Africa

Iraq and Syria continue to see the most IS attacks, but the group is active in many other countries.

Gendarmerie officers stand guard on March 24, 2019, in Moroni, Comoros. Two journalists have been detained without trial in the country since February. (Gianluigi Guercia/AFP)

By Editor, CPJ
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 26 2019 (IPS-Partners)

(CPJ) – Authorities in the Comoros should immediately release journalists Abdallah Abdou Hassane and Oubeidillah Mchangama, who have been held in pretrial detention on an array of charges for over a month, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The journalists, who report for the Facebook news page FCBK FM, were arrested in mid-February and are detained in a prison in the Comoros capital, Moroni, while awaiting trial, according to their lawyer, Abdoulbastoi Moudjahid, who spoke with CPJ.

On February 12, the journalists were charged with defamation, disturbing public order, incitement to violence, offence against the head of state, insulting the magistrate, forgery, and use of false materials, according to their lawyer and FCBK FM; they have both pled not guilty.

While in detention, both journalists have been questioned multiple times about their FCBK FM posts, Abdoulbastoi told CPJ. The lawyer did not elaborate on any individual posts that the journalists have been asked about.

According to FCBK FM and Abdoulbastoi, the journalists frequently criticized the government in their posts and Facebook Live broadcasts, including making at least one call for President Azali Assoumani to resign.

The country held its presidential election on March 24 and has not yet released the results, according to media reports; the opposition alleges that the polls were rigged to secure Azali’s reelection.

“That these two journalists have been held in pre-trial detention so long suggests that this case is little more than a pretext to silence critical voices during an election period,” said CPJ’s Sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities should free Abdallah Abdou Hassane and Oubeidillah Mchangama and drop the charges against them.”

Abdallah was arrested on February 9 at the supreme court in Moroni, where he had gone to report on a court decision that barred several opposition politicians from running in the presidential elections, according to Abdoulbastoi and FCBK FM.

Oubeidillah was arrested on the morning of February 11 at the entrance of the Moroni court where he was investigating Abdallah’s arrest, according to Abdoulbastoi.

CPJ reached out to FCBK FM via its Facebook page and did not receive a response.

Abdoulbastoi appealed the charges against the journalists on February 25 on the grounds that the original order for their detention was unlawful, but the presiding judge dismissed his case as “unfounded,” the lawyer told CPJ.

Protests have been staged in Moroni calling for the journalists’ release, according to news reports by French news agency RFI. The agency reported that the organizers of the protests feared that the journalists might be detained until after the presidential inauguration in May.

CPJ tried to reach Comorian Interior Minister Mohamed Daoudou via multiple calls and text messages but did not receive a response. Emails from CPJ to the ministry of foreign affairs and to the Comorian mission at the United Nations went unanswered.

The post Two journalists held in pretrial detention since February in Comoros appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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With approximately 90 percent of Guyana’s population living below sea level, the country says it needs to adapt and build resilience. But Janelle Christian, head of the Office of Climate Change in Guyana says unlocking needed financial support is a major challenge. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS

By Desmond Brown
GEORGETOWN, Mar 26 2019 (IPS)

In 2008, the then president of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, established within the Ministry of the Presidency the Office of Climate Change. Guyana became the first country in the region to do so. A year later, Jagdeo set out a vision to forge a new low carbon economy in the Caribbean nation.

Jagdeo’s vision was translated into a national strategy as outlined in Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) after more than a year of review and consultation within Guyana, coupled with input from climate change negotiations at the United Nations.

The aim of the LCDS was the achievement of two goals: transforming Guyana’s economy to deliver greater economic and social development for the population by following a low carbon development path; and providing a model for the world of how climate change can be addressed through low carbon development in developing countries, if the international community takes the necessary collective actions, especially relating to REDD+.

Head of the Office of Climate Change Janelle Christian told IPS that the office continues to fulfil its mandate even though there has been a change of administration.

“We have started the process for preparation of our national climate change policy,” Christian said.

“We have concluded work on the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action for Greening of Towns.”

Excerpts of the interview follow:

Janelle Christian, head of the Office of Climate Change in Guyana. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS

Inter Press Service (IPS): What is the government doing to develop national climate change strategies?

Janelle Christian (JC): When the government changed, back in 2015, the new government advocated the vision for Guyana to become a green state and so the Department of Environment has been working over the last two years to elaborate the Green State Development Strategy. That strategy is looking at low carbon development across all sectors. When compared to the LCDS, which is looking at our mitigation contribution through sound management of our forest resources, the Green State Development Strategy is looking at advancing what we have started under the LCDS but also looking to maximise our renewable energy potential through the full mix of the opportunities available in that field, and also to ensure that our future development as we proceed as a country would ensure that we pursue that development on a low carbon path.

IPS: How different are the strategies and plans being developed on the President David Granger administration compared with those under the Jagdeo administration?

JC: We have been, and continue to work in crafting and in some instances revising some of our existing strategies so that they’re aligned with the new vision. So, what we have been working on, specifically with support from many of our multilateral partners – we have started the process for preparation of our national climate change policy. We are in the process of revising our climate resilience strategy and action plan and the output will be our National Adaptation Plan (NAP) aligned with the Green State Development Strategy main pillars. We have concluded work on the Nationally Appropriately Mitigation Action for Greening of Towns. We’ve also completed our Technology Needs Assessment.

IPS: Who are some of the development partners you’ve been working with to get projects off the ground?

JC: We have largely been working with existing global facilities for the mobilisation of climate finance to not only address some of the gaps and strengthen some of our existing programmes, but mobilise resources for sector-specific initiatives. We have been engaging very closely with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and have successfully been able to mobilise what is called readiness support. The first one that we would have implemented was what is called the NDA [National Designated Authorities] strengthening through the GCF and that was with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre and that work has concluded. That really set the tone for further engagement and how we engage with the GCF.

Since then we would have successfully worked with the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations] and we would have been able to mobilise some resources specifically through the GCF, again focusing on getting the agriculture sector ready and also working with the sector to develop a concept proposal for submission to the GCF for investment-type support to the sector given its priority. We received notice of approval from the GCF for readiness support for our energy sector – largely renewable energy and also some private sector support. Because, we know, for climate solution it requires both public and private sector investment.

IPS: What else do you have going on in terms of climate change adaptation and mitigation?

JC: We have advanced work for support of the president’s vision for Bartica, which was identified as a model green town. We have just concluded all of the baseline data-type studies that were required for Bartica as we get ready to plan and identify specific type investments for that community.

IPS: Going forward, what would you say are the main challenges facing Guyana and other developing countries in fighting climate change?

JC: Support…They talk about the developed providing support to developing. And when we talk about that support, we’re talking about financing, which is the top challenge because these interventions for adaptation to increase our resilience require lots of investments. So, financing. While they will tell you that there are lots of established climate financing mechanism, to unlock those resources is really a challenge in itself. So, then the capacity of the country to be able to understand the systems, the modalities; to be able to elaborate the proposals that would then be successful and allow for their approval – those allow you to implement.

So, the financing and then the capacity in-country to unlock the financing, or the capacity in-country to have the right skill set in specialised areas, and of course we need technology also. Of course, technology requires money again. But even when you have technical support for the deployment of technology, again you have to be able to use the technology correctly. Then as a country you have to ensure that you have the sustainability component incorporated into your national systems so that those can be successfully infused as part of your operation over the long term. Those are the main things I would say for countries such as ours. How do you make a decision when you have limited finance to address the realities of what is before you?

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The Paris’ Musée de l’histoire d’immigration has launched a thought-provoking exhibition about music and migration. Courtesy: Paris’ Musée de l’histoire d’immigration

By A. D. McKenzie
PARIS, Mar 26 2019 (IPS)

Amid the morass of Brexit and continuous debates on immigration, a French museum has launched a thought-provoking exhibition about music and migration.
The massive show at Paris’ Musée de l’histoire d’immigration (National Museum of the History of Immigration) “explores the close and complex relationship between migration, music, anti-racism and political activism”, according to the curators.

It comes at a time when “many European nations are turning inwards and succumbing to the temptations of closed borders,” they add.

The exhibition “Paris-Londres: Music Migrations (1962-1989)” runs until Jan. 5, 2020, and was inaugurated ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, observed annually on Mar. 21. The launch also preceded the fourth edition of a one-week “Grand Festival” in Paris against racism, antisemitism and anti-LGBT prejudice.

The show breaks new ground by linking artistic movements in England and France that demonstrate how “successive generations of immigrants in these two colonial powers used music to stake their claim to equal rights, affirm their presence in the public space, and contribute to the urban, economic and cultural transformations reshaping” both countries, the curators say.

Most music lovers are already aware of the influence that genres such as ska, reggae and rai have had on popular music, and the exhibition details this impact through an array of documents, videos and recordings. But it goes further by highlighting how immigrant musicians played a crucial role in fighting racism, with movements such as “Rock Against Racism” in Britain and “Rock Against Police” in France.

“These two stories have not previously been put together side by side in a postcolonial way,” says Martin Evans, a professor of modern European history at the University of Sussex, and one of the three international curators of the exhibition.
“We really wanted to look at how London and Paris reinvented themselves with the influence of the new arrivals from the Sixties to the Eighties,” he told IPS.

A “wealth of musical styles linked with successive waves of immigration transformed Paris and London into multicultural capitals” between the early 1960s and the 1980s. Courtesy: A. D. McKenzie

As the exhibition puts it, a “wealth of musical styles linked with successive waves of immigration transformed Paris and London into multicultural capitals” between the early 1960s and the 1980s.
A significant aspect of this immigration has been the global impact of Jamaican history and culture, Evans said, particularly through the contributions of dub poets such as Linton Kwesi Johnson, who was himself influenced by Martiniquais writer and statesman Aimé Césaire.

“In doing this exhibition, we discovered a lot of stories about links between artists and activists in France and Britain,” Evans said. “So, a very important aspect is uncovering these hidden stories”.
The curators showcase more than 600 documents and artworks “connected with music”, including instruments, photographs, concert posters, videos, costumes and other items – many of which are on loan from institutions such as London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and from the personal collections of well-known musicians.

Visitors to the exhibition are greeted by black-and-white footage of people exuberantly dancing, while a narrator explains the origins of the music that’s driving them into paroxysm of delight. “This is ska”, taking Britain by storm in the 1960s after its emergence “from the Jamaican sound systems of the late 1950s”.

Following this introduction, and the familiar lyrics of “Sammy Dead”, the show moves into the activist nature of music by London-based groups such as The Equals (the first major “interracial” UK band, formed by Guyana-born Eddy Grant), who used their song “Police on My Back” to highlight police harassment of immigrants.

Meanwhile, history lessons about the arrival and settlement of immigrants are included in the captions to memorable photographs, detailing how immigrants to England settled in the inner cities while those to France inhabited the outskirts or banlieues.

The Windrush generation (referring to Caribbean passengers on the HMT Empire Windrush in 1948 and their descendants) also feature prominently, with information about recent scandals regarding the British government’s treatment of individuals and historical documents.

In addition to the visual displays, the exhibition boasts a “killer playlist” that features ska, reggae, punk, makossa, rai, rumba, rock and other genres, and visitors will be seen dancing as they listen to music through headphones or stand in front of video clips of Millie Small singing “My Boy Lollipop” or Jimmy Cliff belting out “The Harder They Come” from the iconic 1972 film of the same name.

On the French side, one learns about African and North African musicians who changed the sound of French music: Manu Dibango, Salif Keïta, Noura and Khaled, among others. Meanwhile, the cross-border links can be seen in Serge Gainsbourg’s reggae version of France’s national anthem La Marseillaise – a recording that sparked outrage in certain quarters and earned the singer death threats.

“Gainsbourg used this music as a political vector,” says Stéphane Malfettes, the lead curator, who’s in charge of the museum’s cultural programming. “He went to Jamaica to record and was a big fan of reggae. In fact, France has always had a link with this music.”

According to Malfettes, concerts by reggae star Bob Marley and other artists drew thousands of fans in France in the 1970s and early 1980s and provided a spur for the later creation of France-grown reggae groups such as Danakil who perform political music.

Some visitors will find the political aspect of the music to be the most interesting part of the exhibition, which gives the background to Rock Against Racism – an activist movement sparked by the “rise of the far right and the spread of racism in political discourse”.

English musicians Red Saunders and Roger Huddle launched Rock Against Racism in 1976, following “murky racist proclamations from the likes of Eric Clapton and David Bowie,” the curators state. The first concert was held in Victoria Park in the spring of 1978 and attracted some 100,000 people, with groups including Steel Pulse, The Clash and the Tom Robinson Band performing – “revealing the often-overlooked solidarity between” rock, punk and reggae.

The movement influenced activists in France, where Rock Against Police grew out of a “proliferation of racist incidents and violence” in the late 1970s and early 1980s, “compounded by the success” of the far-right Front National in the municipal elections of 1984, according to the curators. The exhibition highlights the personalities and musicians involved, through footage, music, photos and articles.

As the exhibition nears its cut-off point (1989), visitors also learn about other landmark happenings that emphasised the “multicultural identity” of Paris and London. Two such events were the huge SOS Racisme concert held in June 1985 on the Place de la Concorde and the massive anti-apartheid show held at Wembley stadium to mark the 70th birthday of South African icon Nelson Mandela, in June 1988.

“All these stories push us to look at things differently,” says Malfettes. “We hope to reach people interested in the music, interested in the movements and those who may not know this background, especially young people.”

If there’s one drawback to the exhibition, it is in the sheer range of objects and information, which makes it difficult to absorb everything during a single visit; many visitors will feel the need to return for a second look, especially regarding the musical connections – the punk and dub-reggae productions of

John Letts, and the “Asian underground sounds” of Asian Dub Foundation, for instance.
An irony, too, is that this exhibition is taking place at the imposing Palais de la Porte Dorée – which houses the history museum. The building, with its ornately decorated façade, was constructed to host the Paris Colonial Exposition of 1931 and was used for many decades to showcase the “civilising influence” of French colonialism. It has now changed its focus.

(This article is published by permission of Southern World Arts News – SWAN. You can follow the writer on Twitter: @mckenzie_ale)

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Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias

By Virginia Dignum
UMEA, Sweden, Mar 26 2019 (IPS)

UMEA, Sweden, 26 March 2019 (IPS) — At this year’s Davos economic forum, US executives warned that China may be winning the so-called Artificial Intelligence (AI) race with Europe. In another recent article, Bloomberg pointed out that countries are rushing to not be left behind.

The author also correctly pointed out that there’s still a long way to go before AI will be commercially viable. In its vision for AI, launched last December, the European Commission has described its concerns with the position of AI in this race, which some have claimed Europe already lost.

In my opinion, speaking of a ‘race’ is both wrong and dangerous to begin with. It puts the focus on competition and brings with it a sense of gloom and despair. So let me make two arguments: firstly, there is no race and secondly, if there was, it would the wrong race to engage in.

There’s no race because of the very definition of a race: it’s a competition of speed, usually judged by an objective measure like a clock or to a specific end goal. In AI developments however, we don’t have an end point! Nor do we have a specific time to stop.

Virginia Dignum

Therefore, there’s no way to determine when and where someone will win this so-called race. Suggesting that it can be won assumes a moment after which we can stop developing technology, and advancing humankind.

It’s the wrong race

It’s even more important to understand why it‘s the wrong race to engage in. The US and China are betting on machine learning developments, and in particular on deep learning, as the approaches that will achieve true AI, and enable them to ‘win’ that so-called race.

These approaches rely on the availability of huge amounts of data and computational power, to enable machines to perceive, or learn, characteristics of a particular domain. This approach is used to recognise faces in pictures, to determine the credit worthiness of mortgage applicants, and to diagnose cancer cells in scans or X-ray images.

All of these are relevant and important applications, and the progress achieved in the last few years is truly remarkable. The goal is not to win races, it’s to ensure the well-being of humankind and the environment.

However, these approaches are focusing on one aspect of intelligence: the ability to perceive patterns and make predictions based on those patterns. True intelligence, on the other hand, includes more than that, like the capability to reason, interact and decide based on little, incomplete and contradictory information. In short, we need to explore alternatives to statistical approaches to learning.
In fact, just a few weeks ago, a study analysing 25 years of AI research has concluded that the era of deep learning is coming to an end. Europe has traditionally been strong on symbolic approaches to AI and on (social) robotics.

Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

These are some of the areas that should be invested in and that will bring AI forward in the near future. Therefore, it would be a mistake to blindly follow US and China on their machine learning ‘race’ when we now have the opportunity to show the value of alternatives approaches, in which we Europeans may have an advantage.

The end of one kind of AI

Another reason why data-heavy approaches are not the way forward: they have a negative impact on human well-being and the environment. Any development that does not boost trustworthiness will ultimately not succeed.

There’s no business model for untrustworthy AI or unethical AI. The results and decisions taken by systems based on deep learning and neural networks are hard to understand and explain. Therefore they aren’t sustainable in areas where the trust of users and experts is crucial.

Moreover, current approaches are very environment unfriendly: the amount of (energy) resources needed to store and compute data are already comparable to the needs of a small city. This is not sustainable especially if this type of AI relies on exponential growth of data and computational power.

Europe is home to strong, world leading, fundamental research in AI, and known for a strong ethical background and respect for human rights. Putting these at the core of advances in AI will lead to breakthroughs that can really bring AI forward in ways that are both financially profitable and beneficial to human and environmental well-being.

But this will imply a new mindset when it comes to how we do business and how we create an inclusive decision-making process. Developing AI responsibly, grounded on ethical principles and human rights, doesn’t represent a burden on research and investment, but rather a stepping stone bringing this powerful technology forward.

More than a technical decision, Europe is the only place that, at the moment, can push for this vision and its required policies.

The goal is not to win races, it’s to ensure the well-being of humankind and the environment.

The post The Myth About the Race for Artificial Intelligence appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Virginia Dignum is a professor at the Department of Computing Science at Umeå University in Sweden. She heads the research group 'Social and Ethical Artificial Intelligence'.

The post The Myth About the Race for Artificial Intelligence appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
KUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, Mar 26 2019 (IPS)

The World Bank has successfully legitimized the notion that private finance is the solution to pressing development and welfare concerns, including achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Agenda 2030.

A recent McKinsey report estimates that the world needs to invest about US$3.3 trillion, or 3.8 per cent of world output yearly, in economic infrastructure, with about three-fifths in emerging market and other developing economies, to maintain current growth.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

The world financing gap is about US$350 billion yearly. If new commitments, such as the SDGs, are considered, the gap would be about thrice the currently estimated gap as available public resources alone are not enough. Thus, for the Bank, the success of Agenda 2030 depends on massive private sector participation.

Maximizing finance
The Bank’s ‘Maximizing Finance for Development’ (MFD) strategy marks a new stage. It presumes that most developing countries cannot achieve the SDGs with their own limited fiscal resources and increasingly scarce donor overseas development assistance (ODA).

Bank prioritization of financial inclusion presumes that fintech-powered digital financial inclusion would increase growth, create jobs and promote entrepreneurship in developing countries.

The MFD purports to respond to the G20’s April 2017 Principles of MDBs’ strategy for Crowding-in Private Sector Finance for growth and sustainable development. The G20 has offered the Roadmap to Infrastructure as an Asset Class for energy, transport and water inter alia.

The 2017 MFD strategy recycled the Bank’s 2015 Billions to Trillions: Transforming Development Finance, arguing that MDBs should increase financial leverage via securitization to catalyse private investment, thus promoting capital markets by transforming bankable projects into liquid securities.

Anis Chowdhury

The MFD presumes that public money should mainly be used to leverage private finance, particularly institutional investments, to finance the purported US$5 trillion SDG funding gap.

Financialization coalition
The MFD strategy seeks to enable financialization and transition to securities-based financial systems in developing countries, complementing other initiatives by the Bank, IMF and G20. Such initiatives are expected to encourage investors to use environmental, social and governance criteria to attract, mobilize and sustain needed financing.

The MFD presumes that public money should mainly be used to leverage private finance, particularly institutional investments to finance the funding gap. Government guarantees are deemed necessary to ‘de-risk’ projects, especially for public-private partnerships (PPPs).

Meanwhile, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a Bank subsidiary, is helping subsidize capital market involvement in infrastructure development; the MFD strategy envisages capital markets in ‘green bonds’, ‘social impact bonds’, infrastructure bonds and so on.

Securities markets are supposed to enable institutional investors to make desirable social and environmental impacts. MFD advocates claim that capital markets provide new solutions to development challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, and poor access to schooling, clean water, sanitation and housing.

The Financial Stability Board has also proposed measures to transform ‘shadow banking’ into securities-based finance, while the European Commission’s Sustainable Finance initiative seeks to similarly reorient institutional investors and asset managers.

Cascading financialization
The Bank’s ‘Cascade’ approach seeks to institutionalize this bias for private financing. It seeks to facilitate securities lending by enabling ‘repo’ market financing and hedging, and ‘rehypothecation’, i.e., allowing securities to be used repeatedly for new lending.

The Cascade approach seeks to accelerate financialization with measures to accommodate new asset classes, enable banks to engage in securities and derivatives markets with minimal regulation, deregulate financial institutions creating tradable assets from PPP projects, and facilitate capital flows ostensibly for development.

It presumes market imperfections and missing markets deter the private sector from financing sustainable development projects, and proposes to address such bottlenecks by ‘internalizing externalities’ and providing subsidies and guarantees to de-risk investments.

Tito Cordella notes that it prioritizes private finance even when a project is likely to be profitable if undertaken with public funds. He notes the tensions between maximizing private financing and optimizing financing for development, and some implications. Public options are only to be considered after all private options are exhausted or fail.

Thus, the Cascade approach presumes that the private sector is always more efficient, despite actual experiences. Clearly, it not only reflects an ideological preference for private finance, but also seeks to promote securities and derivatives markets, as market liquidity is among the core G20 Principles of MDBs’ strategy for crowding-in Private Sector Finance.

Hijacking development finance
The strategy would thus commit scarce public resources to ‘de-risking’ such financing arrangements to transform ‘bankable’ development projects into tradable assets. This means that governments will bear more of the likely costs of greater financial fragility and crises.

Such government measures will inadvertently undermine needed financial institutions such as development banks. There is no reason to believe that MFD will somehow create the capital market infrastructure to improve finance for SMEs or needed development transformations.

Once a project’s future revenue streams are securitized, the multilateral development banks’ environmental and social safeguards no longer apply. Contracts to repay securitized debt held by investors would be disconnected from the underlying project financed and its consequences.

Holders of these securities have no incentives to prioritize social or environmental goals. Private equity and hedge funds that have short-term incentives for profit-taking, including by asset-stripping, are not concerned with social, environmental or other public interests.

Not surprisingly, considerable doubt exists as to whether private capital markets and institutional investors can be incentivized to finance long-term public goods as these mechanisms serve the profit motive, not public welfare.

Anis Chowdhury, Adjunct Professor at Western Sydney University & University of New South Wales (Australia), held senior United Nations positions in New York and Bangkok.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram, a former economics professor, was Assistant Director-General for Economic and Social Development, Food and Agriculture Organization, and received the Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought in 2007.

The post World Bank Financializing Development appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By GGGI
Seoul, Republic of Korea, Mar 26 2019 (IPS-Partners)

(GGGI) – The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) today announced the appointment of Susanne Pedersen as Assistant Director-General and Head of GGGI’s Investment and Policy Solutions Division (IPSD). Ms. Pedersen will be based in the organization’s Seoul headquarters and will assume her duties on June 3, 2019.

As Head of IPSD, Ms. Pedersen’s responsibilities will include strategic planning, implementation and delivery of GGGI’s projects and programs in Member and partner countries and the work of IPSD’s Thought Leadership, Green Investment Services, and 4 Thematic sector teams.

Susanne Pedersen

Serving as a member of the Management Team, Ms. Pedersen will play a key role in fostering an organizational culture that delivers strong performance and impactful outcomes.

“I see great potential in GGGI to deliver impact and make a difference in its Member and partner countries.” said Ms. Pedersen. “Throughout much of my career, I have supported emerging and developing economies in their transition to a low-carbon and sustainable future and am therefore extremely excited to help drive GGGI’s inclusive, environmentally sustainable, green growth agenda.”

A Danish national, Ms. Pedersen is currently the Managing Director at Climate-KIC Nordic Aps, where she is responsible for leading work within the Nordic Region under the Climate-Knowledge Innovation Community (KIC), which is Europe’s largest public-private partnership with more than 350 members addressing climate change through innovation.

“Sustainability and green growth have been an integral part of my focus areas and I look forward to contributing to GGGI’s thematic areas by leveraging my professional experience in urban transitions, technology development and innovation,” added Ms. Pedersen.

From setting up international daughter companies and establishing new service areas, to managing large-scale teams and projects, Ms. Pedersen brings a wealth of experience to GGGI.

“We are very excited to bring Ms. Pedersen on board and benefit from her more than two decades of work with international organizations, industry associations and the private sector as a manager, board member and strategic advisor,” said Dr. Frank Rijsberman, Director-General of GGGI.

About the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)

Based in Seoul, GGGI is an intergovernmental organization that supports developing country governments transition to a model of economic growth that is environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive. GGGI delivers programs in over 30 countries with technical support, capacity building, policy planning & implementation, and by helping to build a pipeline of bankable green investment projects. More on GGGI’s events, projects and publications can be found on www.gggi.org. You can also follow GGGI on Twitter and join on Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.

 

(GGGI Seoul HQ)
HeeKyung Son, Communications Specialist
+82 70-7117-9957
H.Son@GGGI.org

 

(GGGI Seoul HQ)
Daniel Muñoz-Smith, OIC Head of Communications
+82 70-7117-9961
Daniel.MS@GGGI.org

 

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One of the last 1,000 wild Bactrian Camels. Gobi Desert, Mongolia. Credit: mammalwatching.com

By Jon Hall
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 26 2019 (IPS)

Late last year the World Wide Fund for Nature released their Living Planet Report for 2018. WWF’s estimates were stark: populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have, on average, declined by 60 percent between 1970 and 2014.

The Earth is estimated to have lost about half of its shallow water corals in the past 30 years. A fifth of the Amazon has disappeared in just 50 years, and 2018 marked the worst level of deforestation in history.

This is a tragedy for nature. And an unfolding tragedy for humanity: the destruction of the environment is threatening the planet’s life support systems that we all rely on every day for our air, water and food.

The impact on people’s lives is already apparent with 3.6 billion people facing water scarcity at least one month a year, and 3.1 billion people drinking water with a risk of contamination.

The 2019 Global Risks Report from the World Economic Forum identified “Major biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse (terrestrial or marine)” as both one of the most likely and most serious global risks with “irreversible consequences for the environment, resulting in severely depleted resources for humankind as well as industries.”

Fortunately, there is already a good deal of work underway to develop “nature-based solutions” that harness the power of nature to tackle social and economic challenges.

UNDP has been working around the world with partners to trial these ideas and many have significant implications for human development work. Environmental concerns often hit the poorest the hardest.

Not only are poor communities most vulnerable to crop failure or flooding, because of climate change for example, but they are also less resilient – or unable to recover from – such natural disasters.

Moreover, protecting nature is of critical concern to those who care about equity between generations, and it is clear from the data that the challenges faced by the current generation dwarf in comparison to those that the next generation will face if most environmental indicators continue their current trajectory.

For World Wildlife Day, the Human Development Report Office has released guidance to both inspire and assist UN country teams to investigate how nature-based solutions could help a nation’s human development.

The material looks at solutions that can help tackle climate change, improve the management of land and water (both fresh and marine), and help maintain biodiversity directly. We use case studies to show how nature-based solutions can help promote human development and help wildlife.

One example from Namibia looks at the broader development benefits national parks can bring to a country and those who live near them.

Namibia has some of the world’s most spectacular national parks and wildlife. Indeed, one-half of the country falls within national protected areas or communal or private conservancies.

But protected areas often struggle to receive adequate funding, often because there is an under-valuation of their economic benefits, resulting in under-investment by the government.

UNDP’s economic analysis indicated that the protected area (PA) system contributed up to 6 percent of Namibia’s GDP. And this was only counting park-based tourism without including the value of other ecosystem services.

The study showed that further investment in PAs could lead them to contribute up to 15 percent of GDP in the medium-term.

Namibia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism used the figures to negotiate a 300 percent increase in the state budget for park management and development.

Working with UNDP, the government has strengthened the national park system in several ways and developed important national policies.

Perhaps the most important was the Tourism and Wildlife Concessions Policy, regarded as one of the world’s best models for protected area concessions, and probably the only one with such a strong emphasis on, and provision for, supporting the livelihoods of rural people living in and around protected areas.

Another example – looking at the importance of the bio-economy – comes from Colombia, a nation that shelters more than 10% of the planet’s biodiversity.

A Colombian company has begun extracting blue dye from the fruit of the Jagua Tree (Genipa americana). The new product is for many purposes better than chemical based dye.

The benefits are being shared with both the Colombian state and local communities who supply the fruit from which the dye was developed. And so the Jagua Fruit, a resource that used to have no economic use, began to generate income and improved livelihoods for local communities.

If the world is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals there must be a greater focus on development that allows both people and the planet to prosper.

We hope that the next generation of national human development reports from across UNDP program countries will embrace and promote the nature-based solutions needed for that to happen.

*The HDialogue blog is a platform for debate and discussion. Posts reflect the views of respective authors in their individual capacities and not the views of UNDP/HDRO.

The post The Destruction of the Environment: An Unfolding Tragedy for Humanity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Jon Hall is Policy Specialist at the Human Development Report Office, UNDP

The post The Destruction of the Environment: An Unfolding Tragedy for Humanity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A woman tells of the pain she experienced as a child being subjected to breast ironing.

The house of Kenyan artist Khadambi Asalache has become London's newest museum.

The BBC investigates illegal and unsustainable fishing off the west coast of Africa to find out how one of the most fertile ecosystems on earth has been pushed to the brink.

More than 130 people, including young children, were killed in Saturday's attack in central Mali.

Chief executive Tewolde Gebremariam says the firms will be linked "well into the future".

Maths and physical science teacher Peter Tabichi picture after the Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School teacher has won the one million dollar Global Teacher Prize at a ceremony in Dubai. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
DUBAI, Mar 25 2019 (IPS)

A maths and physical science teacher from an impoverished  school in Kenya’s Rift Valley, Peter Tabichi, has won the one million dollar Global Teacher Prize, becoming the first teacher from Africa to clinch the prize established to honour the profession.

Tabichi (36) emerged the winner from a top list of 10 nominees from Brazil, Georgia, Netherlands, United Kingdom, India, United States, Argentina, Australia and Japan.

“I cannot believe it,” Tabichi, told IPS at a press conference after he was named winner. “This is a motivation for teachers in Kenya, Africa and the world. It affirms that teaching is the best profession and I will continue to make a change by teaching.”

The Global Teacher Prize is the largest prize of its kind that recognises an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession but also to highlight the important role of teachers in society.

Actor Hugh Jackman announced that Kenya teacher Peter Tabichi was winner of the Global Teacher Prize. Courtesy: Global Education and Skills Forum – an initiative of the Varkey Foundation

Actor Hugh Jackman announced Tabichi’s name at a glittering ceremony that sent the packed hall into thunderous applause. Tabichi was recognised for his dedication, hard work and passionate belief in his students’ talent. Thanks to his efforts the poorly resourced Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Nakuru County, in remote rural Kenya, has emerged victorious after taking on the country’s best schools in national science competitions.

Citing his father as his inspiration for becoming a teacher, Tabichi, a member of the Franciscan Brotherhood, gives away 80 percent of his monthly income to help the poor students in his school, many of whom come from poor families–almost a third are orphans or have only one parent–with many going without food at home. The students have difficult experiences ranging from drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, early school dropout, young marriages and there have been cases of suicide.

The school itself has only one computer, a poor internet connection, and a student-teacher ratio of 58:1.

“Every day in Africa we turn a new page and a new chapter,” said Tabichi. “This prize does not recognise me but recognises the continent’s young people…as a teacher working on the frontline I have seen the promise of its young people—their curiosity, talent, their intelligence and their belief.”

The story of Africa, a young continent bursting with talent

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, congratulated Tabichi on winning the award in a special video message broadcast at the ceremony in which he described Tabichi as a shining example of what the human spirit can achieve, not just for Kenya and Africa, but also for the rest of the world.

“Peter your story is the story of Africa, a young continent bursting with talent,” Kenyatta said. “Your students have shown that they can compete among the best in the world in science, technology and all fields of human endeavour. All we need is to give them the right support.”

The Global Teacher Prize, open to all working teachers, is part of the Varkey Foundation’s commitment to improving the status of teachers across the world. In their Global Teacher Status Index in November 2013—the first attempt to compare attitudes towards teachers in 21 countries—the study found that between a third and half of the parents surveyed would ‘probably’ or ‘definitely not’ encourage their children to enter the teaching profession. The Global Teacher Status index in 2018 showed for the first time a direct link between teacher status and pupil performance as measured by PISA scores.

“I want to congratulate Peter Tabichi for winning the Global Teacher Prize 2019. I hope Peter’s story will encourage others to enter the teaching profession and shine a spotlight on the truly inspiring work teachers do to make tomorrow brighter than today,” said Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation.

In an earlier interview with IPS Tabichi said if he won he would use the prize money strengthen the Talent Nurturing Club, the Science Club and inter-school science project competitions at the school.

He also planned to “invest in a school computer lab with better internet connectivity.” And said that he would also promote kitchen gardening and production of drought tolerant crops in the community at large.

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At the 63rd UN Commission on the Status of Women(CSW), which concluded last week, advocates called for girls and women to have more power and leadership in humanitarian action.

By Marcy Hersh
NEW YORK, Mar 25 2019 (IPS)

As a long-time advocate, I’ve been invited to speak at dozens of global conferences about the needs of girls and women in humanitarian emergencies.

And while I’ve had the opportunity to understand this issue in good depth throughout my career, there’s still one glaring problem: I’m not, and have never been, a woman affected by a humanitarian emergency.

As a native New Yorker, I’ve never known what it’s like to get my period in a war zone, where menstrual hygiene products are in short supply. As a new mother, I don’t know what it’s like to give birth in a refugee camp, where maternal health services are rarely available.

And as a women’s rights activist, I don’t personally know what it it’s like to advocate in places where even uttering words like “gender equality” can be a life sentence.

But I speak English, have an American passport, and know all the humanitarian acronyms by heart – so it’s much easier to invite someone like me to into humanitarian decision-making circles in New York and Geneva than to wrestle with visas and language barriers and engage the women bravely advocating in Syria, Lebanon, and beyond.

If we really want to better understand and address the needs of girls and women in these complex environments, it shouldn’t be this way.

That’s why I was pleased to see so many more representatives from women-focused civil society organizations (CSOs) take the stage at events surrounding the UN Commission on the Status of Women this month.

Women like Olfat Mahmoud, a Palestinian nurse and refugee who stands at the podium at an event called “Does Humanitarian Aid Need a Feminist Facelift?” – hosted by Women Deliver – where she gave an opening speech. And Diana Abou Abbas, a Lebanese LGBTQIA+ activist who confidently claimed a seat at the panel to share her own experiences.

They’re not who you’d expect to hold the mics at CSW, but they are who we need to hear from most.

“I’m really blessed to be here to speak with people like you, and to remind you that we exist,” said Olfat, who leads the Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organization (PWHO) in her speech to international dignitaries, donors, and decision-makers in a tightly-packed room.

In truth, I can’t help but feel that we are the lucky ones to hear from people like her. Women-focused CSOs like Olfat’s are leading activities that many international organizations deem too difficult at times of conflict and disaster, like expanding access to sexual and reproductive services for refugee girls and women.

Too often, these services – like access to contraception, maternal care, and emergency obstetrics – are rarely provided in first-line humanitarian responses, if at all. Grassroots women leaders prove that providing these services is feasible and life-saving in even the most complex environments.

“I was a nurse…and always called by other NGOs to raise women’s awareness on her children’s health or family’s health…but nothing about her [own health] as a woman. We started [PWHO] to fill the gap,” Olfat describes.

At the meeting, Olfat shares PWHO’s experience working with religious leaders to ensure access women’s health programs in refugee camps where they work. Soon after, Diana describes her work with Marsa Sexual Health Center – the Beirut-based health clinic that provides safe and non-discriminatory sexual health services to the hardest-to-reach populations in Lebanon, including LGBTQIA+ people, adolescents, refugees, and others.

Both organizations have documented research and best practices to show what works in these difficult contexts – lessons that would be invaluable to international organizations that have reached a standstill on these issues.

There is growing global recognition that hearing more from experts at women-focused CSOs like PWHO and Marsa Sexual Health Center is critically needed to make humanitarian responses more effective. For example, the Call to Action on Protection from Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Emergencies – a groundbreaking partnership which includes commitments from over eighty countries and NGOs to better address GBV – is working hard to enhance local leadership to help fuel more progress on this issue.

Partners are increasing looking to women-focused CSOs to develop roadmaps to help implement the Call to Action, including in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where this work has already begun.

“Success requires investing in local organizations…and making this investment sustainable,” Diana describes at CSW. Globally, only 3% of humanitarian aid went to local and national organizations in 2017 – and much less to those focused on girls and women.

A key takeaway from CSW was the need to scale up flexible and long-term investment in women-focused CSOs, who know the context, entry points, and opportunities to deliver humanitarian assistance most effectively.

Put simply: building a more feminist humanitarian system requires handing over the mic and power to women-focused CSOs in conference rooms, press rooms, and boardrooms. It suggests letting go of some of our own power as international advocates to let women lead and set the agenda – and trust that our collective action for girls and women in humanitarian emergencies will be stronger because of it. It means relinquishing our speaking roles at international convenings so that the MVPs on the ground have a seat at the table.

After all, as Olfat so rightly put it: “Women are the backbones of our communities. They are the future. If we want strong communities, we need strong women.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

The post What They Need: Money, Resources, & a Seat at the Table appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Marcy Hersh is the Senior Manager for Humanitarian Advocacy at Women Deliver, whose Humanitarian Advocates Program elevates the voices of women, and the organizations they lead, to help ensure they have a seat at the decision-making table.

The post What They Need: Money, Resources, & a Seat at the Table appeared first on Inter Press Service.