What Else Is Happening in the World amid COVID-19 Crisis?

Published on: 11.05.2020

The coronavirus pandemic has made it difficult for other crises to make global headlines. As the world seems distracted over the health crisis, other burning (literally burning) issues go unnoticed.
Persisting issues such as environmental emergencies, conflicts, and violence, human rights, social justice, now call for holistic action and attention.

The Amazon rainforest is burning while coronavirus threats indigenous people

The Amazon rainforest is burning at a faster pace due to wildfires and illegal destructive activities. According to DW, the recent data released from Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE) show a more than 55% increase in deforestation compared to January-April 2019.
In the meantime, a drier year is expected as data from NASA and INPE show stressed climate conditions such as drier soil, higher temperatures, and groundwater depletion.
Industrial and illegal activities related to deforestation and forest fires pose a serious threat to the Amazon indigenous people. Outsiders can easily introduce virus infection to the indigenous people.

Locusts invasion could raise a food emergency in East Africa

The coronavirus caused major disruption to the global food supply and brought hunger to millions of people around the world. Unfortunately, people in East Africa besides the economic disruption caused by the pandemic, are on the verge of a food crisis as huge desert locusts swarms are devouring crops, grasslands, and trees. Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda are among the affected areas. The weather conditions could cause another wave of hatched locusts to mature.
These countries lack the necessary resources to control the infestation and fight the swarms. If they fail to do it, the next generation of swarm could mature during the harvest season and cause a major disaster for farmers.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the locust threat extended to other areas.
“In addition, the Indo-Pakistan border area, Sudan, and perhaps the Sahel of West Africa face an impending invasion from spring breeding areas,” FAO confirmed in the latest update.

Ongoing floods in East Africa are displacing thousands
Heavy rains in East Africa are causing floods and landslides that killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands. The floods along with the locusts are destroying crops and farms and affecting vulnerable communities that are already facing poverty and the COVID-19 outbreak.

These are just a few examples of how many countries are facing more than one crisis at the same time. The coronavirus pandemic while being a global crisis has unveiled how deeply unequal the world is especially in those countries hit by extreme weather conditions, natural disasters, wars, and political instability.

What is happening in your country that the world does not know about? What do you think would be the best solution to that problem?

Remember that you can learn to find solutions out of problems.
Take our free online training and share the knowledge you gain with other people that don’t have internet access. You will learn that innovation does not need some cutting edge technology. There are many factors that define the success of a good idea.
If you come up with a good idea, don’t hesitate to join the 2020 Citizen Entrepreneurship Competition. Or if you’re already running a project that provides a solution to persisting issues in your community you can submit it in the project category.