The Week That Was: Global News in Review
Foreign Policy Brief #88 | By: Ibrahim Castro | August 15, 2023
Photo taken from: nytimes.com
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Amazon nations summit commits to safeguarding world’s largest rainforest
Early last week eight South American nations, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela ended the first Amazon nations summit in 14 years by signing a declaration to safeguard the world’s largest rainforest. The eight states came to an agreement to stop the rainforest from reaching a point of no return. The heads of state at the summit also challenged countries in the global north to do more to stop the rapid destruction of the Amazon, a task they say cannot fall to just a few countries when the crisis has been caused by so many. Colombian President Gustavo Petro urged world leaders to consider a radical rethinking of global economics, calling for a “Marshall Plan” style strategy in which developing countries’ debts are canceled in exchange for action to protect the climate. The summit itself is progress and a step towards ending deforestation and combating climate change, however, it stopped short of reaching the demands of environmentalists and Indigenous groups. These demands included for all member countries to adopt pledges to completely end illegal deforestation by 2030 and follow in Colombia’s pledge to halt all new oil exploration in the forest. Instead, participating countries will be left to pursue their own individual deforestation goals.
Russia and India go to the moon
Last week two spacecraft, one sent by Russia and the other by India, headed for the Moon’s South Pole, a location that no lunar lander has ever successfully touched down on. The Russian and Indian crafts are on opposing quests to search for water ice and any useful minerals that might be present in the lunar surface. The missions reflect the renewed interest in the Moon for space exploration by a now growing number of nations, not just the usual space powers such as the United States and Europe. National pride will likely also be a factor in pushing ahead as Russia is hoping to prove its continued capabilities in space given that the country’s space programme has been affected by sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine. The recent discovery of pockets of water ice on the nearest celestial body to Earth has caused excitement because hydrogen in the water could potentially be extracted to make rocket fuel on a future Moon base by whomever gets there first.
Migrant boat capsizes in the English channel
According to French maritime officials, last week six people died after a boat carrying migrants headed to Britain sank in the English Channel. It was stated that about 10 passengers were still missing, with 55 having been rescued from the capsized boat. More than 100,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel on small boats from France to England since public records on arrivals began being kept in 2018. As a result French authorities have stepped up patrols and other deterrent measures after London agreed in March to send Paris hundreds of millions of euros annually towards the effort to restrict asylum seekers. The deaths from the boat crossing stem from the lack of legal routes of entry into the UK and France for refugees seeking asylum and looking to reunite with family in the UK. The ruling conservative party in the UK has opted to rely on policies designed to deter people from making the journey through threat of deportation, a strategy that has received much criticism from human rights groups.