Africa

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria takes responsibility for failings that sees ten athletes ruled ineligible for the Tokyo Olympics.

Top Kenyan female athletes have been juggling parenting and training for the Tokyo Olympics.

Patrick Moster, the sports director of the German Cycling Union, has been sent home from the Olympics after making racist comments during Wednesday's men's road time trial.

By Trevor Page
LETHBRIDGE, Canada, Jul 29 2021 (IPS)

From an international humanitarian perspective, the first half of 2021 has been disappointing. We’re no further ahead in ending the conflict in Syria and Yemen. From the fledgling democracy that it had become, Myanmar has descended into what most of its people had hoped was a bygone era of military rule. And in Ethiopia, where its Prime Minister, Ably Ahmed, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, armed conflict in Tigray is preventing the 2020 winners of the very same prize, the World Food Programme, from delivering the food needed to stop at least 350,000 Ethiopians from starving to death.

Trevor Page

These are not the only conflicts raging in 2021. There are many in Africa and a few still linger on in Asia and South America. And once again, Afghanistan, the country that defied Alex the Great, the Brits, the Russians and now the Americans and NATO, is set to move center stage on the humanitarian front.

Since its founding in 1945, Canada has always looked to the United Nations to head off armed conflict and to alleviate the human suffering that it causes. That includes preventing the use of hunger as a weapon of war. Canada’s contribution to UN peacebuilding has dropped considerably since 1970, when its proposal for 0.7% of a donor country’s GNI was accepted as the target for foreign aid. Nevertheless, it is still among the top five donors to the World Food Programme. Canadians expect the UN to do its job.

UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres and WFP Executive Director, David Beasley, have repeatedly warned that unless war and armed conflict is ended, people could starve to death in several countries. They have appealed to the leaders of opposing sides and those fighting proxy wars to let UN humanitarians and their NGO partners do their job. In early February 2021, soon after the fighting started in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region, David Beasley visited Addis Ababa. He was assured that immediate access to Tigray would be granted for WFP and other humanitarian workers, as well as safe passage for its convoys of food aid trucks. Well, that didn’t happen for months. The first WFP plane with humanitarian workers only landed in Makelle, Tigray’s capital, on July 22. As for the convoys of WFP food aid trucks, they’re frequently attacked or blocked en route and don’t have anything like free passage.

So why is the UN so ineffective at ending conflicts, or even getting access granted for humanitarian supplies? It’s all to do with the principles on which the UN was founded: noninterference in the internal affairs of sovereign States. So, are UN humanitarians just supposed to stand by when a government decides to attack and kill off some of its citizens, or let large numbers starve to death when famine looms? No, not since the World Summit of 2005, when governments unanimously adopted R2P or the Responsibility to Protect.

In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwanda genocide and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan insisted that the traditional notions of sovereignty had been redefined: “States are now widely understood to be instruments at the service of their peoples”, he argued. In his report “We the People” on the role of the United Nations in the 21st Century, he posed the following question: “If humanitarian intervention is, indeed, an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to a Rwanda, to a Srebrenica – to gross and systematic violations of human rights that offend every precept of our common humanity?”

Yet despite the widespread human suffering in Syria, Yemen, Myanmar and Ethiopia, the Responsibility to Protect has not been invoked. More work needs to be done on R2P, including an expansion of its scope. So too on “humanitarian intervention”, which does not always require the deployment of foreign forces to mitigate human suffering. And the voluntary agreement by P5 Security Council members (Britain, China, France Russia and the United States) to withhold their veto power when resolutions to stop genocide and crimes against humanity are being considered is another ad hoc effort to prevent the wholesale slaughter of humankind. But with more and more ordinary people around the world standing up and making it known to their governments that crimes against humanity and dying from starvation is not acceptable, it is clear that the piecemeal approach that we’ve cobbled together over the last half-century falls well short of today’s expectations. A total overhaul and reorganization of the UN humanitarian system is required as a first step.

In September, when the UN General Assembly reconvenes, Antonio Guterres will be reconfirmed as UN Secretary General. For the next 5 years, he will have the opportunity to bring about some the changes to the UN System that he keeps speaking about without having to worry if any of the P5 will oppose his second term in office. He will have to move fast on Agenda 2030, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. With less than a decade to go, these are far from being attained. We must reduce inequality; it’s a major cause of conflict.

Covid-19 is the biggest challenge the world has faced since the Spanish Flu, a century ago. It has affected everyone and everything we do. It has increased the number of food insecure people around the world by149 million, according to WFP; so close on 1 billion of us now go to bed hungry. And despite anti-Covid vaccines having been developed in record time, variants will keep emerging and we’ll be playing catch-up for years to come.

Climate change, an even bigger challenge, is already on us and is set to intensify. Extreme weather has devastated parts of north-western America and neighbouring Canada this Spring resulting in unbearably high heat and wildfires. Abnormal floods in China and Germany have resulted in unusually high mortality and devastated towns and cities in both countries.

So, while 2021 will end up as a disappointing year for multilateralists, the challenges that lie ahead in 2022 and beyond will be even greater. Despite the odds, UN humanitarians and their NGO partners have already saved many lives in 2021. But years of experience show that a revamped United Nations System is critical if we are to deal effectively with the challenges of the 21st century.

Trevor Page, resident in Lethbridge, Canada, is a former Director of the World Food Programme. He also served with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR and what is now the UN Department of Political and Peace Building Affairs.

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Credit: UNICEF

By Guillaume Baggio, Manzoor Qadir and Vladimir Smakhtin
HAMILTON, Ontario, Canada, Jul 29 2021 (IPS)

In 1995, a highly-respected water expert in South Africa, Bill Pitman, in very concise terms illustrated that the country, already battling a growing lack of water then, would likely run out in 25 years if it did not increase its supply.

Twenty-five years have now passed and the country is thirstier than ever. The recent water crisis in Cape Town is just one manifestation of the nation’s chronic water scarcity. And there is likely more water trouble ahead.

Water scarcity issues have been vexing experts for decades. Scientists developed and debated various water scarcity concepts, indicators, and projections, essentially saying that it is a global issue with strong local specifics. Worldwide estimates of people affected by water scarcity vary accordingly and get gloomier with time.

A most recent assessment of water availability suggests that population growth alone (i.e. not factoring in climate change or water quality considerations) will lead to an unprecedented and widespread drop in water availability per capita.

By 2050, 87 countries will be water scarce (per capita water availability below 1,700 cubic meters per year), and the number of countries with absolute water scarcity (per capita water availability under 500 cubic meters per year) will almost double, from 25 today to 45.

As population growth is highly related to socioeconomic conditions, transitions to water scarcity may be particularly painful in the Global South. Low-income countries are projected to have an average drop in water availability per capita of around 46%, followed by lower-middle-income countries (decreasing by around 30%), upper-middle-income countries (12%), and high-income countries (close to 5%).

Credit: UNICEF

In a matter of 20–30 years — within a single generation — Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to become the next hotspot of water scarcity, where availability per capita will be halved by 2050. In the already bone-dry Middle East and North Africa region, water availability per capita might drop by 33%, followed by Asia (24%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (18%).

Ironically, and sadly, many countries in the Global South are water scarce already, although in a different way: they have no or little infrastructure to support people and their economy, even though some may be well endowed with freshwater resources.

They may therefore transition silently to physical scarcity — when there will simply not be enough water for all users and purposes. Hence, South Africa’s experience will likely be repeated in many countries, in unforeseen ways, within the lifetime of many of us. And economically-advanced countries will taste water scarcity too.

There are, of course, ways to mitigate the impacts of growing water shortages. All of them are context- specific.

One widely-advocated option is water demand management — particularly through improving water use efficiency in agriculture, responsible for most global water withdrawals. Efficiency cannot increase indefinitely, though.

Some countries may consider slowing population growth. Water is, after all, a limited resource. More people living in low-income and lower-middle-income countries means that water scarcity will become progressively more difficult to deal with — perhaps even impossible in our lifetime — despite aggressive water demand management.

Reducing population growth in developing countries can be achieved by meeting certain sustainable development goals (SDGs) — like SDG 4 (education) or SDG 8 (decent work).

As countries implement the options most suitable for them, one stands out as universally applicable: increasing water supply. Whether it is developing more water storage infrastructure (where feasible), or municipal water recycling and reuse, or improved agricultural water management practices — all options should be on the table. And many have already been proven effective all over the world.

In addition to the above, countries can benefit from and should consider a variety of “unconventional” — and hence yet mostly untapped resources — from the Earth’s seas to its upper atmosphere. Options and sources like harvesting water from the air, capturing flood rainwater in aquifers at large basin scales where the geology permits, massive implementation of climate-independent sea water desalination (a virtually unlimited resource) in coastal areas, where the majority of the world population lives — all have already demonstrated potential to address increasing local water shortages.

The perceived high cost of some such technologies is gradually going down; hence they are becoming more affordable with time. And the cost of inaction will certainly be higher.

In any case, water scarcity should not be seen as a myth or some science construct. It is a global challenge that manifests itself locally in a variety of ways. The water scarcity experiences in many countries clearly suggests a paradigm shift is needed. If we fail to act now, let’s not be surprised when taps stop running one day sooner than we might expect.

Guillaume Baggio is Research Associate, Manzoor Qadir is Assistant Director, and Vladimir Smakhtin is the Director at the UN University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health, which is supported by the Government of Canada and hosted at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. The Institute marks its 25th anniversary in 2021.

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

The worst unrest since white-minority rule ended has left deep scars, especially in the coastal city of Durban.

Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, tipped as Equatorial Guinea's next leader, is under sanctions in the UK and France.

By External Source
Burkina Faso, Jul 28 2021 (IPS-Partners)

In Burkina Faso, Honorine Meda has been trained by the German Development Agency (GIZ) to raise awareness among teenage girls about pregnancy. While the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says all children have a right to education, adolescent girls who fall pregnant in Sub Saharan Africa tend to drop out of school. Meda and a group of model parents, also trained by GIZ, play an essential role in preventing teenage pregnancies and supporting learners, who fall pregnant, to get back to school.

Malawi’s president has brought family members on a UK trip but says they were needed for the event.

Honorine Meda became pregnant herself at the age of nineteen. Now she helps raise awareness of teenage pregnancy among girls in Dissin.

By Guy Dinmore
DISSIN, Burkina Faso, Jul 28 2021 (IPS)

Honorine Meda is 23. Cycling through her hometown of Dissin, in Burkina Faso’s verdant southwest, she smiles, waves and stops to chat with one of the girls she counsels.

Thanks to a program by the German development agency (GIZ) and their Pro Enfant initiative, Honorine trained to counsel teenage girls in Dissin on how to avoid pregnancies.

She became pregnant herself, with her now three-year-old son, when she was 19. It was tough, she told IPS.

“I can say it was the hardest at the beginning, that’s when I had the most difficulties. I was ashamed and I spent one year without going to school after I gave birth,” she explains.

After the first year of her son’s life, she was able to return to her studies and now wants to become a midwife. Some 19.3% of pregnancies in Sub Saharan Africa are among adolescents. In Burkina Faso, it is 11%. Many teenagers who fall pregnant in the region, some as young as 13, are less fortunate than Honorine.

Teenage pregnancy often puts an end to the mother’s education, as young mothers switch their focus from school to taking care of the child. This reduces the mother’s earning potential and feeds into a cycle of poverty which means the child is also less likely to attend school and achieve financial stability years later.

Abortion is illegal in normal circumstances in Burkina Faso. It is permissible when rape or incest have occured, or if there is a danger to the health of the mother or severe fetal malformation. This is not well known among women, however, and the legal process for an abortion being approved is long and complicated. If a mother decides to terminate the pregnancy through an illegal abortion, their options for doing so are inherently unsafe.

Girls at a school on the outskirts of Dissin often learn in outdoor classrooms, Dissin.

A teenage girl sits in classroom at a school on the outskirts of Dissin.

“The lack of awareness [on how to prevent it] is the basis of pregnancy in school,” Honorine explains, sitting on a wooden bench beneath a mango tree. “Each year there are many cases.” That’s why she is proud to be doing work that means others might not suffer the same difficulties as she did.

While advocates like Honorine can play a big role in preventing teenage pregnancies it really involves the whole community, according to Abdoulaye Seogo, a social worker in Dissin who coordinates the GIZ program.

The child protection network in Dissin was trained by GIZ on how to coordinate around teenage motherhood, Dissin.

“With GIZ we organize awareness sessions, primarily for women. It must be said that in Africa, education begins with the mother at home. We also try to reach young boys.” He says he has noticed a fall in the number of teenage pregnancies since the program’s work to increase awareness.

A cluster of specially trained parents also play a part by acting as role models to other parents.

Yeledo Meda is one such model parent. “First there is moral support, we give advice and carry out activities to raise awareness,” he told IPS.

Yeledo Meda is one of the model parents who helps raise awareness of how to prevent teenage pregnancy. He also supports parents whose daughters are pregnant, Dissin.

But no matter how high the level of awareness in a community, it will never eliminate teenage pregnancies entirely.

“Often the parents are discouraged when they first find out their daughter is pregnant… When that happens, you have to moralize so that they understand. We also encourage the mother to return to school,” says Yeledo.

Mariam Nappon, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, is 16. She is seven months pregnant and makes use of many of the elements of the program put in place by GIZ to support pregnant mothers like her.

Sixteen-year-old Mariam Nappon, whose name has been changed, is seven months pregnant. She feels supported by the program GIZ have set up, Dissin.

Nappon says, “[The father] told me to keep the pregnancy, regardless of the problem… If I need anything and he can help me, he does. He also pays for my schooling.”

She says she has never felt any pressure to leave school, either from her family or from teachers. Teachers take special measures to make sure she has the provisions she needs thanks to sensitisation efforts by GIZ. In the past, expectant mothers like Nappon were regularly kicked out of school for becoming pregnant.

A teacher holds class at a coed school on the outskirts of Dissin.

“When I leave school, I want to become a tailor,” she says, “I often go to the child protection network to get advice.”

The child protection network is enlisted by Seogo, the social worker, when girls do become pregnant. The members of the network were also trained by GIZ and bring together community members from the police, education, the health sector, the local orphanage and even the agricultural sector.

Where agriculture is by far the largest sector of the economy, roles expectant mothers are no longer able to play in farming have to be accounted for. They also need to be kept away from certain pesticides that can be harmful to the unborn child.

“If the various parts of the community are isolated from each other, that’s not good for anyone. Take the police, for example… with the network, they know exactly what is happening and can ensure they fulfill their duties,” explains Honzié Meda who runs the network. He says coordination means all elements of the community involved are able to react more quickly and efficiently.

A boy looks at a mural to raise awareness of teenage pregnancy at a school on the outskirts of Dissin.

Joseph Tioye, the police officer for the network, agrees.

“We are there whenever we are called upon. Sometimes the boy doesn’t want to recognize the pregnancy and we have to speak to them about the legal implications of that.”

If the father, or his family, do not agree to help support the child, the case can end up in court. Also, when the pregnancy involves a father over 18 and a younger mother, this can cause the police to become involved.

But the emphasis is always on trying to make sure the mother stays in school, says Honzié Meda.

A girl prepares to play football at a school on the outskirts of Dissin.

“We can make sure her case is passed on to social workers, or health care, or for psycho-social care. If it’s needed, the support is there… There are even scholarships provided by GIZ which can be passed onto the mother if needed.”

Seogo explains: “Just this week, a fourteen-year-old girl who is pregnant couldn’t bring herself to tell her family. So, we accompanied her and advised.” The family will be supported by the child protection network throughout the pregnancy and beyond.

In southwest Burkina Faso, even before the GIZ program, the culture within the community was relatively sympathetic and supportive towards girls who become pregnant young, compared to other places in Burkina Faso.

Stigma can still be an issue however, and the mother regularly feels embarrassed. But, unlike in many other parts of the world, the culture in Dissin does not force teenagers to leave their family home if they become pregnant.

Although the GIZ program is making a big impact in Dissin, there is still much work to be done elsewhere. But if the program has proven anything, it’s that it takes a whole village to raise a child – whether a teenager or a newborn.

Another teenage girl who is pregnant walks through fields on the edge of her village, Dissin.

This feature was produced on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

After the Covid scepticism of her predecessor, Tanzania's President Samia launches a vaccine campaign.

By Paul Teng
SINGAPORE, Jul 28 2021 (IPS)

After almost two decades, Golden Rice was approved last week by the Philippines authorities for use as food. This together with the approval of the bioengineered Bt eggplant represents a landmark victory of science over misinformation; it will provide consumers with improved nutrition (Golden Rice) and safer food (Bt eggplant).

Paul Teng

BIOTECHNOLOGY CROPS have been controversial in spite of overwhelming support for their safety by the scientific community. This is specially so for the class of biotechnology crops commonly called ‘GMO’ or genetically modified organism. The controversy has led to public concerns about their food safety, in spite of the fact that GMOs are only approved after years of intensive testing by independent government agencies, evaluation and approval upon satisfying stringent criteria for safety.

This approval of Golden Rice and the lesser-known Bt eggplant are therefore milestones in the use of biotechnology to meet food security needs through more (nutritious) food with less pesticides. In the 29 countries which currently grow GMO-biotechnology crops in 2019, over 17 million farmers growing about 91 million hectares have been shown to benefit financially and health-wise. So has the environment from the reduced insecticide use. At the same time, worldwide, beyond the 29 growing countries, another 43 countries import GMO-biotechnology crops for food, feed and processing; this includes Singapore.

Golden Rice: Addressing Vitamin A Deficiency

The Philippines has a high incidence of Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) which can lead to blindness and death, particularly among children. Rice is the staple in the Philippines, with many households consuming it two to three times a day.

Almost 20 years ago, an international group tested the development of a rice variety which could provide enhanced levels of Vitamin A and therefore relief for the many malnourished children in developing countries.

This enhanced Beta-carotene rice subsequently came to be called “Golden Rice” because of the yellow hue in the grains. The development and testing of this rice has gone through intensive scrutiny by scientific and regulatory bodies in several countries. Indeed this rice has been tested for safety and environmental concerns more than any other modern rice variety.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that over half a million children worldwide are affected by VAD, with disastrous impact. The International Rice Institute (IRRI) estimated that 17% of children under five in the Philippines suffer from VAD, so the Golden Rice has the potential to change the fight against this disease.

Bt Eggplant: Engineered To Reduce Insecticide Use

Eggplant (a.k.a. Aubergine) is one of the most widely consumed fruit vegetables in South and Southeast Asia. However, eggplant is highly susceptible to the fruit borer which severely damages the fruit that is sold through its feeding on the fleshy part of the fruit that is used by humans.

To produce a crop that is cosmetically acceptable to consumers and profitable for farmers, almost all eggplant farmers have resorted to using insecticides. In Bangladesh, eggplant farmers have been known to spray as many as 70 times in a single season to ensure that their crop is saleable! Oftentimes the pest has also become immune to the cocktail of insecticides used.

The alternative technology that was proposed in the early 2000’s was to use biotechnology to give resistance to the fruit borer so that insecticide use could be reduced, farmers could produce a crop and consumers could buy a safer vegetable. Scientists engineered eggplant with a gene from a common soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and were able to show greatly increased resistance to the pest. This same bacterium in its raw form is used by organic farmers for pest control.

The same Bt technology has also been successfully used in crops like maize, soybean and cotton. Indeed Bangladesh became the first country to grow this Bt eggplant in 2014 and since then some 34,000 small farmers have grown over 2,000 hectares in 2019; farmers have been less exposed to dangerous insecticides, and consumers have accepted this safer product.

Other countries have been slow to adopt this technology because of the fear of controversy surrounding GMO-biotechnology crops and opposition by “green groups”. And it is to the credit of Filipino scientists and regulators that they have finally accepted the scientific evidence and shown courage to approve this new eggplant variety, and give consumers a safer vegetable.

Future Biotechnologies

The importance of the approval by the Philippines of Golden Rice and Bt Eggplant cannot be understated. The Philippines was the first Asian country in 2000 to approve a biotech crop, the Bt maize for planting by farmers. And since then the economic benefits to farmers, especially smallholder farmers have exceeded expectations, as studied by credible economists. It has drastically reduced the foreign exchange bill of importing maize to fuel the growing demand for animal feed. The Philippines was even able to export maize in one year.

The doomsayers who predicted environmental disaster from introducing a biotech crop like Bt maize into the environment have been proven wrong as the fears of upsetting biodiversity have not been evidenced.

Neither has any of the concerns about animal and human safety been seen. Indeed the 20 years of biotech maize use around the world has only seen a yearly increase in the uptake by farmers, to the benefit of consumers through a reliable supply of an important animal feed (and human food in some countries).

Moving Forward

The latest report on food insecurity by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 2021 (http://www.fao.org/3/cb4474en/online/cb4474en.html) shows that the Asian continent is still rife with hunger and malnutrition. Many tools are needed to address the food needs in Asia, and the approvals by the Philippines last week augur well for the application of various biotechnologies to meet the challenges of producing more of both traditional food as well as novel food.

Moving forward, the new generation of biotechnology applications to meet the demands of humanity for food, feed and fibre are exemplified by Plant Breeding Innovations such as gene editing. Their impact is just being felt in terms of crops with improved yield, tolerance to pests, diseases and climate change, and improved nutrition and extended shelf life.

Likewise, biotechnology processes have been used in the fast-growing alternative protein industry to produce food like plant-based protein and cellular meat. However, whether these benefits will be realised will depend much on consumer acceptance and government approvals.

At a time when food security worldwide is being threatened by disruptive forces like climate change and pandemics, technology has an important role to play in innovating solutions. Countries like Singapore are capitalising on some of these new technologies, not just to produce more food but also to address the environmental impact of food production. But ultimately, much will depend on a science-literate populace accepting food produced with new technologies.

Paul Teng is Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore. He is also Honorary Chair of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotechnology applications (ISAAA), a non-profit hosted by Cornell University.

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Cyrille Tchatchet has gone from despair to representing the Refugee Olympic Team in Tokyo.

Ivory Coast qualified for the quarter-finals of the men's football but South Africa's Chad le Clos misses a medal on day five of Tokyo 2020.

A young girl collects water from a tanker truck in an IDP camp in northwest Syria.
Meanwhile, the UN commemorates the anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration to Water & Sanitation on July 28th. Credit: UNICEF/Khaled Akacha

By Catarina de Albuquerque
LISBON, Portugal, Jul 28 2021 (IPS)

The water we drink and the air we breathe are the basis of life. With universal access to clean water and sanitation, we will be healthier, our economies will be stronger, gender equality will be more achievable, and more children will stay in school.

However, the many benefits of universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene are under threat from unfair political decisions that have often left the poorest in urban and rural areas paying more for off-grid water and sanitation than people with formal access to these services in their homes.

Already two billion people, or 1 in 4, don’t have access to safely managed drinking water in their homes, nearly half the world’s population lack safely managed sanitation, and 2.3 billion people can’t wash their hands at home. Indeed, daily access to water and sanitation is a distant aspiration for much of the world population, especially for women, girls and the most marginalized and vulnerable families and communities.

So how can we ensure everyone on the planet has access to water and sanitation by 2030?

We must first address one of the most fundamental barriers to progress: poor governance that has blocked progress towards universal access, and driven an increase in service inequalities in many countries.

Water and sanitation are human rights, meaning that access to these services must be affordable and not compromise the ability to pay for other essential needs. And people are prepared to pay a fair and affordable price for safe and reliable water and sanitation services, which are so critical for hydration, personal hygiene, cleaning, and cooking.

Yet for many people, the price of access to an affordable, convenient, safe water source is simply unaffordable. In some countries, people can spend as much as half of their income on water, a resource so many of us take for granted.

In high- and low-income countries alike, those in middle and higher income households pay relatively low tariffs for piped water, while those living in slums aren’t connected by the authorities to the formal network.

These communities often have no choice but to queue for hours to get their water from tanker trucks or street vendors, paying up to 100 times more for water of unverifiable quality and safety.

More unfairly, large agricultural and industrial water users, which use over 90 percent of existing freshwater, sometimes have access to subsidized water prices and actually pay less than individuals.

When the poorest people end up paying more for water and sanitation than everyone else this hinders human development and obviously exacerbates the inequalities that leave huge sections of the global population behind in their access to a productive, dignified and healthy life, including to water, sanitation and hygiene.

In the absence of official water services, people (mostly women and girls) will often collect dirty, contaminated water from streams, ponds and unprotected wells, and they will pay an exorbitant price with their health, time and productivity.

The economic losses associated with inadequate services is estimated at US$260 billion annually, roughly equivalent to an average annual loss of 1.5% of global Gross Domestic Product.

If all those who could afford it paid fair water and sanitation prices, and the money was invested properly in expanding and improving services, it would lift people out of a negative cycle of poverty and ensure that women have more time to reach their social and economic potential.

In the end, there is no healthy economy without a healthy population where everyone can enjoy their rights to water and sanitation. It would also be beneficial for the economy and for businesses.

Investing in water and sanitation systems is a no-brainer opportunity to serve a huge market, while benefiting both households and service providers.

A recent study shows that access to toilets with safely managed sanitation could yield up to $86 billion per year in greater productivity and reduced health costs; basic hygiene facilities could mean an extra $45 billion per year; and taps in the home could equate to an annual return of $37 billion globally.

So, where do we start? Firstly, governments need to lift the existing legal and political barriers and extend water and sewerage services to slums and informal settlements to ensure a reliable and constant water supply, permanent handwashing facilities, adequate toilets and safe disposal of human waste.

Governments should also invest the necessary resources in making access to water and sanitation a reality for those living in rural communities. We need the political will and the political wisdom from those in power to look at the situation in a holistic manner, and make sure that those who have been left off the formal grid can get connected, independently of their tenure status. Human rights are human rights.

Next, governments should implement fair tariff structures that charge higher-income households and agricultural or industrial users more for water and sanitation to generate the necessary revenue to bring fairly priced and affordable services to those most in need.

Higher prices for big users would also force a reduction in water consumption. These measures would have immeasurable benefits for all the people that have no choice but to queue at a communal water pump to get water for the family, or share a public toilet with many families.

Everyone, everywhere needs to be able to access water and sanitation for a fair price. It’s not only the right thing to do, but also vital for creating jobs, boosting business, and reducing the long-term burden put on government budgets.

And it’s within reach, if we have the political will to make it happen.

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Excerpt:

The writer is CEO of Sanitation and Water for All

Christopher Arundell grew up in the UK but after doing time in jail is being deported to Zimbabwe.

President Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo shook hands at the presidential palace on Tuesday.

Jean Marie Ishimwe (Kenya), a Refugee Youth Representative addresses a high-level roundtable convened by UNHCR and ECW, the UK and Canada. Credit: Joyce Chimbi

By Joyce Chimbi
NAIROBI, KENYA , Jul 27 2021 (IPS)

The difficulties in accessing education faced by children and young people forcibly displaced from their homes were today laid bare in a virtual high-level roundtable convened by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the UK and Canada.

The roundtable was a key moment planned within a two-day Global Education Summit framework that will kick off in London tomorrow, July 28, 2021. The summit is a critical global financial campaign co-hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to improve the availability and accessibility of quality education for all children.

It is against this backdrop that the UN Special Envoy on Global Education, Gordon Brown, opened discussions into the specific vulnerabilities facing refugees as well as internally displaced children and young people, as they are the world’s most vulnerable population and at even greater risk of falling out of the education system.

“Instead of some children developing some of their potential in some of the world’s countries, all children can develop all their potential in every country,” he emphasised.

The world’s most vulnerable children are deprived of an education and the long term socio-economic opportunities education affords. Photo Joyce Chimbi

UNHCR research shows that even when displaced children access education, they are hardly integrated into ongoing education systems in their host communities because they are offered alternative education platforms through parallel systems. These are often characterised by a lack of qualified systems or certified examinations and face a looming risk that funding could be withdrawn.

These are the issues that the high-level roundtable discussed in detail to ensure that displaced children do not fall out of the education system. The panel included leaders and child education and development experts with a wide range of expertise, including Minister Wendy Morton – UK Parliament; Karina Gould, Minister of International Development, Canada; Yasmine Sherif, the director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW); Raouf Mazou, Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, UNHCR; Stanislas Ouaro, Minister of Education and Literacy, Burkina Faso; Shafqat Mahmood, Minister of Education and Professional Training, Pakistan; David Miliband, President and CEO, International Rescue Committee (IRC); J Lawrence Aber, Willner, Professor of Psychology and Public Policy at NYU Steinhardt; and Jean Marie Ishimwe (Kenya), a Refugee Youth Representative.

Morton and Miliband spoke of fears and concerns the number of the world’s most vulnerable children was growing in an unprecedented way with the spread of COVID-19.

With 1,400 global participants having registered for the high-level education roundtable, Miliband said that this was a reflection of growing concerns that holistic education, a lifeline for children, is still out of reach for most displaced children.

Miliband, however, cautioned that even as the global community agitating for appropriate education provisions for all children continues to grow, there is, at the same time, an even greater gap between educational needs and provision.

Sherif, the director of ECW, decried the fact that children are dramatically over-represented among the world’s refugees today.

UN estimates show that despite children making up less than one-third of the global population, she noted that out of 82 million people forcibly displaced by the end of 2020, 33 million were under 18 years, and an additional five million are young 18 to 24 years.

“Conflict is not resolved in time for displaced children and young people to return to school in their home countries. This lack of safety and security leads to lifelong severe chronic stress and difficulties in learning and development in displaced children,” she cautioned.

Brown, who is also the chair of ECW’s high-level steering group, said that ECW was “the global education fund for meeting the needs of children impacted by forced displacement as part of the response to refugees everywhere, and this approach kickstarts a better way to design emergency approaches for sustainability and equity.”

Gould explained the need for every country to ensure that all children within their borders access an education. She referenced the recently launched ‘Canada together for learning campaign’ that seeks to reach all refugee children with education.

“It is on all of us to provide quality education and opportunities for all refugee children. Finding safety should not limit their potential because refugee children have so much to offer the global community,” she emphasised.

Ishimwe, a Rwandese Refugee Youth Representative living in Kenya, said that while it might seem impossible to offer displaced children a holistic education tailored to their needs through global concerted efforts and opportunities provided by the ECW platform, it can be done.
He lauded Kenya’s efforts to absorb refugee children into the education system and applauded teachers in Kenya for their efforts to address the unique needs of refugee children.

“Refugee children in Kenya, especially those in urban areas, have access to basic education through the free and compulsory primary school education. However, refugee children find it difficult to access secondary and tertiary education because it is not free, and they cannot afford it,” Ishimwe explained.

“But even in instances where a refugee child accesses tertiary education through the limited scholarships available, refugees can still not access employment opportunities,” he added.

UN estimates show that despite children making up less than one-third of the global population, she noted that out of 82 million people forcibly displaced by the end of 2020, 33 million were under 18 years, and an additional five million are young 18 to 24 years.

Learners with disabilities are particularly at risk of dropping out of school, never to return. Photo Joyce Chimbi

“Overall, at least 48 percent of school-age refugee learners are out of school. Additionally, an estimated 38 percent of refugee learners do not attend primary school, and 78 percent do not attend secondary school. We cannot achieve sustainable development if we have a population that has not gone to school,” said Sherif.

Sherif also cautioned that girls and learners with disabilities are the most marginalised and farthest left behind, particularly at risk of dropping out of school, never to return.

She, therefore, said that the needs of children and young people whose education has been disrupted by armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate change-induced disasters and protracted crises need to be addressed urgently, efficiently and effectively.

Sherif called for linkages with governments, humanitarian, and development actors to deliver a more collaborative and rapid response to the educational needs of children and youth affected by crises.

Summit participants heard that the world’s most vulnerable children are deprived of an education and the long-term socioeconomic opportunities education affords.

Overall, the roundtable provided a critical opportunity to reflect on challenges facing displaced young people but promising practices to help overcome barriers children affected by displacement face. This, experts said, is a critical step towards a comprehensive and effective global response to the needs of displaced children and youths.

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Tatjana Schoenmaker and Bianca Buitendag claim South Africa's first medals of the Tokyo Olympics but the rugby sevens side lose in the quarter-finals.

Nigeria's plan to have Sunday Igboho extradited are fading as he faces criminal accusations in Benin.