Africa

The world migration body says the toll has doubled since the boat sunk off the coast of Tunisia.

In one of her last public appearances as president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet visits Lo Prado, a community in Santiago, the capital, on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2018. Her advice to women and girls who want to lead an exemplary life in our chaotic times? Don’t try to be perfect.

By Dulcie Leimbach
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 4 2018 (IPS)

Michelle Bachelet ended her second term as president of Chile on March 11, 2018. Her first term, from 2006 to 2010, was marked by an ambitious social and economic agenda advancing women’s rights and better health care. Her cabinet of ministers, for example, was composed of an equal number of men and women, as she vowed to do during her campaign.

During her second presidency, Bachelet, 66, aimed higher in reducing inequalities but met more resistance. Nevertheless, her achievements included free education at the university level, especially for poor students; creating a Ministry of Women and Gender Equality; and decriminalizing abortion.

Her tax-reform measures helped subsidize her social reforms, although some experts contend that higher taxes on the rich and corporations have stifled the economy.

Bachelet’s history of being imprisoned and tortured in Chile is well known. In 1973, her father, Brig. Gen. Alberto Bachelet Martínez, was locked up and tortured after the Sept. 11 coup ousting President Salvador Allende, aided and abetted by the CIA.

Her father died in prison from a heart attack in 1974; soon after, Bachelet and her mother, Ángela Margarita Jeria Gómez, a famous archeologist, were imprisoned and tortured by the Pinochet regime.

Bachelet and her mother sought and won exile first in Australia and then moved to East Germany, where Bachelet worked on her medical degree, married and had her first child.

She and her family returned to Chile in 1979, where she delved into politics a few years later (and separated from her husband). When she first ran for president, she was a single mother of three children.

That’s not all: besides being a pediatrician, Bachelet is a military specialist, having served as the country’s health minister and then defense minister before winning the presidency in 2006.

Bachelet, who between her presidencies was the first executive director of UN Women, is said to be a shortlisted candidate for the next United Nations high commissioner for human rights, though she would not confirm that status.

In an email interview with Bachelet, who has been traveling since March from Chile to Washington, D.C., to Geneva, India and back to Chile, she answered questions about her immediate post-presidential life, which appears to be just as active — if equally public — as her job running one of South America’s most democratic countries.

When Bachelet left office, she was the last female president standing in the continent.

In the interview, she touches on her new role in the World Health Organization; how her role as the first female defense minister of Chile, from 2002 to 2004, enabled her to garner the respect from that sector that she needed to run the country; how her mother has supported her emotionally throughout her life; what advice Bachelet gives to girls and women in our chaotic times; and whether she prays (she is an agnostic, she answered). — DULCIE LEIMBACH

Q. You’ve just become a private citizen after your recent four-year presidential term ended in mid-March; how does that feel and what is a routine day for you now? Are you based in Santiago, Chile’s capital?

MICHELLE BACHELET: I’ve enjoyed going back to my everyday life! However, I haven’t stayed home resting. I’m based in Santiago, I moved back to my house — I lived in another house during my Presidency — and I’ve also been busy opening up my new foundation, which will serve as a space for dialogue and political reflection, without partisan divisions, and that will take on the challenge of articulating a common project with civil society.

Q: Tell us about your new role as co-chair of the High-Level Steering Group for Every Woman Every Child and chairman of the board of the World Health Organization’s Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health? What do women and girls need the most globally, health-wise? And what is your strategy for attaining these needs? Will it require politicking?

BACHELET: I am very excited about [my] new role in the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. I’ve been working on this issue since the mid-1990s at a national level, and hopefully, will continue to contribute in an international sphere.

The health inequities that prevail all around the world, particularly among women and girls, are not only unjust, they also threaten the advances we have made in the last decades, and they endanger economic growth and social development.

I believe that each country needs to develop an integrated health program for women and girls, strengthening components of the United Nations’ global strategy [Sustainable Development Goals] in early childhood development; the health and well-being of adolescents; the improvement in quality, equity and dignity in health services; and sexual and reproductive rights as a way to empower women and girls worldwide and without leaving anyone behind.

The global strategy establishes ambitious but achievable goals, and I look forward to discussing with states and stakeholders about the required actions needed to ensure that people realize their right to the highest attainable standard of health.

Q. Do you think it helped in your two presidencies that you had been a defense minister of Chile, that you had the trust of the military, especially since you are a woman?

BACHELET: Yes, of course. My family has always been linked to the military world. My father was a general in Chile’s air force and I studied defense issues, focusing on military strategy and Continental defense.

When I was appointed the first woman to occupy the position of Minister of Defense in Chile and in Latin America, my academic and military background was considered an asset and that led to very good relationships with this institution during my time as Minister and during my Presidency.

Q. How did you navigate barriers to your ambitious social and economic agenda in your second term as president of Chile? What personal trait or support did you rely on to deal with barriers in your way?

BACHELET: Since the return of democracy in 1990, Chile has experienced sustained economic growth at an annual average of 5 percent, and became the first South American country to join the OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development]. However, this strong growth has not meant the end of inequality in access to health or education.

That is why, when I returned in 2013 to run for my second term, I was determined to carry out the kind of social, economic and political reforms that I believed were necessary to make people’s lives better. In order to do that, we have risked political capital and I believe it was worth it, because we had the courage to put Chile in motion, and with it, we have seen Chile change.

Q. Your mother, Ángela Margarita Jeria Gómez, an archeologist, reportedly lives with you; how has her presence helped you as president? Did she keep your spirits up in such a demanding, round-the-clock role?

BACHELET: Although I am very close with my mother, at 91 years old, she continues to be very independent and does not live with me! She is an inspiring, strong, dignified and resilient companion, but also a very affectionate and supportive presence, especially during the harder parts of being president. I am thankful for her companionship me during these past years.

Q. Chile is a predominately Catholic country; do you practice that religion? Do you use your faith to manage your life and the political obstacles? Do you pray?

BACHELET: Chile is a diverse society with different religious beliefs, cultural backgrounds and socioeconomic realities. I, however, am agnostic and believe in the diversity of opinions and worldviews, respecting people’s freedom of worship. During my government, we protected religious freedom based on equality and respect.

For example, we supported the Chilean Association of Interreligious Dialogue for Human Development, made up of various organizations, including the plurality of religions found in Chile. We also worked on an interreligious code of ethics for dialogue for democratic coexistence. I am certain that the respectful expression of convictions is good for our country, and enriches us as a society.

Q. It’s relatively easy to advise women and girls to persevere in seeking the life they want — in education, work and as a person — but what is the most important thing for women and girls to remember in trying to lead an exemplary life, especially in our chaotic times?

BACHELET: I get asked this question often and my answer is always the same: don’t try to be a superwoman or a super girl, because it will only bring frustrations. Instead, seek the help of someone you can count on. Be assertive but also learn the art of dialogue, learn to communicate. And, of course you should have a sense of humor!

*PassBlue is an independent, women-led digital publication offering in-depth journalism on the US-UN relationship as well as women’s issues, human rights, peacekeeping and other urgent global matters, reported from our base in the UN press corps. Founded in 2011, PassBlue is a project of the New School’s Graduate Program in International Affairs in New York and not tied financially or otherwise to the UN; previously, it was housed at the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. PassBlue is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News.

The post ‘Don’t Try to Be a Superwoman’: An Interview With Michelle Bachelet appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dulcie Leimbach, PassBlue*

The post ‘Don’t Try to Be a Superwoman’: An Interview With Michelle Bachelet appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A demonstration outside the UN in Geneva by the Society for Threatened Peoples.

By Ulrich Delius
GOTTINGEN, Germany, Jun 4 2018 (IPS)

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) are an important partner of the United Nations to implement the UN Charter and to strengthen its values. But in times when authoritarian regimes are increasing their influence in the United Nations, especially human rights groups are coming under pressure in the world organization.

Some authoritarian regimes recently started waging a war on human rights at the UN. They started lobbying to cut funding for human rights monitors of the UNor for senior posts in the world organization dedicated to human rights work. They didn’t stop in deliberately cutting human rights programs.

Nowadays they are using their membership of the NGO Committee of the UN to keep some NGO’s, particularly human rights groups, out of the world organization, or to put them under fire.

The NGO Committee’s antipathy towards independent NGO’s may not be a surprise, because many of its member states are well known for their desperate human rights record.
Sudan, Turkey, Mauritania, Burundi, Pakistan, Russia and China, to cite only a few of these problematic member states, are not famous for their respect of human rights.

Some of these states, like Sudan and China, are members of the Committee since more than 20 years. Others, like Russia, have been on the Committee since decades.

The new world order brings many changes to the UN. The influence of authoritarian states in the world organization continues to grow. Non-governmental organizations must not be silenced just because they draw attention to serious human rights violations.

They only are doing their job in researching and documenting human rights violations around the world. Society for Threatened Peoples is one of hundreds of NGO’s having a consultative status at the United Nations.

Since we got the status 25 years ago, we have been committed to support persecuted ethnic and religious minorities, nationalities and indigenous peoples at the UN. If voices like ours are no longer heard, the UN loses its credibility.

In the last 25 years, some authoritarian states have tried to put pressure on our human rights group to ignore human rights violations. But the intimidations have been increasing in recent time.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovhas labelled us a “terrorist organization” because we have called for an end of genocidal wars in Chechnya and have urged more protection for the civilian population.

Nowadays China has increased its pressure on our association. Only a few hours before the start of this year’s session of the NGO Committee, the Peoples’ Republic officially has called on the Committee not only to suspend the consultative status of our organization for a limited time but permanently to withdraw the NGO status of our human rights organization because of an alleged violation of UN rules.

After protests by democratic states, China finally withdrew its application during the UN’s May 2018 session of the NGO committee in New York.

China had considered the accreditation of our long-time Uighur member Dolkun Isa at a UN conference in April 2018 as a violation of UN rules and called the human rights activist from Munich a “terrorist.”

This view was opposed in the NGO Committee. Dolkun Isa is a German citizen and one of the most important voices of the Uighurs who face serious human rights violations. Such voices must not be silenced.

As governments worldwide shrink the space of civil society, it’s vital that the UN remain a forum of exchange of views between the civil society and governments and a platform to advocate for human rights.

The civil society is a key element in solving global problems. It should not be excluded from the international dialogue on conflict resolution, the protection of the civilian population in armed conflicts and the respect of human rights and dignity.

We are calling for an international discussion on the growing influence of authoritarian states at the UN. NGOs need more support from democratic states so that it continues to be possible to address human rights violations openly at the UN.

The post Growing Influence of Authoritarian Statesat UN a Threat to NGOs appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Teammates feasted on dates as their goalkeeper lay on the ground in two World Cup warm-up matches.

Malaga forward Youssef En Nesyri is drafted into Morocco's final 23-man World Cup squad at the expense of defender Badr Benoun.

Photo Courtesy: ACWADAM

By Dr Himanshu Kulkarni and Uma Aslekar
Jun 4 2018 (IPS)

A growing demand for water implies the need for an improved understanding of our resources, and the ability to manage that demand in an equitable and sustainable way.

Wells, not dams, have been the temples of modern India

India is a groundwater economy. At 260 cubic km per year, our country is the highest user of groundwater in the world–we use 25 percent of all groundwater extracted globally, ahead of USA and China.

When we think of water however, our brains have been programmed to think of large dams and rivers, and not wells. This, despite the fact that India has at least four crore irrigation wells and millions of farmers who use well water in agriculture.

“How can you own the water below your land, when the water in your well has come from underneath someone else’s land and the water from under your land is naturally going to flow underneath your other neighbours’ lands?”
India was not the highest extractor of groundwater in the 1960s and 70s; the Green Revolution changed that. At independence the share of groundwater in agriculture was 35 percent; today it is a startling 70 percent.

 

Looking at water as a common pool resource

People tend to think of groundwater only through an agriculture or urban water supply lens. This however, is just a supply-side perspective that lacks an understanding of what the resource is, and what we need to do to ensure better use of it.

We need to think of groundwater as a common pool resource; the challenge however is that this common pool resource is almost invisible.

In villages, the perception often is, “This is my land and hence the water below it is my water.” But the question we’ve been asking communities to think about is, “How can you own the water below your land, when the water in your well has come from underneath someone else’s land and the water from under your land is naturally going to flow underneath your other neighbours’ lands?”

Once this has been explicitly stated and explained, people are quick to understand it especially if you use science derived from data that has been collected by communities themselves.

But while the science is about hydrogeology and the mapping of water sources, the more important aspect is the application of this science – which is effective only if it involves bringing the resource (aquifers) and communities and villages together in the processes and solutions – what we call Participatory Ground Water Management (PGWM).

 

Photo Courtesy: ACWADAM

 

Thinking about water as a resource and not just a source

The conventional thinking is that check dams—which are essentially percolation tanks–will collect water that will percolate and recharge the groundwater. A common misconception among both the communities as well as organisations working in watershed management is that it is the wells that are being recharged.

But wells are only the sources of water and a mechanism to access water and distribute it according to needs and often, demand. Wells are not the resource; aquifers are the resource. (Aquifers are underground layers of porous and permeable rock capable of storing groundwater and transmitting it to wells and springs.)

If you can identify your aquifer, then you know precisely where to put your recharge structure (or, check dam). So now, instead of four checkdams that you would place in areas where ‘water collects’, you could make do with two accurately positioned check dams where the aquifers are, thereby reducing costs by half while also ensuring optimal recharge.

Usually, once the watershed programme is implemented, no one cares about what happens to the water in the aquifer. Farmers tend to dig deeper, make larger wells with the presumption that unlimited water is now available for the taking. Such actions are not necessarily sustainable.

It is therefore important to move the focus from wells (sources) to aquifers (resources). By changing this lens, the focus then shifts from merely looking at what is going in and coming out to a variety of aspects: How do you balance livelihoods and ecosystem needs, or what happens to economic returns from groundwater and how does the drinking water security get affected when an aquifer depletes.

 

Communities need to have this knowledge

Having understood the theory and implications behind aquifers and ground water, communities and villages have been keen on getting trained in these areas. Imparting these key hydrogeological skills to nonprofits and rural practitioners is therefore key to improving decentralised water management in India.

Over the last 20 years, we at ACWADAM, have trained para workers within communities. These individuals are now able to intelligently design the watersheds, talk to their communities, monitor progress, and ensure better decision making and management of groundwater.

As a result, communities are more aware of the uses of check dams – why they are built in specific locations, what their purpose is, and what that will mean for the village.

Panchayats are also now asking for knowledge and help. They are even willing to pay for the costs incurred, which for us signals just how important this is to the village as a whole.

 

The decisions on water should rest with the people

90 percent of rural India’s drinking water comes from groundwater and 75 per cent of agriculture is groundwater based. In urban India, 50 percent of the water supply is groundwater based.

Given this high dependence on groundwater it is extremely important that we bring democratic processes to groundwater management. When we share our hydrogeology results with communities, we at ACWADAM don’t influence the decisions, we don’t tell them what to do.

We share the results – this is saline and is a larger aquifer; this other one has fresh water and gets used faster. And we give them ‘protocols’ – a menu of possible options to decide upon. We tell the villagers that these are the limitations, and these are the possibilities.

This information serves as a starting point for a dialogue. The community then decides what they should do and what they should avoid.

When communities collect data and you derive knowledge from that data, they will trust the data. And they are more likely to change their behaviour and practices. When you move the decision making and power to the people themselves, change is not as difficult as we make it out to be.

It also then becomes change that is based on scientifically informed decisions; there is seldom total failure from such decisions.

Since it’s about water, there are always power dynamics at play

The science of groundwater is not only about hydrology; it’s sociology, psychology, politics, economics and ecology as well. The power dynamics around sharing are about people as well as the stakes involved–who has how much stake in what. The landless have more stake in ecology, the large farmers have a stake in economics, the small marginal farmers in sociology.

The first step towards getting people to even think about sharing is to have them cooperate in some formal-informal capacity. Unless people and communities cooperate, you can’t protect the resource, you can’t make it sustainable.

 

Photo Courtesy: ACWADAM

 

It therefore needs good governance

Surface water is typically characterised by conflict–who’s getting what water, how much, where is it coming from, do we want to bring it from further and further away. Being above ground and visible, people are quick to fight over it!

With groundwater there is limited conflict; instead, people compete with each other because one can compete endlessly over invisible resources; you can go deeper, and you can have as many water sources as you want on your land.

Our social narratives, infact, are built around groundwater. The woman of the house who manages drinking water and her husband who handles agriculture are often managing water from two different sources for two different activities. Often, these sources tap the same aquifer. Hence, the couple are in tacit competition without being aware that they are; both their needs are met by the same underlying aquifer. So, if you use up too much water for agriculture, then drinking water is a problem and scarcity results. How do you tackle this?

All of this therefore needs good governance and good management. And governance itself is based on science, participation management and institutions in the village. The panchayat, which usually makes these decisions, is therefore critical to the success of this approach. We don’t go and work in an area unless we have formal permission from the panchayat.

 

This approach needs more supporters

Participatory groundwater management needs more support. Corporates often say that it is high hanging fruit – since it is dependent on the annual rain-cycle, it takes a year for the research/hydro-geological study, and only then can any of the actual work start on building check dams or changing usage patterns. The results take time to ‘show’.

Moreover, results are usually in the form of aggregated small changes—drinking water security, improved crop yields and so on–and given the invisible nature of the resource itself, these visible changes are often difficult to perceive. However, such changes are longer lasting, making the effort sustainable and efficient.

It is much easier to invest in the digging of bore wells and building of tanks. But if we as a nation want to ensure that the access to water is adequate, equitable, and sustainable, we must look at both science and community participation for answers, rather than building more and more infrastructure in pursuit of visibility.

This shift is perception will go a long way in changing the way we look at groundwater in India.

 

Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni is the executive director and secretary at Advance Centre for Water Resources Development and Management ACWADAM, Pune. He has been actively involved in the advocacy for stronger programmes on groundwater management in India, through his inputs, more recently as Chairman, Working Group on Sustainable Groundwater Management for India’s 12th Five Year Plan. Groundwater resources have held Himanshu’s interest for nearly 30 years now. He holds a PhD in groundwater (1987), has travelled to the US on a Fulbright Scholarship and to Austria as a UNESCO scholar.

Uma Aslekar is a senior scientist with ACWADAM. She has been working with ACWADAM since 2002. A geographer by education, Ms. Alsekar completed her M.Sc. in Geomorphology from the University of Pune. Earlier on, she worked with the National Commission for SC/ST, Govt. of India as an Investigator, for four years.

 

This story was originally published by India Development Review (IDR)

The post The Politics of Groundwater appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

In order to make access to water adequate and equitable, we must shift our focus from water sources to water resources. Both science, and community participation and cooperation, are key to addressing our water woes.

The post The Politics of Groundwater appeared first on Inter Press Service.

An India-Kenya football match in Mumbai is sold out after captain Sunil Chhetri asks fans to attend.

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is named in Egypt's World Cup squad despite being injured in the Champions League final.

When schoolboy Michael Komape fell into a pit latrine to his death in 2014 it shocked many in South Africa.

Esayas Jira is voted in as the new head of Ethiopia's Football Federation (EFF), following a long and protracted presidential election.

At least 35 people drowned in the incident off the southern coast of Tunisia, the government says.

By WAM
DUBAI, Jun 3 2018 (WAM)

The UAE Ministry of Energy and Industry, MOEI, and Emirates Wildlife Society in association with WWF, EWS-WWF, today released a joint report highlighting which innovative policies, incentives, and technologies could accelerate the UAE’s progress towards its target of 44 percent renewable energy capacity by 2050.

The report is an output of EWS-WWF’s renewable energy project, which is supported by The Sustainable City.

Entitled ‘Enabling the UAE’s Energy Transition: Top Ten Priority Areas for Renewable Energy Policymakers,’ the report provides decision makers across the UAE with science-based, stakeholder-driven recommendations to achieve the goals of the UAE National Energy Plan 2050. Building on the current efforts of the Ministry of Energy and Industry, the report highlights that it is key for the UAE to continue developing an effective renewable energy policy framework, with a complementary target and strategy for reduction of the country’s carbon emissions.

Renewable energy is a significant part of the solution and we applaud the UAE leadership’s readiness to enable the nation’s energy transition
Laila Mostafa Abdullatif, Director-General, EWS-WWF

Implementing an energy plan guided by the report’s recommendations will contribute to energy security, emissions reductions, economic growth, and job creation. The report has been developed with support from property service solutions provider, Khidmah, which is also an EWS-WWF Platinum Partner of the Sustainable Partnership Programme.

Fatima Al Foora Al Shamsi, Assistant Under-Secretary for Electricity and Future Energy at the Ministry, said, “The UAE’s leadership is committed to renewable energy and, with the UAE National Energy Plan 2050, has provided a visionary strategy that has the potential to unlock a wide range of economic, social and environmental benefits.

The recommendations in this new report highlight innovative pathways for accelerated progress towards our renewable energy target. The proposed measures are both informed by international best practices and rooted in the UAE’s local context, building on our nation’s position as a leading supporter of low-carbon growth.”

Commenting on the report, Laila Mostafa Abdullatif, Director-General of EWS-WWF, said, “Globally, climate change is the defining issue of our time and we need to act while we still have a window of opportunity. Renewable energy is a significant part of the solution and we applaud the UAE leadership’s readiness to enable the nation’s energy transition.”

“There is still a lot of untapped potential for accelerated uptake of renewable energy – from large-scale utility plants down to solar rooftops. We encourage key renewable energy policymakers to work together to develop innovative green finance mechanisms, promote competition amongst emerging technologies, and effectively use and develop electricity networks,” she added.

The MOEI is actively engaging with stakeholders to put some of these recommendations into action through a variety of programmes and initiatives. This includes the Ministry’s strategic partnership with EWS-WWF, which runs until 2020 and was inspired by the Future Energy Lab 2017, where His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, approved and launched the UAE National Energy Plan 2050.

The Sustainable City, by Diamond Developers, represents the voice of the private sector in this report. Its rooftop solar PV installations serve as a case study advancing Net Zero developments in the region. The Sustainable City is a low-carbon residential and mixed-use community in Dubai that aims to become the region’s first operational net zero development – a unique challenge in the harsh climate of the UAE.

Commenting on The Sustainable City’s use of renewable energy in Phase 1, Faris Saeed, the CEO of Diamond Developers, said “With 6.4 MWp of grid-connected solar panels on the rooftops of our villas and parking areas, we are already able to achieve and exceed Net-Zero during winter months. Our experience showcases the role the private sector must play in low-carbon development and how rooftop solar PV is already commercially attractive in the UAE. We are extremely happy with the results so far and look forward to the completion of Phase 2, which will be 100 per cent solar powered using high efficiency modules.”

Jahed Rahman, Managing Director of Khidmah, said, “With the development of a policy framework for increased renewable energy in the UAE, individuals, corporations, and government entities will be able to make an active contribution to turning the country’s energy ambitions into a sustainable reality.”

Abdullatif concluded, “EWS-WWF is committed to supporting the UAE’s progress towards a low-carbon future. With renewable energy, we already have the solutions, now it is a matter of putting them into action”.

The report, Enabling the UAE’s Energy Transition: Top Ten Priority Areas for Renewable Energy Policymakers, represents a stepping-stone and is intended as the beginning of a cascade of events leading to the achievement of the UAE’s energy and sustainability goals.

WAM/Nour Salman

The post Top 10 priority areas for renewable energy policymakers announced appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Cattle-related violence is now said to have killed more people than the country's Boko Haram conflict.

Maria and Consolata Mwakikuti were well-known in the country and their deaths have caused sadness.

Nigeria have announced their 23-man squad for the World Cup, which includes Alex Iwobi and Victor Moses

Volunteers from the Peruvian Institute for the Protection of the Environment Vida clean up the waste washed up by the sea on the coast near Lima. Half of the 6,000 tonnes of marine debris collected by the organisation since 1998, with the support of 200,000 volunteers, is disposable plastic. Credit: Courtesy of Vida

By Fabiana Frayssinet
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 3 2018 (IPS)

Although Latin America produces just five percent of the world’s plastic, it imports billions of tons annually for the use of all kinds of products, some of which end up in the sea as garbage.

It thus contributes to this kind of artificial tsunami that threatens the biodiversity of the oceans, where 13 million tons of waste, mostly disposable plastics, are dumped each year at a global level, according to UN Environment – enough to wrap around the Earth four times..

The impact is such that it also affects human health, as this resistant waste enters the food chain, and has led the United Nations to declare “Beat Plastic Pollution” as the theme for this year’s World Environment Day, on Jun. 5."Plastic discarded improperly on beaches, rivers and the sewers ends up in the sea and causes the death of thousands of marine animals every year. Drinking straws, cigarette butts, caps, plastic bags, improperly discarded, represent the highest percentage of environmentally hazardous materials for marine wildlife." -- Marcelo Szpilman

Favoured by a 3,000-km coastline on the Pacific Ocean, with one of the world’s most nutrient-rich waters, Peru was one of the first Latin American countries to join the Clean Seas campaign, launched a year ago by UN Environment.

The global campaign aims to eliminate by 2022 the main sources of marine debris, which can remain in ecosystems for 500 years. There are five identified ‘islands’ of plastic rubbish in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, one of them between Chile and Peru.

“We have witnessed firsthand the serious impacts of different types of waste, including plastic in our seas,” said Ursula Carrascal, project coordinator for the Institute for the Protection of the Environment Vida in Peru.

For 20 years, the organisation has been leading a campaign to clean up beaches and coastlines in this Andean country, involving all sectors of society.

According to Carrascal, the problem is exacerbated when the country suffers additional damage caused by natural disasters, such as the “La Niña” phenomenon that in 2017 caused flooding and the shifting of tons of waste accumulated on river banks.

“Marquez Beach in Callao was literally covered in garbage for three km. Many beaches are now gone, fishing boats and artisanal fishermen are affected by the damage to their nets or engines caused by plastic,” she told IPS from Lima.

The country, according to the Environment Ministry, generates 6.8 million tons of solid waste. Lima and the neighbouring port city of Callao alone generate an estimated three million tons per year. Of that total, 53 percent is organic waste, and in second place comes plastic, accounting for 11 percent, a percentage in line with the world average.

In fact, half of the 6,000 tons of marine debris collected by Vida since 1998, with the support of 200,000 volunteers, is plastic.

“There is a strong concern about the risk in the field of food safety due to the plastic accidentally ingested by fish,” Carrascal said.

The governmental Marine Institute of Peru has been studying the impact of microplastic (less than five mm long) on Peruvian beaches and in the digestive tract of fish for years. A 2017 report found 473 plastic fragments per square metre on a beach in Callao.

The British Ellen MacArthur Foundation, dedicated to promoting the circular economy – based on the reduction of both new materials and waste, to create loops of recycling – warns that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans and reminds us that all marine life eats this waste.

One of the consequences, say scientists at Ghent University in Belgium, is that when you eat fish and seafood, you ingest up to 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic, a material most commonly derived from petrochemicals, every year.

In Brazil, a country with more than 9,000 km of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean, a marine aquarium was inaugurated in October 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. AquaRío, which promotes environmental education and scientific research for biodiversity conservation, is the institution with which the Clean Seas campaign was launched.

Guanabara bay, a symbol of Río de Janeiro, Brazil which until recently was surrounded by waste, mainly plastic, along its shores, has changed thanks to new awareness among groups like fisherpersons, who are helping to keep it clean. Credit: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS

“Plastic discarded improperly on beaches, rivers and the sewers ends up in the sea and causes the death of thousands of marine animals every year. Drinking straws, cigarette butts, caps, plastic bags, improperly discarded, represent the highest percentage of environmentally hazardous materials for marine wildlife,” director Marcelo Szpilman told IPS.

“The remains of nets, fishing lines, ropes and plastic bags abandoned in the sea remain in the environment for many years due to their low biodegradability and end up injuring or killing countless animals that end up entangled and die by asphyxiation or starvation,” added the marine biologist.

To raise awareness among children about this silent killing at sea, the aquarium uses the image of mermaids dying from the ingestion of plastic.

This happens in reality in the oceans to fish, birds, seals, turtles and dolphins that confuse floating plastic waste with octopuses, squid, jellyfish and other species that they eat.

“Dolphins have been found with their stomachs full of city trash. Cigarette butts, the most widely collected item in all beach clean-up campaigns, have caused the death of animals that swallow them mistaking them for fish eggs,” Szpilman said.

In addition, he noted, “a plastic bag drifting at sea is easily mistaken for a jellyfish, which is a food for several species of sea turtles, which as a result can die from asphyxiation.

According to experts, in Brazil and other Latin American countries, the problem is combated with isolated initiatives, such as the banning of plastic bags in supermarkets, when what is needed is a broader change in the model of plastic production and consumption.

But some things have started to be done.

In Peru, for example, Vida has coordinated actions with the waste management industry to promote the circular economy model through recycling chains with the waste collected in coastal cleanups throughout the country.

This work has been carried out not only with large industry but also with small and medium-sized enterprises and the National Movement of Recyclers of Peru.

“Greater efforts and investment in recycling technology are needed to solve the plastic problem. In Peru, much of the plastic waste collected, although it could be 100 percent recycled, is not recycled because there are no recycling plants, due to lack of knowledge or lack of adequate technology,” Carrascal said.

In his opinion, “great progress is being made in the separation of waste from primary sources, but this cycle ends when the waste ends again in a landfill.”

The Peruvian model of waste management in the marine ecosystem has been used as a reference point in other countries of the Southeast Pacific, including Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Panama.

Related Articles

• Saving the Oceans, Saving the Future: Officials Tackle Marine Pollution
• UN Declares War on Ocean Plastic
• World Running Out of Time to Save Oceans

The post Plastic Tsunamis Threaten Coast in Latin America appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

This article is part of special IPS coverage for World Environment Day, on June 5, whose theme this year is “Beat Plastic Pollution”.

The post Plastic Tsunamis Threaten Coast in Latin America appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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