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A rural settlement in the state of Pernambuco, in Brazil's semiarid ecoregion. Tanks that collect rainwater from rooftops for drinking water and household usage have changed life in this parched land, where 1.1 million 16,000-litre tanks have been installed so far. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 27 2020 (IPS)

After centuries of poverty, marginalisation from national development policies and a lack of support for positive local practices and projects, the semiarid regions of Latin America are preparing to forge their own agricultural paths by sharing knowledge, in a new and unprecedented initiative.

In Brazil’s semiarid Northeast, the Gran Chaco Americano, which is shared by Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay, and the Central American Dry Corridor (CADC), successful local practices will be identified, evaluated and documented to support the design of policies that promote climate change-resilient agriculture in the three ecoregions.

This is the objective of DAKI-Semiárido Vivo, an initiative financed by the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and implemented by the Brazilian Semiarid Articulation (ASA), the Argentinean Foundation for Development in Justice and Peace (Fundapaz) and the National Development Foundation (Funde) of El Salvador.

DAKI stands for Dryland Adaptation Knowledge Initiative.

The project, launched on Aug. 18 in a special webinar where some of its creators were speakers, will last four years and involve 2,000 people, including public officials, rural extension agents, researchers and small farmers. Indirectly, 6,000 people will benefit from the training.

“The aim is to incorporate public officials from this field with the intention to influence the government’s actions,” said Antonio Barbosa, coordinator of DAKI-Semiárido Vivo and one of the leaders of the Brazilian organisation ASA.

The idea is to promote programmes that could benefit the three semiarid regions, which are home to at least 37 million people – more than the total populations of Chile, Ecuador and Peru combined.

The residents of semiarid regions, especially those who live in rural areas, face water scarcity aggravated by climate change, which affects their food security and quality of life.

Zulema Burneo, International Land Coalition coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean and moderator of the webinar that launched the project, stressed that the initiative was aimed at “amplifying and strengthening” isolated efforts and a few longstanding collectives working on practices to improve life in semiarid areas.

Abel Manto, an inventor of technologies that he uses on his small farm in the state of Bahia, in Brazil’s semiarid ecoregion, holds up a watermelon while standing among the bean crop he is growing on top of an underground dam. The soil is on a waterproof plastic tarp that keeps near the surface the water that is retained by an underground dam. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

The practices that represent the best knowledge of living in the drylands will be selected not so much for their technical aspects, but for the results achieved in terms of economic, ecological and social development, Barbosa explained to IPS in a telephone interview from the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife, where the headquarters of ASA are located.

After the process of systematisation of the best practices in each region is completed, harnessing traditional knowledge through exchanges between technicians and farmers, the next step will be “to build a methodology and the pedagogical content to be used in the training,” he said.

One result will be a platform for distance learning. The Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, also in Recife, will help with this.

Decentralised family or community water supply infrastructure, developed and disseminated by ASA, a network of 3,000 social organisations scattered throughout the Brazilian Northeast, is a key experience in this process.

In the 1.03 million square kilometres of drylands where 22 million Brazilians live, 38 percent in rural areas according to the 2010 census, 1.1 million rainwater harvesting tanks have been built so far for human consumption.

An estimated 350,000 more are needed to bring water to the entire rural population in the semiarid Northeast, said Barbosa.

But the most important aspect for agricultural development involves eight “technologies” for obtaining and storing water for crops and livestock. ASA, created in 1999, has helped install this infrastructure on 205,000 farms for this purpose and estimates that another 800 peasant families still need it.

There are farms that are too small to install the infrastructure, or that have other limitations, said Barbosa, who coordinates ASA’s One Land and Two Waters and native seed programmes.

The “calçadão” technique, where water runs down a sloping concrete terrace or even a road into a tank that has a capacity to hold 52,000 litres, is the most widely used system for irrigating vegetables.

A group of peasant farmers from El Salvador stand in front of one of the two rainwater tanks built in their village, La Colmena, in the municipality of Candelaria de la Frontera. The pond is part of a climate change adaptation project in the Central American Dry Corridor. Central American farmers like these and others from Brazil’s semiarid Northeast have exchanged experiences on solutions for living with lengthy droughts. CREDIT: Edgardo Ayala/IPS

And in Argentina’s Chaco region, 16,000-litre drinking water tanks are mushrooming.

But tanks for intensive and small farming irrigation are not suitable for the dry Chaco, where livestock is raised on large estates of hundreds of hectares, said Gabriel Seghezzo, executive director of Fundapaz, in an interview by phone with IPS from the city of Salta, capital of the province of the same name, one of those that make up Argentina’s Gran Chaco region.

“Here we need dams in the natural shallows and very deep wells; we have a serious water problem,” he said. “The groundwater is generally of poor quality, very salty or very deep.”

First, peasants and indigenous people face the problem of formalising ownership of their land, due to the lack of land titles. Then comes the challenge of access to water, both for household consumption and agricultural production.

“In some cases there is the possibility of diverting rivers. The Bermejo River overflows up to 60 km from its bed,” he said.

Currently there is an intense local drought, which seems to indicate a deterioration of the climate, urgently requiring adaptation and mitigation responses.

Reforestation and silvopastoral systems are good alternatives, in an area where deforestation is “the main conflict, due to the pressure of the advance of soy and corn monoculture and corporate cattle farming,” he said.

Mariano Barraza of the Wichí indigenous community (L) and Enzo Romero, a technician from the Fundapaz organisation, stand next to the tank built to store rainwater in an indigenous community in the province of Salta, in the Chaco ecoregion of northern Argentina, where there are six months of drought every year. CREDIT: Daniel Gutman/IPS

More forests would be beneficial for the water, reducing evaporation that is intense due to the heat and hot wind, he added.

Of the “technologies” developed in Brazil, one of the most useful for other semiarid regions is the “underground dam,” Claus Reiner, manager of IFAD programmes in Brazil, told IPS by phone from Brasilia.

The underground dam keeps the surrounding soil moist. It requires a certain amount of work to dig a long, deep trench along the drainage route of rainwater, where a plastic tarp is placed vertically, causing the water to pool during rainy periods. A location is chosen where the natural layer makes the dam impermeable from below.

This principle is important for the Central American Dry Corridor, where “the great challenge is how to infiltrate rainwater into the soil, in addition to collecting it for irrigation and human consumption,” said Ismael Merlos of El Salvador, founder of Funde and director of its Territorial Development Area.

The CADC, which cuts north to south through Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, is defined not as semiarid, but as a sub-humid region, because it rains slightly more there, although in an increasingly irregular manner.

Some solutions are not viable because “75 percent of the farming areas in the Corridor are sloping land, unprotected by organic material, which makes the water run off more quickly into the rivers,” Merlos told IPS by phone from San Salvador.

“In addition, the large irrigation systems that we’re familiar with are not accessible for the poor because of their high cost and the expensive energy for the extraction and pumping of water, from declining sources,” he said.

The most viable alternative, he added, is making better use of rainwater, by building tanks, or through techniques to retain moisture in the soil, such as reforestation and leaving straw and other harvest waste on the ground rather than burning it as peasant farmers continue to do.

“Harmful weather events, which four decades ago occurred one to three times a year, now happen 10 or more times a year, and their effects are more severe in the Dry Zone,” Merlos pointed out.

Funde is a Salvadoran centre for development research and policy formulation that together with Fundapaz, four Brazilian organisations forming part of the ASA network and seven other Latin American groups had been cooperating since 2013, when they created the Latin American Semiarid Platform.

The Platform paved the way for the DAKI-Semiárido Vivo which, using 78 percent of its two million dollar budget, opened up new horizons for synergy among Latin America’s semiarid ecoregions. To this end, said Burneo, it should create a virtuous alliance of “good practices and public policies.”

Related Articles

• Even Rocks Harvest Water in Brazil’s Semi-Arid Northeast
• Rainwater Harvesting Eases Daily Struggle in Argentina’s Chaco Region
• Farmers from Central America and Brazil Join Forces to Live with Drought
• Brazil's Semiarid Northeast – More Coverage

The post Semiarid Regions of Latin America Cooperate to Adapt to Climate appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By External Source
Aug 27 2020 (IPS-Partners)

The Pacific Partnership to End Violence Against Women and Girls (Pacific Partnership) programme has launched a poetry anthology publication comprising a collection of Pacific poems and artworks about human rights and social justice suitable for students in Years 7-13.

The publication titled Rising Tide has been produced as part of the Pacific Partnership’s Social Citizenship Education (SCE) Programme led by the Pacific Community’s (SPC) Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT).

Working towards implementing human rights work in schools and communities, SPC RRRT, with the support of The University of the South Pacific’s (USP) Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture, and Pacific Studies (OCACPS), embarked on this project with editor, Dr Francis Mangubhai, a notable Fiji-born educator and researcher in applied linguistics to collate this poetry anthology which will be used as a teaching and learning resource for schools students and young people in the Pacific.

Acknowledging how changes occur in our Pacific communities like everywhere else in the world, the anthology is titled Rising Tide, due to climate change which is a social justice issue and a topic in which Pacific communities lead the world. It is also an expression that is used metaphorically – there is a rising tide of change occurring in our societies, including changes related to equality, inclusion, and ending violence against women. Young people who will be the next generation of adults, can, through their attitudes, values and voices, contribute to this rising tide of change.

Speaking at the launch of the anthology, the Head of Political, Trade and Information at the Delegation of the European Union for the Pacific, Galia Agisheva said, ‘Human rights and social justice are the core values of the European Union, which is founded on engagement to promote and protect human rights, democracy and rule of law. The EU views all human rights as universal, indivisible and interdependent.

As such, we are delighted to be able to collaborate with SPC RRRT, UN Women and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIFS) to support the anthology Rising Tide. This collection of the Pacific poems, will undoubtedly generate inspiration for the young generation for which it is aimed. This young generation is the rising tide of the Pacific, can become the true fundamental agents of change of attitudes – in their lives, in their families, in their communities, in their countries, and also globally’’.

According to RRRT Director, Miles Young, the ‘Rising Tide’ is an essential, evocative and unique anthology featuring Pacific poets and artists expressing their voice on social justice issues that exist in our Pacific societies.

“The poems in this book challenge us to think and take action on issues pertinent to the Pacific and globally such as inequalities, discrimination, injustices and violence against women, girls and children,” Young said.

He added that through this creative interplay of art, words and rhythm, it is hoped that Pacific children, who are the present and future of the region will be inspired to rise like the tide and create and model change that will make Pacific communities, just, safer and more peaceful.

USP’s Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Pal Ahluwalia said the University was proud to have partnered with SPC RRRT in the publishing of this anthology of Pacific Poetry on human rights and social justice through engagement of the Oceania Centre.

“This collaboration is significant not just as an example of CROP collaboration but also given the long history of Pacific Publications through the Institute of Pacific Studies, now Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies,” Professor Pal said.

He added that the collaboration is a reminder of the importance of arts and culture, and pacific-led and home grown arts and recognition of artists. This is something that the University has committed to, not just through the Oceania Centre but also through the School of Languages, Arts and Media’s Pacific Writing Forum which has encouraged emerging Pacific island writers through publication, readings and SLAMS.

“I believe that there are discussions for the collection to be made available through the USP Book Centre and I am very pleased to hear that an exhibition of the same title “Rising Tides” will continue over the next week at the Oceania Centre, featuring the artworks in the collection and select poems,” Professor Pal stated.

The poetry anthology is available on the SPC RRRT website here.

Source: Pacific Community (SPC)

The post Pacific Partnership launches human rights and social justice-themed poetry book for children appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Ex-Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is not eligible to stand for the presidency of the Ivory Coast Football Federation.

A 45-year-old man is accused of war crimes during the first and second Liberian civil wars.

Maisa Guajajara, march of indigenous women, Brasilia, 2019. Image courtesy Marquinho Mota/FAOR.

By Rosamaria Loures and Sarah Sax
NEW YORK, Aug 27 2020 (IPS)

On an early December morning last year in the state of Maranhão, Brazil, half a dozen members of the Indigenous Guajajara people packed their bags with food, maps and drone equipment to get ready for a patrol. They said goodbye to their children, uncertain when, or whether, they would see them again. Then, they hoisted their bags over their shoulders and set out to patrol a section of the 173,000 hectares (428,000 acres) of the primary rainforest they call home.

This is the Caru Indigenous Territory, where the Amazon peters out toward the northeastern coast of Brazil, and it contains some of the last stretches of intact, contiguous forest in Maranhão. It is also under increasing threat: this part of Brazil has been ravaged by some of the country’s highest rates of deforestation and land conflicts over the past decade.

Patrols led by Indigenous groups like theirs, known often by the moniker of “Forest Guardians,” have been instrumental in enforcing protections and preventing loggers from entering Indigenous territories.

Patrols and their enforcement tactics, which have been ramping up over the past decade, have also resulted in community members being threatened, attacked, and killed — as in the case of Paulo Paulino Guajajara last year, who was murdered in a neighboring Indigenous territory.

Called guerreiras da floresta in Portuguese, this is the name these women have given themselves. They are in many ways an embodiment of what policymakers, politicians and scholars around the world say is a necessary shift toward gender equality in environmental movements

But members of the patrol that set out through the forest last December don’t call themselves guardians; they prefer warriors. And they differ in one other notable aspect: they are all women.

“Why did we take the initiative? Because we are mothers. If we don’t act, there would be no forest standing,” said Paula Guajajara, one of the “women warriors of the forest,” in a public event last year.

Called guerreiras da floresta in Portuguese, this is the name these women have given themselves. They are in many ways an embodiment of what policymakers, politicians and scholars around the world say is a necessary shift toward gender equality in environmental movements.

And they are contributing not just womanpower to the patrols — they are also helping to diversify the tactics and forge new partnerships.

In Brazil in particular, where protecting intact forests is one of the cheapest, easiest and most effective solutions for combating climate change, the work they are doing is literally saving the world.

 

Creating a space and finding their voice

Actively patrolling their land for invaders is nothing new to the Guajajara; Indigenous people have more than 500 years of experience in this. Today, they use satellite technology and coordinate efforts with outside law enforcement to achieve their goals. This approach is relatively new, but its use has been on the rise in recent years.

“Across the country more of these groups are forming because of government inaction — or worse, because the government is actively trying to exploit their lands,” Sarah Shenker, campaign coordinator for Survival International’s Uncontacted Tribes team, said in an interview.

These groups are primarily men, although women are sometimes included in the patrols. But according to Shenker, as well as other experts interviewed for this article, to have “forest guardian” groups made up solely of women is unique.

The women warriors were formed six years ago, an offshoot of a program developed by Indigenous organizations and the Brazilian government and implemented by the Ministry of the Environment to enhance the territorial and cultural protection of Indigenous people, called Projeto Demonstrativo de Povos Indígenas (PDPI) in Portuguese.

At the time, the predominantly male forest guardians were attempting to end illegal logging and the sale of wood from their territory — a task that was proving extremely difficult. Seeing this, the women stepped in and formed their own group consisting originally of 32 women.

“In order not to let the project end, we, the Guajajara women, entered and took over the project,” Cícera Guajajara da Silva, one of the women warriors, said in an interview.

But the path to being taken seriously and treated as equals has been long.

“To seek partnership, we walked, talked, slept on the floor — all in order to seek improvement for our community,” Paula Guajajara said, recalling the initial difficulty in being heard and taken seriously inside and outside of the communities.

Their patience has paid off, and the women are quick to point out the support and close collaboration of the male forest guardians that has allowed them to combat the greater goal of stopping illegal logging. “Today we have the women warriors who work together with the forest guardians,” Paula Guajajara said. “We’ve already evicted a lot of loggers. If we hadn’t acted, there would be no forest standing.”

Many of the married women had already been acting independently, accompanying their husbands in some activities, according to Gilderlan Rodrigues da Silva, the Maranhão coordinator of the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI), a Catholic Church-affiliated organization, who has worked with the women warriors. “But, from the moment they created the women’s group, they gained strength and visibility,” he said in an interview. “Once they were formed, there was this very strong change. Both in the context of decreasing the invasions and waking up to the collective awareness to protect the territory.”

 

The direct and indirect impacts of greater inclusion

The results are clearly visible. In 2018, there was only 63 hectares (156 acres) of deforestation in the reserve, compared to 2016, when deforestation reached a high of 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres), according to Global Forest Watch. “The biggest achievement I see today in my village is because of the territorial protection, there are no loggers within our territory, and we managed to combat the sale of wood,” Cícera Guajajara da Silva said.

The women’s association has also been instrumental in connecting with other Indigenous groups similarly seeking to protect their territories, such as the Ka’apor, Awa-Guaja, and other Guajajara communities.

“There are 16 Indigenous territories in Maranhão — we have to seek unity to move forward in our struggle,” said Maísa Guajajara, one of the original women warriors. Through coordination with other women’s groups, like the Articulation of Indigenous Women of Maranhão (AMIMA), they were able to bring 200 Indigenous women from around the state together for the first time in 2017 to talk about various issues, including territorial protection, reforestation, and environmental education.

“This whole movement is extremely important because it shows this strength, and that women have a lot to contribute to the movement because they are part of the territory and are concerned with it, and with future generations,” Rodrigues da Silva told Mongabay.

They don’t just coordinate with other Indigenous groups; they also conduct training with neighboring communities about the importance of environmental conservation. “Not all women do surveillance work because we know it is dangerous work, but there are always some who do,” Maísa Guajajara said.

“The warriors generally do more surveillance activities outside the territory, we give lectures around our territory to talk about the invasions within our territory, and we raise awareness in the villages by talking about the importance of keeping nature standing.”

For example, the women warriors are partners in the Mãe D’água (Mother of Water) project that, together with the Brazilian NGO Fórum da Amazônia Oriental (FAOR), provides support for Indigenous women to strengthen their collective actions against ongoing deforestation and water pollution.

These actions include visits to nearby riverine communities in which the women warriors explain their ways of living, such as hunting and rituals, to their neighbors. For the women warriors, the more that their neighbors know about Guajajara culture, the more they will respect their actions to defend their territory.

 

Why women are key to forest conservation

In Brazil, and around the world, Indigenous women are increasingly at the forefront of environmental movements.

“The struggle of Indigenous women happens in different ways, day by day. If I am here today, I am the fruit of the women who came in front of me,” Taynara Caragiu Guajajara, a member of the Indigenous women’s collective AMIMA, said during a live online event in April. “In the context of the world we live in today, we have been conquering space inside and outside the community.

We Indigenous women have not always had that voice … but today the struggle is driven by Indigenous women, we are the ones who are in charge of the struggle.”

Women are increasingly leading the struggle on issues like climate change, but their voices are heard much less often then men’s — to the detriment of everyone. This is partially a byproduct of gender bias in journalism itself.

In 2015, of every four people interviewed, mentioned or seen in the news worldwide, only one was a woman, according to a report by the Global Media Monitoring Project, which releases its findings every five years. A closer look at the data shows that even when women are interviewed, it is for personal quotes, rather than for their expertise. It’s a figure that seems to have barely budged over the past few years, although some newsrooms are starting to actively change that.

Studies show that, in general, women receive greater exposure in newspaper sections led by female editors, as well as in newspapers whose editorial boards have higher female representation. But men are disproportionately represented from editors through to reporters, meaning that critical issues for women often go unreported. One of these areas is precisely the connection between conservation solutions and gender equality.

Women are disproportionately affected by climate change and environmental degradation. Mounting evidence shows that gender gaps and inequalities, such as inequitable land tenure and women’s reduced access to energy, water and sanitation facilities, negatively impact human and environmental well-being. The climate crisis will only make gender disparities worse.

Gender-based violence against women environmental human rights defenders in particular is on the rise, and increasingly normalized in both public and private spheres, making it more difficult for women to get justice. As Indigenous communities are often on the front lines of defending their territories, resources and rights from extractive projects and corporate interests, Indigenous women in particular face a two-headed beast of gender-based violence and racism.

“We fought to defend our territory against invasions and we sought this autonomy to fight for rights,” Taynara Caragiu Guajajara said in an interview. “Being a woman is difficult within the macho society, but being an Indigenous or black woman becomes even more difficult, because the prejudice is so great.”

Having more women involved in everything from environmental decision-making to climate politics benefits society at large. Higher female participation in policymaking increases the equality and effectiveness of climate policy interventions; evidence shows that high gender inequality is correlated with higher rates of deforestation, air pollution and other measures of environmental degradation.

Yet less than 1% of international philanthropy goes to women’s environmental initiatives, and women are continuously left out of decisions about land and environmental resources.

“The global community cannot afford to treat nature conservation and the fight for women’s equality as separate issues — they must be addressed together,” said Grethel Aguilar, the acting director-general of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), on international women’s day this year.

 

Why the fight for Indigenous territorial rights in Brazil matters to conservation

Tracking tree cover loss in Maranhão over the past two decades shows the crucial importance of Indigenous territories in protecting intact forest. Viewed from space, as the forest cover rapidly disappears, the outlines of Indigenous territories become more and more distinct.

“These Indigenous territories are islands of green in a sea of deforestation in one of the worst deforested places in Brazil,” Shenker said.

The Caru Indigenous Territory, for example, has seen 4% forest loss in comparison to the state of Maranhão, which has lost almost a quarter of its tree cover since 2000, according to Global Forest Watch data. Alongside the various other benefits that come with forest preservation, the forests in the Caru Indigenous Territory are also home to some of the last uncontacted Awá people; video of of two Awá men taken in the neighboring Araribóia Indigenous Territory made international headlines last year.

These patches of intact, tropical forests are also the crux of “natural climate solutions” protection. These solutions essentially entail stopping deforestation, improving management of forests, and restoring ecosystems, and could provide more than one-third of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed between now and 2030 to stabilize warming to below 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit).

According to one of the seminal papers on natural climate solutions, the single most effective approach in the tropics has proven to be actively protecting intact forests. Protecting intact forests offers twice as much of the cost-effective climate mitigation potential as the second best pathway, reforestation.

The Amazon as a whole plays a vital role in mitigating climate change by absorbing and storing carbon dioxide in its forests. When cut down, burned, or degraded through logging, the forest not only ceases to fulfill this function, but can become a source of carbon emissions.

“Protecting and or conserving intact ecosystems is the number-one priority,” said Kate Dooley, a research fellow at the Australian-German Climate & Energy College at the University of Melbourne, who has authored several papers on the potential of forests as a natural climate solution. “Way-way-way down the line is planting trees. And even then, it needs to be the right kind of trees.”

Of all the countries in the world with some kind of tropical rainforest, Brazil holds more mitigation potential than 71 of the 79 countries combined, according to a recent paper on this topic. It isn’t too hyperbolic, then, to say that groups like the women warriors are protecting humanity’s last best hope for a livable future.

“Plenty of research showing that forests are more intact in collectively held lands,” Dooley said. “With or without secure land tenure those lands are more intact and less degraded.” According to a report in 2018 by the Rights and Resources Initiative, almost 300 billion metric tons of carbon are stored in collectively managed lands across all forest biomes, and numerous studies have found that the best way to protect forests is to empower the people who live in them, granting them land rights and legal standing.

This is especially true for Indigenous-held lands in places like Brazil. Between 2000 and 2015, legally designated Indigenous territories in Brazil saw a tenth the amount of forest loss than non-Indigenous territories. Brazil is home to approximately 900,000 Indigenous citizens from 305 peoples, most of who live in Indigenous territories. Even so, more than half of the locations claimed by Indigenous groups have not yet received formal government recognition.

“Surveillance and inspection by Indigenous peoples is extremely important, as they are the ones who know the territory and the region best,” Rodrigues da Silva said. “On the other hand, unfortunately they are left alone, the Indigenous body responsible for inspection ends up not fulfilling the role and leaving only the Indigenous people.”

 

Prevailing amid growing threats

Despite an increasingly hostile government, the women warriors say they are committed to continuing their monitoring, surveillance and educational activities, and are hoping to inspire other groups to do the same.

“Today women act 100% in defense of the territory,” Paula Guajajara said. “Today we are serving as an example.“

But the work is daunting.

Brazil has the rights of Indigenous people written into its constitution of 1988, and is a signatory to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention. Yet, the current administration of President Jair Bolsonaro has made it clear that Indigenous peoples won’t be allowed to comment on infrastructure projects affecting Indigenous territories in the Amazon. Bolsonaro’s administration has also proposed opening up Indigenous territories to extractive activities — something the constitution specifically prohibits.

Hundreds of people have been killed during the past decade in the context of conflicts over the use of land and resources in the Amazon — many by people involved in illegal logging — according to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), a Catholic Church-affiliated nonprofit that follows land conflicts.

But perpetrators of violence in the Brazilian Amazon are rarely brought to justice.

Of the more than 300 killings that the CPT has registered since 2009, only 14 ultimately went to trial. Maranhão, where the Guajajara live, is among the most dangerous states for Indigenous people in Brazil: more attacks on Indigenous groups were reported here than anywhere else in 2016, according to data from the CPT.

The coronavirus poses an additional threat to Indigenous peoples throughout the Amazon and especially in Brazil, where the death rate from COVID-19 is much higher than the national rate.

“The surveillance expeditions are stopped by the pandemic, we are not doing surveillance, to care for everyone in the village,” Cícera Guajajara da Silva said. “Especially in order to protect our health, because nobody knows who the types of people [invaders] are inside the forest, they may even be infected with the virus, the invader himself can bring the virus to our territory, and that’s why we stopped [the expeditions], we are now only sheltering in the village.”

But despite the mounting difficulties, the women warriors are committed to continuing their work.

“We have the courage to defend our territory,” Maisa Guajajara said. “I am a woman and I will fight against all the threats that are in our territory.”

This article was first published on Mongabay. Read the original here.

 

The post Amazon ‘Women Warriors’ Show Gender Equality, Forest Conservation Go Hand in Hand appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Police say two lions attacked the lodge owner as he was taking them for a walk, in front of his wife.

Colorado Rapids' Kei Kamara backs his team's decision not play against FC Dallas in protest over the shooting of Jacob Blake.

Women and children are the primary victims of indoor air pollution in poor, rural areas of India. Credit: Athar Parvaiz/IPS

By Neha Jain
HONG KONG, Aug 27 2020 (IPS)

Usage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in rural Indian households has surged, partly due to India’s flagship clean cooking programme, but beneficiaries of the scheme consume less LPG than general customers per year, reports a new study.

Household air pollution from burning solid fuels such as coal, charcoal, wood, dung and agricultural waste poses a major environmental health risk. This is especially true for women and children in India, who have a disproportionately high mortality and disease burden due to air pollution, which is second only to malnutrition as a risk factor for disease, according to a Lancet Planetary Health report.

The Indian government’s clean cooking policy launched in 2016, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), provides subsidised LPG for the world’s largest clean cooking energy programme of its kind

The Indian government’s clean cooking policy launched in 2016, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), provides subsidised LPG for the world’s largest clean cooking energy programme of its kind — more than 80 million poor households had benefited by September 2019.

The study, published this month in the journal Environmental Research Communications, found that beneficiaries of the PMUY scheme consume on average almost two large LPG cylinders (14.2 kilograms each) less annually than their general customer counterparts, even after controlling for baseline socioeconomic and demographic differences.

“Wealth, education, caste, household size, and experience with LPG have been commonly suggested as reasons for the consumption gap between PMUY beneficiaries and general customers,” Carlos Gould, a doctoral candidate at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and lead author of the study, tells SciDev.Net. “But our findings suggest that there are other important factors driving the consumption disparity.”

Gould and his colleagues analysed two waves of a survey of over 8,500 households across six of India’s energy-poor states — Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal — to evaluate the drivers of LPG adoption and its use. The first wave was conducted prior to the scheme in 2015 while the second took place in 2018.

Laudable strides in the ownership of LPG connections from 2015 to 2018 were documented, partly owing to the PMUY scheme. In 2015, 75 per cent of households lacked LPG; this figure dropped to 45 per cent in 2018. Around 40 per cent of new LPG owners in 2018 were enrolled through PMUY.

 

The blue lines indicate LPG use as a cooking fuel in rural households states covered by the study, while grey lines show the rest of states in India over the same time period.
Image credit: Carlos F Gould, Xiaoxue Hou, Jennifer Richmond, Anjali Sharma, Johannes Urpelainen/Environmental Research Communications.

 

But in 2018, 83 per cent of the 9,072 survey participants continued to burn solid fuels, mainly firewood, for at least some of their cooking. This practice of using multiple fuel types, termed fuel stacking, has been noted in other studies.

One potential barrier to LPG consumption is the distance travelled to obtain cylinder refills. Fewer PMUY beneficiaries have refills delivered to their doorstep than general customers. An exploratory analysis showed that PMUY beneficiaries tended to live in remote villages.

“Increased travel distance may discourage individuals from obtaining LPG and encourage them to ration their existing LPG resources,” explains Gould. Consequently, polluting solid fuels that are easier to collect are likely used to fill the gaps.

“Efforts to reduce the distances required to get an LPG cylinder refill could increase LPG consumption among households that use both LPG and solid fuels,” Gould says, adding that a customer-centred policy design process focusing on improving usability could be considered.

Gould says that greater support should be given to households that do not use LPG often and continue to use solid fuels. Among other measures, the authors suggest increasing the number of local distributors to shorten the travel distance to acquire refills in remote rural areas.

Ajay Pillarisetti, assistant professor of environmental health at Emory University in the US, says that the results are “reassuring” as numerous studies have reported that the consumption levels of PMUY customers are lower than those of general customers.

He stresses that barriers to the exclusive usage of LPG must be identified and overcome to achieve and maintain healthy behaviours.

Future work, says Pillarisetti, should target supply constraints such as by “provision of a low-cost second cylinder connections of either five or 13 kilograms, more broad networks of LPG providers including potential ‘mini’ distributors”. Linkages with other social welfare schemes could target additional subsidies to the rural poor, he adds.

This story was originally published by SciDev.Net

The post Firing Up India’s Clean Cooking Fuel Plan appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Ota Benga was kidnapped from what is now DR Congo in 1904 and taken to the US to be exhibited.

Picture courtesy: Fridays for Future.

By Moutushi Sengupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 26 2020 (IPS)

India ranks third in terms of absolute levels of carbon emissions after China and the United States. In a business as usual scenario, by 2030, emission levels are predicted to reach more than 4.4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (GTCO2) equivalent of greenhouse gas—up from 3 GTCO2 today—overtaking the United States as the second-largest emitting country.

At the same time, India’s per capita energy consumption levels are about one-third of the world average and in 2018, central government data indicated that 17 percent of households did not have access to electricity.

To meet the dual objectives of environmental sustainability and economic growth, the path of development must focus on being clean and green. This is more of a necessity than a matter of choice for the country.

We, at the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation, have been working on climate change in India for the last five years and we have seen this space evolve considerably. Several international development agencies have come forward to support policymaking and action aimed at enabling India to achieve its climate goals.

There has also been a substantial increase in the number of research institutions working on issues related to climate change mitigation. Moreover, the role of market-linked interventions has expanded considerably, as evidenced from the rapid spread of distributed renewable energy networks, addressing issues around access and efficiency.

“…people need to understand climate change as a narrative, containing their own language and shaped by their own values and experience. Most climate change language, however, is dry, technical or too based in the campaign culture…”

We are also seeing citizens becoming more concerned about climate change and wanting to do more. All this represents significant positive developments, but the sheer magnitude of the challenge requires us to do much more.

Before we analyse what can be done, it’s important to call out for whom this can (and needs to) be done. All the measures we take in our work on climate change need to first be rooted and built within the values of equity and social justice.

Our efforts to create a clean and green future can be fully endorsed only if and when they become a reality for everyone in India, including those households and marginalised communities that currently exist on the fringes, or below the boundaries set by official poverty lines. This will require special attention at the stages of design and execution of climate change policies and practices.

As we move forward to strengthen action on climate change mitigation, here are four critical areas—each worth a separate study, in my opinion—that philanthropies, nonprofits, policymakers, and corporates need to consider.

 

1. Engage new champions for climate change

It is critical to bring in new actors to expand and deepen the climate movement in India. So far, research and knowledge generation on ways to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change has remained largely limited to a small group of think tanks located in and around Delhi—the policymaking centre for India.

These think tanks have closely engaged with policymakers at the centre to establish a framework of policies that have pushed India to invest in renewable sources of energy.

Going forward, the country needs sub-national level actors, beyond the public infrastructure, to effectively execute the centre’s renewable energy policies, and where necessary, refine them to make these policies more contextual.

State-based think tanks, progressive corporate houses, social opinion-makers including youth leaders, activists, environmental and social scientists, and research institutions must feature prominently among potential partners to take this discourse forward. Identifying and engaging champions in these institutions and in communities, will provide the much-needed tailwind to India’s mitigation movement.

In the recent past, we have seen a set of new champions adding their heft to the movement. Notable examples include Extinction Rebellion, the Fridays for Future movement, and the People’s Climate Movement where youth leaders are taking to the streets to shine a light on the issue.

 

2. Support technology innovations for clean energy adoption

The BP Energy Outlook 2019 mentions, “India’s share of total global primary energy demand is set to roughly double to 11% by 2040 [from 2017 as a base], underpinned by strong population growth and economic development.”

To fulfil its growing requirement for energy while meeting its climate mitigation goals, the country will need to identify and adopt technology innovations that address both these objectives.

Work is underway in research and development centres that the government has established, including in national institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technologies, the National Institute of Solar Energy, the National Institute of Wind Energy, and the National Institute of Renewable Energy, to test and develop technologies that will enable faster adoption of clean energy and/or reduce energy consumption through higher levels of efficiency.

As a key member of the global Mission Innovation (MI), India has several successful innovations to showcase. For example, with support from the MI secretariat, in 2018, Swedish company, Aili Innovation, collaborated with Tata Trusts to develop efficient solar-driven water pumps for small-scale farmers in India. Replacing diesel pumps, the solar pump system provides water for irrigation, and power for lighting and charging of smaller devices such as cell phones or fans.

Recognising the importance of technological innovations in the clean energy space, several private incubators have also come forward to nurture ideas and interventions that rely on state-of-the-art technologies. Incubators such as Social Alpha, Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship, and Villgro have supported early-stage ideas and interventions that use technology as the key tool for disruption.

However, while there are many promising clean energy technology options available today, most are too expensive to access, lack the technical reliability needed for widespread deployment, or both.

Currently, comparatively high costs, inadequate supply chain support, and insufficient operating experience constrain the deployment of these technology options at the scale needed for climate change mitigation. Future funding strategies should focus on resolving these constraints to enable these technologies to reach the right audiences.

 

3. Strengthen support from domestic funders to step in and expand this movement

Action on climate mitigation by nonprofits in India is currently largely supported by the international philanthropic community. To sustain the movement, it is essential that domestic funders come forward and strengthen the mitigation efforts that are so acutely required.

They can help by designing and executing interventions—at an ecosystem-and institution-level—that aim to expand the funding pool for nonprofit players. Establishment of the India Climate Collaborative is an exciting development in this respect.

Over the last few months, the collaborative has managed to leverage commitment and support from a diverse group of domestic philanthropists in providing a strong push for action against climate change.

While philanthropic support has helped support a range of research organisations, most climate think tanks are still in the early stages of evolution. If the discourse on climate change mitigation has to sustain beyond the life of individual projects, building capacity is critical.

This requires continued support to these institutions to define their purpose; running audits of existing technical, analytical, and behavioural skills; identifying gaps; and finding creative solutions.

 

4. Build, share, and promote local narratives

To quote a 2017 study jointly conducted by Climate Outreach, Climate Action Network- International, and Climate Action Network-South Asia, “…people need to understand climate change as a narrative, containing their own language and shaped by their own values and experience. Most climate change language, however, is dry, technical or too based in the campaign culture…”

There is available evidence to indicate growing levels of awareness and concern around climate change in India. For instance, results from a recent 12-country-based survey by IPSOS indicate that there is, “widespread support for government actions to prioritise climate change in the economic recovery after COVID-19 with 65 percent globally agreeing that this is important.”

In India, 81 percent of participants from the same study said that they would support a ‘green’ recovery package, much higher than the global average of 65 percent. The survey provides interesting insights on behavioural choices that individuals have either made or are willing to make, in support of their conviction that a lot more needs to be done to reduce the adverse impact of climate change in the future.

Going forward, helping create narratives based on local values, norms, and customs and where possible, local languages, will prompt many more to take personal responsibility for change.

 

We need to act now

The good news is that most likely, the tipping point is yet to be reached, affording us a tiny window of opportunity to take decisive action. The not so good news is that the window seems to be rapidly disappearing. It is no longer a matter of choice on whether we should attend to global warming or not. The question forward is how hard and how persistently can we push on the pedal to achieve our objectives?

 

Moutushi Sengupta heads the India office of the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation

 

This story was originally published by India Development Review (IDR)

The post What Will It Take to Prioritise Climate Change? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: Barinedum AGARA/IOM Lagos

By Chylian Azuh
LAGOS, Aug 26 2020 (IPS)

‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’ is a common and seemingly harmless saying. But what happens when commonly eaten foods like pepper, garlic and ginger are wrongfully said to prevent COVID-19? What can we do to fight harmful misinformation?

During the first two weeks of the lockdown in Lagos, Nigeria, a lot of people were afraid of contracting the virus. They wore gloves, face masks and practised physical distancing as instructed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

For some, the conspiracy theories being peddled on social media and among neighbourhood discussions are the reasons for the disbelief in the virus’s existence

By the third week of the outbreak, people seemed to fall into two categories; those who believed in the existence of the virus and followed all instructions to combat its spread, and those who didn’t believe the virus exists or believed that it exists in some parts of the world but not in Nigeria. This second category was mostly responsible for the spread of myths and misinformation about the pandemic.

Tosin Wurola, a foodstuff trader in her early fifties at Ojodu Berger, Lagos, explained to me that if she does not see a COVID-19 positive case in her circle, then the virus does not exist. Sadly, she has probably succeeded in convincing most of her customers to think the same. This type of misinformation is common and could explain why there is little to no physical distancing observed in the markets.

For some, the conspiracy theories being peddled on social media and among neighbourhood discussions are the reasons for the disbelief in the virus’s existence. Peace Ejechi, one of my neighbours, who runs a provision shop at Ojodu Berger, in Lagos, said the lockdown was for the government to successfully install the 5G network and not to flatten the curve.

Another myth is that the virus cannot survive in Nigeria due to the nature of the Nigerian weather. Nigeria is a tropical climate and has its annual average temperature at 25.7 degrees Celsius. A returned migrant, Teniola Olatunji, who lives in Ogba, Lagos told me:

“It’s possible that the virus reached Nigeria, but I am sure it is gone for good. If it is in the country, there’s no need to worry or fret, because our weather is too hot for the symptoms to manifest.”

This cannot be further from the truth. According to WHO, COVID-19 spreads irrespective of the temperatures in the region. By mid-June, there were over 15,000 confirmed cases of the virus in Nigeria with about 4,800 recoveries. Several survivors have shared accounts of their experiences at treatment centres and isolation wards in the country.

There remains a belief that certain concoctions prevent and cure COVID-19. During my last awareness raising campaign at the General Market, Ipodo, Ikeja, some women shared home-made remedies, such as drinking alcohol or blended ginger and garlic, which they believe has kept them safe during the pandemic.

Bola Ibiyemi, a trader at Ipodo Market Ikeja said, “I’ve been cooking my food with ginger and garlic, using face mask and maintaining physical distance.”

While these foods have tremendous nutritional and health benefits, there is no proven research to show that they can cure or prevent COVID-19. Self-medication is a real problem practised by many. Some families used herbs and unprescribed malaria drugs to keep the infection at bay. This was not part of WHO’s instructions. Sadly, they didn’t stop at using these substances but shared false information with everyone who wanted to know more.

Unverified information continues to spread quickly in Nigeria as with most countries because of fear and reluctance to fact check information. The United Nations recently set up ‘Verified’, its fact checking initiative to tackle the spread of misinformation and fake news on COVID-19, increasing access and dissemination of trusted and accurate information. The Verified campaign provides reliable information about COVID-19.

However, there is still misinformation lingering in many communities. This is why offline and online campaigns work effectively hand-in-hand. Initiatives such as Migrants as Messengers (MaM), a regional peer-to-peer programme is carrying out activities through radio, television, in markets and other public spaces to raise awareness of COVID-19 among communities.

As a MaM volunteer, I recently participated in a campaign in Ipodo market, Ikeja Lagos to inform women market traders about the prevention of COVID-19. I had the privilege to speak with women in my neighbourhood on the importance of following WHO’s instructions on preventive measures.

As a whole, these initiatives can help tackle misinformation in Nigeria. It is crucial that those spreading these myths and misinformation desist from doing so to avoid putting the lives of those they love in great danger; the first recipients of this information are usually family and friends. People need to check any information about COVID-19 before believing it or passing it on.

For reliable information about the virus, visit the regional West Africa website on coronavirus

 

Chylian Azuh is a writer and public speaker from Nigeria who trained as a MaM volunteer in 2018. She is the founder of ‘Female Returnee Forum,’ an organisation for female returnees which supports a large network of female returnees involved in awareness raising about unsafe migration and challenging the stigma often faced by migrants who have not reached their intended destination and return to their place or origin. She informs young people about safe migration and volunteers with the ‘Stop Trata’ project to produce awareness campaign videos highlighting the dangers of irregular migration and human trafficking.

Chylian is an entrepreneur with a background in architecture. Upon her return, she was reintegrated into the soft drink business under the EU-IOM Joint Initiative, and now works in the fashion industry, selling hair and bags.

The post Standing Up to Myths and Misinformation in Nigeria During the Pandemic appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: William Oeri / NATION MEDIA GROUP

By External Source
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 26 2020 (IPS)

On 27 August 2020, we mark the tenth anniversary of the New Constitution of Kenya – a landmark social contract inspired by citizens’ desire for a country characterised by participatory governance, inclusive development, human rights and the rule of law.

The Katiba is ground-breaking in many ways. First and foremost, it was borne out of extensive consultation by a wide cross-section of Kenyans who debated intensely and passionately to ensure a real people’s constitution.

As recognised in Article 1, sovereign power is now vested in the people of Kenya. Further, it gives prominence to national values and principles of governance, including the rule of law, democracy, public participation, human rights, equality, social justice, accountability and sustainable development. Giving life to these principles, the Bill of Rights recognises and protects a spectrum of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and serves as the framework for social, economic and cultural policies.

The Bill of Rights guarantees economic, social and cultural rights – such as the rights to health, housing, water, education, freedom from hunger and a clean environment. The Constitution also provides for specific protections and affirmative action for children, youth, persons with disabilities, minorities and marginalised groups, to promote their participation, representation and equal enjoyment of rights. The authority of courts to uphold the Bill of Rights, and apply international law as part of the law of Kenya, is a critical feature to enable the people to claim and seek enforcement of their constitutional rights.

The guarantees in the Bill of Rights bear an unmistakable closeness to most of the issues identified in the global sustainable development goals, while the Constitution itself also reflects the United Nations principles and the human-rights based approach and commitment to equality and non-discrimination which underpin delivery of the United Nations mandate. It is an affirmation that good governance is both an enabler and a powerful impetus for sustainable development.

It is in this spirit of shared convictions that, over the past decade, the United Nations country team in Kenya has partnered with the Government and the people of Kenya to support implementation of the Constitution and to advance transformative governance, sustainable development and human rights for all. Adopting a whole of society approach, the United Nations has worked with national and county governments, independent institutions, civil society, community-based organisations, communities, private sector and humanitarian and development partners in pursuit of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Kenya.

Devolved government – a key innovation of the Constitution – has been an important aspect of cooperation. The devolved system of governance brings the exercise of Government functions closer to the people, to improve delivery of services and enhance public participation. By establishing 47 county governments and devolving functions such as pre-primary education, health, water and sanitation, agriculture, cultural activities and environment protection, the Constitution underlines counties’ responsibility to lead on social and economic development processes for their populations. County governments spend 41 per cent of their resources on social services. This has contributed to the improvement in the following indicators over the first five years of devolution (2013-2018): the percentage of births attended by skilled health personnel increased from 62% to 70%; the proportion of children engaged in child labour dropped from 34% to 13%; and the net enrolment for early childhood development and education increased by over 10%. 1 The prevalence of chronic malnutrition in children reduced to 26% in 2014, from 35% in 2008.

To continue these development gains, it is essential to ensure adequate allocation of resources to social sectors, and for counties to have increased capacity for evidence-based planning, budgeting and efficient public spending in social sectors most relevant to populations in need. The United Nations is supporting the devolution process by helping counties to build institutional, policy and legislative frameworks for development, including gender-responsive budgeting and gender mainstreaming, improved service delivery based on results-based management principles, inclusive participation and human rights-based approaches.

The country has weathered various storms in implementing the New Constitution, but a number of successes have been recorded. A case in point is the constitutional remedy for the low participation of women in politics and decision-making, with the ‘two thirds gender rule’ brought in to ensure that no more than two thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender. There have been some notable improvements over the past ten years, but heightened efforts will be needed to fully realise the rule.

During the 2017 elections, there was a 7.7% increase in the number of women elected, but they still comprised only 9.2% of those elected to County Assemblies, the Senate and Parliament. Women currently account for 23% of Members of Parliament, including women representatives. 2

Gender equality needs to be driven at national and county levels, through the implementation of laws and policies guaranteeing women’s political rights, and facilitating their effective participation and representation in development planning. County Integrated Development Plans provide an opportunity to put in place a framework for equality and inclusion, to effectively address inequalities and close the gender gap.

As we enter a new decade of constitutional implementation, the United Nations family in Kenya remains committed to continuing efforts in partnership with the Government and the people of Kenya. The next decade coincides with the timeframe for the Sustainable Development Goals and the Kenya Vision 2030. To realise these goals, it is imperative to harness the potential of all – in particular, women, youth, persons with disabilities, minorities and marginalised groups – as envisaged by the Constitution.

Public participation and inclusion will strengthen the central role of the people in the implementation of the Constitution and driving forward sustainable development, transformative governance and the promotion and protection of human rights in Kenya.

In turn, this will accelerate efforts to address inequalities and ensure that the development agenda leaves no one behind.

1 Kenya Voluntary National Report 2020 on progress against Sustainable Development Goals.
2 NDI, A Gender Analysis of the 2017 Kenya General Elections.

The leadership of the United Nations Country Team in Kenya

 

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Ntando Mahlangu went from not being able to walk to Paralympian in just four years.

The discovery of 13 dead dolphins causes much sadness and anger among locals.

The World Trade Organization is currently looking for a new director-general and three of the candidates are African.

By Porimol Palma
Aug 26 2020 (IPS-Partners)

When Bangladesh continues to bear the brunt of sheltering more than a million Rohingyas, Myanmar is doing little for their repatriation amid the silence of global powers though the Southeast Asian country faces a genocide case, experts and officials said.

About 750,000 Rohingyas — injured and starved — fled a brutal military crackdown since August 25, 2017, leaving their homes burnt and relatives killed. Bangladesh generously opened the border and sheltered them, but is now facing tremendous financial, ecological, and security challenges.

Even before 2017, some 300,000 other Rohingyas, who fled earlier waves of violence in Myanmar since 1978, were sheltered here.

Bangladesh hastily signed a repatriation deal with Myanmar in November 2017. The next year, UNHCR and UNDP signed a tripartite deal with Myanmar on creating conducive conditions for Rohingya return.

However, none of the demands of the refugees — guarantee of their safety, basic rights and citizenship — has been met Myanmar. As a result, two repatriation attempts — one on November 15 in 2018 and the second on August 22 last year — fell flat.

Even the provisional order issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January this year has failed to help make any headway. Dozens of Rohingyas, along with hundreds of Rakhines, were killed and thousands were displaced as fighting between Myanmar military and Arakan Army raged in the recent months.

REPATRIATION EFFORTS SLOW

The meeting of Joint Working Group — comprised of officials from Myanmar and Bangladesh — was not held since May last year though two meetings are scheduled a year, officials concerned said.

“The second meeting was due in the last quarter of 2019. Myanmar pushed it forward to February this year but that also did not happen. Now Myanmar is using coronavirus as a pretext for not holding the meeting,” an official told The Daily Star.

In the last three years, Bangladesh sent the information of 6,00,000 Rohingyas to Myanmar, but the latter has provided Bangladesh with verified information of only 30,000.

Again, 30 to 40 percent of the 30,000 names were rejected.

There are cases that one was rejected and others were selected from a family for repatriation, but this proposition is not helpful in any way for the Rohingyas to return to Myanmar, the official said.

Dhaka had proposed Naypyidaw for a bilateral technical committee meeting to sort out these issues, but was responded with indifference, which is indicative of delaying Rohingya repatriation, he said.

Through informal discussion in January this year, the two sides agreed for a targeted approach. The idea is that Myanmar will find out the Rohingya villages least affected and then have a comprehensive plan for repatriation.

Accordingly, all the families of the villages concerned will be repatriated. A meeting was scheduled in February, but Myanmar did not show interest.

“Now Myanmar’s attitude is that you return our people, we will do what’s needed. Myanmar now seems more emboldened. This is because the global powers don’t have any coordinated approach to address the Rohingya issue. So, Myanmar can get away by doing anything,” the official said.

Nay San Lwin, a co-founder of Free Rohingya Coalition, said Myanmar also has made no attempt to amend discriminatory laws, including the citizenship, freedom of movement and education, which is very basic reforms required.

MYANMAR BENEFITS

Foreign policy experts say though there were sanctions from western countries on some military officials, the global powers are still largely divided over the Rohingya issue because of their geopolitical and business interests.

For example, the UN Security Council has failed to adopt any resolution yet in the last three years because of opposition from China and Russia, two veto powers.

Regional powers China, India, and Japan — all good friends of Bangladesh and Myanmar — want a bilateral solution to the Rohingya issue without putting pressure on Myanmar. The approach has not worked until now, analysts said.

Meanwhile, US imports from Myanmar have increased from $366 million in 2017 to $821 million in 2019. US exports also went up from $211 million in 2017 to $347 million in 2019, according to US Census Bureau.

Myanmar benefits from the European Union’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP), namely the “Everything But Arms” scheme that grants duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market.

According to the European Commission, Myanmar’s exports increased from €573 million in 2015 to an estimated €2.8 billion in 2019. Also, according to UN Comtrade data, Myanmar’s exports to UK went up from less than $300 million in 2017 to $536 million in 2019.

The businesses between Myanmar and other countries flourish though a UN fact-finding mission last year appealed for targeted sanctions, as well as an embargo on weapons sales to Myanmar, warning that a web of businesses run by Myanmar’s army is financing military operations on the Rohingyas.

The mission’s report identified at least 59 foreign companies — including firms from France, Belgium, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and China — that have dealings with army-linked ventures. It also named at least 14 companies that have sold arms to the Myanmar military, including state-owned entities in Israel, India, South Korea, and China.

BANGLADESH LOSES

With no repatriation in sight, Bangladesh is counting losses. A study by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) showed, the estimated cost of hosting the Rohingyas $1.2 billion a year in the first five years if there is no repatriation for sheltering and providing them humanitarian assistance.

“Gradually, the cost will increase given the decline in foreign funding, population growth and inflation,” CDP Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun told this correspondent on August 21.

The study also said around 7,000 acres were deforested due to the Rohingya settlement — having long term ecological implications in the region, a tourist district of the country.

A study by COAST Trust, an NGO working in the country’s coastal belt, says transport cost went up by 35 percent and house rent by 60 percent since the Rohingya influx, while wages for laborers went down because of more labour supply from the Rohingya community.

“These issues have given rise to Rohingya-local tension,” said COAST Trust Executive Director Rezaul Karim Chowdhury. Also, lack of any income-generating activities and education facilities gave rise to crimes like drug trafficking, human trafficking, and prostitution, he said.

“It is very likely that militant elements will grow in the camps if the provisions of education, income, and better housing are not created.”

Prof Imtiaz Ahmed, director of the Centre for Genocide Studies at Dhaka University, said lingering of repatriation means the rise of human trafficking through the sea and extremist ideologies — that will ultimately affect the entire region’s development.

China, Japan and India — all have their large investments both in Bangladesh and Myanmar — and they should come forward to creating conditions conducive for Rohingya return at the earliest, he said.

“Myanmar may use fighting between Arakan Army and its military as a pretext. In that case, a combined force of China, Japan, India, and ASEAN can help create a safe zone as sought by the Rohingya,” said Prof Imtiaz, who teaches international relations.

LIGHT OF HOPE?

Prof Imtiaz said the good thing is that the ICJ in its verdict acknowledged the ethnic identity of the Rohingya. Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi also used the word “Arakanese Muslims” in the ICJ hearing in December last year — it’s a step towards Rohingya’s recognition.

“Justice at the ICJ may take time, but must happen. Germany paid reparations for genocide against the Jews. Eventually, Bangladesh also should claim reparations from Myanmar for the enormous cost it’s bearing for Rohingya influx,” Prof Imtiaz said.

Rezaul Karim Chowdhury said Dhaka must go for creative diplomacy, involving the regional civil societies, academia and media, apart from state actors, to create a broader consensus on the Rohingya repatriation and justice.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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

By Raghbendra Jha
CANBERRA, Australia, Aug 26 2020 (IPS)

On July 25 2020 the Japanese bulk carrier MV Wakashio with 3,894 tonnes of fuel aboard ran aground off the cost of Mauritius. By 9 August over 1000 tonnes of oil had seeped into the pristine waters off the coast of this beautiful island haven. This spill was so large that it was even visible from space https://www.livescience.com/mauritius-oil-spill-from-space.html

Raghbendra Jha

Naturally, this accident led to a state of panic in the country. Not only would the pollution emanating from the oil spill lead to a strong hit to the economic mainstay of the country (fishing, tourism etc.) and ruin the environment around it, but also efforts to control the spill would be very expensive, subject to considerable uncertainty, and fraught with risk during the corona pandemic. Mauritius and its 1.3 million inhabitants depend crucially on the sea for food and eco-tourism, having fostered a reputation as a conservation success story and a world-class destination for nature lovers. However, the clean-up after the spill posed formidable challenges. As noted by commentators it is not even clear who would be liable to pay for the clean-up of the environment.

http://www.ipsnews.net/2020/08/mauritius-oil-spill-puts-spotlight-ship-pollution/ There is the additional complication that Mauritius lies on a very busy shipping lane – particularly for fuel. Although cleaning up of waters is part of the Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 14) there is little clarity on the institutional and legal mechanism to support a clean-up after an oil spill, particularly near small island nations. In this particular case, some help has been forthcoming from the Japanese but the clean-up is far from complete and there is the risk that the ship may break up.

In a historical context two facts about oil spills stand out https://www.itopf.org/knowledge-resources/data-statistics/statistics/ First, reflecting better technology and improvement in practices, over the period 1970-2019 the number of large oil spills (>700 tonnes) has come down quite significantly. The decline in medium term spills (7-700 tonnes) has also been quite spectacular. The number of medium (large) spills was 543 (245) in the 1970s, 360 (94) in the 1980s, 281 (77) in the 1990s, 149 (32) in the 2000s, and 44(18) in the 2010s, even though the volume of fuel transported has increased very sharply over this period. Second, at the individual times of occurrence spectacular large spills near major ports have received more policy and media attention. By way of comparison with the spill near Mauritius the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker accident in Alaska spilled 37,000 tons of crude and, of course, garnered considerably more media and policy attention. Although the Mauritius oil spill counts as a large oil spill the fact that it has not occurred near a major port and has occurred against the backdrop of the corona pandemic makes it less likely that it will stimulate long-term policy action.

Since international waters, including the waters off the coast of Mauritius, are a public good, it is ordinarily difficult to price the consequence of a mishap occurring in such waters. In the case of the Mauritius oil spill the Japan P&I which provided insurance cover to the ship’s owner, Nagasaki Shipping Company, has attested that it will carry out all its insurance obligations to the ship’s owner. This would include removal of the broken ship and the clean-up. However, the Mauritius government would need to depend on the local courts to recoup the environmental losses. Whether these courts have the wherewithal and the resources to adjudicate such cases involving large and powerful shipping companies and insurers is another matter.

It is at this point that the importance of the development of international norms for deciding on the environmental costs becomes evident. It is clear that when the damage is caused by multinational shipping companies backed by large insurers the adjudicating authority should have the backing of some sort of international law for fixing liabilities. Local courts in Mauritius cannot be expected to seek adequate compensation from powerful international actors. A clear set of guidelines on fixing damages should be agreed on by all nations. Although this will require an enormous amount of goodwill and effort from various nations it has the potential of generating other beneficial spinoffs, e.g., the scope of fixing liabilities for oil spills could be expanded to include other environmental damages inflicted on international waters including the dumping of waste into the seas and the consequences of ship breakups in the high seas. Currently, as reported by UNCTAD not all countries agree on norms for fixing such damages. This needs to be sorted out at the earliest. In the absence of such agreement future oil spills, especially those near the coast line of small island states, will continue to wreck considerable economic and environmental damage.

 

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The post The Recent Mauritius Oil Spill in Policy and Historical Context appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

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

The post The Recent Mauritius Oil Spill in Policy and Historical Context appeared first on Inter Press Service.