“Forests have been razed at an alarming rate across Asia, Africa and Latin America during the coronavirus pandemic, according to new research, as environmental law enforcement has been sidelined and villagers have turned to logging for income in parts of the tropical world.
“Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, forest loss alerts have increased by 77 per cent compared to the average from 2017-2019, according to data from Global Land Analysis and Discovery…
““In some parts of the world there has been a collapse in the local economy and people are turning to the land around them to find what they need to survive,” said Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at WWF-UK.
““And, far more sinister than that are those parts of the world where we’re seeing deliberate attempts to use the cover of the pandemic to deforest.””
https://www.ft.com/content/b72e3969-522c-4e83-b431-c0b498754b2d
“Although the US has added more than 9 million jobs over the past three months, many readers have told CNN that they are being offered only part-time shifts.
“Others say their employers have cut their pay. In July alone, when the economy added a total of 1.8 million jobs, the number of people working part-time rose by 803,000 to 24 million.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/08/economy/part-time-work-coronavirus/index.html
“Trump said he would use unspent funds from the Cares act to continue unemployment payments to millions of newly unemployed Americans at a rate of $400 per week – a $200 drop from the earlier $600 payment, defer payroll tax through the end of 2020, defer student loans and interest, and extend the federal eviction moratorium.”
“After seeing food banks struggle to meet demand once the pandemic hit and the economy tanked, the Washington state Department of Agriculture began preparing to buy and stockpile tons of food…
“The new stockpile is driven by two major factors: A nearly doubling in demand for food assistance across the state and a national food supply chain that is bogged down amid an overwhelming surge in demand.”
“As many as a third of UK employers expect to cut jobs by October, according to a survey that suggests that the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic will accelerate in the coming weeks…
“The poll suggests the UK is likely to experience a wave of job losses across the economy as the government starts to withdraw the coronavirus job retention scheme.”
“Thousands of people took part in a rally against coronavirus restrictions in Stuttgart, Germany, on Saturday.
“Participants gathered in the Lower Schlossgarten in the city center, carrying umbrellas, displaying banners that said “With mask – without me” and chanting “freedom, freedom,” Deutsche Welle reported.”
“Phalanxes of Belarusian police in full riot gear violently dispersed thousands of demonstrators who poured into the streets to challenge the early count from Sunday’s presidential election indicating the longtime authoritarian leader won a sixth term by a landslide.
“Hundreds of people were detained, according to a leading rights group.”
“Police in Beirut fired teargas and rubber bullets at thousands of people who had turned out to demand accountability for one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions the world has seen.
“They also shot live ammunition in the air, in an attempt to disperse the furious crowds.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/08/beirut-explosion-protests-lebanon-answers-and-justice
“Police and municipal inspectors clashed on Sunday with demonstrators as they cleared a protest site near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence for a fifth time.
“The encampment was part of the ongoing “black flag” anti-corruption protests against Netanyahu…”
“Iran and its allies are under significant pressure financially due to the strain US sanctions have imposed on Tehran… Iran’s militants are reportedly not getting their salaries and benefits, making it extremely difficult for them to continue fighting…
“Revenues from drug trafficking can be a significant boost to Hezbollah, the Syrian regime and Iran.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1716966
“Hundreds joined anti-government protests across Thailand on Sunday following a day of rallies in the country’s capital where protesters were calling for new elections and constitional reforms…
“Demonstrations have returned to Thailand’s streets, calling for the removal of the government of 2014 coup leader Prayuth Chan-ocha after a disputed election last year.”
“Demonstrators in Bolivia have dynamited Andean passes, scattered boulders across highways and dug trenches along rural roads to protest against repeated delays to a rerun of last October’s deeply contentious election, which led to the downfall of the long-serving leftwing president Evo Morales…
“…[bringing] the country to a standstill for six days.”
“At least three indigenous people from Peru’s Amazon region were killed and 17 other residents and police injured in a conflict with Canadian energy company PetroTal Corp…
“The clash between local tribesmen and police occurred in the early hours of Sunday near the oil field after about 70 residents equipped with spears arrived at the scene demanding a stop to production at Lot 95…”
“The prospect of starvation looms for carriage horses and other animals normally used in Morocco’s tourist mecca, since visitors vanished during the coronavirus pandemic…. hundreds of Morocco’s carriage horses and donkeys are threatened amid the collapsing tourism industry.
“They are among the estimated 200 million horses, donkeys, camels and elephants worldwide providing various livelihoods for over a half-billion people.”
https://www.trtworld.com/life/carriage-horses-face-starvation-as-morocco-tourism-collapses-38769
“Currency depreciation, inflation, negative growth, businesses closed: Algeria’s economy has been battered by the one-two punch of the coronavirus crisis and tumbling oil revenues.
“And unless remedial action is taken on a massive scale, a slide into foreign debt will become inevitable, economists warn.”
“Zimbabwe will “implode” unless its citizens are allowed to speak out…
“…protests were called over an economic crisis that has led to a currency collapse and triple-digit inflation, and evidence of rampant corruption that this week triggered US sanctions on a leading supporter of Mr Mnangagwa.”
https://www.ft.com/content/90741fca-dc41-4b21-9622-ea50ce972972
“The world’s five largest oil companies collectively cut the value of their assets by nearly $50 billion in the second quarter, and slashed production rates as the coronavirus pandemic caused a drastic fall in fuel prices and demand…
“Fuel demand at one point was down by more than 30% worldwide, and still remains below pre-pandemic levels.”
“As government support schemes are withdrawn and borrowers start to come up short on their loans, banks may have to sacrifice their prized role as the good guys.
“So far, they have been willing conduits for trillions of government support and largely sympathetic to customers in distress, but that will change.”
https://www.ft.com/content/b0b241d9-7c94-4b91-b727-d39245005d07
This is what de-growth looks like. Until it snowballs and becomes something a whole lot worse.
“Eric Knight of fund manager Knight Vinke argues that reinvestment risk may turn out to be the single most destructive risk now facing long-term investors — the risk that investments providing a good return today cannot be replaced by equally attractive investments tomorrow when the existing ones reach maturity.”
https://www.ft.com/content/b7288334-49e4-4bb7-aeb8-400daa7877db
“Trade tensions, cyber attacks and climate risks from heatwaves to hurricanes are all exposing companies to increasingly costly interruptions…
“…companies can on average expect a disruption lasting more than a month to hit them every 3.7 years, costing more than 40 per cent of a year’s profits every decade.”
https://www.ft.com/content/a4544767-f93d-48b0-bde4-ad8a582922ab
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