Africa

The churches central to his election in 2022 are now his fiercest critics.

The churches central to his election in 2022 are now his fiercest critics.

The 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is scheduled to conclude 22 November 2024. Credit: United Nations Department of Global Communications

By Abdoulaye Diallo
DAKAR, Senegal, Nov 21 2024 (IPS)

At the UN climate change conference in Baku (COP29), government officials are scrambling for an agreement on a new climate financial package. There is a well established consensus that the climate crisis is exacerbating the hardships of vulnerable communities around the world. The question now is who’s going to pay for the staggering costs?

A small tax on just seven of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies could grow the UN Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage by more than 2000%, as shown in an analysis by environmental organisations Greenpeace International and Stamp Out Poverty. Taxing last year’s revenues of major oil companies could help cover the costs of some of this year’s worst weather events attributed to climate change.

Taxing ExxonMobil’s 2023 extraction could pay for half the cost of Hurricane Beryl, which ravaged large parts of the Caribbean, Mexico and the USA. Taxing Shell’s 2023 extraction could cover much of Typhoon Carina’s damages, one of the worst that the Philippines experienced this year. Taxing TotalEnergies’ 2023 extraction could cover over 30 times Kenya’s 2024 floods.

A Climate Damages Tax (CDT) could deliver desperately needed resources for communities and authorities who are on the front lines of the climate crisis, made worse by dirty energy companies. Companies which, together, earned almost US$150 billion last year.

So, what could a long term tax on fossil fuel extraction, combined with taxes on excess profits and other levies, deliver? A climate damages tax imposed across wealthy OECD countries, increasing annually by US$5 per tonne of CO2-equivalent based on the volumes of oil and gas extracted, could play an essential role in financing climate action.

It could raise an estimated US$900 billion by 2030 to support governments and communities around the world as they face growing climate impacts.

Who should pay? This is fundamentally an issue of climate justice and it is time to shift the financial burden for the climate crisis from its victims to those responsible for it. There is an urgent need for innovative solutions to raise the funds to meet the challenge posed by climate loss and damage. Governments worldwide must adopt the climate damages tax and other mechanisms to extract revenue from the oil and gas industry.

The data clearly shows Big Oil’s complicity in the crisis we’re in, but to truly deliver climate justice the numbers are never enough.

That’s why our call to make climate polluters pay comes at the conclusion of three weeks of protests, in which survivors of floods and other extreme weather events have stood with Greenpeace activists. Together, activists delivered to offices of dirty energy companies (e.g, TotalEnergies, Eni, Equinor, OMV) containers full of broken toys and family photos, furniture, appliances, and other remnants of personal and communal tragedy, which became far worse because of Big Oil’s ever growing production of oil and gas.

For governments to finally force climate polluters to stop drilling and start paying, we should all raise our voice.

Abdoulaye Diallo is Co-Head of Greenpeace International’s Stop Drilling Start Paying project

IPS UN Bureau

 

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A faulty batch of Yaz Plus means some packs contain only four active pills rendering them ineffective.

Saada Arbane said she refuse a meeting with Daoud after finding out he wanted to use her in his book.

The Adani Group had agreed to take over the running of Kenya's main airport, prompting an outcry.

South Africa's Kgothatso Montjane says the backing she received following the death of her mother in July was crucial in her return to elite wheelchair tennis.

South Africa's Kgothatso Montjane says the backing she received following the death of her mother in July was crucial in her return to elite wheelchair tennis.

He is said to have escaped through a hospital a window in August.

The point of finding a partner is to achieve your strategic goals and ensure the sustainability of your organisation while contributing to another organisation. Credit: Pexels

By Angela Umoru-David
ABUJA, Nov 21 2024 (IPS)

It is an already established truth that building partnerships is one of the single most effective ways for African non-profits to attract funding and deepen their impact. So, as an addendum to this article by Tafadzwa and I, here is a guide to finding your match.

Indeed, choosing an organisation to collaborate with can be similar to deciding on a life partner. It does not require the same life commitment but a wrong partnership can significantly hurt your reputation with donors, the trust you have from the community(ies) and even the faith your team members have in you. In some situations, the consequences are not so dire. Perhaps, it may only sidetrack you, forcing you to forge into areas you probably did not intend, and making you lose time or put years of hard work at risk.

So, in broad strokes, how can you find the right partner for your work as an African civil society organisation (CSO) or nonprofit?

1. Put your House in Order: Organisations are often judged on the strength of their corporate governance. While the size of an organisation may influence how robust its processes and procedures are, what is paramount is that irrespective of the size, there is a system and culture of accountability and transparency. The most solid path towards establishing broad community partnerships that ensure long-term grassroots support revolve around legitimacy and structure, as evidenced in your policies, leadership composition, accountability measures and organisational culture. This may seem like an obvious point but African non-profits often start informally as a small initiative to address a problem in the community. Over time, that small initiative morphs into a registered non-governmental organisation, whose leadership is made up of close friends and family members. Even if this works to get the organisation operational, it does not work in the long term. At the barest minimum, every nonprofit should have a diverse and functional board of directors/trustees, well-articulated vision, values and objectives, strategic goals and action plans. These benchmarks help you streamline what kind of partner(s) you need, when you should approach them and how you want to collaborate with them.
2. Be Willing to Collaborate, not Compete: For too long, the funding pool in Africa has pit nonprofits against one another. However, to tap the benefits of partnerships, organisations must be willing to call a truce, and work together in an open, honest relationship. Yet, with so much distrust already being the marker of the nonprofit space, how do we move forward? It really begins with having a different mindset. If more organisations adopt the idea that collaboration, and not competition is the way forward then we will have made considerable progress. But this is not a perfect world and there will always be unscrupulous people so the next few points should give you some protection.
3. Find your Strategic Match: While certain collaborations may be short-term, all partnerships should be strategic (irrespective of time frame). This means that there should be congruence in values, approach to work, complementary (not necessarily exact) thematic areas of work and proven record of value. Before engaging with a prospective partner, it is important to consider what you can also offer the partnering organisation. What would be helpful is to have a predetermined checklist with some must-haves and a few criteria that might be flexible. This also means creating an internal standard for excellence that all prospective partners must abide by. This is why point (1) is too important. If you are not clear about who you are as an organisation or your needs, how will you recognise an organisation that matches your partner profile?
4. Start Small and Take it Slow: You can start from your circle, with organisations that align with your values and whose leadership you can vouch for to a certain degree. Even at that, do not be quick to commit to major projects or sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) without reading the fine print. You can also start with projects that may not require funding (because this often has higher stakes) but things like knowledge/data-sharing, staff exchanges etc. may be somewhere to begin. These low-hanging fruits help you get a feel of what kind of organisation you are dealing with. Lastly, it goes without saying that you request a ‘get-to-know-you’ meeting where you share your histories, policies and procedures with each other (yes, much like a first date) then you can go from there. It is important that you do not accept a partnership under duress and if the organisation refuses to honour this request, then it is possible that they are not the right match for you.
5. Be Diverse and Inclusive in your Search: Too often nonprofit organisations struggle to catch the attention of the more established entities, forgetting that there might be a host of other organisations doing impressive work and who might be reliable partners. It is advisable to cast a wide net. The fact that an organisation is small (or even smaller than yours) does not negate the value they could offer. You can also make an open call for partnerships, highlighting your interest area(s), what you bring to the table and an overview of the kind of organisation you want.

Ultimately, you should remember that the point of finding a partner is to achieve your strategic goals and ensure the sustainability of your organisation while contributing to another organisation. Approaching partnership-building from this perspective strengthens the network of non-profits across the Continent, helps us leverage our internal wealth of resources and weans us off our over-dependence on external funding.

Angela Umoru-David is a creative social impact advocate whose experience cuts across journalism, program design and corporate/development communications, and aims to capture a plurality of views that positively influence the African narrative

Leicester City manager Steve Cooper says winger Abdul Fatawu will miss the rest of the season after suffering a "serious" knee injury playing for Ghana.

As climate change wreaks havoc across the globe, its effects are most acutely felt by those living in vulnerable coastal and rural communities. In Ghana, the Climate Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) has embarked on a groundbreaking initiative that merges climate resilience with an often-overlooked aspect of the crisis: mental health. For Valerie Nutakor, CDKN’s Programme […]

Women with scarves of green and white for Nigeria Day at COP29. Aishwarya Bajpai/IPS

By Aishwarya Bajpai
BAKU, Nov 21 2024 (IPS)

The Nigeria Pavilion came alive with vibrant colors, cultural pride, and meaningful discussions during the celebration of Nigeria Day this week at COP29.

While traditionally celebrated on October 1st as Nigeria’s Independence Day, this event brought a touch of home to the global stage, showcasing the nation’s rich cultural heritage and unwavering commitment to tackling pressing climate challenges.

Unity and diversity took center stage, symbolized by the green-and-white scarves worn by participants.

Jennifer Kennedy Joma, a staff member of the National Council on Climate Change Secretariat in Nigeria, aptly noted: “Today is Nigeria Day. We got to celebrate diversity in Nigeria, the culture, the cloth. You can see everybody is wearing a particular scarf, carrying green and white, which is Nigeria’s color. Green signifies agriculture, white signifies peace.”

The pavilion was abuzz with traditional attire, lively discussions, and prideful representations of Nigeria’s identity and resilience.

Yet, beyond the cultural festivities, the day served as a platform to spotlight the nation’s challenges and strides in climate adaptation.

The hustle and bustle at the Nigeria Pavilion at COP29. Aishwarya Bajpai/IPS

Recent devastating floods across Nigeria have heightened the urgency for effective solutions. Representatives from various sectors—agriculture, energy, and youth development—engaged directly with government ministers in rare, open dialogues to bridge grassroots concerns with national policymaking.

A focal point of these discussions was Nigeria’s role in global climate finance.

As COP29 is billed as the Finance COP, highlighting the nation’s vast potential, Joma expressed hope for tangible collaboration.

“We hope to get the finance that the name stands for. We hope they look beyond what Nigeria is putting out there and understand that there is a lot Nigeria can bring from the minerals, especially from the marine part.”

Nigeria’s appeal extended beyond showcasing its rich resources—it was also a call for trust and partnership.

“We want to meet investors. We want to meet developers and then see what we can bring. There are plans on the ground; there are concepts on the ground. Work with us and see that your finances can be trusted fully with Nigerians,” Joma emphasized.

Inclusivity in climate action was another cornerstone of the day. The Minister for Youth and Women, Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim, highlighted the critical contributions of these groups to building climate resilience.

At the same time, the Minister for Electricity and Gas, Adebayo Adelabu, presented renewable energy as a transformative tool for nationwide electrification.

Nigeria Day at COP29 was more than just a celebration of culture; it was a declaration of purpose. It showcased a nation ready to harness its heritage and resources to lead global climate action.

As the day concluded, Nigeria’s message was unmistakable: with collaboration, innovation, and trust, it is poised to transform its vision for sustainability into a reality for both its people and the world.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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As the world intensifies its fight against climate change, the clean energy transition—shifting from fossil fuels to renewable sources—has become a linchpin for sustainable development. This transition is not only crucial for the environment but also a chance to transform global energy systems, echoing the strong call at COP29. However, the scale and urgency of […]

Pioneering effort to protect women and children in quarantine centres in Viet Nam Credit: UN Women

By Rajat Khosla
GENEVA, Nov 21 2024 (IPS)

Each year, millions of women and children around the world die from preventable causes. Maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) is a shared global priority, yet we often overlook one of its most pressing—and preventable—barriers: violence against women.

As we mark the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, we are reminded that gender-based violence (GBV) is not just a social issue but a critical health crisis that endangers the lives of mothers and children everywhere.

When we consider that a woman experiencing violence is 1.5 times more likely to have a low-birth-weight baby and that this condition greatly increases infant mortality, the need for urgent, integrated action becomes starkly clear. 1 Addressing violence is not peripheral to MNCH efforts—it is foundational.

Violence and Health: A Devastating Cycle

Evidence tells us that intimate partner violence (IPV) directly affects maternal and infant outcomes. Pregnant women subjected to IPV face a heightened risk of complications like preterm labor and hemorrhage, often resulting in increased maternal and newborn mortality.2 3 The problem doesn’t end with pregnancy: children born to mothers experiencing violence have a higher likelihood of malnutrition, stunting, and developmental delays, perpetuating a cycle of vulnerability. 4

The psychological toll is just as concerning. Women subjected to violence are more prone to depression and anxiety, both of which affect maternal health-seeking behavior.5 Depressed mothers are less likely to access antenatal care and postnatal services, further endangering the lives of their infants. In turn, these mental health impacts lead to cascading health and social risks for women and their families, affecting entire communities.

Rajat Khosla

The Crisis Within Crises: Humanitarian Settings

Nowhere are these challenges more pressing than in humanitarian settings. Conflict, natural disasters, and displacement magnify the vulnerability of women and children, often leading to spikes in sexual violence and the breakdown of healthcare systems. In conflict zones, over 60% of women report having experienced sexual violence, according to humanitarian reports. 6 These women are not only at risk of severe trauma and infection but also of maternal mortality, with rates nearly double those found in stable environments. 7

It’s estimated that more than 500 women and girls die every day from preventable complications related to pregnancy and childbirth in humanitarian settings,8 underscoring an urgent need for an integrated approach to MNCH and GBV response. These statistics are more than numbers—they represent the lives of mothers, daughters, and children who deserve health, safety, and dignity.

The Overlooked Victims: Women Health Care Workers

It’s not only patients who suffer. Female health workers, the backbone of MNCH services worldwide, are often at grave risk. In fragile and conflict-affected settings, women health workers face high rates of violence, including harassment and physical assault.

Research suggests that up to 80% of healthcare workers in these settings report experiencing violence, a statistic that directly impacts their ability to provide care.9 High rates of violence lead to burnout, turnover, and a critical shortage of trauma-informed healthcare providers when they are needed most.10

For many, this threat is exacerbated by their roles as frontline responders to gender-based violence. The safety and mental health of our healthcare workforce are inextricably linked to the health outcomes we aim to achieve for mothers and children.

A Call to Action for Integrated Policies

As we look to the future, it’s time to broaden our understanding of what it means to support maternal and child health. Policies that address violence against women and protect female health workers must become a central pillar of MNCH efforts. This calls for a multi-pronged approach:
1. Prioritize Funding for Integrated MNCH and GBV Services: Donors and governments should increase funding for programs that integrate maternal health services with GBV prevention and response, particularly in crisis-prone areas.
2. Strengthen Health Systems in Humanitarian Settings: We must scale up support for safe, trauma-informed healthcare in conflict zones, ensuring that women and children have access to life-saving care without the threat of further violence.
3. Protect and Support Women Health Workers: Policies that safeguard the well-being of women health workers are essential. Measures like workplace protections, mental health support, and security protocols can help mitigate the impacts of violence and ensure that healthcare workers can provide essential services safely.

The costs of inaction are too high. Each preventable death of a mother or child as a result of violence marks a failure to uphold the rights to health and safety for all. By placing violence against women at the forefront of our MNCH efforts, we can break the cycle of suffering and create the conditions needed for healthy mothers and thriving children.

This 16 Days of Activism, let’s commit to integrated action against violence—because women’s health, newborn survival, and child development depend on it. Together, we can build a world where women and children live free from violence, and where health and dignity go hand in hand.

1 World Health Organization. (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. Geneva: World Health Organization.
2 Shah, I. H., & Hatcher, A. (2013). The impact of intimate partner violence on women’s reproductive health: A review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 14(2), 128-137. doi:10.1177/1524838012451845
3 Elizabeth P. Lockington et al. Intimate partner violence is a significant risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes. AJOG Global Reports. Volume 3, Issue 4, November 2023, 100283
4 Ellsberg, M., & Heise, L. (2005). Researching violence against women: A practical guide for researchers and activists. Geneva: World Health Organization.
5 World Health Organization. (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. Consequences. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/77431/WHO_RHR_12.43_eng.pdf
6 UNODC. (2021). Sexual violence in conflict: Current trends and implications. Vienna: United Nations. Retrieved from UNODC
7 UNFPA. (2019). Maternal mortality in humanitarian settings. New York: UNFPA. Retrieved from UNFPA
8 UNFPA. (2020). Maternal mortality in emergencies: The hidden crisis. Retrieved from UNFPA
9 Médecins Sans Frontières. (2018). Health workers in conflict zones: Risks and realities. Retrieved from MSF
10 World Health Organization. (2021). Violence against health workers. Geneva: WHO.

Rajat Khosla is Executive Director of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), the global alliance for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health and well-being, hosted by the World Health Organization, based in Geneva.

Email: khoslar@who.int

IPS UN Bureau

 

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As Brazil gears up to host COP30 in Belém next year, Moisés Savian, the country’s Secretary of Land Governance, Territorial and Socio Environmental Development, outlined the event’s significance in showcasing Brazil’s environmental policies and fostering global collaboration. In an interview with IPS, Savian highlighted Brazil’s progress under President Lula’s administration and outlined the country’s aspirations […]

The COP29 Presidency’s draft text acknowledges that developing countries suffer disproportionately from impacts of climate change. Credit: UN Climate Change/Kamran Guliyev

By Joyce Chimbi
BAKU, Nov 21 2024 (IPS)

Today the COP29 Presidency released a much-awaited new draft text as the end draws near.

The draft acknowledges that developing countries suffer disproportionately from impacts of climate change amid a plethora of barriers and challenges, such as the high costs of capital, limited fiscal space, high levels of indebtedness, and high transaction costs, which also further exacerbate existing developmental challenges.

“The African Group welcomes the new draft decision text on New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), now much streamlined. These ten pages contain many of the principled positions from the African Group and other developing countries, although continues to include many of the untenable positions of the developed countries as options in the text,” says Ambassador Ali Mohamed, Kenya’s Special Envoy for Climate Change and Chair of the African Group of Negotiators.

“The elephant in the room, however, is the lack of a quantum proposal, and the text does not specify numerical figures for the proposed mobilisation goal or for the provision element, despite a common position from the G77 and China on a USD1.3 trillion annual mobilisation goal. This is the reason we are here, identifying a quantified goal, but we are no closer and we need the developed countries to urgently engage on this matter.”

The text’s first option closely mirrors what the developing countries are asking for. It states that an unspecified trillion of dollars will be raised annually from 2025 through 2035, provided and mobilised from developed to all developing countries. But it also raises eyebrows as it ‘invites’ developing countries to provide finance ‘voluntarily’ as long as this does not count towards the main goal. 

These funds will be used to address developing countries evolving needs, in grants or grant-equivalent terms of new, additional, affordable, predictable, non-debt inducing and adequate climate finance, for adaptation, mitigation and loss and damage, to support developing country Parties and to support the implementation of their nationally determined contributions.

Mohamed Adow, a climate justice advocate and director of energy and climate think-tank Power Shift Africa referred to the new text on the NCQG on climate finance as a blank cheque and asked developed countries to put actual figures on the table. Stresing that it is only by putting specific numbers to the goal that negotiations at COP29 will move forward smoothly. 

“The new text rightly diagnoses the climate problem, including the required finance for adaptation and energy transition, but glaringly omits what the rich countries will actually provide to developing countries. The elephant in the room is the lack of specific numbers in the text. This is the ‘finance COP’. We came here to talk about money. You measure money with numbers. We need a cheque but all we have right now is a blank piece of paper.”

Further stressing that the text includes “some important signals on grant-based financing, and the need to avoid debt inducing instruments. Developed countries now urgently need to fill in the blanks and put their finance card on the table to move the negotiations forward.”

Developed countries are more aligned to second option which indicates that the NCQG has one provision and one mobilization component, and that developed country Parties shall provide at least USD [X] billion per year in grants or grant-equivalent terms referred to as provision goal to support the achievement the mobilization goal from the floor of their current levels – USD100 billion per year – of financial contributions. Observers say option two is ‘a goal to be reached by 2035, giving wealthy nations longer to mobilise to meet it.’

Others have taken issue with the draft saying it is has explicitly attempted to remove all references to historical polluters’ obligation to pay in line with the Paris Agreement, saying that this is an attempt to set things in motion for private sector financing to enable polluting countries to take bare minimum financial accountability. Notably, the draft suggests burden-sharing arrangements for developed country Parties based on historical emissions and GDP per capita.

Cristina Rumbaitis, Senior Adaptation and Resilience Advisor, UN Foundation says the text is “very poor and disappointing, especially on adaptation. First, the floor for adaptation is out. Secondly, there is no reference to the Global Goal on Adaptation or the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience. Thirdly, there is only language around balancing between mitigation and adaptation and loss and damage. This could further reduce funding for adaptation.

She nonetheless says there is “some good language on qualitative elements and call for a floor for adaptation for Least Developed Countries and the Small Island Developing States from all relevant actors and financial mechanisms. But also very weak statements like grant financing should be used for adaptation and loss and damage to the largest extent possible. We had hoped for more.”

On gender and climate change, the text notes that gender-responsive implementation and means of implementation of climate policy and action can enable Parties to raise ambition, as well as enhance gender equality, and just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities.

The text decides to extend the enhanced Lima work programme on gender for a period of ten years. The Lima Work Programme on Gender (LWPG) was established in 2014 to advance gender balance and integrate gender consideration into the work of Parties and the secretariat in implementing the Convention and the Paris Agreement.

Further, the United Arab Emirates just transition work program recognizes that “the widening adaptation finance gap may hinder the implementation of just transition pathways in developing countries, especially those that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.”

It underscores that multi-stakeholder, people-centric, bottom-up, whole-of-society approaches are required to achieve just transitions and recognizes the importance of education systems and skills development, including through upskilling and reskilling, labour rights and social protection systems, and of consideration of the informal sector, the care economy, unemployed people and future workers for ensuring a just transition of the workforce.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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A recently displaced mother holds her child in a makeshift displacement camp in Léogâne. Credit: UNICEF/Maxime Le Lijour

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 21 2024 (IPS)

Doctors Without Borders, the medical humanitarian organization, which has served in Haiti for over 30 years, announced on Wednesday that it would suspend its activities in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital amid repeated threats from local law enforcement. This announcement indicates the precariousness of the situation in Haiti where humanitarian groups on the ground face security issues from even members of law enforcement.

In their announcement, Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), cited multiple incidents where local police made verbal threats on staff members, threatening violence, death and rape. Other incidents included attacks on ambulances, tear-gassing, and harassment. This also comes following an incident on November 11, where two patients were executed following an attack on an ambulance by police and vigilante groups. The spokesperson for the Haitian National Police has not a public comment.

MSF patient admissions will be halted, excluding patients that are currently in care and those that are receiving care in the maternity sector. All five of the organization’s medical facilities in Haiti are currently inactive.

“As MSF, we accept working in conditions of insecurity, but when even law enforcement becomes a direct threat, we have no choice but to suspend admissions of patients in Port-au-Prince until the conditions are met for us to resume”, said Christophe Garnier, MSF’s head of mission in Haiti.

Prior to halting operations, MSF provided care to over 1,100 patients, 54 children with emergency conditions, and more than 80 survivors of sexual violence on a weekly basis. Humanitarian organizations predict that this will be a massive blow to Haiti’s barely functioning healthcare system.

“Healthcare services have never been so limited for people in Haiti. Many people will lose access to MSF services because we are not able to work safely in Port-au-Prince,” Garnier added.

The appointment of Alix Didier Fils-Aimé as the new prime minister of Haiti has been followed with sharp rises in social insecurity and gang violence. In recent days, attacks on civilian settlements reached new levels of brutality, with armed gangs gaining more territory in the capital, Port-Au-Prince.

Thousands of civilians have fled their homes. Due to the wide scale of needs, as well as numerous security challenges, humanitarian efforts have been pushed to their limits. Shelters and essential resources remain critically strained.

The past few weeks have yielded a considerable surge in gang violence, with most of the attacks being concentrated in the capital and the Artibonite River region. According to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a total of 20,000 Haitians have fled their homes in the past week, noting significant disruptions to basic services such as education, protection, and healthcare.

This recent escalation has also led to a rise in civilian casualties. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the recent attacks have pushed the total death toll from gang violence past 4,000 in 2024 alone.

Currently, it is estimated by OCHA that armed groups control 85 percent of Port-Au-Prince. According to Ulrika Richardson, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Haiti, gangs have begun to gain increasing amounts of territory within the capital.

This endangers thousands of civilians and provides humanitarian organizations with numerous access challenges. “With only 20 percent of Port-au-Prince accessible, humanitarian workers face immense challenges in reaching affected populations,” said chief of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Haiti, Grégoire Goodstein.

On November 19, the Viv Ansamn gang launched an attack on Petionville, an upscale neighborhood in Port-Au-Prince. Armed gang members clashed with the local police and civilians, resulting in the deaths of at least 28 suspected gang members according to the Haitian National Police. Jimmy Chérizier, the leader of Viv Ansamn, has threatened reprisals of violence, encouraging opposition from the police and the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission, saying, “They think they can stop us, but all the helicopters in the world won’t be enough. The gangs are here to stay”.

This is only the latest in a series of attacks following the Fils-Aimé’s appointment as prime minister. The Viv Ansamn coalition is especially known for capitalizing on moments of extreme political instability in Haiti. “In a power vacuum like this, it’s a fertile ground for organized crime,” Richardson remarked.

In the hours following the attack, MSF made their announcement to suspend its activities in Port-au-Prince until further notice. The conditions in Haiti pose a security threat to humanitarian workers, even as they work tirelessly to remedy the needs of affected civilians.

Living conditions in displacement shelters have considerably deteriorated due to the lack of humanitarian aid and medical care. According to a report from OCHA, approximately half of the Haitian population faces severe food insecurity. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reports that access to healthcare and sanitation resources are severely limited, with women being highly susceptible to gender-based violence and unsafe practices, such as transactional sex.

The UN has pledged to continue its efforts in providing humanitarian assistance wherever it can. “Despite the temporary suspension of air transport, humanitarian operations continue actively in the Port-au-Prince area, although security conditions are unpredictable. In addition, humanitarian and recovery activities continue uninterrupted in the rest of the country,” Richardson said.

Aid personnel are currently on the frontlines, distributing essential resources to affected communities, including hot meals, cash transfers, clean drinking water, healthcare, and psychosocial support. Additionally, the UN urges member states of the MSS mission to continue their support.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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Activists speak out against fossil fuels amid a new pledge from wealthy nations and EU against new unabated coal power plants. Credit: Joyce Chimbi

By Joyce Chimbi
BAKU, Nov 21 2024 (IPS)

Of all fossil fuels, coal has had the most serious and long-term effects on global warming. When burnt, coal releases more carbon dioxide than oil and gas, producing an estimated 39 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions. Yet, coal is still the number one energy source, providing nearly 40 percent of the world’s electricity.

A COP29 deal struck on Wednesday November 21 now holds the promise to change the fossil fuel landscape and climate change trajectory, placing the world back on track to net zero. Twenty-five countries and the EU have now pledged not to build any new unabated coal-power plants in their next round of national climate plans in bid to scale up ambitions in the next phase of climate action.

Fossil fuels are highly polluting. The ‘no new unabated coal power’ COP29 initiative was signed by EU climate envoy Wopke Hoekstra to pledge that when the 25 nations submit their national climate plans by February 2025 along with all other nations party to the Paris Agreement, theirs will reflect no new unabated coal in their respective energy systems to accelerate phasing out of fossil fuels.

In reference to fossil fuels, ‘unabated’ means taking no measures to reduce the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas. Abated refers to attempts to decrease release of polluting substances to an acceptable level.

“I’m often asked what gives me confidence that we can get this job done.  The answer is lots of things.  Quiet acts of solidarity, from people who get knocked down, but who refuse to stay down.  But there are also big things – the macro trends that aren’t up for debate.    And there’s none bigger than the global clean energy boom – set to hit two trillion dollars this year alone.  And it’s just getting started,” Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, stressed.

“Money talks, and as we enter the second quarter of this century, it is saying loud and clear: there is no stopping the clean energy juggernaut, and the vast benefits it brings: stronger growth, more jobs, less pollution and inflation, cheaper and cleaner energy. The list of benefits goes on.” 

The coalition of nations backing the diplomatic campaign to encourage all countries to end new coal power is constituted of mostly wealthy nations such as Germany, France, Canada, the United Kingdom and notably Australia – a major coal producer. This is the latest pledge towards curbing use of the fuel and phasing out fossil fuels in line with the COP28 deal.

The pledge is incredibly critical for despite coal being extremely dangerous to the global climate goals, a coal boom is unfolding. Data in the Global Coal Plant Tracker show that “69.5 GW of coal power capacity was commissioned while 21.1 GW was retired in 2023, resulting in a net annual increase of 48.4 GW for the year and a global total capacity of 2,130 GW. This is the highest net increase in operating coal capacity since 2016.”

COP29 has been centered around a new deal for climate financing to support the third Nationally Determined Contributions in the developing world, but delegates have not lost sight of the COP28 landmark deal when nearly 200 nations—for the first time—called on all nations to transition away from fossil fuels.

Activists want a net-zero world and they want it now, calling for ambitious climate actions to save the planet. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

Teresa Anderson, the Global Lead on Climate Justice at ActionAid International, told IPS, “Just transitions and climate finance have to go hand in hand. Last year’s agreement to transition away from fossils was an important step. But without finance to make the just transition a reality, developing countries are in a bind.”

Stressing that climate-hit countries want to “leapfrog the fossil fuel era and scale up renewables, but can’t do so when they are being pushed deeper into debt by the climate crisis. To finally unlock the climate action the planet needs, COP29 needs to agree on an ambitious finance goal worth trillions of dollars in grants each year. Ensuring a just transition in energy is about much more than encouraging corporate investment and can’t just be left up to the private sector.

“When shifting away from fossil fuels, governments have a responsibility to actively involve communities in planning, training, social protection and ensuring energy access and secure livelihoods. Public services can join the dots, and have a key role in the just transition. The new climate finance goal has to provide trillions of dollars in grants, not loans or corporate investment targets,” Anderson observed.

Hailed as a major progressive step in the journey towards phasing out fossil fuels, the initiative is nonetheless not the silver bullet to end coal. The new commitment does not compel nations to stop mining or exporting coal. Notably, the world’s greatest coal-power generators, such as the United Nations and India, are not part of the initiative. Nonetheless, despite coal power growing in the past years despite the COP28 deal on fossil fuels, Hoekstra expressed optimism that this call to action will set the ball rolling towards a much-needed fossil fuel phasing out.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

 

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