At DAPL, Confiscating Cameras as Evidence of Journalism

Reporting:

 

Riot police confront demonstrators over the Dakota Access Pipeline. (image: The Intercept, 10/25/16)

While elite media wait for the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline to go away so they can return to presenting their own chin-stroking as what it means to take climate change seriously, independent media continue to fill the void with actual coverage.

One place you can go to find reporting is The Intercept (10/25/16), where journalist Jihan Hafiz filed a video report from North Dakota, where the Standing Rock Sioux and their allies continue their stand against the sacred site–trampling, water supply–threatening project.

Hafiz reports that after a morning of prayer, Standing Rock activists

were attacked by police forces who used pepper spray and beat protesters with batons…. Dozens of officers, backed by military trucks, police vans, machine guns and nonlethal weapons, violently approached the group without warning.

As the demonstrators attempted to leave, the police began beating and detaining them. Several Native American women leading the march were targeted, dragged out of the crowd and arrested. One man was body-slammed to the ground, while another woman broke her ankle running from the police. The military and police trucks followed the protesters, as nearly a hundred officers corralled them into a circle. Among the arrested were journalists—including Hafiz—a pregnant 17-year-old and a 78-year-old woman.

Once jailed, Hafiz and others were refused phone calls and received no food or water for eight hours. Women were strip-searched, two women fainted from low blood sugar and another had her medication taken away.

On her release, Hafiz was told, “Your camera is being held as evidence in a crime.”

That crime, of course, would be journalism. And it’s hard to believe law enforcement would feel so cavalier about treating it that way if more reporters were actually committing it.

…(read more).

Media

Climate is changing in Bangladesh. Food and Agriculture must too

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Published on Oct 17, 2016

This video focuses on ‘Climate is changing in Bangladesh. Food and Agriculture must too’ – the theme of World Food Day 2016.

Bangladesh, being one of the most vulnerable countries in the light of climate change, is experiencing dynamic changes in agricultural practice. The video focuses on the how the changes in the environment is shaping farmer’s attitude in and out the field. Government of Bangladesh has been taking precautionary measures by helping the farmers to cope with the issues – more particularly focused on the climate change.

Food-Matters
See also:

• The State of Food and Agriculture 2016 (SOFA)
  and
• The Industrial Agricultural System is Limiting Food Access and Driving Climate Change

The State of Food and Agriculture 2016 (SOFA)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Published on Oct 17, 2016

Official Directory of 2016 SOFA Report:
“Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security”

Agriculture must both contribute more to combating climate change while bracing to overcome its impacts, FAO says in a new report calling for sweeping action to be taken now to ward off the risk it may become impossible for humanity to be fed. Andrea Cattaneo, FAO Senior Economist talks about the latest State of Food and Agriculture report (SOFA), pointing out efficient practices to lower emissions in the various sectors, from agriculture, to fisheries, to forestry, indicating what type of support is needed for smallholders to adapt to climate change. Finally, he underlines the necessity for adaptation and mitigation to go hand in hand.

The Paris Agreement, adopted in December 2015, represents a new beginning in the global effort to stabilize the climate before it is too late. It recognizes the importance of food security in the international response to climate change, as reflected by many countries focusing prominently on the agriculture sector in their planned contributions to adaptation and mitigation. To help put those plans into action, this report identifies strategies, financing opportunities, and data and information needs. It also describes transformative policies and institutions that can overcome barriers to implementation.

• Full Report
• In Brief
• Flyer
• E-Book IPAD | KINDLE
• Press release

Key Messages

Food security and climate change: today’s and tomorrow’s challenges

• Climate change already affects agriculture and food security and, without urgent action, will put millions of people at risk of hunger and poverty.
• While impacts on agricultural yields and livelihoods will vary across countries and regions, they will become increasingly adverse over time and potentially catastrophic in some areas.
• Limiting global temperature increases to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.
• Deep transformations in agriculture and food systems, from pre-production to consumption, are needed in order to maximize the co-benefits of climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts.
• The agriculture sectors have potential to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, but ensuring future food security requires a primary focus on adaptation.
• Until about 2030, global warming is expected to lead to both gains and losses in the productivity of crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry, depending on places and conditions.
• Beyond 2030, the negative impacts of climate change on agricultural yields will become increasingly severe in all regions.
• In tropical developing regions, adverse impacts are already affecting the livelihoods and food security of vulnerable households and communities.
• Because agriculture, land-use and forestry make a considerable contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, they have significant mitigation potential.

Smallholders needs support to adapt to climate change

• Global poverty cannot be eradicated without strengthening the resilience of smallholder agriculture to climate change impacts.
• Smallholder agricultural systems can adapt to climate change by adopting climate-smart practices, diversifying on-farm agricultural production and diversifying into off-farm income and employment.
• Sustainable management of natural resources will be key for adaptation to climate change and to ensure food security.
• Improvements in infrastructure, extension, climate information, market access, credit and social insurance are needed to facilitate adaptation and diversification of smallholder livelihoods.
• The costs of inaction are much greater than the costs of the interventions that would enable farmers, fisherfolk, herders and foresters to respond effectively to climate change.

Food systems in climate change mitigation

• The agriculture sectors face a unique challenge: to produce more food while reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by food production.
• Agriculture could reduce its emission intensity, but not enough to counterbalance projected increases in its total emissions.
• Addressing emissions from land use change driven by agricultural expansion is essential, but sustainable agricultural development will determine its success.
• Although improvements in carbon and nitrogen management also reduce emissions, they are likely to be driven by adaptation and food security objectives, rather than mitigation goals.
• Reducing emissions from agriculture also hinges on action to minimize food losses and waste and to promote sustainable diets.

Turning countries ‘commitment into action

• International public finance for climate change adaptation and mitigation is a growing, but still relatively small, part of overall finance for the agriculture sectors.
• More climate finance is needed to fund developing countries’ planned actions on climate change in agriculture.
• Provided policies and institutional frameworks that promote transformative change are in place, international public climate finance can act as a catalyst to leverage larger flows of public and private funding for sustainable agriculture.
• Capacity constraints currently hamper developing countries’ access to and effective use of climate finance for agriculture.
• Innovative financial mechanisms can strengthen the capacity of financial service providers to manage risks related to climate change, helping to leverage investments for climate-smart agriculture.

Financing the way forward

• International public finance for climate change adaptation and mitigation is a growing, but still relatively small, part of overall finance for the agriculture sectors.
• More climate finance is needed to fund developing countries’ planned actions on climate change in agriculture.
• Provided policies and institutional frameworks that promote transformative change are in place, international public climate finance can act as a catalyst to leverage larger flows of public and private funding for sustainable agriculture.
• Capacity constraints currently hamper developing countries’ access to and effective use of climate finance for agriculture.
• Innovative financial mechanisms can strengthen the capacity of financial service providers to manage risks related to climate change, helping to leverage investments for climate-smart agriculture.

About the SOFA series – 1947 to 1916

The State of Food and Agriculture, FAO’s major annual flagship publication, aims at bringing to wider audience balanced science-based assessments of important issues in the field of food and agriculture. Each edition of the report contains a comprehensive, yet easily accessible, overview of selected topic of major relevance for rural and agriculture development and for global food security.

For and a documentary approach to examining the full breath of the post-War agricultural moment and the evolution of the “Green Revolution” as it unfolded see:

• Directory to The State of Food and Agriculture, FAO’s major annual flagship publication.

For an assessment of the most recent SOFA (2016) report see:

• The Industrial Agricultural System is Limiting Food Access and Driving Climate Change

To follow general food and agricultural developments see:

• Food-Matters

9/11 False Flag

Media

Improbable Collapse 9/11 – A Movie The Whole World Should See

Media

Orwell Rolls in his Grave (Full Length 3hr Documentary)

Media

Orwell Rolls In His Grave – The One Thing The Media Doesn’t Like To Talk About

Media

Weapons of Mass Deception

The Industrial Agricultural System is Limiting Food Access and Driving Climate Change

TheRealNews

Published on Oct 25, 2016

Kirtana Chandraeskaran of Friends of the Earth International explains why the UN Conference on World Food Security stopped short of recognizing that the industrial food sector is the greatest agricultural contributor to climate change.

See:

Climate change, agriculture and food security

The Paris Agreement, adopted in December 2015, represents a new beginning in the global effort to stabilize the climate before it is too late. It recognizes the importance of food security in the international response to climate change, as reflected by many countries focusing prominently on the agriculture sector in their planned contributions to adaptation and mitigation. To help put those plans into action, this report identifies strategies, financing opportunities, and data and information needs. It also describes transformative policies and institutions that can overcome barriers to implementation.

See:

• The State of Food and Agriculture 2016: Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security 

Food-Matters

Super Storm Sandy, 4 Years Later: Can New York City and New Jersey Expect More Like It?