Africa

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Sep 11 2018 (IPS)

In 2009, the world economy contracted by -2.2%. Growth in all developing countries declined from around 8% in 2007 to 2.6% in 2009 as the developed world contracted by -3.8% in 2009. The collapse of the Lehmann Brothers investment bank in September 2008 symbolized the US financial crisis that triggered the Great Recession of 2008-2009.

Demonstrations against austerity measures in Athens (May, 2010). Credit: Nikos Pilos/IPS

Demise of Keynesian consensus
In its immediate aftermath, a new consensus reversed the neoliberal Washington Consensus of the last two decades of the 20th century. Proclaimed by the G20’s London Summit of 2 April 2009, it envisaged return to Keynesian macroeconomic policies, including large-scale fiscal stimulus, supported by expansionary monetary policy.

The new policies were largely successful in tempering the recession, although much more should have been done. But with modest recovery, public debt, not economic stagnation, was soon sold as public enemy number one again.

G20 leaders at the June 2010 Toronto Summit turned to ‘fiscal consolidation’, with monetary policy accommodation to ‘contain’ its contractionary consequences, and ‘structural’ (mainly labour market) reforms, ostensibly to boost growth, especially in advanced economies. Meanwhile, despite G20 leaders’ pledges eschewing protectionism, trade restrictions grew.

Synchronized fiscal consolidation precipitated some Eurozone sovereign debt crises. Soon, several Eurozone countries experienced double dip recessions, as unemployment in Greece and Spain rose well over 25% following punitive policies required to qualify for European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) funding which mainly went to creditors.

Economists’ complicity
Misleading, ideologically-driven empirical analyses claimed to support the new policy reversal. Alesina and his associates promoted the idea of ‘expansionary fiscal consolidation’, that contractionary government expenditure cuts would be more than offset by private spending expansion due to boosted investor confidence.

Then, Reinhart and Rogoff exaggerated the dangers of domestic debt accumulation. Although soon exposed for major methodological flaws and suppressing relevant information, these studies had served their purpose.

The IMF Fiscal Monitor ahead of the June 2010 G20 Summit grossly exaggerated public debt’s destabilizing effects, advocating rapid fiscal consolidation instead. Later, the IMF admitted it had underestimated the fiscal multiplier and hence potential growth from such debt!
Faltering recovery and rising unemployment in the Eurozone caused the public debt-GDP ratio to rise instead. Meanwhile, supposedly unavoidable short-term pain caused prolonged suffering for millions without the promised medium- and long-term gains.

UN ahead of the curve
Besides the Bank of International Settlements’ legendary William White, the United Nations was ahead of the curve, not only in warning of the impending crisis, but also by providing appropriate policy advice, albeit largely ignored.

For example, the United Nations 2006 and 2007 World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) warned of instability and growth slowdowns due to disorderly adjustment of growing macroeconomic imbalances among major world economies. WESP warned that falling US house prices could cause defaults to spike, triggering bank crises.

The IMF and the OECD simply ignored such warnings, projecting rosy futures, and a ‘soft landing’ at worst. The April 2007 IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) emphatically dismissed widely held concerns about disorderly unwinding of global imbalances, claiming economic risks had subsided. The July 2007 issue claimed: “The strong global expansion is continuing, and projections for global growth in both 2007 and 2008 have been revised up”.

The OECD June 2007 Economic Outlook insisted that the US slowdown was not heralding a period of worldwide economic weakness. “Rather, a ‘smooth’ rebalancing was to be expected, with Europe taking over the baton from the United States in driving OECD growth… Indeed, the current economic situation is in many ways better than what we have experienced in years.”

Although the IMF’s November 2008 WEO belatedly acknowledged the crisis’ severity, it forecast global recovery of 2.2% in 2009, suggesting the worst was over, thus supporting the reversal from fiscal expansion to consolidation. Depicting the ‘green shoots’ of recovery as self-sustaining, fiscal stimulus was abandoned after selective financial bailouts.

The IMF and OECD recommendations of structural reforms and fiscal consolidation have since failed to provide the long awaited, sustained global economic recovery.

The President of the UN General Assembly set up a commission led by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz to study the crisis’ impact, especially for development, and recommend policies to prevent future crises. Yet, most remain unaware of its wide-ranging findings and policy recommendations, including international financial architecture reforms and reregulating finance to better serve the real economy.

The UN Secretary-General proposed a Global Green New Deal in 2009 to accelerate economic recovery and job creation while addressing sustainable development, climate change and food security. It envisioned massive, multilateral, cross-subsidized public investments in renewable energy and smallholder food production in developing countries.

The UN also consistently advocated policy coordination and warned against prematurely ending recovery efforts.

Missed opportunity, heightened vulnerability
With UN and similar policy advice largely ignored, global economic recovery has remained tepid for the last decade. This has prompted the ‘secular stagnation’ thesis obscuring the role of political and policy failures and missed opportunities.

Unconventional monetary policy, e.g., ‘quantitative easing’, has also widened income and wealth gaps besides fuelling financial asset bubbles. Earlier capital inflows are now exiting following monetary policy normalization in the West and new fears of emerging market vulnerabilities.

Having failed to ensure robust recovery despite accumulating more debt, both developed and developing countries have less policy and fiscal space to address the looming problems threatening them.

Meanwhile, the redistributive potential of fiscal policy has been weakened by reducing progressive direct taxes and increasing regressive indirect taxes, while cutting social expenditure. Also, powerful vested interests have blocked attempts to limit obscene executive remuneration and enforce minimum wages, arguing that such measures discourage business and job creation.

Also, the hyped notion of ‘inclusive inequality’ has served to justify rising economic disparities, by arguing that deregulation has enabled wealth accumulation and middle class expansion.

The post Great Recession, greater illusions appeared first on Inter Press Service.

In certain parts of Nigeria, "rainmakers" or "rainpushers" are held in high regard. But can they control the rain?

Charles Ofori Antimpem is the inventor of a science set which is the size and price of a textbook which he now hopes to share with children across Africa.

Ebola: DR Congo health workers fight to contain virus, as new outbreak claims more lives

The show looks into the complicated series of events that followed the brutal Rwanda genocide.

A family from Central African Republic who fled to Cameroon’s East Region. Credit: Monde Kingsley Nfor/IPS

By Sir Richard Jolly
BRIGHTON, UK, Sep 10 2018 (IPS)

What is it like to work for the United Nations? Many probably imagine little more than an almost endless round of boring speeches, bureaucrats and governments discussing and disagreeing over long-standing conflicts with stalemate and few results.

After all, this is so often what one reads about the UN in the newspapers. And it is true that this is a part of what takes place in the UN buildings in New York or Geneva.

However, such activities are only a small fraction of what the UN does. In contrast to debate in the Security Council and the General Assembly, most of the UN’s work and most of the UN’s staff – 80% or more –are engaged in things more practical, more positive and much less fraught.

These include health, agriculture, education, culture, employment, technology, economic development with a focus on children, women and human concerns – and a multitude of other issues which countries want to pursue and which make up the agenda of what the UN calls development.

In some of the worst trouble spots of the world, UN activities have to be more basic, providing immediate support for children, women and vulnerable communities caught up in the tragic consequences of violence and destruction. For all its difficulties, even this for the UN has its positive and humane side.

A recently-released honest and forthright memoir— “A Destiny in the Making” by Boudewijn Mohr — tells what working for the UN is like on the frontlines, in a range of different situations and different countries, large and small, poor and rich, many in Africa.

Most unusually, the perspective is that of a banker, who after some 17 years of banking in money making Wall Street and later at the French Bank Société Générale, decides to try something different and gets taken on by UNICEF, the UN Children’s Fund. Initially, there is caution on both sides, the banker wondering whether this is a good career move,

UNICEF wondering what skills the banker can bring which would really be useful. But with emerging experience on both sides, the story becomes a love affair, the banker realizing that he now has the best job in his life, his wife, son and daughter discovering roles for themselves and UNICEF promoting the banker to ever more responsible positions.

There are bits in this fascinating story for everyone. Those wondering about what the UN actually does when working in Africa will find fascinating examples, with frustrations and failures as well as struggles and successes – and uplifting accounts of creativity and commitment by staff, national and international.

Those who have worked for the UN, past and present, may recognize some of the names and situations as well as enjoying the well-told experiences. Everyone will find memorable anecdotes. Even some bankers, I hope, may be led to reconsider their daily preoccupations with money-making and wonder whether it is time for a change.

Boudewijn illuminates his story with colour and detail, enlivened by accounts from his diaries written at the time. Fortunately, he has not edited out frank comments and reactions to some of the less helpful colleagues or officials he has encountered on the way. All this makes for lively reading.

It is also a family memoir, with detail of how Annette, Boudewijn’s wife, developed her own parallel interests and activities, with her anthropologist’s eye for what also was going on and what local people were thinking and feeling.

And their son, Nadim, when not away in school, joined in with his own activities which are recorded. Their daughter Vanessa followed her own multicultural track that included acting in the First All Children’s Theatre of Manhattan and then sociology with study and research in London, Paris and Hanghzou, China.

At a time when it is in vogue to urge governments and non-profits to learn from international business and banking, Boudewijn Mohr’s insightful book offers a different lesson.

It shows how much international business and the banking sector have to learn from the UN and NGOs – about motivation and commitment, about goals focused on human welfare rather than profit, and about broader approaches to efficiency and effectiveness.

The book is a great read –for a wide variety of readers, NGO workers in development, in the UN, people young and old, possibly even some bankers!

The post Former Wall Street Banker Who Advanced the Cause of Women & Children in Africa appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Sir Richard Jolly, an eminent development economist, is Honorary Professor, former Director of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, UK, and UNICEF Deputy Executive Director (1982-1995)

The post Former Wall Street Banker Who Advanced the Cause of Women & Children in Africa appeared first on Inter Press Service.

President Magufuli says women should throw away contraceptives because Tanzania needs more people.

A man is arrested after sharing a video of him having breakfast with a woman in Saudi Arabia.

Even though fewer people are attempting irregular migration to Europe since the start of the year, the number of deaths that occur along the Mediterranean route has dramatically increased, according to International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Amnesty International estimates. Courtesy: International Organization for Migration (IOM)

By Maged Srour
ROME, Sep 10 2018 (IPS)

“The Italian and other European authorities are engaging – on the migration issue – in a policy which has the foreseeable results of numerous deaths.” It is a grim warning from expert on international law, refugees and migration issues, and member of the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), Itamar Mann.

In February 2017, Italy entered into an agreement with Libya to provide funds to Libyan authorities for the coordination of relief operations in the central Mediterranean. Since the agreement, the Libyan Coast Guard has returned migrants to Libya who attempted to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

However, according to a recent Amnesty International report both “Italy and the European Union (EU) are bolstering their policy of supporting the Libyan Coast Guard to ensure it prevents departures and carries out interceptions of refugees and migrants on the high seas in order to pull them back to Libya. This is also contributing to rendering the central Mediterranean route more dangerous for refugees and migrants, and rescue at sea unreliable.”

When IPS asked Mann if he thought there was a direct link between the “pull back” of migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean and the increased number of migrant deaths, Mann described this policy as “killing by omission.”

Even though fewer people are attempting irregular migration to Europe since the start of the year, the number of deaths that occur along the Mediterranean route has dramatically increased, according to International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Amnesty International estimates.

According to Amnesty International:

• From January to July 2018, 1,111 people were reported dead or missing along the central Mediterranean route,

• The death rate among those attempting the crossing from Libya has surged to 1 in 16 in the period June-July, 2018,

• This was four times higher than the rate recorded from January-May 2018, which was 1 in 64.

Migrants arriving at Lampedusa, Italy in this picture dated 2011. Credit: Ilaria Vechi/IPS.

Moral responsibility lies not only with Italy, but Europe too

In May, GLAN filed an application against Italy with the European Court of Human Rights for a 2017 incident where the Libyan Coast Guard allegedly intervened in the rescue, by an non-governmental organisation, of a sinking dinghy. At least 20 people died, including two children, when the vessel sunk. But the Libyan Coast Guard is reported to have engaged in “pull back” and returned the survivors to Libya, where they reportedly endured detention in inhumane conditions and were beaten, starved and raped.“While Italy retains legal responsibility, the process has been facilitated in multiple ways by the EU, and [therefore] the moral responsibility is not exclusively Italian.” -- Itamar Mann, Global Legal Action Network (GLAN).

According to Violeta Moreno-Lax, a senior lecturer in law from Queen Mary University of London, and legal advisor to GLAN: “The Italian authorities are outsourcing to Libya what they are prohibited from doing themselves. They are putting lives at risk and exposing migrants to extreme forms of ill-treatment by proxy, supporting and directing the action of the so-called Libyan Coast Guard.”

Mann, however, pointed out that, “while Italy retains legal responsibility, the process has been facilitated in multiple ways by the EU, and [therefore] the moral responsibility is not exclusively Italian.”
“The EU, for example, has tried to advance migrant processing centres in Libya, engaged in training of Libyan forces, and turned a blind eye to continued violations. So beyond the legal case, simply blaming Italy and ignoring the larger context would be misleading,” he told IPS via email.

The Italian government is expected to respond in due course to the legal papers.

Italy’s response to irregular migration

Italy’s stance on migrants has been reported previously. The country’s interior minister Matteo Salvini was reported by the Telegraph as saying his country would no longer be “the doormat of Europe” as it had been left to largely deal with the migrant crisis on its own. The newspaper reported that in May he had called for Italy’s coast guard and naval ships to be pulled back from patrolling the Mediterranean and brought closer to home.

There have been a number of other reported incidents of alleged “pull back”.

At the end of July, Italian authorities reportedly rescued migrants at sea and returned them to Libya. Also in July, the story of how migrants on the Italian coast guard ship, the Diciotti, were reportedly blocked from disembarking by the country’s ministry of interior generated much criticism and gave rise to a heated debate in Europe. The migrants were eventually allowed to disembark in Trapani, Sicily, after intervention by Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella. 

“The repatriation of refugees to Libya is illegal, as international law prohibits the transfer of people, who encounter distress at sea, to ‘unsafe havens,’” Benjamin Labudda, an expert on migration issues and housing conditions of refugees in the European context and a PhD Scientific Assistant at the Institute of Sociology of University of Muenster, told IPS.

‘Non-refoulement’, a well-known fundamental principle of international law, no country receiving asylum seekers can expel or return them to territories where their lives or freedom could be threatened on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

Concern for migrants sent back to Libya

Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesperson for IOM, told IPS he was also concerned about the return of migrants to Libya.

“If a boat is rescued in international waters and returned to Libya, we are facing a ‘pull back’. The fact that we are referring relief operations in international waters to Libya is ambiguous because the migrants would probably be taken to an unsafe port,” he said.

He said the issue should be kept under close observation, as according to international law migrants rescued at sea should not be returned to Libya, which was “not a safe harbour.”

“We must promote legality, through more residence permits and integration policies,” said Di Giacomo. “A simple closure would be misunderstood by the countries of origin of these migrants. They would only see ‘the rich Europe that sends back the poor Africans.’”

Labudda added that agreements for the distribution of refugees among EU countries must be institutionalised and enforced, as many countries still refuse to welcome refugees.
“A solution regarding the structure of a process of distribution has to be found as soon as possible in the upcoming months,” he added.

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The post International Law Experts Warn Europe’s ‘Pull Back’ of Migrants is Illegal – Part 2 appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

This is the second part of our series about migration to Italy.

The post International Law Experts Warn Europe’s ‘Pull Back’ of Migrants is Illegal – Part 2 appeared first on Inter Press Service.

An armed group is said to have stormed the building of the National Oil Corporation in Tripoli.

By WAM
DUBAI, Sep 10 2018 (WAM)

The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) hosted a workshop at its headquarters in Dubai with international leading experts and the UAE’s university researchers to discuss how to improve the UAE’s Ecological Footprint.

"The UAE has rolled out various environmental initiatives which have led to a constant decline of Ecological Footprint. Yet, we need to accelerate this effort further as the country’s 50th anniversary is rapidly approaching. As the methodology of Ecological Footprint is very complex and a lot of data is required to calculate, we would like to have a strong support from university researchers in the next few years."
The workshop was organized to engage the academia in the executive team’s effort for understanding how to improve the UAE’s Ecological Footprint while obtaining more accurate, timely estimation of results. Researchers from around 10 national and private universities attended the event, along with the executive team and relevant federal and local authorities. MOCCAE aims to identify a few universities which can collaborate on analyzing the country’s Ecological Footprint trend as well as become part of the global partnership.

In the opening remarks, Eng. Aisha Al Abdooli, the ministry’s Director of Green Development and Environmental Affairs, noted: “Ecological Footprint is a very important measure for us to understand the state of the UAE’s efforts for sustainable development, and we have been working closely with international organizations to improve UAE’s footprint.”

“The UAE has rolled out various environmental initiatives which have led to a constant decline of Ecological Footprint. Yet, we need to accelerate this effort further as the country’s 50th anniversary is rapidly approaching. As the methodology of Ecological Footprint is very complex and a lot of data is required to calculate, we would like to have a strong support from university researchers in the next few years.”

“We hope this will be a great opportunity for researchers to learn about the methodology and applications directly from the international experts and relate it to the development of future research agenda to support the country’s sustainable development.”

The UAE’s Ecological Footprint has been on a constant decline since 2000. In 2017, the Prime Minister’s Office requested MOCCAE to establish a cross-ministerial executive team who sets up a clear target for improving Ecological Footprint and works towards fulfilling the UAE Vision 2021. MOCCAE also adopts the measure as one of the 41 Green Key Performance Indicators to monitor the progress of the country’s transformation towards a green economy as outlined in the UAE Green Agenda 2030.

WAM/Hassan Bashir

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Rohingyas from Myanmar wait to be let through by Bangladeshi border guards after crossing the border at Palongkhali of Cox's Bazar on Monday, on October 16, 2017. File Photo: Reuters

By Diplomatic Correspondent
Sep 10 2018 (The Daily Star, Bangladesh)

UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng has urged International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to consider ICC’s recommendation of opening an investigation into the atrocities against Rohingyas without delay.

“The decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber [of ICC] provides victims an opportunity to access justice for some of the crimes they have endured, which is an important first step,” he said in a statement issued in New York on Friday.

Myanmar has refused to cooperate with any impartial investigation into the matter and continues to insist hiding behind its sovereign borders.

“It is about time that countries understand that borders are not strong enough to protect those involved in the most horrible crimes committed against human beings from prosecution,” said Dieng.

His statement came following the release of report of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar on August 27, which strongly recommended that Myanmar’s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine.

A fuller report, containing detailed factual information and legal analysis, will be published and presented to the Human Rights Council on September 18.

Welcoming the ICC’s Thursday rule that it has jurisdiction over alleged deportations of Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh, he said, “The decision is a light in what has been a very dark episode for the Rohingyas this past year.”

Legal experts have said the decision at the Hague-based ICC paves the way for prosecutor Bensouda to further examine whether there is sufficient evidence to file charges in the case, though she has not done so yet.

Dieng said deportation can constitute a crime against humanity under international law. The chamber also ruled that the court would have jurisdiction over other crimes committed, such as the crime of persecution, if at least one element of the crimes within the jurisdiction of the court — or part of such a crime — has been committed on the territory of a state party to the statute.

The decision followed a request by the prosecutor of the ICC on April 9, 2018, in which the prosecutor sought a ruling from the Pre-Trial Chamber on the jurisdiction of the court in a situation in which persons are deported from the territory of a state which is not party to the Rome Statute of the ICC into the territory of a state which is a party to the statute. While Myanmar is not a party to the statute, Bangladesh is.

Accordingly, the decision opens the door to the prosecution of some of the crimes that may have been committed against the Rohingya, the special adviser added.

“The crimes allegedly committed or initiated in Myanmar against the Rohingya population, particularly since August 2017, which led to the mass displacement of almost a million Rohingya people into Bangladesh, are horrific and must not go unpunished,” insisted Dieng.

“We have all heard the shocking reports of mass killings, the gang rape of women, of babies being thrown into fires, and the complete destruction of villages. The failure of the Security Council to refer the situation to the ICC for investigation, despite credible information to support these allegations and numerous calls for accountability, has been frustrating, to say the least.”

Dieng also noted that while the decision issued by the ICC is a breakthrough, alleged crimes perpetrated solely on the territory of Myanmar, including conduct that could possibly amount to the crime of genocide, will be excluded from the jurisdiction of the ICC.

For that reason, the special adviser, who visited Bangladesh on March 7-13 to assess the situation of Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar following incidents of violence in October 2016 and August 2017, urged the international community to continue its efforts to bring justice to the Rohingya.

His visit focused on what lies ahead for the Rohingya population; how to ensure that the crimes committed against them are not repeated; and how to hold accountable those responsible for the crimes that have been documented.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

The post Atrocities Against Rohingyas: Start probe now appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

UN adviser on genocide prevention asks ICC

The post Atrocities Against Rohingyas: Start probe now appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A view of salmon cages in the Pacific Ocean in Chile. In recent decades, salmon farming has become an important industry in Chile, but the impact on the environment and people's health has been questioned. Credit: Courtesy of Daniel Casado

By Daniel Gutman
BUENOS AIRES, Sep 10 2018 (IPS)

Questioned for its environmental and health impacts in Chile, where it is one of the country’s main economic activities, salmon farming is preparing to expand in Argentina from Norway, the world’s largest farmed salmon producer.
The news has triggered a strong reaction from civil society organisations.

“Argentina today has the advantage that it can refer to Chile’s experience, which has been extremely negative,” attorney Alex Muñoz, director for Latin America of National Geographic’s Pristine Seas programme, told IPS from Santiago, Chile.

“In Chile we have suffered the serious impacts of the activity carried out by both local and Norwegian companies. Salmon is native to the northern hemisphere and there is very clear scientific evidence that farming this species is not sustainable in the southern hemisphere,” added the environmental law specialist.

Muñoz is one of the authors of a highly critical report on the Argentine project presented by 23 Argentine and international organisations – such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Oceana and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) – grouped in the Forum for the Conservation of the Patagonian Sea and Areas of Influence."The effects of an industry that stretches 2,000 km along the Chilean coast have never been studied in-depth. Chemicals of all kinds are used to prevent disease and organic matter, food and fecal matter from salmon are dumped into the ecosystem.” -- Max Bello

The Forum is a network formed in 2004 to promote the care of the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina and of the Pacific Ocean in Chile.

It was the visit to Argentina in March by King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway, who met with President Mauricio Macri, which gave impetus to the initiative.

It would imply the introduction for the first time of an exotic species in the Argentinean sea, since this South American country has only up to now introduced fish in lakes and rivers.

On that occasion, Innovation Norway, a state-owned company and a national development bank that promotes Norwegian investment around the world, signed a cooperation agreement with the Argentine Agribusiness Ministry to study the implementation of “sustainable aquaculture” programmes in this South American nation.

Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic animals or plants in all types of water environments in controlled conditions. In the case of salmon in Argentina, feasibility studies are being carried out in the extreme south of Patagonia, off the Argentine coasts of Tierra del Fuego, the southern territory shared with Chile.

IPS’s questions about the project were not answered by the agriculture authorities of Tierra del Fuego province or by the Agribusiness Ministry, which on Sept. 3 was demoted to a secretariat as part of austerity measures aimed at cutting public spending in the midst of the country’s economic collapse.

Salmon seen in the Chilean sea. Broken cages sometimes cause hundreds of thousands of fish to end up in open sea, generating negative impacts on native species. Credit: Courtesy of Daniel Casado

In March, the then minister Luis Etchevere stated that “our relations with Norway will allow us to benefit from that country’s more than 50 years of experience” in aquaculture, and added that “Tierra del Fuego can be a pioneer in development within Argentina.”

Norway, which has both wild and farmed salmon, is the world’s largest producer of this species that is consumed around the world for its taste and nutritional value.

In Chile, salmon farming in sea cages began more than 30 years ago on the island of Chiloé, about 1,100 south of Santiago, in the Los Lagos Region, and from there it grew and spread throughout Patagonia, to the Aysen and Magallanes Regions.

Today salmon is one of Chile’s main export products. Official figures indicate that the sector is expanding, since in 2017 exports amounted to 4.1 billion dollars, 20 percent up from the previous year.

Last year, salmon accounted for more than six percent of the country’s total exports.

According to Chile’s Salmon Industry Association, this year will be even better and sales to 75 international markets will generate more than five billion dollars.

According to the business chamber, the activity generates more than 70,000 direct and indirect jobs.

But “no amount of economic growth justifies the destruction of Patagonian ecosystems,” Max Bello, a Chilean natural resources specialist who has been working for 15 years in marine conservation organisations, told IPS from Santiago.

Starfish seen in the seabed of the Beagle Channel, in the Southern Atlantic Ocean, where the Argentine government is promoting the development of salmon farming. The so-called Patagonian Sea is considered one of the most productive oceanic areas in the southern hemisphere. Credit: Courtesy of Beagle Secrets of the Sea

Bello added: “The effects of an industry that stretches 2,000 km along the Chilean coast have never been studied in-depth. Chemicals of all kinds are used to prevent disease and organic matter, food and fecal matter from salmon are dumped into the ecosystem.”

“Salmon farming has spread in a brutal manner in recent years, affecting not only natural resources but also culture, as it has displaced other activities,” Bello said.

In Argentina, a country whoses population of 44 million mostly eats beef, fish are mostly for export.

In 2017, according to official figures, 706,000 tons of seafood were sold abroad, worth 1.9 billion dollars. The main products are shrimp and squid, both native. In the domestic market, 341,000 tons of seafood was consumed last year.

The report presented by the Forum for the Conservation of the Patagonian Sea and Areas of Influence states that, besides the heavy use of antibiotics, the main problem posed by salmon farming is the frequent escape from the sea cages of fish that end up being an exotic species.

In fact, in July, during a storm, four of the five cages of a salmon farm owned by the Norwegian company Marine Harvest in Calbuco, near the city of Puerto Montt, broke and 650,000 salmon ended up in the sea.

“According to the law, the company has to recover at least 10 percent of the fish, because otherwise environmental damage is assumed,” biologist Flavia Liberona, executive director of the Chilean environmental foundation Terram, told IPS.

Regarding the use of chemical products, Liberona explained from Santiago that “because they are not in their environment, salmon in Chile are highly prone to diseases, which is why they use more antibiotics than in Norway.”

“In 2008 there was a major crisis in the industry due to the spread of a virus, which caused the loss of thousands of jobs,” she said.

Biologist Alexandra Sapoznikow, who teaches Natural Resources Management at Argentina’s National University of Patagonia, said “this activity has frequent crises and we are concerned that it is seen as a possibility for economic development. Tierra del Fuego receives tourists who are looking for nature, which is this province’s opportunity.”

Speaking to IPS from the Patagonian city of Puerto Madryn, Sapoznikow added that the introduction of salmon farming would also come into conflict with the project that civil society organisations have been working on with the Argentine government to create marine protected areas in the South Atlantic.

In November 2017, the government sent to Congress a bill for the creation of two marine protected areas near Tierra del Fuego, which would extend the total conservation area from the current 28,000 square km to 155,000.

The initiative, however, has not yet begun to be discussed, while the Ministry of Environment – which drafted it jointly with the National Parks Administration – was demoted on Sept. 3 to a secretariat.

The post Salmon Farming, Questioned in Chile, Arrives to Argentina appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Ahmed Rashid is a Kenyan police officer accused of shooting dead people he believes are criminals.

Tragedy overshadows Madagascar's 2-2 draw with Senegal as qualifiers continue for next year's Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

At least one person died and many were injured as football fans tried to get through a single entrance.

The small passenger aircraft carrying 23 people crashed as it tried to land in thick fog, reports say.

By WAM
ABU DHABI, Sep 9 2018 (WAM)

Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), the leading national entity for development aid, hosted a high-level parliamentary delegation from Senegal at its headquarters in Abu Dhabi to discuss sustained cooperation in achieving the development priorities of the Senegalese government.

Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of ADFD, Moustapha Niasse, President of the National Assembly of Senegal, Jassim Abdullah Al Naqabi, Member of the Legislative and Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee at the UAE Federal National Council (FNC), as well as senior representatives of the two sides attended the meeting.

The meeting explored opportunities for ADFD to support the development objectives of the West African nation, and examined the Fund’s wider role in financing socio-economic projects across Africa.

Welcoming the delegation, Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi said: “The UAE and Senegal have enjoyed strong bilateral ties for decades, and ADFD is proud to have played an instrumental role in enhancing these strategic relations.”

He added: “ADFD is committed to helping the Senegalese government achieve its sustainable development goals. Since 1978, the Fund has provided concessionary loans worth AED240 million to finance five vital projects in the agriculture, transportation and renewable energy sectors in Senegal.

“In addition to those sectors, the funds positively impacted related areas such as infrastructure, health, and water – thereby facilitating the Government of Senegal in achieving its socio-economic objectives. By creating job opportunities and stimulating the economy, they have improved the quality of life of the local population.”

WAM/Tariq alfaham/Hatem Mohamed

The post Abu Dhabi Fund for Development discusses collaboration opportunities with Senegal appeared first on Inter Press Service.

How a British-Nigerian man finally realised his dream of becoming a professional drag queen.

The country's main parties charge male presidential hopefuls tens of thousands of dollars for nomination papers.