Vulnerabilities Journal: June 13, 2009

Each month we keep an eye on 11 major issues and here link to articles on major events in each category.
1. Famine / Drought

ReliefWeb: Southern Africa: Main harvest period improves regional food security
Reuters: Yemen staring at famine next year
World Bank: West Bank in Acute Humanitarian Crisis, World Bank Water Report Says
China: Drought [...]

Losing 50% of the world’s languages by 2100

By the year 2100, many linguists estimate, half of the world’s 6,912
distinct languages will be extinct. At present, 548 of them retain
fewer than ninety-nine speakers. We can expect to lose a language every
ten days; and behind each of these disappearances lies a story of
cultural loss, sadness and isolation. The Times Literary Supplement.

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Structures of sin are built on top of structures of sin

Afghanistan’s Taliban merchants made profits of $100 million dollars from poppy grown for the opium trade in Afghanistan. Read more.

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Update on the Aral Sea

Here’s an update about the disappearing Aral Sea, which has shrunk 70% in recent decades in one of the worst man-made ecological disasters. Impacted are the Kazakhs and Uzbeks among others, both unreached peoples.

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Quake leaves mix of fear and hope

Seas of blue tents dominate the landscape in China’s earthquake-ravaged
areas, serving as temporary homes to many of the 5 million-plus who
were displaced by the May 12 quake. But beneath the seemingly identical
tents live a kaleidoscope of refugees who each tell a unique story of
loss and survival. Read some of the stories.

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Startling Statistics on the fibers we grow

Fred writes a rather shocking article about cotton and corn: it takes 25 bathtubs of water to grow enough cotton for one T-shirt; the corn needed to fill an SUV tank with bioethanol could feed an African for a year. Perhaps one service a Christian could do for the least-reached of the world is to [...]

Political troubles for YWAM in Brazil

The government is investigating YWAM for allegedly tampering with indigenous cultures. Read more about how an agency has to deal with politics.

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Youth at risk

“The statistics in detail
reveal that more than 130 million young people are illiterate and
almost 90 million are unemployed. In certain regions including in the
Arab states account for up to half of those unemployed…” Read more.

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Drugs in Afghanistan

THE world’s biggest drug bust has been executed by narcotics agents in Afghanistan, who say they uncovered 236 tonnes of hashish hidden in trenches. The massive haul, found in the southern province of Kandahar on Monday, was worth more than $US400 million ($426 million) and would have netted the Taliban about $US14 million in profits, [...]

Child labor in Bangladesh

8.6 million children are not attending schools in Bangladesh. “Many” start working at an early age. Experts: lifetime earning ability of children reduced 13 to 20% if they enter the workforce at a young age.

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