Africa

Rwanda's foreign minister says most asylum seekers will be welcomed - but there are some exceptions.

Visitors to Rwanda are often impressed by its efficiency, but should be careful what they say.

"We're traumatised, we can't even eat," one South African woman says after her house was destroyed.

Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait, at the “Blue Dot” established by UNICEF, UNHCR and partners in Chișinău. "Blue Dot" support centers offer protection, temporary shelter, food and psychosocial support to meet the urgent needs of families fleeing Ukraine. Credit: ECW

By Joyce Chimbi
Nairobi, Apr 14 2022 (IPS)

A brutal war now engulfs the young lives of an estimated 7.5 million children in Ukraine. Caught in the crossfire of bullets and missiles as the conflict escalates, children and young people have been plunged into a humanitarian crisis.

With their lives turned upside down, affected children are lost, traumatized, and among millions fleeing their homes into neighboring countries, including the Republic of Moldova, in search of safety, protection, and assistance.

Having seen the effects of the ongoing crisis firsthand, Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), tells IPS that affected children and their mothers arrive in Moldova visibly traumatized and need immediate psychosocial support.

“As a result of the conflict in Ukraine, across the region, there are more than 5 million refugees who have fled Ukraine and an additional 7.1 million people internally displaced. An estimated 400,000 people have passed through Moldova in search of safety thus far,” she says.

Students attending class at a local school in Ungheni, Moldova. The school hosts Ukraine refugee children who attend class with Moldovan pupils.
Credit: ECW

Sherif paints a picture of a country unprepared for the refugee crisis – despite its welcoming spirit and an open-door policy for refugees.

“Moldova is the poorest country in Europe with significant capacity gaps and is struggling to accommodate an inflow of refugees. Today, Moldova hosts at least 100,000 refugees, including 50,000 refugee girls and boys, of whom only 1,800 are currently enrolled in school.”

Sherif confirms that Moldova is registering the children as quickly as possible to attend school and that public schools are open to refugees. Still, she says there are pressing issues facing affected Ukrainian refugee children and that, as of now, Moldova is ill-equipped to address their educational needs.

Sherif says that the capacity was stretched in Moldova, and many parts of the education system needed development even before the refugee crisis.

With 50,000 children in the country needing to be enrolled, she says, the capacity is “now stretching beyond what was expected. Moldova was not ready for this crisis.”

ECW and its strategic partners US Agency for International Development (USAID),  Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office/UK (FCDO/UK), and Theirworld were looking at the capacity gap, including “urgent mental health and psychosocial services.”

Children in Moldova are taught in Romania, a Latin-derived language, while children in Ukraine speak Russia, a Slavic language – leading to language barriers. This requires additional teachers who can teach in Russia and are trained to handle children in crisis. For refugee children in the rural part of Moldova, access to safe water and sanitation is another pressing need.

Sherif spoke in the backdrop of a high-level mission to Moldova with its strategic partners in a coordinated and joint-up response in Moldova.

ECW has thus far contributed 6.5 million US dollars to support education in emergencies response to the Ukraine refugee crisis.

In March, the organization announced that it had made a grant of 5 million US dollars available for Ukraine’s First Emergency Response.

On April 13, ECW announced a new, initial US$1.5 million allocation to support the education in emergencies response, to be delivered in partnership with the Government of Moldova, to ensure refugee children and youth can access safe and protective learning opportunities.

During the high-level mission, USAID also announced an additional 18 million US dollar contribution to the ECW global trust fund to support ECW education responses in crisis-impacted countries across the globe. After Germany and the UK, this contribution makes the USA the third-largest donor to ECW – the UN global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises.

With an estimated $30 million funding gap for the emergency education response in Ukraine, ECW has escalated advocacy efforts, calling for donors and other strategic partners to help close the gap.

ECW Mission to Moldova delegation: ECW Director Yasmine Sherif and partners from USAID, FCDO/UK, Theirworld, World Vision, UNICEF and UNHCR at the steps of the UN House in Moldova.
Credit: ECW

UNHCR Representative to Moldova, Francesca Bonelli, says education is key to refugees living with dignity and “is one of the first services requested. We greatly appreciate the support of the Moldovan authorities, teachers, and communities in welcoming refugee learners.”

Theirworld President, Justin van Fleet, says the organization will announce additional funding. Theirworld is a global innovative children’s charity committed to ending the global education crisis and unleashing the potential of the next generation.

The funds, he says, will support refugee education projects in the coming weeks, harnessing the charity’s experiences from other emergencies and campaigning to ensure donors invest 10% of the humanitarian response funding into education.

“COVID-19 school closures have taught us that learning loss amounts to more than days missed in school,” says UNICEF Representative to Moldova Maha Damaj. “In Moldova, UNICEF is working with partners to help refugee children coming from Ukraine reclaim their learning experience in a safe and supportive environment, nurturing their resilience against the traumas of war.”

“As a leading donor to Education Cannot Wait, the UK is committed to protecting the right of all children to education, including those affected by the crisis.  We stand ready to support a coordinated education response for refugee children from Ukraine. Education must be prioritized as an integral part of the ongoing humanitarian response in Ukraine,” says Alicia Herbert, Director of Education, Gender and Equality and Gender Envoy, FCDO.

Whether contributed resources will meet the most pressing needs of affected Ukrainian children in Moldova, Sherif says it all depends on how long it takes to resolve the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

“More than 400,000 refugees have passed through Moldova. Should hostilities escalate further and new towns such as Odesa are captured, the second wave of refugees will be coming to Moldova and elsewhere,” Sherif says.

“Moldova is currently unprepared for a refugee crisis of this magnitude, and more funding will be required to meet the ongoing capacity gap. I appeal to governments and the private sector not to rest because there can be no peace until everyone has peace.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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By Raghbendra Jha
CANBERRA, Australia, Apr 14 2022 (IPS)

The World Bank lists Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu as Pacific Small Islands Developing States (PSIDS). . Some listings also include the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau. In September 2019, these countries had a combined population of 2.3 million spread over hundreds of islands spread over an area roughly equivalent to 15% of the surface area of the earth. Of these, the most populated country – Fiji – has a population of 900,000. The World Bank’s World Development Indicators reveal that annual per capita GDP of these islands fell from $4,340 in 2018 to $3,768 in 2020. It has probably fallen further during the pandemic.

Raghbendra Jha

Concurrently, the poverty head count ratio in these countries has been persistently high and has probably increased during the pandemic. The PSIDS face deep-rooted structural reasons why, unlike many developing countries in the world, they might not be able to grow rapidly and reduce poverty quickly. These reasons include the small size of their economies, their remoteness, inadequate access to large markets and skilled labour force and their vulnerability to external shocks.

Almost all the PSIDS have been subjected to extreme weather shocks including hurricanes and other climate change related disasters, apart from earthquakes, volcanic eruption and the like. The PSIDS face a disproportionately large number of external shocks. It has been estimated that the cost of climate-induced disasters can be as high as 30% of GDP.[2] In some cases threats of climate change can be existential. For instance, climate change is particularly threatening for the long-term habitability of the island state of Tuvalu. This is because the average height of the islands is less than 2 metres above sea level, with the highest point of Niulakita being about 4.6 metres above sea level. Indeed the PSIDS have been classified as among the most vulnerable to risk areas in the world.

When risk and vulnerability are so high, it is natural to turn to insurance as an antidote. However, just as there are strong structural reasons why economic growth and poverty reduction cannot accelerate rapidly in the PSIDS there are compelling structural reasons why insurance cannot be widely used in the PSIDS. Most citizens of the PSIDS are part of the informal economy.

The incidence of informality of economic activity is around 60 to 85% in Melanesia and Micronesia countries and is increasing in Polynesian countries.[3] More than half the workers are in the informal sector. A majority of these are women and/or have low levels of education. Therefore, it would be difficult for them to negotiate complex insurance contracts. Further, most climate insurance disasters are quite debilitating so that there the longer the delay in executing the insurance obligations the higher is the loss to the individuals. This would lead to dis-saving on the part of individual to meet their consumption needs. This would then reduce the resources available for investment and growth. Therefore, even a single climate disaster can have effects well beyond its immediate effect on humans and property.

A measure to complement individual insurance is aggregation of risks with the insurance being taken out by higher level entities. For instance, a tripartite partnership among insurers, aid agencies and the government can be created so that a country-specific risk pool can be created. This requires that the payout triggers be well defined.

There are clear advantages to making comprehensive housing insurance to be made compulsory for all income groups. Policyholders could also be encouraged to aggregate risks through cooperatives, credit unions and the like. Finally, the insurance policy can be held by the government or other national or international agencies. Payouts can be used to accommodate government services and maintain post-disaster programs.

If these provisions were accepted, then it would follow that quite a bit of the premium for insurance would have to be paid for by international aid. Multilateral aid would be preferred to bilateral aid as many of the insuring agencies could well be located in donor countries creating complex problems of moral hazard. In contrast, the use of multilateral aid would be more hands off.[4]

The case for providing insurance rapidly remains strong. Keeping this in mind, the UNDP has designed a climate risk insurance product for six PSIDS.[5] However, much remains to be done. Clearly any long-term meaningful insurance policy should not be viewed in isolation but should be embedded in a broader policy of providing climate change relief for PSIDS.

Raghbendra Jha [1] is Professor of Economics and Executive Director, Australia South Asia Research Centre, Australian National University

[1] This article draws on my article co-authored with D. Jain, A. Chida, R.D. Pathak and S. Russell “Climate risk insurance in Pacific Small Island Developing States: Possibilities, challenges and vulnerabilities – a comprehensive review”. See https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11027-022-10002-z

[2] See https://www.cgdev.org/publication/are-pacific-islands-insurable-challenges-opportunities-disaster-risk-finance

[3] See https://info.undp.org/docs/pdc/Documents/PSC/PC%20%20Prodoc%20Final%2017%20Dec%20(signed%20copy).pdf

[4] This further supports the general case for an increase in multilateral aid. See https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9701.2004.00596.x

[5] https://www.preventionweb.net/news/new-insurance-product-aid-fight-against-climate-change-pacific

Credit: United Nations

By Antonio Guterres
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 14 2022 (IPS)

Now, since the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, the world’s attention has been focused on the war’s terrifying levels of death, destruction and suffering.

From the start, the United Nations has been actively engaged in delivering humanitarian support to the people in Ukraine, the people who are paying the highest price, and to the host countries of the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War.

But less attention has been paid to the global impact of the war in all its dimensions in a world that was already witnessing increased poverty, hunger and social unrest.

The war is supercharging a three-dimensional crisis — food, energy and finance — that is pummeling some of the world’s most vulnerable people, countries and economies.

And all this comes at a time when developing countries are already struggling with a slate of challenges not of their making — the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and a lack of access to adequate resources to finance the recovery in the context of persistent and growing inequalities.

We are now facing a perfect storm that threatens to devastate the economies of many developing countries.

That is why, in the earliest days of this war, I established the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance, facilitated by a Task Team in the UN Secretariat, reporting to a Steering Committee involving all UN agencies and international financial institutions.

Today, we are launching the Task Team’s first Report.

I am joined by the Secretary-General of UNCTAD, Rebeca Grynspan, who coordinates the Task Team, and by the Deputy Secretary-General, who presides over the Steering Committee.

Ms. Grynspan will go through the recommendations.

But I want to highlight two overarching points made crystal clear in this report.

First, the impact of the war is global and systemic.

As many as 1.7 billion people — one-third of whom are already living in poverty — are now highly exposed to disruptions in food, energy and finance systems that are triggering increases in poverty and hunger.

Thirty-six countries count on Russia and Ukraine for more than half of their wheat imports — including some of the poorest and most vulnerable countries of the world.

Prices were already on the rise — but the war has made a bad situation far worse.

Wheat and maize prices have been very volatile since the war began but are still 30 per cent higher just since the start of the year.

At the same time, Russia is a top energy supplier.

Oil prices are up more than 60 per cent over the past year, accelerating the prevailing trends.

The same goes for natural gas prices, which have risen by 50 per cent in recent months.

And fertilizer prices have more than doubled.

As prices climb, so does hunger and malnutrition — especially for young children.

Inflation is rising, purchasing power is eroding, growth prospects are shrinking, and development is being stalled and, in some cases, gains are receding.

Many developing economies are drowning in debt, with bond yields already on the rise since last September, leading now to increased risk premiums and exchange rate pressures.

This is setting in motion a potential vicious circle of inflation and stagnation – the so-called stagflation.

The report also shows that there is a direct correlation between rising food prices and social and political instability.

Our world cannot afford this. We need to act now.

And that leads to the second point clearly demonstrated by this report: we can do something about this three-dimensional crisis.

We have the capacity to cushion the blow.

The report offers more than a dozen recommendations, but I would boil down the messages to three fundamental points.

First — we must not make things worse. That means ensuring a steady flow of food and energy through open markets. It means lifting all unnecessary export restrictions, and this is not the time for protectionism. It means directing surpluses and reserves to those in need.
And keeping a lid on food prices and calming the volatility in food markets.

Second — we can maximize this moment to push for the transformational change our world needs. Look no further than the energy crisis. In the immediate-term, countries must resist hoarding, and release strategic stockpiles and additional reserves. But now is also the time to turn this crisis into an opportunity. We must work towards progressively phasing-out coal and other fossil fuels and accelerating the deployment of renewable energy and a just transition.

And third — we need to pull developing countries back from the financial brink.

The international financial system has deep pockets.

I have been strongly advocating for its reform. But developing countries need help now, and the funds are there.

So, we need to make them available to economies that need them most so that governments can avoid default, provide social safety nets for the poorest and most vulnerable, and continue to make critical investments in sustainable development.

This is not a crisis that can be solved piecemeal, country by country. This global and systemic emergency requires global and systemic solutions.

The report includes concrete recommendations for international financial institutions to increase liquidity and fiscal space.

As we approach the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF (April 18-24), we need political will and leadership. Resources are available.

We must speak with one voice: action today will prevent suffering tomorrow. Above all, this war must end.

The people of Ukraine cannot bear the violence being inflicted on them.

And the most vulnerable people around the globe cannot become collateral damage in yet another disaster for which they bear no responsibility.

We need to silence the guns and accelerate negotiations towards peace, now.

For the people of Ukraine. For the people of the region. And for the people of the world.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Excerpt:

UN Secretary-General at a Press Conference to Launch a new report on the global impact of the ongoing war in Ukraine

The government's plan, set to be announced on Thursday, is criticised as "cruel" by a refugee charity.

During ECW's high-level mission - with strategic partners USAID, FCDO/UK and Theirworld - USAID announced a new $18 million contribution, becoming ECW's third largest donor.

By External Source
Chișinău, Moldova, Apr 13 2022 (IPS-Partners)

Expanding on Education Cannot Wait’s (ECW) US$5 million Ukraine First Emergency Response grant announced in March, ECW today announced a new, initial US$1.5 million allocation to support the education in emergencies response for the Ukraine refugee crisis in Moldova while on mission with strategic partners USAID, FCDO/UK and Theirworld. This new allocation brings ECW’s total Ukraine crisis education response to US$6.5 million to date. The new grant will be delivered in partnership with the Government of Moldova to ensure refugee children and youth can access safe and protective learning opportunities. Investments will also benefit children in the host communities. The development of the grant will be facilitated through the coordination mechanism established for the education response.

During the high-level mission, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced an additional US$18 million contribution to the ECW global trust fund to further support ECW education responses in crisis-impacted countries across the globe. This contribution makes the USA the third largest donor to ECW – the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises – after Germany and the UK.

With an estimated US$30 million funding gap for the emergency education response in Ukraine, ECW calls on donors and strategic partners to urgently provide additional funding to respond to the vast humanitarian crisis unfolding across the region.

According to recent reports, approximately 400,000 people have crossed the border into Moldova fleeing the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine since February. While the majority continued their journey towards other neighboring countries and Western Europe, Moldova hosts today an estimated 100,000 refugees. These include about 50,000 refugee girls and boys, of whom only 1,800 are currently enrolled in school.

“Refugee children from Ukraine have fled a brutal war and have arrived dispossessed and traumatized in Moldova. They are very vulnerable and need immediate support. Public schools are open to refugee children, however the capacity is over-stretched and there is a need for urgent mental health and psycho-social services, sanitation, and teachers to respond to the influx of pre-school and school-aged refugee children. With a coordinated and joint-up response in place in Moldova, we can act with speed and therefore we act now,” said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait.

“As a leading donor to Education Cannot Wait, the UK is committed to protecting the right of all children to education, including those affected by crisis. We stand ready to support a coordinated education response for refugee children from Ukraine. Education must be prioritized as an integral part of the ongoing humanitarian response in Ukraine,” said Alicia Herbert, Director of Education, Gender and Equality and Gender Envoy, FCDO.

“For children whose lives have been turned upside down, education offers vital stability and hope for the future. Theirworld will announce additional funding to support refugee education projects in the coming weeks, harnessing its experiences from other emergencies, and campaigning to ensure donors invest 10% of the humanitarian response funding into education,” said Justin van Fleet, President of Theirworld.

“Education is key to refugees living with dignity and is one of the first services requested. We greatly appreciate the support of the Moldovan authorities, teachers and communities in welcoming refugee learners,” said Francesca Bonelli, UNHCR Representative to Moldova.

“COVID-19 school closures have taught us that learning loss amounts to more than days missed in school,” said UNICEF Representative to Moldova Maha Damaj. “In Moldova, UNICEF is working with partners to help refugee children coming in from Ukraine reclaim their learning experience, in a safe and supportive environment, nurturing their resilience against the traumas of war.”

The war is putting children and adolescents living in Ukraine at grave risk. Recent estimates indicate that almost 5 million refugees have fled Ukraine, with an additional 7.1 million people internally displaced. All school-age children in Ukraine have seen their education disrupted by the conflict, and according to the latest estimates, more than 900 education facilities have been destroyed or damaged in the fighting, and as many as 3.3 million school-aged children require urgent humanitarian assistance.

The new ECW allocation will respond to the rapidly evolving situation in support of the Government of Moldova’s normative framework that is allowing the inclusion of refugee children into the national education system. As part of its overall crisis response, the allocation complements ECW’s US$5 million First Emergency Response in Ukraine. ECW works with governments, donors, UN agencies, civil society organizations and other strategic partners to ensure continuity of education for children impacted by the crisis.

View of the Ras Tanura terminal in Saudi Arabia, the oil exporter receiving the highest revenues in the context of the crisis generated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. CREDIT: Aramco

By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS, Apr 13 2022 (IPS)

The oil and gas supply crisis unleashed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine represents new business opportunities for the oil-producing countries of the developing South, both traditional and emerging, and also for accelerating the global transition to green forms of energy.

“The countries with the most positive economic effects are the net exporters that depend on hydrocarbon revenues for a large portion of their budget, economic activity and foreign exchange,” Nate Graham, head of energy at the Washington-based think tank Inter-American Dialogue, told IPS.

In Latin America this is the case, Graham said, for “countries such as Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, while on the other hand, countries in the Caribbean, Central America and Chile, which import oil and gas, will suffer the opposite effect.”

The opportunities arose after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, due to the abrupt withdrawal, in markets with fragile balances, of some three million (159-liter) barrels per day of crude oil from Russia, and the decision of a large part of Europe to cancel gas imports from Russia and look for other suppliers.

Oil and gas producers in the South “are enjoying extraordinary revenues,” Venezuelan oil geopolitics expert Kenneth Ramirez told IPS, “but those who are not producers have higher energy bills and are suffering from higher prices for food, of which Russia and Ukraine are major suppliers.”

Graham said: “Even in oil-producing countries, rising consumer fuel prices put pressure on governments to provide subsidies, which can then be politically difficult to reverse when prices fall again.”

But it seems that it is not yet time to heed all the warnings, given the new “(black) gold rush” unleashed in a world dependent on fossil fuel energy and aware that it will continue to be so for several more decades.

The oil production vessel Liza Destiny is used by Exxon to develop oil fields under Atlantic waters that Guyana has not yet definitively demarcated with neighboring Venezuela. CREDIT: SBM Offshore

Room for everyone

In South America one of the first to benefit has been Guyana, which extracted from the Atlantic Ocean – in waters pending delimitation with Caracas, noted Ramirez, who chairs the private Venezuelan Council of International Relations – some 110,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2021 and expects to add another 220,000 within a year.

To achieve this, U.S. oil giant Exxon, with a century and a half of experience in the industry, accelerated its decision to invest another 10 billion dollars in Guyana.

Neighboring Suriname is also hoping for new investments, and traditional exporters Colombia and Ecuador must be rubbing their hands together in anticipation. But the most striking note was a new contact between the United States and Venezuela.

Formal ties between the two political opponents are broken, Washington has imposed sanctions that prevent Caracas from freely trading its oil and the South American country has made a show of being Russia’s ally in the region.

Venezuela, a major oil exporter throughout the 20th century, with production exceeding three million b/d between 1997 and 2001, now produces less than 700,000 b/d, following a decline in its oil industry under the administration of President Nicolás Maduro, in office since 2013.

But the country has gigantic reserves, close to 300 billion barrels, mostly of heavy crude, and the market read the new contact from Washington as a sign that the United States has decided that the adiós to Russian supplies will last for a long time.

The US company Chevron, which maintains a minimum level of production in Venezuela with Washington’s permission, could invest to produce another 200,000 b/d in a year, and the state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) is studying the leasing of new oil tankers, according to industry sources.

A technician works at the Tema refinery in Ghana, an emerging oil producer in West Africa. CREDIT: TOR

In Africa, in addition to the best-known producers, such as Nigeria, Angola, Libya, Algeria and Egypt, there are the hopes of the smaller and newer producers, such as Equatorial Guinea, South Sudan and above all Ghana, which, from producing a few thousand barrels a day five years ago, now produces almost 170,000 barrels per day.

Iran is another long-time oil producer which is again flexing with the crisis: it maintains energy alliances with Russia while the tug-of-war with the United States – which has sanctioned it for more than 40 years – continues over its nuclear program, whose redefinition may free it from some sanctions.

Tehran, which produces 2.5 million b/d, is preparing to increase its crude oil exports from 1.2 to 1.4 million b/d, and has a long-term plan to return to a production level of four million b/d.

Among the major beneficiaries of the crisis are the Gulf Arab exporters and in general the partners of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which act in alliance with 10 other producers in the OPEC+ group.

Saudi Arabia’s Aramco alone already recorded pre-war profits of 110 billion dollars in 2021 (compared to 49 billion dollars in 2020). Both the kingdom and the neighboring United Arab Emirates have been asked by Washington to increase oil production in order to avoid a price spike.

The main benchmark crudes, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and North Sea Brent, were trading at around 70 dollars per barrel in 2021, but with the Ukraine crisis their prices soared: Brent has been holding steady this April at above 100 dollars and WTI at close to 95 dollars.

Global demand for crude oil is approximately 100 million b/d, of which OPEC contributes 32 million b/d, plus another 14 million b/d from the 10 OPEC+ allies, including Russia, Kazakhstan and Mexico.

OPEC+ rejected the request of large consumers, considering that the price increase is not due to market fundamentals but to the conflict in Ukraine, and agreed to add only 432,000 b/d to the group’s supply, starting in May.

“Nobody listened when we said more investments were needed in oil and gas,” said Emirati Oil Minister Suhail al-Mazroui. “Raising production will only be in a measured way and through a consensus among members.”

U.S. President Joe Biden then ordered the release of one million b/d for six months from his country’s strategic reserves of more than 650 million barrels, to increase the crude oil available to refineries and thus try to curb the rise in fuel prices.

Meanwhile, Algeria allowed itself the luxury of maintaining steady prices for the gas it exports to all its customers but not to Spain, in retaliation for a change in Madrid’s position on the dispute over the self-determination of the Saharawi people.

A crude desalter unit on its way to the Orinoco Oil Belt in southeastern Venezuela, considered the largest deposit of heavy crude on the planet and whose diminished production could receive a new boost as a result of the current energy crisis. CREDIT: PDVSA

The weight of Russia

And Moscow has stated that it will receive payment in rubles for its oil and gas exports to Europe, a region 40 percent dependent on Russian gas and 27 percent on its oil, with which it has not been able to completely do without after six weeks of war.

The late U.S. politician John McCain (1936-2018) said in 2014 that Russia “is a gas station masquerading as a country” to underline the nation’s heavyweight status in the field of fossil fuel energy.

Of the 1.7 trillion barrels of crude oil reserves on the planet, Russia has 107 billion, surpassed only by Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran and Iraq. The Eurasian country produces 10.8 million b/d (more than 10 percent of the world total), behind only the United States and almost as much as Saudi Arabia.

In gas its weight is even greater, since it has 20 percent of the world’s reserves (38 of 188 trillion cubic meters), making it the leader by far, and with its annual production of 638 billion cubic meters it covers more than 18 percent of global demand.

The richest will earn more

Among the winners, oil companies will earn the most, and this year the 25 largest could make profits between 100 and 120 billion dollars higher than in 2021, when, according to the U.S. organization Accountable.US, they made record profits of 237 billion dollars.

Consumers, meanwhile, will pay the price. In almost all of Latin America a liter of gasoline costs well over a dollar (1.75 dollars in Uruguay, 1.40 in Chile, and 1.32 in Guatemala, for example) and even in up-and-coming Guyana – which has crude oil but no refinery, Graham pointed out – it sells for almost 1.10 dollars.

In the United States, where one out of every five barrels of oil the world produces is consumed, a liter cost 75 cents a year ago and this April averaged 1.10 dollars, with higher prices on the Pacific coast.

Gasoline prices this year exceeded four dollars per gallon (more than a dollar per liter) in the United States, and in an attempt to curb prices the government is releasing part of its strategic crude reserves so that the refineries have sufficient supplies. CREDIT: Fidel Márquez/IPS

Path to greener energy

In Europe, “the majority are now betting on a pragmatic and possibilist vision, which continues to focus on renewable energies and energy efficiency, but a debate is opening up about the use of nuclear energy and even coal, which would make a better balance between energy security and climate change,” said Ramírez.

Graham believes that “the present crisis underscores the geopolitical risks of dependence on foreign oil and gas and the importance of reducing it for security reasons, which can be an accelerating factor for the transition to renewable technologies and green hydrogen (obtained from clean energy sources).”

But “on the other hand, some may interpret the present crisis as a reason to increase domestic and regional hydrocarbon production in the short term, which may extend dependence on fossil fuels, while companies recover the costs of new investments,” he said.

In addition, there is pressure on governments to provide fuel subsidies to lessen the impact of the crisis on consumers, which may be politically difficult to reverse and might thus generate the opposite effect to what is needed to drive the energy transition, Graham said.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), made up of major industrialized consumers, recognized at its Mar. 24 meeting held to assess measures to address the crisis “the importance to energy security and clean energy transitions of ensuring clean, affordable, reliable, resilient, and secure energy infrastructure.”

Energy security and the transition to clean energies are “inextricably linked” in the view of the IEA, and its executive director, Fatih Birol, stated that “the response to this energy crisis will be an acceleration of the transition to clean energy,” not necessarily for climate reasons, but for energy security.

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Credit: WHO

By Baher Kamal
MADRID, Apr 13 2022 (IPS)

People around the world are unknowingly being exposed to water laced with antibiotics, which could spark the rise of drug-resistant pathogens and potentially fuel another global pandemic, warns a new report.

The study, elaborated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), found that, globally, not enough attention is being focused on the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance with most antibiotics being excreted into the environment via toilets or through open defecation.

Already in 2015, 34.8 billion daily doses of antibiotics were consumed, with up to 90 percent of them excreted into the environment as active substances. Since then the amount of daily consumed antibiotics has been increasing considerably.

 

80% of wastewater, untreated

While 80 percent of wastewater in the world is not treated, even in developed countries treatment facilities are often unable to filter out dangerous bugs.

This could breed superbugs that can evade modern medicine and trigger a pandemic, the report’s authors warned.

In 2019, antibiotic-resistant infections were linked to the deaths of nearly 5 million people. Without immediate action, those infections could cause up to 10 million deaths per year by 2050, the report found.

“Another pandemic is hiding in plain sight,” the report said. “The consequences of the continuing development and spread of antimicrobial resistance could be catastrophic.”

 

What are antimicrobials?

Antimicrobials are agents intended to kill or inhibit the growth of pathogens. They include antibiotics, fungicides, antiviral agents, parasiticides, as well as some disinfectants, antiseptics and natural products.

Antimicrobial resistance occurs when microbes, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi evolve to become immune to the drugs to which they were previously susceptible, explains the report.

The more microbes are exposed to pharmaceuticals, the more likely they are to adapt to them.

 

A recent study on pharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers concluded that higher levels of antibiotic-resistant pathogens were found in low- to middle-income countries and were associated with areas with poor wastewater and waste management infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

 

What to do?

According to the report, this global threat can be tackled by curbing the release of antibiotic-tinged pollution, including through improved wastewater treatment and more targeted use of antibiotics – too often these drugs are used when they need not be.

The report also called for enhanced environmental governance and national action plans to limit the release of antimicrobials.

UNEP urged countries to embrace the One Health approach, which is centred on the idea that human and animal health are interdependent and linked to the health of the ecosystems in which they co-exist.

The strategy, for example, calls on countries to “limit deforestation, which often brings humans face-to-face with virus-carrying wild animals, giving pathogens a chance to jump species.”

The COVID-19 pandemic provides lessons learned, one of which is the need to prevent and tackle various health threats concurrently, especially their environmental dimensions, said the report.

 

Five main sources

A recent study on pharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers concluded that higher levels of antibiotic-resistant pathogens were found in low- to middle-income countries and were associated with areas with poor wastewater and waste management infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing.

According to the UNEP report, five main pollutant sources contribute to the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance. They are:

• poor sanitation, sewage and waste effluent, aggravated, for example, by open defecation and the overuse of antibiotics to treat diarrhoea;

• effluent from pharmaceutical manufacturing;

• waste from healthcare facilities;

• use of antimicrobials and manure in crop production; and

• releases from animal production.

 

Many diseases are climate-sensitive

Higher temperatures are also associated with increased antimicrobial resistant infections, says the report.

“Many diseases are climate-sensitive, and changes in environmental conditions and temperature may lead to an increase in the spread of bacterial, viral, parasitic, fungal and vector-borne diseases.”

 

How modern medicine is turning into an environmental curse

Back in 2018, the world environmental body had already warned that the aquatic and human health consequences of pharmaceutical drugs entering the environment through wastewater treatment plants is not yet well understood.

As the world’s population expands and we become wealthier, drugs and chemical-based care products become more prevalent.

“While pharmaceuticals are essential for human health and well-being, less is known on the effects they have on the freshwater sources on which we depend for our existence, and their impact on human health and biota”.

The occurrence of pharmaceutical substances in the environment is of global concern.

According to a study published in June 2018 in the United States of America – Pharmaceutical manufacturing facility discharges can substantially increase the pharmaceutical load to U.S. wastewaters – drug manufacturing facilities are an important source of environmental pollution.

“Wastewater treatment plants are unable to filter out chemical compounds used to manufacture personal care products and drugs, so these chemicals seep into freshwater systems and into the oceans.”

On this, Birguy Lamizana, Programme Management Officer at UN Environment and expert on wastewater and ecosystems, explained that modern wastewater treatment plants mostly reduce solids and bacteria by oxidising the water. They were not designed to deal with complex chemical compounds.

 

The world, woefully unprepared

On 2 March 2022, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) explained that although pandemics are a fact of human life, the world was blindsided by the impact and devastation of COVID-19.

UNDP reminded that in the two years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic, “we could not have envisioned how completely it would invade every aspect of our lives—from the catastrophic toll it has taken on physical and mental health and health systems, to our jobs and education, to supply chains, and the trust in the systems designed to protect us.”

Every aspect of our lives has changed since the global COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020, including work and education, our ability to access goods and trust in the systems designed to keep us safe, it added.

“Entire economies have been devastated. Domestic violence rates have skyrocketed. Families, friends and communities have become divided over vaccines and masks. Vaccine inequity continues to deepen the gap between rich and poor nations.”

 

Would COVID-19 be the last pandemic?

The report, ‘COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic’ confirmed what we have seen played out in real time, that we were woefully unprepared.

“This was not because the world lacked the money and the know-how. It didn’t. The brutal truth was there was no good reason, financial or otherwise.”

Years of warnings from public health officials, infectious disease experts and scientists have been ignored.

Even though most people alive did not experience the 1918 flu pandemic, the 2000s saw several dangerous outbreaks—SARS, Ebola, Zika and MERS—which sounded warning bells that weren’t heeded.

Likewise, the slow response to the HIV pandemic in the early ’80’s highlighted the importance of taking decisive action early, the report goes on.

And the 2021 Global Health Security Index found that two years into the pandemic, despite some progress, all countries remain “dangerously unprepared” for the next major outbreak.

Earl Green, project manager, discusses the Arundo donax bio-mass project with sugar cane farmers in Orange Walk, Belize. Credit: Zadie Neufville/IPS

By Zadie Neufville
Kingston, Apr 13 2022 (IPS)

In September 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK-based Commonwealth Secretariat announced that it had dispatched highly skilled climate finance advisors to four member nations to help them navigate the often-complicated process of accessing climate funds. Belize, the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) only Central American member, was one of the recipients.

Since then, with the support of the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub (CCFAH), Belize has completed a climate finance landscape study, devised a five-year strategy to access international funds, and established a dedicated Climate Finance Unit in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment. The unit works collaboratively with the National Climate Change Office (NCCO), which sits under the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management.

With some 28 climate change-related projects in varying stages of development, Belize needed to find a way to speed up the project development process from concept to implementation if the country were to realise its commitments, said Leroy Martinez, an economist in the Climate Finance Unit. The often-cumbersome application process for the Green Climate Fund (GCF), among other schemes, can mean projects linger for years before implementation.

In January 2022, the government announced the launch of the new Climate Finance Unit. Director Carlos Pol explained that the aim was to “maximise access to climate finance, provide the technical and other support to access and fast track projects,” while helping the private sector identify funding to carry out much-needed programmes. He noted that Belize is also being supported to build human and institutional capacity.

On long-term placement with the NCCO, working under the guidance of Belize’s Chief Climate Change Officer, Dr Lennox Gladden, is Commonwealth national climate finance advisor Ranga Pallawala, a highly skilled finance expert deployed to help Belize make “successful applications and proposals to international funds”.

Climate change impacts from wind, flood and drought have been extensive, Pol said. The damage has led to annual losses of about 7 percent of the country’s GDP, or US$123 million, which, when added to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, elevated Belize’s debt-to-GDP rating to an unsustainable 130 percent.

Pallawala told IPS that his role includes helping to build and strengthen capacity in climate financing of Belize. He would also “strengthen their capacity to plan, access, deliver, monitor and report on climate finance in line with national priorities, and access to knowledge sharing through the commonwealth’s pool of experts”.

Pol told IPS that, as the Commonwealth’s assigned climate finance adviser, Pallawala assisted in developing a National Climate Finance Strategy to, among other things, identify likely projects and possible funding sources. Pallawala also worked with the National Climate Change Office to carry out a climate landscape study, which Pol said: “Identified the country’s needs, the funding available and that which was needed to achieve the recommendations coming out of the NDC [Nationally Determined Contribution or national climate plan]”.

The Commonwealth Climate Finance Hub work in Belize also aims to support the GCF accreditation process of local institutions, streamline climate finance and seek new opportunities to ensure that climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies are at the centre of the government’s development policies and plans.

The CCFAH will allow the country to streamline its NDC ambitions and help improve its ability to source additional funding from external sources. It will help to develop strong private/public partnership projects, benefit from the expertise within the Commonwealth’s pool of international advisers and fast track project proposals, among other things. In addition, a debt-for-climate swap initiative announced earlier this year will allow Belize to reduce its public debt by directing its debt service payments to fund some climate change projects.

In the current scenario, Pol explained Belize could use available funds to support the “early entry of projects” to minimise delays in implementation. The country has experienced challenges in this regard in the past, for example, with the start-up of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (5Cs) Arundo donax biomass project.

In 2016, the 5Cs began an ambitious project to reduce Belize’s fuel bill by using local wild grass as a substitute for the bagasse, a by-product of sugar production used to fuel the furnaces. A local wild cane with the scientific name of Arundo donax was identified as a potentially suitable renewable crop for augmenting the supply of bagasse year-round. But despite a partnership with the national electricity provider BelcoGen, the project experienced delays.

As project manager Earl Green told IPS, the absence of funds to do some requisite studies slowed implementation. In 2018, the GCF provided US$694,000 for a project preparation facility. Even with good results from the pilot phases, the GCF did not fund the studies to determine the growth rates of the wild cane.

With Pallawala on board, delays like those experienced with the Arundo donax project could be a thing of the past. Additional funding is now in place to establish cultivation plots with two species of wild cane have been planted.

Pallawala said his role is to support the CFU in building stronger projects and enhancing existing ones, “not to overlap what others are doing, but to look at all the available sources of funds and help the country develop projects that will capitalise on all the opportunities”.

This year Belize also announced a debt-for-nature-swap that effectively frees up funds that would otherwise be used to service debt to pay for its implementation of climate change projects.

So far, Belize has received just over US2.2 million in readiness funding; US600,000 in adaptation funding for water projects and US902,937 for fisheries and coastal projects; just under US 8 million to build resilience in rural areas and just under US2.2 million for project preparation funding.

To date, through its advisers, the Commonwealth Secretariat has helped member countries access more than US46 million to fund 36 climate projects through the Climate Finance Access Hub. An additional US762 million worth of projects are in the pipeline.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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By External Source
Apr 13 2022 (IPS)

The United Nations Population Fund recently released the 2022 State of World Population report. It highlights that almost half of all pregnancies between 2015 and 2019 were unintended. That amounts to roughly 121 million unintended pregnancies each year.

Unintended pregnancy is defined as pregnancy among women who were not planning to have any (more) children. This includes pregnancies that occurred earlier than desired. The report also says over 60% of unintended pregnancies end in abortion. And 45% of all abortions performed globally are unsafe. About 7 million women a year are hospitalised as a result.

While the global rate of unintended pregnancies in Europe and North America was 35 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 49, in sub-Saharan Africa it was 91 per 1,000 women. Within the region it ranged from 49 in Niger to 145 in Uganda

Up to 257 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using safe, modern contraception methods. And about a quarter of all women are not able to say no to sex.

A closer look at regional estimates shows how far behind African countries are in preventing these unplanned pregnancies and protecting the reproductive rights of women and girls. While the global rate of unintended pregnancies in Europe and North America was 35 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 49, in sub-Saharan Africa it was 91 per 1,000 women. Within the region it ranged from 49 in Niger to 145 in Uganda.

The drivers of unintended pregnancies in sub-Saharan Africa are complex and operate at individual, household, community and policy levels. Understanding them is important to develop policies and effective interventions to reduce unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortion in the region.

In my view, based on research done in a number of African countries, the high rate of adolescent childbearing in Africa could be the main factor contributing to the stark regional differences reported.

 

Drivers of unintended pregnancy

At the individual level, poverty, lack of autonomy and low education attainment limit women’s and girls’ access to accurate contraceptive information and services. Some women and girls simply cannot afford to pay for contraceptives. In places where contraceptives are freely available, some women lack accurate knowledge of them and how they work.

In some settings, people interpret religion as prohibiting contraceptive use. They use religion to deny young people accurate contraceptive information. When women and girls lack access to accurate contraceptive information and services, their risk of unintended pregnancy increases.

In a study conducted by the African Population and Health Research Center, adolescent girls in Kenya told us they got pregnant because they were young and naive about relationships and contraceptives. Some of them had to exchange sex for their basic needs. Others were sexually violated. Because they did not seek care in clinics or know about emergency contraception, they were vulnerable to unintended pregnancy. Some had dropped out of school.

At household level, parents seldom communicate well about methods of preventing pregnancy. Where they do talk about it, they focus on abstinence rather than contraceptives, and they sometimes use fear tactics. Another household driver is insufficient financial support from the family, pushing girls into transactional relationships.

Quality contraceptive services consist of accurate and sensitive counselling, a wide range of options, and well trained providers. Research has shown that in communities where such services are available and accessible, more women and girls are able to plan their pregnancies.

However, access to quality services is lacking in many African communities. Stock-outs remain a problem for family planning programmes. The COVID-19 pandemic also disrupted the supply of contraceptives and services.

Unintended pregnancies are far higher in gender unequal communities and countries compared to more gender equal countries. Sociocultural norms sometimes discourage women and girls from exercising their choice to use contraceptives, including condoms.

Policy and legal constraints continue to limit access to comprehensive sexuality education and safe abortion in most African countries. Most African countries offer students some sexuality education in response to the HIV epidemic. But what they offer is far from comprehensive and is mostly abstinence-based.

The global gag rule reinstated by the Trump administration also limited access to family planning. This is a US federal policy that prohibited foreign nongovernmental organisations that received US international family planning assistance from using their own, non-US funds to support abortion services in any way.

Many countries in Africa depend on donor funds for their family planning programmes. The global gag rule meant a significant reduction in funding for programmes and clinics providing access to contraceptives for millions of women in Africa. Some programmes and clinics had to close or downsize.

 

Ways forward

The relationship between social and economic development and unintended pregnancy goes both ways. When women and girls are not empowered or lack autonomy, they are less likely to use contraceptives. They are prone to unintended pregnancy.

Unintended pregnancy, especially among young people, can be disempowering. It can prevent girls and young women from getting the education and skills they need to improve their economic prospects and productivity. Breaking this cycle of early unintended pregnancy is critical to realising socio-economic development in Africa.

Given the deep and lifelong effects of unintended pregnancy on women, their families and society, decision-makers and health systems should prioritise the prevention of unintended pregnancy. This would entail increasing access to quality contraceptive services, particularly in resource-poor settings, and expanding access to sexual and reproductive health information, especially for boys and girls.

Anthony Idowu Ajayi, Associate research scientist, African Population and Health Research Center

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.