The Amazon rainforest is the world’s greatest carbon sink, keeping the climate on earth regulated. For most of the past 50 years farmers have cut down with bulldozers, burned down and used chains to clear the land for farming soy. Raising global population has forced Brazil to increase the soy production, pushing farmer to illegally clear land. WWF, Ibama and the Space Agency have been working to stop harmful deforestation using satellites and teams on the ground. With the help of satellites monitoring the carbon emissions and looking at forest patterns deforestation in Brazil has been reduced by 75% since 2004. Communities in the area of Parå have started providing tourist tours, encouraging visitors from all over the world.
Since Mohamed Morsi was elected as president of Egypt there have been continuous protests. On 22 November 2012, tens of thousands of protesters started to demonstrate against president Mohamed Morsi, after Morsi’s government announced a temporary constitutional declaration that in effect granted the president unlimited powers. The demonstrations have resulted in violent clashes between Morsisupporters and the anti-Morsi protesters, with dozens of deaths. Hundreds of pro-Morsi demonstrators have since been killed in army crackdowns and attacks on pro-Morsi demonstrations. In many cases the army has denied shooting at demonstrators with live ammunition, contrary to eyewitnesses and first hand accounts of western news outlets and local residents. Human Rights Watch has been monitoring the events and donating to the charity can help raise awareness to the actions of the Egyptian Army.
In 2011 an earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku hit Japan and it was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded to have hit Japan. The earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves that reached heights of up to 40.5 metres and ravelled up to 6 miles inland. Japanese National Police Agency report confirmed 15,884 deaths, 6,148 injured and 2,633 people missing. As well as 127,290 buildings totally collapsed, with a further 272,788 buildings ‘half collapsed’, and another 747,989 buildings partially damaged. The tsunami caused nuclear accidents at three reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant complex, and the associated evacuation zones affecting hundreds of thousands of residents. Japan is still recovering from the disaster and donating to Aid for Japan helps those affected by the tsunami get their lives back together.
The Mexican Drug War is an ongoing armed conflict among rival drug cartels fighting one another for regional control and against the Mexican government forces and civilian vigilante groups. The Mexican drug war was fully established during the 1980s when Colombia’s Pablo Escobar was the main exporter of cocaine and dealt with organised criminal networks all over the world. Analysts estimate that wholesale earnings from illicit drug sales range from $13.6 billion to $49.4 billion annually. Arrests of key cartel leaders, particularly in the Tijuana and Gulf cartels, has led to increasing drug violence as cartels fight for control of the trafficking routes into the United States. In 2014 the drug cartels are still operating and distributing drugs from Mexico and primarily into the US. Amnesty International has been at the forefront of publicising and raising awareness to the situation in Mexico and it’s borders.
The Chernobyl disaster occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. An explosion and fire released large quantities of dangerous radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe. 31 people died during the accident itself, and long-term effects such as cancers and deformities are still being accounted for. Mutations in both humans and other animals increased following the disaster. Chernobyl Heart is a charity that cares for all those that were affected by the 1986 disaster. The effects of Chernobyl are still evident in 2014, the plant remains too radioactive.