International Year of Forests.

Over 1.6 billion people around the world — almost a quarter of humanity — depend on forests for their livelihood. Forest products are a source of employment and economic growth, accounting for some US$ 270 million in global trade annually, sustaining communities around the world. Home to some 300 million people worldwide, forests are also integral to regulating the climate and supporting biodiversity. Yet the world's forests, and the people who depend on them, are under increasing pressure from unsustainable logging, and agriculture and biofuel producers competing for land.

Each year 130,000 km² of the worlds forests are lost, mainly through conversion to agricultural land, unsustainable harvesting of timber, unsound land management, and the creation of new human settlements. Covering over 31% of the world's total land area, the Earth's forests and forest soil store more than one trillion tons of carbon, twice the amount found in the world's atmosphere. Forests offer the quickest, most cost effective and largest means of curbing global emissions, while deforestation accounts for up to 20% of the global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

Not only impacting carbon emissions and climate change, forest degradation also destroys animal and plant habitats, contributes to soil erosion and siltation of rivers and streams, frequently destroying the livelihoods of the poorest among (forest dependent) people. Harbouring 80% of the world's biodiversity, providing habitats for about two-thirds of all species on Earth, the continuous deforestation of closed tropical rainforests in particular could account for the loss of as many as 100 different species every day. Which is why the United Nations is launching the 2011 International Year of Forests at the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) to raise awareness about sustainable management, conservation, and sustainable development of all types of forests.

However, it seems that in Canada — proudly displaying a leaf as its national symbol — the current Conservative government is happy to mark the International Year with a mere pat on the Canadian forest industry's back. Claiming to have more protected forest, and more "third-party certified" forest than any other country, as well as some of the "toughest" forestry regulations in the world, Canada's government and forest industry seem quite content congratulating themselves for the country's position as the world's most successful exporter of forest products.

The Canadian forest industry's inroads in Asia are fodder for a government hungry for any signs of its dismal policies' successes, with Canadian wood exports to China, for instance, tripling in value over the past five years — from C$ 109 million in 2005 to C$ 385 million in 2009. Yet what government and industry frequently fail to mention is that less than 10% of Canada's forest are fully protected, and that logging of one of the world's three largest remaining "frontier forests" (the other two situated in Brazil and Russia) as well as clearcutting account for nearly 90% of all logging activity in Canada.

It may therefore be worthwhile to consider the importance as well as the future development of Canada's forest industry, especially at a time when logging remains the dominant activity in the country's forests. An estimated 50% of Canada's vast boreal forest, the "northern" forest which occupies 35% of the total Canadian land area and 77% of Canada's total forest land, is now accessible by highways and logging roads. Simultaneously, the Canadian Forest Service has experienced dramatic reductions in budget and staff, making access to information about the state of Canada's forests, as well as oversight and promotion of sustainable land management more difficult than before. In other words, it's now easier for Canadian's to find out exactly how large profits the forest industry is reaping than it is to see the forest for all the wood.

Comprising nearly 45% of the total Canadian land area, the forest's animals, plants, and products affect each Canadian every day, from the products we consume and depend upon on to the air we breathe. The "productive" forest areas of Canada total almost 2.5 million km², or roughly a quarter of Canada's total land area. Forestry is Canada's largest natural resource industry, with forest products' trade surplus almost eclipsing the combined surpluses of agriculture, energy, fisheries, and mining, making our country the largest exporter of wood products in the world.

Representing almost 2% of Canada's GDP, worth C$54 billion annually, the forest products industry is one of the country's largest employers, providing 240,000 direct jobs across the country (in silviculture, logging, wood industries, paper and allied products), as well as thousands of indirect jobs through purchases of goods and services. The Canadian forest industry is the economic heart of some 200 communities across the country — communities which have limited alternative economic and employment opportunities.

Clearly, there are many more reasons to take the opportunity over the coming year to consider the asset as well as natural wealth Canada's forests represent, and how we are managing the over a third of the world's boreal forest, the fifth of the world's temperate rainforest, and the tenth of the total global forest cover which lie within our borders. Clearly, our forests deserve more than a round of sanctioned cheers to celebrate how fast we’re managing to sell them.

International Day of Peace.

September 21 is the International Day of Peace, originally devised to strengthen the ideals of peace within and among all nations and all peoples. Proclaimed in 1981 by the United Nations to fall on the third Tuesday of September in order to coincide with the opening of its General Assembly's regular sessions, its date was fixed in 2001 when the day was also declared a global day of ceasefire.

For the past 27 years, the day has begun with the UN's Secretary-General ringing the Peace Bell at the organisation's New York headquarters, calling on all peoples and all nations to cease hostilities for a day, and reflect on the causes of of conflict in our world. The day is intended as a respite from further violence, during which aid can be administered to victims of conflict, and entrenched positions — locking opponents in mortal struggle — can be reconsidered. Given the astounding proliferation of not only armed conflict but armaments, there is much to contemplate.

There are currently seven major armed conflicts in progress around the world, with at least 30 "lesser" conflicts carried on with varying degree of intensity. The definitions vary, as most of these are civil or "intrastate" wars, fuelled as much by racial, ethnic, and religious animosities as by ideological fervour. Yet, regardless of their nature, the majority of these conflicts' victims are civilians — a distinguishing feature of practically all recent wars.

During the First World War, civilians made up fewer than 5% of all casualties. Today, 75% or more of those killed or injured in wars are non-combatants. By very modest estimates, close to a million people (practically the entire population of Edmonton) have been killed in the currently ongoing conflicts, some of which have persisted for over four decades.

Women and children — those least responsible for causing the conflicts — have become the primary victims of war. They are increasingly both its targets and its instruments. Over two million children have been killed in armed conflicts over the past century. Another six million have been permanently disabled, while more than 250,000 are currently exploited as child soldiers.

Thousands of women and girls have been raped and subjected to other forms of sexual violence and exploitation. As the most vulnerable members of society, rarely wielding any significant power, women and children are killed, maimed, orphaned, abducted, deprived of health care and education, and — should they survive — left severely traumatised. All of them deserve the attention and protection of the international community.

More than any other continent, Africa has been marred by war. Over 20 major civil wars since 1960 have caused untold economic and social damage to its nations. As food production is practically impossible in areas of conflict, famine — in addition to war — has condemned generations of African children to lives of misery. In certain cases threatening the existence of traditional cultures.

But even those of us lucky enough to inhabit largely peaceful nations cannot avoid the effects of seemingly faraway wars. The massive displacement of people within countries and across borders — which has become another distinguishing feature of post-Cold War armed conflict — bring waves of refugees to our door. The scarred diaspora from areas of conflict challenge not only the welfare arrangements of our societies but our sense of security as well; as long as our neighbours' safety is compromised, we aren't entierly safe either.

Conflict prevention, mediation, humanitarian intervention, and demobilisation are crucial to the success of developmental assistance efforts. Health, nutrition, and education programs cannot succeed in nations at war — as billions of dollars in development assistance already wasted in war-ravaged countries readily prove. But the peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peacebuilding efforts currently in place are merely band-aids, in most cases incapable of dampening the cumulative impact of armed conflict, rising commodity prices, recession, or environmental disasters (like drought).

Canada's currently involved in one major armed conflict, as part of the International Security Assistance Force (IASF) in Afghanistan, directly involving over 2,800 Canadians as of August 2010. Yet, our government is disinclined to admit we are at war, since no official declaration preceding Canada's involvement was made (Canada's only declared war three times: in 1939 on Germany, in 1940 on Italy, and in 1942 on Finland, Hungary, Japan, and Romania). For a country that in its 143 year history hasn't known the horrors of war on its own soil, or participated in colonial conquest, Canada's decisions to take up arms in the past decade have been preceded by precious little debate.

In stark contrast to the commitments of the international community, international military spending continues to rise. In 2009, global military expenditure totalled US$ 1.53 trillion — an increase of 6% since 2008, and 49% since 2000. Military expenditure comprised approximately 2.7% of global GDP in 2009, with all regions seeing significant increases since 2000 except Central and Western Europe. Despite 27 mandatory multilateral embargoes in force — twelve imposed by the UN, fifteen by the EU — against fifteen states in 2007, global arms production also continued to increase.

The combined sales of the top 100 armament producers reached US$ 347 billion in 2007 — an increase of 11% in nominal terms and 5% in real terms since 2006. The value of the top 100 producers has increased by 37% since 2002. Forty-four US companies accounted for 61% of the top 100 producers' sales in 2007, while 32 West European companies accounted for 31%. India, Israel, Japan, and Russia accounted for most of the rest.

The US and Russia remain the by far largest armaments exporters, followed by Germany, France, and the UK. Together, these five nations account for 78% of the volume of exports between 2004 and 2008. They have been the top suppliers since the end of the Cold War, and account for three-quarters of all exports annually. With US$ 721 billion worth of expenditures (nearly half of its federal budget) the US accounted for practically half of all the world's purchases — more than the combined total of the next 32 nations.

The International Day of Peace offers an opportunity to inquire whether the enormous amounts of money spent on armaments wouldn't be better invested in health care, education, science, and culture — areas where increased investment would not only exceedingly enhance human welfare, but do far more to secure peace than any amount of guns ever could. The day offers an opportunity to consider whether it's wise to spend US$ 225 for each person in the world on armaments, when a billion people worldwide struggle to survive on US$1 a day.

It offers an opportunity to ask whether we've got our priorities right, utilising our assets to supply a gun to one in every ten people while 20% of the global population (1.1 billion people) lack access to safe drinking water. It's an opportunity for both national and international authorities to address the deep structural divisions among our societies. It's also an opportunity to address the underlying causes of war, the conflicts over power, wealth and resources — with overpopulation the towering elephant in the room nobody seems willing to approach.

But beyond the immense global issues, the day is also an opportunity to make peace on a personal level. Apart from participating in the day's events, we can take the opportunity to end the conflicts in our own lives, hold a "ceasefire" of our own. The challenge is to reconcile not after the conflict, but instead of the conflict. While we wait for our representatives — elected or otherwise — to extend the hand of mutual tolerance, we can make peace with and among ourselves.

Note: this is a slightly updated version of an article originally published on September 19, 2009.

World Oceans Day.

On Tuesday the second annual official World Oceans Day will be celebrated. First suggested by the Canadian government at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, it had been celebrated unofficially until receiving UN endorsement in 2009. It's an opportunity to not only consider the world's oceans but also reflect on our relationship with them. Some 74% of the Earth's surface (or roughly 361 km²) are covered by a continuous body of water, conventionally divided into several oceans and seas. It's a vast quantity — some 1.3 billion cubic metres, more than half of which over 3,000 metres deep — and its sheer size may very well be one of the reasons we tend to take it for granted.

In the Solar System, Earth is the only planet with liquid water on its surface. While we may one day discover water on some of the Solar System's moons, or even on planets in other systems, it may prove a long and in many ways impractical trek for a drink. Never mind that access mightn't be unrestricted; even on Earth we have great difficulty sharing and distributing the oceans seemingly infinite resources. Not that the oceans simply serve as a reservoir: they're the very cradle of life on our planet and home to a myriad of creatures. Life evolved in the oceans three billion years prior to the occurrence of plants and animals on land. Thus the oceans are, in a sense, the ancestral home of all life on Earth.

The oceans generate most of the oxygen we breathe, they absorb carbon-dioxide, and have a significant effect on our climate. The evaporation of ocean water is the source of most rainfall, while the temperature of the oceans determine climate and wind patterns. Yet the vitality of the world's oceans is threatened by our activities and the climate changes they've brought about. Over-exploitation, illegal and unregulated fishing, destructive fishing practices and pollution — particularly from land-based sources — threaten vulnerable marine ecosystems. Increased sea temperatures, sea-level rise, and acidification caused by changes in the climate further threaten not only marine life, but coastal and island communities as well as national economies.

The oceans area also essential to trade: roughly 90% of the world's non-bulk, non-perishable cargo is shipped across the seas. Despite being slow, shipping remains significantly less costly than other types of transcontinental transport. Because of this, the oceans are also affected by criminal activity. Piracy may look cool at the cinema, but in reality armed robbery threatens the lives of mariners and the safety of shipping. Smuggling of contraband and trafficking of people endanger lives, security, and peace not only across the oceans but eventually across lands as well.

Serving as the world's transport medium of choice entails other hazards: though silicone-based paints are now used to keep fouling organisms (like barnacles) off ships' hulls, the majority of the more than 51,000 commercial vessels that ply the world's oceans have hulls treated with biocides that poison and contaminate marine life, including commercial fish species — placing human health at risk. Ships also produce almost as much air pollution as half of the total number of cars on the planet (some 300 million), propelled by cheap sulphur-rich "bunker-oil" which produces tiny particles of soot and sulfuric acid known to damage lungs, and believed to be responsible for as many as 60,000 deaths a year worldwide.

The oceans are essential to the health and survival of all life on the planet, they provide nutrients that help sustain us, and are of great economic importance to everyone who relies on fishing, tourism, and other marine resources for income. So take some time on Tuesday to celebrate the oceans and their inhabitants, the nourishment they provide, their importance for trade and communication. (It could be as easy as watching Finding Nemo with the kids.) While The Ocean Project's theme this year is Oceans of Life, the UN's theme is Our Oceans: opportunities and challenges, and though most events in Canada will be held along our ocean coasts, those of us inhabiting the largely landlocked prairies should take time to consider what's downstream the many rivers that provide our needs. Each and every on of them eventually empties into the oceans. Along with whatever we put in them.

Note: this is a slightly updated version of an article originally published on June 7, 2009.

Ingrid Segerstedt-Wiberg, 1911-2010.

The Swedish humanist, journalist, and politician Ingrid Segerstedt-Wiberg has passed away. She was the daughter of Torgny Segersted (1876-1945), editor-in-chief of Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning (a Gothenburg daily), and one of the most vocal opponents of Nazism and fascism prior to and during the Second World War — a time when those ideologies were quite popular in Sweden.

As early as 1934, Segerstedt-Wiberg helped organise a committee to aid Jewish refugee children who arrived in Sweden on their own, establishing an orphanage on Viktoriagatan in Göteborg. After the war she continued to work with refugees, chaired the Swedish section of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, as well as UNA-Sweden, and was a member of the Swedish UNICEF National Committee.

Segerestedt-Wiberg also worked as an editor (1949-1953), and publisher (1968-1973), for the magazine Världshorisont, Göteborgs-Tidningen (a Gothenburg tabloid) between 1949 and 1955, and finally Göteborgs-Posten — where she served as assistant editor between 1969 and 1976. A indefatigable activist, Segerstedt-Wiberg was Sweden's first female editorialist, and authored some fifteen books.

As a representative for Folkpartiet (Liberal People's Party), Segerstedt-Wiberg was elected member of parliament between 1958 and 1970, leaving the party in 1999 following its decision to endorse Swedish NATO membership. Throughout her life, she remained a strident, vocal challenger of the xenophobia far too prevalent in Swedish society.

World Water Day.

March 22 is World Water Day, designated by the UN in 1993 to highlight the critical lack of safe, clean, easily accessible drinking water worldwide. Perhaps not yet a huge concern to those of us lucky enough to inhabit a part of the world where "designer" bottled water with no health benefits whatsoever abounds. But it's a different story in the rest of the world, where entire societies live with acute public health threats because their inhabitants are at times forced to drink water from drains.

Not that the problem is confined to a particular region of the world — overpopulation, misuse, and pollution are rapidly turning scarcity of water into a problem for all of us. The availability of drinking water is inadequate and shrinking, poising access to water as the next great source of global conflict. In 2001, the first UN World Water Development Report indicated that the quantity of water available to everyone would decrease 30% by 2020. With over 70% of the world's freshwater used in agriculture, manufacturing, and energy production, more than trendy water bottles and swimming pools are at stake.

Water is a fundamental requirement for all known organisms on our planet; plants, fungi, micro-organisms, and animals (which mean us, humans) need it to stay alive. According the World Health Organization, each human being requires at least 20 litres of fresh water every day. Yet some 900 million people (almost 13% of the world's population) lack access to safe drinking water. Lack of clean water - essential to the treatment of diseases - coupled with lack of basic sanitation and hygiene education, is one of the largest obstacles to global progress and development.

Half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from waterborne diseases. In much of the so called "developing" world, 90% of all wastewater enters local rivers and streams untreated, leaving over 2.6 billion people (almost 40% of the world's population) without access to adequate sanitation. All while a single flush of a toilet in the "developed" world consumes as much water as one person in a "developing" country uses to drink, wash, cook, and clean in one day.

Waterborne diseases are the world's leading cause of death, killing 6.000 people every day, two-thirds of them children. In a world of unprecedented wealth, a child dies roughly every twenty seconds from a disease that could've been prevented by something as basic, and comparatively inexpensive, as proper sanitation. Out of the 2.2 million deaths in 2004 caused by unsafe drinking water (4.1% of the total global disease burden), 90% were children under the age of five.

An estimated 443 million school days are lost each year because waterborne diseases keep children out of school, or affect their ability to learn when they attend. Poor health resulting from inadequate water and sanitation doesn't merely rob children of an education, but also impacts the earning power of adults. The costs associated with disease and productivity losses caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation amounts to 5% of GDP in Sub-Saharan Africa alone – more than that region receives in aid.

Women and girls are particularly affected, as they are usually the ones responsible for collecting enough water for drinking, cooking, and basic hygiene. The daily chore of hauling heavy water containers from a distant source, further prevents women and children from pursuing an education or earning additional income. Some 40 billion hours are expended annually hauling water around – on average for three hours each day – equalling over 19 million full-time employees.

As water isn't a finite resource the actual amount that exists on Earth isn't the problem, but rather its distribution for drinking, sanitation, irrigation, industry, and energy generation. Since 1990, 1.6 billion people have gained access to safe sources of water, with the proportion of people in the "developing" world with access to safe water increasing from 30% in 1970 to 71% in 1990, 79% in 2000 and 84% in 2004. If this trend continues, the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015 will likely be achieved in most regions (except Sub-Saharan Africa).

Because of the suffering, increased poverty, high child mortality rates, low levels of education, and political instability that lack of safe water sources contributes to, the urgency cannot be overstated. Even if the 2015 goal is achieved, almost 900 million people will still be left without water, while over 76 million people will have perished from waterborne diseases by 2020. Unless major changes occur, waterborne diseases could by then have killed as many people as the AIDS pandemic. In 2006, a UN report stated that "there is enough water for everyone" but access to it is hampered by incompetence and corruption.

Add to that the attempts to privatise water resources and companies by the unwashed neoliberal bastards at the IMF and the World Bank. Currently, more than 90% of the world’s water and sanitation systems are publicly owned and operated, with a mere 9% (or the services of roughly 545 million people in 2004) being operated privately. But the 142% increase in profit that followed the 1989 water privatisation in England and Wales has wet the appetite of the world's most short-sighted and unconscionable "business people", who have no scruples about giant multinational corporations controlling the necessities of life.

They conveniently ignore how in the England and Wales example, profits were valued over service, expensive centralised projects were undertaken at the expense and exclusion of smaller, decentralised projects (like wells, or rain water collection), tariffs were increased by 46% in the years that followed, and that quality and supply declined while much of the infrastructure was left to decay. As long as they can place a pricetag on every single object in the known universe, nothing else matters.

So, participate in events this coming World Water Day, take some time to consider where that stuff pouring out of your tap – or your fresh and trendy bottle – originates, how much you pay for it and to whom, and how you use your share of our water.

Note: this is a slightly updated version of an article originally published on March 20, 2009.

Lighting the darkness.

During December, the month with the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, many households in North-West Europe are decorated with symbolic candlesticks to “banish” the darkness. It's a tradition rooted in the Christian Advent, reaching back to the Middle Ages, though the modern variants of wreaths or candlesticks, with four candles representing each of the Sundays preceding Christmas Day lit in succession, originated among German Lutherans in the mid-1850s.

The tradition of lighting Advent candles (or wreaths) didn't arrive in Sweden until the 1870s, and didn't become widespread until the 1920s, though candles had been integral to seasonal celebrations for centuries. Today electric Advent candlesticks with seven candles in a pyramid shape dominate, and seem to change the entire country's appearance overnight, displayed in practically every home, institution, and workplace from the beginning of December (occasionally earlier) to St. Knut's Day.

Originally referred to as julljusstakar, "Yule candlesticks", to avoid confusion with the live candle variety, they are a fairly recent addition to the season's decorations. The very first electric Advent candlestick was constructed (but not patented) in 1934 by Oscar Andersson (1909-1996), an employee at the Göteborg warehouse of the Dutch electronics firm Philips.

Towards the end of 1929, Philips introduced electric Christmas tree lamps in Sweden. Many of these lamp-sets, designed for 120 V common in urban centres at the time, were returned 'defective' to the Philips warehouse, having been subjected to 220 V in rural areas. Tasked at the warehouse with salvaging the functioning lamps from these sets, Mr Andersson - a technical gymnasium graduate – had the idea to mount electric Christmas tree lamps on an ordinary wooden candlestick (purchased at Grand Bazar for 2 Swedish krona, or roughly 53 cents – the equivalent of C$ 8.80 today).

Displayed in the window of his parent's apartment on Karl Gustav Street in the quarter of Landala, the approval Mr Andersson's invention garnered among passers-by encouraged him to present the electric Advent candlestick to his supervisor. Savvy to its potential, the supervisor brought the contraption to Philips' Stockholm headquarters, where initial scepticism eventually turned into an agreement to manufacture a trial run of 2000 electric candlesticks for the 1939 Christmas season.

Marketed as a “fireproof,” safer alternative to live candlesticks, the Philips Candlesticks were completely sold out (at 13 krona apiece, or roughly C$ 3.38 – equal to C$ 44.39 today) before Christmas Day that year. Mass-production commenced once WWII ended, and the material shortages caused by it were rectified. By the mid-1990s, around a million electric Advent candlesticks were sold in Sweden annually and could be found in just over 90% of Swedish households.

Intriguingly, the advent of the electric Advent candlestick largely altered its function from a symbolic, religious one, to a practically secular, illuminating one – pleasantly dispelling the darkness for believers and non-believers alike over the past 70 years.

Note: this article originally posted on November 29, 2008.

Say No to Violence against Women.

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, designated by the UN in 1999 (though marked by women's activists since 1981) to raise awareness of the violence, abuse, and mistreatment women and girls around the world are subjected to. The date was chosen to commemorate the murder of three of the Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic. It also marks the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women, and is part of the UN Secretary-General's 2008 - 2015 campaign to intensify action to end violence against women and girls.

Today, violence directed at women is one of the most common violations of human rights. One in three women will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime, most likely by a man she knows. One in five women will be the victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. Half of the women murdered around the world each year are killed by their current or former husbands or partners. Women aged 15 – 44 are more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war.

In Canada, 51% of women over the age 16 will be subjected to an act of physical violence in their life time. They are five times more likely than Canadian men to be seriously injured or killed by their partner, and hundreds are murdered each year. Aboriginal women in Canada are five times more likely to die as the result of violence than other women their age. In the EU, between 40% and 50% of women report some form of sexual harassment in the workplace. Between 500.000 and 2 million people – the majority of them women and children – are sold annually into prostitution, forced labour, slavery and servitude.

According to Amnesty International, an estimated 130 million women and girls alive today have been subjected to female genital mutilation, while 2 million girls are at risk each year. This particularly sadistic practice is common worldwide, not merely confined to ingrained pockets of ignorance and superstition, as are the thousands of “honour” and dowry killings committed each year by some of the world’s most ignorant and uneducated inhabitants.

The easiest way to demonstrate your support is adding your name to the Say NO - UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, a web-based initiative of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) that's seen 5,066,549 people sign on since November 2007 to a global call to make ending violence against women a top priority worldwide.

Though Canada's Minister of State for the Status of Women officially signed on our government's behalf in November 2008, commenting that “Canada is a world leader in advancing equality for women,” the Conservative government she's a member of meanwhile cut the Status of Women Canada budget, closed twelve of sixteen Status of Women Canada regional offices, eliminated the Court Challenges Program and the Law Commission, and refused to fund women's groups that engage in advocacy, lobbying, or general research.

The day may therefore also be spent inquiring of the minister how preciesly that brand of leadership - eradicating independent organisations that defend citizen's rights, question, analyze, and provide different perspectives to government - has advanced women's equality in Canada and elsewhere. It should be apparent to everyone that this kind of "leadership" Canada's - and the world's - women can do without.

Note: this is an updated version of the article originally posted on November 24, 2008.

National Child Day.

November 20th is National Child Day in Canada, enacted a mere 39 years after the UN called upon its members to establish a national holiday celebrating childhood on November 20, 1954, and proclaimed that date Universal Children's Day. It was in fact first celebrated in October 1953, at the request of the International Union for Child Welfare, to promote children's welfare and foster contact and understanding among the world's children. It's also the anniversary of the UN's adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was signed on the same date in 1989, and has since been ratified by 193 states. Though only two – Somalia and the USA – haven't ratified the Convention, many of those that have (including Canada) haven't fully implemented the Convention in domestic laws, or have done so with numerous reservations. (The Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts has only been ratified by 130 states, while the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography has only been ratified by 135 states.)

This year the 20th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - Celebrating Children's Rights is the theme, meant to raise awareness of the fundamental rights to which children are entitled. In Canada, we may also be reminded that November 24th (four days after National Child Day) will mark the 20th anniversary of the unanimous parliamentary resolution to end child poverty. Especially as Canada's child poverty rate - despite decades of unprecedented economic growth - currently stands at 9.5%.

Out of 784,738 Canadians relying of food banks to survive in March 2009, some 280,900 were children and youth under the age of 18 - an 86% increase since 1989. In First Nations and Inuit communities one in four children grow up in poverty; nearly one in two children of recent immigrants to Canada live in poverty. While the current, Conservative government attempts to address the problem with paltry, monthly handouts it has the gall to call a "child care plan", and lower taxes for parents who can afford to enroll their children in sports, 760,000 Canadian children (one out of every nine kids) live in poverty.

While National Child Day may be a good opportunity to familiarise yourself with what your state's actually signed on to, or reminding your elected representatives of their commitments, the day could also be spent actually listening to a kid (doesn't have to be your own, they're all worth your attention) and perhaps doing what they'd like to do for a change. Give them a break – they get told what to do practically every other day of the year.

Note: this is an expanded and updated version of an article originally published on November 19, 2008.

World Diabetes Day.

The yearly global campaign to raise awareness of the diabetes epidemic culminates on November 14, World Diabetes Day. Introduced in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organisation, the date was chosen to mark the birthday of Frederick Banting, the Canadian scientist, doctor and Nobel laureate, who led the University of Toronto team credited with the first practical extraction of insulin.

(The first one to do so was in fact Romanian physiologist Nicolae Paulescu, though his pioneering efforts are largely ignored due to his rather virulent anti-Semitism.)

Although recognized since antiquity, diabetes was only understood at the beginning of the 20th century, when research led to an effective treatment – insulin injections. Prior to that, receiving the diagnosis was a death sentence. However, there is still no practical cure, and while 285 million people will be living with diabetes in 2010, their number is expected to reach 435 million by 2030. Nearly 95% of them will have to deliver their own care.

Accurate estimates of mortality attributable to diabetes is difficult to obtain, but complications caused by diabetes (eye, kidney, nerve, and circulatory system diseases) will likely cause 4.4 million premature deaths (that's eight people every minute) in 2010 - a 5.5% increase over estimates for 2007. More deaths are expected among women than men, as diabetes already is a proportionally greater contributor to female mortality.

Though one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood, diabetes is often misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all. If undetected, among children the disease can be fatal or result in serious brain damage. Currently an estimated 440,000 children live with diabetes worldwide; 70,000 children under 15 develop the disease each year (that's almost 192 kids each day).

World Diabetes Day has featured a different theme each year, though currently Diabetes Education and Prevention has been chosen as the theme for the period 2009-2013, with the campaign slogan for 2009 being Understand Diabetes and Take Control. So take time on Saturday to educate yourself and spread awareness (Canadian activities listed here). It can be as simple as wearing something blue.

Note: this is an expanded and updated version of an article originally published on November 13, 2008.

David Mellor, 1930-2009.

David Rogerson Mellor, one of Britain 's most prominent industrial designers has passed away.  Trained as a silversmith in Sheffield, Newcastle, London, and Rome - and visiting scholar in Denmark and Sweden - Mellor became known as "the cutlery king," though his designs also included street furniture, traffic lights, and tools - examples of which can be seen here.

Hans Beck, 1929-2009.

The German cabinetmaker Hans Beck, who created the Playmobil toys, has passed away. Learn more about the colourful plastic dolls, of which more than 2.2 billion have found devoted homes in over 70 countries, here.

International Year of Natural Fibres.

The International Year of Natural Fibres was officially launched in Rome today, with the objective to raise the profile of natural fibres, highlight their origin, history, wide range of uses, and value to consumers as well as producers, while devising ways of sustaining natural fibre production and emphasise their environmental benefits in the face of increasing competition from artificial and synthetic fibres. (Wood fibre will be covered during the International Year of Forests in 2011.) Events throughout the year will be organised jointly by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation and producers of all manner of natural fibres.

A natural fibre is essentially any elongated substance produced by plants (like cotton seed hairs, flax and hemp stem fibre, sisal leaf fibre, or coconut husk fibre) or animals (wool, hair, or secretions like silk) that can be spun into filaments, threads, or ropes. Fabrics produced from natural fibres have been an essential part of human life as long as agriculture itself, and though the methods employed to produce fabrics have changed over time, their function has remained practically the same. Most natural fibres end up in the clothing, upholstery, containers and other textiles that insulate, soften, and decorate our surroundings. But an increasing amount is employed for industrial purposes as, for instance, components in paper and composite materials — including automobile parts.

Hemp and flax seeds have also been revealed to be rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids and other valuable nutrients. Hemp oil in particular offers a balanced fatty acid spectrum, while hemp seed provides a reasonably well-balanced protein, significant amounts of vitamin E complex compounds and trace minerals. Its composition, taste, and culinary diversity make hemp oil and seed a promising staple in the growing market of "natural foods".

Apart from traditional and promising new industrial uses, natural fibres are a vital economic resource in numerous regions of the world, the roughly 30 million tonnes produced annually providing an important source of income to those who produce, process, and market them. More often than not the producers are small scale farmers in the world’s so called "developing" countries, hence the sale and export of natural fibres contributes significantly not only to clothing people, but also to maintaining food security and alleviating poverty.

One of the challenges faced by natural fibre producers in the last four decades is the increased competition from artificial and synthetic fibres (like rayon, nylon, acrylic, polyester, or spandex). Therefore, the year's activities also aim to contrast the significant environmental benefits of natural fibre consumption and production with that of synthetic, petrochemical varieties, and promote sustainability by ensuring that these benefits aren't compromised by unsound practices (for instance, a pesticide-intensive crop like cotton currently uses 25% of the world's insecticides and 10% of the world's pesticides).

Worldwide events will include conferences, exhibits, and fashion shows, with at least one event set to take place in Canada.

Know your rights.

December 10 marks the 60th anniversary of the UN adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first global statement of its kind. Outlining 30 basic rights to which all humans are inherently entitled, essential for us all to achieve our full potential, and to live a life free of fear and want, it affirms all humans free and equal, regardless of race, religion, economic status, age, gender, or personal characteristics, and pronounces these basic rights the foundation of peace, justice, and freedom in our world.

Along with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols – one creating an individual complaints mechanism, the other abolishing the death penalty – ratified (with the usual reservations) by 163 nations, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ratified (ditto) by 159 nations, the Declaration forms the International Bill of Human Rights. Unlike the Charter of the UN, the Declaration isn't a binding treaty itself; it complements the Charter as a fundamental constitutive document.

Created in the late 1940s, when it became apparent that the UN didn't sufficiently define the rights referenced in the Charter, in particular the “fundamental freedoms” and “human rights,” the Declaration was initially drafted by Canadian legal scholar John Humphrey. It provided a foundation for the Canadian Human Rights Act, which aims to inspire a vision for Canada in which “all individuals [free from discrimination] should have an opportunity equal with other individuals to make for themselves the lives that they are able and wish to have.”

So, take the time on Wednesday to rediscover the world's most translated document (into more than 360 languages), take part in local events, as year long activities around the theme Dignity and justice for all of us culminate, and make sure you know your rights. In Canada the day will likely pass quietly, as our political leaders enjoy their unscheduled work stoppage, following the Conservative PM's refusal to put the reactionary policies of his minority government to a vote.

But you can still remind the PM that his government's attempts to legislate away complaints related to pay equity, filed by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, are an affront to the principles of the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the international human rights standards that Canada is supposed to be upholding. An alternative to dealing with Mr Harper's impenitent band of redneck buffoons, is to Write for Rights with Amnesty International Canada, or simply adding your name to the Every Human Has Rights campaign initiated by The Elders.

World AIDS Day.

This year, December 1 marks the twentieth anniversary of World AIDS Day, originated at the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention. Every year since, governments, international organisations, and charities around the world have organised campaigns dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection.

Since it was first recognised in 1981, AIDS has killed more than 25 million people, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in recorded history. Despite improved access to treatment and care, in 2007 the disease claimed 2.1 million people, among them 330,000 children. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has warned that the pandemic is so severe in some countries it should be classified as a disaster, fitting the UN definition of an event overwhelming the capacity of any single society to manage.

Over the past two decades significant progress has been made, but much more needs to be done as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the world. The theme for this year's World AIDS Day is Lead - Empower - Deliver, a continuation of last year's Take the Lead theme, focusing primarily on political leaders delivering on their promises – such as universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support by 2010, and the Millennium Development Goal to reverse the epidemic by 2015.

The AIDS pandemic cannot be reversed, and gains made cannot be sustained, without a reduction in the new infection rate. According to a study recently published in The Lancet, universal testing for HIV, followed by immediate treatment could cut the number of people developing full-blown AIDS by up to 95% in ten years time. While such a strategy could virtually eliminate HIV transmissions, the WHO has warned that the feasibility of universal testing is challenged by weak health care systems.

But money alone won't suffice to cure the world. Between 2001 and 2007 there was a six fold increase in financing for HIV programmes among developing countries, which has led to lower mortality and higher rate of prevention. However, the progress is uneven, and key to success in addressing the epidemic is further, immediate, worldwide reduction of the human rights violations associated with AIDS, the gender inequality, stigma, and discrimination acting as roadblocks, impeding effective, evidence- and rights-based responses to the pandemic.

Today the spread of AIDS has stabilised at an unacceptably high level. While the number of new HIV infections globally declined from 3 million in 2001 to 2.7 million in 2007 (that's still almost 7400 people a day), an estimated 33 million people were living with the disease in 2007 – more than half of them children. In sub-Saharan Africa, by far the worst-affected region, the pandemic has even begun to decline, but infections are on the rise in a number of places outside Africa.

The USA has one of the largest HIV prevalence rates in the world, with an estimated 1.2 million people living with HIV in 2005. In Canada, an estimated 58,000 people were living with the disease in 2005 – an increase of 16% since 2002 – with women's proportion of new HIV infections on the rise. AIDS continues to disproportionally affect African Americans in the USA and aboriginal people in Canada. The rate of new HIV infections in the EU has almost doubled since 1999, with particularly high prevalence in France, Italy, Spain and the UK – Estonia, Portugal and the UK having the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses. The ECDC estimates that almost one third of people living with HIV in Europe are unaware they are infected.

While globally the percentage of women living with HIV has remained at 50% for several years, women's share of infections is rising in several countries. Among children, the annual number of new HIV infections has declined since 2002, but an estimated 370,000 children under the age of 15 became infected in 2007 (over 1000 a day). Despite young people, 15 - 24 years of age, accounting for 45% of all new HIV infections, many of them still lack accurate, comprehensive information on how to avoid exposure to the virus.

Events marking the day will be held throughout the world (see here for Canada), calling for universal treatment, care and support for people living with HIV and AIDS. But the most important action remains to educate and protect yourself and your loved ones. So, spread the word and enjoy sex safely.