Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE

View from the area of La Puntilla, in the bay of the Peruvian town of Chancay, of the beach eroded as a result of the construction of the breakwater that is part of the mega-port built by a Chinese company, whose work is in its first phase. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS

By Mariela Jara
CHANCAY, Peru , Dec 19 2023 (IPS)

“We have always lived a very quiet life here, but everything has changed since the construction of the multi-purpose port began a few years ago,” said Miriam Arce, a neighborhood leader in this municipality 80 kilometers north of the Peruvian capital, where the new port is projected to become the epicenter of trade between China and South American countries.

Chancay is one of the 12 municipalities of the province of Huaral and has a population of about 63,000 inhabitants. It is known for its agricultural valleys, a sea providing an abundant catch for artisanal fishers and for fishmeal production, and attractive waves for surfers.

“This bay is ideal for getting away from the chaos of Lima. People came here because they found the calm and certainty of being in a safe place where everyone knows each other, without fear of being robbed while enjoying a beautiful beach and delicious seafood dishes,” Arce, president of the Association in Defense of Housing and the Environment of the port of Chancay, told IPS.

Her great-grandmother came to Peru in the 1930s fleeing the civil war in Spain, and settled in this Pacific coastal town where her children have always been involved in fishing.

“My grandfather worked in the first fishmeal factory and in the boom of the 1960s the company built these houses as a camp facing the sea and my dad, who was a fisherman, bought the house later,” she said.

Arce’s memories are related to the dilemma posed by some people moving away and leaving behind the conflict generated by the construction of the Chancay Multipurpose Port Terminal that will cover a total of 992 hectares, built with an investment of 1.2 billion dollars in Chinese capital in the current first stage, to reach 3.6 billion by the time it is completed.

The investment is part of the Belt and Road Initiative launched globally by Beijing in 2013 as part of its global economic policy, which includes the development of road, port and connectivity infrastructure in different countries around the world, including South American nations.

 

Miriam Arce, president of the Association in Defense of Housing and Environment of the port of Chancay, shows the side of El Cascajo hill that has been mutilated as part of the construction of a mega-port and logistics terminal that will commercially connect China with South America. CREDIT: Marianela Jara / IPS

China’s largest shipping company, the state-owned Cosco Shipping, joined the project in 2019, when it acquired 60 percent of the shares. It changed the original design of the work started in 2016, to reconvert it into a multipurpose terminal, with four planned ports, and it took charge of construction. The remaining 40 percent stayed in the hands of the initial designer, the private Peruvian mining company Volcan.

It is called a multipurpose port due to the different functions of its terminals, which are expected to handle one million containers per year of general, non-mineral bulk, liquid and rolling cargo, using infrastructure with three different components: port operations, access and logistics, and the vehicular tunnel, as explained by the Chinese shipping company on the project’s website.

The first stage, covering 141 hectares, will culminate with the construction of a port that will be inaugurated during the next Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which will be held for the third time in Peru in November 2024 and will be attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to the Peruvian government, the megaproject will position this Andean country as the leading Pacific logistics center in Latin America, which will boost its economy and exports and increase trade opportunities as well as local employment.

Projection of what the multipurpose port under construction in Chancay Bay will look like in an area of 141 hectares. The first of the four planned terminals is to be inaugurated in November 2024, eight years after the start of construction. CREDIT: Cosco Shipping

Why uproot ourselves?

Arce is 54 years old and lives with her parents in the house where her grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins lived. From the front of the house she can see the sea and their dock, while the back of the house is directly adjacent to the Cosco Shipping construction site, which has forced her to live permanently with dust, pollution and noise.

“This is not just a house, it is part of my family history. Why should I have to leave, uproot myself, if I was born here and I love this place. I was not a social activist, but defending the bay of Chancay has made me aware of the meaning of life and the interests at stake in our country, where it seems that money is worth more than people’s rights,” she said.

Her house is in the area of La Puntilla and together with her IPS toured the group of homes that line the boardwalk and lead to a hill from where you can see the breakwater, and the movement of machinery and workers.

What is most striking is the mutilation of one side of the Cascajo hill, on whose slopes are built the houses of La Puntilla, and which overlooks the port’s operational area where the docks, jetties and areas for maritime entry, container storage and maintenance workshops will be built.

Arce pointed out how the beach has eroded in the area. She also showed the geotubes, three-meter diameter canvas sleeves filled with sand and water that the company has placed between the sea and the sand as a retaining wall to counteract erosion.

“The works have changed the marine currents, we no longer have waves and have lost not only the characteristic beauty of the bay that was a tourist attraction, but the environment and natural resources have been damaged,” she complained.

In 2016, explosions began that created seismic waves that affected houses located as far as 50 kilometers from the project area. Protests led to the signing of agreements between affected residents who received payments of between 75 and 260 dollars for the inconvenience caused.

A view from one of the hills of La Puntilla, on the slope of El Cascajo hill, of the construction of the jetty of the Peruvian mega-port that will operate as a trade center between China and South America. The first phase is set to be inaugurated in November 2024 by Chinese President Xi Jinping. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS

 

Winging it

“That’s the problem, that they do not recognize us as people affected by the project, and the agreements practically set conditions for people not to complain or protest,” Angely Yufra, from the Peralvillo area, also part of Chancay, where she has lived since she was born 49 years ago, told IPS.

She now lives alone with her husband because their children have become independent and she says that she is not intimidated by threats from the company, which has criminalized the protests by prosecuting several of their leaders.

On a tour through the streets of the port to the main access road to the North Pan-American highway, Arce and Yufra show how the company has practically taken over urban areas to move its trucks with materials to the entrance to the construction site, as well as to a part repaired after a collapse caused by the construction of the tunnel that will run through Chancay.

On its information page, Cosco Shipping states that the viaduct tunnel is 1.8 kilometers long and is a three-lane road for the exclusive transit of cargo related to port operations, along with two large conveyor belts.

“There has been no analysis of soils, which are highly varied in Chancay, to build the tunnel. From the beginning, the project got off on the wrong foot because due to the scope of the work it should have been carried out in an unpopulated desert area,” Arce argued.

 

Angely Yufra, a resident of the Peralvillo area in the Peruvian bay of Chancay, criticizes a port megaproject that has destroyed the community’s way of life and complains in particular about the planned elevated road, while pointing to the cement pylons that will be its base. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS

 

Along the Pan-American Highway, a road that separates the municipality of Chancay in two, she pointed to huge concrete pylons on which an elevated road is to be built for the traffic of at least 4,000 trucks a day to the port’s logistics zone.

“And what will happen to the people who live on the sides of the road? They will be trapped, unable to cross to go to school, to the market, to visit relatives. What they have said is that they are going to build an alternative road, but that could take years,” said the community leader.

Arce said the origin of the project was marked by misinformation and under-the-table deals, and that it involved the second government of Alan García (2006-2011) and those that succeeded him: the administrations of Ollanta Humala, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Pedro Castillo. García committed suicide in 2019 when he was going to be arrested and the others are facing prosecution for different crimes.

“All of them gave their approval despite the fact that civil society and public organizations have submitted more than a hundred observations to the Modification of the Environmental Impact Study, which is necessary for the authorization of the works,” said Arce.

These observations include impacts on the life and rights of the local population and on nature, as well as irregular procedures.

 

Green shading net runs through different areas of the Peruvian port town of Chancay. It is the division between the work zone of a mega-port and the homes of the local population, affected by dust, seismic waves from the explosions, tension and noise. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS

 

Among the effects are impacts on the mental health of local residents. This is the case of María Bautista, “a lifelong resident of the Chancay port” who, at the age of 75 years, said she had never experienced anything like this before.

She and her daughter and granddaughter run a restaurant where ceviche, one of Peru’s signature dishes, is a favorite, as well as a hostel on the top floor, where surfers used to come. “Now they don’t come anymore because there are no waves,” she lamented.

She added that she has been badly affected psychologically and suffers from terrible anxiety.

“There is also contamination of the soil that affects our bronchial tubes and mistreatment by the company’s personnel, who trample on our dignity when giving us the agreed-upon amounts. They have told us that for Christmas we will receive a basket of goods ‘because they have been ripped off’, as if we were begging for money when we are working people,” Bautista said.

During the IPS tour through the streets of the port of Chancay, the dialogue was with women neighbors and leaders, because the male leaders were away on other business.

The Association in Defense of Housing and the Environment of the port of Chancay and other local residents’ organizations know that there will be no going back on the works because “the economic interests and political lobbying are very strong,” said Arce.

She explained that in view of this they are proposing the formation of a multisectoral round table at the government level to evaluate the Environmental Impact Study and to recognize local residents as being affected by the project, as this will be the only way to fight for a compensation policy that they currently have no legal basis for demanding.

 

María Bautista is the owner of a small ceviche restaurant, which has seen better times and has declined due to the absence of tourists and surfers who no longer choose the beaches of Chancay as a destination because the works of the mega-port have reduced the waves. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS

 

Arce said the local populace would join the protests because as the work progresses, the range of damage will increase, as is happening with the construction of the tunnel under the streets.

They are also beginning to feel the impacts of the overhead road that “will create a traffic jam at kilometer 80 of the North Pan-American highway, harming not only us but everyone who tries to drive along that road,” she said.

“We are a pebble in the giant’s shoe,” she summed up.

 

A boost to the economy?

Economist Norma Canales, who lived in the Huaral valley as a child, said there is a possibility that the multipurpose port of Chancay will increase GDP, as claimed by its advocates, which could contribute to improving the quality of life of the local population.

However, she said it was necessary to take into account the impacts that it will have on the lifestyle of local inhabitants, because it will lead to a radical change in their urban and productive infrastructure.

“It will mean going from a town of small-scale fishermen and farmers to a mega-port city receiving traffic of large-capacity shipping vessels,” she told IPS.

Against this background, she said, it was important not to lose sight of the possible population growth due to the demand for employment that may arise, which will require a response that guarantees access to services such as water, electricity and housing.

By Paul Greening
Dec 19 2023 (IPS-Partners)

 
The typical image of a refugee is a poor person with their hands out asking for aid. The Burmese refugees in Mae Sot on the Thai-Myanmar border defy that stereotype. Many are middle-class, educated urbanites with skills and plenty of initiative.

After standing up to the Burmese military and suffering for it, they left everything and fled for their lives to Mae Sot where they continued their struggle. Despite intimidation, exploitation by some Thai authorities, and living in fear without documentation, they have achieved a lot in under two years. Their purpose is to support their community and the revolution in a variety of ways through their resilience, commitment, ability and innovation.

Some refugees have set up businesses such as cafes, restaurants, bars, shops, hairdressers, a farm and cross-border trade. While they are for-profit, they also provide employment for other refugees and donate to the most vulnerable.

One café owner said, “If I am lucky, I break even but the café gives refugees employment, keeps them occupied and is a place where Burmese can meet and relax.”

A café set up by a refugee is a place to meet and relax.

They also contribute to the town by purchasing supplies and providing services. Unfortunately, Thai authorities don’t see it this way and don’t make life easy. The refugee entrepreneurs need to partner with Thais and compensate Thai authorities for their lack of legal documents.

Other refugees in Mae Sot have formed community-based organizations (CBOs), including a 15-baht meal enterprise that sells about 400 meals a week and gives away a further 100. There is also a free shop stocked with donated items.

Cooks prepare 15-baht meals.

Many refugees arrive in Mae Sot with nothing, so some organizations have set up “safe houses” where their basic needs are catered for. To support the most vulnerable, CSOs provide free basic monthly food rations. Others have started bookshops and a library. At least one informal refugee school has been set up, funded by personal donations. Refugees even have a radio station, which airs programs twice a week.

Both child and adult refugees arrive suffering from trauma, but venues for activities such as sport, yoga, art, music and dance give psychosocial support and help the healing process. A Burmese professional violinist has started an orchestra and even teaches music in nearby Thai schools. One’s identity is linked to what one does. As the music teacher said, “Now I am a violinist again!”

A school set up by an asylum seeker in Mae Sot. / Our School

Another refugee said, “Through the challenges and suffering, I found a renewed purpose in life.”

Importantly some organizations also support internally displaced people (IDPs) from Myanmar without international funding.

The psychosocial support provided by CSOs and CBOs also covers women suffering trauma from gender-based violence.

Many of these refugees have been through hell, which makes their actions even more impressive. Their journeys follow a similar pattern.

A bookstore and library set up by refugees

“I worked in the music business and then after the coup we protested peacefully until the military started killing us,” said one. “Then I ran to the jungle and was a frontline fighter until my friend was killed right next to me. After that, I fled to Mae Sot.”

Those who chose combat had no desire to fight, said one female fighter.

“However, as the military council’s crackdown intensified and peaceful protestors were met with brutality, I made the difficult decision to join the urban guerrilla movement,” she explained.

Another taught computing in Mandalay but joined street protests after the coup, and later became an urban guerilla. Following military training, she fought with a People’s Defense Force (PDF) group. Several of her comrades were killed so, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), she escaped to Mae Sot. Though still needing medication for her trauma, she has started several enterprises to support other refugees.

“It helps with my PTSD,” she said.

The Free Shop is stocked with toys and other items. / Free Shop

One of her enterprises is a school that has grown quickly to meet demand.

“Our School” started with 13 students from nine families known as the “Nine Famili”. Over time, the number of students has grown to around 100 across two branches of the school. “Initially, there was only one teacher – me. However, now there are six volunteer teachers who contribute their knowledge and expertise. Additionally, three doctors take turns providing health knowledge and care.”

She achieved all this while suffering from PTSD!

One artist has produced a book of his drawings and diary from his time in Yangon’s Insein prison (available to buy from SEA Junction in Bangkok), recording a very personal account of suffering. He drew on small scraps of paper that were later smuggled out of the prison.

Shower time in Insein prison, Yangon

The trauma suffered by refugees is compounded by Thai officials, who treat asylum seekers as illegal migrants and harass and exploit them. Instead, refugees should be issued with a one-year temporary work permit, which would also give authorities more control as well as tax income. In this win-win situation, the only losers would be those exploiting the refugees.

The refugee enterprises have achieved a lot with no external funding but could achieve a lot more with just a little money. The international community should divert some funds from United Nations agencies to these community-based enterprises as a more cost-effective solution.

One refugee summed up their commitment: “Together, we face the challenges, share our burdens, and stand united in our struggle. We, the people affected by the coup, are bound together by our shared experiences and determination to bring about positive change.”

With impressive, strong, committed innovative youth like this, there is hope for the future of Myanmar.

Paul Greening is an ex-UN senior staff officer with over 20 years of experience in six Asian countries working for six UN agencies and four INGOs. He worked in Sittwe, Rakhine State for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) from 2017 to 2020 and has been living in Mae Sot for two years.

First published by Myanmar news outlet Irrawady

The longstanding methods of fundraising by African NGOs are shaped by unique challenges, often rooted in economic, political, and cultural factors as well as vestiges of colonialism.

By Tafadzwa Munyaka and Angela Umoru-David
NEW YORK / WASHINGTON DC, Dec 19 2023 (IPS)

Across Africa, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) bearing different monikers such as community-based organisations (CBOs), civil society organisations (CSOs) and nonprofits have long borne the duty of designing and implementing developmental interventions to address varying challenges.

The World Association of Non-governmental Organizations (WANGO) lists 4912 of such entities operating in the Continent, which is safe to say is only a fraction of the true number since many may not be registered on that platform. These non-state actors often rely on the goodwill of volunteers, individual donors, local grant-making bodies, international philanthropy and humanitarian aid to fund and facilitate their operations.

In the pursuit of sustainable development, we propose a shift that makes us look inwards at diaspora investments, local organising, and planned giving (including endowments) to provide African NGOs with the tools to navigate the historical challenges while securing long-term financial stability

As lofty as their mission or magnanimous as their benefactors might be, the sheer number begs the question of how sustainable their funding methods truly are.

As practitioners in the African development space, we have observed over the years that the longstanding methods of fundraising by African NGOs are shaped by unique challenges, often rooted in economic, political, and cultural factors as well as vestiges of colonialism. These factors breed an over-reliance on funding from outside the continent, mainly from Western donor countries and international development organisations.

 

Overview of the Current Funding Landscape

Philanthropy and humanitarian aid from the Global North constitute a large chunk of the funding that African NGOs depend on each year. More often than not, such funding comes with ‘strings attached’ like specifying the issues that the local organisations should focus on, the proportion of the funding that should go to areas of concern and rigorous reporting demands.

It is quite common for funding to be unceremoniously withdrawn when an organisation is termed non-compliant to donor requirements.

“The global flow of aid resources hinders the effectiveness and sustainability of local NGOs, as well as their ability to scale and build capacity”, writes Carlos Mureithi, Kenyan journalist. In addition, funding is usually routed through larger international non-profits while local ones only serve as ‘implementing partners’.

With such intermediaries in the picture, local NGOs are forced to work within the confines of their funding partner’s stipulations. While there have been recent calls for localisation and shifting agency to Africa-based organisations, the reverberations are yet to be felt across the NGO landscape in Africa.

Similarly, smaller nonprofit organisations are completely cut off from international funding because they lack the social credibility and popularity. This creates a cycle where only the most ‘visible’ local non-profits continually receive funding. The ‘invisible’ nonprofits are inadvertently dependent on local grant-making bodies (which are often implementing partners of international funders), individual donors in the communities they serve, self-funding and crowdfunding platforms.

A classic scenario is a case in the South-Eastern part of Zimbabwe. A particular district had been grappling with pervasive issues of child marriages, an alarming rate of teen pregnancies, and school dropouts. In 2019, this plight of vulnerable youths caught the attention of a UN agency who reached out to offer a helping hand.

However, there were differences of opinion on what the agency was willing to support and what the District termed to be the true need. Historically, the District had been marked by severe economic challenges stemming from periods of political instability and other socio-economic issues.

These challenges had created poverty and youth restiveness that left communities to grapple with the effects presenting themselves as students dropping out, child marriages and teen pregnancies exacerbated by inadequacies in healthcare and poor education systems. To the District leadership, tackling these effects was most urgent but the international donor agency wanted to fund birth registrations instead, which according to District records, were already at a 95% coverage and success rate.

While birth registration is crucial, the highlighted issues called for a more comprehensive and holistic approach. Therefore, local needs, while pressing, may be overshadowed by the specific preferences and guidelines set by external funders.

Of a truth, the historical dependence on external funding has been both a blessing and a curse. While it provides necessary resources, it sometimes restricts the flexibility of communities to address their challenges autonomously and radically.

 

Why the Existing Fundraising Model is not Sustainable

1 – Agenda-setting: The landscape of international funding for community development is often a double-edged sword. While financial support from international donors can be a lifeline for communities facing various drawbacks, the attached conditions for such funding sometimes lead to clashes of values.

This poses a significant problem to the existing model of fundraising, as communities may find themselves at a crossroads between meeting immediate needs through the funding provided and adhering to their core values and principles. The model also perpetuates an imbalance of power between international donors and local communities.

The power dynamics can hinder genuine, bi-lateral collaboration and may result in decisions that prioritise the donor’s interests over the community’s needs. The Big Brother syndrome is real. Furthermore, like in the story above, international donors may have specific agendas driven by global concerns, political leanings or their organisational mandates. These may not always align with the grassroots objectives of communities. For example, a donor might prioritise teaching people their rights, while the community seeks expansion of its immunisation program.

2 – Poverty: The fundraising status quo does little to transform systems, creates an over-dependence on foreign aid and perpetuates a cycle of poverty. On the flipside, small NGOs who are not on the radar of foreign donors rely on individual giving or are self-funded and this means that the resources only trickle in.

This limits the impact of projects and forces the staff to live on the barest minimum. In Nigeria, an ongoing jab at development workers is that the NGO staff’s standard of living is so below par that they should also be beneficiaries of their own projects (especially in livelihood and economic empowerment projects).

This is due to the high poverty and unemployment rates in most African cities. Even though the Continent has a long and rich history of local organising, most community members simply cannot afford to spare the little they have for altruistic purposes.

In the same vein, the high poverty levels breeds discontent towards the government and does not inspire many Africans to support the initiatives of local NGOs. It is a widespread notion that the citizens are already doing too much by spearheading the provision of basic amenities like electricity, pipe-borne water and roads. Therefore, the questions are, “Why should we keep doing so much? Why are NGOs forced to do the work that the government should be doing?” This high poverty rate and disillusionment often stops people from donating to NGOs around them.

 

How Can We Improve Fundraising in Africa?

Nonprofit fundraising in Africa has been marred by economic disparities, external dependencies, and changing political landscapes. In the pursuit of sustainable development, we propose a shift that makes us look inwards at diaspora investments, local organising, and planned giving (including endowments) to provide African NGOs with the tools to navigate the historical challenges while securing long-term financial stability.

 

1 – Planned giving: Also known as legacy or deferred giving, it is a unique and strategic approach to fundraising that focuses on securing long-term financial support for NGOs. It comprises several key components including bequests, charitable gift annuities, life insurance, or retirement plans.

Unlike traditional donations, planned giving involves arrangements made during a donor’s lifetime that will take effect at a future date. This form of philanthropy allows individuals to leave a lasting legacy, ensuring that their contributions continue to support a cause dear to their hearts even beyond their lifetime.

The well-heeled in our African communities can be encouraged to seriously consider planned giving as not only a strategic avenue for them as donors to create a lasting impact on the causes they care about but to leave a meaningful legacy that reflects their values and commitment to positive change.

We recognize that planned giving decisions are highly personal and influenced by individual circumstances. Nonetheless, in the dynamic landscape of African fundraising, securing sustainable funding is a perpetual challenge.

Planned giving, with its focus on long-term philanthropy, presents an impactful solution for these nonprofits if they began creating educative campaigns to draw attention to this form of philanthropy. We believe that this piece also creates an opportunity for the well-to-do to explore this possibility.

In the same vein, another beacon of financial stability and long-term sustainability for NGOs in Africa are endowments. An endowment in the context of nonprofit fundraising refers to a dedicated fund established by an organisation, typically through donations or other financial contributions, with the intention of maintaining and growing the principal amount over time.

In the context of the African Union Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want and achieving the mantra ‘African solutions to African problems’, endowments offer a strategic avenue for securing a reliable source of income, fostering autonomy and resilience. Endowments, just like planned giving initiatives, offer opportunities for sustained funding, allowing organisations to plan for the future and achieve lasting impact.

The continent boasts of a large array of individuals who have the capacity to provide endowments to causes that align with their interests. In an age of social status and obscene wealth being flaunted on social media, we ask, “How might this wealth be harnessed for long-term benefits in addressing community challenges?”

The continent also boasts of a large diaspora community that can be invited to partner with local organisations through endowments in service of pressing social and community needs.

 

2 – Diaspora investment: The United Nations reports that in 2022 diaspora remittances reached $100 billion, surpassing funds received through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Official Development Assistance (ODA).

This whopping sum is largely due to high poverty levels in the continent that compels family members who live abroad to send money back home but it shows two things– the resources collectively owned by Africans in the diaspora can make a huge difference and a strong culture of giving back already exists, so it could be structured and leveraged for a greater good.

We acknowledge that diaspora remittances are private (sent directly by immigrants to their families in Africa for personal/family use) but it still presents an exciting possibility of sustainable fundraising for local NGOs.

A Nigerian non-profit, Jela’s Development Initiatives employs this tactic through personal connections to Nigerians living abroad, and requests for recurring donations of $20 or £20, depending on the donor’s country of residence.

In Zimbabwe, Sisonke ZW Family Trust has some of their board members who live in the diaspora contributing varying amounts monthly with a minimum of $100 to support the organisation’s activities. While these have not yet yielded large scale results, with targeted campaigns and narrative change on giving, diaspora investment presents a unique way of channelling resources directly to the organisations that need them the most.

 

3 – Local organising: By nature, Africans are largely communal and this has resulted in many community members banding together to address societal injustice and developing local solutions.

This trait is one that can be organised and explored to fundraise for local non-profits. For example, in North-Central Nigeria, Vaccine Network for Disease Control mobilises female small business owners to ‘adopt’ a primary healthcare centre, where she makes a donation towards the facility, takes on responsibility to support the monitoring of that facility and holds it accountable in its service delivery.

The donations are not cumbersome to the women and it creates a local networked system of accountability and ownership. A similar initiative exists in Zimbabwe where the Citizen Initiative saw the construction of classroom blocks and ablution facilities in rural areas with citizens financing the projects.

These examples show that local organising works, even if it is on a small scale. However, if more grassroot NGOs adopted this methodology, involving community members in the identification of problems and design of local solutions, they would be more than willing to co-execute and monitor the success of such initiatives towards desired outcomes.

Too often, local NGOs are more concerned with catching the attention of the international funders that they neglect the advantage Africans have as a communal society and the power within that to secure lasting change.

 

Conclusion

Addressing the existing fundraising system in Africa and its linked challenges requires a multifaceted approach. By empowering local organisations, promoting cultural sensitivity, and advocating for supportive policies, we can pave the way for sustainable development that originates from within communities themselves.

While international funding undoubtedly plays a crucial role in community development and we are not advocating for throwing the baby with the bath water, we maintain that addressing the clash of values and power imbalance is paramount for the success and sustainability of projects.

We also recognize the effort of pan-African philanthropic organisations like the African Visionary Fund to democratise the funding space and abide by game-changing principles like multi-year funding and institutional capacity development but one organisation is definitely not enough to serve the needs of the Continent.

Such visionary approaches need to be duplicated by other indigenous philanthropic organisations. Thus, it is through collaborative efforts that we can build a more resilient and self-reliant future for Africa’s community-based initiatives. Ultimately, it is time to look inward and restructure how we give. The time is now.

 

Angela Umoru-David is a creative social impact advocate whose experience cuts across journalism, program design and corporate/development communications, and aims to capture a plurality of views that positively influence the African narrative.

Tafadzwa Munyaka is a nonprofit/social change professional with crosscutting expertise in fundraising, program management, and child rights advocacy.

Michael Tjernström, Professor of Meteorology at Stockholm University, has had five expeditions on the research icebreaker Oden, where he has witnessed the impact of climate change on the Arctic. Credit: Michael Tjernström

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM, Dec 19 2023 (IPS)

Conflicting emotions greet the outcomes of COP28. After 28 years of climate conferences, an agreement has, for the first time, proclaimed that fossil fuels are the biggest culprit behind the warming of our planet and stated that it would encourage all nations to “accelerating action in this critical decade so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.” The agreement calls for, among other things, a tripling of renewable energy by 2030, but also an increased pace in the work to develop technical solutions for the separation and storage of carbon dioxide, an extremely expensive and, so far, limited effort.

However, the agreement can unfortunately not be characterised as “decisive.” The text uses the phrase “transition fuels” as a code word for the fossil gas that causes carbon dioxide emissions, warming up Earth’s atmosphere. The draft text went through multiple iterations over the course of the negotiations, and one version, supported by oil and gas-producing nations, dropped a reference to the root cause of climate change entirely. However, an urgent pushback from the USA, EU, and small island countries saw fossil fuels put back in the text at the last minute, even though the final version lacked the concrete term “phaseout,” which many nations wanted to see.

Palliative formulations thus give rise to several loopholes, allowing fossil-producing countries to continue with, and even increase, their extraction of harmful fossil fuels. 2023 will be the hottest year on record globally, with extreme weather causing death and destruction in the wake of climate change. To mitigate the worst effects, global emissions must be halved by 2030, but so far, the curves continue to rise. Considering this, it has to be kept in mind that the climate meeting’s agreement is not legally binding but only a signal of a direction forward. It still remains uncertain whether COP28 will really result in the countries of the world advancing from words to action.

On this worrisome note, please read this IPS interview with Michael Tjernström, Professor of Meteorology at Stockholm University.

IPS: What is your opinion about the recently concluded COP 28?

Tjernström: The situation is bizarre. The climate system is one of the most complex issues we have to deal with as a society, even without involving its many interactions with human and social sciences. Accordingly, it is not strange that there are many things we don’t fully understand, but this we do know: The climate is warming up because we are accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, and all else results from this! So, having a global climate meeting that cannot agree on having this stated in the final statement is like driving your car to the auto mechanics with an engine problem, but instead of getting that fixed, you get a haircut in the front seat to look better.

A view from the research icebreaker Oden. Credit: Michael Tjernström

That being said, this statement is better than nothing, but not by a whole lot. Sometimes I do think that it might have been better if the meeting had crashed and burned. After all, the Paris Agreement came after the Copenhagen fiasco; sometimes we need to fail in order to succeed.

IPS: This spring, you were part of a research team visiting the Arctic Sea onboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden. Why did you travel to the Arctic, and why did you use an icebreaker?

Tjernström: The Arctic is particularly sensitive to climate change. It is usually said that global warming is going twice as fast in the Arctic as in the rest of the world. However, recent studies indicate that the change might be four times as fast on average across the whole Arctic and up to seven or eight times as fast in some places, for example, around Svalbard and in the Russian Arctic Ocean. Despite the Arctic being so vulnerable, there are almost no other places on earth where the climate system is so under-observed. Over the Arctic Ocean, permanent observation stations cannot be established because of the ever-moving and deforming sea ice. Accordingly, it is most convenient to have an icebreaker as a base for observations and research in this hard-to-reach, inhospitable ocean.

IPS: How many members are there on such an expedition, and have you been doing this kind of research before?

Tjernström: This was my fifth expedition with the research icebreaker Oden. There were 75 people onboard, of whom about 40 were researchers, about 20 members of the ship’s regular crew, and 15 logistics staff. The latter two included kitchen staff, a medical doctor and a nurse, a helicopter pilot, a meteorologist and air traffic controller, several technicians, and even an artist. The artist—in this case, a painter—has a historical heritage. Ever since scientific expeditions were organised hundreds of years ago, it was important to have an artist as part of the team. In those days, photographic techniques did not exist, and a painter was necessary for the documentation of the findings. Ever since, it has been customary to have an artist onboard.

IPS: Is it inconvenient to stay on an icebreaker for several months?

Tjernström:. Yes and no; actually, mostly no, but it is a very special experience. We have electricity and heat, good food, a sauna, gym, library, laboratories, and a small movie theatre. Of course, it is sometimes difficult to live so close to others, but we generally have a good and cooperative mood. And we have lots of work to do! This is not a 9-5 job, with weekends free. And even if it was, there’s not much else to do.

IPS: What does your research consist of?

Tjernström: In a general sense, we try to observe the state of the climate system, but we also measure the processes that generate that state. We are, so to speak, taking the pulse of the current situation, though we are also trying to establish tendencies by taking samples and measuring climatological changes. The goal of our research is to improve our climate models, i.e., computer models describing the Earth’s climate system, essentially a virtual synthetic climate that can also be used to indicate future changes or processes. Climate models have some similarities to weather forecast models, but instead of delivering a ten-day weather forecast detailing a nearby development, a climate model provides a “forecast” of climate for maybe one hundred years into the future. The IPCC, a UN climate panel, uses the results from these models, among other things, to calculate the effects of climate change.

The main task of an Arctic expedition is to secure various measurements. We make comparisons between different weather conditions, observe the clouds and the aerosols, take samples to establish the salinity and temperature of the ocean, and examine the occurrence of microorganisms. We also set up measuring stations on the ice and took snow, ice, and water samples. One group drove a remote-controlled mini-submarine under the ice, and another mounted measuring instruments under a helicopter to study variations over larger surfaces. We also released weather balloons to measure atmospheric changes.

My main interest for the latest expedition was to study the effect warm air inflows have on the sea ice and snow cover. Actually, one can say there are only two seasons in the Arctic: either it freezes or it melts. We wanted to study how abrupt the shift from winter to summer can be, so Oden followed weather forecasts indicating where warm air flows were moving in. By measuring and studying the direction of air flows, we could study their effects on cloud formation as well as their impact on ice and the ocean. Such observations are now used to understand how the system works, and ultimately, this lays the foundation for the development of climate models.

IPS: Are climate models reliable?

Tjernström: Yes and no; it depends on the purpose. They are quite reliable for calculating future temperatures, but less reliable for precipitation changes. They are also fairly reliable for global averages, but the smaller the area of interest, the greater the uncertainty. One explanation for when the models work less well is when we lack adequate understanding of something, and that is often in part because we do not have sufficient observations.

Most Arctic measurements generally originate from late summer, in August or September, when there is relatively less sea ice and the ice is melting, making it easier for research vessels to work in the area. This time we came earlier than usual in the Arctic, in May and June, which is the beginning of the melting season, making it possible for us to more carefully investigate the nature and change in the system when the sea ice starts its annual melt.

IPS: When was your first research expedition to the Arctic, and have you noticed any changes since then?

Tjernström: My first trip to the Arctic took place in 2001, also on the research icebreaker Oden. If there is something that has really changed during the twenty years I have been doing this research, it is the nature of the ice. We notice this when we place our expensive instruments on the ice, because it is important to find proper multi-year ice for this. This is ice that has survived at least one melting season, and it is generally more durable. It is now becoming increasingly difficult to find ice that is thick and durable enough. There is also more meltwater on top of the ice, compared to the situation during my first expedition. While it is tragic to see how the ice is disappearing, it is important for me not to let emotions run away but to keep a cool head, to objectively and systematically collect observations, and to make as accurate calculations as possible.

IPS What about the wildlife up there? Did you see polar bears and seals?

Tjernström: We see polar bears on every expedition. Polar bears have an incredibly well-developed sense of smell, and an icebreaker is therefore a bear magnet. They are very curious animals as well as dangerous, and an icebreaker with 70 people onboard has a distinct smell. Anyone who needs it gets weapons training on the way up north, and we always have bear guards posted when we work on the ice. However, Arctic Ocean wildlife is vulnerable because it is based on the presence of sea ice all year. For example, there are seals that live their whole lives on the ice, and now it is constantly getting thinner and scarcer.

The Arctic’s food chains are becoming depleted, industrial fishing has taken a toll on the marine flora, and harmful microplastics, mercury, and man-made toxins are becoming increasingly common in the water. Polar bears are at the top of the food chain and are particularly vulnerable. They live on seals, which live on fish, and so on, all the way down to the microorganisms. And in the Arctic Ocean, there are no other top predators present. Pollution and climate change have an impact on everything.

IPS: Reportedly, due to the rising sea levels, Bangladesh, small island states, and megacities like Shanghai, Bangkok, Jakarta, Tokyo, and New York—which have sizable populations concentrated close to coastal plains or river deltas—are in danger. Is this threat real?

Tjernström: Sorry to say, it is. I am worried that, as an example, huge areas of Bangladesh and many low-lying islands are going to disappear, resulting in the loss of human lives. And this affects a large population around the globe living in coastal areas. As a matter of fact, the threat of melting land ice is, in the long run, even worse than the disappearance of ice in the sea. The melting of ice on land is a larger threat than the disappearance of sea ice. Even if we are able to stop greenhouse gas emissions right now, it will take hundreds of years before the inland ice sheets stop melting.

When land ice melts, the runoff significantly increases the amount of water in the oceans, contributing to global sea level rise. Sea ice, on the other hand, is like the ice cubes in a glass of water: when it melts, it does not directly change the level of water in the glass.

Our entire society needs to adapt to climate change. Our lifestyles need to change, and with increasing variations in rainfall and the fact that sea levels are rising, housing and harbours need to be rebuilt, as well as resilience to food and health crises. In wealthy countries, we cannot continue to throw away food and waste energy as we are currently doing. We live between hope and despair, but we can absolutely not give up and do nothing. We must study what is happening and find solutions. First of all, it is not enough to limit fossil fuel emissions; they must be stopped.

IPS: What made you become a climate scientist?

Tjernström: As with so much else that happens in life, it was actually mostly a coincidence. As a young man, I was drafted into mandatory military service as an army medic, which was not something I wanted to do. I then remembered an amazing lecture on how to make your own weather forecast, taught by my fantastic high school physics teacher. I discovered that one could do the mandatory military service as a meteorologist, so I made up a story that I was going to become a meteorologist by profession, got my orders changed, and ended up in the Air Force as a forecast office. After a while, I became increasingly fascinated by research and development. For a while, I continued to work with meteorology within the military forces, deepened my knowledge, and eventually got a PhD in meteorology at Uppsala University. Since then, I have also served at various universities in Sweden and the USA, and now, when I’m about to retire, I work at Stockholm University.

IPS: You are interested in photography and music. Do you think that art can contribute to an increased awareness of climate change?

Michael Tjernström: Definitely, literature and art, including photography and music, are other ways to describe reality. I believe that a researcher’s role should be combined with that of the populariser. Researchers ought to act as knowledge brokers, mediating between hope and despair. Frequently, I think of my role in this as “painting a picture” for people to understand. And from there, the distance to composing and taking a landscape photograph is not that far. Different but equally important parts of the brain are involved, and in this way, we are no different from environmentally conscious artists. We want to engage people and inspire them with a will to change a threatening existence and strive for a better future. But my main goal in life is to understand—nothing more than that.

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Excerpt:

The climate is warming up because we are accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, and all else results from this! So, having a global climate meeting that cannot agree on having this stated in the final statement is like driving your car to the auto mechanics with an engine problem, but instead of getting that fixed, you get a haircut in the front seat to look better. —Professor Michael Tjernström, Stockholm University
 

Credit: UNICEF Philippines/JMaitem

By Channe Lindstrøm Oğuzhan, Leah Payud and Jessica Henn
MANILA, Philippines, Dec 19 2023 (IPS)

In a coastal community in Tacloban City in Leyte, Philippines, Maria’s life was intricately woven with the ebb and flow of the sea. Her days were filled with caring for her two young children and selling fish caught by her husband at the market. Little did she know that winds of change were brewing far beyond the horizon.

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan descended upon Maria’s community with an unforgiving force, leaving a haunting landscape of destruction. As the wind and rain subsided, Maria emerged from what remained of her home. Her heart shattered as she surveyed the wreckage.

Many people had been killed, including her husband. With no time to grieve the loss, the weight of being the primary caregiver intensified as Maria’s thoughts turned to her children.

Maria had to walk further each day, just to secure a meager ration of rice and clean water. Her youngest child had developed a persistent cough. Ordinarily, she would have rushed to the local clinic, but now she felt helpless as the nearest functioning healthcare facility was miles away. The school, where Maria’s eldest daughter once eagerly learned, now stood as a skeletal reminder of interrupted dreams.

Like many women in the Philippines, Maria had to juggle the responsibilities of rebuilding a home, providing for her children, and ensuring their survival. A study by Oxfam Pilipinas showed that women usually spent an average of 12.53 hours daily on care activities before the typhoon. The women of Leyte faced a common struggle, and Maria found solace in the Filipino bayanihan, the communal spirit of helping one another.

As the island rose from the ruins, Maria’s story became one of resilience. The scars of Haiyan were evident, but so were the stories of survival, of caregivers who carried the weight of their communities on their shoulders.

Maria’s situation is not an isolated case. The Philippines is ranked as the world’s most disaster-prone country due to its high susceptibility to disaster and lack of adaptive and coping capacities. During disasters, both direct and indirect care work increase due to disruption of care-related services.

Recognizing climate change’s profound impact on care work, the Philippines has been at the forefront of addressing the climate-care nexus. Oxfam Pilipinas and its partners have been campaigning to tackle social norms, advance policy reform and emphasize the importance of unpaid care work in community resilience building, leveraging evidence of exacerbated care tasks post-Haiyan.

This year, a pivotal moment in this endeavour was marked by a subnational consultation on care organized in Region 8 by ESCAP, Oxfam Pilipinas, the National Economic Development Authority-Region 8, Philippine Commission on Women and Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement. This event, timed during the 10-year commemoration of Typhoon Haiyan, provided a platform to delve into the dynamics of the climate-care nexus.

The consultation deepened the understanding of the intersection between climate and care, with the presentation of ESCAP’s recent policy paper on gender equality and climate change. The discussions illuminated the commendable progress made by the Philippines in advancing the care economy, notably through their recent national consultation on care and successful policies, including care ordinances led by local government units.

However, significant challenges emerged, such as the provision of climate-resilient care infrastructure and care policy implementation, especially in rural and remote areas. Additionally, concerns were raised about the limited availability of unconditional social protection measures focused on care, highlighting caregivers’ vulnerabilities during disasters.

During the event, Oxfam Pilipinas appealed to the local government agencies and decision-makers to make visible the invisible, making the case that care work is integral and crucial when thinking of solutions to address climate change. They highlighted the importance of bringing about the agency of carers, mostly women and girls, as active participants in any change process.

ESCAP’s Conceptual Framework for Policy Action on Care Economy emerged as a tool for addressing climate-care challenges in Region 8. This framework outlines four crucial policy categories for addressing the care economy: care infrastructure, care-related social protection, care services and employment-related care policies.

These components aim to tackle unpaid care work, promote equitable distribution, and ensure accessible, affordable and high-quality care services.

The active participation of line ministries, local government officials, and CSO representatives, sparked innovative ideas which culminated in recommendations to address the climate-care nexus in Region 8.

These included the need to improve national data on unpaid care, increasing the role of women as stewards of nature-based solutions such as mangrove restoration, and the potency of creating a cohort of champions to recognize and redistribute care work through shifting norms and formulation of policies.

Haiyan’s aftermath exposed the vulnerabilities of caregivers to climate change, yet, the Philippines has emerged as a pioneer, embarking on a journey to address the intricacies of climate and care. The valuable insights and strategies developed through these efforts now stand as a blueprint for the entire Asia-Pacific region which is the most disaster-prone in the world. Let’s build on these initiatives and propel towards a world that is more gender-equal and climate-resilient, where no one is left behind.

Channe Lindstrøm Oğuzhan is Social Affairs Officer, SDD, ESCAP; Leah Payud is Resilience Portfolio Manager, Oxfam Pilipinas; and Jessica Henn is Junior Consultant, ESCAP

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A peninsula separates the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea in the southwestern village of Scottshead, Dominica. Post-COP28 the region plans to create a Climate Smart Zone in the Caribbean - one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. Credit: Alison Kentish/IPS

By Alison Kentish
SAINT LUCIA, Dec 19 2023 (IPS)

Buoyed by USD 800 million in pledges to the Loss and Damage Fund and an unprecedented agreement to transition away from fossil fuels, but grounded in the reality of the work ahead to meet key climate targets, the Caribbean will need to maintain its focus on sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and climate resilience.

That is according to Raquel Moses, UNFCCC Global Ambassador of Small Island Developing States and CEO of the Caribbean Climate Smart Accelerator (CCSA), a partnership of 28 Caribbean governments and global companies working towards making the Caribbean a climate-smart zone.

Moses led a small but dedicated three-woman CCSA team to the climate talks in Dubai. There, the team participated and hosted events to secure financing for climate-resilient projects in the Caribbean, advocate for the Loss and Damage Fund, and present innovative, home-grown solutions to build resilience in the Caribbean.

“The first global stocktake synthesis report by the UNFCCC provides a roadmap for all parties to accelerate their climate action efforts to meet the 1.5-degree target, and the ‘Later is Too Late campaign,’ which we were proud to be a part of, created a strong push for the just phase-out of fossil fuels, the tripling of renewable energy, and the doubling of energy efficiency. While there is still much work to be done, we are especially hopeful given the leadership coming from the Caribbean, which continued to coalesce around one strong voice throughout the COP process,” Moses said.

The deals at COP28 have been tempered by the reality that what happens next will be more important than the pledges and text on paper.

“It is following through to understand how this manifests itself and what is the climate justice impact of a particular decision. When you hear things like climate finance being operationalized for particular things, looking at when the board is implemented on the Loss and Damage Fund, who is on that board and what kind of autonomy do they have? What kind of ability do they have to act with speed, for example? And that for me is a climate justice issue,” she said, noting that the Caribbean needs investment and it also needs heightened philanthropy to meet climate goals.

Among those goals is a long-term vision of creating a Climate Smart Zone in the Caribbean, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. Moses says the accelerator will build on projects that promote sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and resilience-building.

“We are excited about our climate-smart agriculture that was launched in August in Anguilla, Barbados, and the Cayman Islands and are looking to see that expand next year. We are always looking for donors that are willing to help us to fortify and secure our food. That is a huge part not just of our adaptation, but it can also be a source of our mitigation because the carbon dioxide that we spend on importing food is unnecessary. As the climate crisis exacerbates, it means that there is more uncertainty in our food production,” Moses said.

As it promotes climate-resilient solutions for the Caribbean, the Accelerator is investing heavily in innovation. It observed a milestone in Dubai when officials launched a Climate Smart Map, a platform with climate action data for 26 Caribbean countries. It is a major relief for a region beset with challenges in accessing current, reliable data for development.

“It demonstrates leadership in global transformation and showcases that we are capable of homegrown, cutting-edge solutions.This data-rich tool pinpoints the main areas of progress and needs across CCSA’s 28 coalition countries, enabling project curation and entrepreneurship. This will help project developers, philanthropists, and investors take a regional view of addressing our needs. To advocate for the Loss and Damage Fund, which has now been operationalized and is beginning to be seriously capitalized,” Moses said.

While the map addresses the dearth of data in the region, the accelerator will be working hard on two other major challenges: fit-for-purpose financing and project preparation funding.

“The Caribbean boasts remarkable projects and visionary initiatives—such as the D30 biofuel by the Carbon Neutral Initiative in Jamaica and the ambitious push for 100% renewable energy in countries like Aruba, Barbados, Dominica, and Grenada—but securing fit-for-purpose financing remains a persistent hurdle,” CCSA’s Director of Public Sector Projects Kiesha Farum told IPS ahead of the climate talks.

“Many projects also require funding for due diligence, assessments, and analysis to attract investor interest and to become ‘bankable.’ Actively pursuing financing is where we see grants, philanthropy, and concessional financing playing a major role. Bringing this type of financing to the region is of great focus, particularly during major events like COP and investor forums aimed at matching projects with potential investors,” she said.

Caribbean SIDS have rallied around calls by Barbados’s Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, for an overhaul of global climate financing. She has said that this shake-up, coined the Bridgetown Initiative, would be based on climate justice, ensuring that the greatest contributors to the climate crisis help countries like those in the Caribbean access finance to respond and build resilience to a crisis they did little to create.

The initiative also promotes innovative financing for climate-related projects. Those at the heart of the mission to build a climate-smart zone in the Caribbean know that conventional financing mechanisms are no longer sufficient to address present climate realities.

“Traditional financiers often seek long-term guarantees and short-term returns, which may not align with the nature and timelines of many climate resilience projects, such as those focused on nature conservation. On a national scale, solutions like debt-for-nature and debt-for-climate swaps, where a portion of government debt is cancelled in exchange for commitments to fund nature conservation projects, prove immensely beneficial,” the CCSA’s Finance Innovation Director, Cheryl Senhouse, told IPS.

‘A notable example is Belize, which completed the world’s largest debt refinancing through a debt-for-nature swap in 2021, directing USD 364 million for marine conservation. Similarly, Barbados executed a USD 150 million debt swap in 2022, generating USD 50 million for marine conservation. Given the significant contribution of the tourism sector to many Caribbean countries’ GDP, solutions like these have positive cascading effects.”

The CCSA officials say the road to COP29 started on December 13. It is a nod to the work ahead. For the Caribbean, it signals the need for greater solidarity and action on sustainable food systems, renewable energy projects, and innovative financing.

“We will continue to work ambitiously to expand on our climate smart map, secure fit-for-purpose financing for projects that will protect 30% of our land and ocean. We want to see the region reach 90% Renewable Energy for All by 2035 and usher in a new economy with at least 1.5% new green jobs,” said Moses.

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CARE Somalia, a UN partner, could provide emergency services to drought-affected communities through humanitarian funding. Credit: OCHA-Yao Chen

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 18 2023 (IPS)

Funding humanitarian programs will continue into the new year, but the funding cuts of the previous year may impact the prioritization of the most immediate and most life-threatening needs.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released the Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) for 2024. This annual assessment of the global humanitarian sector provides insight into the humanitarian action undertaken by the UN and its partners and reviews current and future trends in this sector.

Major crises have been the result of violent conflicts or global climate disasters. The economic impact of these crises has been a contributing factor to the increasing humanitarian needs in places like Afghanistan and Syria, or indicative of greater economic instability. The need for food, water, shelter, and health services, have also contributed to the assessment of needs among affected communities. As a result of these crises, 1 in 73 people have been forcibly displaced. Over 258 million people have experienced acute food insecurity. Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, has remarked that the international community has not been “keeping pace with the needs” brought on by these crises.

For this year, there was a reported decrease in funding from the year prior. In the previous year, in spite of efforts and repeated calls from UN officials to increase funding, the UN received only one-third of the requested USD57 billion for 2023. In 2024, the UN and its humanitarian partners are calling for USD 46.4 billion to assist 180.5 million in 72 countries. The North Africa and Middle East region, which includes the Palestinian Territory, Syria and Yemen, will require USD 13.9 billion, which is the largest amount being asked. East and Southern Africa is next, requiring USD 10.9 billion, followed by Central and West Africa requiring USD 8.3 billion, and Asia and the Pacific, which is calling for USD 5.5 billion.

Two women together in a ‘friendly space’, a woman-only zone in an IDP site in Unity State, South Sudan. Credit: OCHA-Alioune Ndiaye

The current plans from the UN and its humanitarian partners, as indicated by the report, will be to prioritize the communities dealing with the most life-threatening needs, and therefore require urgent action. The response plans that have been formulated promise a more stream-lined approach that will take into consideration the realities of the organizations’ capacity to deliver humanitarian assistance. Given that funding—or the lack thereof—was a particular concern over the last year, and resources were quickly dwindling, this pragmatic approach is founded.

Even with this focus on immediate needs, the predicted funds required for certain regions would suggest that protracted crises with long-term impacts are among the issues that will be addressed. The tragedy of humanitarian work seems to be that with multiple situations and escalations to address, attention and assistance are only further divided between today’s disaster and yesterday’s crisis. The crisis may not have been fully resolved.

For instance, under the Rohingya Joint Response Plan, which will be led by UNHCR and IOM, USD 872.7 million has been requested to fund this plan that will provide ongoing humanitarian support to the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. It is six years since the Rohingya refugee camps have been set up. The need for food, shelter, and protection, and the pressure to keep these camps running have only exacerbated and may continue to do so the longer it persists. The prolonged presence of the camps, and the number of people still seeking refuge by crossing the border, will only leave them more vulnerable to the risks of abuse, exploitation, disease, and other security issues that developed within the settlements.

The GHO attests that humanitarian organizations will aim to deliver better results. This will include acknowledging and supporting local and national humanitarian groups through funding, increasing accountability and people-centered responses, and engaging in humanitarian diplomacy. There is also a call to promote inclusive responses that acknowledge the unique, intersecting, and complex needs of vulnerable peoples, including those from marginalized communities.

Women and girls, for instance, are particularly vulnerable during humanitarian crises. OCHA Director, Coordination Division, Ramesh Rajasingham, remarked on this during a high-level event in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia. He stated that women are fourteen times more likely to be killed during climate disasters. Women and girls are also at a greater risk of gender-based violence; only 53 percent were able to access GBV services through groups like UN Women. Women and girls also face barriers in receiving life-saving healthcare, especially when it comes to reproductive health. Humanitarian organizations, and the international community that supports them, should be expected to improve their response to the gender-specific needs.

“We need to get better at acting on gender-specific analyses that strengthen our ability to meet the diverse and distinct needs of all the people we serve,” he said. “We need far greater investment in protection and other services in humanitarian settings that are tailored for women and girls.”

What is evident in the GHO is that the compassion and urgency to help those in need remain a driving force for the UN’s humanitarian actors. Yet, one cannot help but lament at the adjusted funding request, which is lower than last year’s. When it is now, more than ever, that millions of people are living through dire situations, through conflict or displacement, and many more are at risk of falling.

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Before, when it didn't rain in the summertime, we children used to pray to God to send us water from the heavens, and the rain would come. But now it's different; the climate has changed and no prayers work—Juan Hilario Quispe, president of the small farming community of Muñapata
 

Rome march for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Credit: Mariangela Isaia.

By Paul Virgo
ROME, Dec 18 2023 (IPS)

Giulia Cecchettin had a bright future ahead of her. A smart 22-year-old, she was days away from graduating in biomedical engineering at Padua University. She was a loving sister to her two siblings, helping her father cope after the premature passing of her mother due to cancer in October 2022. Her sweetness and generosity of spirit made her popular with her peers. She only had one problem. Her ex-boyfriend and course mate Filippo Turetta could not accept the end of their relationship.

She admitted to friends in Whatsapp messages that she wished she could get Turetta out of her life, as he continued to pester her following the breakup, but she was too afraid that he would hurt himself to break off contact.

Although it is only one in a long series of high-profile femicide cases, the brutality of the murder and the ages of the victim and killer sparked public anger and dismay and prompted much soul-searching about how to tackle the problem of patriarchy and gender-based violence

She didn’t realise it was her safety that was in danger.

After meeting Cecchettin for dinner on November 11, Turetta stabbed her to death, hid her body in countryside and fled to Germany.

Her family were quick to raise the alarm that she, and Turetta, had gone missing.

Days of intense anxiety followed.

Hoping Cecchettin was still alive, her uncle made a public appeal to Turetta, telling him the family would forgive him, even if he had hurt her, if he returned her to them.

The terrible truth emerged when Cecchettin’s body was found a week after she had gone missing covered by two black bin bags under a rock near a lake in the Friuli region.

Turetta, 21, was arrested on a road near Leipzig the day after, having run out of money for petrol. He confessed at once to German police and has been extradited.

The case shocked Italy.

Although it is only one in a long series of high-profile femicide cases, the brutality of the murder and the ages of the victim and killer sparked public anger and dismay and prompted much soul-searching about how to tackle the problem of patriarchy and gender-based violence (GBV).

Amid the outcry, Premier Giorgia Meloni’s government and opposition parties agreed on motions to accelerate the passage of a bill that was already in parliament on combatting violence against women.

The package, which was swiftly passed into law, includes new restraining orders and heightened surveillance on men guilty of domestic violence and it also boosts the emergency gender-violence hotline.

Days after it was confirmed Cecchettin had been killed, big marches took place all over the country for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25, with the Rome demo attracting around half a million people.

 

Rome march for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Credit: Mariangela Isaia.

 

The scale of the problem is alarming.

A recent police report said 109 women had been murdered in Italy in 2023 up to early December, including 90 within the family or relationship sphere and 58 by their partner or exes.

The Italian National Research Council (CNR) has said that more than 12 million women in Italy, equal to almost 51%, between the ages of 18 and 84, have experienced physical or psychological violence at least once in their lifetime, but that only 5% have reported the incident.

In a study carried out by the CNR’s Institute of Clinical Physiology in 2022, over 2.5 million women (10.1%) reported currently experiencing situations of psychological violence and 80,000 (0.3%) said they were currently undergoing physical violence.

The CNR said the data on gender-based violence in Italy provide “evidence of a particularly extensive and only partly visible phenomenon”.

Rome Chief Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi has said 10 new cases of violence against women are reported each day in the Italian capital.

Cecchettin’s father Gino and sister Elena have both shown remarkable courage and composure in calling for Giulia’s death to mark a turning point in the fight against gender-based violence.

“May Giulia’s memory inspire us to work together against violence, may her death be the impetus for change,” Gino Cecchettin told over 8,000 mourners at his daughter’s funeral at Padua’s Basilica of Santa Giustina on December 5.

“My daughter Giulia was exactly as you have got to know her: an extraordinary young woman, cheerful and lively, never satiated with learning.

“Femicide is often the result of a culture that devalues the lives of women (who then become) victims of those who should have loved them; instead they are harassed, forced into long periods of abuse, until they have lost their freedom, before they also lose their lives,” said Cecchettin.

“How can this happen? How could this have happened to Giulia?”.

Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara sent a circular letter to schools inviting them to get pupils to reflect on what Gino Cecchettin said at the funeral.

Another sign that Giulia Cecchettin’s death has had an impact on the public conscience is the success of There’s Still Tomorrow (C’è Ancora Domani), a film about domestic abuse that is the directorial debut of Paola Cortellesi, an actress best-known for her comedy work.

In addition to gaining widespread critical acclaim and winning three prizes at the Rome Film Fest, it is the most successful Italian film at the box office in 2023 and it even beat Barbie in terms of the number of people it has pulled to Italy’s cinemas this year.

The initial united front on addressing GBV, however, has started to fray.

The government criticised the presence of Palestinian flags at the November 25 march, with Family and Equal Opportunities Minister Eugenia Roccella saying it had been a “wasted opportunity”.

“Women’s mobilization must not be polluted by ideology and too much political partisanship,” Roccella said.

Furthermore, Valditara’s plan to introduce relationship education at schools to prevent GBV also created division when he nominated a gay-rights activist, Anna Paola Concia, among the project’s coordinators.

The minister made a U-turn and pulled all three coordinators following fierce objections on the right of the political spectrum to Concia’s involvement.

Sadder still, the Cecchettin family have had to file complaints with prosecutors after coming under a barrage of insults and threats over their calls for action on GBV.

And, despite the outcry, Cecchettin’s death did not stop new cases of femicide and domestic abuse from hitting the news.

But Meloni, Italy’s first woman premier and the leader of the rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, has promised more initiatives on this front are in the pipeline.

“We will not stop until violence against women stops,” she said. “It is something that is incompatible with our present”.

Azzawieh Market in Gaza City lies in ruins. Credit: UNICEF/Omar Al-Qattaa

By Mouin Rabbani
MONTREAL, Canada, Dec 18 2023 (IPS)

The political significance of US-Israeli differences is easily exaggerated.

It is certainly true that tensions in the relationship exist. Israel is currently committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The US would like Israel to reduce – not cease, but reduce – its slaughter Palestinian civilians,

Israel has stated its intention to indefinitely maintain a military presence within at least parts of the Gaza Strip, and rejects any role for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the governance of the Gaza Strip. The US has indicated it would like to see Israel withdraw to the 1967 boundary and supports replacing Hamas rule with that of the PA, which it believes to be in Israel’s best interest.

Washington would like to resume bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations under US supervision, and has paid lip service to a two-state settlement. Israel has repeatedly and emphatically rejected both proposals.

Neither these nor other disagreements resulting from the current crisis have resulted in any reduction of US military, political, or diplomatic support for Israel, which remains total and unconditional. In other words, US-Israeli tensions have the political significance of a loving couple deciding whether to dine on steak or sushi for their next date.

It has been widely reported, for years, that Biden and his key lieutenants detest Netanyahu, and intensely so. If so, the Israeli prime minister must be thinking: “With enemies like these, who needs friends?”.

On December 12, the 193-member UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on “Protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations” during the 45th plenary meeting of the resumed 10th Emergency Special Session. Member States adopted a resolution, demanding an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”, the unconditional release of all hostages as well as a call for “ensuring humanitarian access”. It was passed with a majority of 153 in favour and 10 against, with 23 abstentions. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

The US is not only complicit in Israel’s genocide, it is a full and active partner. For it to propose a “humanitarian pause” under present conditions, which in addition to the continuous, relentless bombing include measures intended to produce starvation, dehydration, and epidemic disease is tantamount to advocating for a Khmer Rouge coffee break.

A meaningless and diversionary charade if ever there was one.

If the Biden administration does take action to enforce international law during the current crisis it won’t be against Israel, but rather against Yemen for interfering with global shipping. Israeli impunity might as well be incorporated into the US constitution.

The performance of the UN Secretariat also leaves much to be desired. It has been extremely slow off the mark, hesitant to a fault, and excessively deferential to the US and Israel. It’s head of Political and Peacekeeping Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, has been enveloped in an impenetrable invisibility cloak.

For his part Secretary-General Guterres has been condemning Hamas in the strongest possible terms on an almost daily basis since 7 October but has yet to explicitly condemn Israel for anything.

Candidates for Guterres’s censure would include the mass killings of thousands of children; a medieval siege designed to produce widespread starvation, dehydration, and epidemic disease; an unprecedented campaign to destroy an entire territory’s health sector; the bombing of UN facilities sheltering civilians fleeing hostilities, and a record number of UN staff killed in a conflict, often together with their families.

Among senior officials only Martin Griffiths, the UN’s Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus, and to a lesser extent Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, have defied the echo chamber and been more explicit in framing the atrocities in the Gaza Strip.

To his credit, Guterres on 6 December invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, thereby identifying the crisis as not only a humanitarian emergency but also a threat to the maintenance of international peace and security.

Its significance notwithstanding, history will question why Guterres dithered for two months when it came to calling out Israel for its ferocious onslaught on Gaza before suddenly reaching for his heaviest weapon.

Rather than using the stature and authority of his office during the crucial months of October and November to call for an immediate and comprehensive cessation of hostilities and accountability for all who have violated the laws of war or international humanitarian law, he instead chose to advocate for a vaguely-defined “humanitarian ceasefire”.

For Guterres, the Gaza Crisis constitutes a low point in an already unremarkable and frankly mediocre tenure. There’s a reason morale at the UN is disintegrating.

One does not require the benefit of hindsight to conclude that Guterres would have done better to align himself with the overwhelming majority of UN member states, who on 12 December, in numerous speeches from the floor, once again spoke out against the horrors of this war and called for it to end forthwith.

Mouin Rabbani is Co-Editor, Jadaliyya www.jadaliyya.com

IPS UN Bureau

 

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People in Rafah city in the Gaza Strip flee a missile attack. Credit: UNICEF/Eyad El Baba

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 18 2023 (IPS)

The unrestrained destruction of Gaza and the disproportionate killings of over 17,000, mostly civilians– in retaliation for 1,200 killings by Hamas and 120 hostages in captivity– have left the Palestinians in a state of deep isolation and weighed down by a feeling of being deserted by the world at large.

The United Nations and the international community have remained helpless– with UN resolutions having no impact– while American pleas for restrained aerial bombings continue to be ignored by the Israelis in an act of defiance.

The plight of the Palestinians was best described by Middle East correspondent Raja Abdulrahim who was quoted in the New York Times last week as saying: “Some people have told me they would rather just have a nuclear bomb (drop) and take them all out because the situation has gotten so desperate– and they don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.”

“They also feel like the entire world has abandoned them.”

Co-incidentally, a junior minister last month proposed dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza as “one way of dealing with the threat of Hamas.” But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instantly shot down the proposal and took the unusual step of suspending the politically far-right minister.

Perhaps Netanyahu was conscious of the fact– that even in an unlikely nuclear attack on Gaza — the fallout, described as potentially suicidal, will be equally disastrous on Israel and end up as an act of self-immolation.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu last week reportedly justified the killings of civilians and the virtual destruction of Gaza by pointing an accusing finger at the United States.

The devastation of Gaza, he says, was no better than the “carpet bombing” of Germany by the US in 1943 and the unleashing of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

And US President Joe Biden, an unrelenting ally of Israel, shot back: “Yeah, that’s why all these institutions were set up after World War II, to see to it that it didn’t happen again”.

The United Nations, created in 1945 following the devastation caused by World War II, was mandated with one central mission: the maintenance of international peace and security.

But other international institutions, including the Human Rights Council, the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), arrived much later.

Dr Alon Ben-Meir, a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University, who teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies, told IPS for Prime Minister Netanyahu to equate the bombing of Gaza to the “carpet bombing” of Germany and the dropping of atomic weapons on Japan is, at best, as preposterous as one can imagine.

Although President Biden himself did not justify the dropping of nuclear weapons on Japan, he pointed out, the circumstances at the time were completely different than the current situation in Gaza.

Furthermore, attitudes and views have greatly changed since then, particularly because of the bombings’ aftermath.

Dr Ben-Meir said President Truman was faced with a dilemma – to launch a full-scale ground invasion of Japan, whose soldiers were fighting to the death, which could result in the death of 5-10 million Japanese and hundreds of thousands of Allied troops.

Or use nuclear weapons that would result in the death of 200,000 Japanese, civilians and soldiers alike, but would end the war quickly and spare casualties on a massive scale, thinking it was better to sacrifice 200,000 lives to save 1 million more, he pointed out.

On that basis, Truman made the decision, albeit in today’s environment, that decision would be entirely different. Furthermore, Truman may not have even been fully aware of the bomb’s true devastating nature and initially believed that it was intended specifically for a military target.

In hindsight, said Dr Ben-Meir, the use of nuclear weapons is unthinkable under any, and all, circumstances, as President Biden stated, “That’s why all these institutions were set up after World War Two to see to it that it didn’t happen again.”

As to the “carpet bombings” of Germany, while there were a few instances of cities being bombed wholesale, most notably Dresden, for the most part, American and Allied troops carried out strategic bombings, targeting as much as possible specific military installations and other industrial targets supporting Germany’s war efforts, he argued.

Furthermore, as Biden noted, the actions of all powers during World War II came under serious criticism and evaluation, and institutions and treaties were established in the war’s aftermath to prevent these wholesale actions that greatly affected civilians, whether intentionally or not, from happening again.

“There’s no question that Israel has been steadily losing international support due to the rise of Palestinian casualties, which has now exceeded 17,000. The irony is because of this terrible heavy toll of casualties, the unthinkable slaughter of 1,200 Israelis is no longer being mentioned, and this is due to Netanyahu’s complete disregard, in my view, for the indiscriminate horror that is being inflicted on Gaza”.

He should be far more calculating in targeting Hamas to prevent the unnecessary death of civilians, which is only drawing ever more criticism of Israel’s war tactics.

“Israel will certainly win the war against Hamas, but it is as certain that it will continue to lose the support even of its closest allies and friends unless Israel takes extraordinary measures to protect civilian lives in Gaza while articulating an exit strategy consistent with a two-state solution to end the conflict,” declared Dr Ben-Meir.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Research associate, Tania Eulalia Martínez Cruz from Oaxaca, Mexico shows how intercropping assists communities remain self-sufficient. Credit: Conrado Perez/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
NAIROBI, Dec 15 2023 (IPS)

The world is not on track to end hunger and poverty as a future of growing food insecurity and climate challenges beckon. Small-scale farmers are the backbone of food production, producing one-third of the world’s food and up to 70 percent of the food consumed in Africa and Asia, yet they are often cut off from the services they need to pull themselves out of poverty and food insecurity.

As small-scale farmers and communities in rural areas—where 80 percent of the world’s poorest live—edge even closer to the epicenter of climate-induced disasters, there is an urgent need for world leaders to increase funding to provide much-needed tools for rural communities to adapt to and mitigate these challenges.

To address these challenges, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) received record-breaking pledges in support of its largest replenishment ever, putting the organization on track to positively impact the lives of millions of rural people across the globe.

“This is a clear sign of the confidence member states have in IFAD and the importance they place on our ability to deliver results and impact through targeted investments that transform agriculture, rural economies, and food systems. They understand that investing in rural people and small-scale producers, who produce one-third of the world’s food and up to 70 percent of the food in low- and middle-income countries, is the only path to a food-secure future,” said Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD, following the pledging session in Paris.

IFAD is on track to receive a record replenishment as contributions increase substantially from both big and smaller nations. Photo: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

The fourth replenishment session, which Angola and France hosted in Paris, saw an increase in pledges. IFAD is both a UN organization and an International Financial Institution (IFI), working in remote rural areas where poverty and hunger are at their deepest, so that rural populations are not left behind and are equipped to lift themselves out of poverty.

A replenishment session is the process by which IFAD mobilizes its core resources—an exercise in accountability by which IFAD reports to its Member States on its strategy, reform, and performance, usually at the mid-term of the previous replenishment period.

To date, 48 Member States have pledged USD 1.076 billion to replenish their core resources. Ten countries have increased by more than 50 percent from their previous contribution, and 31 countries have committed to their highest contribution ever, marking a record level of financing achieved for IFAD’s 2025–2027 programme of work.

IFAD launched its 13th replenishment in February 2023, calling for increased investments in small-scale farmers and rural people across developing countries. Every three years, member states replenish IFAD’s resources. The consultation culminated in a pledging session in Paris. Fundraising will then continue in 2024. Typically, over 100 countries contribute to IFAD’s replenishments, making it the most widely supported of all the major IFI replenishments.

“I am humbled by the positive momentum from today’s session and confident that IFAD’s ambitious call to mobilize USD 2 billion in new funding to support a USD 10 billion programme of work impacting over 100 million rural people will be achieved in the coming months,” said Lario.

To address today’s complex challenges facing rural communities, IFAD urged world leaders to increase rural investments. IFAD’s Member States have demonstrated their record-breaking support and IFAD’s pivotal role in revitalizing the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals through investing in rural people.

“We rely on IFAD to ensure the resilience we seek to build, taking into account climate change and all other factors that hinder our development,” said Carmen do Sacramento Neto, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Angola, at the opening of the session.

“There has been an improvement in the living conditions of rural and fishing populations where the IFAD project was implemented, and it has had a significant impact. We announce that Angola will maintain its contribution and increase it in the coming years as a clear sign of our commitment.”

“With four in five of the world’s poorest people living in rural areas, the road to a prosperous, resilient, and food-secure future runs through rural communities. As multiple crises converge, rural people need us to invest in them more than ever before. As countries scramble to respond to unforeseen crises, development budgets are stretched, making the right investments is urgent and critical.”

Eunice Mwape is 26 and the mother of four children. She used to travel far to the garden because there was not enough water near her village of Shatubi. Now, thanks to the IFAD-sponsored project E-SLIP, Eunice has water close to her house. Credit: IFAD

Collaborating with member states, IFAD invests in rural development and across food systems to help small-scale farmers produce more food in greater variety, access markets, apply new technologies, and adapt to climate change. IFAD ensures that member state contributions reach those who need them the most, with 45 percent of total concessional financing going to low-income countries and at least 30 percent of core resources dedicated to fragile situations.

Pledging funds towards SDGs 1 and 2 today means spending less on development tomorrow. For every USD 1 spent on resilience, it now saves up to USD 10 in emergency aid in the future, not to mention avoiding hardship for millions of people the world over. IFAD’s work achieves measurable impact.

Between 2019 and 2021, IFAD’s investments improved the incomes of 77.4 million rural people, while 62 million rural people increased their production, and 64 million rural people improved their access to markets, enabling them to sell their production.

Additionally, thanks to improved agricultural practices, access to technical assistance and credit, as well as the diversification of their income sources, IFAD assisted 38 million people in building their resilience, which is a measure of their capacity to recover from climatic and non-climatic shocks.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Credit: WRF
 
The resounding consensus of the recent World Resources Forum Conference: in order to achieve wellbeing for all within planetary boundaries, humanity needs to rethink how it values resources.

By Mathias Schluep
ST. GALLEN, Switzerland, Dec 15 2023 (IPS)

While the COP28 presidency celebrated an “historic deal” to transition away from fossil fuels, we must remind ourselves that the future wellbeing of human societies in a livable planet depends on more than that.

Keeping fossil fuels in the ground is a necessary condition, but not a sufficient one. To achieve the ultimate goal, we need to fundamentally rethink the value of natural resources and reassess their link to long-term human wellbeing.

Having a world climate conference with a tunnel vision on fossil fuels does not help us in that.

At stake is the long-term ability of human societies to provide for wellbeing, especially in light of a growing global population and widening inequalities. Over the past decades, resource use has significantly improved living standards for many, particularly in high-income countries, but this now comes at an unprecedented cost to the environment and human health.

According to the UN International Resource Panel, today resource extraction and processing are responsible for 90% of biodiversity loss and water stress, 50% of carbon emissions and 1/3 of air pollution health impacts.

The use of resources has more than tripled since 1970 and, if current trends continue, global material consumption is predicted to double again by 2060. This growth is especially prominent for metals and non-metallic minerals, which are the backbone of major industries and the enablers of the energy and digital transitions.

The International Energy Agency forecasts that global demand for critical raw materials will quadruple by 2040 – in the case of lithium, demand is expected to increase by a factor of 42.

Resources are the bridge between economic productivity and ecological balance. A bridge that, in most policy and governance frameworks, has often remained invisible. The main reason for this lies in an economic model not valuing natural resources.

Economists have severely downplayed the dependence of economic activity on resources and the natural systems that generate them. This has contributed to overexploitation, environmental degradation and the exacerbation of global challenges, such as climate change and biodiversity loss.

Distorted economic incentives and market signals are now ubiquitous, such as in the well-known cases of the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest or the depletion of fish stocks due to overfishing. Others are less discussed, especially in relation to the mining sector, which will become the engine of the global economy.

If not responsibly managed, mining activities can lead to soil erosion, habitat destruction and contamination of water sources, impacting the local ecosystems and nearby communities who depend on those ecosystems.

A prominent example is the handling of mining waste and mining tailings, the residue remaining after mineral processing. Recent research reveals that a third of the world’s mine tailings facilities are located within or near protected areas, posing a significant threat to biodiversity and ecosystem integrity in the event of facility failures or accidents.

Unfortunately, these accidents are not as uncommon as one may think. The disaster of the Brumadinho (Brazil) tailings storage facility in 2019 unleashed a toxic tidal wave of around 12 million cubic meters, which killed 270 people and destroyed a significant area of the Atlantic forest and a protected area downstream.

Economic models are human-made and can be changed. If we are serious about sustainability and long-term human wellbeing, they must be transformed to better account for the unreplaceable value that natural resources provide.

This shift, advocated for by participants at the World Resources Forum 2023, requires acknowledging the interconnectedness of economic, ecological and social systems, underpinning the need for new accounting models to integrate ecological and social indicators.

Profound changes need to permeate climate negotiations and international policies, if future COPs are to play a meaningful role in preserving life on this planet. This year we witnessed once again how climate change discussions tend to overlook the central role played by the excessive and irresponsible use of resources, and apply a tunnel vision focused on CO2 emissions which are a key aspect to tackle, but essentially a symptom of a more profound ill.

The cure goes through integrating natural resource management in the institutional fabric and extending the relevant policy options beyond the prevailing energy supply. Ecological health and human wellbeing are interlinked objectives which call for reassessing our values and rethinking how we use natural resources.

Mathias Schluep is Managing Director World Resources Forum

IPS UN Bureau

 

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The Secretariat building in New York City, where staff of the UN Secretariat carry out the day-to-day work. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elías

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 15 2023 (IPS)

Going back to the 1970s, thousands of UN staffers were given legal status opting for permanent residency in the US– after their retirement.

But that longstanding privilege now seems to be in jeopardy forcing retirees to return to their home countries uprooting their lives in the US.

The United States Immigration and Nationality Act has for long allowed long-serving UN staff members, who held the traditional G-4 visa status, and who met certain criteria, to apply for Legal Permanent Residency, also known as a “Green Card,” under the “Special Immigrant” category (EB-4), upon separation on retirement.

The UN’s Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance (DMSPC) last week sent an “urgent notice” to staffers that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has temporarily suspended accepting applications to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (I-485 form) under the “Special Immigrant” category (EB-4).

This development may affect the ability of staff members who hold G-4 visas to continue to reside in the United States following their separation from service on retirement.

The suspension may also affect recent retirees; children of current or retired staff members, as well as a surviving spouse, who have been planning to apply for Legal Permanent Residency under the “Special Immigrant” category.

The UN has advised staffers to seek legal advice from an immigration firm about their future status in the US.

Speaking off-the-record, a long-time UN staffer told IPS the programme is in jeopardy with no clear indication when it will resume or get resolved.

The reason is apparently a backlog of applications, but it may even be political, he said. ”You may never know”.

Basically, he said, it has been suspended because of some changes that came into effect early this year in the immigration laws –and also due to the existing backlog of applications.

“This means no priority processing for G4 visa holders from the UN. The situation is quite serious as it was taken by surprise many in the Secretariat”.

“We have been told that within 30-days, we have to leave the US upon separation unless the individual manages to change the status by going through an immigration lawyer. I don’t see it restored in the near future. A big disappointment and a mess to say the least.”

Most UN staffers who own apartments or house and property—and are on short notice– will have to dispose them before they leave the US while others with children in US colleges will have to make adjustments.

“It’s an absolute nightmare”, said one staffer whose retirement is due in February next year when he will be forced out of the US.

Meanwhile, In Geneva, which houses more than 40 international organizations, mostly affiliated to the United Nations such as the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), staffers apply for “resident permits” on their retirement.

After they have lived 5-10 years, including years spent at the UN, they are entitled to permanent residency leading to Swiss citizenship.

Currently, the US is home to over 9,000 staffers who work in the Secretariat and in UN agencies in New York, including the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN children’s agency UNICEF and UN Women– with some on retirement after living the US for over 30 to 40 years.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Women and children in Afghan cities endure hours-long queues for a vital resource—water. Credit: Learning Together

By External Source
Dec 14 2023 (IPS)

According to United Nations statistics, nearly 80 percent of Afghan families lack access to sufficient water for their daily needs. Afghanistan, a landlocked country with limited water resources, is grappling with an exacerbated drought fueled by climate change, affecting the entire region.

In the western parts of Kabul, residents must endure lengthy queues, waiting for hours to secure the water they need.

To obtain drinking water, residents must travel considerable distances, enduring hours of waiting only to bring home a few barrels. Families designate someone to stand in line constantly, yet they still experience several days and nights without water

The situation has reached a critical point, exemplified by the district of Dasht-e-Barchi running out of water as temperatures rise. This crisis has persisted for months.

In the 13th district of Kabul city, the water company has suspended the water supply. Muhammad Ali and Juma, who have been living in the district for more than seven years, describe their plight as the worst they’ve experienced, emphasizing the absence of water and any communication from officials.

To obtain drinking water, residents must travel considerable distances, enduring hours of waiting only to bring home a few barrels. Families designate someone to stand in line constantly, yet they still experience several days and nights without water.

A private company that used to distribute water to people in exchange for money does not do it anymore. Residents say that there is no government water supply system in this area.

People can’t afford to dig their own wells. Therefore, they must wait for hours to get water from mosques and public distribution centers.

Groundwater levels in Kabul have dwindled significantly. In the Pole Khushk area, western Kabul, people wait from morning to evening for just one barrel of water, highlighting the severe impact of poverty and water scarcity on the city’s residents.

 

Water scarcity compounds the hardships of life in the Afghan capital, Kabul, adding to the misery of its residents. Credit: Learning Together

 

The Ministry of Energy and Water has plans to manage groundwater. The head of water program coordination, Rafiullah Stanakzai, says that there are several ongoing projects: the Kabul-Panjshir water canal project as well as the Shah Tut and the Shah Arous projects that supply water to Kabul. The work on these projects will begin after the technical team has reviewed them.

Officials attribute the decline in groundwater levels to population growth and excessive groundwater usage, underscoring the urgency of resolving the water crisis.

The water crisis needs a quick resolution. The Taliban government lacks a comprehensive plan to address the population’s needs for drinking water and essential necessities, casting a dark and hopeless shadow over the country plagued by drought.

A recent United Nations report highlights the gravity of the water crisis in Afghanistan:

• Around 8 out of every 10 Afghan people drink unsafe water. 
• 93% of children in Afghanistan (15.6 million children) live in areas of high, or extremely high, water vulnerability. 
• Nearly 4.2 million people practice open defecation. 
• 5 out of every 10 Afghan people don’t have access to at least basic sanitation facilities. 
• Over 6 out of every 10 Afghan people don’t have access to basic hygiene facilities. 
• Around 94% of schools across Afghanistan lack access to basic handwashing facilities. 
• Around 35% of healthcare facilities lack access to at least a basic drinking water supply.

Excerpt:

The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasons

Credit: El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters via Gallo Images

By Andrew Firmin
LONDON, Dec 14 2023 (IPS)

It’s recently been reported that the two main protagonists of Sudan’s current conflict – leaders of the armed forces and militia at war since April – have agreed to face-to-face talks. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an East African body, announced the potential breakthrough – although Sudan’s foreign ministry has since claimed IGAD’s statement is inaccurate, creating further uncertainty.

There’s no question that an end to the violence is urgently needed. The conflict has created a humanitarian and human rights crisis. But the two leaders involved, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Mohamad Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti, of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, have provided ample evidence to doubt whether they’re really interested in peace, or in accountability for atrocities.

Human rights crimes on all sides

Al-Burhan and Hemeti were partners in the October 2021 coup that ousted the civilian government that followed the 2019 revolution. Their conflict began at a crunch moment for a supposed return to civilian rule and amid a plan to absorb the RSF into the SAF. As much as anything, it appears to be a personal power battle between the two leaders.

The conflict initially played out on the streets of the capital, Khartoum, and its neighbouring city of Omdurman. It has since spread to other regions. Other rebel groups are active, some acting independently of the two main forces.

All sides are targeting civilians, with clear evidence that war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed. Over 12,190 people have been killed since the conflict began. The UN also estimates that 6.6 million people have now been displaced, the world’s highest number of displaced people.

The conflict has been brought to Darfur, the site of a genocide against local ethnic groups committed by the RSF and other Arab militias that began in 2003. Twenty years on, people are again being killed solely because of their ethnicity. The RSF now controls much of the region. In November, in response to the RSF’s ethnic cleansing, key Darfur militia groups joined the SAF’s side, signalling a further escalation of conflict.

The chaos of conflict has caused a cholera outbreak, with the health system collapsing and medical workers under attack. The World Food Programme has recently warned of a deepening hunger crisis.

In Chad, a low-income country home to around a million displaced people before the conflict began, refugee centres are struggling to cope with arrivals from Sudan and people live in crowded and insanitary conditions, exposed to continuing insecurity.

Humanitarian workers are being targeted. In December, two people were killed in an attack on a Red Cross convoy in Khartoum. Journalists are also being targeted, making it harder to get accurate and independent news from the ground. In Khartoum, the RSF has turned media buildings into detention centres.

And yet the response from the international community has been wholly inadequate. Recently the UN announced it had received only 38.6 per cent of the US$2.6 billion needed for humanitarian response in 2023. It’s only been able to help a fraction of those in need.

In another blow, at the start of December, the mandate of the UN Integrated Assistance Mission in Sudan was terminated at the request of the SAF-led government. Its job had been to support a democratic transition. The move offered a troubling sign that the government wants less rather than more international oversight.

A history of wishful thinking

With other conflicts dominating global headlines – first Ukraine, now Gaza – the world isn’t paying attention. But that doesn’t mean states have stopped taking sides. Sudan’s size, mineral wealth and geographical position give it strategic significance. Foreign states have long made self-interested calculations. Before the conflict, most states, as well as the UN, placed faith in the military as a source of stability. With that idea blown, states are now deciding which side is their best bet.

The United Arab Emirates is reportedly supplying arms to the RSF, and recently several of its diplomats were expelled by the foreign ministry. Russia is also on the RSF’s side. Both countries have an interest in Sudan’s gold. On the other side, Egypt has always been strongly behind the military establishment and the USA is said to be sliding towards the SAF as the perceived lesser of two evils.

Even when apparently well-intentioned, states and international organisations have consistently been guilty of wishful thinking. Before the conflict they put their faith in the promises of a military-led transition plan. Every process attempted since the coup has only further empowered the leaders now at war.

Need to enable civil society

It’s time Sudan’s civil society was heard and enabled to help pave the road to peace.

Sudan’s civil society is complex and layered. There’s an elite tier that broadly backed the supposedly transitional administration that emerged after the coup. There are established civil society organisations that work to provide essential services and advocate for rights. But the biggest source of opposition to armed rule has come from resistance committees: informal neighbourhood-level groups that played a crucial role in the 2019 revolution.

The committees are democratic and make decisions by consensus. They call for civilian rule and reject the calculations of the outside world about which form of military government can best guarantee stability, which for the resistance committees means continuing oppression. They’ve also become a key source of humanitarian response, including by providing food, water and healthcare.

Diverse resistance committees have worked together to develop a plan for transition to democracy. But the outside world seems perplexed, struggling to engage with a leaderless movement and rejecting demands for democratic civilian rule as somehow too ambitious.

But everything else has failed. There should be no route for either of the warring military leaders to retain power. When peace comes, so must accountability for human rights crimes. And neither will materialise unless democracy does – which means an enabled and empowered civil society.

Andrew Firmin is CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

 

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Celebrating the end of COP28, which ended with an agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. Credit: UNFCCC

By Cecilia Russell
DUBAI, Dec 14 2023 (IPS)

While the outcomes of COP28 are being hotly debated in both the scientific and social justice arenas, the climate conference has taken an unprecedented step forward toward a just transition, says Yamide Dagnet, Director for Climate Justice at the Open Society Foundations.

Making some preliminary remarks a day after the climate conference ended, she said: “COP28 ends like it started: imperfect, yet an important and unprecedented step forward in our “course correction” for a just transition towards resilient and greener economies.”

The UN decision acknowledged the need for the decline of coal, oil, and gas for the first time in an agreement that talks about transitioning out of fossil fuels. It will also be known for operationalizing the Loss and Damages Fund, even if the funding falls far below the requirements for climate-stressed countries and communities.

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell acknowledged these contractions in his final speech.

“While we didn’t turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this outcome is the beginning of the end,” Stiell said.

He also noted that climate finance, which he said was a great enabler of climate action, fell short of the trillions needed to support developing countries with clean energy transitions and adaptation efforts.

He urged ordinary people everywhere to not relent in their demands for a climate-just world.

“In the crucial years ahead, your voices and determination will be more important than ever. I urge you never to relent. We are still in this race. We will be with you every single step of the way.”

Yamide Dagnet, Director for Climate Justice at Open Society Foundations. Credit: TJ Kirkpatrick, Open Society Foundations

Dagnet believes that COP28 is the start of a new era in climate justice.

“This is not an end; rather, just the beginning of an implementation journey that we know is hard but can be so positively transformative, and just if we manage to mobilize, in an equitable manner, all hands-on deck. A climate-just journey and outcome require vigilance, creativity, and accountability; stronger solidarity and engagement at all levels; promoting human rights; and shared prosperity for all,” she says.

This COP, Danget says, laid bare the issues with the Paris Agreement, especially with the just transition.

“More specifically, this COP exposed all the contradictions and challenges faced when implementing the promises of the Paris Agreement, especially a managed, equitable transition away from fossil fuels and the sustained mobilization, alignment, and access to financial flows domestically and internationally to decarbonize and build resilience,” Dagnet says. ”

While some signals got clearer with more substantive commitments, challenges remain, however, in how the just and equitable transition is sequenced.

“Inclusive processes matter to foster shared prosperity and benefits throughout the journey, together with adequate safeguards to minimize unintended adverse impacts of climate-related measures and technologies and to protect frontline and marginalized communities.

“Similarly, the just operationalization and continued capitalization of the Loss and Damage Fund will require vigilance, effective guidance, and mechanisms to make sure commensurate funding is actually mobilized and reaches the communities that need it the most in a timely manner. Adequate mobilization of finance for adaptation by the donor community is also essential to tackle losses and damages with dignity. We are happy that a dozen of them committed to join OSF efforts in this regard.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Credit: EBRD

By Anton Usov
ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Dec 14 2023 (IPS)

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is addressing the issue of youth entrepreneurship and employment in Central Asia by launching a seven-year €200 million (US$ 218 million) Youth in Business (YiB) programme.

The programme is designed to provide better access to finance and relevant training to young entrepreneurs in the region, where up to one third of the population is aged between 18 and 34 years.

The Youth in Business programme in Central Asia (YiB CA) will target micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) led or owned by young individuals under the age of 35.

It will consist of up to €200 million for on-lending to up to 20 partner financial institutions in Central Asia and Mongolia; targeted non-financial services for eligible small businesses will be provided by the Bank’s Advice for Small Businesses programme to help develop their entrepreneurial skills through training, advisory services and networking opportunities.

The EBRD’s investment will be complemented by a package of up to €30 million consisting of grants and concessional co-financing to stimulate inclusive lending and youth entrepreneurship.

It is expected that the first loan agreements under the YiB CA will include: a loan of up to US$ 10 million to Uzbekistan’s largest private bank Hamkorbank, a loan of up to US$ 8 million to Shinhan Bank Kazakhstan, a loan of up to US$ 4 million to Mongolia’s leading micro lender Transcapital, and a loan of up to US$ 2 million to Kazakhstan-based microfinancial organisation Arnur Credit.

A market assessment conducted by the EBRD in the region reveals that while many young people across Central Asia have a strong entrepreneurial mindset, very few have access to equal economic opportunities. Only around 10 per cent of them have access to necessary training and professional expertise.

This is very important for Central Asia, where MSMEs account for almost half of total employment and contribute to almost 40 per cent of regional GDP.

Grant support and concessional finance to the programme is provided by the government of Kazakhstan, the Small Business Impact Fund and the European Union.

The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Central Asia. It has to date provided close to €19 billion through more than 1,000 projects.

Anton Usov is EBRD Chief Spokesman for Central Asia and Mongolia

IPS UN Bureau

 

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It was an extraordinary COP Summit in a year characterized by record-breaking temperatures combined with El Niño, producing a climatic carnage in Africa—deaths from fatal floods in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, and Libya, where floods wiped out a quarter of a city. Deadly cyclones in Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe; a […]

A female orca splitting a herring bait ball while diving through it to get one. (Underwater Sea Scapes WINNER for 2023 Photo Competition The annual Photo Competition for UN World Oceans Day)

By Jean-Paul Adam
VICTORIA, Seychelles, Dec 13 2023 (IPS)

As an Islander from the Seychelles, Africa’s smallest country, I find that the ocean is intricately woven into my heritage. It not only defines my roots but also shapes the trajectory of my journey. When I think of the future, I can’t help but also look at the boundless possibilities reflected in the vast expanse of the ocean.

I am therefore encouraged that the growing trend of African leaders turning their attention to the ocean as a catalyst for achieving “climate positive growth”. This is the premise of the Nairobi Climate Action Summit, where African leaders emphasized that ‘Africa possesses both the potential and the ambition to be a vital component of the global solution to climate change’.

African leaders are emphasizing that ‘climate positive growth’ will be built by Africans, for Africans. Of course, support is needed – no one can achieve the scale of change needed without massive upscaling of investment.

Jean-Paul Adam

The Great Blue Wall is an initiative which aims to catalyze the promise of ‘climate positive growth’ into action. Under the Comoros Presidency, the African Union seeks, now more than ever, a ‘blue future’.

Spearheaded by African countries in the Western Indian Ocean, as outlined in the Moroni Declaration adopted in June 2023, the Great Blue Wall initiative aims to shield African countries from impacts of climate change and natural disasters uplifting and delivering economic empowerment to local coastal and island communities.

The existing industrialized fishing practices of distant nations is completely detached from the eco-system which supports the biomass and hence poses a threat. The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission has underlined overfishing of tuna species, especially the big-eye tuna and yellow-fin tuna.

At the same time, the warming ocean, increasing acidification of the water and consequent bleaching of coral reefs affects the availability of the prey species such as mackerel for the much-prized tunas.

Coastal African nations find themselves at risk, often reaping limited benefits from their marine resources, similar to challenges faced with mineral exports from the mainland. FAO and other UN agencies are working with African countries to allow them to reap more benefit from their marine resources.

The Great Blue Wall aims to conserve marine resources through Marine Protected Areas as well as empower local communities by boosting the sustainable fisheries value chain and establishing of additional economic opportunities through eco-tourism and related economic activities.

The 2022 Kunming-Montreal Framework on Biological Diversity delivered a global pledge to place 30% of the world’s oceans under protection-further reinforced by the 2023 adoption of an agreement on protecting marine biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction.

A regenerative model also implies actively investing in the ocean for climate resilience. In this instance, mangroves in particular are nature’s best line of defense. Mangroves provide some of the most effective protections against coastal erosion, while they are also critical spawning grounds for numerous commercial fish species and crustaceans.

Marine-based eco-tourism is also one of the most valuable forms of economic activity to provide opportunities for local populations. These are some of the elements that underpin the transformation from ‘extraction’ to ‘regeneration’.

How does this fit into Africa’s drive for sustainable industrialization?

The Great Blue Wall not only offers a model for a ‘regenerative blue economy’ but also addresses broader challenges associated with Africa’s maritime space.

As Africa’s trade heavily relies on sea transport, ensuring climate-resistant port infrastructure becomes pivotal, most pressing is the development of Africa’s maritime corridors for trade to build on the promise of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Reliable and affordable energy is a key enabler of sustainable value chains. Opportunities exist for offshore wind energy, for example, as being explored by Morocco. Meanwhile, floating solar is being tested in Seychelles, while using the ocean temperature differential for cooling purposes is being piloted in Mauritius.

Financing the vision

As the Great Blue Wall envisions climate resilience built on community-focused economic empowerment, financing is key. The gap in climate finance is glaring- all the while conflicts divert resources away from climate and development priorities. The climate finance gap highlighted by the High Level Expert Panel on Climate Finance co-chaired by Nick Stern and Vera Songwe showed that $2.4 trillion was required by 2030.

Large-scale climate finance availability would allow the Great Blue Wall initiative to mobilize quickly and at scale. Additionally, the Great Blue Wall also aims to generate income streams that support communities, reducing dependency and helps to boost domestic resource mobilization.

Among these opportunities including tapping into the potential of ‘blue carbon’ or issuing carbon credits based on the sequestration potential of oceanic resources. Successful small scale projects such as Mikoko Pamoja in Kenya have delivered high quality results for local communities through mangrove rehabilitation.

Recognizing increased debt burdens of African countries, the opportunity to use debt swap instruments to replace existing expensive debt with more affordable longer-term lending could potentially liberate fiscal space to be redeployed to finance some of the priorities of the Great Blue Wall. The Seychelles debt for climate swap of 2015 for example delivered new and predictable flows of finance for marine conservation.

Looking ahead: COP28 and beyond

The Great Blue Wall has high-level political backing and is a priority for the African Union and its partners. Efforts are underway to expand its adoption to other African countries, connecting the ambitions of the countries along the Indian Ocean to those along the Atlantic.

At COP28, the focus was on mobilizing seed financing for this ambitious project which not only provides climate adaptation, but also seeks to fundamentally transform the economic model for management of marine resources.

The Great Blue Wall captures the essence of the ‘climate positive growth’ we hope to see.

Jean-Paul Adam is the Director, Policy, Monitoring and Advocacy at the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, UN Secretariat in New York

Source: Africa Renewal

IPS UN Bureau

 

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