie, Turquie, Migrants Balkans, Populations, minorités et migrations, #OpenEurope, Albanie, Gratuit, Courrier des Balkans

La Slovénie a fermé ses frontières le 8 mars à minuit, entraînant le blocage de toute la « route des Balkans ». Plus de 50 000 réfugiés sont pris au piège en Grèce. À Idomeni, à la frontière avec la Macédoine, 10 000 personnes attendent dans des conditions indécentes depuis la fin février. Après l'accord du 18 mars à Bruxelles, l'Union européenne s'en remet au bon vouloir de la Turquie. Lundi 4 avril, les déportations ont commencé sous la surveillance de Frontex. Retrouvez toutes les infos en temps réel.
Par la (...)

/ Croatie, Slovénie, Grèce, Roumanie, Macédoine, Bulgarie, Serbie, Turquie, Migrants Balkans, Populations, minorités et migrations, #OpenEurope, Albanie, Gratuit, Courrier des Balkans

La Slovénie a fermé ses frontières le 8 mars à minuit, entraînant le blocage de toute la « route des Balkans ». Plus de 50 000 réfugiés sont pris au piège en Grèce. À Idomeni, à la frontière avec la Macédoine, 10 000 personnes attendent dans des conditions indécentes depuis la fin février. Après l'accord du 18 mars à Bruxelles, l'Union européenne s'en remet au bon vouloir de la Turquie. Lundi 4 avril, les déportations ont commencé sous la surveillance de Frontex. Retrouvez toutes les infos en temps réel.
Par la (...)

/ Croatie, Slovénie, Grèce, Roumanie, Macédoine, Bulgarie, Serbie, Turquie, Migrants Balkans, Populations, minorités et migrations, #OpenEurope, Albanie, Gratuit, Courrier des Balkans

L’Allemagne a été le théâtre d'un nouveau drame, un attentat, ce dimanche 24 juillet en soirée. Un jeune Syrien s’est fait exploser dans le centre-ville d'Ansbach, en Bavière, blessant 12 personnes à l'entrée d'un festival. Malgré ce nouveau choc pour une région peu épargnée ces jours-ci, la classe politique reste soudée.

Maasai pastoralists, who participate in a farmer field school, are selling animals at a local market in Narok, Kenya. Indigenous peoples have a key role to play in addressing climate change. Credit: FAO

By Baher Kamal
ROME, Jul 25 2016 (IPS)

No longer it is about restoring the legitimate rights of over 370 indigenous peoples spread across 70 countries worldwide, many of them living in dire situation, but now about their central, critical role in combating climate change.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has relentlessly emphasized this new reality.

“Very few countries have so far made a clear commitment to a requirement in the Paris Climate Change Agreement that countries undertaking climate change activities should ensure the rights of indigenous peoples,” she says, while reminding of “the large number of violent deaths of people protecting their forests and rights to land in 2015 – the deadliest year for environmental defenders on record.”

“It’s a dire situation in terms of respect for the rights of indigenous peoples,” she told the participants in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Committee on Forestry (COFO) which met in the Italian capital on July 18-22.

“Indigenous peoples across the world experience the consequences of historical colonisation and invasion of their territories, and face discrimination because of their distinct cultures, identities and ways of life,” according to UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

On this, FAO stated that “Governments must do much more to provide the enabling conditions required for indigenous peoples, local communities, smallholders and their organisations to restore degraded landscapes and achieve climate change mitigation and adaptation in practice.”

Specifically, René Castro Salazar, FAO’s Assistant-Director General warned that the issue of indigenous rights to land and territories was ‘critical’ for the success of climate change initiatives.

“Unless we help indigenous peoples achieve secure land tenure and better governance, it will be very hard to achieve long-term solutions,” Castro Salazar said. “We are lagging behind, and we need to do more.”

Vast Carbon Stocks

A third of global forests are under some form of management by families, smallholders, local communities and indigenous peoples, and represent some of the most important carbon stocks in the world, FAO reported during the meeting. Government-recognised community forests alone hold an estimated 37.7 billion tonnes of carbon stock.

Agro-forestry farmers are tending to the crops in Kigoma, Tanzania. Forests are an integral part of the national agriculture policy with the aim of protecting arable land from erosion and increasing agricultural production. Credit: FAO

“Family smallholders, local communities and indigenous peoples have a key role to play in preserving these carbon stocks by reducing deforestation, managing forests sustainably and restoring tree cover as part of productive rural economies, particularly when they belong to strong producer organisations,” according to the UN agency.

In addition, an estimated 1.5 billion hectares of land hold potential for smallholder farmers to combine agriculture with trees.

“But failure to find the best way to engage with local stakeholders and align their interests with forest conservation can significantly compromise the chances of achieving carbon sequestration and mitigation targets.”

Greater Ownership

In an outcome statement issued at the close of the Rome meeting, participants urged governments to provide the enabling conditions required for local communities, indigenous peoples and local producers, “to manage larger territories, from securing and enforcing tenure rights to creating favourable business incentives and offering technical, financial and business extension services.”

They also called on global financing mechanisms, government programmes and private investors to direct investment and support towards local communities, indigenous peoples, smallholders and producer organisations.

Finally, they called for climate change initiatives “to shift towards giving greater ownership to local communities, indigenous peoples, smallholders and producer organisations and engaging them in participatory and qualitative assessment of the forest cover and trees on farms they manage.”

Livelihoods of Millions of People, Precarious

On the occasion of the Rome meeting, FAO issued a new study that helps to fill a significant knowledge gap on the presence and extent of forests and trees in the world’s drylands, where the food security and livelihoods of millions of people, already precarious, are increasingly being threatened by climate change.

The study’s preliminary findings show that trees are present with hugely varying densities on almost one-third of the world’s 6.1 billion hectares of drylands, which cover an area more than twice the size of Africa. Almost 18 per cent of this area contains forests.

An estimated 2 billion people, 90 per cent of whom are in developing countries, live in drylands. Recent studies have indicated the need to restore these areas to cope with the effects of drought, desertification and land degradation.

In particular, water availability in drylands is expected to decline further due to changes in climate and land use, the new study warns.

“Poor people living in remote rural areas will be most vulnerable to food shortages, which combined with violence and social upheaval, are already leading to forced migration in dryland regions in Africa and western Asia.”

Until now, there has been little statistically based knowledge on dryland trees –particularly those growing outside forests– despite their vital importance to humans and the environment, according to the study.

The leaves and fruit of trees are sources of food for people and fodder for animals; their wood provides fuel for cooking and heating and can be a source of income for poor households; trees protect soils, crops and animals from the sun and winds, while forests are often rich in biodiversity.

Drylands are divided into four aridity zones (see map): the dry sub-humid zone, is the least arid of the four zones and consists mostly of the Sudanian savanna, forests and grasslands in South America, the steppes of eastern Europe and southern Siberia, and the Canadian prairie.

Most dryland forests occur in this zone, as do some large irrigated, intensively farmed areas along perennial rivers; at the other extreme, the hyper-arid zone is the driest zone and it is dominated by desert – the Sahara alone accounting for 45 per cent, and the Arabian desert forming another large component.

Factbox

At a glance: some preliminary findings of the FAO Global Drylands Assessment:
• The global drylands contain 1.11 billion hectares of forest land, which is 27 per cent of the global forest area, estimated at approximately 4 billion hectares.

• Two-thirds of the drylands forest area can be defined as being dense, meaning it has closed canopies (i.e. a canopy cover greater than 40 per cent).

• The second most common land use in drylands is grassland (31 per cent), followed by forest (18 per cent) and cropland (14 per cent). The category other lands constitutes 34 per cent of the global drylands area.

• The least-arid zones have the most forest. The proportion of forest land is 51 per cent in the dry subhumid zone, 41 per cent in the semiarid zone, 7 per cent in the arid zone and 0.5 per cent in the hyperarid zone. The average crown cover density is ten times higher in the dry subhumid zone than in the hyperarid zone.

• Trees outside forests are present on 1.9 billion hectares of drylands (31 per cent of the global drylands area), if all land with more than 0 per cent crown cover is included. Thirty per cent of croplands and grasslands have at least some crown cover, as do 60 per cent of lands classified as settlements.

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Les festivités du 1er août tombent au plus mauvais moment pour certaines espèces dont les œufs éclosent au même moment.

256286 Munira Shoinbekova, OSCE Office in Tajikistan

The OSCE Office in Tajikistan on 24 July 2016 organized the first regional forum for promoting women’s political participation in Khujand, with the aim of increasing community outreach, engaging women leaders in the region and supporting women’s empowerment in political and public life.

The forum brought together 40 experts from political parties, local authorities, international organizations and civil society members, and is designed as a platform for dialogue between women politicians and communities. They will work to motivate young girls who aspire to become leaders or hold decision-making positions in public life, and aim to gain support from communities and local authorities for the advancement of women in political life.

“Our project aims to build strong support for women leaders, to tackle gender stereotypes, to surface and articulate the aspirations, choices and skills of women and girls of Tajikistan, so that they can realize their full potential in public and political life,” said Vesna Ivanovikj-Castarede, Head of the Democratization Unit at the OSCE Office. 

Shanjeev Thiruchelvam, OSCE Field Officer in Khujand, said: “Both male and female community leaders, politicians and civil society representatives have expressed keen interest in the continued work of the Sughd Women's Forum, which recognizes, and aims to provide opportunities to develop female leadership in Sughd public life.”

Similar forums are to be organized across the country. 

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Az Európai Bizottság gyakorlatilag cáfolta hétfőn azokat a brit lapértesüléseket, melyek tudni vélték, hogy a februári EU-brit megállapodás az uniós munkavállalók bizonyos szociális jogainak korlátozásáról lehet a jövőbeni rendezés gerince.

Le peuple Yao est passé maître dans l’art de récolter le miel dans les troncs des arbres de la réserve de Nissa, au Mozambique. Afin d’écarter le danger des abeilles, les chasseurs de miel les enfument en introduisant un morceau de bois enflammé près du nid d'abeille, avant d'abattre l'arbre. Mais pour dénicher les bons coins, ils ont besoin d’un coup de pouce, celui des grands indicateurs, de petits oiseaux bruns au bec rose.

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VIENNA, 25 July 2016 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today welcomed the revision of United States Department of Defense’s Law of War Manual, which better recognizes the status and role of journalists under the law of war.

“Updating the manual and deleting problematic provisions which could endanger members of the media covering armed conflicts was a much-needed and welcome step,” Mijatović said. “Journalists are civilians and should be treated and protected as just that.”

The first version of the Law of War Manual, released in June 2015, provides guidelines for members of the US military. The manual said that journalists in general are to be considered civilians, but that they also may be “members of the armed forces, persons authorized to accompany the armed forces, or unprivileged belligerents”. The term “unprivileged belligerents” could have allowed military commanders to detain journalists indefinitely outside the rules of war without charge or trial.

The original version of the manual also included provisions which likened war reporting to spying, and censorship. In the updated version of the manual, these provisions have been abolished.

“Working as a journalist in a conflict zone is a very dangerous job. This revised manual is one of many efforts needed to improve journalists’ safety,” Mijatović said.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media observes media developments in all 57 OSCE participating States. She provides early warning on violations of freedom of expression and media freedom and promotes full compliance with OSCE media freedom commitments. Learn more at www.osce.org/fom, Twitter: @OSCE_RFoM and on www.facebook.com/osce.rfom. 

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Selon nos informations, la banque publique congolaise négocie un financement de 300 millions de dollars pour la réalisation d'un programme de construction de 5 000 logements d'ici à 2019.

Cet article Logement : partenariat chinois pour la Banque congolaise de l’habitat est apparu en premier sur JeuneAfrique.com.

Le chef de l’Etat a décidé de nouvelles mesures pour « prendre en compte les conséquences » du maintien des effectifs de l’armée engagés sur le territoire.

A lengyel alkotmánybíróságról szóló törvény múlt heti módosítása után az Európai Bizottság újabb lépéseket vehet fontolóra a Lengyelországgal szemben folyó jogállamisági eljárás keretében – jelentette ki hétfőn a testület szóvivője.

Encore ce matin, le président de la République a annoncé de "nouvelles mesures" en faveur des
Plus d'infos »

Le Président de l'Assemblée nationale du Bénin Me Adrien HOUNGBEDJI, séjourne au pays de Barack Obama depuis le semaine dernière. Un séjour qui entre dans le cadre de la participation du Bénin au sommet des Nations-Unies. A cette rencontre qui se tient à New-York aux Etats-Unis, le Président de l'Assemblée nationale du Bénin Me Adrien HOUNGBEDJI est très attendu. En effet, pour ce sommet des Nations-Unies sur le thème : « Interaction entre l'ONU, l'Union Interparlementaire (UIP) et les parlements nationaux" le président Adrien HOUNGBEDJI va prononcer un discours ce jour à l'ouverture des travaux.
Il faut souligner qu'il s'agit d'une assemblée générale des Nations-Unies à laquelle sont conviés les Présidents des parlements membres de l'UIP. Ladite assemblée générale sera sanctionnée par une résolution.
La Rédaction

A közelmúltban a Gripen E/F változat bemutatásától volt hangos a katonai repüléssel foglalkozó szaksajtó.

The reforms passed by parliament last Friday will radically change the way justice is administered in Albania, and hopefully curb corruption and political influence.

Cet accord est le troisième signé entre Rabat et le Fonds monétaire international depuis 2012. Le Maroc peut puiser dans cette ligne de financement pour répondre à une crise de sa balance de paiements. Ce mécanisme compte toutefois plusieurs détracteurs, qui mettent en doute son utilité et s'alarment de son coût.

Cet article Maroc : le FMI approuve une « ligne de précaution » de 3,5 milliards de dollars est apparu en premier sur JeuneAfrique.com.

Le 14 juillet, un attentat terroriste a provoqué la mort de 84 personnes sur la promenade des Anglais. Depuis, les critiques fusent contre le gouvernement.

(B2) Les 28 ont aménagé, lundi (18 juillet), l'embargo sur les armes établi à l'encontre du Congo. Cette décision suit la résolution (2293) du Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies du 23 juin dernier. Le texte prévoit certaines modifications sur les dérogations à l'embargo sur les armes et les critères de désignation des personnes interdites […]