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Americas AlertNet insight

01 Dec 2009 10:40:00 GMT
Mine action faces $565 million funding deficit
CARTAGENA, Colombia (AlertNet) - Global anti-mine programmes face a budget shortfall for 2010 of $565 million, meaning humanitarian mine clearance will move at a much slower pace than last year, the United Nations (U.N.) said on Monday.

Projects planned by the U.N. and local aid agencies in 27 countries to clear mined areas, destroy stockpiles, provide assistance to mine survivors and run mine-risk education programmes in local communities will cost nearly $600 million next year, according to U.N. estimates.

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thumb for Guyana may cut more forests despite Norway deal

20 Nov 2009 12:47:00 GMT
Guyana may cut more forests despite Norway deal
LONDON (AlertNet) - An agreement by Norway to pay Guyana for preserving forests to help slow climate change will still allow the South American nation to increase its rate of deforestation, Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo said.

Norway could pay Guyana up to $250 million by 2015, in a possible forerunner of a global scheme where rich nations pay the developing world to preserve rainforests.

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thumb for Colombia failing to support displaced and abused women - report

17 Nov 2009 11:58:00 GMT
Colombia failing to support displaced and abused women - report
BOGOTA (AlertNet) - The Colombian government is failing to provide adequate humanitarian assistance to thousands of displaced women and girls, many of whom are victims of sexual violence and abuse, aid agency Refugees International said in a report.

Colombia's constitutional court ruled last year that the government was not fulfilling its legal obligations to provide health care, education, housing, job opportunities and training for displaced women and their families. Despite that landmark decision, little progress has been made, the agency found.

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thumb for Hundreds stranded after floods hit El Salvador

09 Nov 2009 22:17:00 GMT
Hundreds stranded after floods hit El Salvador
BOGOTA (AlertNet) - Hundreds of flood victims remain stranded and some communities are cut off from aid assistance following days of heavy rains that killed 124 people in El Salvador, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Monday.

Torrential rains in recent days, a result of a low pressure system in the Pacific, have caused rivers to burst their banks and hillsides to collapse, leading to severe flooding and widespread damage to the Central American country's infrastructure.

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thumb for Forest protection efforts face crime, corruption perils

05 Nov 2009 15:31:00 GMT
Forest protection efforts face crime, corruption perils
BARCELONA (AlertNet) - Cutting down forests around the world accounts for close to 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. So getting right a U.N. effort to pay forest nations to keep their trees intact is important to limiting climate change.

But the road to a functioning REDD - the United Nations' programme of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries - is a perilous one, experts said at climate change talks in Barcelona.

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