Africa

By WAM
DUBAI, Sep 12 2018 (WAM)

To support the UAE Artificial Intelligence Strategy, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, DEWA, is promoting cooperation with international universities and research centres to learn about the latest research and developments in renewable energy, water, automation, Artificial Intelligence, AI, and accelerators.

This is because AI is the next phase after smart government. The UAE’s future services, sectors and infrastructure will use AI technologies and tools. To achieve this, DEWA has formed a strategic partnership with Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research, BAIR, Lab. It is the first public utility in the world to do so. This partnership is part of DEWA’s continuous cooperation with the University of California, Berkeley.

This comes after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, by Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA, and Diana Wu, Dean at the University of California, Berkeley, during his visit to the USA last June.

BAIR Lab brings together UC Berkeley researchers in computer vision, machine learning, natural language processing, planning, and robotics, as well as cross-cutting themes including multi-modal deep learning, human-compatible AI, and connecting AI with other scientific disciplines and the humanities.

“The agreement supports the vision and directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. Our strategies, initiatives, and programmes are aligned with federal and local strategies. These include the UAE Centennial 2071, the UAE Vision 2021, Dubai Plan 2021, and the UAE Artificial Intelligence Strategy to create productive, creative, and innovative environments by investing and using AI technologies and tools. They also include the UAE Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, to strengthen the UAE’s position as a global hub for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and increase its contribution to a knowledge-based national economy that uses innovation and future technology applications.

“We lead global transformation efforts for utilities around the world. Through Digital DEWA, the digital arm of DEWA, we are redefining the concept of a utility to create a new digital future for Dubai. DEWA will disrupt the entire business of public utilities by becoming the world’s first digital utility to use autonomous systems for renewable energy and storage. At the same time, we are expanding our use of AI and digital services,” added Al Tayer.

DEWA has launched Rammas as a virtual employee, which uses AI technology to answer all customer enquiries. It can learn and meet customer needs, based on their questions. It also analyses and evaluates available data to provide as accurate a response as possible. The service is available 24/7 on DEWA’s website, its smart app, Facebook account, Amazon’s Alexa, and on Google Assistant.

 

WAM/Esraa Ismail/Tariq alfaham

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Fayaz Ahmad Khanday plucks a lotus stem from Wullar Lake in India’s Kashmir. He says the fish population has fallen drastically in recent times. The Global Climate Action Summit aims to hear the voices and experiences of local communities, but also to showcase the existing grassroots achievements in climate action and that progress is possible. Credit: Umer Asif/IPS

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 12 2018 (IPS)

Local communities across the globe have risen up to demand commitments on climate change, as frustration mounts over the lack of action.

Over the next few days, leaders from civil society, local governments, and the private sector will convene in California to highlight the urgency of the threat of climate change and “take ambition to the next level.”

And it is nothing if not timely.

Not only is it being hosted midway between when the Paris Agreement was signed in 2016 and when it will legally commence in 2020, the Global Climate Action Summit is happening as the United States’ government continues to roll back federal regulations aimed at addressing the issue.“All of the scientists who understand climate change are telling us that we are running out of time to address this issue.” -- Union of Concerned Scientists’ president Ken Kimmell.

In July, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed weakening a rule on carbon dioxide pollution from vehicles. Most recently, the U.S. agency proposed easing Obama-era rules on the reduction of oil and gas industry leaks of methane gas, a major fossil fuel that contributes to climate change.

“The Trump Administration is kind of a wrecking ball that is swinging at virtually all the policies we have in place to try to address climate change,” Union of Concerned Scientists’ president Ken Kimmell told IPS. The union is a nonprofit science advocacy organisation.

“What’s so important about the summit is that if you look beyond the federal government and look at what states and cities and the private sector are doing, you see that in fact there is a still very significant commitment to addressing climate change… it gives us a chance to tell the rest of the world that we are still in this fight,” he continued.

Just days before the meeting, over 300,000 people took part in climate marches and protests around the world to urge local governments to step up action—from rising sea levels in Vanuatu to fossil fuel extraction across the U.S. to coal mining in Kenya.

350 Pilipinas conducted a virtual march by projecting the photos more than 500 frontline communities, activists, students, artists, churchgoers, and other advocates for climate action in Quezon City, Metro Manila. Courtesy: AC Dimatatac/350.org

Executive director of international climate change campaign 350.org, May Boeve, told IPS of the importance of local voices and action, stating: “Part of why the mobilisation is rooted in the local is because we recognise that tackling the climate crisis requires building a new economy that works for all of us and leaves no one behind.”

“This is a set of people who, in many ways, are dedicating their lives to making sure this transition happens. For them, the fact that it’s global, helps them realise that they are not isolated, that the fight that they are waging in their community may seem unwinnable at times but they can draw inspiration from elsewhere,” she continued.

And the summit aims to do exactly that—put the local at the heart by not only hearing the voices and experiences of local communities, but also to showcase the existing grassroots achievements in climate action and that progress is possible.

Earlier this week, California’s Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill to transition the state’s electricity to 100 percent renewable energy by 2045, a major step forward to achieving a carbon-free society.

On the other side of the country, the state of Massachusetts has announced its intention to create offshore wind farms to help power homes.

In China, electric buses are replacing diesel-fuelled assemblies at a rapid rate. Soon, Chinese company BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, will supply electric vehicles to the U.S. state of Georgia, which will help the state achieve its goal of reducing greenhouse gases.

Even still, more can be done, Boeve and Kimmell said.

Boeve highlighted the need for Brown to cease the expansion of oil drilling and fracking. While production has decreased, California is still ranked sixth among U.S. states in crude oil production.

Kimmell noted that states and cities could work to make building more efficient while the private sector can purchase and use renewable energy for their operations.

“For us to effectively fight climate change, it really has to be from the bottom up, not the top down. It’s really important that local governments and states and private businesses are thinking about what they can do within their power to lower their carbon footprint and the answer is that there is a lot that they can do,” Kimmell told IPS.

A semi-submerged graveyard on Togoru, Fiji. The island states in the South Pacific are most vulnerable for sealevel rise and extreme weather. Credit: Pascal Laureyn/IPS

Boeve expressed concern that progress on climate action, including the transition to renewable energy and the Paris Agreement, are not moving fast enough.

“This is an enormous opportunity to make this transition happen. But if that happens in 50-75 years, we are not actually addressing what we know will reduce warming in the future so we have to make sure the people making decisions on this issue know that the timetable is critical,” she said.

A recent United Nations (U.N.) climate change meeting in Bangkok was criticised by activists after it failed to produce concrete outcomes, including a set of guidelines to implement the Paris Agreement.

“We have not progressed far enough. It is not just an additional session; it is an urgent session,” said Fijian prime minister and COP23 president Frank Bainimarama in his opening remarks. COP23 is the 23rdannual Conference of the Parties to the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Among the controversial topics in the meeting was climate finance for developing countries, from which developed nations such as the U.S. shied away from committing to.

“When people understand the climate crisis, you immediately realise that any country can’t do it alone. Not even half the countries can do it alone—it really requires all of us together,” Boeve said.

“All of the scientists who understand climate change are telling us that we are running out of time to address this issue,” Kimmell said.

He expressed hope that summit participants will leave with a renewed appreciation for the urgency of the crisis and motivation to raise their own and their local and national government’s ambitions.

“There are all of these different success stories and what’s driving this progress is technology and innovation coupled with clear-thinking state policies…this is really a clean energy train that has left the station and I don’t think that Donald Trump can stop it,” Kimmel said.

Related Articles

• Unlocking Private Finance for Developing Countries’ Green Growth
• Africa Gains Momentum in Green Climate Solutions
• Coal Pollution Continues to Spread in Latin America

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Algerian club USMA seem unrepentant over chants about Saddam Hussein that led to the Iraqi Air Force side to walk off the pitch and forfeit the match.

By Geneva Centre
GENEVA, Sep 12 2018 (Geneva Centre)

Enhanced South-South cooperation is key to addressing instability and armed conflict as well as to bringing peace and stability to the Global South, says the Chairman of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim on the occasion of the 2018 International Day for South-South Cooperation.

Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim

“Enhanced South-South cooperation in the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical spheres as well as adopting joint positions on human rights policies in international fora will undoubtedly strengthen the capacity of developing countries to meet the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations,” said Dr. Al Qassim.

The Geneva Centre’s Chairman observed that enhanced South-South cooperation was required to turn conflict into cooperation and to address global issues requiring a coordinated response from countries in the Global South.

“Economic cooperation and trade between countries in the Global South serve as instruments to foster greater economic integration and the realization of common aspirations. This cooperation should be made to extend to the area of multilateral human rights issues to ascertain that universal values prevail over politicization in particular in UN fora. Ideological and political differences in this context should not dim the voice of the Global South in their joint pursuit of peace and stability,” Dr. Al Qassim stressed.

In this connection, the Geneva Centre’s Chairman appealed to decision-makers in the Global South to settle political disputes and to promote peaceful relations. He remarked that major armed conflicts occur primarily in the Global South and hinder the achievement of durable peace and development. More than 90% of active conflicts worldwide take place between and within developing countries. At the same time, economic growth and the predominance of human rights in developing societies will in turn consolidate peace and security.
In this connection, Dr. Al Qassim praised the landmark peace declaration signed on 9 July 2018 by the leaders of Eritrea and Ethiopia to end one of Africa’s most prolonged conflict.

“Peace and stability are preconditions for economic growth, development, trade and for human rights to prevail. Armed conflict and military confrontation hinder trade and economic growth and jeopardize the rule of law. Greater efforts should therefore be undertaken by decision-makers in promoting peaceful relations between developed countries.

“I therefore hail the recent decision of the leaders of Eritrea and Ethiopia to set aside political differences and to work jointly towards peace, stability and prosperity for their peoples. I also salute the efforts of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE’s Armed Forces, in restoring the relationship between both countries after two decades of conflict. I voice the hope this human right will thereby be enhanced in the whole region,” Dr. Al Qassim underlined.

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The European Commission chief will deliver his annual speech, with Brexit and populism also prominent.

Flights are diverted from the Libyan capital's sole working airport, which had only just reopened.

Ethiopian Belachew Girma can laugh for hours on end and is encouraging others to join him.

Journalist Wilf Mbanga reflects on his return home 15 years after going into exile fearing for his life.

The BabySaver can help to resuscitate babies at birth and is being hailed as a "game changer".

Liberia president George Weah - the former Fifa World Player of the Year - played in an international friendly at the age of 51.

By International Organization for Migration
GENEVA, Sep 11 2018 (IOM)

IOM, the UN Migration Agency, reports that 73,696 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2018 through 9 September, with 32,022 to Spain, the leading destination this year. This compares with 128,993 arrivals across the region through the same period last year, and 298,663 through a similar point (13 September) in 2016.

Spain, with over 43 per cent of all irregular arrivals on the Mediterranean through this year, has outpaced Greece and Italy throughout the summer. Italy’s arrivals to date – 20,319 – are the lowest recorded by IOM since 2014, lower in fact, than arrivals recorded by Italian authorities during many individual months over the past five years.

The same can be said for Greece, whose totals for irregular migrant arrivals through the first week of September this year (20,430) recently surpassed arrivals to Italy. It is the first time that has happened since the early spring of 2016.

A year ago, Greece’s irregular migrant arrivals were about one-sixth those of Italy, while Spain’s were about one-tenth (see chart below).

IOM Italy’s Flavio Di Giacomo reported late Monday that some media outlets have learned of a shipwreck off Libya with at least 100 migrants believed to have drowned. Details were few after initial reports, with some dispatches—thus far unconfirmed—suggesting as many as 115 people may be missing at sea with another 15 bodies recovered, including those of Libyan nationals who may have been among the smugglers, not passengers. These reports indicate as well that survivors had been returned to Libya.

IOM Libya’s Maya Abu Ata, later Monday, offered these details: a single drowning incident occurred on Saturday (1September) after which a Libyan Coast Guard unit returned a boat to Libya and transferred all migrants on board to a detention center. This operation references two rubber boats intercepted with a total of 278 people on board. Among the survivors were 48 women and 48 children. Authorities report the remains of two people were retrieved and that, additionally, around 25 migrants are missing, according to what survivors told the Libyan Coast Guard.

So far this year, around 13,000 migrants have been returned to Libyan shores after being rescued or intercepted at sea.

IOM Libya also reported it has resumed Voluntary Humanitarian Return flights out of Tripoli after a ceasefire was declared there.

IOM Spain’s Ana Dodevska reported Monday that 32,022 irregular migrants have arrived by sea this year via the Western Mediterranean, of those nearly 9,100 arriving in the 40 days since the start of August, a rate of 227 per day. For the first nine days of September, irregular migration arrivals on the Western Mediterranean route were running at a rate of nearly 300 per day (see chart below).

Dodevska also shared recent data on the nationalities of those arriving this year by sea. Nearly 60 per cent she reported are from Sub Saharan Africa, including large contingents from Mali, Guinea Conakry, Côte d’Ivoire and The Gambia.

About a third of all sea arrivals – have been classified as ‘Sub Saharan African’ because definitive proof of citizenship had not been obtained. Of those who can be classified by nationality, the largest group of Sub Saharan Africans appear to have arrived from Guinea Conakry, followed by Mali, The Gambia and Côte d’Ivoire. Another large contingent is arriving from Morocco.

Dodevska explained that arriving migrants in Spain first are attended to by Red Cross staff (who offer first aid assistance, blankets and dry clothes). Afterwards, the Spanish Ministry of Interior takes over for an identification process (photos, fingerprints are taken of everyone) which she said can take up to 72 hours, although often is completed much sooner.

“Afterwards,” she said, “individuals are transferred to the Humanitarian Reception Centres. These centres are under the competence of the Ministry of Labour, Migration and Social Security and are managed by NGOs.”

Dodevska explained those arriving by land route to Ceuta and Melilla are transferred to the Centres for Temporary Stay of Immigrants (CETI) and placed in the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. These two centres are also under the competence of the Spanish Ministry of Labour, Migration and Social Security.

On Monday, IOM Athens’ Christine Nikolaidou reported that over five days (04-09 September) Hellenic Coast Guard units (HCG) managed at least five incidents requiring search and rescue operations off the islands of Lesvos, Kos and Symi. The HCG rescued a total of 113 migrants and transferred them to those islands.

Additional arrivals of 753 migrants during those days to Samos and Kos – as well as to Lesvos, Chios and Rhodes – bring to 20,430 the total number of irregular arrivals to Greece by sea in 2018. In addition, some 11,050 land arrivals have been recorded on the Eastern Mediterranean through the end of July, and an unknown number since 1 August.

Greek arrivals through the first nine days of September – some 1,505 men, women and children – are already past the half-way point for each of the previous months of March through August, and more than each of all the arrivals for the full months of January and February. This may be an indicator of a shift of some migration routes away from Libya towards Italy with more irregular migrants seeking passage through Turkey and other states in the region (see charts below).

For latest arrivals and fatalities in the Mediterranean, please visit: http://migration.iom.int/europe
Learn more about the Missing Migrants Project at: http://missingmigrants.iom.int

For more information, please contact:
Joel Millman at IOM HQ, Tel: +41 79 103 8720, Email: jmillman@iom.int
Mircea Mocanu, IOM Romania, Tel: +40212115657, Email: mmocanu@iom.int
Dimitrios Tsagalas, IOM Cyprus, Tel: + 22 77 22 70, E-mail: dtsagalas@iom.int
Flavio Di Giacomo, IOM Coordination Office for the Mediterranean, Italy, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int
Hicham Hasnaoui, IOM Morocco, Tel: + 212 5 37 65 28 81, Email: hhasnaoui@iom.int
Christine Nikolaidou, IOM Greece, Tel: +30 210 99 19 040 ext. 248, Email: cnikolaidou@iom.int
Julia Black, IOM GMDAC, Germany, Tel: +49 30 278 778 27, Email: jblack@iom.int
Christine Petré, IOM Libya, Tel: +216 29 240 448, Email: chpetre@iom.int
Ana Dodevska, IOM Spain, Tel: +34 91 445 7116, Email: adodevska@iom.int
Myriam Chabbi, IOM Tunisia, Mobile: +216 28 78 78 05, Tel: +216 71 860 312 (Ext. 109), Email: mchabbi@iom.int

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It depicts the former South African president doing a Nazi salute superimposed on a Nazi flag.

Liban Abdi admits he would love to play for Somalia but the uncertain situation in the country of his birth means he is better placed to help the nation off the pitch.

In south west coastal Satkhira, Bangladesh as salinity has spread to freshwater sources, a private water seller fills his 20-litre cans with public water supply to sell in islands where poor families spend 300 Bangladesh Taka every month to buy drinking and cooking water alone. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS

By Manipadma Jena
STOCKHOLM, Sep 11 2018 (IPS)

Growing economies are thirsty economies. And water scarcity has become “the new normal” in many parts of the world, according to Torgny Holmgren executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).

As climate change converges with rapid economic and urban development and poor farming practices in the emerging economies of South Asia, water insecurity for marginalised people and farmers is already intensifying.

By 2030 for instance, India’s demand for water is estimated to become double the available water supply. Forests, wetlands lost, rivers and oceans will be degraded in the name of development. This need not be so. Development can be sustainable, it can be green.

Technology today is a key component in achieving water use sustainability – be it reduced water use in industries and agriculture, or in treating waste water, among others. Low and middle income economies need water and data technology support from developed countries not only to reach Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 on water, which relates to access to safe water and sanitation as well as the sound management of freshwater supplies, but several global goals in which water plays a critical role.

Speakers at SIWI’s 28th World Water Week held last month in Stockholm, Sweden, underpinned water scarcity as contributing to poverty, conflict, and the spread of waterborne diseases, as well as hindering access to education for women and girls.

Women are central to the collection and the safeguarding of water – they are responsible for more than 70 percent of water chores and management worldwide. But the issue goes far deeper than the chore of fetching water.  It is also about dignity, personal hygiene, safety, opportunity loss and reverting to gender stereotypes.

Women’s voices remain limited in water governance in South Asia, even though their participation in water governance can alleviate water crises through their traditional knowledge on small-scale solutions for agriculture, homestead gardening, and domestic water use. This can strengthen resilience to drought and improve family nutrition.

Holmgren, a former Swedish ambassador with extensive experience working in South Asia, among other regions, spoke to IPS about how South Asia can best address the serious gender imbalances in water access and the issue of sustainable water technology support from developed economies to developing countries. Excerpts of the interview follow:

Torgny Holmgren, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), says as water scarcity becomes the new normal, traditional knowledge must be combined with new technology to ensure water sustainability. Photo courtesy: SIWI

IPS: What major steps should South Asian economies adopt for sustainable water services from their natural ecosystems? 

TH: South Asia is experiencing now a scarcity of water as demand now grows, thanks to a growing economy and also growing population. For the region specifically, a fundamental aspect is how its countries govern their water accessibility. We at SIWI have seen water-scarce countries manage really efficiently while those with abundance mismanage this resource.

It boils down to how institutions, not just governments but communities, industries at large govern water – how water systems are organised and allocated. We have instances from Indian village parliaments that decide how to share, allocate and even treat common water resources together with neighbouring catchment area villages.

One good example of this is 2015 Stockholm Water Prize winner Rajendra Singh from India who has worked in arid rural areas with local and traditional water harvesting techniques to recharge river basins, revive and store rain water in traditional water bodies and bring life back to these regions. These techniques can also help to manage too much water from more frequent climate-induced floods.

Even though the largest [amount] water is presently still being consumed for food production, more and more water is being demanded by industries and electricity producers. As competition for the scarce resource accelerates, soon we have to restructure user categories differently in terms of tariffs and allocation because households and food production have to be provided adequate water.

Even farm irrigation reforms can regulate and save water as earlier award winning International Water Management Institute research has shown – that if governments lower subsidies on electricity for pumping, farmers were careful how much and for how long they extract groundwater, without affecting the crop yield. Farmers pumped less when energy tariffs were pegged higher.

IPS: What is SIWI’s stand on the issue of sustainable water technology support from developed economies to developing countries?

TH: Water has key advantages – it connects all SDGs and it is a truly global issue. If we look around we see similar situations in Cape Town, China and California. Water is not a North-South matter. Africa can learn from any country in any region. This is the opportunity the World Water Week offers.

It is true that new technology is developing fast, but a mix of this with traditional technology and local knowledge works well. We also need to adapt traditional technologies to modern water needs and situations. These can be basic, low cost and people friendly. And it could encourage more efficient storage and use of ‘green water’ (soil moisture used by plants).

Drip irrigation has begun to be used more in South Asia, India particularly. There is need to encourage this widely. Recycling and the way in which industries treat and re-use water should be more emphasised.

Technology transfer is and can be done in various ways. The private sector can develop both technologies and create markets for them. Governments too can provide enabling environments to promote technology development with commercial viability. A good example of this is mobile phone technology – one where uses today range from mobile banking to farmers’ access of weather data and farming advisory in remote regions.

Technology transfer from different countries can be donor or bank funded or through multi-lateral organisations like the international Green Climate Fund, but any technology always has to be adapted to local situations.

Training, education, knowledge and know-how sharing – are, to me, the best kinds of technology transfers. Students and researchers – be it through international educational exchanges or partnerships between overseas universities – get the know-how and can move back home to work on advancing technologies tailored to their national needs.

Is technology transfer happening adequately? There is a need to build up on new or local technology hardware. For this infrastructure finance is (increasingly) available but needs scaling up faster.

IPS: How can South Asia best address the serious gender imbalances in water access, bring more women into water governance in its patriarchal societies?

TH: It is important that those in power need encourage gender balance not in decision-making alone but in educational institutions. Making room for gender balance in an organisation’s decision-making structure is important. This can be possible if there is equal access to education. But we are seeing an encouraging trend – in youth seminars sometimes the majority attending are women.

Finding women champions from water organisations can also encourage other women to take up strong initiatives for water equity.

When planning and implementing projects there is a need to focus on what impacts, decisions under specific issues, are having on men and women separately. And projects need be accordingly gender budgeted.

IPS: How can the global south – under pressure to grow their GDP, needing more land, more industries to bring billions out of poverty – successfully balance their green and grey water infrastructure? What role can local communities play in maintaining green infrastructure? 

TH: When a water-scarce South Asian village parliament decides they will replant forests, attract rain back to the region, and when rain comes, collect it – this is a very local, community-centred green infrastructure initiative. Done on a large scale, it can bring tremendous change to people, livelihoods and societies at large.

We have long acted under the assumption that grey infrastructure – dams, levees, pipes and canals – purpose-built by humans, is superior to what nature itself can bring us in the form of mangroves, wetlands, rivers and lakes.

Grey infrastructure is very efficient at transporting and holding water for power production. But paving over the saw-grass prairie around Houston reduced the city’s ability to absorb the water that hurricane Harvey brought in August 2017.

It isn’t a question of either/or. We need both green and grey, and we need to be wise in choosing what serves our current and potential future set of purposes best.

Be it industrialised or developing countries, today we have to make more sophisticated use of green water infrastructures. Especially in South Asia’s growing urban sprawls, we must capture the flooding rainwater, store it in green water infrastructure for reuse; because grey cannot do it alone.

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Excerpt:

Manipadma Jena interviews the executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute TORGNY HOLMGREN

The post Q&A: As Water Scarcity Becomes the New Normal How Do We Manage This Scarce Resource? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The survivors, including children, are now reportedly in "arbitrary detention" in Libya.

Coral reef ecosystem at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: Jim Maragos/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

By Dr Palitha Kohona
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Sep 11 2018 (IPS)

Responding to a persistent demand by developing countries, the conservation community and science, the UN General Assembly has commenced a process for bringing the areas beyond national jurisdiction in the oceans under a global legally binding regulatory framework.

Approximately two thirds of the oceans exist beyond national jurisdiction. The Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS), concluded in 1982, currently provides the broad legal and policy framework for all activities relating to the seas and oceans, including, to some extent, for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction (BBNJ).

However, despite the comprehensive nature of UNCLOS, many feel that BBNJ is not adequately covered under it as detailed knowledge of BBNJ was not available, even to the scientific community, at the time. Advancements in science and technology have brought vast amounts of knowledge to our attention in the years following the conclusion of UNCLOS.

Today human knowledge about the oceans, including its deepest parts which were inaccessible previously, is much more comprehensive and new information continues to flood in due to significant scientific and technical advances.

UNCLOS, referred to as the ‘Constitution for the Oceans’ by the former Singaporean Ambassador Tommy Koh, came into force in 1994,and will necessarily be further elaborated as human knowledge of the oceans increases and human activities multiply.

It is already complemented by two specific implementing agreements, namely the Agreement relating to Part XI of UNCLOS, which addresses matters related to the Area as defined in the UNCLOS (the sea bed beyond national jurisdiction), and the Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of UNCLOS relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. The proposed treaty on BBNJ will be the third implementing agreement under the UNCLOS.

The seas and oceans, which have acquired unprecedented commercial value and have become a major source of global nutrition, have also been the subject of considerable international rule making, most of it piecemeal. An estimated 200 million people world-wide make a living from fishing and related activities. Mostly in poor developing countries.

Fish provide at least 20 % of the animal protein intake of over 2.6 billion people. A treaty on BBNJ, as envisaged, while filling a gap in the existing global regulatory framework, will also result in significant areas of the oceans being set aside as Marine Protected Areas (MPA) to provide protection to marine biological diversity, its critical habitat, including spawning areas, as well as ensuring the equitable division of the benefits resulting from the scientific exploitation of such resources, especially through the development of new products.

Under the umbrella of UNCLOS, and carefully accommodated within it and its implementing agreements, a number of international instruments (and regimes) at the global and regional levels relevant to the conservation and
sustainable use of marine BBNJ, have been put in place already.

At the global level, these include inter alia, the regulations adopted by the International Seabed Authority for the protection and preservation of the marine environment in the Area; the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); instruments adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); measures adopted by the International Maritime Organization; measures relating to intellectual property in the context of the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

At the regional level, the relevant measures include those adopted by regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements (RFMO/As) by regional seas organizations having competence beyond areas of national jurisdiction.

A range of non-binding instruments/mechanisms also provide policy guidance of relevance to the conservation and exploitation of marine biodiversity, including beyond areas of national jurisdiction. These include the resolutions of the UN General Assembly on oceans and the law of the sea and on sustainable fisheries, as well as the Rio Declaration and Chapter 17 of Agenda 21 adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation adopted in 2002 at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the outcome document of the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, i.e. The future we want, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development).

However, despite the existence of the above regimes, the need for a legally binding multilateral instrument to govern the protection, sustainable utilisation and benefit sharing of BBNJ has been advocated by a range of interest groups for some time. A champion of this process has been Argentina.

The negotiation process. Smooth sailing or rough seas ahead?

The UN ad-hoc working group (WG) on BBNJ, established by the GA in 2004, in response to the demands of a majority of the international community, took over ten years to finalise its recommendations in February 2015. Initially, the WG made little progress and was running the risk of being terminated.

Since 2010, it was co-chaired by Sri Lanka (Ambassador Dr Palitha Kohona) and the Netherlands (Dr Liesbeth Lijnzard). While the subject was not easy, and many delegations were only beginning to grasp its complexities, curious coalitions began to form. The Group of 77 (G77) and the European Union (EU) formed a common and a powerful front for different reasons.

Many strategic negotiating approaches were discussed behind the scenes and effectively deployed by these two unlikely allies resulting in a successful outcome to the work of the WG. Basically, the G77 wanted the future exploitation of BBNJ regulated globally so that the anticipated benefits would be distributed more equitably and marine technology transferred consistent with the commitments made under the UNCLOS.

Already significant numbers of patents based on biological specimens, including microorganisms (12,998 genetic sequences), retrieved from the oceans, many from hydrothermal vents, have been registered. (11% of all patent sequences are from specimens recovered from the ocean). 98 per cent of patents based on marine species were owned by institutions in 10 countries.

The German pharmaceutical giant, BASF, alone has registered 47% of the patented sequences. The financial bonanza that was expected from the commercialisation of these patents was hugely tempting. It is estimated that by 2025, the global market for marine biotechnological products will exceed $6.4 billion and was likely to grow further.

The EU, for its part, wanted to reserve large areas of the oceans for marine protected areas for conservation purposes. Conservation in this manner would result in providing space for genetic material to replenish itself naturally. The goals of the two groups were not necessarily contradictory.

The reservations on the need for a global legally binding regulatory mechanism for BBNJ were expressed mainly by the US, Japan, Norway and the Republic of Korea. Their interest was in preserving the unhindered freedom of private corporations to exploit biological specimens to conduct research and produce new materials, including drugs, biofuels and chemicals for commercial purposes.

These corporations needed the assurance that the billions that they were expending on research would produce financially attractive results. The difficulties involved in identifying the sources from where the specimens were recovered (whether beyond national jurisdiction or within), the costs usually associated with a discovery and bringing a commercially viable product into the market place, the actual need for a legally binding instrument in the current circumstances, the possibility of achieving the same goals through a non binding instrument, etc, were some of the concerns articulated.

These concerns are expected to be raised during the treaty negotiations as well. The US which held out to the bitter end preventing consensus at the WG is not even a party to the UNCLOS. A Preparatory Committee established by the UNGA to make recommendations on the elements of a draft of an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine BBNJ under UNCLOS, prior to holding an international conference met in four sessions in 2016 and 2017. Treaty negotiations began in September 2018 following the organizational session (in April 2018) and the conclusion of the fourth and concluding session of the Preparatory Committee.

It could be expected that the US and the like-minded group, reflecting a recognisable private enterprise oriented policy bias, would continue to raise objections affecting the smooth progress of the negotiations. The Trump administration, which has made it a habit of distancing itself from compacts to which the US had solemnly subscribed cannot be expected to be more sympathetic to the BBNJ aspirations of the G77 and the EU any more than the Obama administration.

Deposit with the UN Secretary-General

The Secretary-General is the depositary of over 550 multilateral treaties, mostly negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations. The UNCLOS and its two implementing agreements are examples. These are customarily deposited with the SG due to the recognition that he enjoys in the international community as a high level independent global authority.

The proposed treaty on BBNJ would in all likelihood, be deposited with the UN SG, when concluded. The day to day management of activity relating to these multilateral treaties is the responsibility of the Treaty Section of the UN Office of Legal Affairs, a function which dates back to the early days of the creation of the UN. Exceptionally, a major multilateral treaty may be deposited elsewhere.

For example, the NPT is deposited with the governments of the US, UK and Russia. Under Article 102 of the UN Charter all treaties, both multilateral and bilateral are required to be registered with the UN. The UN is the custodian of over 55,000 bilateral treaties so registered, currently available on line.

The post Law of the Sea Convention Expands to Cover Marine Biological Diversity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dr Palitha Kohona is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations & former co-Chair of the UN Adhoc Working Group on Biological Diversity Beyond Areas of National Jurisdiction

The post Law of the Sea Convention Expands to Cover Marine Biological Diversity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Newly-promoted Belgian side Cercle Brugge sign Togo international Serge Gakpe to share his experience with younger players.

By WAM
DUBAI, Sep 11 2018 (WAM)

Green capital will be the focus of discussions at the annual World Green Economy Summit, WGES 2018, amid the global commitments to build a green and sustainable world economy.

Green finance refers to the financing of investments that provide environmental benefits in the broader context of environmentally sustainable development.

WGES 2018 will host fruitful discussions on how to unlock this capital. With input from governments, businesses, financial institutions and investment advisors, the summit will examine current climate-finance gaps in order to define areas where investments are most needed. It will also shed light on green investment vehicles, climate-change reporting, carbon pricing as an instrument to raise green capital and the widespread problem of greenwashing.

The WGES is a strategic platform to share and exchange knowledge and bring the focus on new technologies that drive the growth for a green economy including improvements in energy efficiency, energy conservation and waste reduction. The WGES is set to take place on 24th and 25th October, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. The summit is organised by DEWA and the World Green Economy Organisation, WGEO, in collaboration with international partners under the theme, “Driving Innovation, Leading Change.”

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Vice Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy in Dubai and Chairman of the WGES, said, “His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid has launched a long-term national initiative to build a green economy in the UAE entitled, ‘Green Economy for Sustainable Development,’ by which the UAE aims to be a centre for exporting and re-exporting green technologies and products. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed also launched the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 aiming to generate seven percent of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy by 2020, 25 percent by 2030 and 75 percent by 2050.

“With a growing emphasis of governments and public and private sectors on going green and the rapidly increasing need to find ways to build a sustainable future, green capital is the new trend for innovative financing solutions. While WGES 2018 will outline several green financing options, it will also help participants develop policy frameworks to promote green capital.

“The UAE and Dubai, in particular, has always been the front-runner for accelerating green capital, and the Dubai Green Fund, DGF, was created with the aim of catalysing crowding into green economy projects. With an aim to help companies in the private and public sector, invest in green projects such as renewable energy, retrofitting existing fossil fuel-based energy systems, energy efficiency and much more, the DGF’s role is to lead the way into investments that have to date not been taken up by existing operating lenders. This model of investment will serve as a positive influence for institutional investors in the UAE, but also across the world,” Al Tayer added.

The DGF raised AED2.4 billion last year to support green financing. The new platform directly invests in environmentally focussed companies, while offering loans to businesses in the green sector at reduced interest rates.

“Mobilising sufficient public and private green capital is a key success factor. Accordingly, the DGF was created to crowd-in investors into the green economy. The DGF will not make subsidised financing; ultimately, it needs to attract private-sector institutional investors who seek market-based returns. Its role is to lead the way into investments that have to date not been taken up by existing lenders and private equity firms. Green finance should be the mainstream, not the alternative,” said Samy Ben-Jaafar, CEO of the DGF.

WAM/Esraa Ismail

WAM/Rola Alghoul/Hatem Mohamed

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One in nine people in the world is undernourished, according to a UN report.

A key crossing point between the former enemies is to reopen, as the countries' rapprochement continues.