Africa

Charcoal sold in urban centres is usually illegally imported from Mozambique and Zambia, where charcoal has traditionally been produced. But this energy source is now being produced in Muzarabani District in Mashonaland Central Province close to the border with Mozambique, according to the Forestry Commission. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE, Jun 14 2021 (IPS)

Once a week a tonnage of fresh charcoal is dropped off at Sibangani Tshobe’s rugged, pit-stop stall by a hired, battered old Bedford lorry. Small, makeshift trolleys — nicknamed Scania’s — quickly cart off small loads and disappear into Old Pumula, the oldest suburb in the country’s second-largest city of Bulawayo.

Electricity blackouts have temporarily stopped in Zimbabwe, but higher power costs and an occasional cold spell still offer Tshobe a chance to make a few dollars.

“I sell a bag of charcoal for $7 and it is good business for me,” Tshobe tells IPS, indicating to a 50 kg polythene bag from other traders that is split into smaller bundles that he sells for $1.

High costs of electricity for cash-strapped Zimbabweans — the country has a poverty rate of just over 38 percent, according to the World Bank —  means that the demand for firewood for cooking, lighting and heating has increased.

And so too has the destruction of Zimbabwe’s fragile forests.

“With the high cost of electricity what does one do? This is a means to fend for my family. I am aware our business means destroying trees but we have to live,” Tshobe says.

Felling forests to keep warm

Each year, Zimbabwe loses about 60 million trees — some 33,000 hectares of forests — thanks to illegal deforestation, according to the the Forestry Commission, a body mandated to protect state forests.

Charcoal making is increasing the loss of indigenous forests and also increasing land degradation, says Violet Makoto, spokesperson for the Forestry Commission.

“Charcoal is happening and is a worrying trend necessitated by the energy challenges the country is facing. Yes, a few months back we had an issue of no electricity, so charcoal was coming in handy for cooking, especially in urban areas. Now, in most parts, electricity is available but beyond the reach of many due to the high tariffs,” Makoto tells IPS.

Charcoal production is depleting indigenous forests in Zimbabwe where hardwood trees are preferred to make charcoal. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

Charcoal – favoured for burning hotter and longer than wood – is made from heating wood without oxygen. The practice is taking root across swathes of the country, dominated by native forest hardwoods such as the mopane hardwood species (Copaifera mopane J), Makoto says.

Charcoal sold in urban centres is usually illegally imported from Mozambique and Zambia, where charcoal has traditionally been produced. But this energy source is now being produced in Muzarabani District in Mashonaland Central Province close to the border with Mozambique, according to the Forestry Commission. The Midlands province, Mashonaland West Province and Matabeleland North province were also hot spots for charcoal production, says Makoto.

In Matabeleland North province charcoal producing areas include Hwange Colliery Concession, Gwayi River Farms and resettlement villages along the Bubi-Nkayi boundary, says Armstone Tembo, the Forestry Commission Chief Conservator of Forests. 

“We have been carrying out raids and confiscating the charcoal but our problem is that we are aware that even if we confiscate the charcoal people still go to those areas and cut down more trees and produce charcoal,” she says.

Last year, more than 30 people were arrested and fined for trading in charcoal with 1,9 tonnes of charcoal confiscated.

This year, more than 1,000 bags of charcoals were confiscated and 10 people arrested and charged for making and selling charcoal.

“We need a lasting solution that can completely eliminate charcoal making in the country. Maybe crafting new laws to directly address the issue of charcoal production in Zimbabwe would help.”

The production, marketing and even consumption of charcoal are crimes, unless one is buying charcoal made from exotic trees, according to Abednego Marufu, the Forestry Commission’s General Manager. Marufu says that there was an exception for timber companies who harvested exotic tree species, such as wattle, for charcoal making.

Charcoal from hard wood trees is wiping out forests in most part of Africa because of rising energy needs. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

Tighter laws for culprits

The Forestry Commission is pushing for tighter laws to curb the practice, proposing a mandatory jail term, instead of fines, which are proving not sufficient deterrent. Currently anyone caught selling firewood and charcoal can receive a Level 7 fine for $59 or a year in jail.

“The Level 7 fine for people in communal areas is deterrent enough what is required by us is enforcement and we are working with the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Rural District Councils and the Environmental Management Agency to curb this activity,” Marufu says.

“We envisage a mandatory jail term rather than optional fines so that people can go to jail for three months. We feel it will be painful enough for people to understand that environmental crimes are serious.”

However, stricter fines are not necessarily the answer to issue, some activists note.

“The constant rise of electricity is unsustainable not just for consumers who are poor and unemployed but also for businesses because electricity is a key component of both the domestic and household economy,” Effie Ncube, a civil rights activist, tells IPS. He adds that high costs of electricity are also pushing up the costs of basic goods and services.

Last September, the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), the holding company of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), increased charges by 50 percent. These were increased by a further 30 percent in May. The increases were attributed to the high costs of importing electricity.

Soaring prices of basic food stuffs, food, fuel and energy are driving Zimbabweans to poverty, says Comfort Muchekeza, Southern region Manager of the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, arguing that government needs to restore economic production for consumers to afford electricity.

“Energy is a really a sensitive issue,” Machemedza tells IPS by telephone. “It is high time the government comes up with alternative sources of energy and invites other players into the energy sector.  The cost of electricity today has gone beyond the reach of not only the ordinary consumers but even the middle class. Since September last year we have seen more than three increases in electricity and that is worrying.”

Wood fuels represent significant economic value in many countries, accounting for approximately $ 6 billion for the whole of Africa, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). More than $1 billion of this amount was made up by charcoal.

“Zimbabwe needs to invest in wide scale alternative energy sources like wind and solar so that people have access to affordable and clean energy at a time when firewood and charcoal are widely use but these have a serious environmental impact,” says Ncube.

 

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By Daud Khan
ROME, Jun 14 2021 (IPS)

Italy, as other countries, has been struggling to balance the health and economic challenges posed by COVID-19. Controlling the spread of the virus implied restrictions on economic activity, on school and college attendance, and on personal movement. It also had to deal with the economic and social implications of a fall of almost 10% in GDP. This has been hard for a country which, even before the pandemic, was one of the slowest growing economies in Europe, with unemployment, especially among young people in the South of the country, at alarming levels.

Daud Khan

So far the Government main response to the economic crisis has been to try to spend its way out. Support and subsidies to enterprises, as well as to individuals, have been ramped up. Much of this has been funded by borrowing and public debt, already high at 130%, has shot up to 160% of GDP. The Government also placed a moratorium on dismissal and firing of workers until the end of June, and there is talk of extending this even further. The moratorium has kept official unemployment down but it is clear that the numbers of those out of work looks set to increase sharply. Getting the economy going is thus imperative.

Fortunately, over the last couple of months there has been good news with regard to the spread of the virus. The rate of new infections been dropping, the pressure on hospital and Intensive Care Units have eased, and COVID-related death rates have been falling. At the same time, vaccination programs have been moving ahead. These trends led to a decision by the Government to start on a gradual easing of restrictions. As of 26 April students were allowed to return to schools, colleges and universities; theatres, cinemas and museums were allowed to have visitors; and restaurants and bars were allowed to stay open also in the evening, provided they had tables in the open air. In addition, a timetable for further easing of restrictions was announced, with a special focus on facilitating tourism in the critical summer period.

However, as many epidemiologists were quick to point out, the Government’s moves may prove premature. Death rates remain significant, much higher than last summer before the second wave hit. Vaccinations are proceeding with 26 million doses administered so far but only about nine million Italians, out of a total of a total population of 60 million (l15% of the population), has had the required two doses.

Moreover there are dangerous new variants lurking in the wings – most worryingly is the B.1.617.2 mutation (the so-called Indian variant). The Government has placed tight restrictions on those travelling back from South Asia asking some of them to quarantine in special COVID hotels. However, there are large communities of Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis in Italy. Many of these people live in crowded, ghetto-like, conditions, ideal for the spread of the virus. There have already been some cases of the Indian variant near Rome and the Government has imposed strict lockdowns in these areas. But it remains a very worrisome situation.

In announcing the reopening measure, the Prime Minister said that the Government was taking a “calculated risk”. Several leading medical experts were quick to respond that the calculations were done badly and failed to adequately assess costs and benefits.

The outcome of the recent measures will play out in the coming months. The country may plunge back into the pandemic or else move rapidly towards normalization. However, the so called normalization may only be a superficial phenomenon. The Pandemic has created, or often exacerbated, several deeper changes in Italian society. The country will have to struggle with these for several years.

The pandemic and the lockdowns are created a growing unease among the population, especially among younger people. There are strident calls for “Liberty” and this often translates into a strong unwillingness to follow Government SOPs. Despite continuous warnings by authorities, many people simply do not maintain social distancing, do not wear face-masks, and gather in large groups especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

The feeling of oppression, a mistrust of authority, and a search for alternative realties are not new phenomena. However, the pandemic has sharply split society between those who see Government, Science and Rules as things for the common good; and those who are who feel alienated and are constantly searching for conspiracy theories to justify their actions.

The pandemic has also very sharply increased income and wealth inequality, and this has stoked feelings of helplessness and a lack of optimism in the future. One of the consequences of this was a sharp fall in marriages, an increase in divorces, and, most worryingly, an unwillingness to have children. In 2020, the birth rate, already low and lagging behind the death rate, reached its lowest level ever – around 400,000 a fertility rate of only 1.24 – well below the number of deaths (750,000). In a recent speech that touched on this issue, Pope Francis called it a “demographic winter, cold and dark”.

The pandemic has seen the significant faltering of traditional politics and leadership. The political parties have been continuously bickering. After several rather odd coalitions between the strangest of bed-fellows, the President had to ask a non-politician (the former head of the Italian and European Central Banks to take over as Prime minister. The traditional institutions failed even to manage the vaccination campaign and a uniformed serving general, sometimes referred to as the TV general due to his frequent public appearance, was placed in charge of the campaign.

The populist parties, some of which are part of the ruling coalition, continue to fan social and economic tensions and rail against restrictions. For example, when the Government confirmed continuation of the 10:00 pm curfew, one of the Ministers made a statement that no one would be fined if they were out after 10:00pm – provided they could show that they were at a restaurant, returning from work, or a host of other reasons. All of this made a mockery of the curfew as the police and other authorities have confused about what action they are expected to take.

The political tensions are likely to rise in the coming months. The Parliament has approved a Recovery and Resilience Plan in the amount of almost Euro250 billion – more than Pakistan’s annual GDP for a country less than 30% of its size – to be spent in the next 5-6 years. Of this amount, the bulk will come from EU funds and is conditional on a series of deep reforms. Many of these reforms have been in the programme of several Governments but never got implemented due to lack of political will and various entrenched vested interests.

In the past year the country has faced an agonizing period. Recovery now hinges on how things move forward. It will be hard but I remain optimistic.

Daud Khan works as consultant and advisor for various Governments and international agencies. He has degrees in Economics from the LSE and Oxford – where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and a degree in Environmental Management from the Imperial College of Science and Technology. He lives partly in Italy and partly in Pakistan.

This story was first published in The Express Tribune, Pakistan

 

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By External Source
Jun 14 2021 (IPS-Partners)

 

The facts:-

The progress to end child labour has stalled for the first time in 20 years, reversing the previous downward trend that saw child labour fall by 94 million between 2000 and 2016.

The number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide – an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years.

Children in child labour are at risk of physical and mental harm. Child labour compromises children’s education, restricting their rights and limiting their future opportunities, and leads to vicious inter-generational cycles of poverty and child labour.

* The agriculture sector accounts for 70 per cent of children in child labour (112 million) followed by 20 per cent in services (31.4 million) and 10 per cent in industry (16.5 million).
* Nearly 28 per cent of children aged 5 to 11 years and 35 per cent of children aged 12 to 14 years in child labour are out of school.
* Child labour is more prevalent among boys than girls at every age. When household chores performed for 21 hours or more each week are taken into account, the gender gap in child labour narrows.
* The prevalence of child labour in rural areas (14 per cent) is close to three times higher than in urban areas (5 per cent).

Children in child labour are at risk of physical and mental harm. Child labour compromises children’s education, restricting their rights and limiting their future opportunities, and leads to vicious inter-generational cycles of poverty and child labour.

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Please visit our website gsngoal8.org and help generate awareness and create momentum in the call to action by sharing the links and hashtags listed on your social media and other networks.

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#endchildlabour #gsngoal8 #goal8.7 #childerninpoverty #humanrights #childrensrights #unsdggoal8 #globalsustainabilitynetwork #children #charity #community #makeadifference #change #education #sustainability #future

Fiba president Hamane Niang of Mali steps aside as a probe into sexual harassment in his nation's basketball federation is launched.

The Tigray fighting has shattered the overseas reputation of Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Credit: UNICEF/UNI376255/Chol

By Hanna Hassan
ARLINGTON, Virginia, USA, Jun 14 2021 (IPS)

August of this year will mark the one-year anniversary of the end of South Sudan’s civil war, yet recent surges of violence suggest that peace is far from being realized. These attacks by armed groups include instances of sexual violence against women and girls.

Sexual and gender-based violence (GBV) continues to be a significant characteristic in South Sudan’s conflict, threatening the livelihood and human rights of women and girls.

UNICEF reports approximately 65% of women and girls in South Sudan have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes. These forms of GBV can leave women and girls with severe mental and physical health problems.

Why is the rate of sexual violence so high in South Sudan? According to human rights experts, the answer can be found in a fundamental element of South Sudan’s local economy—bride price.

In South Sudan, if a man would like to marry a woman, his family would have to pay for her, often in cows or goats, based on her negotiated value. Once women are married off, they are expected to bear many children, including daughters who are viewed as assets to acquire more cattle.

Therefore, early and forced marriages are common with more than 50 percent of girls married before the age of 18. Many young girls are married to elderly suitors because those men have more assets.

The objectification and commodification of women in South Sudanese society allow for a culture in which GBV is accepted and normalized. Traditional gender roles and conditions of poverty sustain the practice of paying bride price.

The lack of women’s rights in South Sudan not only leads to suffering but also challenges efforts to promote peace. Cultural notions that women are homemakers and child-bearers drive inequity.

Only 7 percent of girls finish primary school and fewer than 2 percent go on to high school. Families may also worry that girls may be sexually assaulted on their journeys to school, lowering their value and bride price. GBV prevents girls from pursuing their dreams and keeps families trapped in generational poverty.

The return on education is worth re-evaluating the importance placed on paying bride price. Studies show that a single year of primary school education has been shown to increase women’s wages by up to 20% later in life.

If South Sudan is to undergo significant economic development, women and girls must have access to education. “Women have the opportunity to contribute in building this nation into a country that is stable and peaceful,” said South Sudanese activist Rita Lopidia at the inaugural Women Building Peace Award.

Gender equity is intimately tied to achieving stability in South Sudan.

Meanwhile, Intercommunal fighting in the Jonglei region of South Sudan has led to kidnappings and killings. Credit: UNMISS

It is imperative that the government of South Sudan takes steps to reduce the prevalence of GBV and increase access to education. Addressing the root of this issue, begins with regulating bride price.

Excessive bride prices are a burden on both men and women. Men who cannot afford bride prices experience feelings of inadequacy and social seclusion. Village youths put their life at risk during livestock raids in neighboring tribes to be able to afford marriage.

Women experience violence in the form of physical and sexual violence resulting from the valuation of their worth in terms of livestock. By targeting social norms that perpetuate these levels of violence, South Sudan can inspire a movement towards rehabilitation and rebuilding.

Although commonly held perceptions will not change overnight, community-based efforts towards GBV education and awareness-raising will lay the foundation for establishing lasting women’s rights laws and policies. If women can become workshop leaders, teachers, and decision-makers in implementing the peace accords, South Sudan will be able to envision a country that serves the needs of all of its people.

The real price of marriage in South Sudan is the opportunity to realize peace and stability. Although bride price is commonly paid in cows and goats, families also sacrifice the well-being of their daughters and higher earning potentials.

The rise of physical and sexual violence in recent weeks indicates that South Sudan is at risk of falling back into large-scale conflict. If South Sudan is to continue on the path of peacemaking and change conditions of underdevelopment, regulating bride prices needs to be on the agenda.

Hanna Hassan is an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia, currently interning at the High Atlas Foundation.

 

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The rugged landscape of Tigray, Ethiopia’s most northern region, stretches away to the north and into Eritrea. The Tigray Region has been rocked by conflict since November 2020. Credit: James Jeffrey/IPS

By External Source
DILI, Jun 11 2021 (IPS)

Seven highly respected leaders in conflict resolution have issued a call for Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to take immediate action to bring a halt to the atrocities being committed in the Tigray region of his nation. The letter urges the Prime Minister to implement seven steps to resolve the crisis.

It was authored by José Ramos-Horta, former President of Timor-Leste and 1996 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and five other international diplomats and peace builders, “colleagues and friends the Prime Minister knows well,” including former President of Finland Tarja Halonen, former UN and Arab League Special Envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, Emeritus Bishop of Oslo and former Vice Chair of the Nobel Committee Dr. Gunnar Stalsett, former President of Slovenia and former UN Assistant Secretary General and President of the World Leadership Alliance Danilo Turk, and former UN Under Secretary General and Special Envoy for the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng.

The letter notes that “grave human rights violations and abuses are being committed against civilian Tigrayans, including extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, looting and destruction of property, mass executions, arbitrary arrests, rape, forced displacement of populations, hate speech and stigmatization including ethnic profiling. These attacks have caused tens of thousands of Tigrayan children and adults to flee their homes and to seek refuge in Sudan under extremely deplorable conditions.”

“As a result of this conflict, according to the United Nations, approximately 4.5 million of a population of 6 million people are in immediate need of humanitarian assistance,” it says. “Between two and 2.5 million people in the region will experience severe food insecurity through September. News outlets from around the globe are also increasingly writing of horrifying stories of rape, torture, and mass arrests.”

It recalls Abiy’s own words, from his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech two years ago, “there are those, ‘who have never seen war, but glorify and romanticize it. They have not seen the fear. They have not seen the fatigue. They have not seen the destruction or heartbreak, nor have they felt the mournful emptiness of war after the carnage.”

Specifically, the leaders urge Prime Minister Ahmed to:

1. Act now and swiftly to save his country and end the suffering of Ethiopians afflicted by war in Tigray.

2. Invite independent and credible investigations, in full cooperation with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, into human rights abuses and violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law by all actors in Tigray. We encourage the Prime Minister to ensure that other human rights organizations are provided access in order to independently investigate reports of human rights abuses and violations in Tigray.

3. Consider establishing a hybrid court empowered with jurisdiction to hold accountable Eritrean perpetrators of war crimes.

4. Fully cooperate with regional organizations and the international community to facilitate all-inclusive dialogue, reconciliation and healing, involving all political and civil society actors in Tigray with the goal of charting a consensual way forward for the region’s future governance.

5. Lead calls for a cessation of hostilities by all parties involved and encourage other parties to commit to ending the fighting immediately. Press for the immediate and verifiable withdrawal of Eritrean and Amhara regional forces from the Tigray Region.

6. Facilitate the work of international humanitarian staff including by issuing long-duration visas, expediting the process for the importation and use of satellite communication technology by humanitarian organizations, and instructing your military and allied forces to establish a civil-military coordination cell to facilitate the work of humanitarian organizations on the ground.

7. Issue orders to protect all civilians in Tigray and throughout Ethiopia regardless of their ethnicity, including refugees and internally displaced persons, and particularly women in the light of widespread reports of sexual and gender-based violence.”

“It is clear that like all wars, the political dispute that led to the Tigray crisis cannot be resolved through military means alone,” it states. “The suffering inflicted on the people in the region has already been too great. For the good of Ethiopia, and the good of the region and the world, we ask the Prime Minister to work toward a political solution as soon as possible. It is only through dialogue and negotiation that lasting peace can be established, and the healing for so many can begin.”

There has been no response to date from Prime Minister Abiy.

Read the letter

SIGNATORIES ARE AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT AND DISCUSSION.

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By Yasmine Sherif
Jun 11 2021 (IPS-Partners)

The right to an inclusive quality education is not a privilege. It is a human right. Delaying or ignoring the right to an education equals failing to protect human rights. The longer we wait, the less we contribute to justice.

Yasmine Sherif

For the 128 million children and adolescents growing up in forced displacement and protracted crises, the denial of an inclusive quality education means delaying their growth, their safety and their lives. Born into violent conflict zones, forced displacement or a context where education is seen as a threat, they have no means whatsoever to reclaim their rights without international financing. Financing is key to defending, promoting and protecting the right to an education, which in turn is the very foundation of all other human rights and all other Sustainable Development Goals. International aid, such as grants and loans, as well as private sector financing, are thus powerful means to deliver justice.

Amongst the 128 million children and youth still waiting for such justice, 7.3 million are refugee children and adolescents between the ages of 4 and 18. In parts of the Sahel in Western Africa, children are so afraid of being caught learning that they do their school-work in the sand – ready for it to be quickly erased should anyone question what they are doing. In the Central African Republic, attacks by armed groups force families to move on a regular basis, uprooting them overnight, fleeing for their lives, preventing children from feeling safe and repeatedly denying them stable access to learning. And in Nigeria, for adolescent girls, simply going to school puts them at immediate risk of being kidnapped or killed.

In this month’s Education Cannot Wait’s Newsletter, we interviewed one of the founders of the Education Cannot Wait Global Fund, Kevin Watkins, Chief Executive of Save the Children UK. He speaks to us about the right to education from the lens of justice. It is very much in the same spirit of another founder, The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of Education Cannot Wait’s High-Level Steering Group, who often refers to our collective struggle for the right to a quality education as the civil rights movement of our century.

It is time to look at the right to an inclusive quality education, as the most important human right and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG4) of our times. Without 12 years of an education, all else falls away – be it local empowerment, gender-equality, ending poverty or maintaining peace and security. Imagine trying to achieve all that in any society without an education?

Martin Luther King Jr once said: “Justice delayed is justice denied.” The 128 million children and youth left furthest behind (the number significantly increased from an estimated 75 million to an estimated 128 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic), cannot reconcile with the fact that their justice is being both delayed and denied. Their sense of justice is right on target. To them, their education cannot wait.

In May 2021, the Education Cannot Wait Global Fund commemorated its Fifth Anniversary and the international community came out in full force to positively embrace our shared achievements (several of them quoted in this Newsletter). Since becoming fully operational four years ago, ECW and ECW partners have reached 4 million children and youth in crisis countries with quality education, and delivered emergency responses to over 10 million children, including in response to COVID-19.

With more financing, we could have reached even more children and youth. It is all about financing. With a funding ask of $400 million for 2021/22 (which is a modest ask compared to the needs, yet takes into account the economic recession), the Education Cannot Wait Global Fund can deliver justice to millions of more children and youth, by making sure that an inclusive quality education for those left furthest behind is neither denied, nor delayed.

Yasmine Sherif, Director Education Cannot Wait (ECW)

The Ethiopian region has been devastated by fighting between rebels and government forces.

Over 600 million people in Africa require treatment for an NTD, making up 35% of the global burden. Credit: Uniting to Combat NTDs

By Thoko Elphick-Pooley
HOVE, United Kingdom, Jun 11 2021 (IPS)

As world leaders come together in the UK for the G7, the global response to COVID-19 and how we can build a better defence system against infection is at the forefront of discussions.  Whilst we applaud the incredible global efforts in tackling COVID-19 and support calls for vaccines to be shared equitably across the world, we also urge G7 leaders not to abandon efforts to tackle existing epidemics such as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), HIV/AIDs, malaria, TB and polio.

The gains that have been made fighting these diseases must not be lost or we risk disease resurgence that will be even more costly to address, which could lead to a disastrous disease epidemic with mass consequences.

Diseases like blinding trachoma, leprosy, intestinal worms, Guinea worm disease and elephantiasis; they blind, disable, and can even be fatal. These diseases are preventable and treatable, yet they still affect 1.7 billion people around the world

As demonstrated by COVID-19, health crises don’t pop up overnight. They are a consequence of systemic underinvestment in global health, lack of strong disease surveillance systems capable of detecting disease outbreaks, global data sharing protocols, weak health systems compounded by a lack of pandemic preparedness backed by sustainable financing for global health.

COVID-19 has shown us that it doesn’t matter whether you are a low, medium or high-income country. If you lack the essential medical supplies, lives will be lost. If you have a critical gap in health workforce and infrastructure, other essential health services will suffer as resources get diverted to fighting a pandemic. Moreover, diseases do not respect borders.

This is why we must not abandon efforts to tackle existing epidemics. Take neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), for instance, coined as such because of persistent neglect. NTDs is the collective name for a group of 20 infectious diseases and conditions. Diseases like blinding trachoma, leprosy, intestinal worms, Guinea worm disease and elephantiasis. They blind, disable, and can even be fatal. These diseases are preventable and treatable, yet they still affect 1.7 billion people around the world. They are a chronic epidemic that rarely make it to the top of anyone’s agenda. They affect the most vulnerable communities in low-resource settings, primarily in Africa. 

Over 600 million people in Africa require treatment for an NTD, making up 35% of the global burden. Across the continent, 12 countries are on track to eliminate an NTD in the next three years – an extraordinary feat based on years of necessary action.

Vulnerable African communities currently face a triple burden; the pandemic has had a devastating impact on health services; cuts to NTD treatments will make them more vulnerable to tropical diseases, and the prospect of these individuals receiving a COVID-19 vaccine before 2023 is highly unlikely. This triple threat makes some communities in Africa more vulnerable to future outbreaks and increases the risk of disease resurgence, undermining efforts to improve global health security. 

It is in the interest of all the G7 countries to sustain investments that directly underpin our safety, security and economic success – and to help shape a recovery plan that promotes the health and prosperity of individuals globally. Only then will we be able to prepare for and tackle future outbreaks of deadly infections.

We welcome the focus of world leaders on One Health, which is a collaborative effort to achieve health for people, animals and the environment at the local, national and global level. We urge G7 leaders to go a step further, beyond focusing on zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance, which simply isn’t enough to truly build pandemic preparedness.

Future health threats could develop from different origins, patterns, nature or impact. All aspects of One Health must be included if we are to improve global health security, including tackling other diseases, such as NTDs.

This will be a win-win for people and countries everywhere. Investments in NTDs have been a success story with 43 countries having eliminated at least one NTD, including 17 in Africa and 600 million people no longer requiring treatment for them. But the UK government’s recent exit from supporting NTD programmes, particularly during a pandemic, undermines years of progress and will deeply impact millions of Africans.

Now, 184 million tablets in 25 African countries are at high risk of expiring in 2021 and 2022 due to the funding cuts. By failing to place tackling NTDs and disease epidemics at the forefront of the global health security agenda, we risk our children’s lives and their future. Poverty will increase and access to education will be impacted. COVID-19 has shown the entire world how highly connected we are and now it is time for disease control to be dealt with collectively.

 

Thoko Elphick-Pooley is Executive Director of Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases

 

Boris Johnson’s recent pledge to cut emissions by 78 % by 2035 (compared with 1990 levels) is impressive in its ambition. Opponents are asking how such momentous pledges can be achieved. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

By Felix Dodds and Chris Spence
NEW YORK, Jun 11 2021 (IPS)

How are preparations for the Glasgow Climate Summit in November proceeding? Currently, we are more than halfway through three weeks of virtual preparatory negotiations taking place in June. These online talks are challenging in their own right, just as many had feared  (see: ‘Should the 2021 Climate Summit in Glasgow Still Take Place?’). 

As we enter the final few months before Glasgow, however, there is room both for optimism and deep concern. Curiously, both of these emotions center squarely on the critical role of the host government. 

The success or failure of a climate summit of this magnitude depends greatly on the role of the host government—or “Presidency”. In the past, we have seen both unfortunate missteps from the Presidency, such as Copenhagen in 2009, as well as untrammeled successes, like Paris in 2015. 

The success or failure of a climate summit of this magnitude depends greatly on the role of the host government—or “Presidency”. In the past, we have seen both unfortunate missteps from the Presidency, such as Copenhagen in 2009, as well as untrammeled successes, like Paris in 2015

There are several common elements that make up a good or even a great Presidency. First, the ability to build trust among member states is critical. While this sounds simple in theory, in practice it is immensely difficult, even without the added complication of a global pandemic creating both practical difficulties and showing once again the deep rifts between wealthy countries, which have hoovered up the bulk of vaccines, and developing nations. Another feature of a strong Presidency is its careful planning, both substantively and logistically. Can the UK deliver?

 

Always look on the bright side

Let’s start with reasons to be optimistic. First, the UK Presidency has made one very positive and intelligent move. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent pledge to cut emissions by 78 % by 2035 (compared with 1990 levels) is impressive in its ambition. It set a very high bar for other nations and could, potentially, give the UK a strong moral foundation for asking more of others. 

Another positive for the UK is the enduring quality of its civil service. While the UK’s politicians seem to have discovered a penchant for tripping on every possible banana skin in recent years, the reputation of the country’s public servants remains high. The performance of the National Health Service (NHS) during the pandemic is just one example. More relevant to the Glasgow Summit, however, is the caliber of its diplomatic corps and wider foreign service, which remains exemplary. 

 

How to lose friends and irritate people

Set against these positives, though, are several worrying facts. 

First, the UK is the assuming the Presidency in the immediate aftermath of Brexit, a process that has left both Britain and its EU neighbors both bruised and a low point in their relationship. Its exit from the EU could hardly be described as one that has built strong and positive relations with the remaining 27 countries. These are countries the UK will need onside to make Glasgow a success.

Secondly, the UK’s recent decision to cut  development aid from 0.7% to 0.5 % Gross National Income (GNI) feels like extraordinarily bad timing..

 

Development Aid

In October 1970, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution supporting the commitment to the 0.7% GNI for development aid from developed countries. While developed countries had agreed in theory, however, few were willing to put their money where their mouths were.

The UK was one of these few. In 2013, the Liberal Democrat MP Michael Moore introduced the Private Members Bill to the UK parliament that would enshrine the 0.7% GNI development aid target into law. In  theory, this would protect it from being a bargaining tool in any future government budget discussions. 

The law was passed in March 2015 under the Conservative/Liberal coalition government. All major political parties at the last election in 2019 committed to standing by this development target. 

Surprisingly, this changed in November 2020 with the Conservative UK Finance Minister’s Spending Review. The review indicated that in 2021 the government would reduce its allocation of development aid to 0.5 % (GNI). This has resulted in a huge cut: US$5.7 billion in aid will no longer be available. While the consequences are yet to be felt, it can hardly fail to be momentous. To put it into context, this cut is more than the combined ODA of Austria, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Iceland, Greece, Portugal, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic. 

Up until the UK’s startling decision to cut its ODA, it has held the moral high ground on this issue. In fact, it was one of only six countries to have reached the United Nations goal of 0.7 %–and the only G7 country to do so. This gave the UK a great boost for the upcoming Climate Summit, where finance will be a critical issue. 

 

Tory misgivings 

Now Johnson’s government has surrendered this advantage, many experts are wondering how it will affect the host government’s efforts to win over the international community that will descend on Glasgow in November? Such cuts will have profound, on-the-ground impacts in many developing countries—hardly a smart way to “win friends and influence people.”

Some of Johnson’s own Tory colleagues have serious misgivings. While a possible parliamentary rebellion seems unlikely, a coalition of Conservative MPs led by former International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, and including two former Conservative Prime Ministers, is opposed to the cut, viewing it as a self-inflicted wound. The Conservatives have a majority of 80 in the House of Commons, which means if Conservative 41 MPs supported the reinstatement of the 0.7% then the government could face a humiliating climbdown. 

 

Logistical confusion 

(Drawn from a briefing produced by our colleague Yunus Arikan from ICLEI who follows the UNFCCC negotiations as the focal point of Local government and municipal authorities (LGMA), one of the 9 stakeholders climate constituencies.) 

Another potential pitfall in the lead-up to Glasgow lies in the meeting’s arrangements and logistics. By early June, publicly available information for participants in Glasgow was in short supply. 

For instance, there was no information yet on the capacity of the Glasgow Blue Zone (the conference location where negotiations will take place) with no breakdown for governments and observers of layout and costs of pavilion and office spaces. 

Special Glasgow Summit visas are currently available only for Blue Zone delegations and visa applications have to be submitted to the UK embassies starting from August. At this time, however, no information is available to facilitate visa applications for Green Zone events (where businesses and civil society will operate). Clearly, the clock is ticking on all of this.

Current UK COVID-19 measures ask for a minimum two weeks of quarantine upon arrival for most international participants,. Does this mean visa applications have to be adjusted accordingly as well? Will the policy be altered ahead of the Summit for government officials and other participants? This is not yet clear.

The Glasgow Summit is scheduled to have a Heads of State session on 1-2 November and a High-Level Ministerial Session the following week. No specific arrangement has yet been announced for access of observers during either of these segments, which again makes planning difficult for many non-negotiator participants.

The UN Climate Change Secretariat is expected to announce calls for special events (known as “side events”) on the UNFCCC-accreditation restricted Blue Zone 29 June. The results will be announced on 30 September which will leave less then a month´s time for speakers and organizers to secure their vaccines-visas-travels-accommodation for Glasgow – which will be a challenge in itself for any COP or major intergovernmental conference in normal times. It is also not clear what specific COVID-19 measures will apply for side events and meeting rooms, which influences the number of speakers and participants.

There is also no information yet on whether the UK Presidency and/or the UN Climate Secretariat will offer special vaccinations for participants, or whether observers will enjoy such benefits. Even if they do, the basis of selection will need to be clarified and it is also not clear which countries will accept such offers. Clearly, many logistical matters need to be clarified in a short space of time.

 

Details, details

The Glasgow Summit will mark an important moment for Boris Johnson’s Government. After the perceived foreign policy missteps over Brexit, Glasgow represents Johnson’s best opportunity to show that his vision of a new, global Britain can become a reality. The Prime Minister has apparently set great store by showcasing what his country could become in a post-Brexit future. If managed correctly, it could be a crowning success of his leadership. 

Yet if he is to burnish such a crown and make it gleam once more, he will need to ensure the logistical details are taken care of, and promptly. Furthermore, he will need to provide more details for how the UK will meet its ambitious 2035 emissions targets, since opponents are already asking how such momentous pledges can be achieved. Bringing the full weight of his country’s diplomatic skills in the lead-up to Glasgow will also be needed. This is no time for half-measures. It should be a complete team effort. 

Johnson should consider changing tack on his government’s ODA cuts. If this reduction was repositioned as a one-off, single-year adjustment, an announcement to reinstate some or all of the 0.7 % commitment could be timed in a way that would give Glasgow—and Johnson’s own reputation—a major boost. 

Finally, it looks very likely that Convention on Biological Diversity Summit in China may go ahead with only Ambassadors from country embassies in China and no delates or stakeholders from outside China. The Biodiversity Summit starts three weeks before the Glasgow Climate Summit – it makes you think – is this an indicator of what is going to happen?

 

Felix Dodds is a sustainable development advocate and writer. His new book Tomorrow’s People and New Technologies: Changing the Way we Live Our Lives will be out in September. He is coauthor of Only One Earth with Maurice Strong and Michael Strauss and Negotiating the Sustainable Development Goals with Ambassador David Donoghue and Jimena Leiva Roesch.

Chris Spence is an environmental consultant, writer and author of the book, Global Warming: Personal Solutions for a Healthy Planet. He is a veteran of many climate summits and other United Nations negotiations over the past three decades.