23/01/2023

Did you know that?

 

2023 – UN International Year of Millets

 




The United Nations (UN) has declared 2023 the International Year of Millets to raise awareness of the crop's climate-resilience and nutritional benefits.

 

What Are Millets?

Millets are a group of grasses grown as grain crops, such as finger millet (eleusine coracana) and pearl millet (pennisetum glaucum). Millets are grown in more than 130 countries, mainly in Asia and Africa; the main producers are India, Nigeria, and China.

 

Easy Growing, Cheap, and Effective

Millets need less water than other grains and grow without regular irrigation, even in droughts. They grow in poor soils with little to no additional work. This makes millets cheap and easy to plant, grow, and harvest—especially in dry areas where people traditionally struggle to grow crops.

 

Excellent Gluten-Free Nutrition

Easy and widespread growing is not the only reason why millets are a “super crop:” They also contain more protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals than wheat and rice. Additionally, millets are rich in calcium and magnesium.

 

They can feed people without creating a nutritional deficiency and can also help fight health challenges such as obesity and diabetes, as they are gluten-free and have less effect on blood glucose levels.

 

Self-Sufficiency In a Changing Climate

The UN International Year of Millets (IYM) is an opportunity to “raise awareness of and direct policy attention to the nutritional and health benefits of millets and their suitability for cultivation under adverse and changing climatic conditions,” according to the UN. The UN also aims to promote “the sustainable production of millets while highlighting their potential to provide new sustainable market opportunities for producers and consumers.”

 

Millets are grown in more than 130 countries, mainly in Asia and Africa; the main producers are India, Nigeria, and China.

 

The Government of India sponsored the proposal for International Year of Millets (IYM) 2023 which was accepted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)

  

Millets

Millet is a common term for categorising small-seeded grasses that are often called Nutri-cereals. Some of them are sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), finger millet (ragi), little millet (kutki), foxtail millet (kakun), proso millet (cheena), barnyard millet (sawa), and kodo millet (kodon). An essential staple cereal crop for millions of smallholder dryland farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, millets offer nutrition, resilience, income and livelihood for farmers, and have multiple uses such as food, feed, fodder, biofuels and brewing.

 

 

Significance and benefits of millets

Millets are nutritionally superior to wheat and rice owing to their higher protein levels and a more balanced amino acid profile. Millets also contain various phytochemicals which exert therapeutic properties owing to their anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties. Further, besides being climate resilient, millet grains are rich sources of nutrients like carbohydrates, protein, dietary fibre, and good quality fat; minerals like calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc and B complex vitamins. Most importantly, millet production is not dependent on the use of chemical fertilizers.

 

 

Published On January 2nd, 2023

 

Sources/Links:

https://currentaffairs.adda247.com/international-year-of-millets-2023/

https://www.timeanddate.com/year/2023/millets.html

 

https://www.netmeds.com/health-library/post/kodo-millet-nutrition-health-benefits-ayurvedic-uses-and-recipes

 &:

https://vaqueirinhorepublic.blogspot.com/2022/10/ancient-grain.html


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20/01/2023

no way

 



este ano os portugueses elegeram o Eucalipto de Contige, levando a UNAC a questionar se “existe uma nova geração na opinião pública para a qual o eucalipto é encarado em pé de igualdade com as restantes árvores, sendo a sua beleza e porte alvo de atenção, justificando que há espaço para todos”. “A inclusão também chegou à floresta”, remata a entidade que promove a iniciativa. levando a UNAC a questionar se “existe uma nova geração na opinião pública para a qual o eucalipto é encarado em pé de igualdade com as restantes árvores, sendo a sua beleza e porte alvo de atenção, justificando que há espaço para todos”. “A inclusão também chegou à floresta”, remata a entidade que promove a iniciativa.

 

this year the Portuguese elected the Eucalyptus of Contige, leading UNAC to question whether "there is a new generation in public opinion for which eucalyptus is faced on an equal footing with the other trees, being its beauty and size the target of attention, justifying that there is room for all". "Inclusion has also reached the forest," concludes the entity that promotes the initiative. leading UNAC to question whether "there is a new generation in public opinion for which eucalyptus is faced on an equal footing with the other trees, being its beauty and size the target of attention, justifying that there is room for all". "Inclusion has also reached the forest," concludes the entity that promotes the initiative.

 

Sources/Links:

https://www.gazetarural.com/navigator-felicita-eucalipto-de-contige-vencedor-da-arvore-do-ano/

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contige


18/01/2023

FISE - Forest Information System for Europe


FISE - Forest Information System for Europe is a forest knowledge base in support of the EU Forest Strategy.



  

Forest tree cover is basic for sustainability assessments.

 

Measuring forest tree cover helps tracking changes, both gain and losses and supports policies related to reforestation, afforestation and ecosystem restoration.

 

Follow the Link bellow and you will find the information available regarding:  


▶ FOREST TREE COVER MAKES UP

 

37.13%

3 387 625 ha of the total country area

 

▶ FOREST PER CAPITA

 

0.33

ha per capita

 

▶ FOREST COVER CHANGE


▶ LAND COVER STATISTICS

 

▶ GROWING STOCK

 

▶ ROUNDWOOD REMOVALS

 

▶ FOREST PATCH DISTRIBUTION

 


 
 

Sources/Links:

https://forest.eea.europa.eu/countries/portugal/portugal-basic-data

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16/01/2023

The Sixth Mass Extinction Event

 


Sixth Mass Extinction of Wildlife Accelerating - Study


According to a recent analysis, the sixth mass extinction of wildlife on Earth is accelerating. More than 500 species of land animals are on the brink of extinction and are likely to be lost within 20 years; the same number were lost over the whole of the last century. The scientists say that without the human destruction of nature, this rate of loss would have taken thousands of years and they warn that this may be a tipping point for the collapse of civilisation.

 

The analysis, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, looked at data on 29,000 land vertebrate species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and BirdLife International. The scientists identified 515 species with populations below 1,000 and about half of these had fewer than 250 individuals remaining.

 

 

What is a Mass Extinction Event?

 

A mass extinction is usually defined as a loss of about three quarters of all species in existence across the entire Earth over a “short” geological period of time. Given the vast amount of time since life first evolved on the planet, “short” is defined as anything less than 2.8 million years.

(…)

Previous Mass Extinction Events

(…)

The Analysis

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Causes

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Consequences of the Sixth Mass Extinction

(…)

 

You Might Also Like:

 

Vertebrates on the brink as indicators of biological annihilation and the sixth mass extinction

 

 

Sources/Links:

https://earth.org/sixth-mass-extinction-of-wildlife-accelerating/

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1922686117

https://www.iucnredlist.org/ 

https://earth.org/conservation/

https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news/ecosystems-might-lose-27-vertebrate-diversity-2100-2022-12-16_en

 

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08/01/2023

Calls to implement Basic Climate Law

The environmental association Zero has warned of the need for rapid implementation and regulation of the Basic Climate Law.

 


 Published a year ago and coming into force on February 1st, the Law includes measures that must be implemented and presented by the Government within one year after the entry into force of the law, that is, a period that ends within practically a month, to implement, such as the planned availability to the public of a digital tool, the Climate Action Portal, which will allow citizens to participate in climate action and access information on emissions and targets, progress in achieving them, or climate finance. “Public participation occupies a central place in the law (…), however, it is not clear how this participation will be framed”.

 

In a statement, Zero mentions measures that it considers urgent to implement, such as the planned availability to the public of a digital tool, the Climate Action Portal, which will allow citizens to participate in climate action and access information on emissions and targets, progress in achieving them, or climate finance. “Public participation occupies a central place in the law (…), however, it is not clear how this participation will be framed”.

 

A year after the publication of the law, figures are missing for carbon budgets for the period 2023-2025, says Zero, adding that by February the initial climate impact assessment report should be presented, in which potential government diplomas are identified.

 

 

Sources/Links:

https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2023-01-01/calls-to-implement-basic-climate-law/73444 

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Sambucus nigra, o sabugueiro

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