Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE

Farming and agricultural production on Mangaia Island, Cook Islands. Photo credit: Ministry of Agriculture, Cook Islands

By Catherine Wilson
CANBERRA, Australia, Aug 29 2021 (IPS)

Finding ways to be smarter producers of food was a priority in small island developing states (SIDS) before the outbreak of Covid-19. Now the ideas of farmers and entrepreneurs, such as Piri Maao in the Cook Islands, are being avidly sought by governments and development bodies, which are keen to drive resilience and recovery as the pandemic moves into its second year.

Similar to other SIDS, the Cook Islands has limited arable land and finite water resources, while agricultural production has declined in recent decades and food imports increased.

In April this year, Maao was awarded a SMART AgriTech funding grant by the government of the Polynesian nation to establish a solar-powered hydroponics greenhouse to grow vegetables year round.

Considering the force and isolation of COVID-19, strengthening food production and distribution systems is key to fighting hunger and tackling the double burden of malnutrition. The development of aqua and hydroponics embraces all dimensions of food security

“Growing in a greenhouse eliminates any environmental issues, such as rain and wind, which I currently face in a soil-based system. There is a reduced use of pesticides; insect screens will help eliminate a lot of the larger insects, such as moths and beetles. Solar power to run the system ensures sustainability and low running costs,” Maao, an agricultural entrepreneur on the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, told IPS.

The SMART AgriTech Scheme, which was launched in July 2020, is one way the Cook Islands government has responded to the pandemic with a long-term vision.

“Through the AgriTech grants, successful applicants were given the opportunity to pursue new ideas: ideas that can transform a business or the agriculture industry through innovation and productivity improvements, respond to opportunities that are driven by new ideas or meeting new market needs, facilitate better connections between producers, processors and marketers, and reduce farming’s environmental footprint through new technology and more efficient processes, mitigating the impacts of climate change,” Hon. Mark Brown, the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, told IPS.

Rarotonga is one of 15 islands that make up the Pacific Islands nation, which is located in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, south of Hawaii and southeast of Samoa. Its economy and population of about 17,500 people were, until last year, hugely dependent on the tourism industry, which contributed about 67 percent of GDP.

Today the closing of national borders and rapid decline of tourism in the wake of Covid-19 has triggered a decline in local incomes and livelihoods, and highlighted the country’s need to rely less on food imports and grow more locally. The average value of food production in the Cook Islands declined from 231 US dollars per person in 2002 to 43 dollars per person in 2018, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Meanwhile, food is the second largest expense for islanders, amounting to 22.5 percent of household spending in 2016.

Recently, “production has remained consistent, but, when our borders closed, sales of local products plummeted due to the reduction in our tourism sector. Food security and nutrition remains a priority for us, so we advocate to ensure we have sufficient food to feed our population before seeking export opportunities,” Mrs Temarama Anguna-Kamana, Head of the Cook Islands’ Ministry of Agriculture told IPS.

Maao began working on his concept for a greenhouse several years ago and undertook market research to prove there was significant local demand for his produce before going ahead with the business project.

Hydroponics is a form of horticulture where crops are grown in an indoor environment with their roots immersed in a nutrient-rich aqueous solution. Some benefits of this technique are that it doesn’t use soil and minimises the use of land and water. On Rarotonga, agriculture accounts for a major 40 percent of all water usage. Standalone hydroponic systems, which can also be developed at the household level, provide the consistent growing conditions to support uninterrupted production.

“Considering the force and isolation of COVID-19, strengthening food production and distribution systems is key to fighting hunger and tackling the double burden of malnutrition. The development of aqua and hydroponics embraces all dimensions of food security,” advocates the FAO.

Maao is developing a ‘drip fertigation hydroponics’ system, in which irrigation of plants inside the greenhouse from a tank containing a nutrient solution is automatically triggered at the most optimum times of the day. Initially he will be growing red, yellow and orange capsicum, although the entrepreneur plans to diversify with other crops in the near future. Maao’s greenhouse is currently in the construction phase. “We anticipate to have it completed and, weather dependent, fully operational by the end of next month,” he said.

Maao said his project is responding to the country’s food security needs by “increasing local production, the availability of healthy vegetables, locally and consistently, and reducing their importation.” And, with his partner and son working alongside him, he said he was also supporting wider youth and gender participation.

Promoting innovation in all aspects of the agricultural industry, from cultivation to processing, value adding and marketing stages, will be further discussed among the region’s leaders and growers at the SIDS Solutions Forum. The virtual international conference, which is co-hosted by the FAO and Fiji Government, convenes on 30-31 August. Participating countries include Antigua and Barbuda, Seychelles, Madagascar, Barbados, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

The event will bring together national leaders, development organizations, experts, the private sector and farmers from SIDS around the world to discuss ‘digitalization and innovation for sustainable agriculture, food, nutrition, environment and health.’

“In this, the year of the UN Food Systems Summit, the forum will demonstrate that diverse types of digital and non-digital solutions, many of them home grown and local, are available for the unique challenges of agri-food systems in the SIDS. Strategies for scaling up efficiently with targeted investments in infrastructure and by providing an enabling environment for women and youth entrepreneurs will be outlined,” Sridhar Dharmapuri, Senior Food Safety and Nutrition Officer at the FAO Regional Office for Asia Pacific in Bangkok, told IPS.

It is hoped that knowledge sharing at the forum about better outcomes in food production and nutrition in SIDS will help them to ‘leap frog’ their progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.

 

In Anapolis, Brazil's North-South railway line, which took more than 30 years to complete, was unable to connect with the existing network due to the different width of its tracks and its southern section remained inactive for several years, until it was privatised in 2019. Precedents like this one create concern about the new planned railway lines, dedicated to the transportation of grains to the export ports. CREDIT: Mario Osava

By Mario Osava
RÍO DE JANEIRO, Aug 27 2021 (IPS)

The sea of soybeans that sprouts every November will spread even further in the state of Mato Grosso if three new railway lines that would boost soy production in central-western Brazil and growing parts of the Amazon rainforest are built.

The most controversial railway line, the EF-170, is better known by its nickname “Ferrogrão (grainrail)” because it is to be built for the export of grains from the mid-northern part of Mato Grosso, the area where most soybeans and corn are produced in Brazil, through Amazonian rivers and ports in the north of the country.

Mato Grosso already produces 70 million tons of grains per year, a total that will reach 120 million tons by 2030, said Minister of Infrastructure Tarcisio de Freitas, who described the Ferrogrão as “the most important logistics project in Brazil,” in a digital meeting with foreign correspondents in June.

It would lower freight rates in general, by creating competition in the transportation of the bulk of the national agricultural production, replacing thousands of trucks and expanding exports through the ports of northern Brazil, relieving pressure on ports in the south and southeast.

The government intended to auction the concession for the rail line this year, but is unlikely to do so in the face of environmental obstacles and economic uncertainties.

The railway would cause the deforestation of between 1,671 and 2,416 square kilometres by stimulating the expansion of the planted area in the state of Mato Grosso alone, according to a study by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), an international non-profit organisation with which the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro is associated.

The study does not take into account damage in the state of Pará, where two thirds of the 933 kilometres of the line would be built and where the port of Miritituba on the Tapajós River, the railway’s destination, is located.

In Brazil’s Amazon region, the EF-170 railroad, known as Ferrogrão, is a project of agricultural transnationals supported by the Brazilian government. The aim of the railway, construction of which has not yet begun, is to bolster soybean and corn exports through the ports of northern Brazil. Map: National Land Transport Agency of Brazil

At the port, grains are transferred to barges that travel about 1,000 kilometres on the Tapajós and Amazon rivers to reach the export ports where the large transatlantic ships dock.

In addition to underestimating the extent of the deforestation, the project would violate indigenous rights, threaten conservation areas and stimulate illegal land appropriation, says a group of 38 social organisations in an “extrajudicial notification” to banks that could finance the construction of the Ferrogrão.

“The most serious thing is that it does not evaluate alternative routes,” said Sergio Guimarães, coordinator of the Infrastructure and Social Justice Working Group, a coalition of 47 organisations that headed the notification pointing out nine flaws in the project. (The Working Group is one of the 38 social organisations that sent the notification.)

There are alternatives for transportation already in place or under way for soybeans in Mato Grosso, where 35.9 million tons were produced this year (26.5 percent of the country’s total), such as the BR-163 highway along the same route as the Ferrogrão, a railroad under construction and two others in the planning stage. They should all be assessed in order to find the best economic and environmental options, he told IPS by telephone from Brasilia.

“It is very difficult for the Ferrogrão to be competitive, considering that the BR-163 highway is already in place and there are other alternatives,” said economist Claudio Frischtak, president of the InterB International Business Consultancy.

“It’s a bad project,” he told IPS in a conversation in Rio de Janeiro. “It underestimates the investments and the time needed for implementation and runs the risk of having the same fate as two other railroads whose construction was interrupted in the last decade, leading to the loss of public resources.”

The state of Tocantins in central Brazil aims to repeat this century the soybean boom that transformed the neighbouring state of Mato Grosso, the country’s largest soy and corn producer, which has record exports. To do this, producers are demanding the extension of rail transport. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

The economist compared the data from the government’s proposal with figures from the Midwest Integration Railway (Fico), a project under construction by the mining company Vale, which has years of experience in railways. Fico will link Agua Boa, a city in central-eastern Mato Grosso, and Mara Rosa, 383 kilometres to the east, in the state of Goiás.

Based on this comparison, Frischtak calculates that the actual cost of building the Ferrogrão would be 3.4 times the amount reported by the government: 5.45 billion dollars rather than 1.58 billion dollars.

The projected rate of return of 11.05 percent is also totally unrealistic, he said, as is the estimated construction time of nine years.

Frischtak projected that construction would actually take 21.9 years, or even longer given the complicated terrain where the Ferrogrão would be built.

The Fico does not reach the most productive soybean production area, which is around the city of Sinop, the planned starting point of the Ferrogrão. Instead, it connects with the North-South Railway that reaches the port of Itaqui, on the Atlantic coast of the northeastern state of Maranhão, which has the capacity to serve the largest ships.

The third new rail alternative for grains in Mato Grosso is the Ferronorte, a 730-kilometre stretch planned by Rumo, the largest national railroad transportation company, with access to the Port of Santos, the country’s biggest, after crossing the state of São Paulo, the most densely populated productive, agricultural and industrial state in Brazil.

The large warehouses next to the BR-163 highway, used by trucks to transport soybeans to the Amazon ports through which they are exported, have turned Lucas do Rio Verde into a hub of the agro-export economy of the state of Mato Grosso, in central-western Brazil. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

Rumo’s rail network already reaches Rondonópolis, in the south of Mato Grosso. The idea would be to extend it to the mid-north of the state, where large quantities of soybeans are produced between October and February, and corn in the following months, on the same land. Agriculture in tropical climates has the competitive advantage of producing two harvests per year.

But the biggest competition for the Ferrogrão, according to Frischtak, would be the BR-163 highway, the paving of which was completed in 2019. Management of the highway was awarded to a private company this year. Overland trucking costs fell and continue to decline, which will hinder the financial viability of the new parallel rail line.

The economist argued that it would make more economic sense to upgrade existing infrastructure, such as widening the highway and improving the waterways that also serve agricultural exports through the north. “We must not continue to make the same mistakes,” he said.

But Tiago Stefanello Nogueira, coordinator of Agricultural Policy and Logistics of the Association of Soybean and Corn Producers of Mato Grosso (AprosojaMT), said there is no doubt about the viability and benefits of the Ferrogrão.

“There will be less pollution, because it will reduce the consumption of petroleum derivatives, greater transportation capacity, less carbon emissions and thousands of jobs created during construction, as well as demand for services; there are many benefits,” he asserted.

Railroads are mostly used for freight transport in Brazil, and passenger trains like this one on the Carajás line in Maranhão state often run at a loss, as compensation for the local populace from the companies that control the rail lines. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

Only 11 percent of the land in Mato Grosso is dedicated to agriculture, according to Aprosoja, and this could expand to 40 percent, Nogueira estimates.

“To achieve this we need all modes of transportation, whether railways, highways and future waterways, and the paving and widening of roads,” he told IPS by telephone from Sorriso, a city located in a soybean-growing area in the north of the state.

But that’s the problem, according to Alexandre Sampaio, Policy and Programme coordinator of the International Accountability Project (IAP), an international organisation that works for human and environmental rights in development. He said Ferronorte would exacerbate the already unbalanced development model in its area of influence.

Of the 90.3 million hectares in Mato Grosso, 9.7 million are under agricultural production. That includes nine million hectares where soybeans are grown and then corn and cotton after the soybean harvest. The remaining 0.7 million hectares are dedicated to other agricultural activities, according to Aprosoja.

In other words, even though the state of Mato Grosso is known as a huge breadbasket, it produces abundant agricultural production for export but little food, which it has to buy from other regions. In fact, only 18 percent of the state´s population is rural.

Although it is intended to be used for export agriculture, “the railroad is a great investment that drives up the value of the land, boosts the economy and wealth, in addition to reducing traffic on the roads. In other words, it indirectly benefits family agriculture,” said Nilton Macedo, president of the Federation of Agricultural Workers of Mato Grosso.

“We have 148,000 members, 97,000 of whom were resettled as part of the agrarian reform programme,” he told IPS by telephone from Pontes e Lacerda, in the southeastern part of the state. The federation says it represents 500,000 workers, including wage-earning farmworkers and family farmers who work their own land.

In contrast, soybean and corn producers number only 7,300, according to Aprosoja, but they dominate the state’s economy.

A Dalit woman stands outside a dry toilet located in an upper caste villager’s home in Mainpuri, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. A caste-based profession, manual scavenging condemns mostly women, but also men, to clean human excreta out of dry latrines with their hands, and carry it on their heads to disposal dumps. Many also clean sewers, septic tanks and open drains with no protective gear. Credit: Shai Venkatraman/IPS

By External Source
Aug 27 2021 (IPS)

Manual scavenging is a caste-based profession that leads to discrimination and atrocities against those engaged in it. Generations of families from marginalised communities in India have been forced to continue in this profession because of social ostracism and a lack of alternatives.

Despite legislative and judicial interventions since 1993 and the enactment of a new law in 2013, manual scavenging continues in practice. People, especially women, engaged in this profession face systemic exclusion and find it difficult to access healthcare, education, welfare, and social security schemes. They work for negligible wages and accessing alternative livelihoods remains challenging for them, despite government schemes for this very purpose.

The Association of Rural Urban and Needy (ARUN), Centre for Equity Studies (CES), and WaterAid India jointly conducted a survey in four states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh) to highlight these issues. The baseline survey had 1,686 respondents and the end of action survey covered 123 women manual scavengers (WMS) in six locations in two states—Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

People, especially women, engaged in this profession face systemic exclusion and find it difficult to access healthcare, education, welfare, and social security schemes. They work for negligible wages and accessing alternative livelihoods remains challenging for them, despite government schemes for this very purpose

The findings of the end of action survey reaffirm the caste and gender-based nature of manual scavenging. It also draws attention to the level of awareness about the legal provisions for people engaged in this profession.

 

The link between caste, gender, and manual scavenging

All the survey respondents belonged to Dalit communities, such as Valmiki, Dom, Hari, and others.

According to the survey, 27.6 percent of the WMS were still engaged in cleaning dry latrines, coming in direct contact with human faeces. These women are informal workers, do not have fixed wages, and are not paid in a timely manner. This was evident as 20.3 percent of the surveyed WMS were unemployed and had no income. The average monthly salary of 64 percent of WMS ranged from INR 240 to INR 4,500.

This is despite the fact that the Minister of Labour and Employment has mandated basic wages for those employed in sweeping and cleaning activities to be INR 350 a day.

 

Difficulty in finding alternative livelihood options

Several respondents expressed that they had attempted to pursue other livelihood options to move away from manual scavenging, but to no avail. Some have managed to be employed as caretakers or cleaning staff in domestic, public, or institutional settings. Their work, however, still included cleaning toilets.

They were subjected to various forms of discrimination, which impacted their well-being. The localities where they lived often had no household piped water connection and they had limited access to stand posts that supply water.

They are commonly prohibited from eating with other people and have to use separate glasses and utensils in restaurants—in those instances where they are allowed to enter. Women involved in manual scavenging experienced triple oppression—as members of a caste involved in manual scavenging, as women, and as poor people with little or no formal education.

 

Access to services and schemes

All the respondents had Aadhaar cards, 99.18 percent had voter cards, and 90.24 percent had ration cards. Despite this, several of them reported not being enlisted as women who carry out manual scavenging activities under The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act (PEMSR Act).

Even with the required documents, many of them are yet to be enrolled as people who are employed as manual scavengers. As a result, they have been excluded from several commitments made under the PEMSR Act and Self-employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS).

For instance, 9.76 percent of the respondents conveyed that their state government had not issued ration cards to eligible households to purchase subsidised food grains from the public distribution system. As several of the WMS did not have the required documents to meet the eligibility criteria, they could not access essential items such as wheat, rice, and sugar.

 

Awareness of legal provisions 

Majority of the respondents (93.93 percent) knew that manual scavenging is prohibited by law and many (77.06 percent) were cognisant of the rules and provisions of the PEMSR Act. Further, 62.88 percent were aware that their employment was illegal.

Only 27.77 percent of the respondents had any knowledge about government schemes specific to their communities, such as rehabilitation and scholarship opportunities. When asked about rehabilitation provisions under the PEMSR Act, respondents revealed that they had faced several challenges. As per the Act, authorities are expected to identify the number of people engaged in manual scavenging and take measures to ensure rehabilitation.

However, among the WMS surveyed, this has not happened. Close to 42.69 percent of them had filed an application or self-declaration to the local authority so they can be identified as a manual scavenger. Only 6.5 percent of the respondents were included in the official list of manual scavengers released by the Government of India. Additionally, 47.1 percent of the respondents had applied for a one-time cash assistance programme under the SRMS. Of this, only 2.4 percent received the sum.

 

Systemic measures to eliminate manual scavenging

The complete eradication of manual scavenging as a practice can only be achieved once its caste-based nature is acknowledged and systemic measures to rehabilitate and provide adequate compensation are implemented.

1. Improve the legal framework

The definition of manual scavenging in the PEMSR Act must be broadened. It must also recognise the caste-based and generational nature of the profession, and expand the criteria for people to be enrolled under the Act, with clear guidelines for implementers. Alongside this, the enforcement of the provisions of the Act are critical.

2. Better data collection, monitoring, and accountability mechanisms

The government must consistently collect reliable data on people engaged in manual scavenging. This will allow for better rehabilitation measures and enforcement of the PEMSR Act. While the Act mandates every state and union territory to have a State Commission for Safai Karamacharis, only eight of the 28 states have set these up. Thus, it is imperative that state- and district-level commissions be instituted for better monitoring of the PEMSR Act.

3. Provide adequate financing

The SRMS should have adequate budgetary allocation and utilisation by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment. Departments such as labour, urban and rural development, health, education, and others should be given responsibilities to ensure the upliftment of communities engaged in this work.

4. Increase rehabilitation compensation

Currently, grants for the rehabilitation of WMS under the SRMS are capped at INR 40,000 per individual. However, this amount is insufficient to set up viable enterprises. The National Human Rights Commission has also recommended that this amount be revised to INR 1,00,000. A faster and more efficient process to clear applications and disburse one-time compensation and loans must also be instituted.

5. Normalise use of protective gear and technology

The central and state governments should promote and mandate the provision and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for all sanitation work. They must also prioritise sustainable technology alternatives to eradicate all forms of manual scavenging. Increasing budget allocation for sewage treatment infrastructure or faecal sludge treatments will allow for mechanisation of toilet tank emptying, cleaning, and transportation.

6. Coordinate civil society action

Civil society organisations must make a coordinated effort to improve the health, safety, and dignity of WMS. Organisations working in the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector need to come together and work in conjunction with trade unions and the government to ensure that the livelihoods and human rights of people engaged in manual scavenging are protected.

 

Sharanya Menon is an editorial analyst at India Development Review. In addition to writing, editing, and sourcing content, she also supports the team with website management. Prior to this, Sharanya interned at The Institute of Chinese Studies and The YP Foundation. She recently graduated with an integrated masters in development studies from IIT Madras.

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

Zaman-Allah Mainassara Abdou, a maize scientist with CIMMYT demonstrating an UAV used in data collection at the CIMMYT Chiredzi research station, Zimbabwe. Credit, Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Aug 27 2021 (IPS)

Investing in digital technologies can help African small island developing states (SIDS), vulnerable to extreme weather events, cope with growing impacts of climate change, says the United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

Cape Verde, Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritius, Sao Tome and Principe and the Seychelles are the African members of the SIDS, a grouping of 38 countries located in the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea.

The increased risk of natural disasters, coupled with sea level rise, which accompanies climate change makes African SIDS particularly vulnerable because their economies are anchored on tourism and fisheries, according to Jean-Paul Adam, Director of Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resource Management at the ECA.

While African countries risk losing up to 15% of their GDP to climate change by 2030, a major climate disaster could completely wipe out the economies of African SIDS
Jean-Paul Adam, ECA

In an interview, Adam added that opportunities for economic diversification are limited for African SIDS due to their distance from markets and lack of economies of scale. Besides, access to development finance in the form of grants and loans from institutions like the World Bank and bilateral donors is challenging. This type of finance is determined by the GDP per capita — the amount of income generated by an average person in a given area in a specific year.

Owing to their small populations, Adam noted, SIDS are disadvantaged from accessing this funding because they are more likely to have a higher GDP per capita. One high net worth individual in such a small population can skew the overall result much more than in a large one.

While African countries risk losing up to 15 percent of their GDP to climate change by 2030, according to an analysis by the ECA’s African Climate Policy Centre, a major climate disaster could completely wipe out the economies of African SIDS, Adam said. “In the same way that in the face of Covid-19 no one is safe until all are safe, the same applies to the climate crisis. As such, SIDS illustrate the extreme vulnerability of all African countries to climate change.”

The UN, which recognised SIDS as a special case for environment and development at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, describes these countries as facing unique social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities. With a total population of just over 4 million, African SIDS are located in remote, low lying areas that are vulnerable to sea level rise and cyclones.

Climate change impacts and unmanageable high population growth means that African SIDS may not meet several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, according to the UN’s report on World Population Prospects 2019.

While climate change affects the development of all nations regardless of location or economy size, SIDS – which contribute only one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions — are the most vulnerable to its devastating impacts, the UN Development Programme warned.

“Digital strategies are part of the means by which SDGs implementation can be accelerated,” said Adam.

“Digital strategies can facilitate efficiencies in terms of investing in resilience as well as efficiencies in terms of economic returns,” added Adam. He noted that artificial intelligence (AI) used in digital technologies for analysis of climate change data can help African SIDS better understand the impact of climate on key industries like fisheries, and to measure environmental impacts.

The ECA is supporting African countries, including SIDS, to improve their climate information services by tapping into potential digital technologies like remote-sensing AI to measure environmental impacts. This could be done through remotely deployed cameras and drones, according to Adam.

“Digitisation strategies can also improve the monitoring of environmental risks through the use of remote sensing equipment, and these strategies can also be deployed to improve investment in key sectors such as tourism, allowing more cost effective and targeted marketing, for example,” he added.

Adam said the ECA is supporting the establishment of a regional centre on AI in Brazzaville, Congo, to explore opportunities for the use of the technology to address environmental impacts.

 

Tourism is a key economic sector for Seychelles, a small island developing state vulnerable to climate change. Credit, Busani Bafana/IPS

 

Digital technologies are already being used extensively by countries like Seychelles and Mauritius to target their main tourism markets more effectively, he added.

African countries have a unique opportunity to use digital technologies to drive large scale transformation and competitiveness, according to the US policy research think tank, Brookings Institution. Brookings said that AI, which is projected to add 15.7 trillion dollars to global GDP by 2030, presents avenues for the public and private sectors to optimise solutions to the most crucial problems facing Africa today.

Beyond digital technologies, Adam said that by adapting economic strategies that prioritise climate resilience, African SIDS can be better placed to respond to climate change, and also create more jobs and value addition.

“Focusing on the blue economy approach, for example, can build long term economic multipliers in terms of improved yields from fisheries resources, and also build more inclusive value chains that bring more benefits to local populations,” he said.

A blue economy approach uses the principles of a green economy, the sustainable use of resources based on the ability to regenerate them, in an environment where the main resources are aquatic. For example, fisheries are managed based on the status of fish stocks, and measures are taken to protect areas critical for fish reproduction such as mangroves and coral reefs.

African SIDS have access to very limited land space but large ocean area, and the proper management of this space can yield numerous benefits,” Adam observed, including as sources of financing.

“Seychelles successfully raised a 30-million-dollar blue bond from the international market on the basis of sustainable management of its fisheries sector,” said Adam, adding “the sustainable management of oceanic spaces can also lead to opportunities for potential carbon pricing transactions although this is something at the early stages of exploration.”

Other possible financial innovations to mobilise funding, he added, include SDG-linked green or blue bonds and proposals for debt swaps — refinancing debt on better terms and investing the savings in climate resilience.

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Many families in the Solomon Islands and across the Pacific Islands region struggle to keep their children in school due to COVID-19 related economic hardship. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

By Catherine Wilson
CANBERRA, Australia , Aug 27 2021 (IPS)

Before the pandemic, many Pacific Island countries grappled with low numbers of students completing secondary education. Now experts in the region are concerned that the closure of schools to contain the spread of COVID-19, and the economic downturn, will lead to even more students dropping out of education early.

It’s an issue that has consequences for the region’s future development, given its large youth population. The Pacific Islands is home to about 11.9 million people, more than half aged below 23 years. And 90 percent of Pacific Islanders reside in the southwest Melanesian countries of Fiji, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Solomon Islands.

“Many factors affect education retention in the Pacific region, and COVID-19-related disruptions to education have added to the list. It is very possible that, in instances where families are responsible for some or all of the fees for secondary education, some students will not be able to continue their education for economic reasons,” Michelle Belisle, Director of the Educational Quality and Assessment Program (EQAP) at the regional development organization, Pacific Community, in Fiji told IPS.

“The teenage years are an important time in a young person’s life and, unfortunately, experience has shown that students who leave school before the end of secondary are not likely to return to education until later in their adult life, if at all,” she continued.

Many families, now on lower incomes or affected by unemployment since the COVID-19 virus emerged in early 2020, are struggling to afford the costs of transport, fees, and educational materials for their children to attend schools where they are open.

In the Solomon Islands in the southwest Pacific, a nation of about 721,000 people scattered across more than 900 islands, less than half of all children finish primary school. Josephine Teakeni, President of Vois Blong Mere, a civil society organization in the capital, Honiara, told IPS that: “Some families have had to delay their children’s education while they find ways to get money to pay school fees…to send their children back to school in 2022. Some families have taken the risk of taking loans from formal and informal financial institutions to pay for school fees or support income-generating initiatives to pay school fees.”

For years, many Pacific Island countries had strived and successfully boosted universal education. But, while net primary enrolment is high across the region, the numbers of students starting school have not been matched by those completing it. In the Cook Islands, 100 percent of youths aged 10-14 years are enrolled in education, but this declines to 57 percent of those aged 15-19 years. Similarly, 93 percent of people aged 10-14 years are in school in the Solomon Islands, in contrast to 68 percent of the older age group.

Now, the closure of schools, as part of national lockdown restrictions, is exacerbating the loss of learning. UNICEF, which is working with Pacific Island governments to retain students in education, advocates that ‘with the COVID-19 pandemic now well into its second year, safely reopening schools has become an urgent priority. School attendance is critical for children’s education and lifetime prospects.’ It claims that extending school closures in the Asia Pacific region could result in losses of up to US$1.25 trillion in future productivity and lifetime earnings for the current generation.

As of 12 August, a total of 93,346 cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the Pacific Islands. The majority were located in Fiji, where there were 38,812 cases and PNG with 17,806.

In both nations, education institutions have shut for periods since the beginning of last year. In PNG, primary and secondary schools closed their doors from March to May 2020, and then again in March 2021, as virus cases rapidly rose. Restrictions were lifted in May, but the Pacific Community reports that many schools have chosen not to reopen because of ongoing fears about infection. Meanwhile, the lockdown in Fiji, which began on 20 April, is into its fourth month, and students are being encouraged to turn to online learning.

However, while about 50 percent of Fiji’s population has access to the internet, this drops to 11 percent in PNG. In the region’s most populous nation of about 9 million people, one-third of women and one-quarter of men aged six years and over never attended school prior to the pandemic. Many students, especially in rural areas, have faced significant barriers to participating in tuition being offered via radio, television, and the internet.

“There are lessons provided on TV and radio. Unfortunately, for most children, these lessons cannot be accessed due to radio stations in the provinces having poor signals and connections. Similarly, with TV. If electricity is not provided, lessons on TV are useless,” Dr Kilala Devette-Chee, Leader of the Universal Basic Education Research Program at PNG’s National Research Institute, told IPS. She added that high rates of illiteracy in rural communities also reduced the ability of many parents to support their children with home-based learning.

A rapid assessment by the PNG Government last year revealed that less than half of students in more than 72 percent of schools across the country had electricity at home. Only 22 percent of schools reported that most of their students had radios.

Children celebrate Youth Day this month, however, there is concern that COVID-19 lockdowns impacted on the education of children in the Pacific region. Credit: Pacific Community

“The lack of accessible alternate learning pathways for students outside of formal secondary education completion [across the region] leaves school leavers in many areas with no options for continuing and completing their education,” Belisle said. The digital divide could increase inequality in education outcomes, with rural and remotely located students the most vulnerable.

As a development organization with the capacity to draw from expertise across the region, the Pacific Community plays a vital role during this crisis. It’s providing governments and educational institutions with research, data, and insights into how the pandemic affects educational practices and outcomes, supporting informed decisions and response plans at the national level.

The organization’s gathering and analysis of student learning data, literacy and numeracy assessments and the performance of students in relation to their curriculum “is a priority to understand how the COVID-19 disruption is impacting learners differently and to assess risk factors for different segments of the population,” Belisle explained.

“In a post-COVID-19 environment, understanding the challenges of adapting teaching and support of students around disruptions to classroom-based learning, and how to support students learning at home for extended periods, will be critical to maintaining equitable access to quality education for all students.”

The work of the Pacific Community’s EQAP program, which receives major donor funding from Australia and New Zealand, also includes ensuring the quality and recognition of job-related skills training programs, which lead to micro qualifications, in fields ranging from business management to the sports professions. These initiatives aim to upskill Pacific Islanders to adapt to the changing landscape of work opportunities and build their resilience in times of economic setbacks.

 

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Immigrant Health Professionals have lots to offer Canadian society, but often face barriers.

By Shafi Bhuiyan and team of ITMDs
Toronto, Canada, Aug 27 2021 (IPS)

Albert Einstein said, “In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity.” The year 2020 was a year of crisis across many sectors in Canada, especially the health care sector. There was a severe strain on the health care system through long waiting lists for family physicians, specialists, and vaccination clinics, and Intensive Care Units were working at a high level of capacity.

People’s Charter for Health describes health as a reflection of a society’s commitment to equity and justice. Health equity is not complete without equity in opportunities for medical professionals from all backgrounds to practice medicine.

Canada’s healthcare system has faced many challenges, including but not limited to long waiting times, geographical disparities, an aging population, and limited access to personal doctors and specialists. The COVID-19 pandemic further brought to light the gaps in healthcare and how opening career pathways for internationally trained medical doctors on the front lines could only be beneficial.

The Canadian demographic pattern is changing through globalization and immigration policies – hence diversity matters. There are increasing numbers of internationally trained medical doctors (ITMDs) who can work in Canada’s health care system but struggle to pursue their careers after moving to Canada due to bureaucratic and other obstacles. The ITMDs can contribute to our health care system alongside Canadian graduates. They also bring culturally sensitive care and in-demand language skills to Canada’s increasingly diverse population. 

Systemic barriers exist in Canadian healthcare for immigrants; hence, inequity in the system needs to be addressed by providing culturally respectful services. ITMDs can ensure equal opportunities to contribute to health services (i.e., indigenous community, aging population, immigrants, and migrant workers).

There is a rising demand for health care talent across the globe. Canada will face increasing competition with other countries to attract such a talented and qualified workforce. Without proper pathways for ITMDs to pursue their careers in Canada, ITMDs will eventually choose to migrate to countries that would enable them to have fair and clear pathways of integration into the healthcare system that will utilize their expertise.

Systemic barriers and inequity exist, and as a result, over 13 000 immigrant doctors are not called ‘Doctor’ in Canada. Only 26.4% of the total number of physicians in Canada are internationally trained medical graduates.

However, In Ontario, hospital care is overwhelmed with an estimated backlog of almost 257,000 surgeries. Also, Canada is the 12th lowest among OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries in the number of doctors per 1000 population. This implies the need for more doctors in Canada, which can be achieved by opening more opportunities for the thousands of international medical graduates in Canada to practice medicine.

However, it can be argued that the number of doctors has increased by 1.8% from 2018, with a total of 5.2% between 2015 and 20191. Additionally, the number of international medical graduates becoming family physicians in Canada has increased from 28.7% in 2015 to 30% in 20191. Can this be interpreted as increased opportunities for internationally trained medical doctors? The answer to this question requires further exploration of opportunities and residency match processes. Internationally trained specialists with multiple years of training and expertise choose to do family medicine in Canada as the process gets extremely difficult for the specialists to do their respective courses in Canada. This is also evidenced by ITMDs being only 17% of practicing surgical specialists compared to 30% of practicing family physicians.

Furthermore, we cannot ignore that international graduates with specialty training from only certain countries are recognized to pursue Royal College Certification in their respective specialties. However, graduates with specialty training from all other countries have to undergo compulsory residency training despite years of experience in their respective fields.

A recent survey conducted in 2021 by the Internationally Trained Medical Doctors program at Ryerson University showed that 35% of the international graduates who participated in the survey have completed all necessary licensing exams but have not yet been able to secure a residency position. Likewise, 47% of immigrants with internationally obtained post-secondary health education credentials are underutilized: they are either unemployed or work in non-health occupations that require only a high school diploma. Also, the World Health Organization projects a worldwide shortfall of approximately 18 million health care workers by 2030, with certain consequences for patients, economies, and communities. This shortage may fuel global competition for skilled health workers.

Internationally educated and licensed doctors face differential access to opportunities to meet the requirements to practice medicine compared to those trained in Canada. While most immigrant doctors are required to do additional residency training here, there are very limited spaces available. In 2020, only 418 ITMDs obtained a residency position, while 2,895 medical graduates trained in Canada were matched to residency programs. At the end of the match, 56 residency positions were unfilled, 49 of which were in Family Medicine. Furthermore, of the spaces reserved for ITMDs, a majority were filled by Canadians who went abroad to study medicine. On the brighter side, however, 83% of Canadians agree that we should do more to ensure that doctors trained internationally have a fair and reasonable opportunity to practice medicine in Canada.

Hopefully, we will soon reach a stage where we, ITMDs, could look back and say that our time has finally come! Policymakers need to consider existing barriers and take steps forward in utilizing immigrants’ skills to address our society’s demands. ITMDs, let’s stay strong together–tomorrow is a new day! Diversity matters. Together, let’s act now to make our Canadian health system equity-focused and accessible to all.

• The authors are from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and South American countries.
• The co-authors are Drs Bhuiyan S, Azam S, Krivova A, Orin M, Mukoko P, Radwan E, Adelekan O, Abdulhameed M, Mehrotra M, Anuradha D, Gaby V, Tasnim N, Abolurin A, Dare A, Telchi J, Mariano K, Bukhari S.

 

 

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A mother and her children fled conflict in Lashkargah and now live in a displaced persons camp in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan. Credit: UNICEF Afghanistan

By Erica Marat
WASHINGTON DC, Aug 27 2021 (IPS)

The political and human catastrophe in Afghanistan is threatening to boost autocratic tendencies in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

With the withdrawal of US and coalition forces from Afghanistan and the rapid takeover by the Taliban, neighbouring Central Asian countries are once again at the focus of international attention.

Countries that share a border with Afghanistan — Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan — are now vital in providing support for security operations for the Afghan people while also dealing with security concerns of their own.

A Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is not new for these Central Asian countries. The Taliban expanded rapidly across Afghanistan shortly after the region gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

But unlike the 1990s, when the Central Asian countries were just beginning to learn to function as independent states and their future seemed uncertain, today’s developments in Afghanistan unfold against the background of established autocracies known for their willingness to suppress domestic dissents and benefit from security crises to consolidate their hold on power.

Tajikistan is a particularly stark example of domestic changes that took place since the 1990s. Then, the country was divided by a civil war between the secular post-communist government and the religious-political opposition. In the summer of 1997, a Peace Accord was brokered through the mediation of Russia and Uzbekistan, shortly after the Taliban took over Kabul.

The Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon (then known as Rakhmonov) lacked control over the entire territory of Tajikistan. This made the training and drug trafficking by the Al Qaeda affiliate Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in the country’s remote areas possible.

Today Rakhmon is one of the world’s longest-ruling autocrats. In the past two decades, he consolidated his regime, purged opponents from the government, and is now reportedly preparing the transfer of power to his 33-year old son Rustam Emomali.

The dynastic control of power is his regime’s chief concern – any decisions with regards to Afghanistan are influenced by this political objective.

Erica Marat

Politically, Uzbekistan is a more open country today than in the 1990s. Yet its current president Shavkat Mirziyeev is facing re-election this October and seeks to avoid in any domestic destabilisation caused by the Taliban in Afghanistan. For instance, Uzbekistan detained 84 Afghan military servicemen who crossed the border on Sunday.

A history of radicalisation

Both Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are facing real security concerns as well. The Taliban have occupied nearly all provinces bordering Central Asia, including the cities of Kunduz and Sheberghan, as well as the Sher Khan border post. Hundreds of ethnic Tajiks from Tajikistan of different age groups are reportedly fighting in an alliance with the Taliban.

Rakhmon is likely more concerned with Tajiks in Afghanistan challenging his regime than the radicalisation of Tajiks within his own country.

Incidents of Afghan troops and refugees escaping to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan while fleeing from the Taliban have been widely reported.

Approximately 4,000 Tajiks and Uzbeks joined ISIS in the mid-2010s, among them several high ranking security officials. After ISIS lost ground in Syria and Iraq, many Central Asian fighters relocated to Afghanistan. But the total number of Central Asian fighters there is difficult to estimate.

Both countries are reluctant to repatriate its citizens, as they are apprehensive of the looming threat of a consolidated ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) on Afghan territory. But they chose different approaches.

To date, Rakhmon’s government has been silent on its view of the movement, while neighbouring Uzbekistan held direct talks with the Taliban. It remains unclear if Tajikistan will establish relations with the Taliban.

ISIS-K is led by Pakistani militants and aspires to expand across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia, and Iran. The prospects of a strong ISIS-K depends on many factors, including the dynamics of the war between ISIS and the Taliban, as well as if ISIS-K is able to fund its operations, and on whether more Central Asians will radicalise in the coming years.

Incidents of Afghan troops and refugees escaping to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan while fleeing from the Taliban have been widely reported. Such crossings took place before, but less frequently and on a smaller scale. Despite this history, there were no large inflows of refugees into Tajikistan from Afghanistan.

International attention

The heads of Central Asian states have recently shown more interest in forming joint solutions to regional problems. Just last week the five leaders (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) met in Avaza resort by the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan.

They presented an image of unity. But the prospects of such cooperation remain uncertain, particularly given the continuing border disputes in the Ferghana valley across eastern Uzbekistan, southern Kyrgyzstan, and northern Tajikistan, as well as differing levels of economic development.

The five Central Asian countries now find themselves amid increased geopolitical attention from the United States, Russia, and China. The American government has been holding close talks with both Dushanbe and Tashkent on the future of a security cooperation and the possible installation of an outpost for operations in Afghanistan.

Russia is conducting military trainings with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. China reportedly has a military installation on the territory of Tajikistan. Other international players are also interested in providing support for a more effective military response to possible border infusions from Afghanistan.

Heightened international attention presents countries like Tajikistan and Uzbekistan with a renewed opportunity to leverage external interest to further consolidate domestic control – and, in the case of Tajikistan, to achieve the transition of power from father to son.

Rakhmon is likely to construct an image of Afghanistan as an external enemy and on these grounds expand the prosecution of opponents at home, charging them with religious radicalism. He may also use external, including Western, military and security assistance to strengthen his domestic coercive apparatus.

Central Asian countries may have the potential to contribute to stability in Afghanistan, but the region’s governments see a fresh opportunity in the unfolding crisis.

To date, the very agency entitled to protect the nation, Tajikistan’s State Committee for National Security, which often received western support, is also involved in suppressing domestic political dissents and human rights violations.

But independent voices in Central Asian countries are pointing out how only the wellbeing of their citizens can prevent further radicalisation.

An opportunity for suppressing dissent

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan possess more resources and have greater political will to lift populations out of poverty and expand opportunities for education. Tajikistan’s government shares no such sentiments.

Tajik migrants abroad send USD 2.5bn in remittances, or over a third of their GDP, making it one of the world’s most migrant-dependent economies. Throughout his leadership, Rakhmon did little to reverse this trend.

Another challenge the region faces is increased drug trafficking that usually corrupts security officials and fuels organised crime. Increased instability in Afghanistan may lead to a greater export of opiates, including through the Central Asian counties.

Tajikistan’s state agencies are widely reported to be involved in drug trafficking as well. Years of US and EU support of counter-narcotics efforts in Tajikistan may have deepened its autocratic tendencies.

In sum, Central Asian countries may have the potential to contribute to stability in Afghanistan, but the region’s governments see a fresh opportunity in the unfolding crisis. Political incumbents may use the increased international attention to the developments in Afghanistan as a pretext to suppressing their domestic opposition.

Dr. Erica Marat is an Associate Professor at the College of International Security Affairs of the National Defense University in Washington, DC. The opinions presented here are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of the National Defense University, the Defense Department, or any other agency of the US Government.

Source: International Politics and Society is published by the Global and European Policy Unit of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Hiroshimastrasse 28, D-10785 Berlin.

 

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A wastewater treatment facility in Manila, the Philippines. Credit: Danilo Pinzon/World Bank

By Manzoor Qadir
HAMILTON, Canada, Aug 26 2021 (IPS)

Understanding the scale and intensity of the COVID-19 virus and its emerging variants, predicting the pandemic’s direction, and developing and refining associated management response options are challenges likely to confront public-health officials and national governments worldwide well into the future.

Diagnostic testing capacity for COVID-19 varies widely from country to country and often is insufficient. Hospital admissions can lag infections by weeks and asymptomatic or mild cases go unreported.

One diagnostic option drawing growing attention and application: Detecting COVID-19 in community and urban wastewater.

Monitoring wastewater for COVID-19 offers near real-time insights into the scale of the virus’ presence among a vast number of people, and can reveal the community’s transmission trajectory – rising or falling.

Sewers offer an early warning system for COVID-19 outbreaks. Wastewater with higher concentrations of the virus corresponds to higher numbers of infected people. Compared to systematic testing of individuals, wastewater analysis is not only less invasive and simpler, it requires fewer resources, equipment, and skilled professionals.

Detecting viruses in a community this way has been practiced since the early 1990s when extensive wastewater surveillance supported efforts to eradicate polio. Such experience over the years has proven that monitoring wastewater for pathogen traces is a reliable and effective disease surveillance technique.

Armies of researchers with enhanced pandemic funding worldwide have been pursuing wastewater monitoring since the WHO’s initial COVID-19 alarms last year.

A Google search of “COVID and wastewater” shows over 53 million results, and Google Scholar reveals around 20,000 publications on the subject, one-third of them produced since the beginning of 2021.

One expert paper this year proposed an archived time series of urban sewage samples as a record of pandemics and other features of the evolving Anthropocene — an invaluable resource for future anthropologists.

Most success stories about COVID-19 surveillance in wastewater and sewage sludge have come from developed countries. In the developing world, however, the picture is very different. Unfortunately, about 90% of wastewater generated in low-income developing countries is not even collected; it is released to the environment untreated. In lower-middle-income countries, about 57% of wastewater is uncollected.

Monitoring wastewater for COVID-19 enables timely preventive and coping measures, which would help developing nations immensely. The “dirty secret” in many such countries, however, is that wastewater goes untreated into the environment — often entering freshwater bodies through hidden or visible pipes, for example, or contaminating groundwater.

Wastewater monitoring, collection, treatment, and safe reuse or disposal is essential for protecting human health and the absence of such practices leads to massive water pollution. Sadly, it also creates a missed opportunity for near-real-time disease surveillance, depriving about half of the global population of the benefits of timely response to outbreaks of COVID-19, with similar virus-induced diseases and pandemics foreseen.

The international disparity in these pathogen early warning systems is a wakeup call for the world at large, which aims at halving the volumes of untreated wastewater by 2030 (Sustainable Development Goal SDG, 6.3.1 of the 2030 Global Sustainability Agenda).

Six years into the SDG era, the assessment of wastewater treatment status at the national level reveals a gloomy scenario in low-income and lower-middle-income countries, which are far from achieving the wastewater treatment and safe reuse target agreed to in 2015.

With more frequent pandemic-like situations expected in years to come, a radical rethinking is widely needed, and efficient wastewater management and monitoring must be established in developing countries to protect our environment and countless lives.

Establishing wastewater collection and conveyance networks, and constructing wastewater treatment plants equipped with near-real-time diagnostic systems for diseases like COVID-19 are key to improving human health in low-income and lower-middle-income countries. Other tactics include implementing effluent standards and offering incentives for households and industrial sectors.

Beyond expanding these disease early warning systems globally, effective wastewater collection and management in developing countries would yield important resources to offset costs. Wastewater is a source of valuable water, nutrients, precious metals, and energy.

It would also support food production, livelihoods, ecosystems, climate change adaption and mitigation, and sustainable development.

From every viewpoint, the investment required to properly manage wastewater globally pales by comparison to the multidimensional benefits available.

Manzoor Qadir is Assistant Director of the UN University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health, which is supported by the Government of Canada and hosted at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. The Institute marks its 25th anniversary this year.

 

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The city of La Paz, capital of the state of Baja California Sur, in northwestern Mexico, is one of epicenters for shark capture. Its products are destined for local markets, such as Nicolás Bravo, where a vendor cleans fish caught that same day, in July 2021. Credit: Emilio Godoy / EJN-IPS

By Emilio Godoy
LA PAZ, Mexico, Aug 26 2021 (IPS)

At “The Lieutenant” (“El Teniente”) fishing site, near La Paz (Baja California Sur’s capital) the boats go by and come in all morning. To chase down sharks, fishers make their way to the Holy Spirit island, some 30 km away from La Paz. They unload the products that will be sold at the city’s fish markets.

Since at least 2016, Mexico has become a strong seller of shark fins to China and Hong Kong, under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) mechanisms. In the Asian market, shark fins are prized, used to make fin soup and other delicacies.

A fisher in Mexico gets around $2 per kilogram of shark, but the dried fins can cost up to $70 in Hong Kong, according to news and scientific reports. Data from the National Chamber of Fishing and Aquaculture Industries (Canainpesca) indicates that the fin trade alone represents 8-12% of producers’ income.

But the country’s export data and records from CITES, when compared, reveal discrepancies that seed doubt about whether the shark fins indeed originate in Mexico.

In 2016, Mexico exported 6,401.07 kilograms of scalloped hammerhead shark and 20,088.28 kg of smooth hammerhead shark dried fins dried fins to Hong Kong, but the island reported imports of 6,402.66 kg and 10,425.25 kg imports, respectively. In addition, Mexico exported 2 kg to the US that don’t appear in the CITES Trade Database.

The next year the country supplied Hong Kong with 8,286.61 kg of scalloped hammerhead shark dried fins; Hong Kong recounted the entry of only 3,502.05 kg; Mexico sent Hong Kong 10,153.9 kg of smooth hammerhead shark dried fins, but the island only stated it received 5,975.25 kg. The US bought one kilo of dried fins, without traces in CITES.

The story repeated itself in 2018, when Hong Kong recorded the entry of 833.25 kg of scalloped hammerhead shark dried fins from Mexico, with no inscription under CITES. There was also 45 kg exported to the US not registered in CITES. The US imported 123 kg of great hammerhead shark dried fins that are absent in the CITES database. Mexico exported 1,821 kg of smooth hammerhead shark dried fins to Hong Kong, without traces in CITES.

In 2019, Hong Kong received 3,430.6 of scalloped hammerhead shark dried fins that aren’t included in CITES. At the same time, the island received 1,354.1 kg of great hammerhead shark dried fins and 3,911.77 kg of smooth hammerhead, without registry in CITES.

The Secretary of the Environment didn’t authorize shark fin exports to China in 2020, but the country’s trade statistics show the delivery of 6,407 kg to the Asian nation that year. The exports need a special approval to comply with CITES requirements.

By late-April 2021, Mexico had sold 55,674 kg of dried shark fins to Hong Kong, 7,701 kg to China and 536 kg to Germany.

Those numbers show a growing increase of shark fin exports to China and Hong Kong, faults in Hong Kong’s and Mexico’s records, and the probability of illicit fins passing through legitimate trade channels to Asian markets.

Illicit fishing refers to activities such as fishing without a permit, out of closed season, capture of protected species, the use of forbidden fishing gear or giving false information on volumes and captured animals.

For Alejandro Olivera, Center for Biological Diversity (CBD)’s representative in Mexico, the lack of statistical reliability suggests under-reporting. “It’s hard to probe corruption, but it implies that things aren’t being done well, and we are talking about an international body. There should be a better mechanism at CITES, because it trusts too much on what the countries report. Every single year there is a debate about it, but a better agreement for certainty and traceability (of the data) hasn’t been reached yet,” he said to EJN.

A 2018 lawsuit by environmentalists against the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity’s (Conabio) International Cooperation and Implementation Direction, seen by EJN, accused that agency of issuing non-detriment finding certificates (NDF), used to evaluate export requests of species protected by CITES, without complying with the international requirements.

The complaint, still pending, states that the authorizations lacked estimates of shark stocks, mortality patterns, population trends and extractions by species, among other aspects. It accuses Conabio of approving the delivery of 1,307.23 kg of hammerhead, smooth hammerhead and great hammerhead shark dried fins through 35 NDF in 2015.

Juan Carlos Cantú, director of Defenders of Wildlife’s Mexico program, told EJN there are shark fins that flow illegally throughout CITES Trade Database. The NGO works to protect and restore imperiled species throughout North America.

Cantú, a biologist by training, explained that the volume of fins don’t match that of the caught sharks. “It means the fishing authorities that manage notice of arrivals don’t do their job. The international rules aren’t fulfilled,” said.

The Fishing and Aquaculture National Commission (Conapesca), the fishing authority, allows it. Conapesca did not respond to repeated requests for an interview.

 

In Mexico, the North Pacific coasts are important shark catch areas. In the image, a fisherman reviews his morning catch in Mazatlán, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, in August 2021. Credit: Christian Lizarraga / EJN-IPS

 

Chinese voracity

Hammerhead sharks give birth yearly or biannually. This slow-growing species reaches maturity at around eight or nine years. In the wild, they can live between 20-30 years, but one serious threat for populations is that they’re captured when they’re young, before they have a chance to breed.

The 2020 technical report “Selection of species for inclusion in the review of significant trade following COP 18: Extended analysis”, by the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, found a sharp increase in international trade of hammerhead shark fins, of which Mexico contributes 61% of the global supply.

For the great hammerhead shark, it discovered that Mexico provides 71%. As for the silky shark, the country supplies 2% of the foreign market, and the pelagic thresher, approximately12%. For smooth hammerhead shark dried fins, Mexico supplies 76%.

Hesiquio Benítez, Conabio’s International Cooperation and Implementation director general, cautiously defended the export permits.

“We’re among the countries that better document shark fishing. It’s about how we use the best information to agree with the fishing authorities on the volumes of exploitation. The threat of illegal trade is always there but it’s a matter of law enforcement. It’s hard to know its magnitude. The Asian market is pretty irregular, it’s a real vacuum,” he said.

Beginning in 2020, Conabio, which financially depends on the Secretary of the Environment (Semarnat), established volumes of sustainable exports to monitor shark fishing and fin exports. Towards that end, the agency created a coding system, in which green means sustainable use, yellow comes on when the exploitation levels reach 70% and red means a stop for export licenses. This presages a conflict with the fishing sector.

Benítez explained the hammerhead shark has some margin for capture (coded green), the smooth hammerhead and the great hammerhead sharks are near-yellow in the Pacific Ocean, while the silky shark and pelagic thresher are both approaching red.

Conabio is about to publish a book on Mexican sharks included in CITES. Moreover, it will take part in the organization of a global meeting on non-detriment finding certificates (NDF), used to evaluate export requests of species protected by CITES, presumably in 2022.

 

A global supplier

Some recent reports confirm Mexico’s international role in the shark market.

In its 2018 report “Unintentional partner: How the United States helps the illegal shark fin market”, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which advocates for protection of wildlife and the environment, discovered that the US has become a bridge for shark fin exports from at least 10 American countries, Mexico among them.

NRDC identified dozens of in-transit shipments from these countries, principally to Asia, and the majority to Hong Kong. Mexico was the origin of more than a third of the cargo that mainly passed through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports in California and Honolulu in Hawaii. Due to the different kinds of protection that countries like Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru apply regarding sharks, the organization doubted the legality of those fins.

According to Rosario Álvarez, the scientific network on migratory marine species Migramar’s executive director, shark populations decrease “in an alarming way”, for being considered commercial species, as “if they were chickens”.

Even though there aren’t population assessments for scalloped hammerhead sharks in the northeastern Pacific, Conabio has found reports of a 80% decrease in the last 70 years in adjacent regions. Pelagios Kakunjá, a non-profit organization in Mexico focused on ocean conservation, estimates that it’s overexploited. For smooth hammerhead sharks, there are no population assessments, but Conabio says that they have suffered a lower reduction compared to other hammerhead taxon, whereas Pelagios has found they’re overexploited.

In the case of great hammerhead sharks, there aren’t population assessments, but Conabio has found reports of a 80% decrease in the last 70 years near the northeastern Pacific, and Pelagios estimates they’re overexploited.

Regarding the shortfin mako shark, Conabio believes its capture is sustainable in the northern Pacific and it’s overexploited in the northern Atlantic.

“The illegal fin trade passes through Mexico. There is evidence that there’s trade out of the law. There is a lack of an adequate legal framework and of social and environmental regards. We seem to be racing at very different speeds: the speed of extraction exceeds the speed of reaction,” Álvarez said.

The data discrepancy has already reached CITES, which in its thirty-first virtual meeting of the Animals Committee this past May and June, suggested inviting the body’s Steering Committee to review the results of the Convention Secretariat’s study on the apparent difference in the trade of shark products, especially that of the notices of arrival to ports.

However, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s 2021 technical report “CITES and the sea. Trade in commercially exploited CITES-listed marine species” praised Mexico’s “relative success” in reporting trade of hammerhead sharks, “possibly due to the coastal and artisanal nature of fisheries.”

Law enforcement is Mexico’s pending issue, but in its 2018-2020 report to CITES, the country excluded information on law enforcement regarding violations to the treaty and since 2017 the country hasn’t delivered reports on annual illegal trade.

The 2017 “Action plan for North America. Sustainable trade in sharks”, developed by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation –agency of the Mexico-United States-Canada Treaty–, focused on fostering the legal, sustainable and traceable of eight shark species includes policies like to expand the collection and analysis of shark fisheries and trade data, update shark fisheries management in Mexico, and build enforcement capacity.

Yet, the available evidence shows that Mexico still suffers from delays in those areas.

Defender’s Cantú pointed out that Mexico was always a strong exporter, but “before there was no information and that’s why the species were included in CITES”.

The expert emphasized that any regulation, perfect as it may be, “works provided that the authority applies them. Otherwise, [without enforcement] nothing works. Budget and trained personnel are needed. We have a (fishing) authority who doesn’t want to do its job, another one that more or less wants to do it, but lacks budget and human resources. And a higher authority (the government) that doesn’t care about the environment.”

NRDC suggests that the Latin American countries that supply substantially to the shark international trade should prioritize domestic law enforcement and international conventions that govern fishing and shark trade, especially complying with CITES requirements.

For Álvarez, the solution is categorical: forbidding shark fishing, as Colombia decided in 2020.

“That might discourage the market. There’s an important part of the demand side, as the purchasing level grows in Asia, in addition to the lack of regulation. It’s an unsustainable activity. We saw it before with the turtle and whales in the ’80s”, she commented. (Turtles and whales species were massively hunted, until they got protection from CITES. But turtles are still under threat from illegal fishing and trafficking.)

The conclusions of two workshops on NDF development organized by Conabio in 2019 and 2020 highlighted the importance of the assessment of stocks to measure the level of damage in fishing and of the generation of more information on the use of fishing gears, mortality per captures and the scale of the illegal fishing.

Conabio’s Benítez, meanwhile, insisted on the importance of staying away from the sustainable limits.

“I’d expect that the export wouldn’t grow that much, for the sake of the species. We have to manage better, to have sustainable management for the long term. It shouldn’t be a goal — they are limits. We’re not interested in maximum exploitation, or in causing a social problem, but we do want it understood that we must have limits,” said Benítez.

This story was produced with support from the Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.

Related Articles

• Sharks, Victims of Mexican Authorities’ Neglect

Fishermen unloading on August 3, 2021 in the port of Mazatlán, in the state of Sinaloa, in northwestern Mexico, one of the main fishing and and arrival sites for shark boats in the country. Credit: Christian Lizarraga / EJN-IPS

By Emilio Godoy
LA PAZ, Mexico, Aug 26 2021 (IPS)

The Mexican fisherman Tomás Valencia, aged 70, remembers that around 30 years ago he used to catch a lot of sharks.

“We got bull shark, blacknose sharks, blue sharks, spinner sharks. We caught up to seven in a journey, on average we fished 4 or 5,” he recalled. Valencia began to fish at age 7 and has become a legend in Tuxpan, a town 500 kilometers southeast of Mexico City, in the state of Veracruz, a traditional fishing and oil exploitation site. In his youth he used to tie sharks by the tail, while two other men held the nets that kept the animals.

But those times are memories, because fishers catch less and less. Now, they set sail at 7am in the morning and come back the next day. “Fishing has become very hard. There is little left, because we’re finishing them off. Sometimes there are journeys that leave empty hands, said Valencia, a member of the “Puerto de Tampamachoco” cooperative, that incorporates 75 partners and advocates for the rights of small-scale fishers.

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the sector hard, because the fishermen couldn’t sail due to the risk of contagion and the market was down, and it hasn’t recovered yet.

This story plays out in other Mexican marine areas, aggravated by the authorities’ permissiveness of fishing of shark species under threat. More often than not, the fins end up in China and Hong Kong.

This assertion is based on the analysis of fishing license databases, notices of arrivals of shark boats and shark fin exports under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Flouting of the rules and a lack of uniformity in reporting has exacerbated the capture of sharks, whose existence dates back millions of years and is key for the health of ecosystems. As predators they control the balance of other species situated below them in the trophic chain; indirectly, they maintain the health of coral reefs and other ocean ecosystems.

Shark fisheries’ records reveal many discrepancies. Dozens of notices of arrival only report eviscerated or fresh whole shark, without naming the boat or the species. Conapesca, the Fishing and Aquaculture National Commission, has registered 8,278 boats, of which 1,680 have capacity to bring in more than 1 ton of catch to port, and 6,598 less than 1 ton. Data from Conapesca seen by EJN states that between 2011 and last May there have been 109,475 notices of arrivals of shark fishing boats to ports, of which 81,332 were small boats of 1-ton capacity and 28,143 were larger boats, bearing a heavier load.

Of those, there have been 11,128 notices of arrival of boats with weight greater than 3 tons. The largest landing of shark came from an unidentified boat on October 30th 2019, with 1,103 tons of shark on board, in Tonalá, 938 km south to Mexico City, in the state of Chiapas. Something similar — where boats were recorded bringing in volumes of shark that would have been physically impossible for them to transport — happened in other ports too, such as La Paz in the northern state of Baja California Sur, and San Blas, in northwest Nayarit.

A similar phenomenon happened to the export requests of shark fins under CITES, in existence since 1975. CITES, which covers more than 5,600 animal species and around 38,000 plants, protects them against overexploitation through international trade, according to their risk of extinction. It has three appendices that group species according to how threatened they are by international trade.

In 2017, 8 non-detriment finding certificates (NDFs), used to evaluate export requests of species protected by CITES, cite cases of unloading reports that exceed the registered capacity of the boat. In 2018 there were another 3 NDFs; in 2019, 4; and in 2020, a total of 6.

Experts interviewed by EJN put the responsibility on the environmental and fishing authorities.

Alejandro Olivera, Center for Biological Diversity (CBD)’s representative in Mexico, deemed physically “impossible” the unloading of high volumes of sharks by minor boats, because they can’t transport that weight, and imputes the lack of surveillance to law enforcement.

This data shows a capture pattern, explained to EJN by a fisherman in La Paz who chose to remain anonymous for security reasons. Major boats catch sharks in high seas and then share the volumes with minor ships that head for ports to unload the animals.

“The lack of control reflects on many fisheries and there are many forms to game the system of reporting. The fishing policy leads to a lack of transparency, to the absence of traceability of the boats and of seafood. Satellite data of minor boats aren’t shared (by the authorities). It’s a reflection of the disorder, which has too little data, and it impedes the fishery sustainable management”, added Olivera.

The consequence: overexploitation.

Juan Carlos Cantú, Defenders of Wildlife’s representative in Mexico, blamed Conapesca, the governmental agency that regulates the fishing sector, by issuing licences and controlling fishing activities.

“One of the things that has to be understood is that fishing authorities are responsible for the extraction (of species) and the surveillance (of fishing) as well. But only the catch matters for the fishing sector,” said this biologist by training.

Since 2011, Conapesca has given out 1,519 shark fishing permits, the only fishery that has specific licenses. In 2020, there were 170, valid until 2023, 2024 and 2025. By late May, the authorities renewed 21, in force until 2025. Most of the permits come from Baja California Sur, Veracruz, the northern state of Tamaulipas, Baja California, north of Mexico, and Sinaloa in the northwest. By law, the fishing authorities don’t award new licences, only renewals — an effort to keep the number of permits fixed and curb overfishing.

Most of the complaints the authorities receive are due to illegal fishing (only 20 cases). One complaint of illicit possession of sharks was recorded and there were 21 seizures between 2019 and 2020. Illicit or illegal fishing refers to activities such as fishing without a permit, fishing during a closed season, the capture of protected species, the use of forbidden fishing gear or the communication of false information on catch volume.

Those practices have given rise to another problem too: illegal shark finning, which consists of cutting off the fins and throwing the bodies into the sea, for exporting them to China and Hong Kong. The fishing sector — industry and cooperatives alike — denies it with the punctuality of a bureaucrat.

The NDF 192/2019, seen by EJN, cites 6 notices of arrival that reported unloading of fresh fins. In addition, the NDF 121/20 mentions 10 notices of arrival of fins.

To authorize the exports, the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (Conabio), financially dependent on the Secretary of the Environment (Semarnat), applies a conversion factor to tally the number of unloaded animals and the volume of fresh fins.

Hesiquio Benítez, Conabio’s International Cooperation and Implementation director general, explained that the authorizations are based on Conapesca’s data and scientific papers.

“It’s the only thing we can directly pay attention to. We use the information on a case by case basis. The annual estimations come from scientific studies and we see trends. We take the information with due care. Sometimes, the data does not match,” he said.

Conapesca, which imposes fishing closed seasons from May to August on both coasts, didn’t answer a request for comment.

Mazatlán, in the state of Sinaloa, in northwestern Mexico, is a traditional shark fishing and landing site. In the image, on August 3, 2021, a fisherman casts his catch nets in the waters of Mazatlán, a seaside resort on the Pacific coast. Credit: Christian Lizarraga / EJN-IPS

 

Defenseless

There are 111 shark species on Mexican waters, according to the 2018 Action Programme for Conservations of Sharks and Rays.

But quite a few varieties are protected by law, which forbids the capture of whale shark (Rhincodon typus), white shark (Carcharhodon carcharhias) and basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus).

IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species catalogues as “vulnerable” the oceanic whitetip, smooth hammerhead, silky sharks, and bigeye thresher, common thresher and pelagic thresher, while considers the scalloped hammerhead, great hammerhead and shortfin mako sharks “in danger”.

CITES approved between 2013 and 2019 the inclusion in Appendix II of scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini), smooth hammerhead shark (Sphyrna zygaena), great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran), silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis), bigeye thresher (Alopias superciliosus), common thresher (Alopias vulpinus), pelagic thresher (Alopias pelagicus) and shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus). That classification, which covers 10 shark species, requires that its trade needs a special authorization by the exporter nation. However, Mexico still hasn’t updated its regulation of species under threat.

The Secretary of the Environment, in charge of drawing up the regulatory protection, vetoed the addition of scalloped hammerhead, smooth hammerhead, great hammerhead and shortfin mako sharks, in spite of the pressure of environmental groups that delivered scientific evidence of the urgency of that protection. Weeks ago, the secretary opened up a new public consultation on that annexation.

Mauricio Hoyos, the director general of non-government organization Pelagios Kakunjá, emphasized the low number of varieties under safeguard. “Mostly, it’s due to lack of information. That’s why it is so important to generate information to give the government those tools to protect the sharks. The hammerhead (shark) is at serious risk of extinction, because it’s captured too much for finning. It’s very prized. For that, it needs immediate protection,” said the biologist, who authored a study that supported the inclusion of those sharks.

Mexico is the fourth biggest producer of sharks, whose catch totaled 44,657 tons and consumption reached 45,615 tons –0.36 kg per capita– in 2018, according to Conapesca and the industry. As production doesn’t satisfy the domestic consumption, imports cover the difference. Between 2014-2018, the capture average equaled 38,233 tons.

The rays and shark fisheries are the eighth by size in the country, contributing 2.5% of captures and 2% of unloaded total weight in the last 15 years. The industry uses everything, from the meat until the fins.

To draw up the NDFs, Conabio assesses the actual risk and concludes which species face medium and high threats on both coasts, especially for their interaction with the artisanal fishing fleet –the main captor of sharks in shallow waters.

An obstacle lies in the absence of information on shark populations, which hinders their management.

Óscar Sosa-Nishizaki, researcher at the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education’s Department of Biological Oceanography, highlighted the lack of “robust data” in fisheries.

“We have a general view, we try to rebuild the historic captures and make the best estimation of every species. The whole system of how capture data is obtained must be improved. We’re rebuilding the specific arrangement. There has to be assessment of the populations and the collection of biological information on birth, growth, migration and so on. It’s a long way until we can say if the populations are well or not,” he said.

The scientist is part of an inter-institutional working group that focuses on the historic reconstruction of shark fishing, to determine the conditions of the fishery, and that has to be ready later this year.

The 2017 National Fishery Letter, the basis for the management of fisheries , only refers to the scalloped hammerhead and silky sharks in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, which describes them “exploited to the maxim sustainability”.

Besides, in 2018 the Action Programme for the Conservation of Sharks and Rays, which is currently being updated, acknowledges the lack of dissemination, surveillance, monitoring and law enforcement as barriers to the conservation of the elasmobranch.

Moreover, it acknowledges the impacts of unsustainable fishing, disturbances and habitat pollution; and growth of human activities in important ecosystems for the species.

Defenders’ Cantú slamed Conapesca for blocking protection to the varieties under threat. “Simply put, it’s not interested in conservation. Its only interest are the fishermen’ votes. They’re not doing anything. The economic aspect has too much weight.” he said.

The Criminal Code typifies some felonies related to threatened species, including those in CITES. The code establishes one to nine years in prison for trafficking, capturing, owning, transporting, importing or exporting species protected by law or under international treaties, as CITES. It adds three additional years if the purpose of the activity is trading.

“It’s very difficult to enforce laws against a whole activity when authorities from different institutions intervene that have a totally different view on how things should be done,” said Cantu.

Since 2020, Semarnat faces two complaints by CBD and Pelagios Kakunjá for its reluctance to add the scalloped hammerhead, smooth hammerhead and great hammerhead sharks to the protection regulation.

CBD’s Olivera argued that the motive may be economic, because “the scientific arguments are proved, those species have a huge commercial importance, it’s a heavy factor”.

But Sosa-Nichizaki has doubts about the viability of that inclusion. “It’s worth checking the sea cucumber case. It goes from one typification to another one, and it doesn’t imply a better situation. It’s a very interesting challenge, but the results so far for the sea cucumber aren’t very clear. For conservation, inclusion is an important step, but it’s not achieved overnight,” he said.

In 2018, Semarnat changed the sea cucumber status from “special protection” to “threatened”, which implies restrictions for its fishing and trade.

But since that moment, the pressure on the specie hasn’t stopped. In 2019 and 2020, there were 11 cases of illegal fishing and one of illicit trade. Press reports have shown that its capture and commercialization intents have been going on.

Conabio’s Benítez has doubts too of the future protection of the species and complaints about that the fishing sector doesn’t listen to them. “There is resistance from the sector, but it’s a global problem. There are lots of interests, cooperatives, (fishing) communities”, stated.

While the scientific and political debate goes on, fishermen like Valencia only want better livelihoods. “We’re being educated, so that we stop predating, [fishing less and more sustainably]. But we want alternatives, we don’t want to work at sea anymore. I’ve spent my whole life at sea. We want something else, to defend ourselves when there is nothing out there in the water. But the government takes decisions without taking into account the ones affected,” he lamented.

 

This story was produced with support from the Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.

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• Mexico’s Suspicious Shark Fins Exports Under CITES

Fresh produce at a supermarket. Credit: Alison Kentish/IPS

By Alison Kentish
Aug 26 2021 (IPS)

As the international community prepares for the landmark United Nations Food Systems Summit, a pivotal gathering as part of a global goal to tackle food insecurity, hunger, biodiversity loss, and climate change through sustainable food production, Caribbean youth say the successful transformation of food systems must include young innovators.

On Youth Day 2021, young agriculture entrepreneurs from the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados joined agriculture experts from the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture and United Nations agencies like the Food and Agriculture Organization to discuss the role of youth in food systems transformation.

They shared ideas on how young people, governments, and lending agencies can work together to help youth in agriculture.

“What is preventing a few young people within a community to have small greenhouse units in their backyards and collectively produce for a particular market?” asked Jeshurun Andrew, Saint Lucian youth advocate, and agriculture extension officer.

“Why don’t we see our governments establishing greenhouse facilities, where you have 50-100 greenhouses within a certain space, with shared security, where youth can rent a greenhouse, with the support of development banks?”

Andrew said Caribbean youth who have witnessed farmers endure the vicious cycle of planting and destruction following storms and other hazards need assurance that they have adequate support in bad times.

“Price volatility and disaster risk are things that farmers face all the time. Maybe the young person looking at agriculture from the outside, a young person who went to school and understands the risks associated with agriculture, would look at the industry and feel a lot safer knowing that there is insurance that can protect them if they got into agriculture.”

The young agriculture advocates have also urged governments to ensure continuing farmer education programs and enact land-use policies across the region that protect agricultural lands.

Keithlin Caroo, the founder of Helen’s Daughters, a Saint Lucia-based project which empowers rural women’s economic development in agriculture, said no discussion on food systems transformation is complete without addressing the gender gaps in agriculture.

“We need to include women in the goal of redefining the narrative of the agricultural sector. There is the hurdle of ‘you don’t look like a farmer,’ that it’s the office job and high heels for women, the expectation for us not to go into agricultural jobs. Women face similar obstacles to youth in agriculture including lack of finance and access to land.”

Caroo has called for financing reform. She told the forum that traditional lending institutions like commercial banks are risk-averse and collateral-based, often showing low levels of investment in the agricultural sector.

She is suggesting adopting non-traditional financing mechanisms, particularly for women in agriculture. She referenced the Saint Lucian women farmers she works with, some of who have partnered with a major supermarket chain for a micro-lending scheme.

The youth panelists all agreed that improving access to finance for youth in agriculture should be a priority for Caribbean governments.

They said nutrition must also be a hallmark of the push to build resilient food systems.

“I became the change I wanted to see. I was consuming mainly processed foods and decided to change my diet. I started eating what I grow, and my family members and people in my community started seeing the difference in me. I impacted the people around me. I’m now figuring ways to positively feed the people. You do not many of our local foods in our stores and on supermarket shelves. The competition with processed food is there, and we need to make a bigger dent in the natural side of things,” said Mc Chris Morancie, a young Dominican and founder of Generation Honey, a business that produces organic honey and other natural products.

The virtual event was organized by the United Nations Office to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, in partnership with the 15th Session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 15). The Office’s Resident Coordinator Didier Trebucq said the dialogue was an important platform for youth to share their experiences, ideas, and solutions on food systems transformation.

“As we move towards the staging of the United Nations Food Systems Summit in September, now is the time for science, policy, and innovation to be combined into real solutions to transform the way we produce, consume and even think about food. We really count on young people to be major stakeholders in this,” he said.

“In this climate emergency where youth are one of the most impacted groups, we need to tap into the tremendous potential that young people have to serve as change agents for climate action and food security, and for that, they should be given a voice.”

Many organizations, including the Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition (BCFN) have also called for an overhaul of food systems. They urge the global community to work together towards achieving and participate in the upcoming UN Food systems summit. BCFN has also has called on people to adopt a sustainable and healthy diet which will contribute to a substantial reduction in greenhouses gas emissions and water consumption.

This week’s youth dialogue answered the call for UN agencies to engage young people in food systems dialogue as part of International Youth Day 2021.

It was held under the theme “Transforming Food Systems – Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health.”

 

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By External Source
Nuku’Alofa, Tonga, Aug 26 2021 (IPS-Partners)

Fourteen Pacific Island Countries have enacted specific legislation to address domestic violence. While these laws have been developed to respond to domestic violence, implementation continues to be a challenge. It is affected by various factors that include practical social, cultural, religious, political, environmental and economic challenges.

Polotu Fakafanua-Paunga

On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the global COVID-19 pandemic. As the world geared up its response to the pandemic, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu were also hit hard by Tropical Cyclone Harold in April 2020 and more recently, Tropical Cyclones Yasa and Ana which hit Fiji in December 2020 and January 2021. The global pandemic, coupled with tropical cyclones, further impacted the already high numbers of women facing domestic violence in the region. In turn, adding more pressure on the existing challenges for implementation of DV legislation, including coordination and service provision.

The 2nd Regional Working Group on Family Protection and Domestic Violence (RWG) meeting will be held on 23-26 August, 2021. The meeting will focus on Pacific Island countries sharing experiences, reflecting on good practices, challenges, and learnings to date on the implementation of Domestic Violence (DV) legislation, particularly in the key priority areas (advisory committees, counselling and data collection) within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic environment and natural disasters.

This feature focuses on the Kingdom of Tonga, reflecting on their journey and their experiences in the implementation of the DV legislation. We spoke to Polotu Fakafanua-Paunga, Deputy CEO, Women Affairs Division, Ministry of Internal Affairs.

1. Where are you at in terms of the implementation of DV legislation in the Kingdom of Tonga? Please include any specific activities and timelines that was carried out to help in the implementation of DV legislation.

There has been significant progress in Tonga’s implementation of DV Legislation. In 2013, Tonga passed the Family Protection Act in 2013 to ensure the safety and protection of all persons including children who experience or witness domestic violence. The act was implemented the following year also leading to the establishment of the Family Protection Advisory Council (FPAC).

In 2016, we established the FPAC Counselling sub-committee. In 2018 the Family Protection Act Trust Fund for Gender Based Violence service providers was implemented. The Tonga Family Protection Legal Aid Center was established following that and work began on consolidating Domestic Violence administrative data from frontline agencies. The year 2019 saw momentous developments with the development of the Tonga Family Protection Counselling Framework and the establishment of the Tonga Police Domestic Violence Unit.

In addition, these four sub-committees was established: Family Protection Advisory Council (FPAC) Referral sub-committee, FPAC Data sub-committee and FPAC Faith Based Organization & GBV sub-committee. The Tonga National Service Delivery Protocol began its development and 2019 also saw the completion of the 5-year review of the Tonga Family Protection Act, 2013 and the Inclusion of Domestic Violence module at Tonga MICS survey2013.

Last year, Tonga’s first Family Protection Act (FPA) Panel of Counsellors was registered. This year, we have thus far launched Tonga’s National Service Delivery Protocol, progressed the national validation of the Tonga SDP and consequently rolled out the Training of Trainers of Service Delivery Protocol.

2. Has there been any significant progress with the implementation process of the DV legislation in Tonga?

Yes, there has certainly been substantial progress in the last few years with the establishment of a Family Unit Protection Legal Aid Center and the Tonga Police Domestic Violence Unit. Progress has been made with the empowerment of Police officers to issue Police Safety Order especially in outer islands where there are few resident magistrates. We have seen that the Coordination and collaborations between GBV stakeholders have improved tremendously. It is also encouraging to see stakeholders that have or are in the process of developing their own Referral Protocol aligning with the National Protocol (Tonga Leitis Association (LGBTQI) & Health System).

3. What are some challenges faced with the implementation process of the DV legislation in Tonga?

Some of the challenges of the implementation of the Domestic Violence legislation include the following: i) there is no standard legal age or child protection act in Tonga. ii) Health services require commitment especially on performing their roles under the FPA. iii) Women unable to own land (perpetrators are the landowners so it is a challenge to remove them legally from the homes during domestic violence incidents). iv) Tonga only have 5 key services available (legal, police, health, social and temporary shelter).

Legal and social services are not recognized as essential services and thus hinder access of survivors to assistance and response from service providers during emergencies such as the COVID 19 pandemic or natural disasters). v)There is also the lack of perpetrators’ rehabilitation programs.

4. What are some gaps in the implementation process of DV legislation in Tonga that you feel needs to be addressed at the RWG meeting?

There is lack of allocated resources both financial and human resources. There is need for improvement in the legal & health systems to go hand in hand with the FPA. There is need for trainings & awareness on GBV and related issues especially with our government service providers (Police, Health, Education & Local Government). We also see that the need to decentralise services to other parts of the islands. Majority of service providers are located in Tongatapu and majority of resources are used in the main island with less to no resources available to develop outer islands’ services.

5. Provide any other additional information that you wish to add or be relevant to Tonga on DV legislation implementation.

We have more activities scheduled for late 2021-2022 period, these include: development of a standard referral form, MOUs, establish case management committees in outer islands, increase service providers in outer islands, development of resource booklet and directory for GBV service providers etc.

Background

In 2018, the Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT) of the Pacific Community (SPC) – now formally called the Human Rights and Social Development Division – convened a “Regional Consultation on the Implementation of Domestic Violence Legislation: from Law to Practice”. The regional consultation brought together senior government officials from the Government Ministries / Departments responsible for the implementation of their country’s domestic violence legislation and provided a platform for reflections on progress against implementation of the domestic violence legislation in the region.

A key outcome from the consultation was the establishment of the Regional Working Group on Family Protection and Domestic Violence (RWG). The first meeting of the RWG was held in May 2019 with representation from Cook Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Federated States of Micronesia (Kosrae & Pohnpei), Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Vanuatu and Tonga. The RWG agreed to two annual meetings (one face-to-face and another virtually). These meetings would provide a space for the RWG to update on the implementation of their legislation, highlight key areas of need from regional organisations that support countries on responding to domestic violence, and recommend important work needing technical and/or financial support.

The Human Rights and Social Development Division (formerly RRRT) is the Secretariat of the Regional Working Group and works closely with the Chair and Deputy Chair to develop the program for the meetings, coordinate financial support and coordination of the meetings. The next annual meeting is scheduled for August 2021.

Source: The Pacific Community (SPC)

 

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Sania Farooqui is a journalist and filmmaker based out of New Delhi.

By Sania Farooqui
NEW DELHI, India, Aug 26 2021 (IPS)

“Sexual harassment is not about sexual attraction, it is about power. If an individual uses power plays to subjugate other people, when we have such dynamics going on in the workplace, what we need is a system that fights back against it, which unfortunately a lot of workplaces, they allow it to persist,”, says Adrienne Lawrence, anchor and legal analyst in an interview given to me here.

Adrienne Lawrence

In 2018, Lawrence filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against her former employers in the U.S. District Court, which eventually reached a settlement, but not without Lawrence going ahead and putting up an extraordinary fight against workplace discrimination, misogyny, abuse of power and most of all agaisnt sexual harassment.

“What happened at ESPN to me happens in a lot of workplaces here in the United States. It’s a fact that we have workplace sexual harassment, where women are subjucated and also other margenalized groups. When I had to leave ESPN, it did set my career back, but there are things that are important and worth fighting for, some of us have to stand up and fight back, and the ones that do, are the ones who can make changes,” Lawrence says.

According to this study by the Harvard Business Review, it measures sexual harassment along three dimensions: gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, and sexual coercion.

Gender harassment mostly involves negative or ill-treatment of women that may or may not necessarily be sexual, but may include things like a supervisor or coworker making sexist remarks, telling inappropriate stories, or displaying sexist material.

Unwanted sexual attention, as self explanatory as it is, means coworker or supervisors behaviors such as staring, leering, ogling, or unwanted touching. Sexual coercion includes bribing or pressuring women to engage in sexual behavior.

Lawrence, in her book Staying in the Game lays down what it takes to confront, identify and avoid toxic workplaces, how to demand accountability, document abuse and help in not just identifying but also gives the readers strategic tools to navigate and deal with abuse and power structures within organizations.

It is imperative that organizations and their human resource departments remain vigilant in responding to concerns, and abuse flagged by women employers. In an ideal world, one would imagine the HR making the employees feel valued, safe and looked after, except in reality, as Lawrence points out, “they are in the job to protect the company’s interest, and so, often seen shielding and protecting “harassholes” – people who use power plays, gender dynamics and reinforce traditional gender rules, pegion-hole female staff, make them uncomfortable and feel small.”

In 2016, what came to be known as the #MeToo movement, over the years gained momentum through a series of takedowns by women in newsrooms across the globe coming out and talking about their own personal experiences and sharing their stories of workplace harassment.

This report by Columbia Journalism Review, where more than 300 people responded, forty-one percent of respondents said they had been subject to harassment in their newsrooms or as freelancers, but only one third had reported those incidents. “Determined to do their jobs, the subjects of harassment lower expectations, make concessions, work around it, and – most often – work through it.”

Harassment in journalism – whether it is feeling uncomfortable at work, being body shamed or fat shamed, unwanted comments and advances, bullying and other types of work-related harassment – abruptly ending contracts, killing stories, changing editorials, mental health issues which individuals are forced to overlook were all lived experiences of hundreds and thousands of women in newsrooms.

“People don’t realize that organizations are just groupings of individuals, and we live in a society which supports patriarchy and white supremacy, so organizations will unfortunately do the same thing, they will support the power structure.

“We need people to not only use their voice but also be represented in power and powerful positions, and also maintain their autonomy. That’s the only way to fight it,” says Lawrence.

While speaking out against sexual harassment and assault has gained momentum, this fight often comes with a cost – the cost of backlash. Women are often shunned, blackballed, called a whistleblower, a nuisance, a troublemaker and so on, all because they dared to have a voice.

Women also face retaliation not just by the abuser – who tends to become even more aggressive with time, but also at work when colleagues start to ignore or distance themselves, when social structures fail to support or stand up for the woman.

This piece in Forbes says that women need different kinds of networks and support systems to succeed, but once they have been retaliated against, that already small network shrinks, and connections are cut off. “For some, careers in that field are often put on hold, maybe forever”.

It is unfortunate that despite the #metoo movement, and big promises made towards equality and accountablity in workplaces, women are still treated as a liability the minute they decide to take a stand at work against harassment, where as men, they become the most important asset for the organization and are protected, despite their actions, even if that involves gender harassment or sexual harassment.

This fear of retaliation, of backlash, and being cut off, blacklisted, surrounded by all sorts of rumors is a nightmare for every woman when she decides to speak up or go down that path of calling the abuser out, but sometimes it takes one woman to raise a voice and shake the system up, as seen with Adrienne Lawrence. The fight is not just against a dysfunctional human resource system or power structure, but also against the deeply rooted misogyny, sexism and dismantling of the newsroom boys clubs.

“Just as we know how to navigate pay and work spaces, we need to know how to navigate workplace sexual harassment,” Lawrence says. “It will happen to you, it’s not if it happens, it’s when it happens, and the question is, will you be prepared.”

 

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Excerpt:

Sania Farooqui is a journalist and filmmaker based out of New Delhi.

By Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
DHAKA, Bangladesh, Aug 25 2021 (IPS)

Documentary photographer and filmmaker Mohammad Rakibul Hasan has documented the health crisis in Bangladesh over the past several months. In these haunting images, Hasan brings to life the conditions in which many patients are being treated in poor conditions exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hasan was awarded the Lucie Awards Discovery of the Year 2018. He also received the 23rd Human Rights Press Awards for his series “The Looted Honor” on rape survivors of Rohingya Refugee from The Foreign Correspondents’ Club Hong Kong, Amnesty International and the Hong Kong Journalists Association that recognizes top reporting on Asian news.

In Bangladesh, from January 3, 2020, to August 23, 2021, there have been 1,467,715 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 25,399 deaths, according to WHO. As of August 17, 2021, a total of 21,728,150 vaccine doses have been administered.

Medical professionals clean their used items of clothing and reusable and washable equipment in a COVID-19 make-shift hospital at the Rohingya Refugee Camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

A medical professional is preserving the swab sample from a COVID-19 patient at the Rohingya Refugee Camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, in Bangladesh. The fight against coronavirus pandemic in the refugee camp is challenging as most live in densely packed temporary hut-like temporal houses are densely made in the camps, where social distancing is impossible. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

A swab is being taken at the Rohingya Refugee Camp. There are many COVID-19 tests booths that the government and humanitarian organizations have installed for the host communities and the Rohingya Refugees around the camp area. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

Mehrun (pseudonym) is a leprosy patient staying in a missionary leprosy hospital in Nilphamari, Bangladesh. If left untreated, Leprosy can create complications. Mehrun has lost her left eye, and her right one is being treated at the hospital. “After God, only doctors can treat my eye, and I love seeing the world,” she said. The health system is buckling under the latest wave of the pandemic with the highly contagious Delta variant.
Place: Nilphamari, Bangladesh Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

A critically ill COVID-19 patient is treated in the ICU in a hospital bed in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Most of the hospitals with ICU beds are occupied in Dhaka. The increased rates of infections and deaths every day are alarming, and the ferocity of the Delta variant of the disease is crippling the health system. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

There is a critical shortage of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients and other critically ill people in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The highly contagious Delta causes most infections in the country. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

A COVID-19 positive patient is being treated in ICU in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Medical professionals are dedicated to their jobs, but coronavirus infection rates among doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals is increasing. It has become harder for all hospitals in Bangladesh to fight the third wave of the pandemic. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

A young boy has come to a hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in critical condition during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

During the strict lockdown in Bangladesh, more than 20 horses used for tourism in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, which has the longest sandy beach globally, have died due to food shortages. The pandemic has broken the economic backbone of communities, especially in the low GDP countries across the globe. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

 

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Local residents stand in the water on a street flooded by the sea in the Centro Habana municipality in the Cuban capital in September 2017 in the wake of Hurricane Irma, one of the most intense storms in recent decades in this Caribbean island nation. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, Aug 25 2021 (IPS)

Cuba, already beset by hurricanes, floods, droughts that deplete its main water sources, among other natural disasters, has seen its socioeconomic difficulties, similar to those faced by other Caribbean island nations, aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the complexity of its domestic situation, Cuba has offered its best health resources to small island nations in the region and more than a dozen of them have received Cuban medical brigades to help them face the emergency created by the pandemic.

With differences and similarities, the Caribbean region shares the fate of other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which are particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change but are responsible for only 0.2 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that cause global warming."For Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean island nations the greatest challenges in relation to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda involve the indispensable creation of measures for adaptation to climate change." -- Marcelo Resende

The SIDS will hold a Solutions Forum on Aug. 30-31, promoted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and sponsored by Fiji, to exchange experiences on how to move forward in the midst of the climate and health crisis towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in just a few more years.

The virtual conference is based on the premise that the 38 SIDS that are members of the United Nations and the other 20 associated territories, beyond their differences in size and development, share common challenges as island nations and can also share successful sustainable management initiatives that can be replicated in the other members scattered throughout the developing regions of the South.

“SIDS are characterised by unique development needs and extreme vulnerability. Frequent exposure to hazards and natural disasters intensified by climate change” negatively impacts Cuba, as well as the rest of the countries, FAO representative in Cuba Marcelo Resende told IPS.

He said this Caribbean country “has a lot of expertise and know-how in the integration of environmental sustainability, disaster risk management and climate change adaptation, so this exchange and transfer of knowledge will be positive.”

The SIDS Forum aims precisely to promote and exchange innovation and digitalisation solutions for sustainable agriculture, food, nutrition, environment and health.

Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean, faces increased frequency and intensity of extreme hydrometeorological events – not only tropical cyclones, but also drought, major floods, rising temperatures and sea level rise, which scientists currently project to reach 29.3 centimetres by 2050 and 95 centimetres by 2100.

A man rides his bicycle along a flooded street in the town of Batabanó, in southern Mayabeque province in western Cuba, an area of low-lying, often swampy coastal areas prone to frequent flooding during hurricanes and heavy rains. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

Of the country’s 262 coastal settlements, an estimated 121 are at risk from the climate crisis. Of these, 54 are located on the south coast and 67 on the north coast, almost totally impacted in September 2017 by Hurricane Irma, which reached winds of 295 kilometres/hour and became one of the most intense storms in recent decades.

Irma devastated several Caribbean islands and in Cuba alone caused losses officially estimated at 13.18 billion dollars.

A prevention system that involves everyone from the government to urban and rural communities makes Cuba one of the best prepared Caribbean nations when it comes to prevention and mitigation of risks in case of disasters, despite the generally substantial economic damages.

In addition to legal measures to prevent human activities that accelerate the natural erosion of areas bordering the sea and the relocation of vulnerable settlements, this year the project “Increasing the climate resilience of rural households and communities through the rehabilitation of productive landscapes in selected localities of the Republic of Cuba” (Ires) began to be implemented.

The “Coastal resilience to climate change in Cuba through ecosystem based adaptation – MI COSTA” project was also created. Both initiatives are supported by the Green Climate Fund, an instrument of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In addition to boosting the resilience of rural communities and protecting coastal communities, both projects are aimed at generating information that will facilitate the scaling up of the use of ecosystem-based adaptation practices at the national level, and the model can be used in other island nations with similar conditions.

“The impacts that are already being felt today associated with climate variability and the country’s vulnerability imply a large economic burden, which is becoming even more critical given the limitations and difficulties in accessing international financing,” said Resende.

The FAO representative noted that according to the executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, Caribbean SIDS will not achieve the sustainable development committed to in the 2030 Agenda if they fail to find effective ways to adapt to climate change.

“This means that for Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean island nations the greatest challenges in relation to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda involve the indispensable creation of measures for adaptation to climate change,” Resende stressed.

A row of solar panels on La Finca Vista Hermosa farm in Guanabacoa, one of Havana’s 15 municipalities, represents one of the small energy innovations that are part of the responses by some farms in Cuba aimed at making their production more sustainable. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

Food security, also a priority

Improving sustainability, resilience and nutrition-based approaches to food systems, strengthening enabling environments for food security, as well as empowering people and communities for these strategies are also important challenges.

In this regard, Resende said that “Cuba is impacted by the steady degradation of its natural resources for food production (soil, water and biodiversity), and faces difficulties in the current context for the production, transformation and conservation of food,” which has repercussions on the instability of the physical availability of products in the markets.

For this island nation, which imports most of the food it consumes, these impacts are a challenge, “so the authorities are promoting an agenda of transformations and improvements in terms of supply and inclusive, sovereign and sustainable food systems, in compliance with the 2030 Agenda and as a priority that the country will face in the immediate future and beyond,” he said.

In July 2020 the Cuban government approved a National Plan for Food Sovereignty and Nutritional Education, which identifies as fundamental pillars the reduction of dependence on food and input imports, various intersectoral actions to bolster local food systems, and the mobilisation of educational, cultural and communication systems to strengthen food and nutritional education.

According to the objectives of the Global Action Programme on Food Security and Nutrition in Small Island Developing States, food systems should support local and family production, while providing a sufficient quantity of varied and nutritious quality food for their population, at a reasonable cost.

This transformation can help curb SIDS dependence on imports, as well as promote healthy eating and reduce obesity.

A patient receives the third dose of the Abdala anti-COVID vaccine at a hospital in Havana. Cuba has developed three vaccines against the coronavirus that could be used in other Caribbean island countries once all the steps for their international use have been completed. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

The resurgence of COVID

The resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic since late 2020 exacerbated the tension in Cuba’s weakened economy, which had to devote more resources to its hospital system, overwhelmed by the higher number of infections. However, Cuba already has three vaccines of its own: Abdala, Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus.

Authorities on the island have reaffirmed that the national biotechnology industry is in a position to produce by the end of 2021 at least 100 million doses of the vaccines, with which it intends to immunise the entire Cuban population before the end of the year as well as offer them to neighbouring countries, such as other Caribbean SIDS.

As of August 20, 27.8 percent of the island’s 11.2 million inhabitants had received the required three doses of one of the three locally produced vaccines.

On Aug. 11, the director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Carissa F. Etienne, said that in the Caribbean, COVID cases have been on the rise in the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico and Dominica – all members of the SIDS with the exception of Puerto Rico.

“In the last month, infections increased 30-fold in Martinique and there was a significant increase in hospitalisations,” she said.

Etienne announced that PAHO would use its Revolving Fund to help countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region acquire sufficient vaccines to curb the spread of COVID-19, on top of the assistance offered by Covax, a global mechanism to support the development, manufacture and distribution of vaccines.

The pandemic has severely impacted tourism, which many Caribbean economies and SIDS in general depend on. According to official figures Cuba’s tourism revenues fell in 2020 to 1.15 billion dollars – a 56.4 percent drop from 2019.

In addition to domestic problems, the tightening of the U.S. embargo is seriously hampering the Cuban economy, which shrank two percent in the first half of this year, after a 10.9 percent decline in 2020. Recovery will depend on curbing the epidemic and the rallying of the tourism industry.

(With reporting by Luis Brizuela from Havana.)

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Excerpt:

This article forms part of the special IPS coverage of the Solutions Forum, a high-level conference of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to be held Aug. 30-31.

Mitali Padhi (19) cradles her 3-month-old son in front of her parents’ new brick-asbestos one-room home. With her is her mother, Parvati Padhi. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS

By Manipadma Jena
BHUBANESWAR, India, Aug 25 2021 (IPS)

When 11-year-old Mitali Padhi hugged her childhood friends to say goodbye, she felt a deep-seated foreboding.

Around her, the mud walls of their home had collapsed, wrecking their meagre belongings. All were mired in mud. The straw roof lay splayed 100 metres away from the house – blown away by tropical storm Phailin.

The tropical storm made landfall at 136 mph wind speeds near Mitali’s village in India’s eastern coastal Odisha State. The storm left 3.7 million houses damaged in its wake.

However pitiable this mud hut, it was the only secure place the girl had ever known, and it was a place where, since birth, a larger community supported her.

Rice paddies had turned into sea-water pools. Mitali’s father, a farm labourer, would have no work for a year until monsoons washed away the salt from farmlands.

Her family of five, her parents and two elder brothers, took a high-interest local loan and migrated to the nearest urban centre Bhubaneswar. This was 2013.

When IPS met Mitali Padhi, she had a 3-month-old baby boy in her arms. The frail 19-year-old says she is breastfeeding but feels extremely weak.

“We got a protein drink for her (Mitali), but she dislikes it,” her Mitali’s mother, Pravati Padhi, 50, interjects.

We stand between two parallel rows of one-room brick and asbestos hutments that the Padhi family built and moved into after super cyclone Fani in 2019. This cyclone, described as the worst since 1999, decimated their tiny mud-walled, plastic-sheet covered hut that squatted illegally against a university’s compound wall – displacing the family for a second time.

Mitali’s father runs a 3-wheeler tuk-tuk but is “lazy, moody, and his earnings are erratic,” according to his wife, Pravati. After leaving their village in 2013, the burden of providing for her three children was on her, she tells IPS. Since then, she sells spicy snacks on roadsides earning $10 a day.

After migrating to the city, the 11-year Mitali looked after the cooking for the family. After lunch, she helped her mother roll out tiny puffed poori (bread) and fry them crisp while her mother prepared the boiled potato filling and spicy, tangy water for the popular snacks.

In a dire financial state once again after the 2019 cyclone, Pravati decided to marry off Mitali. It would mean one less mouth to feed, “and the young man was earning well.”

“We were eating out our savings after the storm. My daughter was already ‘mature,’ (reached puberty), she was not in school, and when I was away from home vending, and she was alone, young boys from our slum tried to chat her up, come into the house,” Mitali’s mother told IPS, justifying the marriage of her teenage daughter.

Soon Mitali was pregnant – at barely 18.

“I would have liked to learn sewing, earn and get married only when I was 22,” she tells IPS.

2. A pre-teen girl migrating with her family to a brick kiln in India’s Telangana State after drought hit her native province of Bolangir in Odisha State. Here she looks after her sibling while her parents work.
Credit: Umi Daniel/IPS

The family are an example of increasingly vulnerable people affected by climate change disasters.

“As (the number of) climate disasters rise in Odisha, drought (is experienced) in its western part, cyclones in the coastal region, floods in over half of its 30 provinces,” Ghasiram Panda, Programme Manager for ActionAid, told IPS. “Because of poverty, because of their vulnerability, there are concerns for the safety (of vulnerable communities). We are seeing an increasing trend of girls being married off before the age of 18.”

This is not only in the rural areas.

“In Bhubaneswar city slums, populated by rural migrants in search of livelihoods, child marriages are (also) on the rise,” Ghasiram Panda says. “While rural families migrate to cities to better their income, girl children more particularly are unable to access education, they do poorly in school or drop out, and parents think marriage is the best way out.”

Umi Daniel, Director, Migration & Education, Aide et Action, South Asia, says children are adversely affected because “a quarter of all migrating population (from Odisha to brick kilns) are children.”

According to the UN, in India, internal migrants accounted for around 20 percent of the country’s workforce in 2017, which currently equals 100 million people.

Around the world, approximately 1 in 45 children are on the move. Nearly 50 million boys and girls have migrated across borders or forcibly displaced within their own countries, UNICEF estimated in 2017.

Climate-related events and their impacts are already contributing significantly to these staggering numbers, with 14.7 million people facing internal displacement due to weather-related disasters in 2015 alone.

The annual average since 2008 is increasing and now at 21.5 million is equivalent to almost 2 500 people being displaced every day.

Owing to climate change, 27 of the 37 Indian states are now disaster-prone. Some 68 percent of the cultivated land is vulnerable to drought, 58.6 percent landmass is prone to earthquakes, 12 percent to floods, 5,700 km of the coastline is prone to cyclones, and 15 percent of the area is susceptible to landslides, according to India’s National Disaster Management Authority.

“Mitali still is fortunate,” Gitanjali Panda, community mobiliser of local non-profit Centre for Child and Women Development, tells IPS.

Another internal migrant girl, ‘fell in love’ and eloped with a boy when she was 15, Gitanjali Panda says. The infatuation wore off within a year, and the family got her back but hastily married her off to another man.

Gitanjali Panda frequently visits the slum and says the young woman, a mother of a 5-year child at 21, had complained of excruciating stomach pain. She miscarried her second child. The doctor then diagnosed a ‘cracked uterus’ – the result of a fall during her first pregnancy at aged 16.

An adolescent boy takes a break from extracting burnt bricks from the kiln with his father and stacks them for transportation in Tamil Nadu State.
Credit: Umi Daniel/IPS

In Daniel’s experience, children are “invisible entities” – they don’t even count. Always migration in India is seen as male-dominated. The government doesn’t even (acknowledge) families are migrating, let alone formulating pro-child migration policies.”

Daniel has worked on migration and child rights for three decades, heading the Aide et Action’s Migration Information and Resource Centre (MIRC) in Bhubaneswar.

Internally displaced families live in rows of temporary tin huts next to brick kilns in the suburban areas where they congregate. In these tin boxes, without doors and with just a torn sari hanging at the door for privacy, boys may get beaten and made to work inhumanly as bonded labour, but girls are “several times more vulnerable,” Daniel says.

Girls and women face “disproportionate threats to their safety and most basic human rights,” Action Aid’s Ghasiram Panda agrees. They are, too often, “the silent victims of climate disasters.”

Governments rarely consider their specific needs and vulnerabilities, he says.

“Rape is frequent,” Daniel told IPS. MIRC took up a case where three minor girls were raped in front of their parents in a brick kiln by the drunk kiln owner and his friends. They were from Karimnagar in Telangana State, which is a climate migrants’ destination. It took MIRC five to six years in a fast-tracked court to bring the wealthier culprits to justice.

As climate displacement and internal migration increases with more intense natural disasters impacting the poorest, Umi says solutions are being implemented by the non-profit organisations but “urgently need scaling-up by governments.”

Inside a learning centre at a brick kiln site in Odisha where adolescents to infants are creatively engaged while their parents make bricks.
Credit: Umi Daniel/IPS

Among the hopelessness, there are stories of success. A decade ago, Aide et Action’s Migration Information and Resource Centre started sourcing youth volunteers from India’s migrants’ origin provinces to go to destination locations and teach migrant children in their local dialect at the kiln sites.

Initially, the kiln owners refused to allow these informal learning centres.

“Now owners are putting in money themselves because they see women’s outputs increase when their children, adolescents to infants, are taken care of,” Umi says.

Government schools often agree to allow two rooms for these informal teaching classes. When migrants’ children return home for the four paddy-sowing months of August to November, they can seamlessly continue their schooling.

“In these ten years, we were able to reach out to 30 000 children with this facility. We started with just 250 children,” Umi says.

Ghasiram Panda says, however, there is a lot more that needs doing.

“Strengthening the government system to be more sensitive towards children’s issues, linking (migrant) youth to re-integrate and fully utilise schemes meant for their benefit, is Action Aid’s main focus now.”

• This feature was produced on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

 

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By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
BANGKOK, Thailand, Aug 25 2021 (IPS)

Over the past two decades, the Asia-Pacific region has made remarkable progress in managing disaster risk. But countries can never let down their guard. The COVID-19 pandemic, with its epicentre now in Asia, and all its tragic consequences, has exposed the frailties of human societies in the face of powerful natural forces. As of mid-August 2021, Asian and Pacific countries had reported 65 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 1 million deaths. This is compounded by the extreme climate events which are affecting the entire world. Despite the varying contexts across geographic zones, the climate change connection is evident as floods swept across parts of China, India and Western Europe, while heatwaves and fires raged in parts of North America, Southern Europe and Asia.

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The human and economic impacts of disasters, including biological ones, and climate change are documented in our 2021 Asia-Pacific Disaster Report. It demonstrates that climate change is increasing the risk of extreme events like heatwaves, heavy rain and flooding, drought, tropical cyclones and wildfires. Heatwaves and related biological hazards in particular are expected to increase in East and North-East Asia while South and South-West Asia will encounter intensifying floods and related diseases. However, over recent, decades fewer people have been dying as a result of other natural hazards such as cyclones or floods. This is partly a consequence of more robust early warning systems and of responsive protection but also because governments have started to appreciate the importance of dealing with disaster risk in an integrated fashion rather than just responding on a hazard-by-hazard basis.

Nevertheless, there is still much more to be done. As the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, most countries are still ill-prepared for multiple overlapping crises – which often cascade, with one triggering another. Tropical cyclones, for example, can lead to floods, which lead to disease, which exacerbates poverty. In five hotspots around the region where people are at greatest risk, the human and economic devastation as these shocks intersect and interact highlights the dangers of the poor living in several of the region’s extensive river basins.

Disasters threaten not just human lives but also livelihoods. And they are likely to be even more costly in future as their impacts are exacerbated by climate change. Annual losses from both natural and biological hazards across Asia and the Pacific are estimated at around $780 billion. In a worst-case climate change scenario, the annual economic losses arising from these cascading risks could rise to $1.3 trillion – equivalent to 4.2 per cent of regional GDP.

Rather than regarding the human and economic costs as inevitable, countries would do far better to ensure that their populations and their infrastructure were more resilient. This would involve strengthening infrastructure such as bridges and roads, as well as schools and other buildings that provide shelter and support at times of crisis. Above all, governments should invest in more robust health infrastructure. This would need substantial resources. The annual cost of adaptation for natural and other biological hazards under the worst-case climate change scenario is estimated at $270 billion. Nevertheless, at only one-fifth of estimated annualized losses – or 0.85 per cent of the Asia-Pacific GDP, it’s affordable.

Where can additional funds come from? Some could come from normal fiscal revenues. Governments can also look to new, innovative sources of finance, such as climate resilience bonds, debt-for-resilience swaps and debt relief initiatives.

COVID-19 has demonstrated yet again how all disaster risks interconnect – how a public health crisis can rapidly trigger an economic disaster and societal upheaval. This is what is meant by “systemic risk,” and this is the kind of risk that policymakers now need to address if they are to protect their poorest people.

This does not simply mean responding rapidly with relief packages but anticipating emergencies and creating robust systems of social protection that will make vulnerable communities safer and more resilient. Fortunately, as the Report illustrates, new technology, often exploiting the ubiquity of mobile phones, is presenting more opportunities to connect people and communities with financial and other forms of support. To better identify, understand and interrupt the transmission mechanisms of COVID-19, countries have turned to “frontier technologies” such as artificial intelligence and the manipulation of big data. They have also used advanced modelling techniques for early detection, rapid diagnosis and containment.

Asia and the Pacific is an immense and diverse region. The disaster risks in the steppes of Central Asia are very different from those of the small island states in the Pacific. What all countries should have in common, however, are sound principles for managing disaster risks in a more coherent and systematic way – principles that are applied with political commitment and strong regional and subregional collaboration.

Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP)

 

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Credit: UNICEF

By Anoja Wijeyesekera
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Aug 25 2021 (IPS)

The desperate scenes at Kabul airport of Afghans trying to flee and the image of the US Airforce flight taxying down the runway with people scrambling to climb on, is an image that will be etched on our minds forever.

The tragedy of Afghanistan is that the same saga of desperation and suffering has been repeatedly endured by ordinary Afghans who have been at the receiving end of war, and suffered unspeakable horrors, for over four decades.

At a human level, the Afghans feel betrayed by the Western Alliance and the US. This is not the first time but the second. In the war to defeat the Russians, waged by Mujahideen and funded by the CIA, via ISI, the Afghans paid a heavy price.

An estimated 2 million deaths, 2 million disabled, approximately 800,000 widows and the annihilation of infrastructure.

Once the Russians left, the US turned its back on Afghanistan paying no heed to reconstruction and recovery. This was the first experience of betrayal and it was when Osama Bin Laden, an ally of the US became its enemy.

The second episode took place after 9/11. To capture Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, the US invaded Afghanistan. Although Osama Bin Laden had already left Afghanistan, many bombs were dropped, and drone attacks followed.

Large numbers of civilians including women and children were killed as a result. Now in August 2021, with no proper system in place to ensure peace and stability, the US forces simply left. Even General David Petraeus, former Commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, expressed his shock when interviewed on TV.

For the Afghans, in their hour of need, the sudden and inexplicable departure of their President, Ashraf Ghani, is an even greater disappointment.

It is inconceivable that President Ghani left to save his own skin. It is possible that this was part of a hasty deal worked out with the Taliban to avoid a blood bath and destruction of the infrastructure of Kabul. In turn, it is possible that the Taliban agreed to the concessions they announced during their press conference in Kabul, on August 17.

The Taliban spokesman declared an amnesty to all opposing combatants, protection for all citizens, the assurance that Afghanistan would not become a base for terrorists to attack other countries, and a stoppage of the sale and production of opium.

The Taliban stated that women’s right to education and work would be allowed, within Sharia Law, the interpretation of which was not stated. The formation of an inclusive government under their leadership was mentioned.

That the Taliban would be back, was evident right from the start. There is a popular Taliban saying “You have the watches, we have the time. We were born here and will die here. We are not going anywhere”.

Thus, the takeover of Kabul on 16th August 2021, was just the last lap of the race and was a parting gift offered on a platter by the US, when it hurriedly withdrew, with no apparent handover and no declared plan for governance.

The Western misadventure is but a repetition of history. No foreign invader has ever been able to hold Afghanistan. The 13th Century saw Genghis Khan’s army massacred. In the 19th century, the British sent a garrison to Kabul and every soldier except one, was slaughtered. In the 20th Century, the mighty USSR suffered a humiliating defeat.

There is a saying that those who don’t learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. The US did not learn from what happened to the Russians or from their own experience in Viet Nam.

At a time when the TV footage is showing the desperation of the Afghans, the efforts made by the US government to justify their hasty departure and declare to the world that their mission in Afghanistan was a success, rings hollow and indicates a cynical disregard for the plight of Afghans.

Subsequently the US announced that it would help Afghans who worked for them, to seek refuge in the US. This process is going on now.

Whatever brand of “inclusive” government is worked out, the reality is that the Taliban is back in power and seems determined to recreate their “Emirate.”

I served with UNICEF in Afghanistan, in the years 1997 to 2001, both in Jalalabad and Kabul and am therefore very familiar with the draconian regulations of the Taliban.

The Taliban brand of Sharia Law imposed during their time in office, 1996 to 2001, was particularly geared towards the ruthless limitation of women’s freedom and rights. Women were debarred from working and girls’ education was banned. They were forced to wear a “burka” that covered them from head to foot.

At the time I was there, they passed the Maharam Edict, which dictated that women could not walk alone on the streets. A woman had to be accompanied by a “Maharam” meaning a close male relative. The Beard Law, dictated that all men should grow beards.

Both men and women were beaten in public if they flouted these regulations. The Taliban brand of “justice” was meted out on the streets, by vice squads, who beat you first and asked questions later.

Music was banned. TV, films, entertainment and gatherings involving both sexes, prohibited.

Afghans were forced to pray five times a day. Transgression meant getting beaten, even on the road-side. The penalty for theft was the amputation of limbs and the punishment for adultery was stoning to death.

The football stadium in Kabul was an arena where these horrific acts were performed in front of an unsuspecting audience. There was no judicial system and no due process.

Card games which they deemed to be gambling was banned. Iconography, art, photographs and images were destroyed. Priceless artefacts in the Kabul Museum were smashed to smithereens and we are all too aware of what happened to the Bamiyan Buddha statues, which were priceless treasures and a wonder of the ancient world.

When I first went to Afghanistan in 1997, as the UNICEF Resident Project Officer in Jalalabad, the Taliban refused to look at me, as I happened to be a woman. At meetings, which were all male events, they would look away from me with an expression of total disgust and would keep their heads turned away from me, when speaking to me.

After a couple of months of this icy reception, which I considered to be a farcical comedy, they gradually thawed and even shook my hand, spoke in English and became friendly. I said to my staff that I thought that perhaps the Taliban thought that I had turned into a man!

After the closure of girls’ schools when female teachers lost their jobs, Home Schools were started by them in their own compounds, which UNICEF supported. As the Home Schools progressed, I began to think that even the Taliban sent their daughters to those schools.

The educated Taliban valued education. However, their Madrassa educated foot soldiers only studied the Quran, Arabic and the art of guerrilla warfare.

In the office, I worked closely as a team with my all-male Afghan staff, who were highly educated and were perfect gentlemen. I regarded the Taliban as fellow citizens of the world and our UNICEF team followed the principle of “give respect to get respect”.

This formula was effective and we received the cooperation needed to implement our programmes for women and children.

When the Bamiyan Buddha statues were blown up, and I was devastated, one Taliban minister apologised to me, as he knew that I was a Buddhist. He said to me that many in the Taliban government opposed this action, implying that the Bamiyan Buddhas were a part of their own heritage.

The Afghans reported that the Buddha statues were not destroyed by the Taliban, but by the Al Qaeda, who were Arabs. They cried and said to me, “the Taliban has destroyed our future and now they have destroyed our past, we have nothing left”.

In the present context, following the fall of Kabul, the only hope for the future is that the Taliban will form a truly inclusive government and take a more enlightened approach to governance. This will be important for them, in gaining international recognition and much-needed aid.

In my opinion it would be a mistake on the part of the international community to impose sanctions as that would only hurt the poor and vulnerable. To regard the Taliban regime as a pariah state would also not be fruitful as that will only make them even more adamant in pursing inhuman practices.

It is only through engagement and genuine dialogue that the international community will be able to help Afghanistan and influence the Taliban to be more responsible and mature.

At present, all indications are that the Taliban wish to form an inclusive government and that they have softened their stance on the rights of women. The spokesman repeated that everything will be done within Sharia Law. I hope that since they were last in power, they have changed their interpretation of Sharia Law.

It is imperative upon the international community to now step up on their humanitarian assistance and ensure that starvation, destitution and a colossal human tragedy is averted and that the displaced are assisted to return to their homes.

Already more than 50% of Afghans are in need of food aid, on account of the severe drought that has hit the country. Childhood malnutrition has increased and Covid is on the rise. UNCEF, WFP, WHO, UNHCR and the other UN humanitarian agencies are in place and are working round the clock.

The UN Secretary General has already made an appeal to donor countries to increase their assistance. The US and its allies who spent billions in weaponry and military hardware, need to now genuinely engage with the Taliban and support a workable plan for the development of Afghanistan, under the auspices of the UN, so that a sincere attempt is made at long last, to improve the lives of all Afghans.

This is the best safeguard against the country descending once again into civil war and becoming a breeding ground for terrorism.

On reflection, the famous saying that “In wars there are no winners, there are only losers” is indeed true. The Taliban has lost thousands of fighters: no statistics are available. There would be hundreds with severe wounds and injuries.

In fact, some of the Taliban leaders during the time I was there had serious war injuries and resulting disabilities. In the Western Alliance, large numbers of soldiers have died and some are left with lifelong injuries and disabilities.

American and British soldiers who served in Afghanistan experienced severe forms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders [PTSD], that led to a staggering number of suicides, after their return home.

The BBC quoted in a Panorama programme that in 2012, more British soldiers took their own lives after their return from combat duty in Afghanistan, than the number killed on the battle field. Taliban soldiers who are the poorest of the poor, too would have suffered similarly.

It is up to the world to now help Afghanistan, and not turn its back on it. The formation of the inclusive government needs to be accelerated to avoid a civil war. The Afghans need maximum help and support to recover from this prolonged tragedy.
The Islamic countries in particular, that helped the Taliban to wage war, need to come to their aid, to build peace.

‘Islam’ in Arabic means peace. Therefore, the Islamic world needs to exert influence on the Taliban and support them to evolve from ruthless fighters into a group of leaders, who can govern with compassion and wisdom and bring about long-lasting peace and stability to that beautiful country – Afghanistan.

 

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Excerpt:

The writer is former UNICEF Resident Project Officer in Kabul (1999 –2001) and Resident Project Officer in Jalalabad (1997 – 1999).

Nina Salusalu works on her backyard garden, which she started with guidance from the My Kana smartphone app. Credit: Ivamere Nataro/IPS.

By Ivamere Nataro
Aug 24 2021 (IPS)

A smartphone app in Fiji is helping users to not only eat better but to help grow food that will contribute to a more nutritious diet.

An initiative of the University of the South Pacific and the Ministry of Health (MoH), the My Kana app was launched in 2017 to help address the growing prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Fiji and the South Pacific.

NCDs, mainly diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and respiratory diseases, accounted for 80 percent of all deaths in Fiji in 2015, an MoH report found. In 2018 the country recorded the world’s highest death rate from diabetes, with 188 fatalities per 100,000 people, according to the Asia Pacific Report.

NCDs, mainly diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and respiratory diseases, accounted for 80 percent of all deaths in Fiji in 2015. In 2018 the country recorded the world’s highest death rate from diabetes, with 188 fatalities per 100,000 people

But there is hope that the My Kana app will help make a difference. It has two components — My Meals and My Garden. My Meals allows participants to record and visualize their meals so that they can monitor what they eat and drink, and know whether their meals are balanced and healthy. They can also select ingredients, many local to the Pacific, to create recipes.

To date the app, which is free for users in the Pacific, has about 500 active users, says the country’s senior nutritionist at the MoH, Alvina Deo. My Kana also has a social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, where followers are 60 percent female. This is possibly because of women’s interest in backyard gardening and also their concern for their family’s diets, Deo said in an interview.

My Garden guides users on starting and maintaining a home garden, depending on the season, and how to record the growing process.

Adi Kelera is a happy My Kana user. “I have been able to monitor my water intake, which is something I don’t normally do,” she said, adding, “the data reflection of what I eat has motivated me to take my home exercise routine more passionately, especially in maintaining my weight and size goal.”

Kelera admits that Covid-19 restrictions have affected her lifestyle and her daily training schedule, like many other people. “The pandemic has somehow sidetracked many people from maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and before they know it, they become obese and start developing non-communicable diseases.”

However, she continues using the app, especially the food selfie option. “The app gives me an estimate amount of calories, fat and protein in my food. I find this really helpful and informative at the same time.”

Kelera reckons the app can be improved. “I think that there should a notification to remind users to stay on track and an automated plan for when they log in their details.” But she said she would recommend My Kana to her family and friends because it is user friendly.

Nina Salusalu uses the app not only to track her diet plan, but followed its guidance to start a home garden. She was able to harvest tomatoes, cabbage and beans, using containers and buckets. “I don’t have much land space to carry out home gardening, but that didn’t stop me from growing vegetables. I really appreciate this app, especially during this pandemic.”

Salusalu thinks that more people should know about My Kana. “I feel there are still smartphone users out there who are not aware of the app and they need to be educated about it as Fiji needs to tackle the issue of NCDs.”

About 817,425 Fijians, or 95 percent of the population, have access to mobile internet connectivity across 3G, 4G and 4G+ networks.

NCDs and the pandemic have both put pressure on Fiji’s already overwhelmed health resources. Covid-19 only makes health problems worse, as people with pre-existing medical conditions, including NCDs, are more likely to succumb to the virus.

The first wave of Covid-19 in 2020 saw a huge uptake on the use of My Kana app, Deo said. That is when the My Garden component was developed. “The My Kana garden component aimed to empower Fiji’s population and other South Pacific Islanders to grow our own vegetables, fruits and crops, and eat healthy,” she said.

“Through the My Kana garden component all our health facilities are encouraged to establish gardens to promote healthy eating and serve as models,” added Deo.

She noted that My Kana will also help to address the lack of NCD statistics in Fiji and the Pacific, and contribute to research in the region. “The My Kana App can contribute to food and nutrition security indicators of national development that is inclusive and sustainable, and will improve the lives and livelihood of vulnerable populations.”

Pre-Covid, the app was promoted through continuous community trainings. But with pandemic restrictions, this is now taking place on social media platforms, where followers are continuously reminded to use the app to make healthy choices.

By Alison Kentish
NEW YORK, Aug 24 2021 (IPS)

In 2020, Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia faced their worst drought in half a century. The Atlantic Basin saw 30 named storms – the most recorded in a single year. Two category 4 hurricanes achieved an unprecedented feat by making landfall in Nicaragua.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says events like floods, droughts, and heatwaves account for over 90 percent of all disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean in the last 20 years.

It adds that warns that climate change impacts are likely to become more intense for the Region.

The Organization, in collaboration with the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), launched the ‘State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2020’ on August 17 at a high-level conference ‘Working Together for Weather, Climate and Water Resilience in Latin America and the Caribbean.’

According to the Report, increasing temperatures, glaciers retreat, sea-level rise, ocean acidification, coral reefs bleaching, land and marine heatwaves, intense tropical cyclones, floods, droughts, and wildfires have impacted the most vulnerable communities, among them many Small Island Developing States.

“Accurate and accessible information is crucial for risk-informed decision-making, and the ‘State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean’ is a vital tool in our battle for a safer, more resilient world,” said Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of UNDRR.

While the report lays bare the devastating impact of a changing climate on the Region, it is also heavy on solutions and urgently needed mitigation and adaptation initiatives.

Leaning on Sustainable Development Goal 13, which calls for ‘urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts,’ the WMO wants nations to strengthen their national multi-hazard Early Warning Systems.

While agencies like the WMO and ECLAC say those systems are underutilized in the Region, Coordinating Director of the Caribbean Meteorological Organization Dr Arlene Laing told the virtual event that recent disasters in the Caribbean, including the eruption of the La Soufriere Volcano in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, have underscored the importance of early warning systems to reduce disaster risk and impacts on lives and livelihoods.
“The meteorological service in St. Vincent, for example, supplied weather forecasts to the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre for planning their onsite activities. There were red alerts given to fisherfolk, who were advised of poor visibility due to volcanic ash. There was constant communication with the National Emergency Management Organization and the local water authority on heavy rainfall which would lead to rain-soaked ash,’ she said.

Haiti, beleaguered by poverty and political turmoil, has also faced numerous disasters in the past decade. In 2020, Tropical Storm Laura claimed 31 lives in the country, while its citizens and farmers bore the burdens of severe drought. According to the WMO report, Haiti is among the top 10 countries experiencing a food crisis.

“Haiti presents a much more extreme need for this kind of early warning system and cooperation, as they have been experiencing in succession Tropical Storm Fred, an earthquake then Tropical Storm Grace,” said Dr. Laing.

Many Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Caribbean know the importance of adaptation and mitigation measures. The problem lies in financing for those initiatives.

Chairperson of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) Dr Walton Webson told IPS that in the absence of climate finance reform, these nations which contribute so little to global greenhouse gas emissions but bear the highest burden of climate change impacts, will be unable to undertake the projects they need for survival.

“Only 2 percent of total climate finance provided and mobilized by developing countries was targeted towards SIDS from 2016 to 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated our financial challenges and placed us in a fiscally precarious situation. Our needs have multiplied, and we continue to take on debt as our economies are hit and the avenues for concessional finance close for many of us,” he said.

The AOSIS Chair says the Alliance is leading reforms to ensure targeted financial flows to the most vulnerable. This includes developing a ‘multidimensional vulnerability index to address eligibility.’

He added that the Caribbean small island states of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago no longer have development assistance.

“Imagine that these climate-vulnerable islands, hit by hurricanes, flooding, and drought, must now find loans at commercial interest rates to invest in early warning systems, water resources, and other climate resilience! We need strong political support at the Highest Level to adopt a multidimensional vulnerability index,” he said.

The release of the ‘State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2020’ closely follows the publication of a new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which warned that ‘human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land,’ leading to extreme heatwaves, droughts, and flooding.

Latin America and the Caribbean are already reeling from the impacts of a changing climate.
With 2020 among the three hottest years in Central America and the Caribbean and 6-8 percent of people living in areas classified as high or very high risk of coastal hazards, the WMO says the way forward must include collaboration among governments and the scientific community, bolstered by strong financial support.

 

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