Africa

Trump's focus: Drilling for oil, not saving the planet. Credit: Shutterstock

By Baher Kamal
MADRID, Nov 13 2024 (IPS)

During his electoral campaign, incoming U.S. President Donald Trump highlighted that the U.S. holds more oil reserves than any other country, even surpassing Saudi Arabia. In this context, he openly encouraged big businesses to tap into these reserves with the words: ’Drill, baby, drill.’

The US president-elect has also threatened to impose record tariffs on electric cars’ imports from China, by increasing them between 100% and 200%, and has hinted at higher taxes on European vehicles as well.

As the U.S. remains the second-largest global contributor to climate damage after China, do you expect that this year’s climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan (11-22 November) can achieve what all the previous 28 sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change have failed to?

In other words, can COP29 come out with effective, verifiable, legally binding decisions to mobilise the amount of financial resources (between 187 and 359 billion US dollars annually) to overcome the current huge adaptation finance gap?

Or shall this yet another expensive gathering end up with the usual ‘politically correct’ Declaration that will be announced as “landmark,” “historical,” although a non-binding step to halt the growing “climate carnage,” as called by the United Nations’ Secretary-General António Guterres.

So far, major political –and financial– world’s leaders decided to skip the summit, as is the case of the United States, the European Commision, and Germany, among others.

 

The Huge Financial Gap

The life-saving amount required to heal peoples and Nature –187 to 359 billion US dollars annually– is just a fraction of what the world’s military powers spend –annually– on weapons whose function is to kill peoples and Nature.

See what an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament: the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reports:

 

• Estimated global military expenditure rose for the ninth consecutive year in 2023, to surpass $2.4 trillion,
• Despite the consequent growth in demand for weapons and continued efforts to meet that demand, arms companies have found it difficult to boost production.
• The 6.8 per cent increase in total military spending in 2023 was the largest rise since 2009 and pushed estimated world spending to the highest level recorded by SIPRI.
• As a result, the global military burden—world military expenditure as a share of world gross domestic product (GDP)—rose to 2.3 per cent.
• Governments allocated an average of 6.9 per cent of their budgets to the military or 306 US dollars per person.
• Estimated military spending increased across all five geographical regions for the first time since 2009.

 

‘America First’

“The United States remained by far the largest military spender in the world.”

The USA’s expenditure of 916 billion US dollars was more than the combined spending of the 9 other countries among the top 10 spenders, and 3.1 times as large as that of the second biggest spender, China, reports SIPRI, which is ranked among the most respected think tanks worldwide

During the same year -2023- up to 39 of the 43 countries in Europe increased military spending. The 16 per cent surge in total European spending was driven by a 51 per cent rise in Ukrainian spending and a 24 per cent rise in Russian spending.

The Israel–Hamas war was the main driver for the 24 per cent increase in Israel’s military expenditure, adds SIPRI in its Yearbook 2024.

 

The Big Polluters

The United States and other rich, industrialised powers, like Europe, and Japan, are the largest polluters, as is the case of China and India, while being those with the biggest capability to reduce the financial adaptation gap they have been causing.

See what a global movement of people who are fighting injustice for a more equal world, working across regions in 79 countries, with thousands of partners and allies: Oxfam International unveils in its report: “Carbon Inequality Kills”:

 

• Super Yachts and Jets of Europe’s Elite Emit More Carbon Pollution in a Week than the World’s Poorest 1% Emits in a Lifetime
• One ultra-rich European takes an average of 140 flights a year, spending 267 hours in the air and producing as much carbon as the average European would in over 112 years.
• In the same period, an ultra-rich European on their yachts emits, on average, as much carbon as an ordinary European would in 585 years.

 

On the climate adaptation financial gap, the report highlights what it called Make rich polluters pay.

“Climate finance needs are enormous and escalating, especially in Global South countries that are withstanding the worst of climate impacts.

“A wealth tax up to 5% on European multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise 286.5 billion euros annually. , supporting communities to build better lives for themselves, grow resilience and protect lives and livelihoods also in times of crisis.”

 

The Victims Pay?

Another global movement of more than 10 million people in over 150 countries and territories who campaign to end abuses of human rights: Amnesty International, has reported.

“With millions of people already displaced by climate change disasters in Africa, the richer countries most responsible for global warming must agree at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan “to fully pay for the catastrophic loss of homes and damage to livelihoods taking place across the continent.”

Africa’s contribution to the climate carnage amounts to a neglectable 2 per cent.

 

And the suicidal war on Nature and Humans goes on

On the eve of the COP29, the World Meteorological Organization warned that the year 2024 is on track to be the warmest year on record after an extended streak of exceptionally high monthly global mean temperatures.

Meanwhile, since the beginning of this century, the world has witnessed more than 2,500 disasters and 40 major conflicts.

 

A Misleading Claim

By the way, the elected president of the United States’ statement that his country has the largest oil reserves in the world, including Saudi Arabia, is anything but accurate.

According to the WorldAtlas’ list of the top 10 oil reserves by country, Venezuela ranks first with 303 billion barrels, followed by Saudi Arabia with 267 billion barrels, while the United States comes the 9th, with oil reserves amounting to 55 billion barrels.

In short, for the world’s biggest military powers, wars are worth spending far more than saving lifes. And the oil business that kills Mother Nature and all that lives on it, also ranks hight among their top priorities.

‘Drill, baby, drill’

South African FA president Danny Jordaan is alleged to have used the organisation's resources for personal gain between 2014 and 2018.

South African FA president Danny Jordaan is alleged to have used the organisation's resources for personal gain between 2014 and 2018.

Wind power installation in the impoverished desert peninsula of La Guajira in northern Colombia. Credit: Giampaolo Contestabile / Pie de Página

By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS, Nov 13 2024 (IPS)

The Latin American and Caribbean region is a student with good grades in renewable energy, but not in energy efficiency, and has a long way to go in contributing to global climate action and overcoming the vulnerability of its population and economies.

The recent energy crises in Ecuador and Cuba, with power outages ranging from 14 hours a day to days at a time, and the threats posed by droughts – which this year hit Bogotá and the Brazilian Amazon, for example – to the hydroelectric systems that power the region, are proof of this.

Among the 660 million Latin Americans and Caribbeans enduring the various impacts of climate change, there are at least 17 million people, some four million households, who still lack access to electricity.“Countries in the region are very much affected by barriers in their investment ecosystems, access to financing, whether due to institutional problems, policies or legal security”: Alfonso Blanco.

That scenario comes under new scrutiny at the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which began its two-week run on Monday 11 in Baku, capital of oil-rich Azerbaijan.

The annual conference of 196 states parties has climate action financing as its main theme and will also review the global commitment made a year ago to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency.

The COP28 in Dubai proposed a global installed capacity of 11,000 gigawatts (Gw, equivalent to 1,000 megawatts, Mw) of energy from renewable sources by 2030, 7,000 Gw more than today. This is unlikely, judging by the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The NDCs serve as commitments by states to adopt measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions so that global warming does not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial averages, as stated in the 2015 Paris Agreement, which concluded the COP21.

Large solar power plant in the Sertao region, in the arid northeast of Brazil, installed by the Spanish company Naturgy. Credit: Naturgy

In the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, “the installed capacity for electricity generation is already 58% renewable energy, and in 11 countries it exceeds 80%,” Uruguayan expert Alfonso Blanco, director of energy transition and climate at the Washington-based think tank Inter-American Dialogue, told IPS.

According to the Latin American Energy Organisation (Olade), the region’s installed electricity generation capacity was 480,605 megawatts (MW) in 2022, with about 300,000 MW produced from renewable sources – 200,000 MW from dams – and the rest from non-renewable sources, mainly fossil fuels.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) put the region’s installed electricity generation capacity at 342,000 MW last year, with advances in solar energy installations, with a capacity of 64,513 MW, and wind power, which reached 49,337 MW, as the hydroelectric source remains stable at 202,000 MW.

The Latin American and Caribbean region “can increase its capacity to generate electricity from sources such as solar or wind, but it can’t triple its hydroelectric capacity,” said Blanco, who was executive secretary of Olade in the period 2017-2023.

Diana Barba, coordinator of energy diplomacy at the Colombian think tank Transforma, also believes that “tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 does not apply to Latin America and the Caribbean”.

“The next step is to maintain the proportion… until 2040, and in general to reduce the trend towards the use of fossil fuels,” Barba told IPS.

An auto parts factory in the Mexican state of Coahuila. Credit: México Industry

Elusive efficiency

Green energy capacity figures are improving every year in the region, but energy efficiency figures are not keeping pace. Experts from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) have shown that only the Caribbean sub-region has made significant progress compared to the first decade of this century.

Measured in kilograms of oil equivalent (kgoe) per 1,000 dollars of gross domestic product (GDP), the Caribbean consumed 110 kgoe during the 2001-2010 decade and decreased that expenditure to 67 units in 2022, while the region as a whole fell from 95 to 87 kgoe.

In that period, the Andean sub-region was able to fall from 108 kgoe to 90, Central America and Mexico from 85 to 70, and the Southern Cone remained at 90, although the figure is 80 kgoe if Brazil is excluded.

Efficiency, in which the region shows more modest results, is fundamental for the triple purpose of saving resources, reducing costs and, a primary objective at climate COPs, reducing the carbon emissions that pollute the environment and heat the atmosphere, precipitating climate change.

In this regard, the World Economic Forum, which each year gathers political and economic leaders, advocates electrifying transport, and above all stresses that NDCs should focus on demand and supply to improve industrial energy efficiency, only mentioned in 30% of the world’s NDCs.

In transport, an Olade study highlights that the fleet of electrified light-duty vehicles multiplied more than 14 times in the region in 2020-2024, with a total of 249,079 units in circulation by the first half of 2024.

This market – which entails greater energy efficiency and drastic reductions in carbon emissions – is led by Brazil with 152,493 vehicles, followed by Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia and Chile, but Costa Rica has the best per capita figure, with 34 electrified cars per 10,000 inhabitants, followed by Uruguay with 17.

However, as far as manufacturing industry is concerned, with an annual GDP of 874 billion dollars (14% of regional GDP), ECLAC records that it consumes more renewable energy each year and less fossil fuels such as residual fuel oil.

But its energy intensity – an indicator that measures the ratio of energy consumed to GDP – went from 232 tonnes of oil equivalent per million dollars of value added in the 1990s to 238 TOE in 2022, suggesting that the region’s industrial sector has not improved its energy efficiency.

Rows of solar panels on the roofs of Metrobús stations in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Credit: Caba

Four South Americans

To assess the necessary and possible efforts of each country to contribute to global renewable energy capacity targets, Transforma studied four cases, those of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia.

Barba explained that Argentina and Brazil were considered for their membership of the G20 (Group of 20 industrialised and emerging economies), Colombia for its capacity for action and Chile for its decision to accelerate the end of the operation of thermal power plants, while insufficient information was received from Mexico.

Argentina could take advantage of its onshore wind energy potential and large-scale solar energy, but Barba argues that “it would be super-difficult” to triple its energy matrix in a few years, which is only 37% covered by renewables, and that its current president, Javier Milei, “is betting on fossil fuels”.

Brazil can take advantage of its large-scale renewable energy potential, but Barba notes “contradictory signals” regarding its NDCs, by favouring hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation in the Amazon “instead of sending a very clear signal to close these projects in strategic ecosystems”.

Chile could reach 96% renewable generation in its electricity matrix by 2030, taking advantage of sources such as solar, wind, thermal and geothermal, and Colombia could reach 80% renewables in installed electricity capacity if it continues to multiply its solar and wind energy installations.

Of the countries analysed, Chile is the only one with a specific target of 10% reduction in its energy intensity, established in its national energy efficiency plan 2022-2026, and Transforma suggests that the other countries adopt similar targets in their plans for 2030.

On the other hand, there are calls for savings, considering that energy efficiency is “the first fuel”, the most cost-effective source or, in other words, that the cleanest energy is the one that is not used.

Oil exploitation in the Brazilian Amazon at the Urucu base in the Coari area along the Amazon River. Credit: Petrobras

A question of finance

Giovanni Pabón, Director of Energy at Transforma, has stated that “the issue of financing covers everything. If we don’t have secure financing, we can talk about a lot of things, but in the end it is very difficult to achieve the goals we require” in the Paris Agreement.

Blanco highlights that, in order to tackle their transition to green energy, countries in the region “are very much affected by the existing barriers in their investment ecosystems, access to financing, whether due to institutional problems, policies or legal security”.

“Overcoming that barrier is not impossible, but it requires work and political will, which is often lacking,” he added.

He recalled that countries with strong extractive industries, which are more oriented towards fossil fuels and allocate subsidies to them, stand out in that scenario.

Finally, Blanco considered that COP29, the second consecutive one in an oil-producing country, is “a transitional summit”, preparatory to COP30, which will be held in 2025 in the Amazonian city of Belém do Pará, with Brazil as host and leader, and could produce clearer and firmer results and commitments in terms of renewable energies and energy efficiency.

Up to 200 Russians are estimated to have arrived in the country in the recent past.

Financial solutions for the global South are under the spotlight during COP29. Credit: UN Climate Change/ Habib Samadov

By Umar Manzoor Shah
BAKU, Nov 13 2024 (IPS)

Riad Meddeb, Director of the Sustainable Energy Hub at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), stressed the urgency of finding innovative financial solutions during COP29.

Meddeb was speaking to IPS in an exclusive interview at the conference. He said the negotiations were expected to focus heavily on finance—a core issue that has historically hampered climate action in developing and least-developed nations.

The Finance COP Expectations

Meddeb highlighted the historical challenge of meeting the USD 100 billion annual target for climate finance, which has been a central but elusive goal in previous COPs. He noted that Azerbaijan’s COP 29 presidency aims to overcome this by ensuring the necessary funds are available, especially for countries most vulnerable to climate impacts. 

“This year’s COP is considered the ‘Finance COP’ because it’s crucial we not only set targets but also mobilize the resources to help countries adapt and mitigate climate impacts,” he explained.

A key focus will be developing sustainable financing mechanisms for countries that struggle with debt. Many nations in the global South face significant financial burdens, and accelerating their energy transitions requires resources that may be challenging to secure within their existing economic constraints. Meddeb also stressed the need for concrete financial schemes that can attract private sector investments to supplement international climate funding.

Riad Meddeb, Director of the Sustainable Energy Hub at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Progress at COP 28 and Hopes for COP 29

Reflecting on COP 28, Meddeb noted key successes, including establishing the Loss and Damage Fund and reaching consensus on a targeted increase in renewable energy capacity.

“The agreement to triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency by 2030 was a significant breakthrough at COP28,” he said. “Now, COP29 must translate that ambition into action by securing the financial support needed to achieve these goals.”

Making sure that the commitments made at COP28 are more than just empty words is one of the main challenges going forward, according to Meddeb.

“By COP30, we want a global commitment on the pathway to adaptation and mitigation,” he added.

UNDP’s Role in the Climate Action Landscape

UNDP plays a critical role in translating international climate targets into real, on-the-ground actions. Through initiatives like the UN’s “Climate Promise,” UNDP supports countries in implementing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and operationalizing climate goals. Meddeb explained that UNDP is uniquely positioned to facilitate these efforts due to its extensive network of country offices in 170 nations. This network enables UNDP to address climate issues from a development perspective, integrating energy solutions into broader sectors such as health, education, and poverty alleviation.

“UNDP’s approach is not just about energy,” he said. “It’s about sustainable energy for development. We link energy needs with development needs, connecting climate action to real improvements in health, education, and economic opportunities. This is the difference UNDP makes.”

Addressing the Debt Issue in Climate Finance

A significant portion of the interview focused on the complex financial situations faced by many global South nations, where debt often limits capacity to implement ambitious climate plans. Meddeb pointed out that addressing these financial constraints is essential for equitable progress toward climate goals. He suggested that international financial institutions should provide debt relief or restructuring options to allow these countries to invest more readily in clean energy and climate adaptation.

“Pushing countries with heavy debt burdens to accelerate their energy transition requires a nuanced approach,” Meddeb said. “We need financial structures that acknowledge their debt situations while still allowing them to contribute meaningfully to global climate targets.”

Implementation of the Paris Agreement: From Words to Action

Meddeb stressed the importance of shifting the Paris Agreement’s commitments from paper to practice, especially regarding emission reductions by developed nations. He believes that developed countries have a moral obligation to reduce their carbon footprints, given their historical contribution to climate change and their financial capacity.

“The plan is clear, and it’s agreed upon by all parties in the Paris Agreement. Now it’s just about accelerating implementation,” he asserted. “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel—we need to get it moving.”

When asked whether the current pace of implementation is sufficient, Meddeb offered a candid view: “The Secretary General was very clear—it’s now or never. We need optimism and ambition but also an unyielding focus on practical solutions. There are obstacles, yes, but there are solutions too. Together, we can save our planet.”

The Responsibility of Developed Nations Toward Vulnerable Countries

As climate impacts disproportionately affect poorer nations, Meddeb urged developed countries to support those bearing the brunt of climate change. He pointed to the Loss and Damage Fund as a critical mechanism for this purpose. Set up at COP28, the fund has already garnered around USD 700 million, and Meddeb hopes COP29 will build on this initial success by accelerating funding mobilization.

After all, as the UN secretary general António Guterres noted this week, while the Loss and Damage Fund was a victory, the initial capitalization of USD 700 million doesn’t come close to righting the wrong inflicted on the vulnerable.  “USD 700 million is roughly the annual earnings of the world’s ten best-paid footballers,” Guterres said.

Meddeb agrees. “Mobilizing funds for loss and damage is a positive first step. But we must continue pushing to ensure that the support reaches the most affected communities quickly and effectively.”

A Call to Action

For Meddeb, the stakes could not be higher, and the time for incremental progress is over. He said that COP 29 must not only focus on setting ambitious goals but also make real progress on securing the necessary financing to turn aspirations into achievements.

“Now is the moment to turn pledges into action,” he said. “We’ve reached a point where the world cannot afford to wait any longer. This is the COP for finance, and we need to ensure the resources are in place for meaningful climate action.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Turkana women recover with white bandages over their eyes after undergoing surgery to treat trachoma, the world's leading cause of blindness. Efforts like these are crucial in preventing the spread of this debilitating disease in vulnerable communities. Credit: Robert Kibet/IPS

By Robert Kibet
ELANKATA ENTERIT, Kenya, Nov 13 2024 (IPS)

Draped in the vibrant red of his Maasai shuka, 52-year-old Rumosiroi Ole Mpoke sits cross-legged on a worn cowhide mat outside his hut, his face etched with a sorrow deeper than the lines of age. His once-sharp eyes, now clouded by trachoma, can barely make out the shadows of the cattle he once tended with pride.

“I should have done something when I still could see,” he says quietly, his voice thick with regret. “Now, I am useless with my livestock, and my children must guide me around our land. I can no longer provide for them as a father should.”

In Elankata Enterit, Narok County, a remote village tucked 93 miles northwest of Nairobi, Rumosiroi has been stripped not only of his sight but of his role as a provider, now trapped in a cycle of poverty and dependence that gnaws at his spirit.

The Maasai, known for their resilience and deep bond with the land, are among Kenya’s pastoralist communities, particularly vulnerable to trachoma. The dusty, arid environment they inhabit fosters this infectious disease, which tightens its grip on communities already cut off from adequate healthcare services. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Sightsavers, and Kenya’s Ministry of Health are working to tackle the disease, but for communities like Rumosiroi’s, the struggle is unrelenting.

Pascal, a Community Drug Distributor (CDD), hands azithromycin tablets to a woman identified as Abedi during a Mass Drug Administration (MDA) in Kajaido, near the Kenyan-Tanzania border. Credit: Sightsavers/Samuel Otieno

In Kenya’s harsh, sun-baked lands of Kenya’s Rift Valley and the north, where water sources are scarce and sanitation is poor, trachoma—a neglected tropical disease caused by Chlamydia trachomatis—leads to chronic suffering and blindness, affecting pastoralist communities who rely on livestock for survival. Addressing trachoma is essential to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, specifically SDG 3, which aims to provide universal health coverage, including access to quality healthcare and affordable medicines.

Elsewhere, at Chemolingot Hospital in East Pokot, Baringo County, a group of elderly women sits in the courtyard, not for medical care but to collect relief food distributed by the county government. Six frail figures lean heavily on walking sticks, guided by young boys to the right spot. Each woman is blind, their sight stolen by trachoma. With red, swollen eyes, they rub incessantly, trying to ease the relentless pain that marks their faces with lines of resignation and fatigue.

“They’ve given me so much eye ointment,” mutters Kakaria Malimtich, her voice tired and defeated. “I don’t even care about treatment anymore—now, it’s just about getting food.”

Malimtich, like many here, has lost her battle with trachoma, which afflicts 1.9 million people globally, primarily in poor regions. In the arid lands of Baringo, people battle blindness along with hunger, poverty, and a lack of basic resources.

Julius, a Community Drug Distributor (CDD), educates two women about trachoma and encourages them to take the treatment during a Mass Drug Administration (MDA) in Kajaido, near the Kenyan-Tanzania border. Credit:Sightsavers/Samuel Otieno

Cheposukut Lokdap, a 68-year-old resident of Chemolingot, sits nearby, rubbing her eyes to relieve the sharp stinging pain. “It feels like something is cutting into me,” she whispers, half to herself, half to anyone who’ll listen. Two years ago, her remaining vision faded, plunging her into “the dark world.” She remembers that day vividly—the eye she’d relied on to see the sun and shadows finally failed.

Trachoma is prevalent across Kenya, particularly in pastoralist regions like Turkana, Marsabit, Narok, and Wajir. According to WHO, it’s the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide, yet it remains underfunded and largely overlooked. The disease thrives in communities with limited access to clean water and healthcare—conditions common among pastoralists.

According to April 2024 data from the World Health Organization, approximately 103 million people live in areas endemic to trachoma and are at risk of blindness from the disease.

“Here in Marsabit, clean water is a luxury, not a right,” says 40-year-old Naitore Lekan, whose husband is a cattle herder. “Our children suffer from eye infections all the time, and there’s no proper clinic to take them to. Sometimes we use herbs or hope it heals on its own, but it often doesn’t.” Naitore’s experience highlights broader issues in pastoralist communities, where traditional beliefs and lack of awareness hinder effective treatment and prevention.

She recounts her family’s struggle with trachoma. “My daughter, Aisha, started losing her sight last year. We thought it was just a simple eye infection, but at the clinic, they told us it was trachoma. They gave her antibiotics, but we couldn’t return for follow-up because the clinic is too far and we can’t afford transport.” For families like Naitore’s, the distance to healthcare centers and financial constraints make trachoma treatment challenging.

In Marsabit, community health worker Hassan Diba is determined to fight trachoma. “Awareness is key,” he says. “I travel to different homesteads, teaching families about trachoma, its causes, and prevention. But I can only reach so many people. We need more resources and support to tackle this issue on a larger scale.”

Trachoma’s impact goes beyond health; it disrupts pastoralist families’ economic stability. “When someone in the family is sick, everything stops,” says Rumosiroi. “I can’t go to graze the animals, and if our livestock aren’t healthy, we can’t sell them. Then we can’t buy food or pay school fees.” According to WHO, the economic burden of trachoma deepens poverty, as families divert resources to medical expenses.

Kenya’s health system faces major challenges, particularly in remote pastoralist areas. The government’s commitment to universal health coverage is commendable, yet implementation lags in regions where access to health services is hindered by geography and infrastructure.

Pascal, a Community Drug Distributor (CDD), measures 3-year-old Praygod’s height to determine the correct dose of azithromycin syrup during a Mass Drug Administration (MDA) in Kajaido, near the Kenyan-Tanzania border. Credit: Sightsavers/Samuel Otieno

“Most health facilities here are understaffed and under-resourced,” says Dr. Wanjiru Kuria, a public health official in Marsabit. “We need to prioritize funding for preventive measures like clean water and sanitation and train health workers to manage trachoma cases. Without these basics, the fight against trachoma won’t succeed.”

Moses Chege, Director of Sightsavers Kenya, explains that “trachoma disproportionately affects the poorest communities, and eliminating it has profound benefits for individuals and their broader communities.” He adds, “Kenya has made significant strides in the fight against trachoma, which is transforming lives—allowing more children to attend school and more adults to work and support their families.”

“The challenge to eliminate trachoma in Kenya is immense—over 1.1 million people remain at risk,” he told IPS. “Keeping hands and faces clean is essential to prevent the spread, but it’s difficult to maintain good hygiene when communities lack access to clean water. For nomadic groups like the Maasai, reaching them with consistent health services is challenging. There’s also a cultural aspect—some Maasai see the presence of houseflies as a sign of wealth and prosperous livestock. However, these flies carry the bacteria that cause trachoma.”

According to Moses Chege, Kenya has the potential to eliminate trachoma through strategic, evidence-based investments and urgent action, joining the ranks of 21 other countries that have already eradicated the disease. Since 2010, Sightsavers Kenya has been a strong partner to the Ministry of Health, distributing over 13 million trachoma treatments, including 1.6 million treatments in 2022 alone to protect Kenyans from the disease.

The recent launch of Kenya’s Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) master plan by the Ministry of Health is also expected to accelerate efforts in preventing, eradicating, eliminating, and controlling trachoma and other NTDs across the country.

Organizations like Sightsavers and the Ministry of Health have implemented programs to combat trachoma through mass drug administration and education campaigns. These efforts aim not only to treat the infected but also to promote hygiene practices to prevent the disease’s spread. “We’re seeing positive changes,” says Wanjiru. “When communities understand hygiene’s importance and have treatment access, they can break the cycle of trachoma. But it requires commitment from everyone.”

In 2022, Malawi became the first country in Southern Africa to eliminate trachoma, while Vanuatu achieved this milestone as the first Pacific Island nation.

As the world moves closer to the 2030 SDG deadline, addressing trachoma in pastoralist communities is essential for fulfilling the promise of health for all. It demands a multi-faceted approach combining community education, infrastructure development, and equitable healthcare access. For pastoralists like Naitore, Rumosiroi, and Malimtich, these interventions are not just a promise of restored health but a lifeline to a better future.

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

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Amman in Jordan is an area where excessive heat is a major issue and heatwaves fueled by climate change are making life in many areas difficult. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

By Tanka Dhakal
BAKU, Nov 13 2024 (IPS)

Once again, scientists issued a red alert by analyzing ongoing world’s weather and its impact on the climate. The year 2024 is on track to be the warmest year on record, contributed by an extended streak of high monthly global mean temperatures.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)’s “State of the Climate 2024 Update” report—which was released in Baku on Monday—issued a reminder Red Alert and said this decade, 2015-2024 will be the warmest ten years on record. 

“For 16 consecutive months (from June 2023 to September 2024), the global mean exceeded anything recorded before 2023 and often by a wide margin,” the report says. “2023 and 2024 will be the two warmest years on record, with the latter being on track to be the warmest, making the past 10 years the warmest decade in the 175-year observational record.”

Observation of nine months (January-September) of 2024 indicated global temperature is 1.54°C above the pre-industrial average. Which means temporarily global temperature has crossed the Paris Agreement threshold, which sets the goal to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial level.

But in the long run, that goal can be achieved if emissions are cut down drastically. The WMO report says, “one or more individual years exceeding 1.5°C does not necessarily mean that pursuing effort to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial level as stated in the Paris Agreement is out of reach.”

Graph source: WMO

However, weather phenomena, including El Niño, played a role in increasing temperature, but long-term warming is driven by ongoing greenhouse gas emissions. And emission data and trends are not in favor of the Paris Agreement goal.

“Concentrations of the three key greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) in the atmosphere reached record high observed levels in 2023,” the report says. “Real-time data indicate that they continued to rise in 2024.”

Now, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide are 151 percent, 265 percent and 124 percent respectively, of pre-industrial levels.

According to the WMO, ocean warming is also continuing.

“Ocean heat content in 2023 was the highest annual value on record,” it says, “Preliminary data from the early months of 2024 indicate that ocean heat content this year has continued at levels comparable to those seen in 2023.”

In 2023, the ocean absorbed around 3.1 million terawatt-hours (TWh) of heat, which is more than 18 times the world’s total energy consumption. As water warms, it expands. Thermal expansion, combined with the glaciers and ice sheets melting, contributes to sea level rise.

“2023 set a new observational record for annual global mean sea level with a rapid rise probably driven largely by El Nino. Preliminary 2024 data shows that the global mean sea level has fallen back to levels consistent with the rising trend from 2014 to 2022, following the declining El Nino in the first half of 2024.”

From 2014-2023, global mean sea level rose at a rate of 4.77 mm (millimeters) per year, which is more than double the rate from 1993-2002; at that time it was 2.13 mm per year.

Another contributing factor to the sea level rise is glacier loss and in 2023, glaciers lost a record 1.2-meter water equivalent of ice—that’s approximately five times as much water as there is in the Dead Sea.

All these changes are seen in different parts of the world in the form of extreme weather events, from hurricanes to massive flash floods.

During a press meet in Baku, WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo emphasized that every fraction of a degree of warming matters and every additional increment of global warming increases climate extremes, impacts and risks.

“The record-breaking rainfall and flooding, rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones, deadly heat, relentless drought and raging wildfires that we have seen in different parts of the world this year are unfortunately our new reality and a foretaste of our future,” Saulo said. “We urgently need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen our monitoring and understanding of our changing climate. We need to step up support for climate change adaptation through climate information services and early warnings for all.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Analyst Alex de Waal looks at how the US president-elect could deal with conflicts on the continent.

Analyst Alex de Waal looks at how the US president-elect could deal with conflicts on the continent.

Analyst Alex de Waal looks at how the US president-elect could deal with conflicts on the continent.

A young child residing in a displacement camp in Port Sudan. Credit: UNICEF/ Ahmed Mohamdeen Elfatih

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 13 2024 (IPS)

After 19 months of conflict, the ongoing Sudanese Civil War continues to deteriorate living conditions for millions of Sudanese people. Intensive conflicts between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have greatly exacerbated nationwide levels of famine. Numerous civilians have been caught in the crossfire, leading to a rising death toll. Sexual violence and rape have been used as weapons of war, with thousands of cases going unreported due to a pervasive state of fear. Sudan has seen record numbers in displacement, becoming one of the biggest displacement crises in the world.

According to estimates by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), civilian casualties from the civil war exceed 20,000. Approximately 25.6 million people are in dire need of humanitarian aid, which is over 50 percent of Sudan’s population.

On November 12, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) urged the United Nations (UN) Security Council to accelerate response efforts in Sudan amidst the escalation of violence. Humanitarian organizations have been impeded from accessing some of the most conflict-ridden hotspots in Sudan.

The Tine crossing in Chad has long been a critical path for humanitarian organizations to reach the critical Darfur region of Sudan. According to OCHA, intensified fighting along this region as well as the Port Sudan region has blocked the delivery of live-saving aid.

“We are deeply concerned by the alarming trajectory of this conflict. While it has already unleashed horrendous suffering, the conditions are there for it to claim exponentially more lives,” says Ramesh Rajasingham, spokesperson for the Acting Chief of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Joyce Msuya.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed on October 29 that nationwide levels of displacement have reached a new peak, with over 11 million Sudanese civilians being displaced as of today. Over 400,000 people have been displaced in El Fasher in the past six months alone. More than half of the displaced population are women and over 25 percent are children.

The Zamzam Refugee Camp in northern Darfur currently houses approximately 500,000 Sudanese civilians. “The scale of this displacement – and the corresponding humanitarian needs – grows every day. Half the country’s population needs help. They don’t have access to shelter, to clean drinking water, to health care. Disease is spreading fast,” explains IOM’s Director-General, Amy Pope.

The civil war has caused significant damage to Sudan’s agricultural sector. According to the World Bank, nearly 9 million people are expected to face catastrophic hunger in 2025 if conditions do not improve. The World Food Programme estimates that there are 13 areas in Sudan that are currently at risk of famine.

“People are selling off their assets to buy food for their families. Supplies to commercial markets have been disrupted by the fighting. Many people are now totally reliant on aid in order to have just one meal a day. People are having to eat leaves and mud for energy just to try to survive,” says Concern Sudan country director, Dr. Farooq Khan.

“One in every two Sudanese is struggling to get even the minimal amount of food to survive. Famine conditions have taken hold in North Darfur, and millions struggle to feed themselves every day,” adds Pope.

On November 5, the UN reported that the RSF had been using rape and sexual violence as weapons of war. “This large-scale campaign, predominantly targeting women and girls, has been found to include rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, and human trafficking under conditions of extreme violence that would amount to torture,” one UN expert said.

According to an October 23 report by the UN, over 400 victims of sexual assault from RSF had been recorded and referred to healthcare and psychosocial support services. The majority of these victims lack access to medical care. Humanitarian organizations called out RSF personnel to take accountability for their crimes to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable and suffering does not continue.

The UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, said in a statement issued on October 26, that continued attacks on civilians and infrastructure are prohibited by international humanitarian law and must come to an end. “I think considering the nature of the violence, the level of impunity enjoyed by the RSF and the near-total global silence on this, that the numbers of dead may end up being a gross underestimation,” she said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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A family collecting hygiene kits from Maliha, in Eastern Ghouta, Rural Damascus, Syria. The distribution provided essential items to mostly Syrian and Lebanese families who had fled from the south of Lebanon. Credit: Norwegian Refugee Council

By Jan Egeland
OSLO, Norway, Nov 13 2024 (IPS)

“The shockwaves from Israel’s ongoing and indiscriminate warfare on Gaza and Lebanon are reverberating across this entire region. Neither the horrific assault on Israeli civilians on 7 October 2023, nor the indiscriminate missiles launched by militant groups from Lebanon, can justify the degree of destruction on civilian lives and infrastructure in the region that I have witnessed in recent days.

We cannot wait another day for an end to this senseless violence. For the sake of children across the entire region, diplomacy must result in a sustainable ceasefire.

The people I have met in recent days–from those in Gaza City, to the displaced in eastern Lebanon, to those crossing into Syria–longed for peace so they could return home. Children spoke of how much they missed school and their friends, and parents wished for an end to the precarity and suffering that displacement has brought. The suffering of millions cannot begin to end until those in power push for peace and take action to end the violence.

What I witnessed in Gaza was a society shattered by advanced weaponry, with ongoing military strikes relentlessly impacting the civilian population. War has rules, and it is clear that the Israeli campaign has been conducted with utter disregard for international humanitarian law.

As Gaza has been reduced to rubble, Western leaders have largely stood by unwilling to apply the necessary pressure on the stronger party, Israel, to stop starving the population that they are besieging and bombarding.

In Lebanon, I met people who in just a couple of weeks have lost their homes, jobs and everything in between. They are now staying in almost bare shelters that offer neither protection nor privacy, in fear that the worst is yet to come. The temperature has dropped substantially. People are ill-prepared for what promises to be the coldest winter season for the hundreds of thousands displaced.

Travelling into Syria from Lebanon via the Masnaa border crossing, I saw the huge challenges facing those fleeing violence in Lebanon, exacerbated by vast craters in the road caused by Israeli strikes. Displaced people must be provided with safe passage, shelter, and services.

Those fleeing into Syria arrive in a country with deep, pre-existing economic and humanitarian crises. NRC is providing support to those arriving in Syria, people who took the impossible decision to leave their homes while facing bombardment, and left with only what they could carry.

The aid we and others are currently able to provide is totally insufficient for the needs our staff are seeing. We must be given the right to independently monitor how those who flee from Lebanon to Syria are treated. There must be robust international support to meet people forced to flee, and there must be a genuine, re-energised diplomatic effort from all sides, to halt violence against civilians.

My visit started in Gaza, continued in Lebanon, and finished in Syria, tracing the fallout of this now regional conflict. At each point, the people I met said they wished for only one thing: peace.

Jan Egeland is Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). This article follows his visit to Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.

NRC teams are operating across Gaza, Lebanon and Syria providing essential services to displaced people. This includes items such as mattresses, blankets and hygiene kits as well as cash. We are also providing clean water and sanitation facilities as well as education to children.

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Nations across the continent are eager to promote themselves as destinations for the curious visitor.

Nations across the continent are eager to promote themselves as destinations for the curious visitor.

Eight teams are already assured of a place at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco - but who will fill the remaining 16 spots at the finals?

Eight teams are already assured of a place at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco - but who will fill the remaining 16 spots at the finals?

As the annual global Climate Conference (COP29) continues its first week in Baku, Azerbaijan, we can already see what the impact of the next Trump presidency will be. Credit: Shutterstock

By Felix Dodds and Michael Strauss
Nov 12 2024 (IPS)

So, the worst has happened. American voters have apparently just elected the most chaotic and kleptocratic individual in their country’s political history as their president. (We say ‘apparently’, because these days nothing can be certain about the integrity of the US political or electoral system – as is the case with far too many other countries.)

That means the incumbent president, Joe Biden – who implemented the greatest investment in wind and solar energy, in climate-friendly technology, and in reducing CO2 emissions in any nation in history – is out.

That means the previous president, Donald Trump – who opposed every one of those climate-friendly investments and has promised the greatest re-investment in oil, gas and coal of any nation in history – is back in .

There are many losers from the US election, and the mood in Baku these two weeks will often seem bleak, but it will offer a clear opportunity for starting to work out a strategy by which climate change can be addressed without US leadership

As the annual global Climate Conference (COP29) continues its first week in Baku, Azerbaijan, we can already see what the impact of the next Trump presidency will be.

At home, Trump plans to dismantle President Biden’s environmental regulations in favor of the oil and gas industry. As he often screamed at his rallies, his policy is ‘drill baby, drill !’ That indicates the petroleum reserves under US national parks and in the fragile Arctic will be opened for extraction – even though the US already is the largest producer and exporter of crude oil of any country.

Internationally, the previous Trump administration withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement – a process that for diplomatic reasons took four years to come into effect. If, as expected, a new Trump administration decides to again leave the Paris Agreement, it would be far more damaging. This time it will take only one year from the date the United States notifies the UNFCCC that it plans to leave. Next year’s pivotal COP30 would then be the last annual meeting the US attends as a party to the climate convention.

That withdrawal – combined with the probable end of all (?) climate assistance by the US to developing countries – will most likely (very possibly) herald the end of any chance for the world to achieve the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit for global temperature increase that was won in hard negotiations in in Paris in 2015.

It risks putting the world on a cataclysmic climate trajectory in this, the critical decade that was supposed to reduce the increase of the gases that impact on climate.

The infamous Project 2025 of the American far-right also calls for a future Republican administration to withdraw from the World Bank – which is the largest contributor to climate finance. That possibility is occurring right at the time that countries will be setting their new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), due on February 10th.

Developing country governments will therefore realize there will be less funding available to help implement their plans, so might reduce their ambition – at least for the next four years. Even if countries were able to obtain US funding, Project 2025 says this would be dependent on the recipients aligning with conservative religious values such as opposition to abortion.

The reductions may go further than the US government. Trump and US conservatives have attacked environmental, social and governance investing strategies (ESG) for years and attempted to intimidate companies.

Jefferies Financial Group has advised ESG Fund bosses to have ‘lawyers on speed dial’. So, an attempt to use the market to continue work on climate change may not be an easy option. Any CEO that goes against him will be aware that his or her company might feel the wrath of the White House – lost contracts being the obvious penalty.

There will be a wider erosion of multilateralism than on climate. The previous Trump administration withdrew the US from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). A new Trump Administration, led by anti-vaccine extremists, may move to limit engagement with the World Health Organization (WHO) as well.

 

What wealthy nations can – and must – do!

So how can other nations respond to this challenge?

The EU nations are faced with a tremendous challenge. Can they help fill the gap that will be left by the US while also defending their security and their democracies from active efforts to undermine them?

Can the EU and other developed nations implement a small but cumulatively significant climate tax dedicated to assisting adaptation and loss in the South?

Can the oil-producing North Sea nations tap far more of their own immense sovereign wealth funds to help others – particularly small island nations (Small Island States) – to avoid catastrophic climate damage?

Can the UK find increased motivation to rejoin the EU, at least on trade and environmental policy, given that Trump tariffs could cost the country $28 billion in lost exports1, dealing another serious impact to an already fragile British economy ? [1 Robert Olsen, Forbes magazine, Nov 9, 2024]

Can institutional investors, non-profit funders and corporations – even US corporations – increase their contributions to the Private Sector Facility of the Green Climate Fund, which provides funding directly to programs in local communities in developing countries?

Finally, can the Middle East petrochemical states fully share their vast wealth derived from oil to help the far-poorer nations facing climate risks caused by that oil? Can they support the universal phase out of oil, coal and gas – instead of simply building their own mega-solar plants to protect themselves as they continue to pump oil?

 

What developing nations can – and must – do!

Meanwhile, can the most rapidly-developing nations fill the political and financial gap and provide some of the lost social cohesion?

India has already pledged an important goal of 35 percent reduction in emissions intensity of its GDP by 2030 (which is not the same as absolute CO2 emissions reduction, but still a positive step), and net zero emissions by 2070. The official delegation of India to COP29 – together with government delegations of other rapidly-developing nations – could jointly announce their determination to increase their already announced Nationally Determined Contributions, and resist the loss of momentum from the US backing away from its carbon reduction goals .

Can India – the nation with world’s richest experience of both Western and Eastern cultural strengths, and the largest democracy – finally resolve its problems of racial and religious hatred, and present to other nations a new model of economic prosperity that lifts up and values the poorest as well as the richest?

Can China start to share technology and export growth to poorer countries in a model of genuine sharing that isn’t based on economic self-aggrandizement?

Can Brazil stabilize itself politically and nurture its immense ecological resources before they are cleared away and turned into cattle ranches?

Can South Africa walk past its internal political problems and various recent corruption scandals to become the sub-Saharan economic engine and political leader that everybody had hoped it would be?

Can Russia stop trying to repeat its own history of genocidal imperialism (see Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe) and fomenting insurrection, and instead act like a responsible nuclear power? After all it was Russia whose ratification of the Kyoto Protocol saw it come into effect.

A more isolated US will provide more opportunity for leadership by the most rapidly developing nations.

Perhaps it is now time for China, India and the most rapidly developing nations to significantly contribute financially to climate funds like the loss and damage mechanism that assists the very poorest and most vulnerable nations .

Perhaps countries like India and China, Brazil and Indonesia – whose cultures have thousands of years of agricultural experience in monsoon and rainforest ecosystems – could cooperate to provide expertise to farmers in other countries now facing tropical deluges.

The BRICS group now includes not only Brazil, China, India, Russia, South Africa and the UAE, but countries in a partnership relationship, like Indonesia and Turkey. It therefore includes six of the world’s predicted top 15 economies by 2030.

That is not an economically powerless group. It represents significant economic power. Will they use that power to help their brother and sister nations now even more at risk from climate chaos?

Or will they each merely attempt to mimic the worst aspects of Western vulture capitalism – taking as much possible, giving as little as necessary, while racing to exploit their own poor and working people, as well as the poor and working people in other countries ?

 

A coalition of the still willing

As always in policy and politics, perception can be as important as substance, and generating a public appearance of momentum can be a necessary ingredient for generating actual progress in negotiations. So, agreeing to address the problem is an essential step.

For the world to work, nations must be willing to work together. For the planet not to spiral into economic, social and climate collapse, individuals in each country must be willing to respect and care for other people – and other peoples .

There are many losers from the US election, and the mood in Baku these two weeks will often seem bleak, but it will offer a clear opportunity for starting to work out a strategy by which climate change can be addressed without US leadership.

The return of Trump will not only be the worst scenario for climate, of course. The impacts on civilians living in Ukraine and Gaza and Sudan, on women in the US and Afghanistan and Iran, on refugees and minority families throughout dozens of countries, and on democracy everywhere, will be potentially disastrous .

But the impact on climate might be the one that’s the most difficult – if not impossible – to reverse. ​Unless, that is, the remaining responsible governments – in a coalition of the still-willing – can creatively and cooperatively configure a strategy to minimize the damage, and constructively move forward for the common global good, together.

 

Felix Dodds is an Adjunct Professor in the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina. He has have participated in United Nations conferences and negotiations since the 1990s. Felix Dodds and Chris Spence co-edited Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy: Profiles in Courage (Routledge, 2022), which examines the roles of individuals in inspiring change.

Michael Strauss is Executive Director of Earth Media, an independent communications consultancy based in New York. His clients include NGOs, national governments, trade unions and UN agencies. He coordinated press conferences at the United Nations and at global environmental summits from 1992 to 2012 .

He is co-author of “Only One Earth – The Long Road, via Rio, to Sustainable Development” with Felix Dodds and Maurice Strong.