An unprecedented number of fires have raged throughout Brazil in 2019, intensifying in August. There have been more than 80,000 fires so far this year, the most ever recorded by the country’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). It’s a nearly 80 percent jump compared to the number of fires the country experienced over the same time period in 2018. More than half of those fires are taking place in the Amazon. Environmentalists have been raising the alarm about deforestation since 2018. Most of the worst affected regions are in the north of the country. Roraima, Acre, Rondônia and Amazonas all saw a large percentage increase in fires when compared with the average across the last four years. In the Brazilian Amazon there is a population of approximately 430,000 indigenous people, distributed in 419 Indigenous Lands, occupying an area of 115,342,101 hectares, 22.9% of the total area’s surface, including people in voluntary isolation, who are now at great risk due to the uncontrolled fires.

CESE an ACT Alliance local member from Brazil in coordination with NGOs and local partners will provide food security, basic  equipment for firefighting and will provide accompaniment to indigenous leadership to carry out advocacy actions

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A protracted protection crisis continues in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), which remains largely attributable to Israel’s ongoing occupation (UN OCHA 2019). For the first time, the ACT Appeal for the OPT was developed from a lens that understands the differences between Gaza and the West Bank in terms of humanitarian impact and scale of needs, but with a strong recognition of the shared and broader needs of the Palestinian people. The ACT Palestine Forum was organized using the same analysis, and Forum coordination is proactively managed between Jerusalem and Gaza despite access and mobility issues. This Appeal is an expression of the Forum’s desire to make direct operational links between the two areas and strengthen its existing platform for coordination, learning, and resourcing across the two areas.

PSE191 Appeal – Humanitarian Response to the Protracted Crisis in the OPT

Atmospheric anomalies and global climate change have led to catastrophic flooding in the Irkutsk region. Three air masses collided over the region at once: Arctic, subtropical and humid air from the Pacific Ocean. From June 25 to July 1 various areas of Irkutsk region of Russia and neighboring regions were hit by long heavy rains. The amount of precipitation in the Western, Southern and Central Irkutsk region in three days reached 1,5 to 4 monthly norms. The current flood broke the historical highs both in terms of the level of precipitation and the levels of the rivers that came out of the banks. Heavy rains led to the rise of rivers – tributaries of the Angara river by 10-14 meters, which is much higher than the critical mark. Official data, to date: more than 38,000 people affected (including 8,000 children), 25 persons killed, 7 persons are missing, 725 persons were hospitalized, 2,563 persons were evacuated; 110 settlements and cities were flooded, 49 sections of roads were covered by water, 22 bridges were damaged. About 10,800 houses were flooded or swept away. In seven districts of the Irkutsk region, a state of emergency was declared, with three of them almost completely flooded.

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By October 12, 2018 the exodus from Central America to the United States has grown in complexity and continues to pose grave risks for the people on move, coming mainly from the north triangle (Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador) to reach the Mexican-USA border, to seek asylum due to social and political violence, drought and lack of economic opportunities given the high inequity and poverty in their countries. People on the move are growing in number, and the threat for their lives and properties have become severe brought on by gangs and traffickers.  The situation at each border, Guatemala, Mexico or USA, is more challenging due to the tightening of border control measures (e.g. at the Honduras-Mexico border), leading to cases of mass refoulement (migrants returned in huge numbers). For those that entered the United States are usually caught by border patrols and children are from their parents and sent to detention camps without any specific plans for reunification.

The purpose of this appeal is to initiate a humanitarian component to help meet the needs of people on the move, to promote legislation and policies that are in accordance with states’ human rights obligations, transparent, and to solicit the support from international community through the pertinent bodies of the United Nations. In addition, this measure seeks to guarantee the safety and physical integrity of migrants, especially minors, the elderly and women, and to prevent people from being deceived by international criminal organizations engaged in migrant smuggling, which endangers their lives, trying to have the families together and communicated. In this context, collecting information about rights violations, and providing evidence of CSO activities will be crucial for influencing a rights-based implementation of the Global Compacts for Migration and on Refugees in Central America and Mexico.

ACT Alliance North America members, ELCA, CLWR and CWS, are collaborating with members of the Central
America ACT Alliance Forum, CASM, CEDEPCA, SLS and LWF, for an 18-month humanitarian assistance initiative to assist Central American families and vulnerable individuals who are seeking asylum in the US.

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On 3 June 2019 five districts in Serbia (Moravica, Rasina, Sumadija, Pomoravlje and Ras, namely central and western Serbia) were affected with flash flooding caused by massive rainstorms and heavy showers that exceeded 100l/m2. The Serbian Ministry for Internal Affairs declared a state of emergency in these five districts. In all listed districts both rural and urban households are affected. Affected areas are localised, but heavily damaged. As high temperatures have been forecasted for the following days, there is a high risk of spreading contamination and infections, both among humans and animals. Water supplies are compromised. Several thousand hectares of agricultural land are destroyed as well as roads and more than 20 bridges.

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