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A child walks past a damaged building in eastern Ukraine. Around 1.5 million Ukrainians have been forced from their homes since fighting in the far east of the country began in 2014. The UN and other humanitarian organizations are supporting those who have been displaced, as they try to adjust to their new lives. 3 February 2022. Credit: UNICEF/Ashley Gilbertson V

By John Burroughs
NEW YORK, Feb 21 2022 (IPS)

If the Ukraine crisis erupts into war – even intensified limited war in Eastern Ukraine with overt Russian intervention – the consequences will be severe and far-reaching.

A non-comprehensive list includes: vastly greater loss of life due to armed conflict in Ukraine; destabilization of global peace and security, not least the always urgent pursuit of nuclear arms control and disarmament; and impairment of the will and capability for cooperation on climate protection, public health, and other vital matters.

The proximate cause of the crisis is Russia’s menacing behavior, including deployment of troops and equipment near the border with eastern Ukraine and in Crimea and Belarus, and conducting a nuclear forces exercise in Belarus.

Especially in context and combined with Putin’s at times bellicose rhetoric, these actions are unlawful threats under the fundamental UN Charter prohibition of the “threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”.

In the case of the exercise, it is also an unlawful threat because it is contrary to general international law to threaten the commission of an illegal act – here the use of nuclear weapons.

Longer-term causes of the crisis are the utterly reckless declaration, made in 2008, the last year of the second George W Bush term, that NATO membership is in principle open to Ukraine and Georgia; and more broadly the long history since the mid-1990s of US and NATO disregard of Russian security interests and proposals.

To take just one example, when the first GW Bush administration determined that the US would withdraw from the ABM Treaty, Russia proposed renegotiation of the treaty. The US answer was simple: No.

The United States then proceeded to establish missile defense facilities in Romania and Poland that Russia, with some reason, regarded as destabilizing.

The only rational path is diplomacy. At two Security Council meetings on Ukraine, on January 31 and February 17, this was the refrain of all Council members, including Russia.

Diplomacy is indeed mandated by the UN Charter, which requires member states to “settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.”

As the Russian response to a US proposal conveyed, there is some common ground for negotiation on such matters as limits on military deployments and regional arms control, conventional and nuclear. Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Michael McFaul surveys possible topics in this recent Foreign Affairs article.

However, as Russia has been insisting, what is lacking above all is US interest in addressing Russia’s categorical opposition to even the possibility of NATO membership for Ukraine. Instead, the United States has been mechanically saying that foreclosing that possibility is a “non-starter”.

This displays a lack of the creativity and imagination that diplomats on occasion are quite capable of putting to good use. Among possible courses of action: neutrality for Ukraine; an alternative European security arrangement; a long-term moratorium on NATO expansion; or some combination of the foregoing and other measures.

Also, a resolution of the status of eastern Ukraine will have to be reached, with the people of that region having a voice in the outcome. Similarly, the status of Crimea will have to be addressed or the issue deferred.

The stakes are very high. Energetic, creative, and determined problem solving is imperative.

For civil society commentary, see:
No war in Ukraine, then no war anywhere, United for Peace and Justice
The Ukraine crisis: commentary, responses, and background, United for Peace and Justice
Appeal: Diplomacy instead of preparation for war, IPPNW Germany and IALANA Germany (in German)

 

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Excerpt:

The writer is Senior Analyst, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, New York City

The rise in coal prices can partly be attributed to the rising electricity demand, especially in Asian coal-producing countries. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

By Sara Bardhan
MUMBAI, India, Feb 18 2022 (IPS)

Coal—considered to be one of the most polluting fossil fuels and, therefore, one of the biggest contributors to climate change—took centre stage at COP 26. A last-minute intervention by India during the negotiations resulted in a crucial amendment to the coal pledge in the Glasgow Climate Pact.

While earlier drafts of the pact mentioned completely quitting coal power, India’s push for a change in the final text resulted in a watered-down commitment to ‘phase down’ instead of ‘phase out’ coal—this means that India pledged to cut down its total projected carbon emission by 1 billion tonnes by 2030, and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.

At COP 26, India pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070. However, its coal expansion plans and lack of investment in renewable energy sources tell a different story. What will it take for India to quit coal?

While this controversial decision has sparked acerbic debate worldwide, in India, it comes on the heels of the country’s recent coal shortage. Despite Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s dismissal, recent data by the Central Electricity Authority shows that coal stockpiles have dwindled to their lowest in years and coal-fired power stations have either reported outages or had stock worth only a few days on average.

The reasons cited for the coal crunch include:

1. Increased energy demand during COVID-19
During the pandemic, India’s power demands shifted considerably. While demand dropped during the first lockdown, by September 2020, India’s electricity demand was 3.4 percent higher than in September 2019. This happened primarily because of a rise in demand for electricity from the industrial, agricultural, and commercial sectors.

2. Extended monsoons in coal-rich central and eastern states of India
Spells of heavy rain in India’s largest coal-producing states of Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal disrupted the coal supply chain by affecting mining sites and transportation networks.

3. Global fluctuations in the price of coal
According to reports, coal prices quadrupled during the lockdown. The rise in prices can partly be attributed to the rising electricity demand, especially in Asian coal-producing countries.

This acute power shortage invited unwitting comparisons to countries from the Global North, most of which are currently working towards increasing their use of renewable energy. India’s total annual coal demand in 2021 stood at 1.05 billion tonnes. In fact, the India Energy Outlook 2021 suggests that, in the next two decades, India is set to see the largest increase in energy demand by any country.

In addition, the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) has rated India’s non-fossil fuel electricity capacity target (40 percent) as ‘critically insufficient’ and its emissions intensity (volume of emissions per unit of GDP) target of 33 percent–35 percent by 2030 as ‘highly insufficient’.

 

Why is weaning off coal so difficult for India?

1. India has a coal-dependent economy
Bhupendra Yadav—India’s minister for environment, forest, and climate change—rationalised the country’s climate strategy by stating, “Every country will arrive at net-zero emissions as per its own national circumstances, its own strengths and weaknesses.

Developing countries have a right to their fair share of the global carbon budget and are entitled to the responsible use of fossil fuels within this scope…Developing countries have still to deal with their development agendas and poverty eradication. Towards this end, subsidies provide much needed social security and support.”

Yadav’s sentiments reverberate across coal-dependent communities in India. According to Sandeep Pai of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, roughly 3,00,000 people are working directly with government-owned coal mines (earning fixed salaries and benefits), another 5,00,000 are reliant on coal for their pensions, and close to 4 million have livelihoods that are directly or indirectly linked to coal.

Evidently, in India’s coal belt, where families have depended on coal extraction for generations, quitting dependency on coal is not an option. This is primarily because these families do not own land where they can farm and, even if they do, research shows that mining operations usually generate acidic and chemically noxious environments that directly impact the quality of agricultural land and groundwater available in surrounding areas.

Consider the coalfields in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region where land is barren and unproductive—covered in rubble, soot, dust, sand, waste, and debris; the Jharia coalfield in Jharkhand where accidental fires have been blazing for years, leaving the ground charred and land, is dotted with fatal sinkholes; or Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo forest where coal mining has not only caused profound ecological damage but also displaced local elephant populations.

 

2. India’s energy is still largely coal-based
As millions of homes in the country still lack an electricity connection, Samantha Gross, director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution, points to the fact that India’s “energy policy currently focuses on bringing affordable electricity to all homes”.

Consequently, India’s increased investment in coal evacuation, infrastructure, project development, exploration and clean coal technologies is estimated to require 1 billion tonnes worth of coal production by 2023–24. Moreover, the CAT’s projections show that India’s coal capacity is expected to reach almost 266 GW, from the current 200 GW, by 2029–30.

Another key dimension in the discourse surrounding India’s climate policy is the role of energy in improving social development. Union Minister Yadav briefly mentioned it, and research has shown that modern energy services such as electricity and clean cooking fuels are critical in improving health and education outcomes, reducing poverty, and increasing productivity.

This means reliable and continuous access to electricity is crucial in building a better future for India’s marginalised. And since it is cheaper to produce electricity using coal than deploying renewable sources, the immediate trade-off in switching from coal to renewable sources is that we risk putting the country’s health and education outcomes in a precarious position.

Lastly, while India provides subsidies to both conventional and renewable energies, according to the CAT, coal subsidies are still approximately 35 percent higher than those for renewables such as solar energy and hydropower. It is no surprise then that climate professionals find India’s coal expansion plans counter-intuitive to its international climate commitments.

 

What is the way forward?

In its coal-rich central and eastern states, India has primarily implemented and expanded state-run mining projects by expropriating Adivasi lands. To compensate for the dispossession of land, local Adivasis are guaranteed jobs as assistants or labourers but the state’s compensation policies are famously ill-implemented. According to various reports, women and Adivasi workers have disproportionately suffered the impact of coal-induced displacement.

Repeated displacement and migration also lead to the breakdown of social support networks, cements inequalities and insecurities, and often leads to diminishing intra-community solidarity. As such, in more ways than one, India’s coal industry has always depended on Adivasi lands and labour and, without appropriate compensation or diversification, coal-dependent Adivasi communities are likely to face uncertainty once again in light of India’s energy transition.

While it is difficult to postulate a one-size-fits-all model for the entire country and the coal belt, here are some suggestions for how we can envision a post-coal India that is also sustainable and inclusive:

1. Develop a rehabilitation strategy on closure of coal mines
Since 2008, approximately 123 mines have been closed in India. However, there are still no proper guidelines to address the decommissioning of coal power plants. In 2020, the Supreme Court made it mandatory for mining companies to regrass mining areas on completion of mining projects.

However,  studies note that India still needs to plan a rehabilitation strategy to de-risk coal-dependent regions, rebuild their economies, and deploy adequate social protection measures.

At present, India is developing a framework for dealing with the closures of coal mines and undertaking pilot projects for the socio-economic transformation of the country’s coal mining areas with monetary assistance from the World Bank.

2. Diversify coal-dependent economies
One of the most important steps in building a robust post-coal economy is to invest in strengthening and re-training coal-dependent communities. There are currently no specific schemes that address or assist them in India.

However, American federal programmes such as Solar Training and Education for Professionals (STEP) and the Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization Dislocated Worker Grant set significant precedent for India to formulate its own. Attention also needs to be given to training displaced workers for employment in the renewable energy sector.

3. Promote entrepreneurship in rural coal-dependent regions
The Energy and Resources Institute of India (TERI) recommends the promotion of rural enterprise and microcredit financing, among other measures, to navigate post-coal revitalisation. Studies show that promoting entrepreneurship by microfinancing and adequate funds in rural areas is critical because it helps create networks, encourage community leadership, and build a diverse economy with a variety of employment options.

4. Leverage climate finance
India’s green transition could be financed by budget borrowing mechanisms such as development financial institutions (DFIs) and investments via the Climate Change Finance Unit (CCFU) to help facilitate the release of new policies, promote green finance, and aid capacity building.

There are several nationalised banks throughout the world that specifically focus on financing green technologies in their respective countries. In 2016, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) became the first such government-backed agency.

However, it is still unclear how effective it has been in promoting clean energy in India. Overall, there is an urgent need to develop a standardised framework of green finance investments and their monitoring and evaluation in the country.

Sara Bardhan is a multidisciplinary feminist researcher working at the intersection of gender, health, and governance in developing urban spaces. She has previously worked with the Social and Political Research Foundation and Transform Rural India Foundation among others. Her writings have appeared in publications such as The Wire, The Fuller Project, Citizen Matters, and Feminism in India. Find out more about her.

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

The Seychelles is a nation made up of some 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Credit: UN News, Manahas Farquhar/ Matthew Morgan

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 2022 (IPS)

A former Indian ambassador once told an American audience that one of the biggest misconceptions about the Indian Ocean is that it belongs to India. “Not so, but we wish we did”, he said, amidst laughter.

Speaking before the UN’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Indian Ocean last year, an Indian diplomat told delegates: “India and the Indian Ocean are inseparable. It is not just a statement of a fact of geography; but of deeper civilizational, historical, cultural, economic and political linkages that have been forged over centuries between India and the Ocean that bears its name”.

Throughout history, he pointed out, “India’s wellbeing and prosperity has been linked to its access to the Indian Ocean region. This remains even more relevant today and hence we have a vital stake in the security of the Indian Ocean.”

But rising big power geo-politics in the region have virtually doomed a longstanding proposal for a Zone of Peace (IOPZ)-– irrespective of whether it is in the Indian Ocean or in “India’s Ocean”.

For an unprecedented 58 years, the United Nations has been laboriously struggling to fully implement the proposal, first initiated by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike during the General Assembly sessions in 1964.

The proposal was also endorsed by the then 113-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the largest single political coalition at the United Nations.

At the height of the Cold War, the US, France, Britain and the former Soviet Union had naval bases in the region, including refuelling facilities in Socotra Island in the former South Yemen, Gan air base in the Maldives, Asmara in Ethiopia, Port Victoria in the Seychelles, the UK-owned military base in the island of Diego Garcia and Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam.

A 1971 UN resolution (2832) did declare the Indian Ocean a zone of peace calling upon the “great powers” to enter into immediate consultations with the littoral States of the Indian Ocean with a view to halting the further escalation and expansion of their military presence in the Indian Ocean.

But it never happened – and the declaration has remained stagnant since then.

Meanwhile, the resurrection in 2017 of the informal alliance, originally created in 2007 and called the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (and known as the Quad), comprising the US, Australia, India, and Japan, is being viewed as a group aligned in their “shared concerns about China’s increasingly assertive behavior in the Indo-Pacific region”.

Aerial view of the vast destruction of the Indonesian coast caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. Credit: UN Photo/E. Schneider

According to a New York Times story last December, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged to strengthen relations with Indo-Pacific nations through billions of dollars in American investments and aid “and, in doing so, counter Beijing’s regional pull”.

The Indo-Pacific region covers countries of South Asia, including India and Pakistan, two nuclear powers, plus Australia, Japan and the 10 countries that comprise the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN): Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.

Vijay Prashad, Executive Director, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, told IPS the idea of the ‘zone of peace’ is sadly not widely known. There are several countries in the world that have come together to establish a ‘nuclear-weapons free zone of peace’, such as in the South Pacific and in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The ‘zone of peace’ does not include international waters, which means that it does not impact the shipping lanes where military ships traverse.

He pointed out that the idea of the ‘zone of peace’ comes out of the peace agenda of the non-aligned states, which is why it was broached for the Indian Ocean in 1964.

The region has several nuclear powers – India and Pakistan, but also the military bases of the United States as well as France and the UK, said Prashad, who is also Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China.

An advance of the idea of the Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone (NWFZ), he argued, is important for several reasons:

1. It would be a pathway to pressure India and Pakistan to return to the table and seriously discuss a peace agenda.

2. It would settle the long-standing question of the Chagos islanders, whose case in the UK courts to reclaim their lands in Diego Garcia (now a US-UK base) would be strengthened. The same applies to the people of Agalega (see: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/about-a-small-mauritian-island/article24073692.ece) and

3. It would put down a marker against the Indo-Pacific warfare agenda of the Quad and of AUKUS, said Prashad.

Addressing a meeting in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta last December, US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the Indo-Pacific region is the fastest growing region on the planet. “It accounts for 60 percent of the world economy, two-thirds of all economic growth over the last five years. It’s home to more than half the world’s people, seven of the 15 biggest economies”.

“The United States has long been, is, and always will be an Indo-Pacific nation. This is a geographic fact, from our Pacific coast states to Guam, our territories across the Pacific. And it’s a historical reality, demonstrated by our two centuries of trade and other ties with the region.”

“Today, half of the United States’ top trading partners are in the Indo-Pacific. It’s the destination for nearly one-third of our exports, the source of $900 billion in foreign direct investment in the United States, and that’s creating millions of jobs spread across all 50 of our states”.

“And more members of our military are stationed in the region than anywhere outside the continental U.S., ensuring peace and security that have been vital to prosperity in the region, benefiting us all”, he noted.

Meanwhile three ambassadors who chaired the Ad Hoc committee opted to speak only on condition of anonymity.

But Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, former Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN and a one-time Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, agreed to go on-the-record when he told IPS: “I had avoided attending the Ad Hoc Committee’s meetings both as PR and DPR (Permanent Representative and Deputy Permanent Representative) as I anticipated that there would be no worthwhile outcome of the deliberations of a committee which had “ad hoc” added to its name”.

He pointed out that countries in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which wanted to keep US out of the Indian Ocean area were the main force behind the Committee’s propaganda-like deliberations.

“With the end of USSR, the Committee also faded away. The political nature of the Committee can be easily understood as three Committee chairs wanted to be anonymous. More so as their countries are now eager to tilt towards the reality of one “superpower,” he declared.”

Ambassador Kshenuka Senewiratne, a former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, told IPS ” as for the Indo-Pacific region, the US seems to be now more proactive due to China’s spread across this region on many aspects through their relationships with respective countries.”

But one cannot run-away from the fact that the references to trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) vis- a-vis the US and the region, she pointed out, is due to their domination by China.

“Hence the former’s interest to work with other major economic giants like India, Australia and Japan in the region & its formalization by creating the Quad. This would be the mechanism that China is watching,” she said.

Blinken’s statement speaks of the spread of the US military in the Indo-Pacific region, which is a misplaced threat, she argued, considering China has used its economic strategy to maintain power in the region and has not wielded its military might. This is so even with regard to the South China issue.

China’s manner of making countries in the region beholden to them is an aspect for the US and other related large economies in the Indo Pacific region to watch and act in a similar manner by seeking to assist in developing those countries’ economies, she declared.

Meanwhile, a senior Sri Lankan diplomat who once chaired the 44-member UN Adhoc Committee, told IPS: “The IOPZ is a dead horse—and beating it furiously is not going to revive it.”

The concept of the IOPZ, he said, was perceived during the height of the Cold War and before the ongoing technological revolution, 24/7 news cycles and China’s rise, and India under the Soviet yoke – all of which is kind of anachronistic in modern times.

“The key players in New York, and at the UN secretariat, who pay lip service to the idea, keep flogging the dead horse– like they do with many such mandates for lack of methodology to bury it permanently,” he declared.

“I quite agree that the US-China rivalry and the growing interest in the Indo-Pacific region could trigger renewed interest in the IOPZ”, said one former UN envoy.

Striking a positive note, he added: “Keeping with the UN General Assembly mandate, the IOPZ meetings are to be convened every two years. So, it may be premature to pronounce its demise!”

 

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School children crossing the road on a pedestrian crossing in Kyrgyzstan. Credit: Victor Lacken - UNRSF.

By Nneka Henry
GENEVA, Feb 17 2022 (IPS)

When we think about global crises, road safety isn’t one that comes to mind. The reality is that unsafe roads is a health crisis gone rogue. 

Unlike the COVID-19 pandemic, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death from people between the ages of 5-29. And, with an estimated 1.35 million fatalities and 50 million non-fatal injuries every year, unsafe vehicles and roads affect everyone and impact several areas of development – including environmental sustainability. 

Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death from people between the ages of 5-29. And, with an estimated 1.35 million fatalities and 50 million non-fatal injuries every year, unsafe vehicles and roads affect everyone

In 2015, the United Nations raised the alarm. The 2030 Global Development Agenda expressly recognizes that road safety can be improved by governments providing access to safe, affordable and “greener” ways of moving, including public transport. (Sustainable Development Goal 11.2)

There are plenty of things that the UN is doing to solve this global crisis, but it cannot solve it alone. Here are three questions to spur action towards making roads safer for road users everywhere.

 

How committed are our governments to solving the road safety crisis?

To solve this crisis, we need a show of commitment, especially from governments. One way of doing that is for leaders across the developed and developing world to take an active role in safe and sustainable mobility.

The UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Improving Road Safety on 30 June 2022 in New York could be the moment in history when UN member states commit to consciously prioritize and fund a development assistance package of safe and clean mobility measures in low- and middle-income countries. 

This package could include designing and implementing safe modes of transport that are equally low-emission solutions such as affordable public transportation; accessible walking and cycling lanes; or safe and clean used vehicle standards. 

It’s time for governments to show support, attend the High-Level Meeting and make the case for why road safety is a national priority and a priority for development assistance. And, in turn, for G7 countries to include road safety as a priority in the G7 Summit Communique 26-28 June 2022, just days before the UN High-Level Meeting on Road Safety.

 

How can we collectively build capacity in countries with high road fatalities?

The WHO together with UN Regional Commissions have helped structure a targeted action plan on road safety for the global community to rally around and implement. However, with more than 90% of road traffic fatalities occurring in low- and middle-income countries, with Africa as the hardest hit region, mobilizing finances to implement the plan remains a critical challenge.  

The UN is crowding in and around a wide range of partners to ensure the transfer of technical knowledge, best practices, and financial resources to the countries that need help the most. 

Since 2018, the United Nations Road Safety Fund has been playing a coordinating role among UN agencies to support governments through projects to improve land use for walking and cycling lanes, driving licensing, vehicle inspection, speed enforcement, safe school zone design and emergency post-crash response systems. 

FIA Foundation, the World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility, the International Federation of the Red Cross, Bloomberg Philanthropies, NGOs, regional Road Safety Observatories and major government and corporate funders are among those consulted and engaged in designing and delivering these projects. 

From Armenia to Paraguay to West Africa, UNRSF now serves 30 countries with new calls for proposals to respond to country-led priorities that catalyze investments for better road safety.

 

How do we advocate for effective road safety financing?

Awareness-raising and advocacy of road safety financing is a game changer. The UN’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt’s, advocacy efforts helped launch the UN Road Safety Fund and raised close to $20 million dollars for related UN road safety performance reviews in Africa and capacity building projects in developing countries across the world. 

Organisations such as the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road safety are there to support and empower local groups and community-based organisations working on road safety. And at the grassroots we can replicate and take part in global advocacy initiatives such as the biennial UN Global Road Safety Week.

The week’s 2021 edition, through a Streets for Life campaign, called for 30 km/h speed limits worldwide on streets with mixed vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Or the Global Road Safety Film Festival on 21-22 February 2022, which screens short films from all over the world to help explain the challenges and solutions to improve road safety.

For the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021 – 2030, success hinges on the marriage between safe, sustainable mobility and targeted financing, which promises to bear fruit for people and the planet. Together with UN efforts, it’s time we all started doing more about it. 

Asking the right questions is the start of a positive disruption to the global road safety crisis.

 

Excerpt:

The author is Head of the UN Road Safety Fund

By 2030 the ambition is to restore 100 million hectares of currently degraded land and sequester 250 million tons of carbon. Credit: Greatgreenwall.org

By Baher Kamal
MADRID, Feb 17 2022 (IPS)

Once completed in 2030, it could well be considered the world’s eighth wonder, this time natural. It is the African-led Great Green Wall or the largest living structure on the planet – an 8.000 kilometres natural hit stretching across the entire width of the continent.

It is a symbol of hope in the face of one of the biggest challenges of our time – desertification, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) informs. And it aims at restoring Africa’s degraded landscapes and transforming millions of lives in one of the world’s poorest regions, the Sahel.

Launched in 2007 by the African Union, the Great Green Wall Initiative is being implemented in more than 20 countries across Africa.

The UN Convention adds that the initiative brings together African countries and international partners under the leadership of the African Union Commission and the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall.

Its implementation coincides with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030.

 

What for?

On this, the UNCCD also reports that, by 2030, the ambition of the initiative is to restore 100 million hectares of currently degraded land; sequester 250 million tons of carbon and create 10 million green jobs.

This will support communities living along the Wall to the following five ‘grows’:

— Grow fertile land, one of humanity’s most precious natural assets

— Grow economic opportunities for the world’s youngest population

— Grow food security for the millions that go hungry every day

— Grow climate resilience in a region where temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else on Earth

— Grow a new world wonder spanning 8.000 km across Africa

 

Another challenge facing the African nations which will benefit from the Great Green Wall is the rapid advance of desert dunes on cultivated areas and entire villages and towns, which the Wall will help reduce.

 

From Senegal to Djibouti, from West to East

The Great Green Wall snakes the Sahel region from Senegal in the West to Djibouti in the East of Africa, explains UNCCD.

The 11 countries selected as intervention zones for the Great Green Wall are: Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sudan.

The total area of the Great Green Wall initiative extends to 156 million hectares, with the largest intervention zones located in Niger, Mali, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Since its launch, major progress has been made in restoring the fertility of Sahelian lands.

 

The big race

The race to restore 100 million hectares of Africa’s Great Green Wall now begins, the world Convention to Combat Desertification reported, as the ministers of Environment, Finance and Planning from Africa’s Great Green Wall countries and the partners active in the initiative met by the end of last October to discuss new arrangements to help countries in the Sahel Region in this giant effort.

Meeting for the first time since the Great Green Wall Accelerator was announced in January 2021, the partners reviewed proposals to overcome bottlenecks. Pledges have so far reached 19 billion US dollars.

According to Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD: “In a world that looks at the Sahel region and sees only despair, the Great Green Wall offers hope. In a world struggling to work out what ‘build back better’ or climate resilience or sustainable development really looks like, the Great Green Wall makes tangible and practical sense.”

The restoration of 100 million hectares of land by 2030 in the Sahel would create an estimated 10 million jobs and lock away 250 million tonnes of Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the soil.

 

Worth investing

Africa’s Great Green Wall initiative to combat desertification in the Sahel region is not only crucial to the battle against climate change but also makes commercial sense for investors, a recent study led by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and published in Nature Sustainability shows.

For every US dollar put into the massive effort to halt land degradation across the African continent from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east, investors can expect an average return of 1.2 US dollars, with outcomes ranging between 1.1 US dollars and 4.4 US dollars, the study finds.

“The greening and land restoration along this belt stretching 8,000 km across the continent is already underway. Communities are planting resilient and hardy tree species such as the Acacia senegal, providing gum arabic, widely used as an emulsifier in food and drinks and the Gao tree or Faidherbia albida, which helps to fertilise soil for the cultivation of such staples as millet, and for animal fodder.”

 

Growing a World Wonder

The UNCCD has launched a public awareness campaign on the Great Green Wall, called “Growing a World Wonder.”

The campaign aims at boosting global awareness of the initiative in public spheres, policy debates, as well as media and cultural sectors with a clear view towards inspiring long-term public and private investment in the initiative.

As importantly, the Great Green Wall places local populations and national institutions at the center, making traditional knowledge and capacities the entry points, taking a holistic approach and putting in place effective governance and accountability systems.

History tells that in the so-called ‘Black Continent’ — home to nearly 1,4 billion people–, the region covered by the Great Green Wall was, once upon a time, a huge green valley.

 

Data collected by Transparency International looks at bribery, the diversion of public funds, officials using their office for private gain, conflicts of interest and legal protections for those denouncing corruption. Credit: UN News/Daniel Dickinson

By Gabrielle Gorder and Seth Robbins
MEDELLÍN, Colombia, Feb 17 2022 (IPS)

Latin American countries scored poorly on Transparency International’s latest corruption index, with the worst joining the ranks of war-torn nations and dictatorships.

Of the 19 Latin American countries ranked, three-quarters scored below 50 in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2021. The worst was Venezuela, which scored below North Korea and Afghanistan.

Using assessments from country experts, business analysts, and international organizations, the index rates countries on a scale from zero to 100. Scores below 50 indicate flagrant corruption problems.

The data collected by Transparency International looks at bribery, the diversion of public funds, officials using their office for private gain, conflicts of interest and legal protections for those denouncing corruption.

Caribbean countries fared better in the index. Of the ten ranked, six scored above 50, though none rated above 65.

When Canada and the United States are excluded, the average score for the region is 41, putting it a notch below the global average of 43. Without the Caribbean, it drops to 37.

Below, InSight Crime breaks down the scores in a region that continues to be rife with corruption.

 

Scores of 0 to 25: Highly Corrupt

Venezuela held the title for the seventh consecutive year as the most corrupt country in the Western Hemisphere with a score of 14, an all-time low for the country.

As InSight Crime has reported, Venezuela has essentially become a mafia state. Officials and security forces at every level are involved in criminal activity. Pilfering of state coffers is rampant, while drug trafficking, illegal mining, and other criminal economies are widespread.

Venezuelan government officials are known to collaborate with gangs. State security forces have colluded with the Colombian guerrilla group the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – ELN) to take control of illegal gold mines in the Amazon.

The rot in Venezuela starts at the top, with President Nicolás Maduro, whom the United States Department of Justice has accused of narco-terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking and other offenses.

Just above Venezuela were Haiti and Nicaragua, which each received a score of 20.

Haiti saw a slight uptick as compared with the last two years, as the effects of the July 2021 assassination of the country’s president, Jovenel Moïse, are only just beginning to be felt.

Meanwhile, Nicaragua saw its score hit a new low. This is not surprising, considering that, on his way to winning his fourth consecutive presidential election, President Daniel Ortega used the country’s justice system to silence political opponents, some of whom were jailed or subjected to a range of abuses.

Honduras also hit a new low, scoring a 23 — tying the country with Iraq. The low score stemmed partly from accusations linking Honduras’ former president, Juan Orlando Hernández, to his brother’s drug trafficking ring.

Meanwhile, Guatemala’s score of 25 remained unchanged from the previous year. The country tied with Iran. High-profile graft probes and the dismissals of those investigating corruption explain the country’s low ranking.

 

Scores of 26 to 50: Corruption Issues

The average global corruption perception score was 43 out of 100. Of the 21 Latin American and Caribbean countries scoring less than 50, 19 fell below the global average.

The countries scoring in this bracket were Paraguay (30), the Dominican Republic (30), Bolivia (30), Mexico (31), El Salvador (34), Panama (36), Ecuador (36), Peru (36), Brazil (38), Argentina (38) and Colombia (39), Guyana (39), Suriname (39), Trinidad and Tobago (41).

Only Jamaica (44) and Cuba (46) scored higher than the global average.

In the case of Paraguay, InSight Crime published an investigation just last year revealing how a Paraguayan congressman conspired with an alleged drug trafficker to protect cocaine shipments in exchange for illicit funds.

El Salvador’s declining score reflects growing corruption within the government of President Nayib Bukele, including the decision to dissolve the International Commission against Impunity in El Salvador (Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad de El Salvador – CICIES) after the entity started to investigate several members of the Bukele administration for mismanaging coronavirus emergency funds. Additionally, the US government, in 2021, blacklisted two officials with close ties to Bukele for allegedly making deals with street gangs.

Ecuador’s plummeting score was also to be expected. The country has emerged as a key trafficking route for drugs, arms, explosives, and migrants. Corruption has eaten away at state institutions.

Peru’s falling score comes as President Pedro Castillo faces corruption allegations that have led to impeachment proceedings, while in Argentina, instances of corruption among judicial authorities have created the impression of impunity.

Cuba’s comparatively high CPI ranking may come as a surprise to some, given that it is a one-party state.

While Cuba’s low corruption perception score may reflect steps taken to rein in corruption during the administrations of former president Raúl Castro and President Miguel Díaz Canel, political corruption remains an issue, and the low perception score could be more a reflection of the country’s limits on press freedom.

 

Scores of 50 to 100: Relatively Clean

Only three Latin American countries scored above 50: Uruguay, Chile and Costa Rica.

Uruguay scored higher than the United States, but lower than Canada. Transparency International credited its “independent judiciary and the protection of basic rights [as] vital in preventing corruption from permeating the [Uruguayan] State.” Chile, meanwhile, tied with the United States.

The Caribbean countries of Barbados, The Bahamas, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Dominica and Grenada all scored above 50, suggesting minimal corruption concerns. But these countries are all known hubs for money laundering, a known contributor to corruption worldwide.

 

This story was originally published by InsightCrime

Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) continued their crucial role of supporting parliamentarians in promoting population and development agenda during the COVID-19 pandemic by organizing online and hybrid events. The organizations this year celebrate their 40th anniversary. Credit: APDA

By IPS Correspondent
Tokyo, Feb 17 2022 (IPS)

The Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) has been ahead of the international community in addressing population and development issues, says the former Japanese Prime Minister and Chair of APDA Yasuo Fukuda.

Yasuo Fukuda, Yoko Kamikawa, MP and Chair of Japan Parliamentarians Federation for Population (JPFP), and Professor Keizo Takemi, MP and Chair of Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD), were speaking to IPS ahead of the 40th anniversary of APDA and AFPPD.

JPFP was formed in 1974 out of concern for burgeoning populations, food security, and other development issues in Japan. APDA and AFPPD were founded in 1982 – ahead of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994.

“APDA has consistently propounded groundbreaking concepts and frameworks and led international public opinion and activities in this field,” says Fukuda.

“Based on the idea that it is necessary to promote balanced development through social development to ameliorate a rapid increase in population and poverty, APDA has consistently advocated, ahead of the international community, to address population issues from such a perspective of economic and social development.”

Kamikawa agrees and sees the organizations playing a crucial role in post-COVID-19 development as countries and continents race to meet the ICPD 25 commitments.

“APDA has been working on food and population issues from a wide perspective, and now it is required to deepen the discussions on topics such as health, “water for life”, and climate change from the perspective of population,” Kamikawa said. She added that “what we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is how important it is to share experiences and knowledge of each country with the rest of the world.”

Looking toward the future, Takemi says climate change, the impact of COVID-19, and digitalization have impacted on widening the gap between rich and poor.

He also notes that an ageing population is Asia’s “most emerging issue.” AFPPD has put this on the agenda, and it counts as a crucial success.

Looking back on the 40th years and looking forward to the future are former Japanese Prime Minister and Chair of APDA Yasuo Fukuda, Yoko Kamikawa, MP and Chair of JPFP, and Prof. Keizo Takemi, MP and Chair of Asian AFPPD. Takemi was interviewed by Prof. Kiyoko Ikegami, Executive Director of AFPPD. Credit: APDA

Here are excerpts from the interviews:

IPS: In 1974, some 20 years before the ICPD conference in Cairo in 1994, JPFP was formed because of concerns about burgeoning populations, food security, and other development issues in Asia. Then APDA was established in 1982. What would you consider to be the most significant success of the organization?

Former PM Hon. Yasuo Fukuda: For one, APDA has consistently propounded groundbreaking concepts and frameworks and led international public opinion and activities in this field.

Based on the idea that it is necessary to promote balanced development through social development to ameliorate a rapid increase in population and poverty, APDA has consistently advocated, ahead of the international community, to address population issues from such a perspective of economic and social development.

Under this principle, Japanese parliamentarians launched JPFP, the world’s first supra-partisan parliamentary group on population and development, in 1974, followed by the founding of APDA in 1982. JPFP and APDA strongly supported the establishment of regional parliamentary fora and National Committees on Population and Development in various countries and created a groundbreaking framework of a parliamentary network.

Through this network of parliamentarians, APDA and JPFP have taken the lead in parliamentary activities on population and development worldwide, effectively sharing diverse knowledge, including Japan’s experiences and promoting international cooperation, which resulted in concrete results.

Japanese politicians, who were involved in JPFP and APDA, also played a central role in the formation of the concept of “sustainable development”, which is the basis for today’s SDGs. They requested the United Nations to establish the World Commission on Environment and Development (commonly known as Brundtland Commission) in 1984. The concept of “sustainable development” was presented in their report adopted in 1987.

On the occasion of our 40th anniversary, we would like to continue to promote inter-regional cooperation and collaboration in response to the challenges faced by each region and address population and development issues both domestically and internationally from a long-term perspective, beyond the SDGs. In particular, we would like to focus not only on economic development but also on valuing each individual, drawing out the full potential, respecting each culture and tradition, and fostering the importance of cultivating humanity.

IPS:  APDA and JPFP have established global partnerships in Asia, Africa, and the Arab region. How necessary are these multilateral arrangements to achieve the ICPD Programme of Action?

Hon. Yoko Kamikawa, Chair of JPFP:

As various global issues are becoming more and more serious, it has become clear that population and development issues are complicatedly and closely related to various other areas, with diversified demographics worldwide.

Therefore, as the principles of the ICPD, which is a major outcome of our activities to date, have been taken over by the principles of the SDGs, it is no exaggeration to say that addressing population issues will also mean the achievement of the SDGs.

APDA has been working on food and population issues from a broad perspective, and now it is required to deepen the discussions on topics such as health, “water for life”, and climate change from the perspective of the population.

Our role as parliamentarians is to serve the people of respective countries, fulfilling a responsible role in legislation and administration to realize a society where everyone can maintain life and health and enjoy human rights and quality of life bestowed upon people. However, what we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is how important it is to share experiences and knowledge of each country with the rest of the world.

I hope that APDA will further contribute to achieving the ICPD Programme of Action and SDGs and ushering in a new post COVID era by strengthening the networks and platforms of parliamentarians it has developed over the past 40 years.

Prof. Kiyoko Ikegami, Executive Director of AFPPD: Is there a crucial new challenge in the Asia region that parliamentarians need to confront?

Hon. Prof. Keizo Takemi, Chair of AFPPD: The ageing population is the most emerging issue in Asia, although UNFPA did not yet recognize this in the past. I believe that one of the great outcomes of the AFPPD was to improve the recognition of the issues relating to ageing, not only demographic change but as improvement of quality of life of the older people.

AFPPD co-sponsored seminars on the ageing and nursing service in Vietnam in 2017, which helped members of AFPPD to fully understand the issue of ageing. With the Health Ministry of Vietnam, AFPPD National Committees of Vietnam, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, and JCIE, AFPPD conducted discussions about a caring service to ensure people can age happily.

Unemployment is also a serious problem, especially in central Asia, where the youth population is rapidly increasing, and migrant worker numbers are also increasing. It is an urgent matter to be resolved due to the dynamics of youth behavior in the context of a nation-building process. An AFPPD-led seminar on youth has looked at how to get youth involved in industry after being trained, and at the same time how to encourage industry to respond to the needs of each nation.

Ikegami: What are the crucial discussions to be had in this anniversary year on SDGs and the ICPD25 Programme of Action?

Takemi: The recognition and addressing climate change and population are the most critical issues in front of us.  We have learned that it is inevitable to create and accept the new framework and concept of population issues in the Anthropocene era, in order to respond to current and future population-related issues.  The discussions have just begun, but there are several ideas to be debated, such as the close relation between water and population, demographic analysis on human movement of refugees, and internally displaced persons.  It is definitely challenging for all of us, MPs, to foresee the future planning of our nations.

• Prof. Kiyoko Ikegami, Executive Director of AFPPD, interviewed Takemi.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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Credit: Pacific Community (SPC)

By Michelle Belisle
SUVA, Fiji, Feb 17 2022 (IPS)

All over the world, students who attend tertiary education do so with the belief that the investment of their time, money and effort will provide them with returns on that investment that will change their lives and the lives of their families for years to come. As qualified graduates, those students emerge from their tertiary programmes with recognised skills and knowledge making them employable in their chosen fields, moving them forward along a career pathway and in many cases, bringing recognition to the institutions that trained them as they experience success and achievements related to their expertise.

While it is relatively straight forward to see that the graduates of a given program from a specific institution will be recognised and employed in the community and even the country that houses the institution, taking those qualifications to other jurisdictions, either for employment or further education, becomes much more complicated. While the institution that has awarded the qualification stands fully behinds its content and quality, the employers, regulators and institutions in other places don’t have that same depth of knowledge and therefore trust, to give the same level of recognition. This is where accreditation, particularly regional and international accreditation, come into play.

The accreditation of a qualification is a formal confirmation that the qualification is recognised and meets quality assurance and industry standards and requirements. Employers look for accredited qualifications as they know they are quality assured and are deemed “fit for purpose”. The industry’s trust in the qualification will translate to increased employability for the graduates.

National accreditation by a recognized authority provides students with assurance that their qualification will be accepted and paves the way to employment in the country in which it was awarded.

EQAP Director Michelle Belise

In the Pacific, however, a region where remittances from those who have moved to live and work abroad is a significant portion of national revenue, labour and student mobility is critical. Students need to know that their tertiary programmes open doors to employment and further education opportunities beyond their national borders. For graduates, students, and faculty to become more mobile in the region and internationally, regional and international accreditation of qualifications; and development of regional qualifications are necessary.

A qualification accredited internationally is generally widely recognised. Learners can therefore move across borders, in search of qualifications that are recognised internationally, and completion of which will qualify them for employment opportunities in different countries and regions.

By encouraging and supporting institutions of higher education to seek international recognition of programs, there is a strengthening of both the institution in terms of its appeal to prospective students and faculty, and the programs themselves by way of ongoing efforts to meet and maintain internationally agreed standards in program content, delivery and assessment.

A regional qualification is one that is developed and endorsed with input from stakeholders in the region, is accredited regionally, is available for delivery by providers in the region and is owned by the region. The learners enrolled in a regional qualification also have the option of moving from one provider to another to complete a qualification, and similarly, the faculty involved in the delivery of a regional qualification could move from one institution to another almost seamlessly as the learning outcomes and requirements of the qualification remain constant across all institutions delivering the programme.

International accreditation and regional qualifications have a great deal to offer for higher education in the Pacific. However, one of the greatest challenges to increasing the mobility of graduates, students and faculty are fears, at institutional and national levels, of losing individual identity and autonomy. The Tokyo Convention can become the catalyst for increased labour and student mobility.

The Convention is significant in providing the platform for countries to appreciate and respect the differences that exist in their education and qualifications systems and to work towards embracing a common recognition system. Strong and robust institutional as well as national quality assurance systems are instrumental in ensuring national recognition mechanisms are recognised and valued and they consequently can become the pillar upon which a regional recognition process is built. To facilitate and support the establishment of a regional recognition process, it is imperative that national mechanisms exist to enable institutions to recognise each other’s programs and qualifications.

Ratification of the Tokyo Convention by countries in the Pacific Region will strengthen and fortify the efforts already being undertaken to establish a regional recognition process mutually agreed to by the countries; it can become the next step in the process where national and regional mechanisms already exist.

Through the continued collaboration of governments, higher education institutions, and regional and international organizations it is our hope that Pacific Island students and graduates will reap the benefits of international recognition of their education and at the same time, the world at large will benefit from the contributions of Pacific Islanders in their workplaces and higher education institutions.

Dr Michelle Belisle is the Director of the Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP) at the Pacific Community (SPC).

 

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Nature Insight: Speed dating with the Future’, an IPBES podcast, is spreading the love for science and nature. Its aim is to change perceptions and ignite interest even in animals like the bat. Bats are often blamed for ills but in reality we, as humans, have expanded into bats' territory. Credit: Geoff Brooks/Unsplash

By Busani Bafana
Feb 17 2022 (IPS)

In a busy world where love is a complicated affair, speed dating is one way to connect, but can it work to ignite more sustainable relationships with nature? Are we open to a romance with science and evidence?

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is spreading the love for science through an innovative podcast series, ‘Nature Insight: Speed dating with the Future’. A podcast is a regular series of digital audio episodes focused on a particular topic, which can be subscribed to, downloaded, or streamed.

Talking science

The IPBES podcast was first piloted in 2021 to help make the work of IPBES more accessible to a wider audience. IPBES is involved in documenting, synthesizing, and critically evaluating relevant knowledge about our relationship with the rest of nature to help reverse the global loss of biodiversity.

A second podcast season, launched just last week, will feature interviews with experts offering insights about biodiversity loss from many angles. This will include the sustainable use of wild species, the many values of nature, how the law can address the nature crisis, the role of the financial sector in biodiversity protection, and mobilizing private sector philanthropy for nature.

“We want to bring our work to new audiences and explain to decision-makers outside the environment space why they should care about the science of biodiversity and the science behind nature and the protection of nature,” explains Rob Spaull, Head of Communications at IPBES. He argues that biodiversity is often made to sound academic, something that belongs in a lab or a university, with little effect on people’s lives.

“That is furthest from the truth because biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people are all about what happens in our daily life; the food that we eat, the water that we drink, the air that we breathe, and the diseases that we try to avoid. Biodiversity is the cornerstone of human wellbeing.”

Rob Spaull, Head of Communications at IPBES says the idea behind the podcast was to bring IPBES’ work to new audiences. Credit: IPBES

“Our first season of Nature Insight has been downloaded in dozens of countries and broke into the Top Ten charts for podcasts about nature and science. By the end of our first season, we had the evidence to show that not only had we produced a good podcast but that we had managed to expand our IPBES audience, particularly among non-environment decision-makers,” Spaull said. He noted that the podcast series also sought to give decision-makers the best evidence possible on biodiversity issues. For instance, in the first season, Dr Anne Poelina, an indigenous leader from Australia, discusses the value of different kinds of knowledge systems. She argues that indigenous knowledge should complement western science in science-policy reports.

Biodiversity under threat

IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body established to strengthen the science-policy interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human wellbeing, and suitable development. Its seminal publication, The Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services, released in 2019, found that 1 million animals and plant species are threatened with extinction, many within decades. Changes in land and sea use, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change pollution, and invasive alien species are the leading causes of changes in nature.

According to the Global Assessment Report, the average abundance of native species in most major land-based habitats has fallen by at least 20 percent, mostly since 1900. More than 40 percent of amphibian species, almost 33 percent of reef-forming corals, and more than a third of all marine mammals are threatened. The picture is less clear for insect species, but available evidence supports a tentative estimate of 10 percent being threatened.

“The overwhelming evidence of the IPBES Global Assessment, from a wide range of different fields of knowledge, presents an ominous picture,” said Robert Watson, former IPBES Chair, in 2019. “The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health, and quality of life worldwide.”

The IPBES podcast had been recorded remotely and launched during the first wave of COVID-19, which relates directly to nature loss. Spaull said the first episode of the first season had focused on the links between the risk of pandemics and the destruction of nature.

Speaking on the first episode of the show, zoologist and expert on disease ecology Dr Peter Daszak said people cannot blame the rest of nature – especially not pangolins, snakes, and bats, for our environmental health problems.

“I feel really sorry for bats in particular that they are getting blamed, already they have got such a bad rap in films, TV shows, and books. They are going about their daily business doing what they have done for millions of years,” said  Daszak, who is also President of EcoHealth Alliance. This non-profit organization supports global health. He explained that human populations have expanded to reach into the habitats of all animal species, like bats.

“We are eating them, cutting down the trees they live in, we invading the caves that they inhabit, and as by-products of that, we get exposed to the viruses they have carried for millions of years which do not harm them and unfortunately kill us. It’s really our fault actually if we want to point the blame.”

Admitting to having taken something of a gamble with the podcast’s title, Spaull said the podcast was essentially offering listeners a chance to speed date with nature and the future.

“As with real speed dating, you get this opportunity to connect, for a very short time, with people you might never otherwise have a chance to meet – and if what they say resonates with you, it could make a difference to both of your lives,” said Spaull. “We want to give people information about the science of biodiversity so that they can better understand our relationships with the species and ecosystems with whom we share our planet – so that we can all take better action and make better-informed choices.”

Mangroves substantially reduce the vulnerability of coastlines to erosion from waves and tides and are an important contributor to biodiversity. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

Policymakers listening to the science?

Governments, decision-makers, and ordinary citizens need to protect biodiversity through transformative change. This was the underlying message in an episode entitled ‘Choose your own adventure (what is transformative change and how we all can make it happen)’ with Professor Kai Chan, an interdisciplinary, problem-oriented sustainability scientist at the Institution for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia.

Dr David Obura, one of the world’s leading experts on coral reefs and fisheries and the importance of coral reefs and coastlines for biodiversity and people, said the podcast has helped communicate science.

“I have enjoyed doing the podcast. It helps build up awareness about IPBES as an institution and what it does,” said Obura. He admitted that the Speed Dating podcast had introduced him to listening to podcasts.

“Policymakers are listening to the science to a greater extent in different countries and different sectors. I think the COVID pandemic has shown the importance of science and how we communicate it,” he said. “Amazing science is being done, but getting the message out about this science and evidence is critical.”

Acting for the future of biodiversity

With the second season of the Nature Insight: Speed Dating with the Future podcast now underway, Spaull said the series would continue to offer the views of seldom-heard voices and people with great stories to tell.

“Season two is timely; the global negotiations will take place later this year to agree on the biodiversity targets for the next ten years. These are going to be agreed by governments around the world, much as the climate change targets were recently discussed and agreed,” Spaull said.

“So it is a good time to be talking about all these issues and how they fit into people’s lives because it’s not just academic, it vital for us all.”

• IPS UN Bureau Report

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Graffiti on a wall in Benghazi, Libya, calls for elections and democracy. Credit: The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL)

By Anas El Gomati
TRIPOLI, Libia, Feb 17 2022 (IPS)

Libya was supposed to hold elections early this year. Instead, it now has two rival political administrations — a return of the divisions of the past.

Libya is entering a new cycle of its political crisis. In December 2021, a mere 48 hours before polls were supposed to open, the elections were postponed. Emad Sayah, the head of Libya’s High National Election Committee (HNEC), declared it to be a case of force majeure. He then proposed to Libya’s parliament, the House of Representatives (HoR), to reschedule the elections for 24 January 2022.

This deadline has now also passed. But rather than resolve and reschedule elections, the HoR appointed a new rival Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha on 10 February, dividing Libya between two rival political administrations.

Libya’s now faces a dangerous new reality, as rival factions cling to power returning the country to the political divisions of the past, whilst proposing future election roadmaps designed to bring about the demise of their political rivals while guaranteeing their own political survival.

The tactical moves on the part of rival factions go back at least twelve months. Since then, Libya’s constitution, election law, and judiciary have become weapons in a new battle over Libya’s electoral roadmap as political actors attempt to either stall or re-sequence elections to push a rival out of power, whilst preserving one’s own institutional power indefinitely.

The crisis began shortly after the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF), a United Nations appointed body of 75 members, was tasked with appointing a new interim unity government and establishing a political roadmap to culminate with democratic elections.

The LPDF made early progress in appointing an interim Government of National Unity (GNU) to be led by Abdulhamid Dbeibah that took office in March 2021 and in agreeing to schedule simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections for 24 December.

Libya’s political deadlock

Since last summer, however, the LPDF faced internal political deadlock over how to proceed with the legal framework, namely a constitutional basis for elections. Libya has had a draft constitution since 2017, but it has faced criticism for its lack of inclusivity.

Anas El Gomati

At the same time, it became clear that the widespread threat of a boycott of the referendum would almost certainly lead to further delays to the political transition – especially if the constitution were rejected at a pre-election referendum.

The debate over how to establish a constitutional basis before the elections swiftly became a reality check over how long Libya’s political transition would last, as factions within the LPDF alleged this would stall the transition and extend the GNU’s interim mandate beyond 24 December.

In the LPDF’s stalemate, the HoR’s chief speaker Aguila Saleh captured an opportunity to reshape the political roadmap to remove the GNU from power whilst preserving his own power in parliament. In September, Saleh illegally bypassed a parliamentary vote and issued a presidential elections law by decree.

The law rescheduled the LPDF roadmap by sequencing presidential elections before parliamentary elections instead of holding them simultaneously, a move designed to ensure an end to the GNU’s eight-month political tenure whilst extending Saleh’s eight years of institutional control over parliament.

Moreover, the law sidestepped the constitutional referendum and used Libya’s rump 2011 constitutional declaration that offers weak legal restraints and limits on the power of Libya’s first elected president, increasing the prospects of a winner-takes-all outcome at the polls.

The law also faced criticism by the GNU’s prime minister Abdelhamid Dbeiba for including conditions to block his candidacy, whilst being tailored to allow Saleh and one of his key allies responsible for Libya’s civil war, Khalifa Haftar, the self-styled leader of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), to run on the presidential ballot, but return to their positions in parliament and the LAAF should they lose.

Saleh’s law sparked outrage from parliamentarians and members of the LPDF, but was accepted by former UN Special Envoy to Libya, Jan Kubis, who – rather than reject the law and mediate – decided to accept Saleh’s law to expediate the process to hold one (but not both) elections by any means on 24 December.

When Kubis resigned one month before the elections and was replaced by his predecessor Stephanie Williams as UN Special Advisor, it became clear that confidence was lost in the UN mediation and election process under his custodianship. However, it was left to HNEC, the body responsible for administering elections, to announce the news – without compromising their apolitical standing.

The future of parliamentary and presidential elections remains unclear under the HoR’s new political roadmap but what comes next is certain to be a deeper political crisis and potential delays to full elections by years. The international community have already ruled out recognising a replacement for the GNU before elections.

The appointment of a new parallel administration is thus a cynical attempt at a power grab in the knowledge it returns Libya to the tense years of political divisions between East and West that legitimised Haftar’s war on Tripoli in 2019. Secondly it is a major setback for the UN’s Berlin process that will require the UN to reverse course on its democratic roadmap to address the present elite power struggle before future elections can be rescheduled.

Finally, the HoR’s roadmap remains weaponised to include milestones to extend the political life by years, and in the process sparking new legal disputes that will drag Libya into a new complex crisis. Saleh has passed a motion to allow the HoR to draft a new constitution rather than pass a referendum on the current draft prior to elections.

Saleh’s own constitutional process is designed to allow him to delay parliamentary elections until the HoR’s work on a new constitution is completed.

Given the 2017 constitution was drafted by a democratically elected assembly in 2014, Saleh’s proposed constitution lacks an elected mandate to replace it and would open so many further legal disputes and political challenges prior to parliamentary elections that the HoR’s new roadmap could delay parliamentary elections and extend the HoR’s mandate by years not months.

Today’s crisis is in large part based on the assumption that individuals responsible for Libya’s political crisis and wars will demonstrate self-sacrifice and willingly give up the political institutions and military power they have clung to for years through an electoral roadmap of their own design.

The UN’s Berlin roadmap offered the international community an opportunity to erode the power of spoilers by dismantling the political and military institutions responsible for war into a unified neutral state rather than reward the figures at their helm with an opportunity to revive their political fortunes through elections.

Now it’s high time for the UN to demonstrate bold leadership and resuscitate the aims of the Berlin Process, and sequence a neutral political roadmap, setting sober election milestones based on substantive compromise and institutional reform, rather than stick to dates and timelines for political expedience that disguise conflict and reward spoilers with custodianship over Libya’s future.

Anas El Gomati is the founder and current Director General of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute, the first public policy think tank in Libya’s history established in August 2011.

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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The world should, with urgency, remove the barriers to education for crisis-affected children with disabilities, says Education Cannot Wait Director Yasmine Sherif. Here she is pictured in Lebanon speaking to a young child at an ECW-supported facility. Credit: Education Cannot Wait (ECW)

By Joyce Chimbi
Nairobi, Kenya, Feb 16 2022 (IPS)

Unable to walk, see or hear, and without assistance, the multiple barriers between 240 million children with disabilities and the education system mean nearly half are likely never to have attended school.

“We must reach these children with the fierce urgency of now,” says Yasmine Sherif, Director, Education Cannot Wait, speaking at the Global Disability Summit.

UNICEF research paints a dire picture for millions of children with disabilities worldwide. Forty-nine percent were more likely to have never attended school; 47 percent were more likely to be out of primary school. One-third are likely to be out of lower secondary school, and 27 percent are likely to be out of upper secondary school.

In emergencies and protracted crises in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Chad, Lebanon, Syria, and many more, Sherif says, “No one is left furthest behind and more vulnerable than a refugee or forcibly displaced child with disabilities.”

At the Global Disability Summit, hosted by the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and the governments of Norway and Ghana, on February 16-17, 2022, Sherif spoke about the harsh reality challenges faced on a daily basis by crisis-affected children with disabilities within current education systems and the urgent need to intervene.

She urged the global community to be concrete in action and not abstract in thinking, calling for a collective response for children with disabilities caught in armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate-induced disasters, and protracted crises. Their inclusion in response and protection interventions need to be systemized through legal frameworks and leveraging on pooled funding.

“Being the only global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, ECW cannot accomplish its mission unless all children with disabilities can learn in an inclusive and protected setting along with their peers,” she says.

“Nor will we collectively ensure the right to inclusive, equitable, and quality education for every child if children with disabilities remain behind.”

ECW commits to ensuring that its partners and grantees embed inclusion standards in their investments and act upon them.

“More specifically, ensuring that families of children with disabilities and organizations of persons with disabilities are engaged throughout each programme cycle with adequate budgetary allocation to support and sustain participation. This includes enhancing accountability to the affected population,” she says.

For disability rights groups, activists, experts, and supporters, the ongoing Summit is key in highlighting that the time to make education in emergency and protracted crises settings inclusive is now.

The Summit is pivotal in ensuring that governments, UN entities, and civil society back their commitments to persons with disabilities with adequate resources to implement them.

Sherif spoke in a high-level panel discussion of experts including Gerard Quinn, UN Special Rapporteur on Persons with Disabilities; Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross; Gillian Triggs, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, UNHCR and Nadia Hadad, European Disability Forum.

Also in attendance were Johanna Sumuvuori, State Secretary Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and Nujeen Mustafa, a UNHCR Supporter who, at 16, traveled 3,500 miles from Syria to Germany in a steel wheelchair; her compelling story captured in the book ‘Nujeen, One Girl’s Incredible Journey from War-Torn Syria in a Wheelchair’.

Hadad opened with astounding statistics indicating that 41 million people with disabilities would need humanitarian assistance in 2022.

Against this backdrop, Triggs emphasized respect for those displaced by conflict, including internally displaced persons and refugees. She affirmed that disability inclusion remains a priority for UNHCR and that the UN Refugee Agency is firmly committed to doing more to achieve it.

Maurer confirmed that the International Committee of the Red Cross is seriously taking on board the philosophy of inclusion in their humanitarian work, and more so, in conflict situations.

Nujeen Mustafa, a UNHCR Supporter who, at 16, traveled 3,500 miles from Syria to Germany in a steel wheelchair says active participation of children with disabilities is “not a favor but a right”.
Credit: Education Cannot Wait

Mustafa explained she was born with cerebral palsy in Syria, and as a result, society saw a girl without a future. She said conflict situations further exposed the lack of infrastructure, support, and protection for people with disabilities.

Sumuvuori expressed Finland’s commitment to champion the rights and inclusions of persons with disabilities “with a special focus on the rights of women and girls with disabilities. Building on our existing efforts in humanitarian assistance, Finland commits to promoting meaningful participation of persons with disabilities.”

Quinn called for increased visibility for persons with disability, saying that war is not a thing of the past because conflicts were very much alive.

The character of conflict was changing, but it has not gone away. It has become more lethal for those with disabilities, Quinn says.

“This leaves people with disabilities at even greater risk of violence and discrimination. Demand for active and meaningful participation is not a favor but a right for all people living with disabilities,” Mustafa told a community of global participants.

Sherif noted that disability inclusion for children in emergencies and protracted crises requires the removal of economic barriers.

Sherif stresses that families of children with disabilities bear extra costs to send them to school, including transportation and assistive devices.

“Families, therefore, may not afford to send their children to school or may not see the need for it because of widely shared negative attitudes toward children with disabilities and their potential,” Sherif says.

Once children with disabilities in emergencies and protracted crises go to school, says Sherif, they often must overcome inaccessible pathways and navigate schools and temporary learning spaces that are not accessible. Accessible transportation and assistive devices are usually not provided in these contexts.

Without training and support for teachers to adapt the teaching and learning environment to the special needs of vulnerable learners, children with disability struggle to learn the basics. More often than not, few enter higher learning and training.

Sherif says that quality and safety start with inclusion, ensuring that children with disabilities learn along with their peers.

“Ensuring quality education in an inclusive setting necessitates knowledge and capacities, adapted curricula, and targeted interventions such as the provision of specialized material and equipment,” Sherif emphasizes.

“In emergencies and protracted crises, where resources are often scarce, it is fundamental to leverage local resources through partnerships between school personnel and families.”

Sherif concluded by saying it is possible to intervene and maintain educational systems even in the aftermath of conflict to ensure that future generations can escape the cycle of poverty.

• IPS UN Bureau Report

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While most health care workers in the wealthy world were vaccinated early in 2021, only a quarter of Africa’s health workers had received their Covid-19 jabs at the end of last year. Credit: UNICEF/Nahom Tesfaye

By Akshaya Kumar
NEW YORK, Feb 16 2022 (IPS)

Efforts to combat the vast global inequity in access to Covid-19 vaccines just got a boost. A Cape Town company claims it successfully made a vaccine that mimics Moderna’s messenger RNA vaccine—without any help from Moderna. This copycat will still need to undergo clinical trials, but the effort could yield Africa’s first Covid-19 vaccine.

So far, African factories have been cut out of the effort to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines and largely limited to filling and labelling bottles with the drug substance manufactured elsewhere. As a result, when vaccines were in short supply globally, Africans were forced to wait. When they did arrive, vaccines were often dumped on overburdened public health systems with very short notice, in some cases, close to their expiration date.

Strive Masiyiwa, the African Union Special Envoy to the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team and a prominent businessman, described his experience seeking to buy vaccines on behalf of the continent, “I met all the manufacturers in December (2020), and said, we would like to buy some vaccines. We had money, we were willing to pay up front in cash. We were not asking for donations, and they said all capacity for 2021 has been sold…. the people who bought the vaccines knew there would be nothing (left) for us.”

 

To date, 10 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered globally, including up to four doses per person in some places. But in the world’s least developed countries, just 10 percent of people have accessed even a single dose.

While most health care workers in the wealthy world were vaccinated early in 2021, a study by the World Health Organization found that only a quarter of Africa’s health workers had received their Covid-19 jabs at the end of last year. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Chad, even today, less than 1 percent of the population is vaccinated.

To date, 10 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered globally, including up to four doses per person in some places. But in the world’s least developed countries, just 10 percent of people have accessed even a single dose

The South African company working on the copycat, Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, hopes to shift these dynamics by building greater manufacturing capacity on the continent. If all goes to plan, Afrigen will begin its clinical trials in 2023. That’s still a long way off. It’s worth noting that experts agree, it didn’t have to be this way. If Afrigen had been able to get a technology transfer, it says, it could have produced a vaccine suitable for trials months ago.

If, for example, the United States and German governments had used their influence to press Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech to share their Covid-19 vaccine recipes and know-how, Afrigen and a lot of other potential manufacturers in Africa, Latin America and Asia would have already been able to join the global effort to make enough doses for everyone, everywhere.

But when Human Rights Watch asked Moderna about its approach to technology transfers more broadly, representatives replied that the company was “not aware of any idle mRNA manufacturing capacity,” and that transferring their technology “requires significant time from a limited pool of experienced personnel with the requisite expertise.”

Instead, Moderna has promised “investment in a state-of-the-art mRNA manufacturing facility in Africa,” of its own which it claims will eventually manufacture up to 500 million doses annually, estimating three years to get a plant up and running.

In contrast, Afrigen hopes to eventually transfer the skills and technology for its vaccine to factories across Africa and even train companies in Argentina and Brazil too. Experts have already identified over 100 facilities that could be manufacturing mRNA vaccines right now. Eight of them are on the African continent

Moderna has yet to comment on Afrigen’s breakthrough. The WHO technology transfer hub catalyzing the effort does not intend to “infringe” on patents. For their part, Afrigen’s managing director has said, “this is not Moderna’s vaccine, it is the Afrigen mRNA hub vaccine.”

They also point to a commitment from Moderna that it will not enforce its Covid-19 related patents against those making vaccines intended to combat the pandemic. But MSF Access Campaign has expressed concerns that Moderna retains the right to decide when it thinks the pandemic is over and its patent enforcement will resume.

Afrigen’s leap forward comes amid renewed attention to India and South Africa’s plea to waive some intellectual property rights until everyone everywhere has access to vaccines. The African Union has thrown its weight behind the proposal and the Biden administration backed the idea, at least for vaccines, in 2021.

Talks remain stalled at the World Trade Organization due to short-sighted opposition from the European Union. If a waiver is adopted this month, as some diplomats hope, it could help shield Afrigen’s vaccine, and make it easier to make more of the Covid-19 treatments, tests and vaccines that we all need.

Afrigen’s success spotlights a failure of global solidarity. Africa’s scientists shouldn’t have to go it alone. Companies behind the name brand Covid-19 vaccines, Pfizer, Moderna and BioNTech should share their technology more widely, or governments will need to make it happen.

 

Excerpt:

Akshaya Kumar is the crisis advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

Greenpeace activists fly a giant turtle kite outside the United Nations headquarters in New York as countries gathered to begin negotiations towards a treaty covering all oceans outside of national borders. September 2018 Credit: Greenpeace

By Will McCallum
LONDON, Feb 16 2022 (IPS)

Over the past two weeks, a petition signed by almost five million people globally was handed in to governments around the world. It called for a Global Ocean Treaty to help rescue our oceans.

Yet with governments gathering next month to discuss the fate of half our planet, civil society is being shut out. The climate crisis and industrial fishing are pushing our oceans to the brink. Wildlife populations are collapsing, our oceans are heating and their very chemistry is changing.

World leaders will meet at the so-called BBNJ negotiations from 7-18 March to attempt to reckon with the scale of the crisis facing one of our planet’s key life support systems. But, as NGOs found out in a closed-door briefing call yesterday, the meeting will not allow for proper participation from civil society.

This is effectively closing the door to organisations which represent millions of people worldwide, many of whom rely on the ocean for their lives and livelihoods, and all of whom depend on the ocean for the oxygen it gives us.

It is worth noting that without years of campaigning by organisations like Greenpeace and many others, this treaty process would not even be happening: civil society has played a crucial role in getting us to this stage.

It contributes expertise and information, facilitates policy development and provides a network of connections and experts, as well as a platform for frontline communities facing these issues day in, day out.

The extremely limited participation at this meeting simply does not represent the urgency with which we need a rescue plan for our oceans: a Global Ocean Treaty that allows us to cover at least a third of international waters with ocean sanctuaries – areas free from harmful human activity like destructive fishing.

As COVID-19 continues to impact on all of our lives, we all recognise and appreciate the seriousness of health measures around large international conferences. But there has to be a way to also ensure that the vital voices which civil society represents are heard in a safe and meaningful way, particularly during a time when not only our global health, but our planetary health, is in jeopardy.

Closing the doors to civil society – and even restricting government participation so severely – should be unthinkable and sets a worrying precedent for democratic engagement at the UN. What possible justification can there be to deny civil society the right to speak on video screens?

It hampers the important role that civil society has played, and continues to play, in the Global Ocean Treaty negotiations, as well as other UN processes. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, innovative hybrid models and flexible health measures have shown that effective and safe participation is possible, and a failure to embrace this approach at the UN – especially as we face critical decisions that affect us all – is simply untenable.

Almost 5 million people globally are demanding urgent action to tackle the ocean crisis. Over 100 governments claim to back ocean protection. Organisations amplifying the voices of millions of people worldwide must be represented as decisions are made.

These negotiations are simply too important to avoid proper scrutiny: the UN should review its decision and work to ensure that civil society can participate in Global Ocean Treaty negotiations in a safe and meaningful way.

This means allowing in-person representation from NGOs during the deliberations, timely access to information prior to and during the meeting, and the opportunity to provide interventions and written submissions.

This isn’t simply a matter of transparency and accountability: ocean protection is a scientific imperative and governments are not acting fast enough. We know that for the three billion people who depend on the oceans for their food and livelihood, for the wildlife that call the ocean home and for the fight against climate breakdown, we need a network of ocean sanctuaries across at least a third of the world’s oceans by 2030.

To do that we first need to win an ambitious Global Ocean Treaty at the UN that gives us the tools we need to meet that target in the vast majority of the oceans beyond national boundaries.

The pandemic has pressed the pause button on so many things, but not for our natural world. From the melting Arctic to the plundered Pacific, the climate and nature crises are accelerating. Political momentum for a network of ocean sanctuaries across our oceans is gathering pace, but governments need to act like our lives depend on it, because they do.

Out on the water, while we delay, destructive fishing companies are operating out of sight and beyond the rule of law, stripping the oceans of life. This plunder of the seas is pushing wildlife populations towards collapse and leaving nothing for the coastal communities who rely on artisanal fishing to survive.

Pollution, oil drilling and the emerging threat of deep-sea mining, are poisoning marine life and making the climate crisis worse by killing off vital ecosystems.

Our oceans connect us all and what happens there will impact the future of life on Earth. Ocean sanctuaries can give wildlife space to recover and, in turn, help to cycle carbon and avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis. We need to protect at least 30% of the oceans by 2030, not the paltry 1% of the global ocean that is currently protected.

We desperately need progress at this meeting: governments were expected to conclude the treaty at these negotiations, and so it is vital that every effort is made to ensure the maximum participation possible, so that essential negotiations can take place.

To do that, we need civil society organisations in the room.

Will McCallum runs Greenpeace’s Protect the Oceans campaign and is head of oceans at Greenpeace UK

 

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By Emilia Reyes, Iolanda Fresnillo, Neth Dano and Pooja Rangaprasad
NEW YORK, Feb 15 2022 (IPS)

On 10 September 2021, UN Secretary-General (SG) Antonio Guterres released the “Our Common Agenda” (OCA) report. This report was in response to a request from UN member states to “report back before the end of the seventy-fifth session of the General Assembly with recommendations to advance our common agenda and to respond to current and future challenges”.

UN member states are currently meeting, as part of a consultation process on the OCA report, to discuss these proposals. The report contains many concerning recommendations in relation to the global economic and financial architecture and has larger implications for democratic global governance.

Corporate capture of the UN in the name of multistake-holderism

Rather than reaffirming the role of inclusive member state led processes, the proposals made by the Secretary General (SG) rely on new multi-stakeholder approaches, termed ‘networked multilateralism’ in the report.

This would bring to the decision-making table global corporate monopolies and international financial actors that have concentrated wealth and power, subsumed regions into debt and austerity, eroded environmental integrity, exacerbated poverty and human rights violations, actively undermined equal and just access to vaccines, and profited from disasters.

This modality of operation undermines the United Nations’ role in international decision-making as well as the related accountability and transparency that is central to its legitimacy.

Speaking of the Common Agenda, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has highlighted the power of youth engagement and the importance of their voices across the UN system and beyond, recalling his proposal to establish an Office on Youth. Credit: United Nations

Multistake-holderism conflates duty-bearers (governments), rights holders (people) and corporations as equal stakeholders, under the illusion that all of them are equal in their rights, responsibilities, and capacities. Such processes would also embed the UN in extreme conflict of interests.

For instance, the SG proposes a multi-stakeholder digital technology track in preparation for a ‘Summit of the Future’ to agree on a ‘Global Digital Compact’. The proposal echoes the recommendation of the UNSG’s High Level Panel of Experts on Digital Cooperation which was co-chaired by key personalities in global technology platforms (Big Tech).

Instead of enabling the self-serving push from Big Tech, the UN should support inclusive, member state led processes to address the development divide that underpins the digital divide, to regulate and curb the growing powers and wealth of Big Tech and ensure that human rights are respected.

The extent to which the OCA report and its “solutions” rely on multi-stakeholder approaches, reinforcing the role of problematic exclusive membership clubs and giving a seat at the table to those who have preyed on disaster, is worrisome.

The UN should be the normative space for making decisions on critical global challenges which has increasingly been captured by global north led spaces such as the OECD and G20 instead. The UN should indeed be addressing all those substantive issues included in the agenda.

But it should be done through strengthening inclusive member state led processes. Not by surrendering to the corporate capture and undermining even more the possibility to regain global democracy.

Eroding existing inclusive, multilateral processes at the UN

The OCA report proposes to establish a multistakeholder ‘emergency platform’ as well as a Biennial Summit between G20, ECOSOC, SG and IFIs noting that “we still lack pre-negotiated ways to convene relevant actors in the event of a global economic crisis”. This is incorrect.

The UN’s Financing for Development (FfD) process already has the mandate to convene and make decisions in the event of a global economic crisis with a legitimacy spanning 20 years. In fact, an FfD crisis conference titled “UN conference on the world economic crisis and its effects on developing countries” was convened in 2009 in direct response to the global economic crisis.

The FfD process is already mandated to address urgent global systemic challenges on debt, international tax, private finance, ODA, trade, technology and financial regulation. The modalities of the FfD process already recognises civil society and the private sector as stakeholders for inputs, in addition to IFIs, WTO and UNCTAD, while ensuring that negotiations are clearly intergovernmental with member states as decision-makers.

The challenge is not the lack of existing processes to convene but the need to overcome the obstinate blocking from a handful of member states in the UN who prefer such decision-making to happen in undemocratic forums rather than the UN. Establishing multi-stakeholder initiatives will not resolve this political economy challenge and will only further delay decision-making by strengthening the status quo.

Recommendations to member states

Convene the 4th Financing for Development (FfD) conference: UN member states should urgently agree on the next FfD Conference to respond to the multiple crises we face and move towards a new global economic architecture that works for the people and planet.

We need leadership from UN member states to reinforce existing member state led processes rather than inventing new forums and summits that only delay decision-making.

Democratise global economic governance: Multilateral reforms are urgently needed to ensure the democratisation of global economic governance such as the need for a global debt workout mechanism at the UN, establishing a universal UN intergovernmental tax commission and a global technology assessment mechanism at the UN.

We call on UN member states to reject multistake-holderism that reinforces the role of problematic exclusive membership clubs (OECD, G20 etc) and enables corporate capture of intergovernmental decision-making and to instead uphold the democratic potential of the United Nations.

Emilia Reyes is co-convener of the Women’s Working Group on FfD; Iolanda Fresnillo is Debt Justice Manager at European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad); Neth Dano is Asia Director of Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group); and Pooja Rangaprasad is Policy Director, FfD at Society for International Development (SID).

This article is based on Civil Society FfD Group’s response to the OCA report: https://csoforffd.org/2022/01/19/response-to-un-secretary-generals-our-common-agenda-report/

 

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Experts say proper hygiene, especially during the first 1,000 days of a child’s life is critical. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
Nairobi, Kenya, Feb 15 2022 (IPS)

For two days in a row back in 2018, four-year-old Calvin Otieno suffered from diarrhoea and vomiting, and his mother responded by giving him a salt solution.

Pearl Otieno tells IPS that diarrhoea among children in Kibera, the largest urban informal settlement, is commonplace. A mixture of salt and warm water is often the go-to remedy.

“He did not seem to get worse, but he was not getting better either. He lay on the floor too weak to play,” she says.

It was too late by the time Otieno realized the magnitude of the situation and rushed her son to the nearby Mbagathi Hospital.

Kibera has long been synonymous with ‘flying toilets’, where residents relieve themselves in bags during nighttime and throw them away at dawn because they lack toilets inside their homes and fear using public toilets due to insecurity.

“Open defecation, flying toilets, lack of water and money to buy soap, people dumping household and human waste in open spaces is the life that children in the slums are exposed to,” says Nelson Mutinda, a Community Health Volunteer working hand-in-hand with a local NGO.

But Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) challenges are not limited to informal settlements in this East African nation.

Overall, even though Kenyans have access to safe drinking water at 59 percent, according to UNICEF statistics, only 29 percent of the population has access to basic sanitation.

In all, five million Kenyans practise open defecation, a problem that statistics by the World Bank show is similarly prevalent in many low- and middle-income countries.

Open defecation is prevalent in Chad, Benin, Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Madagascar, Niger, Namibia, and Sao Tome and Principal. Only a handful of countries such as South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Seychelles, Mauritania, and the Gambia have successfully addressed access to sanitation.

World Health Organization (WHO) data indicates that Africa is not on track to achieve universal access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation in keeping with global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In the absence of increased investments in WASH interventions, the health body stresses that Africa will remain off track due to the added pressure from climate change and projected growth in population.

Against this backdrop, WHO says children in Sub-Saharan Africa are at least 14 times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than children in developed nations.

According to government statistics, in Kenya, at least 64,500 children die every year before reaching the age of five. Three-quarters of these deaths occur before their first birthday.

Mary Wanjiru, a pediatric nurse at Mbagathi Hospital, tells IPS that, like Otieno, many die from preventable diseases because the primary cause of death is diarrhoea, pneumonia, or neonatal complications.

“It is very important for mothers to understand that proper hygiene, especially during the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, is a very important pillar of child health. Poor hygiene can lead to death or a child failing to reach their full developmental and growth potential,” she says.

“WASH interventions are pillars of maternal, newborn and general child health because they prevent life-threatening infections such as tetanus, diarrhoea, sepsis and helps reduce stunted growth.”

According to USAID research, proper hygiene is a fragile pillar in Africa’s low- and middle-income countries.

In all, 50 percent of health care facilities lack piped water, 33 percent lack improved sanitation, 39 percent lack handwashing soap, 39 percent lack adequate infectious waste disposal, and 73 percent lack sterilization equipment, research shows.

While WASH interventions, such as safe drinking water, proper handwashing practices, and even basic sanitation, could prevent an estimated 297,000 global deaths among children under the age of five every year, this goal is not within reach for many Sub-Saharan African countries.

Hand washing, says the WHO, is the single most cost-effective strategy to prevent pneumonia and diarrhoea in young children successfully.

Still, data from UNICEF and WHO Joint Monitoring Programme released in August 2020 shows that an estimated 818 million of the world’s children lacked basic handwashing facilities within their schools. Of these children, 295 million live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Overall, seven out of 10 schools lacked basic handwashing facilities in the least developed countries worldwide.

It is within this context that UNICEF paints a dire picture. Over 700 children worldwide under the age of five die daily of diarrheal diseases because of a lack of appropriate WASH services.

Children in conflict situations are especially vulnerable because they are nearly 20 times more likely to die from diarrheal diseases than in conflict.

“For ten years, I have worked in four slums in Nairobi. I find it very shocking that people have not understood how serious diarrhoea in children is. But small children will be given a mixture of water and salt, and sometimes some herbs and people just take the situation very lightly,” Mutinda observes.

Wanjiru agrees. She says that diarrhoea can escalate to a fatality within a matter of hours, “by the time mothers rush to the hospital with children suffering from acute watery diarrhoea, it is sometimes a losing race against time. Any form of illness among children should never be a wait-and-see situation. Seek immediate medical attention.”

 

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By Vikas Rawal and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
NEW DELHI and KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 2022 (IPS)

A recent Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) study shows the largest farms cultivate a high and increasing share of agricultural land in much of the world.

Farm size concentration
World Agricultural Census data for 129 countries show about 40% of the world’s farmland is operated by farms over 1000 hectares (ha) in size. About 70% is operated by the top 1% of farms, all bigger than 50 ha each.

Vikas Rawal

A rising share of farmland is in larger farms. But farm sizes in developed and developing countries seem quite different. Farms smaller than 5 ha accounted for 63% of land in low and lower middle-income countries. But such farms covered only 8% of farmland in upper middle and high-income countries.

The “share of farmland farmed on the largest holdings has increased in … several European countries (France, Germany and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and in the United States of America.” Similarly, in recent decades, more land in many Latin American and sub-Saharan African countries is in larger farms.

Data coverage uneven
Most agricultural censuses in developing countries do not cover large scale farms well. Official agricultural statistics in many developing countries focus on farm households, often ignoring corporate farms.

Agricultural censuses typically rely on land records, usually neither up to date nor complete. Large farms often have land registered to different persons and entities, typically to avoid taxes and bypass land ownership ceilings and regulations.

Government surveys in India have not comprehensively covered large farms, understating inequality. Other data from India suggest the top fifth of farms account for 83% of land.

Even where large farms are legally recognized as commercial entities, land is often held via subsidiaries in complex arrangements. For such reasons, the extent of concentration is probably greater than what the study suggests.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Ominous trends
Despite its limitations, the study findings are ominous. Changing inequalities in farmland ownership and cultivation have reduced the smallholder or peasant share of food production.

The study suggests that ‘land grabs’, new laws and policies have enabled large (capitalist) farmers, agribusiness corporations and other commercial entities to control most of the world’s farmland.

Disparities in government support allowed by World Trade Organization and other trade agreements have enabled large farms in developed countries, like the US, to gain more advantages over relatively uninfluential peasants in the South.

More advantages to big farm capital in recent decades, particularly to large-scale commercial agriculture in the global North, have enhanced their edge. More peasant distress has pushed many deeper into debt. Many of the most vulnerable have had to migrate, seeking precarious employment elsewhere.

Under various pressures not to protect food agriculture, developing countries have cut support for peasants. Withdrawal of such assistance has forced farmers to buy inputs at commercial prices. Meanwhile, many have to sell their produce cheap to those providing credit or other facilities.

By enabling easier land takeovers, commercial farming has quickly spread in ecologically fragile areas such as the Brazilian Cerrado, various parts of sub-Saharan Africa and steep slopes subject to deforestation.

Small farms, world food
The study has triggered a controversy by asserting that ‘family farms’ is a broader category than smallholdings. These would include large family-owned or run farms.

Hence, family farms account for 80% of the total value of food produced in the world, while smallholdings account for only 35%. These estimates have been contested by several civil society organizations who have protested to the FAO Director General.

Most agricultural censuses do not provide data on production by farm size. Instead, the study divides the total market value of a country’s food output by its total farmland. It then assumes a constant food output value per hectare. But this ignores significant differences in crop output among farms of different types.

Commercial bias
In many countries, large farms produce more commercial crops, not necessarily food. These may be for manufacturing (e.g., rubber, cotton), animal feed, or to be industrially processed for consumption (e.g., sugar, palm oil, coffee).

Many smallholder peasants consume significant shares of their own farm outputs. They typically work on limited land and need to meet their own food needs, rather than maximize cash incomes. Hence, their priorities may be rather different from those of commercial farms.

More fertile regions (e.g., river deltas) tend to have greater population densities, smaller farm sizes and higher productivity. Such smaller farms often grow multiple crops yearly, while larger farms with harsher agro-climatic conditions (e.g., higher temperatures, more snow or less water availability) often only have a single crop annually.

Although not universal, and often overstated, there is evidence of smallholders having higher land productivity, inversely related to farm size, owing to differences in the way factor inputs are used by various types of farms.

By assuming constant food output value per hectare, the study ignores many important variations, and probably under-estimates the contributions of small farms to world food supply.

Peasants marginalized
The study shows how various systemic advantages and biases have enabled big capitalist farms to control more of the world’s farmland and food supplies. But the share of food supply produced by smallholder producers is far from settled.

While more pronounced in rich countries, large corporate farms have also been growing in many developing countries. Even where family farming is predominant, increasing farm sizes have been apparent.

The study rightly notes the need to consider different types of farms in making appropriate policies for family farms of various sizes. This is necessary to better formulate policies to address poverty and livelihoods, especially for smallholder producers in distress.

It even suggests the need to “hold large scale and corporate agriculture accountable for the negative externalities of their production (for example on the environment)”. Besides better farming data, farmland concentration and its many implications in various parts of the world should be more appropriately addressed.

Vikas Rawal is Professor of Economics at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has conducted field research on agrarian relations in different parts of India for three decades, and works on global agricultural development challenges. Inter alia, he was lead author of The Global Economy of Pulses (FAO).

 

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Brazil has become the world’s leading exporter of beef in recent years. It has more cattle than its 214 million human inhabitants. But this leads to serious environmental damage: deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, as cattle drive the illegal appropriation and possession of deforested public lands. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 14 2022 (IPS)

With its accelerated growth agriculture has emerged as a key sector of Brazil’s economy, but it is failing on its own to spread prosperity and reduce poverty and inequality, with industry in decline.

However, it can do so by bringing in foreign exchange with its large exports and thus create macroeconomic conditions for pro-poor social policies, argues Carlos Guanziroli, a professor at the Fluminense Federal University.

Brazil used to be a food importer, producing only about 50 million tons of grains in 1980. Thirty years later the harvest was three times bigger and in 2020 it reached more than 250 million tons, the economist noted.

The fivefold increase in the harvest in 40 years was due to a strong growth in productivity, since the sown area expanded by only 60 percent, from 40 to 64 million hectares, according to the Agriculture Ministry’s National Supply Company.

The country became the world’s largest producer and exporter of soybeans, meat, sugar, orange juice and, long before that, coffee. Agribusiness exports reached 120.6 billion dollars in 2021 and led to a sectoral surplus of 105.1 billion dollars, which more than offset the industrial deficit.

Soybean is the main symbol of the success of agribusiness in Brazil, whose landscape has been stained with its monotonous crops. In four decades, agricultural research has achieved high soy productivity in the hot lands of the Cerrado, the Brazilian savannah. Flat land suitable for mechanization, with regular rainfall and the possibility of planting corn or cotton after the soybean harvest are the advantages of tropical agriculture in Brazil. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

Economic cycles

Brazil achieved this agricultural strength in the midst of dizzying economic, demographic and political upheavals in the country over the last 100 years.

The 20th century industrialization drive, which picked up speed after World War II and continued until the 1980s, was apparently set to give rise to a new industrial powerhouse, the “Great Brazil” announced by the 1964-1985 military dictatorship’s propaganda.

But industry stalled since the 1980s, with its share of GDP declining in the following decades, while agriculture took off.

In the 1990s, a previously neglected sector, family farming, gained a more clearly defined identity, thanks to promotion policies. Guanziroli, then a researcher at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), contributed to this process.

Industrialization accelerated the urbanization of the population. Only 36 percent of Brazilians lived in cities in 1950. By 1980 the proportion had climbed to 67 percent and in 2010, when the last national census was carried out, it stood at 84 percent, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), which puts the current population of Brazil at 214 million.

In other words, during the following cycle of strong agricultural expansion and industrial stagnation the tendency towards urbanization was maintained. Mechanization, extensive monocultures and the high concentration of land ownership are some of the reasons for the massive rural exodus.

But agriculture involves an extensive chain, which includes manufacturers of tractors, harvesters and other machinery, chemical inputs, packaging, as well as activities such as transportation and other services, said Guanziroli.

“This chain accounts for 22 percent of GDP and 28 percent of all jobs” in Brazil, he stressed in an interview with IPS in Rio de Janeiro.

Farmer Alison Oliveira stands among his organic crops on the small farm he works with his wife near the town of Alta Floresta, on the edge of Brazil’s Amazon region. Sustainable family farming is a barrier against deforestation and soybean monoculture. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

Family farming

Family agriculture, which comprises 3.9 million farms with more than 10 million employed workers in Brazil, according to the 2017 agricultural census conducted by IBGE, is a sector which stands to experience major social and economic benefits from public policies.

“It is more labor-intensive and responds to trends towards local consumption and organic production, which are more evident in developed countries, especially in Europe,” said Rafael Cagnin, an economist at the Institute for Industrial Development Studies, promoted by the sector.

In addition to providing employment for families and potential employees, family farming enhances food security and boosts the local economy.

The activity is defined not by the size of the property or what it produces, but by the predominance of family labor, which must not be surpassed by hired workers, said Guanziroli.

Studies and proposals of researchers on the subject, especially in the 1990s, “sought to avoid simplifications, such as saying that family farmers were all poor and only produced food,” he said.

A misconception that is widespread – not only in Brazil – is that family farming is responsible for the production of 70 percent of the country’s food, Guanziroli said. He clarified that this is correct with regard to beans and cassava, but not to food production as a whole.

“This is a lie used for political means that affects dialogue and public policies, rhetoric that is not based on serious evidence,” he argued.

Studies estimated the share of family farms in total agricultural production at 38 percent in 1996 and 36 percent in 2006, according to IBGE census data. In 2017 the proportion dropped to 28 percent because of a prolonged drought that began in 2012 in the semi-arid Northeast region, which concentrates almost half of the country’s family farms.

A farmer harvests lettuce in Santa Maria de Jetibá, a mountainous agricultural municipality, the main supplier of horticultural products for school meals in the city of Vitoria, in southeastern Brazil. The synergy between family farming and school meals programs strengthens local production in the country. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

Long-range policies

In Brazil, the recognition and clear definition of family farming benefited from good statistics from IBGE, a factor absent in many countries.

But studies on the subject and the proposals of researchers taken up by the government face hurdles, due to “ideological issues and the antagonism with agribusiness which has worn the issue down,” lamented Guanziroli.

“The idea was to clearly define family farming in order to promote projects and policies, such as credit,” he explained. It is an activity that is part of the agricultural business, integrated into the marketing chain, and inputs.

In spite of everything, the researcher assesses the balance of the last 30 years as positive. “Family farming has been consolidated, it has irreversible policies giving it a solid structure,” he said.

The best example is the National Program for the Strengthening of Family Agriculture (Pronaf), created in 1995, which continues to guarantee credits with low interest rates and favorable payment conditions. Not even the current far-right government, hostile to peasant farmers, has dared to abolish the program.

What is most lacking is technical assistance, “which never reached family farmers in those 30 years. We tried a thousand formulas, old institutions, non-governmental organizations, but we were unable to mobilize agronomists,” said Guanziroli.

Pig farmer Anelio Tomazzoni stands among biodigesters that convert the manure from his 38,000 hogs into biogas, in the southern state of Santa Catarina, Brazil’s main pork exporter. Energy production is a new aspect of agriculture and livestock farming in Brazil. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

Agriculture and industry

Nevertheless, he believes that Brazil’s competitiveness lies in agriculture. “In industry we fell behind, it is difficult to compete with Asia,” he said. Some services, such as digital platforms, can be an alternative, but they require a long-term effort in education, in which Brazil is lagging.

But Cagnin told IPS from São Paulo that “Resuming Brazil’s economic and social development does not seem possible without progress in industry, following the example of other countries, especially the more complex ones.”

It is the sector that “generates and disseminates the most innovations in a capitalist economy, the one that builds bridges between other activities, adds value to agricultural or mineral products and promotes more sophisticated services,” he argued.

The economist, who specializes in industrial development, recognizes that Brazil’s political conflicts and educational shortcomings hinder progress in the midst of “technological transformations,” productive reorganization and new labor relations.

But industry is also indispensable because of the numerous serious risks facing the “agriculture of the future,” such as the climate crisis, changes in consumption and the directions that the large Chinese market will take, he maintained.

Everything points to the wisdom of not limiting the economy to a few export products, as Brazil is doing, and to seeking “synergies between industry and agriculture,” instead of excluding other sectors, he argued.

By External Source
NEW YORK, Feb 14 2022 (IPS-Partners)

Conflict, forced displacement, climate change and COVID-19 are disrupting the education of millions of crisis-affected children and adolescents around the world.

Yasmine Sherif is the Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the United Nation’s global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. When she and ECW partners from around the world operationalized the Fund in 2017, an estimated 75 million conflict-affected children were out of school. Today, that number has risen to 128 million – more than the total population of Japan.

Just a few short years later, under Sherif’s leadership, ECW is already a billion-dollar global fund, with US$1.1 billion raised in its Trust Fund and another US$1 billion leveraged through in-county multi-year resilience programmes to support these crisis-affected children and youth with the quality education that they desperately need.

To address this vast, unprecedented humanitarian and developmental crisis of disrupted education, visionary leadership, drive and direction is required. Not only is education an inherent human right for every child, but it is the foundation that supports achievement of all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Over the past few years, ground-breaking efforts have been made to re-position education as a top priority in humanitarian crisis contexts. The upcoming Summit on Transforming Education, as well as staunch support from the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina J. Mohammed, are testament to the central role education plays today in the multilateral UN system and beyond.

The clock is ticking. We now have just eight years to achieve the SDGs, or to at least close the gap, while simultaneously addressing the growing number of forcibly displaced people, the escalating climate crisis and building back better from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To achieve these Global Goals – and build a more peaceful, more just and more prosperous world – a global movement grounded in the multilateral system, civil society and private sector is required. That global movement is Education Cannot Wait.

“I can’t see us combating extreme poverty, managing climate change, ending world hunger or creating gender equality, if we are going to leave millions of crisis-affected children and young people, not the least the girls, illiterate and disempowered without an education. If you want to invest in all the Sustainable Development Goals and universal human rights, you’ve got to start with the foundation and the glue. That foundation and glue is education,” Sherif said.

ECW’s pioneering approach as a global fund within the UN system, which reduces bureaucracy and improves accountability by closely aligning with civil society and the private sector, is a model that reforms the way the UN works. The Fund – connecting with partners across the globe through results, innovation, passion and accountability – showcases how humanitarian relief and longer-term development interventions work together through multi-year programming to respond to emergencies rapidly and sustainably.

Since ECW’s inception, this breakthrough Fund has invested in over 5 million crisis-affected children and adolescents in 42 countries and crisis contexts with safe, inclusive, child-centred, holistic education and emergency support.

ECW was formed in 2016 at the World Humanitarian Summit under the lead of the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, with the support of a wide coalition of UN, government, civil society and private foundation partners. It is through them, the world class team that Sherif has built and its strong governance boards, that ECW has been able to break through barriers and deliver quality education in the world’s most complex crises.

As head of the thriving global fund and movement, Sherif’s diverse background in human rights and her focus and determination to deliver results is making her a key champion and thought leader on the international stage for the rights of those left furthest behind. Whether she is driving the creation of the first education response plan for refugees in Uganda, calling for an end to attacks on schools in Cameroon or leading the first all-women UN delegation to Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, Sherif delivers her work based on the principles of human rights, human dignity and human empowerment.

“From a young age, I wanted to serve those who were in the most difficult circumstances of injustice, conflict and marginalisation in the world. I felt very responsible for humanity. I’ve always felt a responsibility for the world and believed that I could make a difference,” she said.

 
Early Years

Sherif was born in Stockholm and grew up in Sweden. From a young age, she was exposed to different cultures. Her Swedish mother and her Egyptian father encouraged her to be a world citizen, to read, learn and appreciate different customs and religions, and to adopt an inner moral compass in life and serve others. This ingrained in her values that she still holds today: to be respectful of all religions, beliefs and faiths, and to embrace diversity in all its forms. For her, it was only natural to pursue a master’s degree in International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law from Stockholm University in 1987.

Shortly after graduating, Sherif joined the International Committee of the Red Cross as an intern for their legal department, starting her long career in humanitarian and international development. Following this internship, Sherif spent a few years working for Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan who led the UN coordination of economic assistance to Afghanistan in 1989. In this position she was first posted in Geneva, Switzerland and then in Kabul, Afghanistan. After this, she joined her first UN peacekeeping mission in Cambodia in 1992 as part of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) mission.

“For me, the United Nations seemed like the natural trajectory in my life,” she said. “It represented the diversity of my own upbringing, and its Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights represented the values that ran like a blue thread through my childhood and adolescence.”

In 1994, she joined the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and led the first repatriation of refugees back to Bosnia. In 2000, she joined the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and was responsible for the new political and practical portfolio on the Protection of Civilians. She then spent over a decade with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) where she led the establishment and growth of the UN’s largest rule of law programming for crisis contexts.

“With my human rights background and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s UN reform, everyone needed human rights expertise. While having a family and two children to bring up, I was still able to move around between different UN agencies in need of human rights, protection and rule of law expertise. This allowed me to understand their different mandates and roles and deeply enriched my experience,” she said. “This has been invaluable for Education Cannot Wait. My team and I have to be catalytic and ensure that all UN agencies and all civil society organisations are given the same attention and financial investment opportunities. Without favouritism, we collaborate to achieve greater results.”

 
Captives in Cambodia

Sherif’s time at the UN is marked by great accomplishments and has taken her to over 40 countries. During her work in Cambodia in the early 1990s, she was responsible for human rights in the Battambang province, the country’s second largest province, leading a team of UN Civil Police officers. One day, a French police officer with the UN Police reported to her that there were undisclosed detention centres in the province, detaining political opponents. In the midst of a UN election, this required investigation. Sherif requested the officer to produce further evidence and he obliged. Pictures and concrete information were brought forward and Sherif launched an investigation together with the UN Civil Police.

“It was so sensitive and dangerous. We would interview witnesses at night in our UN Land Cruisers, so as not to be bugged in our guest house,” she said. “I would sleep with cassettes of the interviews under my pillow.”

Sherif worked with her human rights superiors in the capital, Phnom Penh, and police commanders in Battambang to plan a date to enter the undisclosed detention centres. In the meantime, local authorities had become suspicious and she received death threats.

“I remember the day we entered the detention centres. In the police station, I was on my walkie talkie, awaiting news from the UN Civil Police carrying out the operation. I was walking back and forth, and I said to myself: ‘Oh my gosh, what if you’re wrong? What if they enter these locations and there are no prisoners?’”

These doubts were erased when she received the call over the walkie talkie from the mission commander. They had entered the detention centre and found 20 political detainees.

“At that moment, the sky just opened. Our instincts had been right, our efforts were paying off and, most importantly, we did what we were there to do: ensure free and fair elections.”

This investigation led to a shift in the human rights approach of the UNTAC mission, with colleagues across Cambodia uncovering more undisclosed detention centres and saving more political prisoners. At that point, Sherif was only 26 years old and she had already contributed to the direction of a UN peacekeeping operation.

 
Rule of law

Another one of Sherif’s proudest achievements is her role in building UNDP’s rule of law programming across crisis-affected countries. This work drew on her legal expertise and experience in establishing legal aid and improving the capacity of justice systems in crisis-countries. Here, she strengthened her knowledge to better operate in the UN system through global programming investments, work across the humanitarian-development nexus and bring together partners through joint programming – all of which she has brought with her to Education Cannot Wait.

In the Darfur region of Sudan, atrocities such as rape and sexual violence were commonplace, and justice was not being delivered. To combat this, Sherif helped establish legal aid centres to support victims and their families through joint programming with UN agencies, civil society, and government institutions.

“I remember there was a little 10 year-old girl and a lower-level policeman had raped her. Her mother came to one of our legal aid centres and received legal help. We took the case to the court, and through the trust we had built and the capacity we had developed, the court worked and delivered justice. The policeman was sentenced to 10 years. We had many of these cases,” Sherif said.

After her mission to Sudan, Sherif was called to UNDP headquarters and asked to build UNDP rule of law programmes in all the crisis-affected countries they supported. It grew so fast that the then UN Secretary-General decided to establish a joint office for rule of law, co-hosted by UNDP and the Peacekeeping Department. This led to the UN jointly delivering rule of law in over 60 fragile or crisis-affected countries.

Building a global movement

In her current role, Sherif continues on her human rights mission. By spearheading the global movement that follows children and youth in crisis-contexts and using concrete results to measure success, she is a key advocate for their fundamental right to quality education.

Through ECW’s investment modalities that deliver rapidly at scale while ensuring depth in quality and sustainability, millions of girls and boys in crisis situations around the world are able to resume or continue learning. In these contexts, education is invaluable and their only hope for a better future. It provides a pathway to their future and to that of their nations, while also offering protection, psycho-social services, school meals and a sense of normalcy.

To maximise ECW’s reach, Sherif works closely with public and private donors, strategic donor partners, host governments, UN agencies, and international and national civil society organisations to provide children with the quality learning opportunities they are entitled to. This includes providing whole-of-child services to address specific challenges.

Sherif credits The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, who spearheaded the establishment of Education Cannot Wait and now serves as Chair of the ECW High-Level Steering Group, for providing an effective and efficient platform that enables ECW to be the positively disruptive force that it is.

“Without Gordon Brown, there would be no 5 million children given a holistic, quality education in the contexts of armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate-induced disasters and protracted crises. He is the key person who inspired others to join him. I have great respect for him,” she said.

Although there is much work ahead, Sherif is very thankful for the small but dedicated ECW team of experts with whom she works, crediting their hard work for the Fund’s success. She is also very thankful for ECW’s many strategic and trusted donors and partners who continuously show their commitment to the Fund’s mission and share its overarching philosophy.

Sherif’s heart is committed to ECW’s mission. In spite of increasing threats to the education of millions of crisis-affected children around the world, she is confident that ECW will rise to the challenge and continue to grow and meet the needs of those left furthest behind. “We have to be optimistic and work as if success is inevitable,” she said.

Quoting Joan of Arc, she expresses her sentiments: “I am not afraid, I was born to do this.”

 

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Excerpt:

A deeper dive into the life of ECW Director Yasmine Sherif, the UN’s billion-dollar woman.

By Manuel Barange
ROME, Feb 14 2022 (IPS)

The ocean covers more than 70 percent of our planet. There is no question it is critical for our health and well-being. It provides half the earth’s oxygen supply and every organism in existence depends on it to survive.

Manuel Barange

The ocean is also vital for our nutrition and food security, cultural heritage and economic sustenance. Hundreds of millions of people rely directly or indirectly on the ocean for their lives and livelihoods. It’s not just about jobs or feeding our families. The ebb and flow of the tides is embedded in the history and traditions of thousands of coastal communities around the world.

Now this precious resource is under threat on several fronts, from unsustainable fishing and pollution to climate change and competing uses. The ecological sustainability of our ocean resources, and the future of our marine life and those who depend on it, have never been more tenuous.

This year’s One Ocean Summit celebrates the role of the ocean in our everyday lives and is an opportunity to strengthen our commitment to secure its conservation and sustainable use.

The clock is ticking.

Global marine capture fisheries production reached 80.4 million tonnes in 2019. The risk of overfishing to meet escalating demand is real. According to FAO’s assessment in its 2020 report, The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, the proportion of fish stocks produced within biologically sustainable levels has fallen from 90 percent in 1974 to 65.8 percent in 2017.

Urgent action is needed to ensure all marine and ocean spaces are placed under effective management and fish stocks are restored to sustainable levels in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Mariculture, or marine aquaculture, grew to an eye-watering 32 million tonnes in 2019, but this is far below its scientifically estimated ecological limits. Policy reform, technological advancement and value chain development would enable significant expansion to help feed the world’s growing population and reduce pressure on land-based food systems.

Despite the many challenges, change is possible. Together we can create the environment for ‘blue transformation’, a new approach to the sustainable growth and management of aquatic resources that will not only feed the world’s growing population, but also ensure a sustainable future for the ocean and those who depend on it.

Aquatic foods from ocean and freshwater sources have a much lower environmental footprint than land-based animal protein and their diversity – over 2,500 species are captured and over 600 cultured – makes the sector more adaptable to climate change.

Three billion people already obtain vital nutrients and 20 percent of their animal protein from aquatic foods. With the right kind of sustainable development our marine resources can help to feed the world’s growing population which is expected to rise to 10 billion by 2050.

Blue transformation focuses on three objectives. First, it aims to promote the sustainable expansion of aquaculture to achieve a 40 percent increase in production by 2030, especially in food deficit regions, backed by appropriate policy frameworks, species and strain diversification, effective biosecurity and disease controls, training and support.

Second, fisheries management must be transformed where sustainability is failing or is unknown. While one in three fisheries is overexploited, effective fisheries management has rebuilt target species . In the US, for example, the sustainability index has increased from 38.2 percent at the turn of the century to 79.1 percent in 2021. Elsewhere populations of whales and other marine mammals are recovering from decades of exploitation, and the accidental catch of turtles and birds has been greatly reduced by changes in fishing practices.

Third, fish value chains need to be upgraded and developed so we reduce food loss and waste, add value through product development, and employ digital solutions to facilitate market access, especially for small producers. We also need to educate consumers about the importance of fish products for a healthy diet.

We cannot do it alone. Conservation and sustainable development of the ocean requires complex and negotiated action backed by scientific evidence and international collaboration. FAO is already at the forefront of change as the partner of choice to broker solutions across regions, sectors and partners.

Thankfully we are not too late. With an innovative approach, greater political will and strong partnerships and investment, we can work effectively to confront the impacts of climate change, overfishing and unsustainable practices and ensure the sustainable management of our ocean resources.

The future sustainability of our ocean depends on what we do today. We owe it to our children and to ourselves.

The One Ocean Summit took place in Brest in Brittany in the northwest of France on 9-11 February 2022.

Manuel Barange, is Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

 

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Climate uncertainty could mean an increase in conflicts as tensions arise over scarce resources, like water. Credit: Ignatius Banda/IPS

By Ignatius Banda
Bulawayo, ZIMBABWE , Feb 14 2022 (IPS)

When years ago warnings were sounded that future wars would be fought not over oil but water, the predictions were dismissed as alarmist.

Yet, as climate uncertainty upends water availability in Africa, researchers say conflicts arise among local communities and across borders over access to scarce water resources.

In a commentary released in January last month, the Global Water Partnership (GWP) called for immediate action from world leaders to provide resources and funds to tackle what the researchers say is the “worst drought in a generation in East Africa.”

The climate crisis has led to widespread lack of pastures, decimating livestock, and creating a humanitarian crisis.

East Africa has seen a cyclical climate crisis where a mix of floods and droughts has resulted in increasing calls for action from more affluent countries.

“In 2011, the last severe drought to affect this region killed hundreds of thousands, but since then and despite promises by the international community, little has changed,” GWP says.

“There is a need to narrow the investment gap among rich countries, advocacy among African countries, and civic groups. African countries are already providing more funding to their water sectors than donor countries,” Alex Simalabwi, Global Water Partnership’s Africa Coordinator, told IPS.

And the statistics are pretty grim: one in every three people across Africa face water scarcity daily, and nearly 400 million people in sub-Saharan Africa struggle to find access to drinking water, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB).

As UN Water starkly put it, “on a global scale, half of the people who drink water from unsafe sources live in Africa.”

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that US$100 billion needs to be invested annually towards climate adaptation in Africa by 2050, but that figure is far from being reached.

In a February 2 media brief, UNICEF said in Ethiopia alone, 6.8 million people would need urgent by mid-March, while another 4.4 million face acute water shortages, citing three consecutive droughts.

“The impact of the drought is devastating,” said Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF Ethiopia Representative, adding that this has led to “major displacement out of affected areas.”

Researchers say these displacements have led to conflicts among communities over water.

“The lack of clean water is further exacerbating the situation for children and women. If children are forced to drink contaminated water, it puts them at risk to various diseases, including diarrhoea which is a major cause of deaths among children under five,” Rotigliano said.

Experts say increased collective action by African countries is required if richer countries act with the urgency demanded by the continent’s climate crisis.

“Africa countries should organise themselves to speak in one voice as a block. For Eastern Africa, a good example is the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) which has set up a common approach to addressing issues especially related to climate change,” said Levis Kavagi, the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Africa Regional Coordinator for Ecosystems and Biodiversity.

“Issues presented together as a group attract greater traction,” Kavagi told IPS by email.

Last year, research commissioned by the humanitarian agency CARE International exposed the broken promises of what it said was a “decade-old pledge” of climate financing for developing countries.

“Water is often seen from the end-user point of view and its challenges, but the issues related to where the water comes from are often not given the limelight,” Kavagi said.

Amid those concerns, lobbyists are pushing for more action.

“There is no framework to hold rich countries accountable,” Simalabwi told IPS.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote in February 2020, “between now and 2050, Africa’s population is set to double. This alone brings with it great opportunities but also new realities. If we are not able to find ways to support these countries to grow sustainably, all of our work for decades in the UK and globally will be in vain.”

Other experts, however, note that the delays by rich countries to act, go deeper.

“Rich countries may be reluctant to recognise, in financial terms, that Africa is disproportionately affected by anthropogenic climate change, including through water-related impacts because they could expose themselves to liabilities for billions of dollars in loss and damage payments,” said Nathan Mason, a research associate at the UK’s Overseas Development Institute.

“International NGOs, research and advocacy groups, and enlightened donors need to listen carefully to African counterparts, support their efforts and put them in the driving seat of funded programmes,” Mason told IPS by email.

For now, researchers remain concerned that not just East Africa but countries across the continent facing hunger and drought will have to wait a little bit longer for largess from rich countries as the climate-induced humanitarian crisis continues unchecked.

 

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