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A night market in South Korea. The country plans to ensure that 20 percent of all electricity generated is renewable by 2030. Credit: Yeong-Nam/CC BY 2.0

By Ahn Mi Young
SEOUL , Nov 1 2018 (IPS)

While major countries have pledged to be powered entirely by renewable energies in order to stop greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, there are a number of states that are investigating ways to implement this transition quickly in order to achieve their goals ahead of this deadline.

At the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Energy Forum held in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, on Oct. 30, GGGI council members, leading energy experts, and policy makers from both the private and public sectors asked precisely that question.

They gathered to share their energy transformation experiences from the United Kingdom, Norway, Japan, Denmark, and Mongolia and discussed how South Korea can emulate them as it transitions from a coal and nuclear-centric energy dependence to renewables.

How to accelerate the transition to Renewable Energy?

“As there is a big global shift towards renewable energy (RE), we may ask questions: How can we accelerate the clean energy transition? Is the Korean target ambitious? How fast can it be transitional?” said Frank Rijsberman, director-general of GGGI in his keynote speech.

Although global decarbonisation on its own isn’t adequate to meet the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, the forum shared renewable transition cases and experiences of how they have accelerated the transition to RE.

The UK is leading the low-carbon transition and has implemented a drastic cut of emissions in the past 18 years while also continuing its rapid economic growth. Norway built the world’s electric car capital, and made the transition from oil to a renewable model. In Denmark, Copenhagen has become the world’s green city, as it uses district heating pipelines to heat houses and aims to become the world’s first carbon neutral city by 2025.

The most drastic turnaround comes from South Korea and Japan, which have been among the world’s major producers of nuclear power in the past. But both countries have joined the global renewable energy transition club in recent years.

100 Percent Renewables South Korea

The forum heard from Hans-Josef Fell, president of Energy Watch Group, an independent global network of scientists and parliamentarians that was founded in 2006 under the direction of Fell while he was still a member of the German parliament. “It is possible to be 100 percent renewable and we can work together with South Korea to reach the 100 percent goal,” he told participants.

Fell forecast that Solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind power will be the cheapest energy in G20 states by 2030, noting that RE has created 10.3 million jobs worldwide in 2017, with most jobs being in Asia.

The renewable breakdown of the global energy system in 2050 is forecast as:
• Solar PV: 69 percent,
• Wind power: 18 percent,
• Hydro: 8 percent,
• and bioenergy: 20 percent.

Fell also noted political will should be strong enough to fully embrace the RE transition, as he suggested the need for direct private investment in RE and zero-emission technology, for tenders to be granted only for capacity above 40MW, and the need to phase out all state subsidies on fossil fuels.

Japan transitions to PV

Japan is one of the countries that has shown the will to embrace RE. After committing to reducing its dependence on nuclear energy by 2030, Japan has set targets for becoming an economically independent and carbon-free mainstream power by 2050. Japan has reduced its nuclear power generation following the Fukushima nuclear power plant explosion in 2011.

Izumi Kaizuka, Director of RTS Corporation, a PV consulting company, who presented on the RE policy transition in Japan and the current status and outlook of the country’s PV market, said: “There has been an explosive growth of approved PV projects.”

But Japan has concerns about the future burden of surcharges, installation quality, environmental damage from natural disasters, and the lack of hosting capacity.

“There is a significant cost gap of the PV system between domestic and overseas [prices]. Prices are further decreasing due to global competition. Some emphasise the importance of how installation costs in Japan (not under global competition) will be further reduced,” Kaizuka said.

Japan has tried to address these concerns and introduced a new approval system to deal with delayed or unrealistic projects, to increase transparency for grid connections with disclosure of connection capacity and the price of work, as well as the exemption of surcharge for energy sufficiency efforts.

With these actions taken, Kaizuka had a strong growth forecast for PV-installed capacity in Japan. “Despite these concerns, PV is growing, since PV is stable and affordable,” Kaizuka said.

South Korea to move from coal-nuclear to renewables

Under its Renewable Energy 2030 Implementation Plan to achieve a 20 percent goal of renewable share of total electricity generation by 2030, South Korea is investing in clean energy.

This is a drastic reversal of the country’s previous nuclear-centric energy policy. In 2016, 25 reactors generated one-third of the country’s electricity and made South Korea the world’s fifth-largest producer of nuclear energy, according to the World Nuclear Association.

To reverse its energy mix, Seoul is driving a renewable boom under a private-public partnership.

“Active private investment is supporting the renewable energy transition. More than 95 percent of new capacity is PV and wind, which creates the largest number of jobs,” said Kyong-Ho Lee, Director of the New and Renewable Energy Policy Division, at South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE).

The local government-led, large-scale projects, where local governments play a key role in selecting sites and choosing business operators, are cited as a major driving force of the on-going RE transition in South Korea.

“To encourage citizen participation, the government gives monetary incentives for both urban and rural renewable energy installed, as well as state loans for rural RE installed. Thus farmers can make a double income from both farming and PV power installed,” said Lee from MOTIE.

Seoul has said that by 2030, out of a forecast total 63.8GW to be installed, its RE mix will be:
• 57 percent PV,
• 17.7 percent wind power,
• 5 percent bio, and
• 6 percent waste.

“It is a transitional moment as we continue to improve conditions through deregulation of RE, installing and collecting PV modules,” Lee said.

In Norway, financial incentive was strong enough to drive the electric car boom. About 45 percent of new cars sold in Norway in recent months were all-electric cars. People who buy electric cars pay no import taxes, tolls, parking or ferry costs, and are exempt from a 25 percent sales tax at purchase.

“Nationwide infrastructure is necessary to spread the EV [electric vehicle] boom from cities to rural areas,” said Atle Hamar, Vice Minister, Ministry of Climate and Environment, Norway. “In cities, there are enough charging stations but in rural areas, we need public support [to build more].”

District heating in Denmark

Denmark offers the best conditions for using geothermal heat because of the country’s well-developed district heating. In Denmark, boilers provide heat for entire districts through a network of heating pipes.

“We will be testing new technology to find a cost efficient and easier way of heating houses. For example, we are replacing biomass with geothermal heat pumps, which is easier to heat houses,” Jacob Rasmussen, counsellor, energy & environment, Embassy of Denmark.

How fast can it go from nuclear to renewable?

These countries offer great examples for South Korea. And while the forum generally saw a consensus formed on the country’s need to transition to renewables, it debated how fast the transition should be.

South Korea’s transition may be too fast, according to some experts.

“We must respect the role of the nuclear power source [that has driven our economy as the cheapest energy source],” said Sang-hyup Kim, visiting professor from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and chairman of the Coalition for Our Common Future.

“In fact, nuclear is a reality [in South Korea] based on its [60 years of] science and technology. Why should we give it up so rapidly?”

To others, the transition may be a bit slow.

“Some would say the 20 percent goal is not ambitious enough. But we should manage our satisfaction by setting a reasonable target,” said Sun-Jin Yun, professor of environmental and energy policy at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University (SNU).

Panelists agreed on the need to increase inter-Korean energy cooperation to bring peace to Northeast Asia. “Increasing energy interdependence is a way to secure peace for the whole of Northeast Asia. For example, a renewable energy-based grid connecting Mongolia and both Koreas and others can be the way to increase interdependence,” said YangYi Won Young, executive director, Energy Transition Forum, a private energy think-tank.

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By WAM
DUBAI, Nov 1 2018 (WAM)

Jamal Saif Al Jarawan, Secretary-General of the UAE International Investors Council, UAEIIC, said that the historic ties between the UAE and India are built on mutual respect and close cooperation, which is reflected by the signing of over 40 agreements and Memoranda of Understanding, MoU, in many areas, especially in investment, under a sustainable development vision.

He added that the historic relations between the two countries share the values of moderation, tolerance, peace and stability, which have strengthened their strategic partnership, through ongoing communication and mutual high-level visits.

During his speech at the two-day 2nd India-UAE Partnership Summit held in Dubai, with the participation of many public and private sector officials from both countries, Al Jarawan said that the strategic partnership between the UAE and India is witnessing ongoing work, with the aim of generating trade worth US$100 billion by 2020. Current levels of trade account for $53 billion, while UAE investments in India account for $10 billion, and the UAE has pledged to provide $75 billion to support India’s infrastructure, as well as $5 billion to the Indian agricultural sector over the next three years, he added.

Al Jarawan highlighted the council’s confidence in the ambitious strategic partnership between the two countries, which has all the components of success, as well as a series of investment reforms in India and its monetary policies, financial system and social security.

Al Jarawan also expressed his confidence in the growing ties between the two countries while noting that India has become the UAE’s second-biggest international economic partner.

A comprehensive strategic partnership agreement between the two countries was signed in January 2017, Al Jarawan noted.

 

WAM/Nour Salman

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United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet highlighted the key role that human rights defenders play in societies. Governments have fallen short on their commitments as HRDs continue to be killed around the world with impunity. Credit: United Nations Women

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 1 2018 (IPS)

Globally, the people working to defend our human rights are increasingly under attack, reaching a “crisis point.”

More than 150 human rights defenders (HRDs) from around the world gathered in Paris this week to set out a vision for the enduring fight for human rights at the second Human Rights Defenders World Summit.

Among those who attended was United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet who highlighted the key role that HRDs play in societies.

“When you see someone in chains—someone whose rights are being denied—you don’t turn away. You challenge injustice. You stand up for the rights of others,” she told participants.

“Every step towards greater equality, dignity, and rights which has been made…has been achieved because of the struggles and the advocacy of human rights defenders,” Bachelet added.

The meeting marks the 20th anniversary of the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the international community during the first summit to ensure all can enjoy “freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want.”

However, governments have fallen short on their commitments as HRDs continue to be killed around the world with impunity.

The U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst recently expressed alarm over such trends, stating: “The Declaration has become a milestone in the human rights project…however, I am more concerned than ever.”

“We are facing an alarming panorama for human rights defenders. Their situation is deteriorating all over the world despite States’ obligations to ensure the protection of human rights defenders,” he added.

Amnesty International’s Secretary General Kumi Naidoo said the level of danger facing activists worldwide has reached crisis point. Credit: Amantha Perera/IPS

Amnesty International’s Secretary General Kumi Naidoo echoed similar sentiments during the summit, stating: “The level of danger facing activists worldwide has reached crisis point. Every day ordinary people are threatened, tortured, imprisoned and killed for what they fight for or simply for who they are. Now is the time to act and tackle the global surge in repression of human rights defenders.”

In a recent report, Forst found that at least 3,500 HRDs have been killed since the adoption of the Declaration.

In 2017 alone, over 300 HRDs across 27 countries were killed, double the numbers from 2015, Front Line Defenders found.

Almost 85 percent of the recorded murders were concentrated in five Latin American countries: Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.

Colombia, which is currently the deadliest place for HRDs, saw a increase in the number of murders of HRDs following the 2016 peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

In 2017, over 120 social and environmental leaders were killed by paramilitary or unidentified armed groups largely in areas where FARC has since left, contributing to struggles for power and land.

In May, Luis Alberto Torres Montoya and Duvian Andres Correa Sanchez were killed. They were a part of the Rios Vivos Movement which has rallied against the Hidroituango hydroelectric dam for its environmental and human rights impacts including the displacement of local communities.

In fact, Front Line Defenders found that 67 percent of those killed in 2017 were defending land, environmental, and indigenous people’s rights, and almost always in the context of mega projects, extractive industry, and big business.

The Wayúu Women’s Force, an indigenous environmental group, have been facing death threats for its opposition to a coal mine operating on their ancestral territory. A right-wing paramilitary group Aguilas Negras, or Black Eagles, reportedly dispersed leaflets promising to “clean” the region of the indigenous Wayúu.

“Every case of an attack on a human rights defender constitutes an attack on human rights – the rights of us all,” Bachelet said.

However, impunity continues to reign in many countries including in Colombia where human rights groups have said the government is failing to investigate crimes and prosecute those behind them, and have urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open a formal investigation.

But even in cases where the perpetrators are brought to a court, justice still remains elusive.

In Guatemala, the head of security of a mine—then owned by Canadian company Hudbay Minerals—was acquitted for the 2009 murder of indigenous activist Adolfo Ich Chaman and shooting of German Chub despite witness testimony and physical evidence.

The 2013 lawsuit also included 11 women who were allegedly raped at gunpoint by the mining company’s security forces during a forced eviction in 2007.

Following the ruling, the judge requested that criminal charges be brought against those involved in the prosecution including Chaman’s wife for “obstructing justice and falsifying information.”

“The systemic, widespread impunity is a very bad signal sent to the families of the victims and to anyone standing up for human rights…beyond these attacks and killings, it is ultimately our rights, our democracies that are in great danger,” Forst recently said to the General Assembly.

There has been some progress in recognising the importance and achievements of HRDs around the world. Most recently, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Yazidi activist Nadia Murray and Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege for their role in the fight to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Both Forst and Bachelet stressed the need to take action and for all stakeholders to use this opportunity to move forward, particularly in the wake of the 20th anniversary of the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders as well as the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted at the Palais de Chaillot where the Summit aptly held their closing ceremony.

“The Summit is a key opportunity for human rights defenders around the world, facing vilification and increased attacks, to come to together and discuss next steps on their own terms,” Forst said.

“What human rights defenders teach us is that all of us can stand up for our rights and for the rights of others, in our neighborhoods, in our countries and all over the world. We can change the world,” Bachelet echoed.

This year has seen numerous events focusing on HRDs including the three-day summit and an upcoming high-level meeting to take place in mid-December in New York to address good practices and new opportunities in the Declaration’s implementation.

 

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By Geneva Centre
GENEVA, Nov 1 2018 (Geneva Centre)

Security cannot be achieved by reactivating the armament race and an environment of tension and division, the Executive Director of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue, Ambassador Idriss Jazairy, said during the “A New Human Concept of Security” conference organized by the European Centre for Peace and Development in Belgrade.

“We live in troubled and uncertain times. Our era is defined by an environment of tension and division. It is compounded by the manipulation and hijacking of religions, creeds and value systems. For what purpose? For accessing power through violence in some parts of the world or through counter-factual political scheming in other parts,” Ambassador Jazairy underlined in his presentation.

In this regard, the Geneva Centre’s Executive Director highlighted the need to address ominous threats and divisive narratives descending on modern societies in Arab and Western societies alike. The rise of violent extremism on the one hand and of militant forms of nationalism and populism on the other represent a threat to multicultural societies, human well-being as well as world peace and stability.

Exclusion and marginalization of people as witnessed in several countries – he noted – fuel xenophobia, bigotry and racism. Proliferation of crises and conflict have the potential to divide societies and to foster hatred, intolerance and animosity between peoples regardless of cultural and religious origins.

In this connection, the Geneva Centre’s Executive Director said that the “dismal situation undermines the foundations of contemporary society. Outbreaks of endogenous and exogenous violence occur whether physical or verbal in different regions of the world.”

This has given rise to a “pincer movement of two extremes expressed through violent extremism and xenophobic populism.” The “greatest scam of the century”, highlighted Ambassador Jazairy, “is the misuse of universal inclusive values shared by all religions and value-systems to serve the opposite goals of discrimination and exclusion.”

To “unmask this scam”, the Geneva Centre’s Executive Director underlined that the promotion of equal citizenship rights is the silver-bullet. It will eliminate the fear of the Other and prevent potential social and/or religious tension or conflict that prevail within multicultural societies and across diverse nations.

“Most of today’s international conflicts are grafted on internal upheavals which themselves spring from the denial of equal citizenship rights. If we can defuse an exacerbation of internal dissent through dialogue and conflict resolution, the temptation for foreign interference will be reduced pari passu. Thus conflict will be circumscribed and peace will be given a chance,” he said.

In addition, Ambassador Jazairy appealed to international decision-makers to sign and endorse the 2018 World Conference declaration entitled “Moving Towards Greater Spiritual Convergence Worldwide in Support of Equal Citizenship Rights” that has been endorsed by more than 50 international opinion-makers. The latter was adopted at the 25 June 2018 World Conference entitled “Religions, Creeds and Value-Systems: Joining Forces to Enhance Equal Citizenship Rights” held at the United Nations Office at Geneva under the Patronage of HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

He said the World Conference Declaration offers an inspiring ideal of world citizenship that responds to citizens’ aspiration to a sense of belonging which will “foster their unity in diversity.” “A sense of belonging and sharing that extends to the nation and beyond to the world community,” he concluded.

ECPD conference responds to appeal by Executive Director of the Geneva Centre. Adopts a resolution endorsing the World Conference outcome Declaration

The participants present at the ECPD conference on “A New Human Concept of Security” unanimously adopted a resolution welcoming and endorsing the World Conference outcome Declaration entitled “Moving Towards Greater Spiritual Convergence Worldwide in Support of Equal Citizenship Rights.”

Through the unanimous adoption of the resolution, the participants call on all States to respect the Declaration and to support the implementation of its provisions. The resolution read as follows:

“To: the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue,

“We the participants of the XIV International Conference on A New Concept of Human Security, 26/10/2018, Belgrade of the ECPD, University for Peace established by the UN, choose to add our support to the outcome Declaration: ‘Moving Towards Greater Spiritual Convergence Worldwide in Support of Equal Citizenship Rights’ (General, 25/6/2018) that emanated from the World Conference (Geneva, Palais des Nations, 25/6/2018) on ‘Religions, Creeds and Value Systems: Joining Forces to Enhance Equal Citizenship Rights,’

“We do so,

• “In recognition of the inherent dignity and of equal and inalienable rights of the members of the human family which is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world and;
• “Within a framework of philosophy, global citizenship and the golden means that spreads equal citizenship rights (ECR) as a gateway to world peace.

“Furthermore, we support its suggested follow-up actions of a periodic holding of World Summit, the setting-up of an International Task-Force on ECR and to include a relevant item in the Universal Periodic Review.

“Agreed by all participants/Signed by Dan Wallace, Roberto Savio, Jeffrey Levett and Negoslav Ostojic.”

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Journalists covering the arrival of delegations to address the General Assembly’s seventy-second general debate. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

By Sarah Lister and Emanuele Sapienza
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 1 2018 (IPS)

Safety of journalists has featured prominently in international news in recent weeks. And yet, while some cases grab the headlines, many more do not, and the scale of the issue often goes unremarked. On this International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, it is worth pausing to reflect on some facts.

Over the period 2006-2017, UNESCO has recorded 1,010 killings of journalists. A total of 80 journalists and media workers were killed in 2018 as of 9 October. On average, every five days, a journalist is killed for bringing information to the public. Many people operating in the new media ecosystem – such as citizen journalists and bloggers – are experiencing growing harassment, in part due to their ambiguous status under national legislation.

Women journalists and media personnel have also been increasingly exposed to violence, with the number of women journalists killed worldwide rising steadily since 2010. But despite all of this, legal impunity for perpetrators of crimes against journalists remains the norm, as a staggering 90 percent of cases are unresolved.

Journalists are targeted for many reasons, and by many people. Some are investigating corruption and abuse of power. Some are expressing political or social views which others wish to silence. Some simply stand as a voice of peace in times of war. Irrespective of the motive, however, the systematic targeting of journalists is a telling reflection of how important – in fact, vital – their work is.

The intimidation, harassment and killing of journalists are – no doubt – extreme forms of censorship, and a violation of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which, among other things, recognizes the freedom to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers”.

But they also erode the conditions for peaceful and inclusive societies. For this reason, Goal 16 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – agreed in 2015 by more than 150 world leaders – has an indicator that tracks cases of killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture of journalists and associated media personnel.

United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has spoken out on many occasions about the importance of governments ensuring accountability for crimes against journalists and the UN, across its agencies, funds and programmes, has committed to a comprehensive Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) engages in work to strengthen free and independent media, including in places where the media and journalists face pressures and threats of all sorts. In fact, a stock-taking exercise currently underway shows that, in the past few years alone, UNDP has implemented over 100 interventions in 60 different countries to enhance the media’s role in peace and development.

This work has taken many forms: from facilitating a “Journalists’ Pact for Strengthening Peace” in Lebanon, to promoting a balanced media coverage of elections in Georgia; from supporting insightful reporting on the extractive sector in Kenya, to providing training to journalists on how to make the most of open data in Moldova – just to mention a few examples.

A free and independent media sector is the bedrock of informed societies. It can support accountable and plural governance, it can provide a space for healthy public debate and dialogue and, under appropriate circumstances, can also play a role in reducing violent conflict.

In recent years, technological developments, including the rise of social and digital media, and the liberalization of media markets have fuelled a significant change, with profound implications on how people are informed and ways they can participate in governance.

Growing manipulation of public opinion is distorting political incentives in ways that are contrary to the public interest. Divisions in society are likely to become more easily exploited for political gain and the prospects for social cohesion look less promising, as public spaces become more fragmented and echo chamber effects become more intense.

These trends are extremely worrying and must be addressed urgently. But how can we protect the quality of public debate, and ensure the broader benefits to societies, if we do not defend independent media and public service journalism?

Journalists and other media workers must be protected from threats, violence, arbitrary detention and death. And those who perpetrate crimes against them must be brought to justice. Because information and ideas should be shared freely, without fear of repercussion for the benefit of whole societies.

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Excerpt:

Sarah Lister is Director, UNDP’s Oslo Governance Centre, and Emanuele Sapienza is, Policy Specialist, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, UNDP.

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According to ‘The World State of Agriculture 2018’, India is the country with the highest number of organic producers (835'000). This is a woman cultivating her tea plantation in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala. Credit: Ilaria Cecilia/IPS

By Maged Srour
ROME, Oct 31 2018 (IPS)

Many countries and farmers around the world are not readily making the switch to organic farming. But the small Himalayan mountain state of Sikkim, which borders Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan, is the first 100 percent organic farming state in the world. 

Earlier this month, Sikkim, won the Future Policy Award 2018 (FPA) for being the first state in the world to declare itself, in 2015, 100 percent organic.

Its path towards becoming completely organic started in 2003, when Chief Minister Pawan Chamling announced the political vision to make Sikkim “the first organic state of India”.

The FPA, also known as the ‘Oscar for Best Policies’ is organised every year by the World Future Council (WFC). The aim of the FPA is to investigate solutions to the challenges in today’s world. The WFC looks at which policies have a holistic and long-term outlook, and which protect the rights of future generations. And once a year the WFC awards showcases the very best of them.

This year, in cooperation with IFOAM-Organics International (IFOAM) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the FPA decided to focus on the best policies to scale up agroecology.

In 2004, one year after the vision was announced, Sikkim adopted its Policy on Organic Farming and in 2010, the state launched the Organic Mission, an action plan to implement the policy. In 2015, thanks to strong political coherence and strategy planning, the goal was achieved.

Among the noteworthy measures adopted by Sikkim during that decade, the fact that 80 percent of the budget between 2010 and 2014 was intended to build the capacity of farmers, rural service providers and certification bodies. The budget also supported farmers in acquiring certifications, and had various measures to provide farmers with quality organic seeds.

Best practices on agroecology: Denmark’s Organic Action Plan

The WFC has also rewarded other government policies with Silver Awards, Vision Awards and Honourable Mentions. Among the Silver awardees was Denmark’s Organic Action Plan, which has become a popular policy planning tool in European countries over the last decade.

Almost 80 percent of Danes purchase organic food and today the country has the highest organic market share in the world (13 percent).

“What has made Danish consumers among the most enthusiastic organic consumers [in the world], is that we have done a lot of consumer information and we have worked strategically with the supermarkets to place organics as part of their strategy to appeal to consumers on the value of food, putting more value into food through organics,” Paul Holmbeck, Political Director of ‘Organic Denmark’, told IPS.

The importance of being organic and agroecological

The policies of Sikkim and Denmark, as well as those of Ecuador and Brazil — countries that also received Silver Awards — are steps towards a world where agroecology becomes widespread and practiced globally. In fact, to conceive cultivated land as ecosystems themselves, in which every living and nonliving component affects every other component, is vital to obtain not only healthy and organic food, but also to preserve our environment.

Indeed, it would be a mistake to think that having organic products on our tables necessarily means having solved all problems related to intensive agriculture and to the damages on the environment.

“Agroecology is one approach that applies ecological concepts and principles to food and farm systems, focusing on the interaction between micro-organisms, plants, animals, humans and the environment, to foster sustainable agriculture development, in order to ensure food security and nutrition for all, now and in the future,” Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director General, told IPS. “It is based on co-creation of knowledge, sharing and innovation, combining local, traditional, indigenous practices with multi-disciplinary science.”

Emerging trends on organic

According to the report, The World of Organic Agriculture 2018 – Statistics and Emerging Trends, released earlier this year and authored by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and IFOAM, 57.8 million hectares (ha) worldwide were farmed organically in 2016. This is an increase of 7.5 million ha (or 13 percent) compared to the previous year.

In 2016, the share of land dedicated to organic farmland increased across the globe: Europe (6.7 percent increase), Asia (34 percent increase), Africa (7 percent increase), Latin America (6 percent increase), North America (5 percent increase).

Australia had the largest agricultural area farmed organically (27.2 million ha), followed by Argentina (3 million ha), and China (2.3 million ha).

In 2016, there were 2.7 million organic farmers. Around 40 percent of whom live in Asia, followed by Africa (27 percent) and Latin America (17 percent).

According to the report, the total area devoted in Asia to organic agriculture was almost 4.9 million ha in 2016 and there were 1.1 million organic producers in the region, with India being the country with the highest number of organic producers (835,000).

So the success of Sikkim is not surprising considering that the Asian continent can be considered among the regions at the forefront of organic production.

Perspectives about the future

However, favouring the scale up of agroecology, which includes producing organic products, is unfortunately not that simple.

“To harness the multiple sustainability benefits that arise from agroecological approaches, as enabling environment is required, including adapted policies, public investments, institutions and research priorities,” said Semedo.  “However, this is not yet a reality in the majority of countries.”

Indeed, poverty, malnutrition, unfair distribution of wealth, decreasing of biodiversity, deterioration of natural resources like soil and water, and climate change are significant challenges in most countries.

Agriculture will become one of the greatest challenges, if not addressed properly. Therefore, moving towards more sustainable agriculture and food systems is certainly a potential part of the solution, not only for our health and wellness but for the planet itself.

“It’s vital for everyone to be organic [and] for every person to eat organic because otherwise people would eat poison and basically writing a recipe for chronic diseases. It could be cancer [as well as] neurological problems,” warned Vandana Shiva, a food and agriculture expert and member of the WFC, told IPS during the ceremony of the Future Policy Award 2018 at FAO headquarters in Rome this October.

“Organic is the only living solution to climate change. Chemical farming is a very big contributor to greenhouse gas emissions but organic farming takes the excess carbon out of the atmosphere and puts it in the soil,” she added.

However, there seems to be a large consensus with the fact that the planet needs to move towards a more sustainable way of living and this is a reason for optimism.

“I’m very optimistic about organics [because] we are creating new solutions for climate and animal welfare, sustainability and good soil every single day,” said Holmbeck. “Governments are starting to see that organic food policy works: it is good for farmers, for consumers and for the planet.”

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President Uhuru Kenyatta and Siddharth Chatterjee the UN Resident Coordinator discuss youth unemployment in Kenya. Credit: State House Kenya

By Yusuf Hassan
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 31 2018 (IPS)

The United Nations globally is witnessing some of the most ambitious reforms led by the UN Secretary General Mr. Antonio Guterres. Most relevant to us in Kenya is the entire reform of the development system and how the UN will adapt to a fast-changing development environment.

The countdown to the ambitious SDGs is already on, and the Agenda 2030 timeline implies we should already have gone one-fifth of the way towards all the targets. Kenya has been a champion of Agenda 2030 led by our own Ambassador Macharia Kamau, PS MFA, Kenya.

These include ridding Kenya of poverty and generally changing the narrative for those at the periphery of development and ensuring no one is left behind.

Kenya performed relatively well in the Millennium Development Goals, with that campaign being hailed for lifting more than one billion people out of extreme poverty and making inroads against hunger globally. However, Kenya was one of the countries that did not achieve MDG goals 4 and 5 which was about reducing maternal and child mortality.

Yusuf Hassan

Compared to the MDGs, Agenda 2030 is a doubling down, with global leaders having agreed on close to 170 targets summarized into 17 goals. Though countries will have to concentrate on those targets that are most urgent and of priority to them, the goals still mean greater challenges not only in financing programmes but in innovating for locally-applicable solutions.

One important transformation is in the operations of the Resident Coordinators(RC) System and new generation UN Country Teams. The Resident Coordinator’s Office is generally the engine of the UN development system on the ground, providing coordination, strategic policy, partnerships and investments around the SDGs.

In the reforms, the strengthened RC will be the representative of the UN Secretary-General on the ground and the most senior UN development officials at the country level and will be better positioned to ensure operational coherence and synergies in development, humanitarian and peace building action, according to the country context.

This takes effect on 01 January 2019.

Alignment of the work of UN in Kenya is expressed through the recently-launched United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF 2018-2022). The rigorous development process of UNDAF was led by the Treasury and Devolution ministries and coordinated with the UN Country Team.

More than 100 institutions were involved in the process to ensure the framework reflected priorities including Vision 2030, MTP III and the President Kenyatta’s bold Big 4 Agenda.

With Kenya being classified as a lower middle-income country, financial support to UN agencies has now undergone a considerable down-titration. Nevertheless, the current UNDAF has still committed up to 80% more resources towards finding solutions to the countries challenges between now and 2022.

Prime among those challenges include changing the narrative for the youth and advancing gender equality, but in that challenge lies an ideal common ground for joint programming not only between the development partners and UN but also bringing in the might of the private sector.

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres is leading efforts to ensure that the UN is more effective, efficient, coherent, coordinated and a better performing United Nations country presence with a strengthened role of the UN Resident Coordinator.

The UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya, Siddharth Chatterjee at the launch of the UNDAF in June 2018 reiterated the fact that the UN agencies in Kenya have their shoulders squared to work with various partners to meet the challenges of our time. He emphasized that this will not be a “business usual” approach.

No doubt as a global body, the United Nations in Kenya is undertaking bold and innovative action that is required to deliver on the 2030 Agenda. This was acknowledged in an open letter by the Frontier Counties of Kenya to the UN stating, “The UN Kenya country team has demonstrated in action and words the principle of leaving no one behind and reaching the furthest behind first; as counties historically maginalised the ushers a new dawn of development”.

The President’s Big 4 agenda, the government’s keen interest to see rapid growth & progress and close working ties with the UN in Kenya, Kenya can become a model for the UN Delivering As One and ensuring “no one is left behind”.

Therein lies the UN “being fit for purpose.”

Hon Mr. Yusuf Hassan is a senior ranking Member of Kenya’s National Assembly and MP from Nairobi. He has served for over 18 years with the United Nations, including UNHCR & UNOCHA. He has also served as a senior adviser on refugees in the late UN SG Mr. Kofi Annan’s office. He is a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy,Tufts University, USA.

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By WAM
DUBAI, Oct 31 2018 (WAM)

Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, today announced that the UAE will contribute US$1.5 million annually for the period 2019 to 2021, cumulatively amounting to US$4.5 million, to fund the projects carried out by the Global Green Growth Institute, GGGI.

The announcement was made at the GGGI’s Assembly and Council, held at the South Korean capital, Seoul. Dr. Al-Zeyoudi led the UAE delegation that participated at the assembly.

Reiterating the UAE’s commitment to green development, the Minister said, “In the UAE, we are resolved to achieving a green economy as per the UAE Green Agenda 2030 adopted by the UAE Cabinet in 2015. During 2017-2018, we have made a lot of progress in the implementation of the Green Agenda 2030 and key policy developments with the assistance of the GGGI Abu Dhabi office team.”

“The UAE Cabinet adopted the National Climate Change Plan 2050 in June 2017, which consolidates the country’s climate mitigation and adaptation initiatives under one integrated framework. As part of the Climate Plan implementation, we have recently conducted a comprehensive climate risk assessment across four key sectors and identified priority climate risks that require us to develop appropriate adaptation measures,” he added.

Highlighting one of the initiatives in green development in the UAE, Dr. Al-Zeyoudi said, “The development of green growth indices is not new to us. We have already set 41 Green Key Performance Indicators to track the UAE’s progress towards achieving a green economy and offer regular updates through the UAE State of Green Economy Report. Furthermore, we launched the UAE Green Dashboard just last week, an open data platform which allows anyone to access and analyse underlying data on the 41 Green KPIs.”

The Minister held several bilateral meetings to boost cooperation in agriculture, food safety, green development and the recycling of industrial materials. These included a meeting with Lee Gae-ho, South Korea’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, former UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon, who is also GGGI’s Assembly President and Council Chair, as well as top officials from the Korean National Cleaner Production Centre.

Accompanied by Abdullah Saif Al Nuaimi, Ambassador of the UAE to South Korea, Dr. Al-Zeyoudi visited Korea Polar Research Institute, a statutory and government-funded research institution that is leading Korea’s national Polar programme for both the Arctic and the Antarctic, to explore first-hand the institute’s research efforts and how it is engaging the youth and the public in polar studies. The Minister was introduced to the key studies and research projects developed at the institute in the last 30 years.

Dr. Al-Zeyoudi also toured the Seoul Upcycling Plaza, Korea’s biggest upcycling complex, where he was introduced to the facility’s entire upcycling process, from material donation and collection to processing, production, and sales.

WAM/Nour Salman/MOHD AAMIR

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The Indian government launched the Saubhagya scheme in 2017 and aims to provide electricity across the entire country. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

By Stella Paul
NEW DEHLI, Oct 31 2018 (IPS)

Even in remote and faraway places such as Andamans and Nicobar and Lakshadweep, islands off the coast of India, the government is keen to provide electricity across the entire country.

Last year it launched the Saubhagya scheme, which is about providing energy access to all. While the government is making progress, “it would be good to replace current diesel-based electrons with renewable and storage-based solutions. GGGI has already demonstrated this in Indonesia and proved that such shifts are commercially viable,” says Shantanu Gotmare, head of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) India office.

GGGI is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organisation that works in developing countries helping them achieve green growth through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction, creation of green jobs, wider access to clean energy, sustainable public transport, improved sanitation, and sustainable waste management.

In an exclusive interview with IPS, Gotmare speaks about innovative ways that India can curve its carbon footprint and achieve a greener economy.

He says another innovative way for India to become 100 percent electricity-capable is through a smart meter rollout.

“Although there is money, there is no proper structuring right now. A properly structured smart meter rollout can help save a lot of electricity waste through improved monitoring and data capture, automatic billing and efficient communication, and the saved power can be used to electrify several households. This is another area where GGGI can help the government,” he says.

Excerpts of the interview follow:

Shantanu Gotmare, head of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) India office.

IPS: Is there a place where this smart meter rollout has taken shape?

A: At present, it is a priority for the government of India. India is committed to renewable energy and the day is not very far when people will see renewable energy in their neighborhood, but in a country where access to energy is still an issue, probably this still has to wait for a few years.

IPS: The latest IPCC report has just been made public and it states that the world only has 12 more years to keep the rate of global warming under 1.5 degrees. Keeping this in mind, can you tell us about your work on carbon mitigation in India and what are the three most important features of this work?

A: Reducing the carbon intensity is one of India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) goals. The country has clearly stated that by 2030, the carbon emission intensity of its GDP will be reduced by at least 15 percent. Now, if you read the IPCC report, there are multiple activities that can be done to reduce the emission.

There are three things that GGGI can do and has been doing (to help India achieve this NDC)

1) Green mobility: GGGI has helped the government of Himachal Pradesh to introduce electric buses and is now doing it in two other states, including Karnataka.

2) Resource efficiency of water: In big cities, there is no account of the water that is treated and supplied by the municipality. This is almost like electricity which is stolen and is not accounted for. So we are looking at ways to get that water accounted for.

3) Effect of climate change on livelihood: We are about to launch a study to see how climate change is affecting livelihoods in the consumer commodity sector. Based on this study we will see what business models can be adopted to mitigate climate change in the tea and coffee sector.

IPS: Which are some of the easy and affordable ways for India to reduce its carbon footprint by reducing plastic use? 

A: Recycling building materials is a very simple and doable way. All over the country, the construction waste always goes to the landfill. Instead, this can be recycled and used to build pavements or bricks.

Secondly, everywhere these days people are building pavements and parking areas by using concrete layers which do not allow any water to percolate. Simple steps like making these layers porous can help the water flow freely to the ground, rainwater can easily percolate and groundwater can be recharged. If some financial designs, some business models and some regulations can be brought around this, it can bring around some industries and help strengthen the economy.

IPS: These measures sound so simple, yet why did nobody think about it?

A: Well, that is because we were not conscious about it. I think it’s like the ‘#metoo’ movement where there is consciousness before people start thinking and acting on it. Then of course there has to be finance which will come only when there is a market, which again happens when there are regulations.

IPS: In the environmental sector, those who have concrete ideas don’t have access to money, and those who have money say there are no bankable projects. What is your take on this?

A: I think it’s not that there is no capital or no opportunities. The rate at which the finance is available is the major issue. The cost of project developers or people who want to build a sustainable business – that is one issue and the second issue is lack of regulations to create the market. For example, when India announced that it wanted to produce 175 gigawatt of renewable energy, the rates were brought down from 6-7 rupees per units of electricity to 2-3 rupees. So there are regulations like this for the government to bring which can pave the way for the market to open up.

The other issues are sensitising people to accept the rate at which finances are distributed, financial restructuring and creating incentives for those who take steps for greening the economy like building green buildings.

IPS: We often hear people –particularly small, grassroots organisations- complain that their proposal was rejected by the Green Climate Fund because it wasn’t framed well. How can GGGI help?

A: We have done the readiness proposals which are built around the capacity in around eight countries across the world. We would love to partner with the government of India to help all of its accredited entities to access the GCF fund. GGGI has a very niche sort of knowledge in that and very specialised knowledge in accessing the GCF finance. We have conveyed this to the government and it’s now under consideration.

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The post Q&A: Ready to Help India Access Climate Finance for a Greener Economy appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

IPS correspondent Stella Paul interviews SHANTANU GOTMARE, Country Head, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), India

The post Q&A: Ready to Help India Access Climate Finance for a Greener Economy appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Global Illicit Trade Environmental Index

By Stefano Betti
NEW YORK, Oct 31 2018 (IPS)

Since the 2011 revolution, Tunisia has been heralded as a model of democratic transition. However, nine governments in the past seven years have been struggling to revive the economy and the North African state faces the difficult task of maintaining faith in democracy amid a lagging economy, rising security challenges, and widespread corruption.

This challenge is exacerbated by a historic dependence on informal cross-border trade coupled with an economy that is itself largely informal, accounting for as much as 50% of Tunisia’s GDP. Taken together, these factors have provided fertile grounds for illicit trade to flourish.

Although headlines commonly focus on the illegal imports of fuel and tobacco, a wide variety of other products such as pharmaceuticals, fruit and vegetables, electronics, home appliances, clothes, and shoes are smuggled in and out of the country.

And, if these goods and the transactions remain within the informal network, the loss of government revenues can be significant. Illicit trade also undermines legitimate business, who can’t compete against smugglers. Furthermore, it deters foreign investments in the struggling economy.

Given its linkages to organized criminal activity, illicit trade can underpin wider risks to national and regional security. This is especially the case when existing routes and markets for cross-border smuggling of consumer products are exploited by criminal groups, including non-state armed actors, for trafficking in high profile illegal goods, such as drugs and arms.

To help inform governments on the effectiveness of their efforts to fight illicit trade, the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) commissioned the Economist Intelligence Unit to produce the Global Illicit Trade Environment Index as a tool to measure the extent to which countries enable or inhibit illicit trade.

Recent findings from the Index underscore the continued challenge that Tunisia faces in combatting illicit trade despite laudable efforts undertaken in recent years, including the Government’s crackdown on corruption and organized crime in 2017 that led to the arrest of several mafia bosses and smuggling ringleaders.

Tunisia ranks 53rd out of 84 countries evaluated worldwide. The overall low score is primarily a result of major price and tax differentials with its neighboring countries, systemic corruption, a lack of legal job opportunities in the formal market and porous borders, which together create an environment where illicit trade thrives.

Tunisia is by no means alone in facing this threat. All countries in the region are challenged to protect their economies from illicit trade. Algeria is ranked 58, Morocco is 65 and Libya holds the lowest ranking on the Index at 84. Clearly, more needs be done stop the surge in illicit trade that is flooding North Africa and drowning out economic development opportunities.

Yet, finding solutions is not a simple task. Smuggling economies have been an integral component of regional trade for centuries, with contraband and informal commerce serving as the main sources of employment in some border communities. The evolving geopolitics in the wake of the Arab Spring have changed security dynamics in the region, opening new routes and markets for exploitation of a broad range of illicit goods.

The Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (www.TRACIT.org) is stepping up to the challenge by leading business engagement with national governments and intergovernmental organizations to develop a comprehensive and effective anti-illicit trade program to curb illicit goods that harm legitimate businesses, workers, consumers and governments.

During a special event in Tunis hosted by American Chamber of Commerce Tunisia (AmCham Tunisia), TRACIT highlighted a number of priority areas that Tunisia might consider to enhance its overall policy environment to discourage illicit trade.

This includes a national strategy that addresses incentives for smuggling, such as reforming administered prices and subsidies, tariff policies and technical constraints to legal importation. While important pieces of legislation have been enacted in recent years, which led, among others, to a strengthened legal framework against intellectual property infringements and a better protection of whistle blowers in corruption cases, the enforcement of existing laws needs to be improved. To do so, it will be paramount to ensure the allocation of proper human and financial resources.

Crucially, policies to address illicit trade will need to be holistic and factor in broad social impact and local development issues. This includes steps to ensure that policies do not inadvertently de-stabilize communities that currently depend on informal cross-border trade. It is important that efforts to disrupt illicit trade include a development aspect to provide border regions with sustainable alternative sources of livelihood.

Finally, tackling illicit trade will also require improved and deepened cooperation between neighboring countries. Disparities in different governments’ policies and subsidies create large differences in prices and taxes and arbitrage opportunities for traffickers in illicit goods.

As far as possible, Tunisia should seek to align tariff rates and subsidy policies with its neighbors, strengthen border control and integrate the illicit trade threat into bilateral and regional-level discussions.

Tunisia, and the region more broadly, will continue to struggle with illicit trade until the root causes are targeted and abated. TRACIT looks forward to collaborating with the Tunisian government and private sector stakeholders to advance the anti-illicit trade agenda and ensure clean and safe trade and sustainable economic development.

*Stefano Betti is a leading expert in the area of international criminal policy and justice reform. He also currently collaborates with the Siracusa Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights as well as Oxford Economics on two illicit trade related projects. Before joining TRACIT, he was Senior Counsel at INTERPOL’s Office of Legal Affairs, where he headed the Organization’s legal program on illicit trade.

The post North African Countries Need to Protect Their Economies From Illicit Trade appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Stefano Betti is Deputy Director-General, The Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT), an independent, business-led initiative to mitigate the economic and social damages of illicit trade by strengthening government enforcement mechanisms and integrating supply chain controls across industry sectors.

The post North African Countries Need to Protect Their Economies From Illicit Trade appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Stingrays, which can be found in the Indian Ocean which surrounds the Seychelles. This flattened fish is closely related to sharks. The Seychelles has become the first country in the world to issue a blue bond, focused on funding sustainable use of marine resources. Credit: Nalisha Adams/IPS

By Kanis Dursin
JAKARTA, Oct 31 2018 (IPS)

The Republic of Seychelles announced on Monday that it has issued a 10-year blue bond to finance fisheries projects, making it the world’s first country to utilise capital markets for funding the sustainable use of marine resources.

Seychelles Vice President Vincent Meriton told IPS that the bond was officially issued Oct. 9 and that its sales have so far raised 15 million dollars from three institutional investors: Calvert Impact Capital, Nuveen, and Prudential.

“At least 12 million dollars of the proceeds will be allocated for low-interest loans and grants to local fishermen communities, while the remainder will finance research on sustainable fisheries projects,” Meriton told IPS in a telephone interview on Sunday.

The news comes ahead of the first-ever global conference on the blue economy, which will be held at the end of November in Kenya.

Participants from around the globe will gather in the country’s capital, Nairobi, and attend the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference to discuss ways of building a blue economy that harnesses the potential of oceans, lakes and rivers and improves the lives of all.

At the conference participants will also showcase latest innovations, scientific advances and best practices to develop economies while conserving the world’s waters.

The Seychelles’ blue bond will likely be a mechanism of great interest to participants.

“We are honoured to be the first nation to pioneer such a novel financing instrument,” Meriton said when announcing the bond on the first day of the Our Ocean Conference in Nusa Dua, Bali, a one-hour flight east of the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

“The blue bond, which is part of an initiative that combines public and private investment to mobilise resources for empowering local communities and businesses, will greatly assist Seychelles in achieving a transition to sustainable fisheries and safeguarding our oceans while we sustainably develop our blue economy,” Meriton continued.

Grants and loans to Seychelles fisher communities would be provided through the Blue Grants Fund and Blue Investment Fund, managed respectively by the Seychelles’ Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT) and the Development Bank of Seychelles (DBS).

An archipelagic country in the western Indian Ocean, Seychelles has 115 granite and coral islands spreading across an exclusive economic zone of approximately 1.4 million square kilometers.

After tourism, the fisheries sector is the country’s most important industry, contributing significantly to annual GDP and employing 17 percent of the population, with fish products accounting for around 95 percent of the total value of domestic exports.

From right to left: Nico Barito (Seychelles Consular General to Indonesia), Vincent Meriton (Seychelles Vice President), Laura Tuck (World Bank Vice President), James Michel (Former Seychelles President), and Justin Mundy (World Resources Institute and former director of HRH The Prince of Wales’ International Sustainability Unit). Courtesy: Nico Barito

According to Meriton, the idea of a blue bond was first floated under former president James Michel in 2011, but the concept for a blue bond to support a transition to sustainable fisheries was conceived in 2014 only with the help of HRH The Prince of Wales’ International Sustainability Unit.

Since then, a World Bank team comprising experts from its Treasury, Legal, Environmental and Finance groups has worked with investors, structured the blue bond, and assisted the Seychelles government in setting up a platform for channeling its proceeds.

A joint statement issued by the Seychelles government and the World Bank said the blue bond is backed by a five million dollar guarantee from the World Bank and a five million dollar concessional loan from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). It will also pay an annual coupon of 6.5 percent to investors, but the GEF concessional loan would cut the cost to Seychelles to 2.8 percent.

The statement also said proceeds from the bond sales would finance the expansion of marine protected areas, improved governance of priority fisheries and the development of the Seychelles’ blue economy, and contribute to the World Bank’s South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Governance and Shared Growth Program, which supports countries in the region to sustainably manage fisheries and increase economic benefits from their fisheries sectors.

World Bank Vice President and Treasurer Arunma Oteh called the blue bond a milestone that complements other activities aimed at supporting sustainable use of marine resources, including particularly the fishery sector.

“We hope that this bond will pave the way for others …. The blue bond is yet another example of the powerful role of capital markets in connecting investors to projects that support better stewardship of the planet,” Oteh said in a joint statement.

World Bank Vice President of Sustainable Development Laura Tuck said the blue bond could serve as a model for other countries in mobilising funds to finance sustainable fisheries projects.

“The World Bank is excited to be involved in the launch of this sovereign blue bond and believes it can serve as a model for other small island developing states and coastal countries. It is a powerful signal that investors are increasingly interested in supporting the sustainable management and development of our oceans for generations to come,” Tuck said.

SeyCCAT Chief Executive Officer Martin Callow was quoted as saying that the bond would support the country’s ambitions to create a diversified blue economy.

“We are privileged to be working with the many partners involved in this unique transaction, and we are excited about the possibilities to back pre-development and growth stage projects in support of Seychelles’ blue economy. With these new resources, our guiding principles, and the blended finance structure that we have developed, we will support Seychelles’ ambitions to create a diversified blue economy and, importantly, to safeguard fisheries and ocean ecosystems,” said Callow.

Daniel Gappy, CEO of DBS, expressed similar sentiments and vowed to support the government’s quest for sustainable development. DBS will co-manage proceeds from the bond via the creation of the Blue Investment Fund.

“Establishing the Blue Investment Fund will bring additional exposure both locally and internationally for the bank and will provide opportunities to enhance our competency in fund management for positive environmental, social and governance outcomes,” said Gappy.

Meanwhile, Pietra Widiadi, Green and Blue Economy Strategic Leader at World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia, said the blue bond offers huge potential as an alternative financing source, but many things need to be done to ensure the projects achieve their targets.

“Awareness on the importance of the blue economy is still relatively low in island nations, especially those in the south. For that reason, I think any blue bond project should start with building the capacity of people involved,” Widiadi told IPS.

Indonesia and other island nations, Widiadi said, could use Seychelles’ blue bond structure as a model in tapping the bond market for financing sustainable fishery and marine projects.

“Projects funded with blue bond, just like green bond, are rigidly regulated, but Seychelles’ blue bond can serve as a model on how we can move forward,” he said.

Edo Rakhman, a national coast and ocean campaigner for the Indonesian Forum for Environment or Walhi, a leading civil society organisation that champions environmental issues, hailed the world’s first blue bond but stressed that any sustainable fishery and marine project should start with protecting the rights of local fisher communities and mangroves along coastal areas.

“Island nations should designate fishing grounds or zones where all forms of extractive activities are prohibited and mangroves protected to ensure the sustainability of fish stock for local fishermen communities,” Edo said.

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By Geneva Centre
GENEVA, Oct 30 2018 (Geneva Centre)

Anger among youth in the Arab region is coupled with a perceived sense of powerlessness which leads it to become detached from current affairs, says Ambassador Idriss Jazairy, the Executive Director of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue, at the European Centre for Peace Development 6th Global Youth Forum held in Belgrade.

Ambassador Jazairy told the audience that “each generation wants to chart two tracks one short track to improve the present and a longer one to reshape the architecture of its future in the pursuit of its own ideal.”

In relation to the present track, Ambassador Jazairy added that the younger generation in the Arab region aspires to enhance their participation in decision-making and in “promoting a culture of accountability in the field of human rights.”

In the case of their forebears, – he observed – the quest for human dignity was dominated by “patriotic anti-colonialism” and the search for “sovereignty.” However, youth do not consider like their forebears that their quest for dignity is a short track leading to sovereignty as the latter is already a given.

Therefore, the search for human dignity which for “their elders targeted their anger outwards against the colonial powers is pursued by the younger generation while targeting their anger inwards towards the status quo,” he said. “However, both generations are bound by a shared “opposition to foreign interference whether through punitive sanctions or through invasion which compounds their anger when they occur,” added Ambassador Jazairy

With regard to the longer track and long-term ideal, the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Communist ideology deprived the younger generation from the “cementing effect of a nation centralised through statism and socialism.” The lack of a perceived long-term ideal for the future “had led the youth also to excavate an imagined ideal from the pre-colonial past i.e. the euphoric vision of an Islamic nation,“ he remarked.

In this context, the Geneva Centre’s Executive Director therefore upheld the view that the loss of “a social compass” amongst the youth has “degenerated into anger coupled with a perceived and probably excessive sense of powerlessness.” “It explains why the Arab commotion called ‘Arab Spring’ was hardly more than social spasms generated by anger but deprived of a credible ideal for the longer term,” added Ambassador Jazairy in his presentation to the audience.

To address the prevailing situation affecting the growing degree of powerlessness of youth in the Arab region, the Executive Director of the Geneva Centre stated that attaining equal citizenship rights and the rights-based “leitmotif of E Pluribus Unum” is the best way to defuse tensions and create resilient and cohesive societies. This would in the long run – he observed – enable all citizens to enjoy indiscriminately the same rights, privileges and duties.

“It will ultimately make irrelevant or obsolete the marginalizing and even oppressive connotations of concepts of ethnic, religious or gender minorities. It will cloak all individuals in a nation with the same right to dignity. Indeed the concept of minorities will seamlessly yield to that of social components of diversity in unity,” Ambassador Jazairy concluded in his presentation.

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By WAM
DUBAI, Oct 30 2018 (WAM)

The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) concluded the 13th Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP13) in Dubai, with three UAE-led resolutions passed and the declaration of Jebel Ali Wetland Sanctuary as a Wetland of International Importance, also known as a Ramsar Site.

After negotiations led by MOCCAE, two new UAE-submitted and one UAE-supported resolutions were adopted at COP13. One of the resolutions put forth by the UAE – in line with the Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future theme – aims to protect and manage wetlands under specific guidelines that increase climate change and extreme weather events resilience. In addition, the resolution calls on all countries to involve various stakeholders, including governments, private sector entities, non-governmental organisations, research centers, educational institutions, tourism industry, heritage and culture sector, indigenous peoples and local communities to take part in the decision-making process on wetland issues.

The second resolution adopted includes sustainable urbanization, climate change and wetlands to invite the United Nations General Assembly to recognize February 2, the date of the adoption of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, as World Wetland Day. Another resolution was supported by the UAE to introduce Arabic as an official Convention language, aside from English, French and Spanish, so as to foster engagement, raise awareness and improve the implementation of the Convention for Arabic-speaking contracting parties. In addition, it would help appreciate the range of distinct wetland types such as wadis, sabkhas and oases in Arab countries.

Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment , said: “Throughout COP13, there were many references made to climate change and its negative effects, and more importantly, how wetlands can play a major role in the mitigation of climate change and to support countries in meeting their Sustainable Development Goals. As a pioneer in the region for green economy and environmental efforts, the UAE was honored to have hosted COP13 and to drive international cooperation and the exchange of best practices to protect these valuable ecosystems that have an impact on our lives, society and our future.”

At the closing ceremony of COP13, Martha Rojas Urrego, Secretary General of Ramsar Convention, said: “For the first time we have the evidence that we are losing wetlands, and their critical services for people, three times faster than forests. My hope is that for the next three years until the next COP, parties can rise to this challenge and implement policies that will effectively integrate wetlands in the sustainable development agenda. The Ramsar Secretariat will support parties to ensure to turn the tide and reverse wetlands’ loss.”

Dawoud Al Hajri, Director General of Dubai Municipality – the main sponsor of COP13, said: “Dubai Municipality’s vision focuses on building a happy and sustainable city, and a part of achieving that goal is to ensure the protection and sustainability of the environment. We are proud to now have a second Ramsar Site of International Importance, and to continue protecting our ecologically-significant areas. Through COP13, we are confident that each of us will play our part in furthering the cause for the protection and wise use of wetlands for humanity.”

Located between Jebel Ali and Ras Ghantoot and spanning 21.85 km2, Jebel Ali Wetland Sanctuary was recognized as the UAE’s eighth Ramsar Site, due to housing rare and unique wetland types comprising coral reefs, mangroves, shallow lagoons, seagrass, oyster beds and sandy shorelines, that support 539 species of vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered species of flora and fauna. The sandy beaches of Jebel Ali are also one of the key breeding sites for the critically endangered hawksbill turtle. Established in 1998, Jebel Ali Wetland Sanctuary is recognized by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as one of the Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) in the Arabian Gulf.

The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment was also instrumental in launching the results of the Emirates Nature-WWF Coastal and Marine Habitat Mapping project in the Northern Emirates, on the sidelines of COP13. The project mapped 783.2 km2 in total area along a 400 kilometers’ coastline, in which 17 habitat types were identified. With increasing human activities taking place at sea, along with the growing effects of climate change, marine spatial management is crucial in achieving the sustainable and wise management of marine resources.

Six Chinese cities were awarded the Wetland City Accreditation at COP13, in appreciation of China’s commendable efforts on the conservation and wise use of wetlands. The other cities given the Wetland City Accreditation were Amiens, Courteranges, Pont Audemer and Saint Omer in France, Lakes by Tata in Hungary, Republic of Korea’s Changnyeong, Inje, Jeju and Suncheon, Mitsinjo in Madagascar, Colombo in Sri Lanka and Ghar el Melh in Tunisia.

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national events and global cooperation for the conservation of wetlands and the rational use of their resources.

 

WAM/Tariq alfaham/Hatem Mohamed

The post Ministry of Climate Change and Environment concludes COP13 with Major Wins for Wetlands appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By WAM
DUBAI, Oct 30 2018 (WAM)

The Federal Electricity and Water Authority, FEWA, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with Honeywell to drive sustainable development and green economy initiatives in the UAE’s Northern Emirates.

The collaboration details FEWA’s focus on driving significant energy savings of between 10 and 30 percent across a range of public sector buildings through the adoption of advanced energy efficiency technologies and to improve the standards of living and achieve sustainable growth by 2021.

Under the terms of the agreement which was signed at WETEX 2018, the parties will determine a Proof of Value, focusing particularly on Honeywell’s next-generation solutions that enable significant energy savings and adhere to sustainable environmental guidelines. These technologies include building management systems, energy management dashboards and energy performance contracting, EPC.

The partnership will support the goals of the UAE Energy Strategy 2050, which is considered the first unified energy strategy in the country based on supply and demand. The strategy aims to increase the contribution of clean energy in the total energy mix from 25 percent to 50 percent by 2050 and reduce carbon footprint of power generation by 70 percent, thus saving AED700 billion by 2050. It also seeks to increase consumption efficiency of individuals and corporates by 40 percent.

Commenting on the collaboration, Salim Bin Rabee’a, Executive Director of Electricity Directorate at FEWA, said, “One of our core objectives is conservation, which is in line with our country’s vision to achieve a sustainable future for the next generation. We are working with leading global technology companies like Honeywell to collectively reduce the UAE’s energy consumption through technology that provides more energy efficient solutions and reduces operational costs.”

Honeywell and FEWA will enter into an energy performance contract based on guaranteed savings focusing on Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning, HVAC, cost reductions, and operational efficiencies based on cloud-based analytics, in addition to ensuring carbon emissions reduction. Facilities of particular focus for the EPC will be schools, mosques, hospitals and FEWA’s offices.

The EPC will be managed through performance dashboards and reports providing visibility of building performance. The initiative also includes the deployment of Honeywell’s cloud analytics platform, Outcome Based Service, OBS, to support increased operational performance, optimal efficiency, increased comfort levels of building occupants, and maximise uptime to positively impact the bottom line.

“With nearly 50 percent of our portfolio linked to cutting-edge energy efficiency and energy management technologies, Honeywell is well positioned to support FEWA in reducing energy consumption. In line with the UAE and FEWA Vision 2021 and the UAE Energy Strategy 2050, we remain committed to reducing energy consumption to help achieve a sustainable future,” said Susanna Minoia, Chief Financial Officer, Honeywell Building Solutions, High Growth Regions.

Around 60 to 70 percent of energy demand in the UAE currently stems from building HVAC requirements, with split air-conditioning units making up an estimated 60-70 percent of cooling systems in the market. As part of the collaboration, Honeywell will provide FEWA with insights and data points on energy-efficient low global warming potential, GWP, refrigerants that can drive efficiencies in energy usage and cost. The collaboration highlights both organisations’ commitment to supporting the UAE Sustainable Development Plan in line with meeting the sustainability goals of the UAE and FEWA Vision 2021.

 

WAM/ /MOHD AAMIR/Nour Salman

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Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, is described as one of the safest and cleanest cities in Africa. The country is now implementing its national development plan to create green secondary cities. Credit: Aimable Twahirwa/IPS

By Aimable Twahirwa
KIGALI, Oct 30 2018 (IPS)

An ambitious programme aimed at developing six green secondary cities in Rwanda is underway and is expected to help this East African country achieve sustainable economic growth through energy efficiency and green job creation.

At a time when natural resource efficiency is described as key for cities in Rwanda to move towards a green economy, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is supporting the government in implementing its national development plan by creating a National Roadmap for Developing Green Secondary Cities.

Six cities have been identified in this East African nation to become green: Huye (south), Muhanga (central south), Nyagatare (northeast), Rubavu (northwest), Musanze (sorth) and Rusizi (southwest).

According to GGGI, the roadmap serves mainly as an implementation tool for other national development programmes as it provides key actions and practical planning guidance to policymakers in order to strengthen economic growth, enhance the quality of health and basic services, and address vulnerability in Rwanda’s urbanisation process.

With the urban population growing at 4.5 percent a year, more than double the global average, Rwandan officials are now emphasising the need to develop secondary cities as poles of growth as the country has set a target to achieve a 35 percent urban population by 2034.

“The initiative has so far helped to develop a Green Investment Plan for these six cities, and a number of project concepts were then shortlisted as possible green projects,” Daniel Okechukwu Ogbonnaya, the acting country representative and lead Rwanda programme coordinator of the GGGI in Kigali, tells IPS.

By supporting the implementation of the Green City Development Projects, GGGI in collaboration with the relevant government agencies also developed a Green City Pilot vision, parameters and concepts that will enable a demonstration effect on how green urbanisation could be showcased in a flagship project.

Among some quick win projects that were identified during the development of the National Roadmap, it includes for example the Rubavu Eco-Tourism in northwestern Rwanda, which aims to conserve the environment while improving the welfare of local people through job creation in the tourism and travel industry.

In Rwanda, some key interventions by GGGI to support a ‘green economy’ approach to economic transformation were to move from ideas into project concepts that could be used to access investment opportunities which have a good job creation potential when implemented.

Major focuses of these interventions are mainly on sustainable land use management, promoting resilient transport systems, low carbon urban systems and green industry and private sector development.

“But the limited capacity to understand the paradigm shift at local level makes it sometimes difficult because they don’t have a proper understanding of the business environment,” Ogbonnaya says.

While the initiative appears to be a strategic tool for the National Strategy for Climate Change and Low Carbon Development that was adopted by the country in 2011, experts suggest that it is also important for local administrative entities to understand the mechanisms of green urbanisation and secondary city development.

Some experts in urban planning believe that with the mindset for Rwanda’s green secondary cities development changing from “quantity” to “quality,” top priority should be given to marrying individual and community interests in these remote urban settings.

“With the high rate of energy consumption growth, the new approach for green secondary cities seeks implementing and enforcing energy efficiency standards for industrial and residential uses,” Parfait Karekezi, who is in charge of Green and Smart City development at the government’s Rwanda Housing Authority, tells IPS.

A key focus of these interventions is the provision of affordable housing with due regard to adequate water and sanitation facilities for secondary cities dwellers, promoting grouped settlements locally known as ‘Imidugudu’.

With the weak residential infrastructure in secondary urban settings in Rwanda, Karekezi stresses that current efforts supported by GGGI are helping local authorities to adopt a set of housing standards with appropriate design for some parts such as windows to provide energy savings in electric lighting.

“Absolutely, there is a long way to go for Rwanda, including efforts to raise awareness on energy efficiency and other issues, such as urging people in these listed areas not to build housing that does not meet the required standards,” Karekezi tells IPS in an exclusive interview.

Within these efforts supported by GGGI, both climate change experts and Rwandan officials believe that the ability of secondary cities to create job opportunities would help draw people from rural areas.

While official estimates indicate that land as a basic resource for many people’s rural livelihoods and for new productive activity is pressured by increasing population density, especially in rural areas, the Rwandan government aims to create at least 200,000 jobs a year through the second phase of its Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Rwandan officials believe that developing secondary cities will be a key part of national efforts to ensure that the local economy enables the direct creation of green jobs, especially in the service and industrial sectors.

Both Karekezi and Ogbonnaya are convinced that capacitating local actors and the private sector to understand how projects and concepts are designed represents a shift in how the implementation of green urbanisation will be properly managed.

Despite some successful projects including the ecotourism initiative which is currently contributing to improving the welfare of local residents in Rubavu, a lakeside city in northwestern Rwanda where local residents have long struggled over control of natural resources and tourism profits, experts believe that the focus should be more on private investments than on direct government aid.

In 2018, GGGI supported the government of Rwanda to receive a readiness project grant of 600,000 dollars, funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The grant aims to ensure that the country has improved capacity to develop and deliver green city development concepts, identify investment priorities, and is ready to qualify for, and receive, GCF climate finance.

Ogbonnaya said it should also focus on how each submitted project aimed at green city development is designed and how it aligns with government priorities.

For example, GGGI provided support to draft the Rwanda Green Building Minimum Compliance and Standards that will replace the current building codes and therefore accelerate green growth and low-carbon development in Rwanda’s urban areas.

In addition, the World Bank committed 95 million dollars in 2016 to support targeted infrastructure development and local economic development in the above listed six secondary cities.

But still, locally-based organisations and administrative authorities with private companies need to be the main actors for the successful implementations of the green cities initiative.

“At local level they still don’t have a proper understanding of the green business environment in prioritising projects based on profits rather than impacts,” Ogbonnaya says.

Currently GGGI is capacitating the local administrative entities in the listed secondary cities to develop their own District Development Strategies (DDS) ) for six secondary cities as reference tools for the better implementation of green initiatives at local level.

Thanks to these interventions, some local actors are being empowered to implement projects such as garden cities, which have been described as another opportunity to attract investment and create employment as well.

“But to really grow, these green city projects needs to bring in financing and to get this happening, we need to have interesting projects and interesting businesses such as clean energies in which private companies can invest,” Karekezi tells IPS.

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• Public-Private Pacts Open Doors to Climate Finance in Rwanda and Ethiopia

The post Rwanda Action Plan Aims to Make Cities Green appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Supporters of president-elect Jair Bolsonaro celebrate his triumph in the early hours of Oct. 29, in front of the former captain's residence on the west side of Rio de Janeiro. The far-right candidate garnered 55.13 percent of the vote and will begin his four-year presidency on Jan. 1, 2019. Credit: Fernando Frazão/Agencia Brasil

By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 29 2018 (IPS)

Voters in Brazil ignored threats to democracy and opted for radical political change, with a shift to the extreme right, with ties to the military, as is always the case in this South American country.

Jair Bolsonaro, a 63-year-old former army captain, was elected as Brazil’s 42nd president with 55.13 percent of the vote in Sunday’s runoff election, heading up a group of retired generals, such as his vice president, Hamilton Mourão, and others earmarked as future cabinet ministers. He takes office on Jan. 1.

His triumph caused an unexpected political earthquake, decimating traditional parties and leaders.

The Bolsonaro effect prompted a broad renovation of parliament, with the election of many new legislators with military, police, and religious ties, and right-wing activists.

His formerly minuscule Social Liberal Party (PSL) is now the second largest force in the Chamber of Deputies, with 52 representatives. The country’s most populous and wealthiest states, São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, elected PSL allies as governors, two of whom had no political experience.

Brazil thus forms part of a global rise of the right, which in some countries has led to the election of authoritarian governments, such as in the Philippines, Turkey, Hungary and Poland, or even the United States under Donald Trump.

Bolsonaro’s chances of taking his place in the right-wing wave only became clear on the eve of the first round of elections, on Oct. 7.

Little was expected of the candidate of such a tiny party, which did not even have a share of the national air time that the electoral system awards to the main parties. His political career consists of 27 years as an obscure congressman, known only for his diatribes and outspoken prejudices against women, blacks, indigenous people, sexual minorities and the poor.

But since the previous presidential elections in 2014, Bolsonaro had traveled this vast country and used the Internet to prepare his candidacy.

Early this year, polls awarded him about 10 percent of the voting intention, which almost doubled in August, when the election campaign officially began.

That growth did not worry his possible opponents, who preferred him as the easiest adversary to defeat in a second round, if no candidate obtained an absolute majority in the first. The idea was that he would come up against heavy resistance to an extreme right-wing candidate who has shown anti-democratic tendencies.

Fernando Haddad, the candidate of the leftist Workers Party, promised his supporters, after his defeat in the Oct. 28 elections, that as an opposition leader he would fight for civil, political and social rights in the face of Brazil’s future extreme right-wing government. Credit: Paulo Pinto/Public Photos

But this was no ordinary election. The poll favorite was former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2011), whom the leftist Workers’ Party (PT) insisted on running, even though he had been in prison on corruption charges since April, and was only replaced on Sept. 11 by Fernando Haddad, a former minister of education and former mayor of São Paulo.

Five days earlier, Bolsonaro had been stabbed in the stomach by a lone assailant during a campaign rally in Juiz de Fora, 180 km from Rio de Janeiro.

The attack may have been decisive to his triumph, by giving him a great deal of publicity and turning him into a victim, observers say. It also allowed him to avoid debates with other candidates, which could have revealed his weaknesses and contradictions.

But two surgeries, 23 days in a hospital and then being confined to his home, due to a temporary colostomy, prevented him from participating in election rallies. So the social media-savvy candidate focused on the Internet and social networks, which turned out to be his strongest weapon.

The massive use of WhatsApp to attack Haddad aroused suspicions that businessmen were financing “fake news” websites, thus violating electoral laws, as reported by the newspaper Folha de São Paulo on Oct. 18. The electoral justice system has launched an investigation.

The recently concluded campaign in Brazil triggered a debate about the role of this free instant messaging network and “fake news” in influencing the elections.

The social networks were decisive for Bolsonaro, who started from scratch, with practically no party, no financial resources, and no support from the traditional media. The mobilisation of followers was “spontaneous,” according to the candidate.

Brazil, the largest and most populous country in Latin America, with 208 million people, is one of the five countries in the world with the most social media users, with 120 million people using WhatsApp and 125 million using Facebook.

But these tools were only successful because the former army captain managed to personify the demands of the population, despite – or because of – his right-wing radicalism.

He presented himself as the most determined enemy of corruption and of the PT, whose governments from 2003 to 2016 are blamed for the systemic corruption in politics and the errors that caused the country’s worst economic recession, between 2014 and 2016.

As a military and religious man, recently converted to an evangelical church, he swore to wage an all-out fight against crime, a pressing concern for Brazilians, and said he would come to the rescue of the conventional family, which, according to his fiery, and often intemperate, speeches, has been under attack by feminism and other movements.

He seduced business with his neoliberal positions, represented by economist Paulo Guedes, presented as a future minister.

The promise to reduce the size of the state and cut environmental taxes, among other measures, brought him the support of the agro-export sector, especially cattle ranchers and soybean producers.

The economic crisis combined with high crimes rates, added to a wave of conservatism in the habits and customs of this plural and open society, galvanised support for Bolsonaro, while offsetting worries about his authoritarian stances or his inexperience in government administration.

Bolsonaro said he would govern for all, defending “the constitution, democracy and freedom…It is not the promise of a party, but an oath of a man to God,” he said while celebrating his victory, announced three hours after the close of the polls.

His speech did little to reassures the opposition, which will be led by the PT, still the largest party, with 56 deputies and four state governors.

A week earlier he said that in his government “the red criminals will be swept from our homeland,” referring to PT leaders. He threatened to jail his rival, Haddad.

In the past he defended the torturers of the military dictatorship and denied that the 1964-1985 military regime was a dictatorship.

His brutal statements are downplayed by his followers as “boastfulness” and even praise his declarations as frank and forthright.

The problem is not the statements themselves, but the fact that they reveal his continued fidelity to the training he received at the Military Academy in the 1970s, in the middle of the dictatorship

He considers the period when generals were presidents “democratic”, since they maintained parliament and the courts, although with restrictions and subject to controls and purges..

Bolsonaro’s victory, with 57.8 million votes, also has the symbolic effect of the absolution of the military dictatorship via elections, to the detriment of democratic convictions.

The post Brazilians Decide on a Shift to the Right at Any Cost appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Maged Srour
ROME, Oct 29 2018 (IPS)

“Organic is the only living solution to climate change,” says Vandana Shiva, food and agriculture expert and member of the World Future Council (WFC). Nowadays, favouring the scale up of agroecology – which includes producing organic products – is unfortunately not that simple.

The WFC, together with International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), have identified legal frameworks and policies that feature important elements of agroecology. The awarded policies are real examples of best practices that can contribute substantially to scaling up agroecology as a pathway to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The post Why It is Vital for Everyone to Eat Organic appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Dr Myriam Sidibe is a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School and is on sabbatical leave from Unilever.
 
Jane Nelson directs the Center’s Corporate Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School.

By Dr Myriam Sidibe and Jane Nelson
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, Oct 29 2018 (IPS)

Food is an increasingly hot topic, no matter if you are rich or poor. Malnutrition – including undernutrition, overweight and obesity – affects 1 in 3 people around the world.

When it comes to the link between health and nutrition, consumers in both developed and emerging economies are facing high social and economic costs of being malnourished. While governments must take the lead in tackling malnutrition, this situation presents untapped commercial opportunities to develop new products and market-based solutions to deliver more nutritious foods. As people and policymakers wise up to the importance of eating a varied and healthy diet, an increasing number of commercial enterprises are springing up to satisfy this growing demand. It is in this context that over 200 experts recently gathered at the Nutrition Africa Investment Forum in Nairobi. The forum offered a platform for fresh ideas to develop the food value chain and to mobilize private sector investment and innovation to enhance nutrition in Africa.

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are widely acknowledged as key to the economic development of Africa. This is just as true for their role in the nutritional development of the continent. SMEs, with more agile business models and capability for nimble strategy pivots, are essential in driving the innovation needed to stimulate greater variety in diets. As they look to expand operations in Africa, more established corporations must take note of this. The smart ones are already partnering with and investing in smaller, more innovative companies, transforming nutrition on the continent in the process. There is an essential role for both large and small companies in creating the change that is needed.

Multinationals and SMEs must expand their collaboration beyond food production, packaging and processing. The next step should be towards dramatically increasing consumer demand for more nutritious and sustainable foods, facilitating a shift in the entire food system. Big brands have the ability to make nutritious foods that are better for the planet and to increase demand and accessibility. Nutritious food products made by big brands that are classified as ‘processed’ can enable people all over the world to cook delicious, healthy meals in a short amount of time for a relatively small amount of money. This empowers household cooks to expand the variety of meals they create, which is good for the health of people and our planet.

Changing consumer tastes are critical to the direction our food system will evolve towards. Diversified diets improve human health and benefit the environment through varied production systems that encourage more sustainable use of resources and greater biodiversity. Global brands have the power to lead a movement to affect this change, through their billions of consumers. Knorr, for example, is in the homes of 2.8 billion people around the world. This presents a huge opportunity to impact diets globally. The brand has serious influence in agriculture too, buying over 333,000 tonnes of vegetables and herbs every year, much of this from thousands of smallholder farmers.

Locally, these brands can influence tastes to improve nutrition. Royco, for example, is the local brand of Knorr in Kenya. Having earned a reputation for enriching the flavour of meals, Royco now has the reach and credibility to change consumer behaviour around what people eat and how they cook. These are notoriously difficult habits to change.

Royco’s Green Food Steps behaviour change programme inspires household cooks to add green leafy vegetables alongside iron fortified cubes to common dishes, ensuring they still taste as good as before. The programme was launched in Nigeria, where one in two women of reproductive age suffer from anaemia. It has made a small change with a huge potential impact to get millions of households to adopt this simple behaviour to increase their iron intake. Partners including Christian Aid, Amref and Well Being Foundation have adopted the programme and the messages to impact more households in rural areas. To date, the programme has reached over 20 million people in Nigeria and aims to reach a further 20 million. In Kenya, the target is Five million.

An evaluation of this program conducted in collaboration with University of Gent, Belgium, and University of Ibadan, Nigeria, revealed that over 40 percent of participants changed their behaviour, adding leafy greens and iron fortified cubes to their dishes. This and similar initiatives can make a significant impact on the intake of iron and the overall nutritional value of staple meals. It offers a clear example of how a brand can use its reach and influence to change the way people cook and eat for the better, using marketing resources and know-how to improve public health.

The Green Food Steps programme is just one example of how big brands can change people’s relationships with food and create a positive impact on society and the environment. Bold players leading ambitious movements that improve how people eat and experience their food will shape the future of African nutrition. With this in mind, investors at the look-out for those organisations with the ambitions and commercial potential to create the systemic change that our continent is hungry for.

The Harvard Kennedy School recently published a report focused on unlocking greater commercial investment into value chains that can improve access to nutritious foods among low-income consumers in developing markets.

The post Big Brands Are Fuelling the Business of Nutrition appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dr Myriam Sidibe is a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School and is on sabbatical leave from Unilever.

 
Jane Nelson directs the Center’s Corporate Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School.

The post Big Brands Are Fuelling the Business of Nutrition appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo work to reforest the Itombwe region as a part of WECAN/SAFECO program. Credit: Stany Nzabas

By Osprey Orielle Lake and Emily Arasim
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 29 2018 (IPS)

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which arrived thunderously in October, concludes that we have only 12 years remaining to transform our energy systems and ways of living to limit the worst effects of climate change.

The IPCC report stands as the loudest clarion call yet from global climate scientists, stating that we must act immediately to keep global warming to a maximum of 1.5°C temperature rise, beyond which, by even half a degree, ecological and social consequences are catastrophically amplified.

As we look around the proverbial room for answers and solutions in this moment of intensified clarity and urgency, it is imperative that we turn to one of the main untold stories of the climate crisis – the story of women leading climate solutions.

Research including Project Drawdown, United Nations reports and programs, and many other studies, all confirm that one of the most important strategies for a sustainable and thriving future is upholding the rights, and supporting the education and leadership of women.

While women are central to solutions, they also are disproportionately impacted by the negative effects of global warming due to unequal gender norms, which marginalize women’s voices, and impact women’s economic opportunities, rights, bodies, education, and political power. From natural disasters, to food system stress, to water pollution – women experience the impacts of climate change first and worst.

Frontline women leaders during at WECAN International event at the UN Climate Talks. Credit: Emily Arasim/WECAN International

Additionally, when women advocate to protect the water, forests, land, seeds, climate, and future generations with which they are so intimately linked – they are increasingly experiencing violence and criminalization, including perverse gender-based violations.

Nevertheless, women fight on, and are at the forefront of some of the most innovative and transformational projects being undertaken around the world.

In Ecuador, Indigenous women lead movements to protect their communities and the Amazon rainforest from oil extraction.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, women participating in a Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network program are contributing to the reforestation of the Itombwe region as they restore the ecology of the rainforest community, provide for household uses, and protect the ancient old-growth forests.

In many parts of India, rural women are spearheading efforts to protect agriculture biodiversity, build food security, and steward water, soils, and community health.

Frontline women leaders and allies take action outside of the United Nations in New York following a WECAN event. Credit: Emily Arasim/WECAN International

Across North America, indigenous women are taking action at the forefront of the global movement for fossil fuel divestment – and these are just a few of the countless examples of what women are doing to change the current trajectory of the climate crisis.

In order to provide a window into the plethora of solutions that women are engaged in, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network produced ‘Women Speak: Stories, Case Studies And Solutions From The Frontlines Of Climate Change’, an online research and story-telling database designed to shift the narrative on how we build equitable climate solutions.

‘Women Speak’ allows policy makers, journalists, activists, educators, students, and others, to explore thousands of stories by and about global women leaders working in areas such as forest and biodiversity protection; fossil fuel resistance efforts; ecologic agriculture; renewable energy; climate law and policy; education and grassroots movement building; and much more.

As the database illustrates, women have the social capital to work at the local and global level to create the restorative communities and economies that we need for a just transition with democratized, regenerative renewable energy for all.

However, even with all the studies and examples available, women’s climate leadership continues to be undervalued, underreported, and underfunded.

Given the short timeline for action identified by the IPCC report – we simply cannot afford to keep ignoring the direct connection between women and effective responses to climate change. To act on climate with justice and results means uplifting the voices of women – particularly of grassroots women, Indigenous women, and women of color – who have a long history and knowledge of living close to the land and of resistance efforts, and who are offering countless examples of successful community-led solutions.

If we are to truly address the multiple and interrelated crises we face, we also cannot afford to ignore the link between patriarchy, colonization, capitalism, and the historic and ongoing assault of the Earth and women.

Extractivism and exploitation of both women and the Earth are derived from the same ideology of domination and supremacy – and it is imperative that plans to address climate change take into account the root causes of the crisis.

Now is the time of women rising to protect and defend the Earth. Now is the time to vote women into office. Now is time to hear the voices of women and support their efforts.

Now is the time to act on the scientific and experience-based truth that women’s leadership is key to addressing climate change.

The post Women’s Climate Leadership More Vital Than Ever In Light Of Climate Change Report appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Osprey Orielle Lake is the founder and executive director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International and co-chair of International Advocacy for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. She is the author of the award-winning book Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature.

 
Emily Arasim has served as WECAN International's media and communications coordinator and project assistant since 2014. She is an avid photojournalist, writer and farmer from New Mexico.

The post Women’s Climate Leadership More Vital Than Ever In Light Of Climate Change Report appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Thalif Deen
OTTAWA, Canada, Oct 29 2018 (IPS)

Canada, which has been described as one of the world’s most progressive countries, has legitimized gay rights, vociferously advocated gender empowerment, offered strong support for abortion rights – and recently became the world’s first major economy to legalize recreational marijuana.

Canada’s Minister of International Development Marie-Claude Bibeau

Currently the fifth largest donor to the UN’s development agencies — and holding the Presidency of the G7 comprising the world’s leading industrialized nations– it is planning to run for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council for 2021-22.

Host to the 7th International Parliamentarians’ Conference (ICPI) on population and development in Ottawa last week—and having hosted the first such meeting in 2002 – Canada has also launched a Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP).

Sandeep Prasad, executive director of Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, says Canada is repositioning itself as a leader on gender equality, women’s rights and sexual and reproductive rights, which includes FIAP, and hosting the upcoming Women Deliver conference, scheduled to take place in Vancouver in 2019.

“For Canada’s commitment to be truly lasting, continued support is needed for the feminist and human rights advocates working with their decision-makers at all levels of government to establish and protect laws, policies and programs that safeguard these rights,” said Prasad.

Leading the fight for women’s rights, gender empowerment, and sexual and reproductive rights is Marie-Claude Bibeau, the Canadian Minister of International Development, who is also a strong advocate for increased development financing.

In an interview with IPS, she said international events like IPCI can be a strong catalyst for mobilizing people, ideas and resources.

“This is why the IPCI Conference is so important – – it provides a unique opportunity for parliamentarians from around the world to gather together to discuss their role in implementing the ICPD Programme of Action,” she said.

Canada, the minister assured, will continue to be a strong and vocal advocate for the achievement of the goals set by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), including universal sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

“I am proud to say that, since the launch of our Feminist International Assistance Policy, in June 2017, 93% of our humanitarian assistance includes a SRHR or Women’s empowerment component.”

“We are also very pleased to be hosting the Women Deliver Conference in 2019, which is not only a conference, but a movement to empower women and girls and build a better world,” she added.

Excerpts from the interview:

IPS: Canada is currently the 5th largest donor to the UN system. But with the US making drastic cuts — including a reduction of $300 million to UNRWA and $69 million to UNFPA — is there any possibility that Canada, along with other Western donors, would step in to fill this gap?

MINISTER BIBEAU: Canada is committed to providing humanitarian assistance and responding to the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable.

This is why I was proud to announce, on October 12, 2018, Canada’s support of up to $50 million over two years for Palestinian refugees through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

This new funding to UNRWA is urgently needed and will help improve the lives and protect the human dignity of millions of Palestinian refugees.

Canada is also a longstanding partner with the the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and among UNFPA’s top 10 bilateral donors. In 2017/18, Canada provided $142 million in International Assistance – helping further to cover UNFPA’s funding gap.

IPS: The developing countries — and specifically the 134 member Group of 77 in its ministerial declaration at the UN last month — complained of a downward trend in official development assistance (ODA) — with increased resources being diverted to refugee funding. Does this also apply to Canada, whose ODA of 0.26 to gross national income (GNI) is below the 0.7 commitment, which has been reached only by six Western donors, including Norway, Luxemburg, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and UK? When does Canada hope to reach the 0.7 target?

MINISTER BIBEAU: Our partners asked the Government of Canada for three things: funding, good policy and leadership; and this is what Canada is providing.

The budget 2018 announced $2 billion in new funds over five years to help implement the Feminist International Assistance Policy and support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as $1.5 billion over five years starting in 2018-19 to help expand the impact of Canada’s international assistance.

Canada is also leading on good policy, which is not measured by the volume of ODA, but by the quality and effectiveness of its assistance and its contributions to policy innovation that can get better results for the poorest and most vulnerable.

Furthermore, as the historic investment in education for women and girls-in-crisis and conflict situations at the G7 leaders’ summit in Quebec demonstrates, Canada is creating momentum around various initiatives and leading other countries and partners to make significant investments, notably in girls and women’s education, in fragile, conflict and crisis contexts.

IPS: As the current G7 president, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau presided over a summit in June this year which committed a hefty $3.8 billion Canadian dollars (CAD) to advance education for girls and women in the world’s battle zones. What would be the time span for disbursing these funds? Has it already got off the ground?

MINISTER BIBEAU: Canada was proud to lead the unveiling of a historic $3.8-billion investment in girls’ education at the G7 leaders’ summit in Quebec and to commit to an investment of $400 million over three years.

The announcement marked a fundamental shift toward improving access and reducing barriers to quality education around the world.

We are currently working with the other countries and organizations contributing to this $3.8-billion investment (the European Union, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the World Bank) to develop an accountability framework to track and report on it. Parameters such as time span, results and indicators will be included.

Together, we’ll make sure the voices of women and girls are included when decisions are made on education and employment.

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