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In Argentina’s Chaco Region, the Forest Is Also a Source of Electricity

Fri, 02/19/2021 - 19:42

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Categories: Africa

UN Blueprint that Could Urgently Solve Earth’s Triple Climate Emergencies

Fri, 02/19/2021 - 11:42

A recent UN report lays out the gravity of Earth’s triple environmental emergencies of climate, biodiversity loss and pollution. Fishers on Kochi, Kerala operates the traditional lift-net method where catches have fallen drastically as a result of mechanised over-fishing. High fuel subsidies make it profitable for deep-sea fishing trawlers even when travelling large distances into sea. Safeguarding small fisher communities’ rights, expanding marine conservation area can allow biodiversity and fish growth to stabilise. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS

By Manipadma Jena
BHUBANESWAR, India, Feb 19 2021 (IPS)

“Our war on nature has left the planet broken. This is senseless and suicidal. The consequences of our recklessness are already apparent in human suffering, towering economic losses and the accelerating erosion of life on Earth,” António Guterres Secretary-General of the United Nations said.

“By transforming how we view nature, we can recognise its true value. By reflecting this value in policies, plans and economic systems, we can channel investments into activities that restore nature and are rewarded for it,” the UN Chief told the media while releasing a UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) major new report.

‘Making Peace with Nature: A scientific blueprint to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution emergencies’ lays out the gravity of Earth’s triple environmental emergencies of climate, biodiversity loss and pollution but provides detailed solutions too by drawing on global assessments, including those from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as well as UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook report, the UNEP International Resource Panel, and new findings on the emergence of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19.

Without nature’s help we will not thrive, not even survive

“Without nature’s help we will not thrive, not even survive,” Guterres cautioned.

The UN chief was, however, particularly hopeful climate and biodiversity commitment will see progress as he is set to welcome United States back to the Paris Agreement today, Feb. 19.

The “net-zero club” is growing, Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP said.

“Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was emerging as a moment of truth for our commitment to steer Earth and for our commitment to steer Earth and its people toward sustainability. (But) loss of biodiversity and ecosystem integrity, together with climate change and pollution will undermine our efforts on 80 percent of assessed SDG targets particularly in poverty reduction, hunger, health, water, cities and climate,” Anderson said.

“Women represent 80 percent of those displaced by climate disruption; polluted water kills a further 1.8 million, predominantly children; and 1.3 billion people remain poor and some 700 million hungry,” Guterres said.

Christian Walzer, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Executive Director for Health Programs and one of the co-authors of the Making Peace with Nature report, told IPS via email: “Intact and functioning nature is the foundation on which we must build back better. Trying to separate economic recovery from healthy environments and climate change neglects the essential fact that the solutions to these crises are tightly interconnected and reinforce each other.”

He underlined how ecosystem degradation heightens the risk of pathogens making the jump from animals to humans, and the importance of a ‘One Health’ approach that considers human, animal and planetary health together. Walzer is a veterinarian who leads on One Health issues across the world.

Economic growth has brought uneven gains in prosperity to a fast-growing global population, leaving 1.3 billion people poor, while tripling the extraction of natural resources to damaging levels and creating a planetary emergency. Subsidies on fossil fuels, for instance, and prices that leave out environmental costs, are driving the wasteful production and consumption of energy and natural resources that are behind all three problems.

Guterres pointed out how governments are still paying more to exploit nature than to protect it, spending 4 to 6 trillion dollars on subsidies that damage environment. He said over-fishing and deforestation is still encouraged by countries globally because it helped GDP growth, despite drastically undermining livelihoods of local fishers and forest dwellers.

In the current growth trajectory despite a temporary decline in emissions due to the pandemic, the earth is heading for at least 3°C of global warming this century; more than 1 million of the estimated 8 million plant and animal species are at substantially increased risk of extinction; and diseases caused by pollution are currently killing some 9 million people prematurely every year.

A farmer in Kerala’s hinterlands applies chemical fertilisers to his rice paddies. Large areas under unsustainable agricultural methods world-over in a drive for higher food production has damaged the environment. Scientific climate friendly methods are available and are equally productive.
Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS

The blueprint for solutions

The authors of Making Peace with Nature report assess the links between multiple environmental and development challenges, and explain how advances in science and bold policymaking can open a pathway towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and a carbon neutral world by 2050 while bending the curve on biodiversity loss and curbing pollution and waste.

Taking that path means innovation and investment only in activities that protect both people and nature. Success will include restored ecosystems and healthier lives as well as a stable climate.

Amid a wave of investment to re-energise economies hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the blueprint communicates the opportunity and urgency for ambitious and immediate action. It also lays out the roles that everyone – from governments and businesses to communities and individuals – can and must play.

“2021 is a make-it or break-it year, a mind-shift year,” said Guterres. 2021, with its upcoming climate and biodiversity convention meetings, is the year where governments must come up with synergistic and ambitious targets to safeguard the planet.

To turn the tide of current unsustainability, the UNEP blueprint has several recommendations some of which include that governments include natural capital while measuring economic performance of both countries and businesses, and putting a price on carbon and shift trillions of dollars in subsidies from fossil fuels, non-sustainable agriculture and transportation towards low-carbon and nature-friendly solutions.

It is high time, the report advises, to expand and improve protected area networks for ambitious international biodiversity targets. Further, non-government organisations can build networks of stakeholders to ensure their full participation in decisions about sustainable use of land and marine resources, the report recommends.

Financial organisations need to stop lending for fossil fuels, and boost renewable energy expansion. Developing innovative finance for biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture is of utmost importance now.

Businesses can adopt the principles of the circular economy to minimise resource use and waste and commit to maintaining transparent and deforestation-free supply chains.

Scientific organisations can pioneer technologies and policies to reduce carbon emissions, increase resource efficiency and lift the resilience of cities, industries, communities and ecosystems

Individuals can reconsider their relationship with nature, learn about sustainability and change their habits to reduce their use of resources, cut waste of food, water and energy, and adopt healthier diets. two-thirds of global CO2 emissions are linked to households. “People’s choices matter,” the Guterres said.

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Categories: Africa

Money vs. Happiness

Fri, 02/19/2021 - 11:34

By Raghav Gaiha, Vani S. Kulkarni and Veena S. Kulkarni
NEW DELHI, India, Feb 19 2021 (IPS)

The question whether the rich are more satisfied with their lives is often taken for granted, even though surveys, like the Gallup World Poll, show that the relationship between subjective well-being and income is often weak, except in low-income countries in Africa and South Asia. Researcher Daniel Kahneman and his collaborators, for example, report that the correlation between household income and reported life satisfaction or happiness with life typically ranges from 0.15 to 0.30. There are a few plausible reasons. First, growth in income mostly has a transitory effect on individuals’ reported life satisfaction, as they adapt to material goods. Second, relative income, rather than the level of income, affects well-being — earning more or less than others looms larger than how much one earns. Third, though average life satisfaction in countries tends to rise with GDP per capita at low levels of income, there is little increase in life satisfaction once GDP per capita exceeds $10,000 (in purchasing power parity). This article studies the relationships between subjective well-being, which is narrowly defined to focus on economic well-being in India, and variants of income, based on the only panel survey in India Human Development Survey (IHDS).

Why do we need a new measure of well-being when there is already a widely used, objective welfare measure based on per capita income? There are several reasons. The first stems from the distinction between decision utility and experienced utility. In the standard approach to measure well-being, ordinal preferences are inferred from the observations of decisions made supposedly by rational (utility maximising) agents. The object derived is decision utility. In contrast, recent advances in psychology, sociology, behavioural economics and happiness economics suggest that decision utility is unlikely to illuminate the utility associated with different experiences — hence the emphasis on measures that focus more directly on experienced utility, notably using subjective well-being (SWB) responses.

We draw upon the two rounds of the IHDS for 2005 and 2012. An important feature of IHDS is that it collected data on SWB. The question asked was: compared to seven years ago, would you say your household is economically doing the same, better or worse today? So, the focus of this SWB is narrow. But as it is based on self-reports, it connotes a broader view that is influenced by several factors other than income, assets, and employment, like age, health, caste, etc.

There is a positive relationship between SWB and per capita expenditure (a proxy for per capita income, which is frequently underestimated and underreported): the higher the expenditure in 2005, the greater was the SWB in 2012. The priority of expenditure, in time, rules out reverse causation from high SWB to high expenditure, i.e., higher well-being could also be associated with better performance resulting in higher expenditure. High expenditure is associated with a decent standard of living, good schooling of children, and financial security. As India’s comparable GDP per capita in 2003 (PPP) was $2,270, well below the threshold of $10,000, it is consistent with extant evidence.

Aspirations and achievements

In order to capture the gap between aspirations and achievements, we have analysed the relationship between SWB and ratio of per capita expenditure of a household to the highest per capita expenditure in the primary sampling unit. Although this is a crude approximation to relative deprivation, we get a negative relationship between SWB and this ratio. In other words, the larger the gap, the greater is the sense of resentment and frustration, and the lower is the SWB.

The larger the proportionate increase in per capita expenditure between 2005 and 2012, the greater is the SWB. To illustrate this, we construct three terciles of expenditure in 2005: the first representing extremely poor, the second the middle class, and the third the rich. If the proportionate increase in per capita expenditure is highest among the extremely poor and lowest among the rich, the higher will be the SWB of the extremely poor. This is indeed the case.

This provides important policy insights. One is that in a lower-middle-income country like India, growth of expenditure or income is significant. However, the widening of the gap between aspirations and achievements or between the highest expenditure/income of a reference group and actual expenditure/income of a household reflects resentment, frustration and loss of subjective well-being. So, taxing the rich and enabling the extremely poor to benefit more from economic opportunities can enhance well-being. In conclusion, objective welfare and subjective well-being measures together are far more useful than either on its own.

Veena S. Kulkarni teaches Sociology at Arkansas State University and is a co-author for this article. Raghav Gaiha is Research Affiliate, Population Studies Centre, University of Pennsylvania; Vani S. Kulkarni teaches Sociology at University of Pennsylvania

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Excerpt:

Subjective wellbeing and income are intricately linked

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Categories: Africa

Yemen Heads towards Worst Famine World has Seen in Decades

Fri, 02/19/2021 - 11:10

Volunteers teach people living in settlements about COVID-19. This photo was taken in Sana’a, Yemen. At a Security Council briefing yesterday UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said people in Yemen are more worried about hunger than the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: Dhia Al-Adimi/UNICEF

By Samira Sadeque
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 19 2021 (IPS)

Yemen is heading towards the worst famine the world has seen in decades, the United Nations Security Council was warned in a briefing yesterday.

“Across Yemen, more than 16 million people are going hungry – including 5 million who are just one step away from famine,” Mark Lowcock, the UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said during the briefing. The country has a population of just over 29 million.

Lowcock briefed the council about the worsening food insecurity and malnourishment of children in the country, among other issues. He pointed out four areas that need to be addressed immediately: protection of civilians, humanitarian access, funding for aid services, and establishing peace.

At the briefing, Lowcock highlighted the issue of hunger and child malnutrition in a country where people are more worried about hunger than the COVID-19 pandemic.

He pointed out that currently, severe malnourishment affects 400,00 children under the age of five in the country — most of whom have just a few weeks or months to live.

“These are the children with distended bellies, emaciated limbs and blank stares – they are starving to death,” Lowcock said.

Hunger and conflict are inextricably linked as they both breed off of each other: hunger leads to conflict, and conflict leads to hunger, Annabel Symington, spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Yemen, told IPS.

“The alarming hunger levels in Yemen have been caused by six years of conflict and the almost near total economic collapse that has resulted in over half the population – 16 million people facing crisis level of food insecurity, and 50,000 people living in famine-like conditions,” Symington said, adding that the pandemic has been an exacerbating factor in an already deep conflict.

Lowcock also raised the issue of the recent attack on Marib city, the stronghold of the government, calling it an “extremely dangerous” escalation. “It threatens to send hundreds of thousands of people again running for their lives at a time when everyone should be doing everything possible to stop famine,” he said.

“Front lines are reportedly moving closer to civilian areas. At least four missiles landed in Marib city in the last ten days – seemingly fired indiscriminately. Those attacks killed at least three civilians. Missiles have also landed around camps for displaced people. Thousands are already fleeing,” he said.

But Ibrahim Jalal from the Middle East Institute (MEI) says the UN should have delivered a stronger message and specifically named Yemen’s Houthi group who were responsible for offensive in Marib city.

“I think the first thing I expected is more clarity in language,” Jalal, a non-resident scholar at the MEI’s Gulf Affairs and Yemen Programme, told IPS after the briefing. “You see so many issues when they talk about protection of civilians, or humanitarian issues at stake or even the military escalation by Houthis in Marib — they were not named in any form of clarity.”

He criticised Lowcock’s discussion of the Marib attack as well as the SAFER tanker issue as ones without much nuance or critical questions. He said even though Lowcock brought up these issues, it remained “clearly unanswered” for many as to why these incidents took place and who needs to be held accountable in response.

Jalal believes Lowcock should have also specifically addressed the issue of internally displaced peoples (IDP) camps, which have been hit particularly hard by the most recent attacks.

“The [IDPs] situation in Marib is quite alarming, so things should’ve been spelled just very clearly — language matters,” Jalal said. “I don’t see that there.”

Meanwhile Lowcock also pointed out the challenges in different parts of the country that are hampering aid.

In the south, there are administration challenges such as delays in signing project agreements or releasing equipment.

In the north, he said, Ansar Allah authorities are the ones causing delays in aid services reaching the people.

“[Ansar Allah] regularly attempts to interfere with aid delivery and they regularly harass aid agencies and staff,” he said. “This is unacceptable.”

Ansar Allah is also an obstacle for the UN’s ability to address the SAFER tanker issue, he said.

“Ansar Allah authorities recently announced plans to review their approval for the long-planned mission and advised the UN to pause some preparations,” he said. “They have now dropped this review. Unfortunately, we only heard that they dropped the review after a key deadline had passed to deploy the team in March.”

“I want to emphasise that the UN remains eager to help solve this problem,” Lowcock added. “We think it poses a clear and present danger to everybody across the country.”

But Jalal still felt that these were mere words that wouldn’t translate into actions.

“I don’t think it was bold,” he said regarding Lowcock’s statement. “It was just another UN statement that might not meet the urgency and the alarming threats over the two million IDPs in Marib, or even the catastrophic looming environmental disaster [brought] on by the SAFER tanker issue.”

Jalal said he is concerned that the SAFER tanker issue keeps being pushed behind in priority year after year.

“When you have a looming multi-faceted crisis, the first thing is you address it,” he said. “But without addressing it, you’re deliberately or inadvertently contributing to the escalation of the crisis and now it’s more alarming than ever.”

Meanwhile Symington at WFP expressed hope about the United States’ administration’s recent declaration about ending the war in Yemen.

“Conflict is the core driver of the hunger crisis in Yemen, so any positive steps towards ending the conflict are strongly welcomed,” Symington told IPS. “We are hopeful that any steps towards peace will ultimately alleviate the hunger crisis in Yemen.”

World Comes Together with $1.35 billion for Yemen

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Categories: Africa

Education Cannot Wait: COVID-19 Emergency Response Fact Sheet

Fri, 02/19/2021 - 08:50

By External Source
Feb 19 2021 (IPS-Partners)

Education Cannot Wait’s (ECW) COVID-19 emergency response has reached over 9 million children and youth (47% girls) to date. ECW’s COVID-19 emergency grants span across 33 crisis-affected countries/emergency contexts.

Funds were allocated in two phases to 25 United Nations agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations, with the second phase focusing on refugee, internally displaced and host community girls and boys.

ECW’s 6-12 month First Emergency Response (FER) grants support continuous access to education including: distance, online and, radio learning; information campaigns on health and hygiene; risk communication and community engagement in local languages; psychosocial and mental health support; and, water and sanitation facility upgrades in schools and learning centers

Download the full fact sheet to learn more about ECW’s education in emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Categories: Africa

Q&A: Tigray – the Fighting will Continue & Exacerbate Civilian Suffering

Fri, 02/19/2021 - 08:42

The rugged landscape of Tigray, Ethiopia’s most northern region, stretches away to the north and into Eritrea. The Tigray Region has been rocked by conflict since November 2020, and the International Crisis Group believes the conflict is far from over despite the federal government gaining administrative control of the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle, and other main cities in the region. (File photo) Credit: James Jeffrey/IPS

By Nalisha Adams
BONN, Germany, Feb 19 2021 (IPS)

While Ethiopia’s federal government may have administrative control of the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle, and other main cities in the region, including Shire, Adwa, and Aksum, after removing the regional government from power in late November — armed resistance in Tigray is not over and could continue for months.

According to William Davison, the International Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for Ethiopia, “there is still considerable conflict ongoing in Tigray, which runs against the narrative being propagated by Ethiopia’s federal government that the fighting ended when they took control of Mekelle”.

“It seems that in large chunks of rural Tigray, away from the main roads, away from the main cities and the bigger towns — normally about 15 to 20 km into the countryside — especially in central Tigray, the federal government and allied entities are not in control.

“We presume in those areas there is a significant presence of forces directed by the ousted Tigray leadership, now known as the Tigray Defence Forces, although it is hard to be sure due to the continued telecoms and access restrictions,” Davison told IPS.

The Tigray region has been rocked by conflict since Nov. 3, 2020, when the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)-run regional government clashed with federal authorities following a dispute over the autonomy of the region that was related to the TPLF’s loss of power at the federal level.

A briefing published last week by ICG noted that the presence of the Eritrean military in Tigray — repeatedly denied by the Ethiopian government and not admitted by Eritrea’s leadership — is exacerbating tensions as there were credible reports of widespread Eritrean looting and atrocities.

Davison said Eritrea’s military has largely been active in northern and central Tigray, including some cities, such as Adigrat, and has used the conflict to reclaim disputed territory that was the focal point of Ethiopia and Eritrea’s 1998-2000 war.

In addition, Amhara region security forces and administrators who are in control of large portions of western Tigray (West Tigray Zone) and also districts of South Tigray Zone “claim these parts of Tigray as rightly belonging to their region, and say they intend to stay”, according to the ICG briefing. “The Amhara takeover of territory within Tigray, along with Tigrayan anger at Eritrea’s role, are inflaming the situation,” the briefing said.

However, the unfolding humanitarian situation in the region is also a pressing concern.

A report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that before the conflict just under a million people in the region needed emergency food aid. However, in January that figure was thought to have grown to 4.5 million people, including 2.2 million internally displaced persons – out of a regional population of around 6 million.

While the Ethiopian government has said it can handle aid distribution itself, last Monday it granted some approvals for United Nations agencies to provide more assistance to people in Tigray, although it is not yet clear what impact that has had on the ground.

This was preceded by a visit from UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) chief Filippo Grandi earlier this month, who met with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as well as Eritrean refugees who had been housed in Tigray. UNHCR said that refugees had resorted to eating leaves because there was no other food available.

Meanwhile Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which has moved around the region since the conflict began, raised concern about the humanitarian situation in rural areas as they had been unable to travel to them because of either insecurity or lack of authorisation.

“We are very concerned about what may be happening in rural areas…But we know, because community elders and traditional authorities have told us, that the situation in these places is very bad,” said Albert Viñas, who has been involved in almost 50 emergency responses with MSF and prepared medical teams to access areas of eastern and central Tigray and assist people affected by the current crisis.

He added the MSF did not know “the real impact of this crisis”.

Crisis Group says that the federal government needs to insist on the withdrawal of Eritrean and Amhara forces in order to reduce Tigrayan opposition to the federal intervention and so open up the space for some kind of dialogue at the national level over Tigray’s autonomy and the related constitutional-electoral debate that escalated the tensions that led to war.

“Steps need to be taken to reduce the huge political challenges in Tigray. Because that Amhara and Eritrean presence and the atrocities means that much of the Tigrayan population seems, at the moment, more inclined to support the Tigrayan armed resistance than the federal interim administration for the region.”

Excerpts of the interview follow. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Inter Press Service (IPS): Tigrayan leaders and the UN say fighting is still widespread?

William Davison (WD): In January and February there have been regular reports still of large-scale confrontations between the Tigray Defence Forces and opposing allied contingents, primarily the Ethiopian National Defence Force and the Eritrean Defence Force. Although it is hard to be sure about the details, there is little doubt that significant clashes are occurring, and at times they are corroborated by humanitarian actors.

What is always hard to verify is whether the claims of battlefield victories are accurate, including the claims of the capture of enemy equipment, which often come from the Tigrayan side. Or the claims of the huge fatalities that the opponent has suffered, again that often come from the Tigrayan side.

The bigger picture here is that when the federal government and allied forces took control of the regional capital Mekelle, on Nov. 28, and ousted the Tigrayan regional leadership, that was indeed a very significant moment. But, it did not mean the elimination of Tigrayan armed resistance.

Moreover, there are still a lot of the fugitive political and military leaders are at large, with only perhaps a third of those sought have been captured. Therefore, there is still a significant armed confrontation in Tigray, which runs against the narrative being propagated by Ethiopia’s federal government that “normalcy” is returning to the region and no substantive resistance remains.

IPS: A briefing by ICG last week said there is the possibility of the conflict continuing for some time to come. Can you explain?

WD: I think that is definitely a possibility and indeed a fairly likely possibility. But at the same time, we, and others, did not expect the TPLF government to be ousted from regional power within a month of this conflict beginning – so possibly the current resistance will also prove less sustainable than expected. Still, as of now, it does seem that since losing control of the regional government, the armed resistance of the ousted Tigray leadership has been relatively resilient.

As discussed, by no means are all the leaders captured, significant fighting is ongoing, and the federal government and allied forces do not control anything like all of Tigray’s territory. In conjunction with that there is also reason to believe that the presence of those allied forces — the Eritrean military and the Amhara factions — is opposed by a large proportion of Tigray’s population. And so that portion of Tigrayans appear more inclined to support the ousted leadership than the federal interim administration, and many even seem to now back Tigray’s secession from Ethiopia.

It is these factors that lead us to think that this conflict could be entrenched, and that fighting will continue for weeks, possibly months, and maybe even for longer than that. And, of course, that outlook has hugely worrying ramifications for an already critical humanitarian situation.

IPS: With regards to the humanitarian situation, until recently not all aid agencies were allowed access to the region. What are some of the concerns around the current situation?

WD: Tigray, like other places in Ethiopia, suffers from chronic food insecurity, meaning that large numbers of people every year need support. Last year this was exacerbated by the desert locust invasion – and then the outbreak of war occurred around harvest time. This created a major humanitarian crisis in Tigray.

During the conflict, the federal government has been very keen not just to control territory and try and win the war, but also to control the flow of information from Tigray and so set the narrative about the intervention.

This has contributed to a continued federal unwillingness to allow media access, bureaucratic restrictions on aid agencies, and also the failure to restore telephone and, particularly, internet services across large swathes of Tigray.

All this exacerbates the humanitarian situation, as little is known about the fate of millions of people, including possibly up to one million who were displaced from western to central Tigray when Amhara elements reclaimed land there in the first weeks of the war.

The overarching desire to maintain control has meant that the federal government – which is party to this conflict – has largely kept itself in charge of aid distribution. This goes against core humanitarian principles. And furthermore, there are widespread concerns that, firstly, the government does not have the capacity to deliver aid at the scale needed in the time needed.

Secondly, there is a major doubt regarding political will because the government is still very keen to control the information that is emerging about the conflict. For example, the presence of Eritrean troops and the atrocities that have been committed by them, that is not something which has been acknowledged by the federal government. Therefore, maintaining that narrative is contributing to the decision to restrict information and restrict access to conflict areas, leading to increased civilian suffering.

Additionally, with the federal government denying that an organised opponent still exists, as part of efforts to manage the story, that means there is very little aid reaching large parts of rural central Tigray where allied forces are not in control of territory and large numbers of civilians are thought to have fled to.

IPS: Is there anything else that you would like to add that is particularly important?

WD: When Tigray’s ousted leaders recently made statements, there was no focus on a cessation of hostilities, a humanitarian corridor, or even really the humanitarian situation overall. Instead, like the federal government, they are fixated on trying to win the war.

Given these dynamics, it is likely that this is going to get worse; the fighting will continue and that will exacerbate the civilian suffering, both in terms of direct attacks and also the humanitarian impact. Therefore, there is a desperate need for a rethink.

First, what is needed is for the federal government to acknowledge the heavy cost of the war so far and that it is likely to get more damaging. This reality means that there is an incentive for Addis Ababa to roll back the involvement of the Eritrean and Amhara forces, as this would hopefully reduce the intensity of the fighting, ease Tigrayan anger, and allow greater space for urgently required humanitarian relief.

However, by no means will this resolve the political disputes. Instead, as Crisis Group and many other have repeatedly argued, what is needed is a fundamental country-level political negotiation, addressing all of Ethiopia’s deep fault lines, such as over the legacy of the imperial era and the merits and demerits of current federal system, probably through the vehicle of an all-inclusive national dialogue.

One of the concerns that Crisis Group had at the outset of the war is the cocktail of problems— such as mounting killings in Benishangul-Gumuz region, growing tensions with Sudan, simmering discontent in Oromia—and violent political rifts that threaten to widen. In short, the country was already fragile and volatile. Falling into this war, which split the Ethiopian military and was a huge shock to the federation, came at a moment when it was not clear Ethiopia could absorb such at destabilising blow.

While Ethiopia and Ethiopians are incredibly resilient, there is a risk that this predicament could lead to some sort of spiralling nationwide unrest, which would of course threaten Ethiopia’s overall stability and so therefore the wider region’s. That is why is it is so important that de-escalatory steps are immediately taken to move Ethiopia off this trajectory.

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Categories: Africa

Switzerland Buys itself Good Sustainability Scores at the Expense of Other Countries

Fri, 02/19/2021 - 08:11

By Carole Küng
GENEVA, Feb 19 2021 (IPS)

According to the Sustainable Development Report 2020, Switzerland ranks at a shameful 163 of 165 in terms of so-called spillover effects. This means that Switzerland buys better sustainability scores in a number of areas, placing considerable burdens on other countries and the global environment.

By importing goods and services, we cause air pollution and biodiversity loss in the countries where the goods and services come from, for example by importing feedstuffs and synthetic fertilizers that we need for our intensive agriculture – especially our meat production.

In this way, we are not only concealing our own sustainability shortcomings; we are also limiting the ability of other countries to achieve their global sustainability goals.

What is Switzerland’s role in achieving the sustainability goals?

It is often said that Switzerland is too small to make a difference in the fight for sustainable development. Precisely because of the spillover effects, however, our enormous ecological footprint – and our considerable involvement in global financial flows that are detrimental to sustainability – demand that we increase our global responsibility.

Solutions need strong Swiss leadership. Sustainable Development Solutions Network Switzerland (SDSN), a UN initiative for implementing Agenda 2030 and the Paris Climate Agreement, wants to actively work towards achieving the sustainability goals and advocate for goal-oriented policies.

That is why we are participating in consultations and formulating proposals to improve the current strategy.

What is the general assessment of the strategy plan draft?

A positive aspect is that the strategy reflects a holistic understanding of sustainable development and provides valuable guidelines. However, the major shortcoming is that innovative ideas and goal-oriented solutions are lacking.

The strategy is mainly based on already existent practices and strategy areas, and beyond those it remains vague.

What does this mean concretely? What improvements does SDSN think the strategy needs?

We see this aspect as paramount at this time: Switzerland urgently needs to recognize and assume its global responsibility. This is the greatest leverage for achieving the sustainability goals.

On the one hand, it entails that Switzerland must reduce its global footprint, for example by rethinking consumption. Solutions for how to make life in Switzerland possible while considering the planet’s carrying capacity must be identified.

On the other hand, the strategy presented should address how illegitimate financial flows can be stopped.

Too much is based on voluntary action, which is inadequate – for example, the desire for a more sustainable banking and financial centre: despite progress, reality shows that regulations are necessary so that short-term economic interests do not detrimentally dominate people and the environment.

Moreover, the strategy has no financial plan. We therefore propose, among other things, that the federal coordination offices receive a budget.

Where is further action needed?

It must be ensured that sufficient resources flow into sustainability research and cross-cutting implementation projects. This is because research can identify effective paths to transformation and develop concrete proposals for more sustainable measures.

We also think that strategy should set more ambitious goals. In some cases, they are formulated more weakly than in the 17 global goals or are completely ignored. Here we call for more concrete definitions and recommendations for action for each sustainability goal.

What is the message to the federal government?

We need a strategy that is backed by the economy but also by the community, with goals that are not watered down – certainly not lower than the goals of Agenda 2030. We need a strategy that presents workable, sustainable solutions with a financial plan and effective controlling – not one that only ends up as an administrative report in a federal folder.

The post Switzerland Buys itself Good Sustainability Scores at the Expense of Other Countries appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Carole Küng is Co-Director of the Biovision-affiliated network Sustainable Development Solution Network Switzerland (SDSN). The network mobilises research institutes, civil society organisations, political decision makers and industries to develop solutions for implementing Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement in Switzerland.

The post Switzerland Buys itself Good Sustainability Scores at the Expense of Other Countries appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Overcoming the Learning Divide: Assessing What Students Missed During School Closings for COVID-19

Fri, 02/19/2021 - 07:55

Remote teaching in Bangladesh. Credit: BRAC

By Safiqul Islam
DHAKA, Bangladesh, Feb 19 2021 (IPS)

School closings and the varied impacts of remote learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic are a global challenge. Educators worldwide have been struggling to meet contemporary educational standards in this environment. But this challenge is followed by yet another: how to assess the readiness of students to resume in-school education when schools open. At BRAC, the international nongovernmental organization that operates 25,000 schools in Bangladesh, serving 750,000 students, we have developed an approach that could be helpful.

Schools in Bangladesh have been closed since March 2020, with remote education taking their place. That poses a very practical problem. When students return, likely in the first quarter of 2021, they will have had greatly varied educational experiences.

That variety of experiences will be evident globally, not only because approaches to remote teaching are so varied, but because student access to it is. In many parts of the world, Internet access is limited; that is as true in the United States as it is in Bangladesh. Rural areas have less access than urban areas. Wealthier areas, and wealthy families, have more access than poorer ones. Smaller families have fewer family members to share the home computer than larger ones.

There are also differences specific to the student and family; some students respond well to remote learning; others do not. Some have parents who are better able to help them than others. Some are in settings that are more conducive to study than others. Some deal with stress and uncertainty better than others. This is universal.

In Bangladesh, BRAC has addressed these varied circumstances by drawing on television, radio, and telephones to create new educational platforms and curricula for use depending on local conditions. Those formats enhance both the potential and the reality of remote learning, but of course cannot completely erase the differences in student experience.

A feature phone brings remote learning home. Credit: BRAC

The challenge of student readiness in Bangladesh can be understood simply through considering the case of a new third-grader. If that student had been struggling academically two years ago – in first grade – and had received just two months of in-school education in second grade (before schools closed in March), he or she could be quite unprepared for third grade in 2021. Even though that student would basically still be at second grade level, he or she will resume in-school education in third grade, because the Government of Bangladesh has instituted automatic promotions for all students when schools reopen.

Contrastingly, a student who thrived in first grade and was well served by remote learning in second grade could be fully ready for third grade.

The challenge for schools and teachers is, therefore, to assess each student and create remedial opportunities, so students are properly prepared to succeed. But that requires a new approach. Never before have schools welcomed students while having so little understanding of what the students learned the year before.

When BRAC schools resume, we will not start with normal classes. We will instead assess the diverse competencies of the students and provide remedial support as needed, so that within six months, we will have everyone back at grade level.

In the assessment phase, we will have three groups and six sub-groups, in order to address sufficiently the range of needs. The three groups – green, yellow, and red – will designate those students who are ready for the new grade, those who had not achieved enough in the previous grade, and those who are a year behind that. The sub-groups allow for further variation.

Those who are ready for the new grade will proceed at grade level, while those who are not will receive remedial support in accordance with their group and sub-group. Those in the green group will also serve as mentors, providing peer support to those who are not yet as advanced.

In order to have fewer students in classrooms until the pandemic ends, students in first grade will have their classwork indoors, while students in second and third grades will have a mix of indoor and outdoor classes. Students in fourth and fifth grades will have assignments that require them to pursue projects outside. A project to encourage creativity, inquisitiveness, and analysis might, for instance, have them studying trees and preparing presentations on them.

This approach will best serve all students by ensuring that they start at a level appropriate to their readiness and by enabling those who need to catch up to do so as quickly as possible. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged schools as never before, and the prolonged combination of uncertainty, fear and loss has challenged students as never before. Globally, we must ensure that it does not rob students of the educational attainment that they so greatly deserve.

The author is Director of Education for BRAC, based in Bangladesh.

The post Overcoming the Learning Divide: Assessing What Students Missed During School Closings for COVID-19 appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Elections in Catalonia: What Now?

Thu, 02/18/2021 - 15:49

Summary of the 14 February 2021 Parliament of Catalonia election results. Credit: Generalitat de Catalunya

By Joaquín Roy
MIAMI, Feb 18 2021 (IPS)

The recent result of the elections for the Parliament of Catalonia has presented a mixture of repetition of certain previous aspects and some spectacular novelties. But the everlasting dimension of any parliamentary confrontation of the proportional variant remains unscathed.

Despite the development of the modern polling systems, plus the interpretation of the data facilitated in recent years, a difficult prediction remains. That involves the decisions that the parties have to make in the cases that they must craft alliances to form a government when virtual ties appear.

“And now, what?”. The central question remains unscathed. But it is not only the one presented by anonymous voters, nor by the experts and the leaders themselves who must make precise decisions. It is the general question presented by Gerard Piqué, the star footballer of FC Barcelona who has only been surpassed in popularity by Messi.

Naturally, Piqué does not dare to offer solutions. Therefore it is convenient to face the possible alternatives to solve the complicated panorama of the results.

Although it is not the exclusive result of these elections, a historical aspect of the parliamentary evolution of Catalonia since the recovery of democracy in 1978 is fully established. The Catalan elections are no longer a kind of democratic exercise peculiar to Catalans, with little connection to the rest of Spain, and Europe as whole.

Catalan parliamentarianism has suffered from a European quality. The elections to form the European Parliament have been seen historically as a kind of “national primaries”. European voters glanced inward and voted sometimes as rendering a punishment, and other times as a reward for the domestic behavior of national parties.

It is true, however, that this behavior has recently improved thanks to the tenacious reform of the European legislation that allows, for example, EU national residents in another states to vote in another country. Another remedy is the inclination to propose Europe-wide candidacies. But the burden of the national weight continues to be felt.

In the theater of the Catalan elections, that European has been noticeable. The elections in Catalonia have been seen for years as the preserve of Catalanism, since the “Castilians” considered the Catalan contests a peculiarity of Catalans.

The result was that the Spanish speakers stayed at home. That is why the Catalan socialist candidates usually won in the elections in Spain, while in Catalonia the party developed by then moderate nationalist Jordi Pujol did. This scheme has practically disappeared.

There are sectors, on the right more than on the left, that have tried to insert arguments that insist on the existence of “ethnic” elements (if not “racist”) in the configuration of the voting ideals of pro-independence alternatives,

Joaquín Roy

But this danger has been generally neutralized. Significantly, the bulk of the different arguments prioritize a “civic” nationalism, of choice.

In the current panorama, it is convenient to highlight, first, the news that stands out. In other words, has a man bit a dog? Obviously some facts are worth taking into account because of their obvious novelty and therefore because of their impact on the consequences of the election.

In this dimension, the details that concern the right-wing parties, both extreme and moderate, stand out. Significantly, the changes in this ideological sector have been suffered both by the parties considered as “constitutionalist” and by those that in some way consider themselves as “disruptive” due to their varying degree of loyalty to the independence creed.

In the first dimension, it is advisable to weigh the spectacular setback suffered by Ciudadanos. This formation was created by the centrist leader Albert Rivera in Catalonia as a dam against the tenacious monopoly of Convergence nationalism, later transformed into independence seeking.

It consisted of expanding its theater of operations to the rest of the Spanish territory, leaving the Catalan stage under the direction of Inés Arrimadas, a young woman born in Andalusia, who impressed with her command of Catalan.

In the elections held under the control of the Spanish government due to the application of article 155 of the Constitution, after the suspension of Catalan autonomy as a sanction for holding the independence referendum on October 1, 2017, Arrimadas managed to capture the largest number of seats in the Catalan Parliament. But she could not sublimate the next step, since the pro-independence parties jointly outperformed Ciudadanos in whatever alliance they presented.

Then, temporarily being a kind of referee on the state stage, Rivera found himself rejected in his attempt to neutralize the leading rightist Popular Party. The failure has now been reflected in the disaster received in the Catalan Parliament. Collateral damage could be its annihilation on the Spanish global scene.

This possible scenario has now been dramatized by the appearance of the far-right VOX in the Spanish theater, breaking through the previously reserved area of the Popular Party, and now by its spectacular entry into the Parliament of Catalonia, becoming its fourth most important formation.

For a long time, the Spanish political fabric prided itself on not suffering from the presence of an extreme right. Now, the myth has collapsed. It is pointless to argue that VOX is not the same as the cases of Germany (Alternative), France (Le Pen), Hungary (Orbán) or Poland (Justice and Peace). It was a novelty, feared and latent, without ever being sublimated. Now it is a stark electoral reality.

The weakening of the remnants of moderate nationalism in Catalonia, represented now by the PDCat, testifies that the impact of the official response (trial, conviction, prison) to the independence attempt of the referendum has only reinforced the influence of the parties that prioritize independence through plebiscite insistence.

Naturally, there remains the solid argument of the constitutionalist left presented by the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC), which almost doubled the number of seats by presenting Salvador Illa as a candidate, boosted by the solid publicity of his effective role as Minister of Health of the government of Pedro Sánchez. As mentioned in this context, the centrist parties have not only disappeared in Spain, but in Catalonia they have little to do, unless paradoxically that role is reserved precisely for the PSC itself.

Listed to the left are formations that, without identifying with independence, insist on the support of the urgencies of the most needy sectors. As disparate as Comuns-Podem (the Catalan branch of the populist party of Pablo Iglesias, partner of the PSOE in Madrid) and the anti-capitalist CUP can grant the necessary votes to the pro-independence parties for the formation of a government and the appointment of the President of the Generalitat.

All the formations are aware of the economic problems, derived both from the atrocious impact of the pandemic, and from the structural unemployment dramatized by the confinement decreed as a remedy for the virus.

The interrelation between politics and the economy is also detected at the moment of weighing the evident rise of the economic power of Madrid in the last decade, and its banking concentration, apart from the exodus of the social offices of Catalan companies towards Valencia and other capitals, as a refuge from the independence movement.

The electoral results leave other details, confirmation of the past, or corrections of certain dimensions. For example, the dilemma between independence and constitutionalism is reflected in the continuation of the concentration of the former in the interior areas of the Catalan territory, while constitutionalism (from the right or from the left) populates urban areas, especially Barcelona.

If the elections have not revealed the emergence of an undisputed leader, trying to answer Piqué’s question, it is convenient to weigh the result of a solution that emerges as a favorite: the resignation of Illa and the PSC to opt for the vote of Parliament.

That “gift” would later be rewarded by taking a leap towards Madrid: Esquerra would continue supporting the PSOE in the governorship of the Spanish Congress and the approval of the national budgets.

Returning to Barcelona, would the success of ERC produce the reborn leadership of Oriol Junqueras, for whom Aragonés would be holding the position? This detail would lead us to face the urgent outcome of the issue (problem?) of the imprisonment of the leaders of the “procés” and the referendum.

The present status of partial freedom that the condemned have unusually enjoyed during the elections, therefore, takes on an unusual role. The pressure to approve an amnesty becomes the irreplaceable focus for any consideration of the consequences of the elections. In other words, the simple counting of the votes to configure the executive leadership in Parliament is not the end.

Joaquín Roy is Jean Monnet Professor and Director of the European Union Center at the University of Miami

The post Elections in Catalonia: What Now? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Pacific Islanders Turn to Local Economies to Drive Post-pandemic Recovery

Thu, 02/18/2021 - 12:05

A tourist handicraft market in Port Vila, capital of Vanuatu, prior to the pandemic. The price for Pacific countries maintaining strict border closures to protect their small highly vulnerable populations is the decimation of the tourism industry. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

By Catherine Wilson
CANBERRA, Australia, Feb 18 2021 (IPS)

While Pacific Island countries have, so far, been spared a catastrophic spread of COVID-19, their economies have been devastated by the effects of border closures, internal lockdowns and the demise of international tourism and trade. With the global pandemic far from over, Pacific Islanders are looking to their local and regional economies to drive resilience and recovery.

In Fiji, the pandemic has led to one in three people losing their jobs. In Vanuatu, in the southwest Pacific, the combined economic losses of COVID-19 and Tropical Cyclone Harold, which descended on the Melanesian nation in April last year, are predicted to reach 68.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Meanwhile, extreme poverty across the region could rise to 40 percent, forecasts the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University.

“The development and support of existing and new domestic industries and the private sector is critical to help affected families get through the economic downturn and to maintain income,” Mia Rimon, Regional Manager for Melanesia at the regional development organisation, Pacific Community, in Vanuatu told IPS.

The Pacific Islands region, with a total of 27,215 reported cases of coronavirus, as of Feb. 18, represents a fraction of the more than 100 million cases worldwide. However, the price for countries in the region of maintaining strict border closures to protect their small highly vulnerable populations is the decimation of the tourism industry. The sector is of huge importance to island countries, such as Vanuatu, where it accounts for 46 percent of GDP, and in Fiji 39 percent of GDP. Between April and September last year, the pandemic caused monthly tourist arrivals in the Pacific Islands to plummet by 99-100 percent.

Trade in the region has also been hit. During the first half of 2020, exports from Tonga dropped by 28.3 percent and from Tuvalu by 71 percent.

Pacific Island governments have, accordingly, seen a decline in revenues. Most governments introduced stimulus packages to support households and businesses during the worst of the crisis, but, in the current economic climate, these costs will be unsustainable over a long or indefinite period.

With the prospect of a ‘travel bubble’ between Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island countries unlikely to occur soon, the region will struggle to grow by 1.3 percent this year, forecasts the Asian Development Bank. But output levels in highly exposed Pacific Island countries are unlikely to recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2022 or beyond, reports the World Bank.

Pacific leaders are now looking to the economic potential within the region. At a virtual meeting in August last year, Pacific Islands Forum Economic Ministers concluded that the crisis offered ‘the opportunity to assert a regional economy that supports Pacific priorities and to consider investments, policies and partnerships required to secure the region’s economic resilience and the wellbeing of its people now and into the future.’

Dr Neelesh Gounder of the School of Accounting, Finance and Economics at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, told IPS that the private sector will be important to recovery, but added that “governments will need to support the private sector with policies and incentives that will reduce the cost of doing business and provide incentives for expansion and growth.”

Some local entrepreneurs are already manoeuvring to gain new skills and adapt their enterprises for a local, rather than international market.

Workers at South Pacific Mozuku cleaning seaweed in Nuku’alofa, Tonga. Photo credit: South Pacific Mozuku

In the Polynesian Kingdom of Tonga, a local business, South Pacific Mozuku (SPM), specialised in a luxury range of cosmetics and skincare products incorporating a seaweed, known as ‘Mozuku’, which grows in the waters around Tonga. It was a perfect fit for the international tourist market. Before the pandemic, Tonga received up to 5,000 cruise ship visitors per day. The business also exported raw seaweed to international buyers, mostly in Japan. But then the pandemic hit, tourist visitors evaporated and the export market declined.

“We lost 60 percent of our orders during lockdown in March and April 2020,” Managing Director, Masa Kawaguchi, told IPS. After a strategic rethink, he is now pivoting the business to make fresh food products, still using ‘Mozuku’ seaweed, which possesses nutritious and anti-oxidising properties, as an ingredient. They are now sold through local supermarkets and distributors.

It is a sector of natural strength and expertise in the region. “Almost all Pacific people are coastal people and have their lives entwined with the sea. Significant livelihood opportunities are marine-based. Hence, it is important to continue upskilling to meet changing demands and resources,” Avinash Singh, the Pacific Community’s Aquaculture Officer, told IPS.

SPM, which employs 25 local Tongans, is delivering further benefits to local communities. Its partnership with the Tonga Youth Employment Entrepreneurship (TYEE) scheme has led to local youths being involved in promoting public awareness of ‘Mozuku’ seaweed as a health food and organising tasting events in shops and restaurants in the capital, Nuku’alofa. And ‘Mozuku’ is now on the menu for patients, doctors and nurses at the Vaiola Hospital, also situated in the capital.

Further west in Vanuatu, youths, women and islanders with disabilities are being mobilized in a new income generating initiative, called the 300 Coconut Bag Project, in the main city of Port Vila.

“The impacts of COVID-19 on the lives of Ni-Vanuatu is really sad as people get laid off from their jobs, young people who are recruited in tourism sectors and other trades have to go back home due to limited hours of operation as there are no more tourists,” Project Manager, Sethy Melenamu, told IPS.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports that ‘the pandemic is inflicting a triple shock on young people: destroying their employment, disrupting education and training and placing major obstacles in the way of those seeking to enter the labour market.’ These issues are of importance in the Pacific Islands, which is experiencing a youth bulge. Currently half the region’s population of about 11.9 million are aged under 23 years.

The making of recycled and reusable coconut bags is generating employment and incomes for youths, women and disabled people affected by the pandemic in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Photo credit: 300 Coconut Bag Project

In Port Vila, about 30 young people are being employed to collect discarded waste plastic, which is then crafted and sewn by local women and disabled people into large reusable carry bags. Each bag, which is designed to hold six heavy coconuts, features an inner lining of recycled plastic and an outer layer of aesthetically woven pandanus leaves.

It is envisaged that, following production, the bags, which are being promoted as waterproof, reversible and fashionable, will be on sale in March in local fresh produce markets, retail shops and online.

The project, which is supported by the Pacific Community in partnership with the Vanuatu Office for Ocean and Maritime Affairs, intends to outlive the pandemic.

“The project is long-term; there will be more prototypes of products to be tested and modified. Also, the beneficiaries will see it as an alternative source of income for the vulnerable. I would like to make it a sustainable social enterprise in the future,” Melenamu said.

The distinctive fashionable and sustainable coconut carry bags will be sold at public venues in Port Vila, such as fresh produce markets, Vanuatu. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

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Categories: Africa

The UN: From the Sublime to the Hilarious

Thu, 02/18/2021 - 09:14

Roderic Grigson was Asia Pacific Vice President for Novell, a global networking company, working in Melbourne Australia until he retired from corporate life to become a full-time writer. He worked at the United Nations Secretariat in New York in the ‘70s and ‘80s as a technology innovations officer, serving in UN peacekeeping forces in the Middle East. He is the author of Sacred Tears, The Sullen Hills and After the Flames, a trilogy of thrillers set in war-torn Sri Lanka, and is currently working on his fourth book.

By Roderic Grigson
MELBOURNE, Australia, Feb 18 2021 (IPS)

The United Nations is an institution mired in politics focusing primarily on military conflicts, civil wars, economic sanctions, peacekeeping, plus sustainable economic development.

But there is also a lighter side to it, which is brilliantly laid out in a new book released last week on Amazon titled “No Comment and Don’t Quote Me on That.”

It takes years to write a good book, and in this insightful memoir, Thalif Deen, a former UN Bureau Chief and Regional Director at Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency, gives us a riveting memoir filled with observations that come from 40-years of stalking the halls and corridors of the ‘glasshouse by the East River’.

Told through a series of news stories, interviews, anecdotes, and personal recollections, No Comment is held together by flashes of surprising humour and an overarching third world focus and point of view. It comes as no surprise that some of his stories were picked up at the Delegates Lounge, a well-known watering hole for UN delegates.

He also describes an incident that took place when he was doing a wrap-up of the 1992, two-week-long international conference in Rio de Janeiro. Deen approached Dr Gamani Corea, a former Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and a member of the Sri Lanka delegation, for a final comment.

“We negotiated”, Dr Corea said with a tinge of sarcasm, “the size of the zero”, as he held out his fingers to indicate the zero, describing the response of Western nations who refused to make any concrete commitments to fund a plan for the protection of the global environment.

In his first year as a student at Columbia University, Deen was terrified of the hazards of crime-ridden subway travel in New York and scared of the impending winter. When he complained about his first-ever brutal winter in New York, a wise-cracking American classmate advised him: “The best remedy is to curl up in bed with a good book — or with someone who has read one”.

Though its scenes are scattered, they are individually memorable, evoking amazement and laughter in the same breath. Deen has always been a raconteur, often entertaining guests at various functions and parties with stories from his vast array of yarns, and this comes through his narrative in abundance.

Deen surprises the reader with an unaffected insider view of international reporting, recounting his stories with freshness and colour. A longstanding columnist for the Sunday Times, UN correspondent for Asiaweek, Hong Kong and Jane’s Defence Weekly, London, his firsthand experiences add importance to his common-sense take on global diplomacy.

The book’s title is taken from an encounter Deen had with a diplomat at the UN building. As a general rule, most ambassadors and diplomats do not tell UN correspondents either to go to hell or heaven – but avoid all comments on politically sensitive issues with the standard non-excuse: “Sorry, we have to get clearance from our capital”.

But often that “clearance” from their respective foreign ministries never came. Still, it was hard to beat a response from a tight-lipped Asian diplomat who told him: “No comment” – and as an after-thought, added: “And Don’t Quote Me on That”.

It is a gift that he has now written his long overdue memoir. Blessed with a robust sense of humour, Deen gives us the real scoop on headline stories with both wit and intelligence, a perspective that comes from mining his dog-eared reporter’s notebooks, of which he assures me, there are over a hundred.

It is also the story of how Deen did it. A former information officer at the UN Secretariat in New York in the mid-1970s, Deen has covered virtually every major UN conference on population, human rights, the environment, sustainable development, food security, humanitarian aid, arms control and nuclear disarmament in the past 40-years.

Working at the UN during the most dramatic events of our time — from the pursuit of war and peace in the Middle East to the humanitarian disasters in Africa and Asia, this book provides an insider’s view on what went on behind the ‘glass curtain’ during a period of extraordinary turbulence.

A Fulbright scholar with a master’s degree (MSc) in Journalism from Columbia University in New York, Deen was born and educated in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). A student of Zahira College, Colombo, he graduated with an Economics degree from the University of Ceylon at Peradeniya. He became the first student from Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) to gain admission to the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia.

At Peradeniya in the 1960s, it was the prevalent trend among most undergrads to fancy themselves either as Trotskyites, Communists or Socialists. When asked about his own political leanings, Deen told one of his professors he was a die-hard Marxist. ”But I followed Groucho, not Karl,” he declared.

Speaking at a corporate dinner, sponsored by the International Institute for Education (IIE), during his student days, he said he had arrived in New York with a degree of trepidation because his colleagues at Lake House, the newspaper office where he worked, cautioned him that Fulbright grants were given only to “half-bright students”. Mercifully, it wasn’t so.

Studying for his master’s in the early seventies in New York City, known then as the ‘murder capital’, was not easy. But having been brought up in the unforgiving northern suburbs of Colombo, he successfully navigated the asphalt jungle that was the Big Apple and has lived to tell the tale.

When he was in Iraq’s battle zone in Baghdad during the 1990 Gulf War, he was armed with a military flak jacket with a cautious warning inscribed on the back: “United Nations. Press. Don’t Shoot.” Perhaps it helped. Now, he says, with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, he occasionally wears it in the mean streets of New York, a city where he has lived for over 45 years, and where a bank robber can get mugged as he flees to a get-a-way car.

He completed his studies before embarking on his remarkable career ‘reporting from the United Nations’, first as a UN Information officer, a UN correspondent for Janes Defence Weekly and finally as a UN correspondent and bureau chief at IPS.

Possessed with the curiosity, nimbleness of mind and openness to change, Deen stands out among veteran correspondents for the range of his experience and his gift as a storyteller. An eyewitness to history being made at the highest levels, with this unique perspective, Deen brings to life scenes from the past and present.

A story he recounts often is after a band of mercenaries tried to oust the Maldives’ government, he asked a Maldivian diplomat about the strength of his country’s standing army. “Standing army?”, the diplomat asked with mock surprise, “We don’t even have a sitting army.”

Ambassador H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, a sharply-witty, former Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary and a one-time Permanent Representative to the UN, once paid him an ultimate compliment, when he said in an email message: “Permanent representatives are never permanent. Sri Lanka’s only Permanent Representative at the UN is the IPS UN Bureau Chief Thalif Deen.”

He said Deen had survived about 20 Sri Lankan Permanent Representatives (PRUNs) – some of them transiting through New York.

He is a splendid companion as I can personally attest to after working with him in New York in the ‘70s and ‘80s. One thing I most admire about him is that he has always remained true to himself, his principles, career, and origins. He is someone with genuine bona fides as a journalist and an unassailable commitment to the profession’s enduring values.

“No Comment” is a dizzying text, part memoir, part discourse on international reporting reality from a third-world perspective.

The book is available on Amazon. The link follows:
https://www.rodericgrigson.com/no-comment-by-thalif-deen/

The post The UN: From the Sublime to the Hilarious appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

The post The UN: From the Sublime to the Hilarious appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Corporate Reporting on SDGs: Challenges and Opportunities

Thu, 02/18/2021 - 08:47

‘Conflict trap’ a growing obstacle to sustainable development - UN chief 6 January 2021. Credit: UN Photo/Tobin Jones

By Camila Corradi Bracco
AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands, Feb 18 2021 (IPS)

Since the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2016, the role of the private sector in fulfilling the 2030 Agenda has been widely acknowledged, as set out under SDG 12. Yet to assess how companies are actually contributing towards these Global Goals, we need greater transparency on their impacts.

Over the past four years, GRI has championed the participation of companies in measuring their performance on the SDGs. As we look ahead to the Decade of Action needed to achieve the SDGs, it is clear that further progress will be needed, including doing more to increase private sector contributions.

Progress so far

At the end of 2020, a four-year Action Platform for Reporting on the SDGs, from GRI and UN Global Compact, concluded. This included a Corporate Action Group (CAG) that connected business representatives in a peer learning platform, which successfully helped companies define and improve their SDGs reporting.

Research on CAG participants revealed:

However, the findings also indicate that many companies continue to face challenges with understanding and disclosing their SDGs contributions, with opportunities to make corporate reporting more relevant and effective.

Improving data quality and addressing gaps

Reporting on priorities at the SDG target level, within each of the overarching Goals, and linking them to the business strategy, is often missing. Overall, deeper connections between material topics with SDG targets and corporate priorities are needed.

We also see there are opportunities to further explore the links between SDG priorities and the contributions of companies in the countries and jurisdictions where they operate.

Most importantly, corporate reporting on the SDGs often focuses on positive contributions that companies make to the SDGs, with a lack of transparency and accountability for negative impacts. This issue was also highlighted by KPMG research in December.

Reporting that has impact

Identifying SDG priorities throughout the value chain is a complex undertaking, as is demonstrating the cause-and-effect relationship between SDG contributions and business performance.

Moreover, because of the interconnected and interdependent nature of the SDGs, companies need to identify and take account of synergies and trade-offs between positive and negative impacts.

Efforts to quantify impacts on the SDGs and contextualize them (for example, considering the social thresholds and planetary boundaries) needs strengthened. That is why it is necessary to move beyond assessing activities and outputs and focus on how to disclose outcomes and impacts.

This is crucial as it enables businesses to manage their performance and demonstrate accountability for their impacts.

Making SDG reporting relevant to stakeholders

There is increasing interest from a wide range of stakeholders in business contribution to the SDGs, including how companies are aligning products, services and business strategy with the SDGs.

Policy makers, investors, consumers, labor organizations and civil society all increasingly demand that companies show transparency through providing quality data and balanced reporting.

However, different stakeholders have different expectations and data requests. Steps business can take to provide more strategic and relevant information include:

Proactive communications on the issues that matter most – to both the company and stakeholders – is crucial. Not only does it provide the necessary information to assess corporate sustainability performance and impact, it also allows stakeholders to make decisions that contribute to the SDGs.

Driving business action through reporting

Inspired by the progress to date and the opportunities still to come, GRI is launching a Business Leadership Forum on corporate reporting as a driver for achieving the SDGs. This forum, to commence in March, will offer participating companies with practical insights on sustainability reporting, focusing on how to raise the quality and strategic relevance of their reporting.

The forum is built around a series of online sessions that will bring together corporate reporters and representatives from key stakeholder groups – including the investment community, governments, regulators, members of the supply chain, civil society and academia.

The experiences of the past four years have shown that both businesses and stakeholders benefit from strategic and relevant SDG-related information. Sustainability reporting is an essential driver of the transformational change that is required to achieve the SDGs.

As we look ahead to the Decade of Action and the pandemic recovery phase, the case for meaningful corporate reporting on the SDGs is more compelling than ever before.

*The Global Reporting Initiative is an international independent standards organization that helps businesses, governments and other organizations understand and communicate their impacts on issues such as climate change, human rights and corruption. With more than 10,000 reporters in over 100 countries, GRI is advancing the practice of sustainability reporting and enabling businesses, investors, policymakers, and civil society to use this information to engage in dialogue and make decisions that support sustainable development.

The post Corporate Reporting on SDGs: Challenges and Opportunities appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Camila Corradi Bracco handles Content Development & Program Delivery at Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)*

The post Corporate Reporting on SDGs: Challenges and Opportunities appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Suu Kyi Appears in Closed-Door Court Session Without Lawyer as Protests Continue

Wed, 02/17/2021 - 13:57

Protesters demand the release of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The protestors remain defiant in the face of the security forces tightening the screw. They are facing daily intimidation, threats and harassment at the hands of the police and soldiers strategically station to discourage and disperse the protests. CC BY-SA 4.0

By Larry Jagan
BANGKOK, Feb 17 2021 (IPS)

Myanmar’s top generals have begun the process to prevent Aung San Suu Kyi – the country’s popular civilian leader – from ever holding political power. Both she and president Win Myint were arraigned in a closed-door court session via video link Tuesday, Feb. 16. This is the beginning of a trial that is expected to take about six months to conclude. If convicted, it will prevent Suu Kyi from standing in future elections.

Suu Kyi is charged with violating import restrictions after walkie-talkies and other foreign equipment that were found in her villa compound. They were discovered during a search of her premises on Feb. 1, the day the military launched a coup, seizing all judicial, executive and legislative power, placing it in the hands of the commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

The Nobel laureate has also been charged with contravening a natural disaster management law by interacting with a crowd at an election rally during the coronavirus pandemic. A charge that was added after her original arrest and only publicly disclosed at her hearing. Win Myint is charged with breaking COVID-19 restrictions. They reportedly appeared without legal representation.

The coup leaders have promised elections sometime next year after the state of emergency they have imposed is lifted. The authorities are still investigation more serious accusations related to receiving foreign funds – which could amount to charges of treason.

The military commanders also seem intent on preparing a case against her party – the National League for Democracy (NLD) — in order to ban it from politics and declare it an illegal organisation. The NLD, which overwhelmingly won last November’s poll, remains a thorn in the military’s side as for the past three weeks protestors have hit the street in their hundreds of thousands, to defend democracy and reject the coup.

“The civil disobedience movement is a non-violent campaign which was started by young doctors across the country: it was a spontaneous grassroots response to the coup,” Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a prominent activist involved with the protest in Yangon, told IPS. “It has grown daily as the civil servants have inspired others to defend our democracy,” she added.

The protestors remain defiant in the face of the security forces tightening the screw. They are facing daily intimidation, threats and harassment at the hands of the police and soldiers strategically station to discourage and disperse the protests. But troops, tanks and water cannons have not deterred the protests, which are growing daily. But the strength of the movement is that it encompasses all generations, all walks of life, civil servant and workers. All of whom support democracy, though a large proportion also support the NLD.

“This is very different from the 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations when the student movement aspired to democracy but didn’t really know what it meant,” Nyein Chan Aung an 88-year-old veteran told IPS. “This time they know what they want, they know what they are losing, and they are very, very angry.”

Meanwhile, the military are clearly on a mission to overhaul and restructure the country’s fledgling democracy, turning the clock back to the dark days of direct military rule.

For the past three weeks the new junta has rolled out a new administration: from national, provisional to district and wards. Removing the previous elected incumbents and putting in people close to the military.

The Supreme Court has been transformed, with the previous NLD appointments routed out and replaced with judges loyal to their military masters. The Union Election Commission has also been dismissed and swapped with military loyalists. Key ministries have also been targeted and military officers and personnel infiltrated, often at the highest level. This was the common practice during the previous military regime. But the public service has been largely transformed in the last ten years with comprehensive public reform.

“The militarisation of the bureaucracy is under way again I fear,” a former diplomat told IPS on condition of anonymity. “In the past it destroyed civil servant moral, civil service efficiency and expertise, and made the bureaucracy another arm of the military — stripped of initiative and think independently – making it powerless to do anything else but follow orders and recreating a truly authoritarian state.”

But the military junta has also dealt a death blow to developing democratic ideals and practices, with the worst being the wholesale changes in the laws and new edicts. Activists and human rights groups in Myanmar have condemned these measures as unacceptable and a gross erosion of basic civil and human rights, especially the changes to citizens protection and security laws.

These include prisoner’s right to a lawyer – Suu Kyi has been denied access to her lawyer since she was detained at the beginning of February.

It also includes the right to detain prisoners for an unlimited the right to arrest people without a warrant and search homes unimpeded by local administrators, carry out surveillance unconstrained, intercept any form of communications, and ask for users’ information from operators.

The government has also enacted a draconian Cyber Law which essentially allows them full access to digital information and all social media – with the right to prosecute anyone they deem has crossed the line.

“The changes in the laws amount to the removal of all rights of freedom of speech, association and liberty as well as the rights associated the rule of law and fair trial,” Stephen McNamara, a UK lawyer who has worked with lawyers in Myanmar since 2007, told IPS.

“These changes in the basic laws of Myanmar are wider than any amendments since the nineteenth century. It reflects a military that intends to stay in power for a very long time,” he told IPS.

The fact that the military launched the coup when it could not get its own way clearly reflects the army’s mentality and priorities. They could not accept the NLD’s crushing victory in the elections – and the second time in five years.

They were shocked by the extent of their electoral triumph victory and had been counting on being able to form some sort of coalition government with various parties, including their pro-military partners, ethnic political parties and even the NLD if they did not have an overwhelming victory.

The military foresee a political future where the army is an integral part of the political setup — integrated into the power structure and administration much like the way they see Thailand. In fact the Commander in Chief is very fond of what he sees as the model – an important role for the army, where their economic interests are protected, a self sufficient economy and ‘democratic’ outlook – which resists leftist, socialist or communist leanings. It is a concept of pluralist democracy with no interest group having the dominant role or power.

Of course the coup leaders also see former Senior General Than Shwe’s ‘roadmap to democracy’ — developed in 2003 by the then intelligence chief and prime minister — as the model to be followed. This projected the final stage before a more liberal form of democracy as a coalition government of national unity. But always the emphasis was on a ‘guided democracy’. So while they are trying to turn back the clock to when the first elections were held – they have in fact wound it back into the dark ages.

“The soldiers, police and their hired thugs come out at night and wage a war of terror against the people – targeting prominent leaders of the protest movement – and conducting their campaign of intimidation, harassment and arrests,” Nyein Chan Aung told IPS.

“But this is different from 1988, and the new generational tactics have armed the protestors with weapons that will help defeat the military in the long run. With mobile phones, the internet and social media the civil disobedience movement has a voice that’s being heard across the world. The military’s tactics are doomed to fail this time round.”

Suu Kyi’s trial is expected to proceed on Mar. 1.

The post Suu Kyi Appears in Closed-Door Court Session Without Lawyer as Protests Continue appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

“Why Was I Ever Born”– Righting the Wrong

Wed, 02/17/2021 - 10:23

The US announcement revoking the previous administration's terrorist designation of Yemen’s Houthi movement, formally known as Ansar Allah, will provide “profound relief” to millions in the country, who depend on international assistance and imports for their survival, the UN Spokesperson said on February 7, 2021. Credit: WFP/Reem Nada

By Alon Ben-Meir
NEW YORK, Feb 17 2021 (IPS)

The bombing continues unabated. The explosions are heard in the distance. A family with seven children is cowering in fear in a corner of their shack, not daring to step out, dreading instant death from shrapnel or a sniper’s bullet.

They occasionally look up to the sky through a hole in the roof, hoping still for some rain drops collected in a bucket underneath. Drinking water is nowhere to be found, and only the rain drops keep the family alive.

The mother is careworn; she tries to breast-feed her baby boy, Mahmood, but her milk runs dry. The baby’s eyes are open still, gazing at nothing, perhaps wondering what’s happening to him and why.

Slowly he tries to raise his weakened hand to touch his mother’s breast, as if pleading for just one more drop of milk. His arm falls back, hanging; he can’t move, he can’t cry, his eyes run dry, he has no tears left to shed to ease his agonizing pain!

If you bent to ask him how he is feeling, and if he could only talk, he would say “why, why was I ever born?” Weeks of starvation finally took their turn. His body surrenders, and he dies in his mother’s arms.

How correct was James Baldwin when he said “A child cannot, thank Heaven, know how vast and how merciless is the nature of power, with what unbelievable cruelty people treat each other.”

Countless Yemeni children are dying from starvation and disease while the world shamelessly watches in silence, as if this was just a horror story from a different time and a distant place, where a country is ravaged by a senseless, unwinnable war while a whole generation perishes in front our eyes.

Those at the top who are fighting the war are destroying the very people they want to govern; they are the evil that flourishes on apathy and cannot endure without it.

What’s there left for them to rule? Twenty million Yemenis are famished, one million children are infected with cholera, and hundreds of thousands of little boys and girls are ravenous—dying, leaving no trace and no mark behind to tell the world they were ever here.

And the poorest country on this planet earth lies yet in ruin and utter despair.

The civilian casualties became a weapon of choice, and the victor will be the one who inflicts the heaviest fatalities. And as the higher the death toll of civilians continues to rise, climbing ever higher, the closer they believe they come to triumph. “People speak sometimes about the “bestial” cruelty of man,” Dostoyevsky said, “but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.”

When will the international community wake up? Evil humans can do much horrific harm, but those who watch them with deafening silence cause a greater disaster for failing to act. When will they try to bring the Yemeni calamity to a close? What will it take to bring the combatants to what’s left of their sanity?

There is nothing left to fight for, though however hopeless the conditions are, we can still be determined to change course. And if we succeed in saving even a single life, as the Abrahamic religions teach us, it is as though we have saved the whole world.

Cognizant of the Yemeni tragedy, President Biden – unlike Trump – took the first step by suspending the shipment of the killing machines. He could not allow himself to watch this human catastrophe to continue to take such a toll on the Yemeni people while degrading our morals and numbing our conscience.

It is time to warn Iran to end its support of the Houthis, as Tehran will never be permitted to establish a permanent foothold in the Arabian Peninsula. As an ally, Saudi Arabia should be encouraged to maintain the ceasefire and sue for a peace agreement.

The Houthis must remember that there will be no victors, only losers—losers, for they have already lost the country. The country they are fighting for is no longer there. They must now start at the beginning, and only together with the beleaguered government put an end to these unspeakable atrocities.

And maybe, just maybe, the community of nations will come together with the United States to right the wrong, not only for the sake of the Yemeni people but for the sake of humanity.

We are facing the test of time, and we will never be forgiven for failing to rise up and answer the silent call of that little boy, Mahmood, who died so cruelly so much before his prime.

The post “Why Was I Ever Born”– Righting the Wrong appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

The post “Why Was I Ever Born”– Righting the Wrong appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Successful Crop Innovation Is Mitigating Climate Crisis Impact in Africa

Wed, 02/17/2021 - 09:46

A woman farmer in Mozambique with DT maize harvest. Credit: CIMMYT / IITA

By Martin Kropff and Nteranya Sanginga
IBADAN and MEXICO CITY, Feb 17 2021 (IPS)

17 February – African smallholder farmers have no choice but to adapt to climate change: 2020 was the second hottest year on record, while prolonged droughts and explosive floods are directly threatening the livelihoods of millions. By the 2030s, lack of rainfall and rising temperatures could render 40 percent of Africa’s maize-growing area unsuitable for climate-vulnerable varieties grown by farmers, while maize remains the preferred and affordable staple food for millions of Africans who survive on less than a few dollars of income a day.

Farmers across the continent understand that the climate crisis is affecting their harvests and their “daily bread”. In sub-Saharan Africa, growing numbers of people are chronically undernourished, with over 21 percent of the population suffering from severe food insecurity.

The global battle against climate change and all its interconnected impacts requires a multisectoral approach to formulate comprehensive responses. For farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, especially smallholders, this involves producing improved crop varieties that are not only high-yielding but also tolerant to drought and heat, resistant to diseases and insect pests, and can contribute to minimizing the risk of farming under rainfed conditions.

CGIAR, a global partnership involving numerous organizations engaged in food systems transformation, has been at the forefront of technological innovation and deployment for many decades. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) are the two CGIAR research centers undertaking innovative maize research and development work in the stress-prone environments of Africa. Successful development of improved climate-adaptive maize varieties for sub-Saharan Africa has been spearheaded by these two CGIAR centers that implemented joint projects such as the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) and Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) in partnership with an array of national and private sector partners in the major maize-producing countries in Eastern, Southern, and West Africa. Under the 10-year DTMA initiative, about 160 affordable and scalable maize varieties were released.

High-yielding, multiple stress-tolerant, maize varieties using CIMMYT/IITA maize germplasm released after 2007 (the year the DTMA project was started) are estimated to be grown on 5 million hectares in 2020 in sub-Saharan Africa. The adoption of drought-tolerant (DT) maize varieties helped lift millions of people above the poverty line across the continent. For example, in drought-prone southern Zimbabwe, farmers using DT varieties in dry years were able to harvest up to 600 kilograms more maize per hectare—enough for nine months for an average family of six—than farmers who sowed conventional varieties.

A smallholder woman farmer in northern Uganda with DT maize on her farm. Credit: CIMMYT / IITA

The STMA project that followed DTMA also operated in sub-Saharan Africa, where 176 million people depend on maize for nutrition and economic well-being. The project, which ended in 2020, and followed by a new project called Accelerating Genetic Gains for Maize and Wheat Improvement (AGG), developed new maize varieties that can be successfully grown under drought, sub-optimal soil fertility, heat stress, and diseases and pests. In 2020, CGIAR-related stress-tolerant maize varieties were estimated to be grown on over 5 million hectares, benefiting over 8.6 million smallholder farmers in 13 countries across sub-Saharan Africa.

In Kenya, farmers with the new maize varieties are harvesting 20 to 30 percent more grain than farmers without drought-tolerant seeds. Prasanna Boddupalli, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on maize, says this has a cascading effect on livelihoods—improving the nutritional intake of the community, helping children return to school, and reducing poverty.

Martin Kropff, Director General, CIMMYT

In an interview with Gates Notes, Kenyan farmer Veronica Nduku, who has been growing CIMMYT’s drought-tolerant maize for 10 years, had said that she always harvests even when there is no rainfall.

In Zambia, a study by CIMMYT and the Center for Development Research has shown that adopting drought-tolerant maize can increase yields by 38 percent and reduce the risks of crop failure by 36 percent, even though three-quarters of the farmers in the study had experienced drought during the survey.

Besides climate-adaptive improved maize varieties, both CIMMYT and IITA have developed maize varieties biofortified with provitamin A; vitamin A deficiency is highly prevalent in populations across sub-Saharan Africa. These biofortified maize varieties, developed in partnership with HarvestPlus, are being deployed in targeted countries in sub-Saharan Africa in partnership with national programs and seed company partners.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding this year, CGIAR unveiled its roadmap for a new 10-year strategy at the online 2021 Climate Adaptation Summit, hosted by the Netherlands in January.

The new sustainable research strategy puts climate change at the heart of its mission, with an emphasis on the realignment of food systems worldwide, targeting five impact areas: nutrition, poverty, inclusivity, climate adaptation and mitigation, and environmental health.

Nteranya Sanginga, Director General, IITA

Through food system transformation, resilient agri-food systems, and genetic innovations CGIAR’s ambition is to meet and go beyond the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a concerted global effort to radically realign food systems to achieve the 17 SDGs by 2030.

CGIAR warns that without more science-based interventions to align agriculture with climate targets, the number of undernourished people around the world could exceed 840 million by 2030.

To shift its focus and investment into agricultural research that responds to the climate crisis, CGIAR is undergoing an institutional reform. Now named ‘One CGIAR’ the dynamic reformulation of CGIAR’s partnerships, knowledge, assets, and global presence, aims for greater integration and impact in the face of the interdependent challenges facing today’s world.

Scientific innovations in food, land, and water systems will be deployed faster, at a larger scale, and at reduced cost, having greater impact where they are needed the most.

Ground-breaking progress to date would not have been possible without the generous funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Yet Bill Gates, who recognizes the essential role of CGIAR in “feeding our future”, also acknowledges that current levels of investment do not even amount to half of what is needed.

Investments in maize breeding and seed system innovations must expand to keep up with the capacity to withstand climate variability in sub-Saharan Africa, the world’s most chronically undernourished region, and provide food and nutritional security to millions of maize-dependent and resource-constrained smallholders and consumers.

At CIMMYT and IITA, we have invested on long-term breeding to increase genetic gains using many new tools and technologies. These efforts need to be further intensified.

More funding is also needed to reach out to smallholders with quality seed of climate-resilient maize varieties. While 77 percent of Zambian households interviewed said they experienced drought in 2015, only 44 percent knew about drought-tolerant maize.

Mindful that adopting new technologies and practices can be risky for resource-poor farmers who do not enjoy the protection of social welfare safety nets in rich countries, CIMMYT encourages farmers, seed companies, and other end users to be involved in the development process.

It is not enough to lower carbon emissions. African farmers need to adapt quickly to rising temperatures, drawn-out droughts and sharp, devastating floods. With higher-yielding, multiple stress tolerant maize varieties, smallholder farmers have the opportunity to not only combat climatic variabilities, diseases and pests, but can also effectively diversify their farms. This will enable them in turn to have better adaptation to the changing climates and access to well-balanced and affordable diets. As climate change intensifies, so should agricultural innovations. It is time for a “business unusual” approach.

The post Successful Crop Innovation Is Mitigating Climate Crisis Impact in Africa appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Martin Kropff, Director General, CIMMYT and Nteranya Sanginga, Director General, IITA

The post Successful Crop Innovation Is Mitigating Climate Crisis Impact in Africa appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Leveraging AI to Fight Climate Change

Wed, 02/17/2021 - 09:31

Experts say artificial intelligence (AI) and big data are critical to combat climate change. One project uses AI to visualise the consequences of a changing climate by ‘bringing the future closer.’ It visually projects how houses and streets will look following the impact of climate related events. A file photo of Haiti shows impact on the country after Hurricane Matthew in October 2016. Credit: Kenton X. Chance/IPS

By Alison Kentish
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 17 2021 (IPS)

International organisations, researchers and data scientists say artificial intelligence (AI) and big data are critical to combat years of promises but inadequate action on the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the UN Environment Programme, Microsoft and StartUp inside, a corporation which works with Fortune 500 companies in digital transformation held the virtual ‘AI for the Planet’ conference this week.

As vaccines bring hope of an end to a brutal pandemic, the partners warn that digital technologies and machine learning can no longer be left out of the conversation on building a more sustainable and equitable planet. They say the technology can be used to assist the public in embracing more sustainable practices and making better consumption choices.

Postdoctoral Researcher in AI for humanity at the Mila Institute Sasha Luccioni is working on a project that uses AI to visualise the consequences of a changing climate by ‘bringing the future closer.’ It visually projects how houses and streets will look following the impact of climate related events, hoping that the images will move people into action to protect the planet.

“We are creating a website where someone can enter an address, find their house, school or workplace and we provide them with AI generated images of what it would look like if climate change had an impact on this location, whether it be through flooding, smog or wildfires,” said Luccioni.

The images are accompanied by information on climate change, extreme weather events, local and global changes, as well as personal and collective action to save the planet and prevent the virtual images from becoming reality.

While Luccioni’s project uses AI to impact behaviour change, Weathernews Incorporated of Japan is using the technology in a UNESCO-supported disaster prevention programme. The chatbot system will be rolled out in East Africa this year. Used by local governments in Japan, it uses AI technology over a messaging app to send information such river swells to citizens before a disaster and communicate with them during and post-disaster. The project underscores the need for technology to save lives in an area beset with flooding, landslides, droughts and earthquakes.

“We would like to contribute to the creation of a society and a planet where many lives can be saved through information, by consolidating our knowledge of disaster prevention, together with AI technology for the planet,” said Shoichi Tateno, Private Public Partnership Section Leader at Weathernews.

UNEP officials say the world has 10 years to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals but cannot adequately measure its progress against 68 percent of their environmental indicators. Executive Director Inger Anderson says AI, big data and technology can help to fill that gap.

“How do we use digital solutions to drive sustainability and to create a world that is circulator, regenerative and inclusive and where we know how we are tracking and measuring where we are falling behind?” asked Anderson, adding that, “UNEP is just beginning to support and scale environmental change through the digital architecture.”

The summit partners say that applying big data, AI and digital technology in areas like mobility, manufacturing, agriculture, energy and buildings can result in a 10 to 20 percent reduction in global carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.

Watt Time, an environmental non-profit founded by UC Berkley researchers and Silicon Valley software engineers, has been developing technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Executive Director Gavin McCormick says the process starts by using AI to produce high quality data on greenhouse gas emissions.

“We teamed up with other tech savvy non-profits including Carbon Tracker and the World Resources Institute to AI to begin continuously monitoring the emissions from every power plant in the world and to make those data available to the general public the way the United States government makes its own data available to the public,” he said.

The virtual summit explored the role of AI in helping nations achieve the goal of limiting the increase in global average temperatures to well below 2°C pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. From providing real-time, reliable data on emissions to focusing on disaster prevention, the partners say AI is a critical yet underused tool in protecting the planet and securing a more sustainable future.

The post Leveraging AI to Fight Climate Change appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Partners of the 2021 ‘AI for the Planet’ summit say big data, artificial intelligence and digital technology can bring a 10-20 percent reduction in global carbon dioxide emissions by 2030

The post Leveraging AI to Fight Climate Change appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

India Glacier Disaster: In a Warming World is there no Less Lethal Way to Power Development?

Tue, 02/16/2021 - 12:29

Studies show that glaciers in India are permanently losing ice, not only owing to higher temperatures from global warming but also in response to “deprived precipitation conditions” High siltation as the Teesta, a Himalayan glacier-sourced river which rises from the Eastern Himalayas, is dammed at the Teesta barrage at Siliguri, West Bengal. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS

By Manipadma Jena
BHUBANESWAR, India, Feb 16 2021 (IPS)

On Sunday morning, Feb. 7, as most of the working-class in India’s Himalayan State of Uttarakhand went about their chores, the glacier-fed Rishi Ganga river started rising. Two hours later, swollen with rock debris and snowmelt, its waters rose 53 feet — the height equivalent of a five-storey building.

The Dehradun-based Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), part of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), estimates that approximately 2 to 3 million cubic metres of water was released in the surrounding rivers.

As the brown-grey, monstrous body of water crashed down the steep river path, hilltop residents first to see it lost no time. Mothers called their sons working on the construction of the 480 MW Tapovan-Vishnugad hydro-power project and dam and urged them to flee.

“Flee for your mother’s sake”, they pleaded. Several people on high ground recorded the disaster, posting it immediately as an alert on social media. Frantic shouts from brothers and friends to those in harm’s way to “climb up somewhere, anywhere,” echoed down into the valley and saved lives.

But not everyone’s.

Even before the echoes of their calls had died down the water mass had smashed through the construction of the Tapovan-Vishnugad hydro-power project and the functional 13.2 MW Rishiganga project as if they were Legos.

It swept 30 workers into the dam’s 1,500-metre tunnel and carried others downstream.

Rescue workers entered the muddy waters, waded in knee-deep muck and searched for bodies stuck in boulders and tree roots downstream. Bodies, rescuers said, were found 150 kilometres downstream from the Tapovan dam site, many mutilated beyond recognition.

The missing people include around 120 workers from the dam construction and villagers whose homes were washed away. Even those out in the grazing pastures and working on farms got caught up in what appeared to be a glacial lake outburst flood. These floods are characterised by a sudden release of a huge amount of lake water that rushes along the channel downstream in the form of dangerous flood waves.

As of today, Feb. 16, 20 bodies and 12 human limbs have been cremated after DNA sampling; 58 bodies have been recovered and 164 are still missing.

What really triggered the flash-floods?

The day after the disaster the government’s IIRS put out a notice on its website stating, “it is observed from the satellite data of Feb. 7, 2021 in the catchment of Rishi Ganga river at the terminus of the glacier at an altitude of 5,600m a landslide triggered a snow avalanche covering approximately 14 sq.km area and causing a flash flood in the downstream of Rishi Ganga river.”

But the story of what generated the flood is the story of a warming climate.

“Satellite images do not show the presence of a lake,” Mauri Pelto, a glaciologist and Professor of Environmental Science at Nichols College in Massachusetts, told IPS via a Skype call.

It raised the question of why there had been such a large flood of water.

“The likely explanation is that the landslide blocked a glacial stream and subsequently the stream burst through after being dammed. This is what I would look for — a temporary blockage of maybe for an hour. Even a 15-minute blockage could pile up a lot of water (from large glaciers streams),” Pelto said.

An ISRO satellite image taken on Feb. 6 shows a crack developing on the Trishul rock glacier. On the morning of Feb. 7, the mountain face shows the block of rock, with some ice, had dropped from about 5,600 m to about 3,800 m, crashing almost two kilometres and fragmenting to generate a huge rock and ice avalanche. It barrelled down the steep glacier with huge speed generating heat and gathering more ice, water and rocks into itself each every millisecond.

A study by the Divecha Centre for Climate Change (DCCC) of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, using modelling studies, said that when the stone and snow avalanche came crashing from 5,600m down the mountain side, the impact could have breached subglacial lakes. Subglacial lakes are bodies of water that form beneath ice masses when meltwater is generated evading satellite capture.

This, they said, was the bulk water source of the flash floods.

Scattered settlements at the foothills of the Himalayas with a glacier-fed river meandering close in Nepal. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS

How much was climate change responsible?

“This event occurred after a post-monsoon season featuring high snowlines (Glacier snowlines are indicators for the elevation where melting predominates) on Trishul and adjacent glaciers and the warmest January in the last six decades in Uttarakhand,” said Pelto, who since 1984 has directed the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project that monitors the mass balance and behaviour of glaciers in North America.

“By mid-October 2020, the snowline had risen to 5,800 – 6,000 metres above sea level on Trishul and an adjacent seven glaciers as seen in Landsat and Sentinel satellite imagery. This rising snowline indicates warmer temperature and a height above which the freezing line rose frequently in 2020. This also indicates that the freezing line rose frequently above the Trishul landslip/ collapse point at 5,600m frequently enough in 2020. Here melting exceeded snowfall,” he explained.

“After the October 2020 warmth, by Jan.11, snow blanketed the glaciers down to 4,400 m, but again a subsequent warm period led to widespread melting and snow cover loss climbed up to at least 5,000 m on the Trishul Glacier,” Pelto explained.

“Three coincidences are aligned here: Right at this very warm year, right at the elevation where unusual melting occurred, you have a landslide. Why would it happen now? There is an answer in the alignment,” he told IPS, explaining that the answer was climate change.

Supporting this explanation is research published in Science Direct in July 2020, which assessed the impact of climate change on glaciers in the same region – the upper Rishi Ganga catchment, Nanda Devi region in Central Himalaya from 1980 to 2017. It found 10 percent of glaciated areas had been lost – from 243 square kilometres in 1980 down to 217 in 2017.

Another significant finding from this research is that glaciers here are permanently losing ice, not only owing to higher temperatures from global warming but also in response to “deprived precipitation conditions” since 1980. Deficient winter rains, which glaciers largely grow on, is in fact starving them.

Pelto said glaciers here are more thinning than retreating, particularly in the glacial area between the snowline and someplace below the top region, which is debris covered.

This would eventually lead to an increased number of glacial lakes spread over more area. The potential for a glacial lake outburst disaster thus spreads and endangers more places and more communities.

Worse could happen. According to a study published this January in The Cryosphere, meltwater from ice avalanches in the Himalayan western Tibetan Plateau have been filling downstream lakes in a way that may cause previously-separated lakes to merge within the next decade.

As the glacier retreats it leaves a large void behind. Ponds occupy the depression earlier occupied by glacial ice. The moraine walls composed of large rocks, sediment (glacier debris) that were in the glacier act as a dam but are structurally weak and unstable and undergo constant changes and there exists the danger of catastrophic failure, causing glacial lake outburst floods.

The propagation of these flood surges trigger landslides and bank erosion that temporarily block the surge waves and result in a series of surges as the landslide dam breach.

Earthquakes may also be one of the triggering factors depending upon its magnitude, location and other characteristics. Discharge rates of such floods are typically several thousand cubic meters per second.

“In the recent event we see snowlines lines rising higher and on the other hand there was no retained snow on glaciers. If this happens the glaciers cannot survive,” Pelto said.

Of the Trishul rock face that cracked and collapsed, Pelto said, “All mountain faces are living with lot of cracks. Over time they may widen. Ordinarily the cracks are held together by the ice covering. Take the ice away and they are not held together anymore, vulnerable to rock slips.

“These are preconditions to the disaster. I expect to see more of such (Chamoli tragedy) events,” he told IPS.

A glacier, in Uttarakhand state, India. On Feb. 7, a block of rock with some ice had dropped from the Trishul rock glacier from about 5,600 m to about 3,800 m, crashing almost two kilometres and fragmenting to generate a huge rock and ice avalanche. It barrelled down the steep glacier with huge speed generating heat and gathering more ice, water and rocks into itself each every millisecond. Courtesy: Yann Forget / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA.

Too many hydropower projects, too many lost lives

With steep slopes that make river electricity generation possible, government sources said Uttarakhand is being developed as an ‘energy state’ to tap an estimated hydropower electric potential of over 25,000 MW.

About 77 percent of the capacity owned by state utilities is based on hydropower. According to sources, while Uttarakhand’s hydropower installed capacity is 3,177 MW from about 40 operational projects, a total 87 more projects are being developed by the Uttarakhand government, government of India and private power producers.

But in a sensitive, somewhat unstable river bed region, even if it is clean energy production, the risk of avalanche, flash floods, loss of life and costly infrastructure is to be carefully weighed against development gains, activists have been saying.

After the massive 2013 floods in Uttarakhand caused by high-intensity rainfall over days and seen as the worst extreme climatic disaster in 100 years in the Himalayan region, India’s highest court banned further hydropower installation in the state. The court had stated in its ruling that no proper disaster management plan was in place. But the Indian and state governments have found ways to circumvent the ban, aiming to export electricity beyond the state.

Over 2013 to 2015, Uttarakhand lost an astounding 268 sq. km of forest cover as documented by the bi-annual India State of Forest Report. Much of the cleared land was for development projects, including roads, hydropower projects and distribution lines, hotels, and mining. In 2019 some forest cover was regained.

“When you need to produce a lot of electricity locally and hydropower is the easiest available method, run-of-the-river where pipes or weirs extract water at a height and drop it over a turbine would get sufficient output even while returning the water back to the river,” Pelto said. This echoes the majority voices advising small and micro hydro projects that can power several villages clusters, instead of large or medium projects.

“When you invest in a structure all across a river’s width you spend a lot, what are the chances it will last 50 years?” Pelto cautioned.

Families of the 58 dead shudder to imagine their loved ones taken over by the ferocious sludge-waters, choking them deep inside the 1,500-metre Tapovan-Vishnugad dam tunnel, carrying others like straw dashed against rocks. And the families of the 164 missing wait with hope dimming. They have every right to ask the governments “is there really no less-lethal way to generate electricity for development?”

The post India Glacier Disaster: In a Warming World is there no Less Lethal Way to Power Development? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Making the UN Tax Committee More Effective for Developing Countries

Tue, 02/16/2021 - 11:07

By Abdul Muheet Chowdhary
GENEVA, Feb 16 2021 (IPS)

The United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters (UN Tax Committee) is an important and influential subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that shapes standards and guidelines on international taxation. These are the rules through which Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) are taxed.

Its role post-COVID has become even more important as countries struggle to raise revenue. Despite being under-resourced, it has produced valuable guidance, especially on the crucial question of the digital economy. As a new Membership of the Committee is about to be selected, this brief provides practical recommendations on how the Committee can be reformed to be made more effective, especially for the interests of developing countries.

If foreign MNEs do not pay the rightful taxes due, owing to tax evasion or avoidance, then it results in a higher burden on domestic firms, leading to competition concerns. Foreign firms end up with more funds at their disposal through which they can carry out predatory pricing or buyout rivals

The United Nations is the foremost international organization, setup in the aftermath of the Second World War to help build a new world. One of its six principal organs is the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), tasked with advancing the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental. In that sense it plays a major role in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which the world has committed to.

Nestled within ECOSOC is a little-known but vitally important subsidiary body with the somewhat archaic and lengthy title of “Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters”, popularly known as the UN Tax Committee (UNTC).

The UNTC is responsible for nothing less than reviewing and recommending standards on international taxation, notably the rules through which non-residents, particularly Multinational Enterprises (MNEs), may be taxed.

As is well known, in today’s world there is a growing concentration of wealth and corporate consolidation, with one company even reaching a staggering market valuation of USD 2 trillion. This is juxtaposed with an estimated $427 billion in tax revenue lost each year to international corporate tax abuse and private tax evasion. This makes the taxation of these MNEs (and non-residents more generally) an important source of revenue for the countries where they operate.

There is also the aspect of a level playing field, because if these foreign MNEs do not pay the rightful taxes due, owing to tax evasion or avoidance, then it results in a higher burden on domestic firms, leading to competition concerns. Foreign firms end up with more funds at their disposal through which they can carry out predatory pricing or buyout rivals.

The disruption of local businesses has many negative effects, with one of them being reduced consumer demand owing to job losses. This is harmful even for the foreign MNE as it means less demand for their goods and services. Thus, non-payment of taxes leads to a vicious cycle of economic slowdown, while tax compliance means fairer competition, higher consumer demand and more capacity of governments to provide public goods, leading to a virtuous cycle of prosperity.

Thus, international tax standards are of critical importance, as they enable countries to effectively tax MNEs and raise the revenue needed for providing public goods and financing the SDGs. Improved capacity for tax collection is in fact target 17.1 of the SDGs.

The UN Tax Committee, housed within ECOSOC, hence has a crucial role to play for the world at large. It is also the only standard shaping body on tax that is within a genuinely universal organization, the UN. The other major body, the OECD, remains to this day an organization ultimately controlled by 37 of the world’s richest countries. Hence the UNTC is the only body where developing countries have something close to a level playing field and the Committee’s membership is almost evenly divided between developed and developing countries.

Though far less resourced than the OECD, the UNTC has performed admirably, producing standards such as the UN Model Double Taxation Convention between Developed and Developing Countries, Manual for the Negotiation of Bilateral Tax Treaties between Developed and Developing Countries, Practical Manual on Transfer Pricing and Handbook on Selected Issues for Taxation of the Extractive Industries by Developing Countries. These documents provide much-needed guidance to countries, particularly developing countries, in strengthening their international tax policy frameworks.

The recent sessions of the Committee have seen a spurt of activity as some of the more active Members, all from developing countries, have taken the lead in finding solutions to some of the burning issues of the day. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in the taxation of the digitalized economy, arguably the single most important issue in international tax today.

The digitalized economy can no longer be hived off into a sector; it is increasingly a part of the ‘real’ economy and as such calls for major changes to international tax rules. The OECD has been trying for years to find a solution through its “Inclusive” Framework on BEPS, but there is no end in sight as discussions continue endlessly. Meanwhile developing countries are ever more stressed for funds, particularly in these times of recession and COVID-19.

While the OECD, with its enormous resources and Secretariat, continues to struggle to find a practical and acceptable solution, the more modest UNTC, in its 20th and 21st Session has come out with a simple and realistic proposal for taxing income from Automated Digital Services, one that has been prepared entirely by developing country members. That the Committee could provide such a solution in a relatively short period of time with all its constraints is a testament to its relevance, but more importantly unfulfilled potential.

These outcomes have happened not because of the UNTC’s structure but rather despite it and can be attributed to the individual drive and initiative of some Members. However it is unwise to rely on such individuals and what is needed is a system that facilitates and encourages such outcomes as a matter of course. Hence, this article seeks to examine how the structure of the UNTC can be improved so it does precisely this and is better able to fulfil its mandate.

Issues Relating to Committee Members

Appointment

The first and most important aspect of the UNTC’s functioning is the selection of Members, especially those from developing countries. Having passive Members who do not or cannot perform their duties effectively means that their engagement is reduced to simply approving Committee documents on various issues without substantively contributing to them.

This is an unfortunate outcome because even though the Members are individuals serving in their expert capacity, they are nevertheless nominated by countries and the reality is that they to an extent reflect national experiences. Further, the UNTC is meant to be a Committee-driven body and the Members must have as much control as possible and should be able to drive the Committee’s work. For this, members must be selected who are capable, committed and supported.

Capability

The Members must have the capacity to perform their duties. For this domain knowledge is essential; candidates must have expertise in international tax matters such as exchange of information or transfer pricing. Practical experience in tax treaties should also be a necessary qualification. This will ensure that at minimum they have the capacity to substantively contribute to the Committee’s work.

Commitment

The Members must also have a track record which proves their commitment to the issue. This is especially important in the case of Members hailing from developing countries.

Support

Members of the UNTC are tax officials working with their governments but are nominated in their expert and individual capacity, hence their work is not counted as “official” in the eyes of their governments. Working for the UNTC is seen as a personal responsibility and something that eats into their official duties. Several times this trade-off means that they are unable to devote adequate time to their obligations as UNTC Members.

The way out of this is to ensure that the Committee Members have support from their governments in their work as UNTC Members and the time spent in this is important work is given due recognition and support by their governments.

It would be good if the domestic tax administrations can provide additional resources and staff to their Members. This will enable them to provide better inputs and manage their Committee work along with their official responsibilities.

Thus, it is recommended that Member States, especially those from developing countries, take these criteria into account when making nominations, so that they are putting forth the best candidates possible. They must also assess whether their respective tax administrations will be able to provide them with the requisite support so that they are able to do their best. The UN can issue guidelines encouraging countries to follow this approach.

Re-appointment

Sometimes Committee Members are re-appointed for the next term. All the aforementioned points are equally applicable when it comes to such reappointments. At present however the process is not transparent. Given the importance of being on the Committee, some criteria and procedures should be developed in this regard.

Only those Members should be reappointed who have demonstrated their contributions to the Committee’s functioning. A feedback mechanism can be devised which also takes into account the opinion of Observers, civil society and the UNTC Secretariat itself. The UN can share this assessment with countries when requesting them to nominate or re-nominate candidates.

Induction

New members should be given an introduction to the committee and how it works. They have no time to learn the ‘rules of the game’ and as a result cannot function with full efficiency. Often times they join to find that many things have been already pre-decided, such as the agenda and composition of sub-committees. To prevent this and to ensure that they are informed of how things work, it is recommended that outgoing members do some handholding for them and share their experiences. This is especially important for Members from developing countries.

Issues Relating to Committee functioning

Agenda

The agenda should be decided by the Members. It is recommended that the inputs of UN Member States should be solicited in preparing the UNTC agenda.

Number of Meetings

One of the compromise outcomes of the 2015 Addis Ababa conference on Financing for Development was to increase the number of Committee meetings from two per year instead of just one. However this is not at all enough for the work to get done. As a result decisions on many pending issues tend to get delayed and their resolution is dragged out. Hence, the number of Committee meetings need to be increased, with the flexibility to have additional Sessions if the work so requires.

Staffing of the Secretariat

The composition of the Secretariat is very important as it works full-time and continuously on the Committee’s work, unlike the Members who also have official responsibilities. So far, the Secretariat staff, especially for the core work of the Committee, comprises largely former OECD officials or officials from developed countries. The reality of this means it is easier for OECD standards proposed by developed country Committee Members to find their way into the UN Committee. To balance this, the Secretariat staff should have much larger representation from developing countries. There is no dearth of talent.

Another measure in this regard is to lower the emphasis given to knowledge of multiple UN languages when hiring candidates. It should be enough for eligible candidates to know only one language. Many nationals of the developing world do not have the luxury of learning multiple UN languages, which those in the developed world do. The hiring policy should be therefore rational and flexible in this regard with a focus on subject knowledge to prevent over-representation of nationals of former colonial powers.

Conclusion

These are some concrete recommendations for improving the structure of the UNTC so it is better able to discharge its responsibilities. The reforms required are not major but nevertheless have the potential to greatly improve the Committee’s functioning, which in turn means more balanced and efficient international tax standards for a world in dire need of funds to combat COVID-19 and finance the recovery.

Abdul Muheet Chowdhary is Senior Programme Officer with the South Centre Tax Initiative (SCTI), part of the South Centre, a Geneva-based intergovernmental organization of developing countries.

This article was originally published by the South Centre.

The post Making the UN Tax Committee More Effective for Developing Countries appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Climate Change & Policy Making in Nepal

Tue, 02/16/2021 - 10:20

Rural woman farmer Chandra Kala Thapa works in the fields near Chatiune Village, Nepal. Over $39 million has been earmarked by a UN-backed fund to combat effects of climate change in Nepal. Credit: UN Women/Narendra Shrestha

By Simone Galimberti
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Feb 16 2021 (IPS)

Raju Pandit Chhetri is one of the most acclaimed climate change policy experts in Nepal and South Asia. As Director of the Prakiriti Resource Centre, an action focused think tank based in Kathmandu, Pandit Cheetri shares his opinion on the latest climate focused policies being undertaken by the Government of Nepal, especially the 2nd Nationally Determined Contribution NDC that was recently submitted by the Government.

Q: Before discussing the second Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) released by the Government in December, what is your assessment of the first one published in October 2016?

Raju: The first NDC was much more inclusive as it tried to balance between the adaptation, mitigations and means of implementation. It was done it a short period of time and no proper format existed then. It was prepared to demonstrate Nepal’s commitment to the Paris Agreement.

Q: Coming now to the second NDC, it states that “Nepal is formulating a long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategy by 2021 with the aim to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050”. Given the fact that Nepal’s emissions are minimal, were you expected such goal?

Raju: Given the emission scenario and context of Nepal, achieving net-zero GHG by 2050 is doable, if there is political commitment and actions, we can achieve this even earlier. It’s great that Nepal has this vision and wants to implement it via a strategy. Given Nepal’s forest coverage, potential for renewable energy and low per capita emission this is a realistic target. Nationally we need to do more.

Q: Shouldn’t the NDC be already providing a roadmap to achieve this goal? Do we need another strategy just because the NDC document is fairly a generic one?

Raju: I guess for now, the NDC is more of a visioning paper for next five to 10 years. It would have been good if the details were presented but, in any case, for a least developed country (LDC) country with insignificant amount of carbon emission, it isn’t a bad thing. The current version does give the vision if not every detail of the targets. However, it is true that Nepal just loves preparing policies, plans and strategies rather than focusing on implementation. We have great policies not actions, unfortunately.

Q: There has been skepticism about net-zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050, especially in relation to the financial contributions that Nepal is committing itself (we are talking only of mitigation measures here) through what are called the unconditional commitment that will amount to $ 3.4 billion, resources that Nepal is pledging to mobilize on its own. Is it feasible?

Raju: The total cost gives at US$ 25 billion for mitigation and Nepal’s own share is arbitrary (don’t know where this is coming from). There is no basis for accounting and detail analysis. Principally, it would have been better if the numbers with commitments from Nepal were not there, after all Nepal’s emission is very low and with no historical responsibility.

However, there is no harm in submitting the second NDCs, it’s great to demonstrate that even a country like Nepal is serious on climate actions and would pressurize the rich responsible countries to come forward. But I do agree that this rush did not help in making the NDC preparation process inclusive and participatory. This is a fundamental drawback. This process would have avoided many of the shortcomings such as finance targets and making it mitigation centric.

Q: Do you think that Nepal’s proposed graduation from the group of LDCs (to the status of a middle income country) in 2024 can have a negative impact for the country’s efforts to find the needed external resources to implement the 2nd NDC?

Raju: When Nepal graduates, it will lose some of the privileges which it enjoyed as a LDC country. However, this may not matter in the short term because there is also transitional period, which it can enjoy for a few more years. Having said that if development process advances to making it a developing country from LDC then it also comes with responsibility and enhanced ability, which it must embrace. It must find other avenues and create opportunities for itself. The good thing is Nepal is often one of the favorites to donors hence, the politics must work on this favorable condition in the short and long run.

Q: Between adaptation and mitigation, how to strike the right balance? In a recent interview, you highlighted that this second NDC should have been more focused on adaptation. Why not being ambitious developing a greener economy as well?

Raju: I am always for developing a greener economy, I would even go further to say that we need much more concrete actions to reduce air pollution, import less fossil fuel and adopt a green development pathway. However, given the global scenario, Nepal is one of the lowest carbon emitting countries but highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This is being clearly seen in the areas of climate induced disasters like landslide and floods. Nepal suffers from food insecurity, poverty, water issues and many other development issues hence in this context- adaptation should not be less prioritize. Nepal’s NDC fails to realize this current reality. NDC is an international document that we submit to international organization (UNFCCC) hence in that context adaptation is always Nepal’s priority. My comment was not that we should not do mitigation but rather give due weightage to adaptation actions reflecting the reality of the county.

Q: What should we expect from the upcoming National Adaptation Plan, NAP?

Raju: There is also a huge adaptation gap in Nepal and we are way behind in fulfilling this gap. NAP should clearly state the current situation of country’s adaptation need and areas of vulnerability. In this context, provide adequate information and focus areas where adaptation is a dire need. It should help prioritize the areas of intervention, partners, identify issues, and ways to address them. Currently, NAP is in the process of making in Nepal, hope this is soon completed and this can be a basis for adaptation actions in the country.

Q: In terms of mitigation in the NDC, there are ambitious forestry targets like maintaining 45% of total area of the country under forest cover in addition to bold announcements on reducing pollution in the transportation sector. Do you remain hopeful the targets will be met?

Raju: It is good that Nepal is having some bold targets but this is not easy for Nepal to meet with the current priorities and enabling environment. There are lots of conflicting aspects when it comes to what is in the policy and what is done in practice. For sure, there is need to maintain our forest cover, address pollution in the cities, manage growing waste and significantly replace the imported fossil fuel by renewable energy. However, this is not possible merely putting it in NDC without actions. Political commitment should ensure partnership between the government, private sectors, financers and other partners to achieve these targets.

Q: Prakriti Resources Centre was one of the leading forces behind the Climate and Development Dialogue in 2019. How useful are such stakeholders ‘meetings?

Raju: We do regular meetings and gathering to share ideas and experiences from the policy to the implementation level. There are about 12 members in the dialogue who regularly exchange information on climate and development issues. We also make policy suggestions and inputs to the government. Many of our inputs have been incorporated into the policy documents. We continue to advocate for the affective implementation of these plans and policies.

Q: With the 2nd NDC being published, what should the government do now? What is the civil society planning to do? Are you going to play a role in shaping the formation of the numerous new “climate” institutions, including the Inter-Ministerial Climate Change Coordination Committee (IMCCCC) and the Climate Change Resource Center? In addition, the NDC says that by 2030, all 753 local governments will prepare and implement climate-resilient and gender-responsive adaptation plans. Is this realistic?

Raju: We will continue to be vigilant on what government does on climate actions – both in terms of policy implementation and raising new issues. We will support where needed but also push on what needs to be done.

There are a lot of things that the government needs to do both in terms of climate adaptation and mitigation. We have not even entered into the debate of loss and damage. A few months back ICIMOD and UNDP produced a report that 25 glacial lake in the Himalayas are at the risk of out-bursting. This is a huge issue for a country like, imagine one lake out bursting and it causing harm in the downstream. This is a case of loss and damage.

Government cannot just make policies and promise, it needs to acts through appropriate institutions, allocating finance and ensuring that the actions are taking place at the local level. Government has promised to make adaptation plans in all the 753 local governments and this cannot merely be an empty promise. It needs to fulfil the promise to meet the expectation of the climate vulnerable communities. But for this high degree of political commitment is a must. It needs to start from awareness building of the local governments and supporting them with technical inputs.

Q: What do you hope Glasgow 2021 will achieve? The Prakriti Resources Centre together with its peers within the Climate Finance Advisory Service, extensively analyzed the disbursement pledge of USD 100 billion goal in annual commitments from the developed countries. Where are we?

Raju: COP26 should help raise the climate ambitions so that the world is in track to achieve 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. Currently, we are heading to 3 degree world or beyond. By COP26 every country should submit an ambitious NDCs. In order to achieve this, climate finance will play a major role. Developed countries are falling short in fulfilling their promise of meeting the climate finance targets of US$100 billion per year by 2020. This gap should be filled in only then the developing countries will be able to take climate actions. The money should be balance both for mitigation and adaptation, while also prioritizing loss and damage. Developed countries have been double counting their ODA as climate finance, this should not be the case but sincere effort must be made to support climate vulnerable countries like Nepal.

Q: Last but not the least, what are your suggestions to a young graduate in Nepal that would embrace the work you are doing?

Raju: Working in the area of climate change looks appealing but without perseverance it does not last long. This is a wide open and multisectoral area hence focus is imperative. It is not easy as it sounds otherwise, we would have long back solved the problem, in fact we are nowhere near it. No doubt, more young people should join the movement and work on climate change because this is the issue about their future. However, the work must be backed by keen interest to build one’s knowledge, motivation and dedication.

To have more information about Prakiriti Resource Centre, please visit www.prc.org.np
To have more information about Climate Finance Advisory Service, please visit https://www.cfas.info/en
E-mail: simone_engage@yahoo.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-galimberti-4b899a3/

The post Climate Change & Policy Making in Nepal appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Simone Galimberti is Co-Founder of ENGAGE, a not-for-profit NGO in Nepal. He writes on volunteerism, social inclusion, youth development and regional integration as an engine to improve people’s lives.

The post Climate Change & Policy Making in Nepal appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

IP, Vaccine Imperialism Cause Death and Suffering, Delay Recovery

Tue, 02/16/2021 - 09:18

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 16 2021 (IPS)

Vaccine developers’ refusal to share publicly funded vaccine research findings is stalling broader, affordable vaccinations which would more rapidly contain COVID-19 contagion. The pandemic had infected at least 109 million people worldwide, causing over 2.4 million deaths as of mid-February.

Anis Chowdhury

Avoidable delays in preventive vaccination are imposing terrible burdens on the world economy and human welfare, with economic disruption demanding more relief and recovery measures. They have cost US$28 trillion in lost output globally, with developed countries contracting by 7% in 2020.

Avoidable vaccination delays
National capacities to cope with the pandemic have been largely determined by means and power. Thus, access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, personal protective equipment and other pandemic supplies has been severely lacking in most African and other poor countries.

At current vaccination rates, it would take “not one or two years, but six years” to reach 75% global coverage, currently considered the minimum to achieve ‘herd immunity’ against COVID-19.

Patent protections, vaccine production constraints and the rich country scramble will deprive more than 85 poor countries of public access to vaccines before 2023. As of 5 February, not a single dose had been administered in 130 countries with 2.5 billion people.

Of the more than 131 million doses available by 8 February, the US, China, the EU and the UK had 78%, while Africa had 0.2%! Meanwhile, the African Union has only ordered less than half of what it needs to reach herd immunity, i.e., just 670 million doses. Meanwhile, besides Brazil, other Latin American countries only have 150 million doses for less than a quarter of their population.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Supply shortfalls
By the end of 2021, total global capacity of the 13 leading COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers would still be well short of the needs of the world’s almost 7.7 billion people. Even if they all produce at maximum capacity, a fifth of the world’s population would not have access until 2022.

Rich countries continue to oppose the South African-Indian proposal to temporarily suspend relevant provisions of the 1994 World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to effectively block rapid scaling up of generic vaccine production.

The resulting “catastrophic moral failure” is thus mainly due to vaccine suppliers’ profit maximisation, also limiting supplies and access. Meanwhile, rich countries’ grossly excessive vaccine purchases can vaccinate their residents several times over.

The US will soon have enough to vaccinate its population twice over, while Canada and Australia have booked enough to protect residents several times over. Exceptionally, New Zealand – which has also ordered several times its population’s needs – plans to freely share vaccines with its Pacific island neighbours.

Manufactured scarcity and prices
Global needs now greatly exceed available supply. Middle-income countries have joined the scramble, making onerous direct deals with vaccine suppliers, typically on worse terms than if they had bargained collectively. Unsurprisingly, vaccine prices vary considerably, by more than 12-fold, from US$6 to US$74 per dose.

As countries have not published contract details, acceding to vaccine suppliers’ terms, lack of transparency has enabled abuses. And when forced to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests, documents are heavily redacted before release.

Such limited transparency enables ‘vaccine imperialism’ as big power ‘vaccine nationalism’ impairs others’ access. Thus, following its spat with AstraZeneca, the European Commission (EC) banned vaccine exports to most countries outside the EU.

Double standards rule
In fact, cross-border enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) is relatively recent. Big Pharma successfully lobbied their governments for TRIPS inclusion in the 1994 WTO founding documents. This greatly strengthened and extended IPRs transnationally.

Now, as these non-transparent deals are disputed, European politicians are threatening ‘patent grabs’. EU President Charles Michel has warned of “urgent measures” demanding compulsory licensing, provided for by the European Treaty.

This would require vaccine developers to facilitate generic production, which the developing country-backed TRIPS temporary waiver proposal seeks for all countries. Nevertheless, the EU, other rich countries and their allies still oppose the request to enable rapid scaling-up of affordable vaccine supplies.

Publicly financed vaccine development
To accelerate vaccine development, expenses and risks have been mainly borne by governments, rather than by developers or private finance. The six top candidate vaccine developers have already received over US$12 billion of public money, sometimes with little to show for it.

Of the more successful, Moderna received US$955 million for research and development plus a premarket purchase commitment of US$1.53 billion. In Europe, Pfizer/BioNTech got €375 million from the German government and another €100 million for debt refinancing from the European Investment Bank.

Yet, despite massive public financing, vaccine developers retain the IP monopoly right to profit. Thus, the prospect of huge gains from 2021 vaccine sales revenue of almost US$40 billion is delaying progress against COVID-19.

Greed kills, unless…
AstraZeneca promised Oxford University not to profit off any COVID-19 vaccines “for the duration of the pandemic”. However, its contracts allow it to declare the pandemic over as early as mid-2021. It could then charge higher prices for vaccines developed with public money for the university.

The AstraZeneca vaccine was ‘trialed’ on the South African population. Yet, it is paying 2.4 times more than the EU – US$5.25 compared to US$2.16. This makes a mockery of “benefit-sharing” and priority “post-trial access” promises. Meanwhile, turning ‘ability to pay’ on its head, Uganda is paying 20% more than South Africa!

Having the greatest vaccine manufacturing capacity in the world by far, the Serum Institute of India has several contracts to produce the Astra-Zeneca vaccine for different countries. In India, it will sell 90% to the government and 10% to the private sector at a higher price.

Waiver can end pandemic
Vaccines produced generically at greater scale will be far more affordable, enabling more rapid containment of the contagion, infections, deaths and disruptions. Until herd immunity is achieved nationally and globally, priority in allocation should be on the basis of urgent need, rather than ability to pay or political muscle.

The best way forward now is the TRIPS waiver proposal, still blocked by rich country governments at the WTO. It would enable all countries to affordably make or buy ‘generic’ vaccines. This would most effectively expedite containing the pandemic with the least loss of lives and livelihoods.

The post IP, Vaccine Imperialism Cause Death and Suffering, Delay Recovery appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

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