Africa

The decision follows a decade-long investigation into the conflict with Boko Haram militants.

Istanbul Basaksehir assistant coach Pierre Webo says 8 December 2020 will be a significant date in football's fight against racism.

By External Source
Hanoi and Ouagadougou, Dec 11 2020 (IPS-Partners)

The Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program (K-CEP), a philanthropic collaboration, has selected the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) as technical assistance providers to improve access to and the efficiency of cooling in Burkina Faso and Viet Nam.

K-CEP was launched in 2017 to support the Kigali Amendment of the Montreal Protocol and the transition to efficient, clean cooling solutions for all.

In Burkina Faso, GGGI will work closely with the government and a network of local partners to reduce energy demand and enhance energy efficiency in the housing sector and deliver a replicable and scalable program on sustainable cooling. Through this two-year project, titled “The Social Housing Energy Efficiency Cooling Program,” which will receive a total grant of USD 617,000, GGGI will support the government to reduce GHG emissions from cooling and while simultaneously increasing access to cooling in the residential housing sector. The project will commence on January 1, 2021 and continue until December 31, 2023.

“We plan to collaborate with the Government of Burkina Faso to implement and develop architectural and structural solutions in the National Housing Program, which will bring benefits for 40,000 housing units. We hope to scale up the solutions in the housing and raise the cooling NDC’s ambitions. I am confident that the project will serve as a reference point for the Sahel region,” explained Malle Fofana, GGGI’s Country Representative for Burkina Faso.

In Viet Nam, the government recognizes the role of efficient and clean cooling as part of the country’s climate change policies. HE. Tran Hong Ha, Minister of Natural Resources & Environment, emphasized that “The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will cooperate with line ministries and stakeholders to mainstream climate-friendly cooling in relevant national legislation and policies, and its application in relevant sectors.”

To support this vision, UNEP and GGGI will collaborate with Viet Nam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) on a project entitled “Sustainable Urban Cooling in Viet Nam cities” which will be funded by K-CEP a total grant of USD 1 million. The project, which will start in 2021 for a period of 3 years, aims to contribute to improving urban cooling design through hands-on policy support, capacity building as well as piloting various business models and engaging with the private sector.

“We expect to link this project into enhanced NDC implementation and its results into future iterations of Viet Nam’s NDC”, affirmed Mr. Tang The Cuong, Director-General, Department of Climate Change (MONRE).

Hanh Le, GGGI’s Country Representative for Viet Nam emphasized that “With K-CEP funding, this project will bring sustainable cooling to the forefront of the country’s climate agenda. We are committed to working with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and supporting the local governments to enhance access to green investments for urban cooling.”

“Urban populations globally face severe risks from extreme heat and, at the same time, it is in cities that we see strongest growth in demand for cooling. Local governments can take a far stronger role in protecting populations from extreme heat and delivering sustainable cooling solutions. However, they need to be enabled and have the finance and capacity to act. This financial support from K-CEP and political commitment from MoNRE is highly welcomed and timely and will allow us to prepare a replicable, sustainable model for cities to take concerted action on cooling and extreme heat,” said Lily Riahi, Programme Manager, Cities Unit, Energy & Climate Branch, UNEP.

Ultimately, the project will support replication in other cities of Viet Nam and contribute to national-level commitments and policies on sustainable urban cooling.

On a final note, Lily Riahi added that “By joining the Cool Coalition, Viet Nam is now part of a unified global front, aiming to seize the opportunity of efficient and climate friendly cooling. Through the Cool Coalition, the lessons from Viet Nam on urban cooling and extreme heat can be shared globally and benefit from learnings from other countries.”

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

The post GGGI selected as Technical Assistance Providers for Burkina Faso and Viet Nam by K-CEP appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Zambia coach Milutin 'Micho' Sredojevic denies charges of sexual assault in South Africa.

Last year, Ugandan animator Hamid Ibrahim told the BBC his team would "kick Disney's ass".

Four aid workers were killed last month during fighting in the Tigray region, aid agencies say.

Credit: United Nations

By Adaora Okoli
NEW ORLEANS, US, Dec 11 2020 (IPS)

When I contracted Ebola virus disease in August 2014 while working as a medical doctor in a well-known private hospital in Lagos, Nigeria, I was denied access to a potential cure.

For 15 days, I battled for my life in a debilitated isolation ward, not knowing if I would survive. But American aid workers who contracted Ebola were administered Zmapp, a monoclonal antibody treatment, which reduces the relative risk of death from Ebola by 40% as well as shorten the duration of stay in the Ebola treatment units. They survived.

We were told that Zmapp was expensive, in limited supply and only reserved for a few people. Although Zmapp missed the mark of effectiveness as a cure, its benefits could not be denied when compared to the standard of care alone at the time.

Imagine fighting the same disease but not having equal access to the available tools.

This is what universal health coverage is about: That quality health should not be sold to the highest bidder. It means that we must do all we can to prevent vaccine monopoly and have global collaborations to ensure that these vaccines get to the poorest of people so we can put an end to this pandemic

Imagine the psychological trauma of knowing that there might be a cure and not having access to it. Now, I see history about to repeat itself at a large scale- millions of people around the world, especially in impoverished communities may not have access to COVID-19 vaccines.

There has been excitement within the medical and public health community this month over early results of phase 3 clinical trials of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines which showed them to be over 90% and 94% effective in preventing COVID-19 respectively. This is comparable to the efficacy of measles vaccines which has led to a 99% reduction in its incidence compared to the pre-measles vaccine era. To date, there are over 50 COVID-19 vaccines at different stages of development.

An effective vaccine against COVID-19 is one of the many measures (in addition to testing, tracing, isolating, social distancing and providing health care workers with personal protective equipment) that we can use to combat this pandemic and stem future ones. And as exciting as the news of a potential effective vaccine is, the question, however, is how do we ensure that we all get access to it, including people living in impoverished communities, work multiple jobs and have no primary health care provider? Will it get to people of color who continue to be disproportionately affected?

Data shows that Black, Latinx and other people of color are more adversely affected by COVID-19 as is it the case in cities like New Orleans where I currently live and work as a medical doctor. Will it get to illegal immigrants in the U.S. who try to hide from the system because they do not want to risk being deported? What about the poor in Nigeria, where I am from, who have not seen a doctor in years and have no access to essential health services?

This inequitable access to health is not new. Gardasil, the first vaccine to be approved by the US food and drug administration in 2006 against Human Papillomavirus (HPV), the virus that causes gential warts and cervical cancer, is effective in preventing cervical cancer and is administered to girls and boys at the age of 11 in the U.S. However, in Nigeria, a country that contributes 10% of the global burden of cervical cancer, a national HPV screening and vaccination program is non-existent. HPV vaccine is available in the private health sector but cost and weak health infrastructure remain a significant barrier to access.

A study in 2016 showed that Eastern Nigerian women were willing to pay about $11.68 dollars out-of-pocket to get their daughters vaccinated, in a country where more than half of the population earn less than $1.25 a day.

The last thing we need in the global fight to contain the COVID-19 pandemic is vaccine capitalism which we are already seeing unfold. High-income countries have bought over 80% of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine stock leaving the poor with little or no access to it. In May 2020, Politico reported that President Donald Trump had offered German vaccine company, CureVac, large sums of money to move their research site to the U.S. and develop the vaccine for the U.S. only.

We cannot end a pandemic without collaborations and empathy for humanity and the millions of lives that have been lost since December 2019. If the COVID-19 vaccines are equitably distributed globally, it would cut down death by over 60%. But, a recent modelling study showed, it would reduce death by only 33% of wealthy countries buy them all up.

Thankfully, the World Health Organization (WHO), Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi- the Vaccine Alliance, European Commission and France came together in April 2020 to launch an initiative called COVAX with the goal of ensuring a fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally.

COVAX aims to distribute 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses fairly by the end of 2021 so that people – regardless of their socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, gender, political affiliations – can have equal access to a promising vaccine.

This is what universal health coverage is about: That quality health should not be sold to the highest bidder. It means that we must do all we can to prevent vaccine monopoly and have global collaborations to ensure that these vaccines get to the poorest of people so we can put an end to this pandemic.

On December 12, 2020, as we mark the international Universal Health Coverage day, let us hold our leaders accountable to their commitment to achieve UHC. If Zmapp was the only proven cure for Ebola virus disease, I would not be here now writing this, because I did not have access to it.

May my dreams of a world with health for all come true.

Dr Adaora Okoli is a medical doctor who survived the Ebola virus disease, working to strengthen health systems in order to reduce the burden of infectious diseases in low-income communities and achieve equitable access for health to all. She is also an Aspen New Voices Fellow. Follow her on Twitter @DrAdaora.

The post We All Deserve Protection From Covid-19 appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Anthony Joshua may have won Olympic gold for Great Britain but the heavyweight champion is also an idol in Nigeria.

Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Christ the Redeemer was illuminated in the names of victims lost to COVID-19 in an online ceremony called “For Every Life” that paid tribute to the 60,000 victims lost in Brazil and 500,000 lost worldwide. About 87,000 Brazilians heard messages of hope and solidarity combined with music and prayer in a live broadcast over social media. It recognized the losses of families and selfless work of healthcare workers and others helping the country through the pandemic. July 2020. Credit: UNIC Rio

By Branko Milanović
NEW YORK, Dec 11 2020 (IPS)

The current pandemic is probably the first global event in the history of the human race. By ‘global’ I mean it has affected almost everybody, regardless of country of residence or social class.

If, in a couple of years — when hopefully it is over and we are alive — we meet friends from any corner of the world, we shall all have the same stories to share: fear, tedium, isolation, lost jobs and wages, lockdowns, government restrictions and face masks. No other event comes close.

Wars, even world wars, were limited: people in Switzerland, let alone in New Zealand, did not have meaningful war stories to share with those from Poland, Yugoslavia, Germany or Japan. And in the past 75 years wars were local.

Many young people might have protested against the Vietnam war but most experienced none of its effects. People were outraged at the siege of Sarajevo, bombardment of Gaza or Iraq ‘shock and awe’.

But for 99.9 per cent of mankind that outrage did not change their daily routine one bit: they still got up early to go to school or work, laughed with colleagues, maybe went out for a drink and ended up at a karaoke bar. They had no stories to share with the residents of Sarajevo, Gaza or Baghdad — nothing in common.

Even football — and its fanatical supporters tell themselves world events mimic football — cannot compete. The last World Cup final was watched by 1.1 billion people, about one out of every six people in the world. There were still many who ignored its existence and could not care less which team won or lost.

Into the history books

Covid-19 will enter the history books as the first truly global event also thanks to our technological development: not only are we able to communicate across the globe but we can follow, in real time, what is happening practically everywhere.

Since infection, disease and possible incapacitation and death threaten all of us, even people who otherwise have not had much interest in news check their smartphones for updates on deaths, infection rates, vaccines or new therapies.

Covid-19 seems itself to have been designed for that role. Although its deadliness increases with age, its effects are sufficiently uncertain that even much younger and healthier populations are not left entirely carefree. Had Covid-19 been less random, it would have been less feared.

This global event is however also an odd event. It requires that people do not interact physically with each other. It thus brings out another, new dimension. Our first global event will have been the one where we never met face-to-face in real time with other people who lived through it.

Covid-19 probably made us leapfrog about a decade in realising the possibilities of decoupling work from physical presence in the workplace.

On reflection, however, this makes perfect sense. To be global, the event has to be experienced more or less equally by everyone at the same time. Limited by physical contact or presence, however, we cannot reach many people, simply because there is no possibility for each of us to meet thousands, still less hundreds of thousands, of others.

So, the first global human event, ironically, had to be an event devoid of human contact and physical touch — it had to be experienced virtually.

This is also why this pandemic is different from that of a century ago. Information could not then be easily transmitted nor shared. By the time people in India were dying of Spanish flu, Europe was recovering and was ignorant of, or indifferent to, deaths in India. But India too hardly heard of the deaths in Europe until the pandemic invaded it.

Globalising labour

What will remain, other than people’s reminiscences, of this global event? There are only a few things that we can say with any certainty.

The pandemic will have accelerated globalisation in the second factor of production—labour. (The first factor, capital, is already globalised, thanks to the opening of national capital accounts and the technical ability to move vast amounts of money around the world and to build factories and offices anywhere.)

Covid-19 probably made us leapfrog about a decade in realising the possibilities of decoupling work from physical presence in the workplace. Although in many activities we may, after the pandemic is over, go back to sharing physical offices, working in factory halls and so on, in many others we shall not.

This will not have an effect only on people working from home—the change will be much more profound. A global labour market will come into existence without the need for migration.

In some segments of the world economy (such as call centres or software design), that market already exists. But it will become much more common. The pandemic will be a giant leap forward for ‘mobility’ of labour — a peculiar mobility, that is, where individual workers will stay put at their places of residence but work in ‘offices’ or ‘factories’ miles away.

People who worry that globalisation might go backwards will be surprised. Due to the trade war between the United States and China, global value chains and trade might suffer a temporary setback. But in terms of labour mobility or, more exactly, labour competition — which is extraordinarily important — it will move forward.

Source: This article is a joint publication by Social Europe and International Politics and Society (IPS)-Journal published by the International Political Analysis Unit of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Hiroshimastrasse 28, D-10785 Berlin

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

The post The First Global Event in the History of Humankind appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Branko Milanović is a visiting professor at the City University of New York. Prior to that, he was, among other things, senior economist of the research department at the World Bank. For his book Global Inequality. A New Approach for the Age of Globalization he won the Hans-Matthöfer-Prize awarded by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Most recently he published Capitalism, Alone: The Future of the System That Rules the World.

The post The First Global Event in the History of Humankind appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Dec 11 2020 (IPS)

COVID-19 has in some nations been converted into a noxious, political issue. One of many worrying examples is the rhetoric of Brazil´s president. On 10 November, when Brazil´s COVID-19 death toll surpassed 162,000 victims – the numbers have continued to raise and are now 179,032 second only to USA´s 296,745 – Jair Bolsonaro minimized the effects of COVID-19 by stating: ”All of us are going to die one day. There is no point in escaping from that, in escaping from reality. We have to cease being a country of sissies.” Bolsonaro actually said maricas, which like sissies is slang for gay people. Both expressions originally indicated ”small girls” – marica is a diminutive of Maria and sissy of “kid sister”. Bolsonaro thus defined homosexuality as effeminacy by associating gay men with affectation and cowardice. By connecting disease, fear, and femininity the Brazilian president not only ignored the strength and courage women throughout history have demonstrated by enduring childbirths and caring for others, it also shows a strong disregard for gender equality and the rights of women and gay people.

In several countries, gender equality has made progress in areas as education and labour force participation, though health inequality between women and men continues to plague several societies, where girls and women remain victims to ideologies and practices that make them more vulnerable than men to diseases originating from neglect, abuse, and mistreatment. Furthermore, women and girls are often subjected to physicians´ bias in diagnosis and treatment, while restricted access to education and remunerated work may hinder them from accessing adequate health services.

In most societies, women have been considered as subordinate to men. In both art and medicine, women have been viewed and interpreted from a “male point of view”. That a “male gaze” applies to how women’s bodies are perceived became evident to me when I sometime in the eighties read Edward Shorter’s A History of Women’s Bodies. Shorter described how religion and medicine have discriminated against women, primarily by disregarding their physical and mental health.

I had Shorter’s book in memory when I several years ago visited the Andean highlands and interviewed women about their life situation. What then upset me was the deplorable state of health of the women I met, assuming that it was my collaboration with a midwife that made them reveal physical pain and problems. Several diseases originated in difficulties during pregnancies, often experienced too early in life, and after that being far too frequent. Ailments related to the female body was burdened by prejudice, chauvinism, and religious bigotry and thus considered as shameful and concealed. My encounter with these women made me realize that gender equality is not exclusively a matter of relations between men and women – physical differences between the sexes must also be taken into account and addressed.

Through its intent to connect fear of COVID-19 infection with cowardice and effeminacy, Bolsonaro´s rhetoric not only reveals an inclination towards homophobia and misogyny, but furthermore demonstrates a lack of knowledge about the crucial role women have had in medical development. While being professionally engaged with gender issues, I have quite often been confronted with a view that almost exclusively emphasizes social injustices caused by male chauvinism. Of course, this is a serious problem that cannot be ignored. Nevertheless, this should not allow forgetting the fact that women’s bodies are distinctive from men’s. Neglect of women’s unique physical constitution has during centuries caused unnecessary suffering and limited
women´s well-being.

Childbirth is a unique female experience that excludes men, who cannot experience the pains and dangers it may bring about. Since time immemorial, childbirth has almost exclusively affected women – the expectant mother, the midwife, women friends and relatives. Men were generally excluded from the process. What midwives lacked in formal, academic learning, they compensated through experience and ancient traditions,

With the emergence of an academically founded medical profession and with it an increased interest in the income-generating business of midwifery, male doctors became during the 19th century increasingly interested in obstetrics and generally opposed to midwifery. Before male interventions, women generally gave birth in partially upright positions, being supported by other women. One reason for this was that giving birth was considered to be a social concern, as well as the technique facilitated the process for both mother and midwife since they could make use of gravity. However, male obstetricians preferred that women, while giving birth, remained in bed. Accordingly, obstetricians were in France, and the rest of Europe, called accouchers, from the French á coucher, go to bed.

It was claimed that surgeons were better trained in scientific medicine than midwives, who relied on popular medical traditions. In several countries, midwives were gradually legislated against in favour of male doctors. In his book, Shorter argued that increasingly male-dominated obstetrics initially were detrimental, causing unnecessary inconvenience and suffering. Furthermore, apart from facilitating the actual birth procedure, midwives also offered support and help during pregnancy and aftercare. They were generally, unlike men, mothers themselves and could thus consider ailments and dangers from a female perspective. Several of them were also knowledgeable about how to alleviate labour pains and how to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and in some cases, even experienced in abortions. The midwives were thus through their own and collective experiences well acquainted with how a female body functioned and reacted to various types of interventions.

The suppression of women midwifery is just one of many examples of how women systematically have been marginalized while healing and caring for the sick and injured. This does not mean that their care-giving has not been decisive. On the contrary, to take care of others has rather been considered as a female duty, even part of a feminine nature. A perception that meant women’s role in healthcare was taken for granted and they were offered neither education, nor payment. In Catholic Europe it was until quite recently, nonsalaried nuns who took care of the sick and were assumed to gain their knowledge through practice.

Well into the twentieth century, doctors were almost exclusively men and nurses were subordinate to them in everything (up to 1955 men were not allowed to serve as nurses in the US Army). In addition, nurses were paid significantly less than a medical doctor. Men in white were, and generally still are, considered as hospital royalty. Something still manifested through several hospitals’ big rounds when the chief physician, accompanied by doctors-in-training, visit bedridden patients, while female nurses discreetly remain in the background.

It was not until the bloody massacres of 19th century warfare that female nurses gained a greater role and nursing schools were established to train them in health care. However, education was mostly hospital-based and had well into the twentieth century an emphasis on practical experience. During the last century, wars continued to improve women´s position in healthcare. During World War I, nurses were integrated into the war effort, and during World War II warring nations established units with trained nurses. For example, the Nazis, who otherwise were reluctant to engage women in the war industry, recruited more than 40,000 nurses for their armies.

The recent rapid development of medical science is probably the most impressive human success story ever. It has not only been beneficial to human well-being, it has also contributed to increased compassion and reduced the brutality of everyday life. This development would probably not have been initiated without attention to women’s health. Due to immense pain and risk of fatal infections, surgical procedures were during millennia limited to superficial interventions, as well as amputations and trepanning. It was through male obstetric care that breakthroughs in concern for sterility took place. The first steps towards the discovery of the role of bacteria and viruses in infections occurred in 1846 when the Austrian obstetrician Ignaz Semmelweiss discovered that more women died in maternity wards staffed with male surgeons, than those cared for by female midwives. Semmelweiss traced the cause to increased mortality to male medical students not washing their hands after dissecting corpses. Although Semmelweis’ sanitary recommendations were largely ignored and he himself was driven to madness, he is now recognized as a pioneer in aseptics and the prevention of hospital-acquired infections.

The presence of male doctors at birth made them realize the immense pain caused by disturbed nerve pathways and made them pursue more effective anesthetics. Advances that, together with aseptics, finally enabled surgical interventions inside the body. It was during a birth in Edinburgh in 1847 that James Young Simpson used chloroform anesthesia and, after the same method in 1853 had been used when Queen Victoria gave birth to Prince Leopold, anesthesia spread around the world. After Robert Koch in 1879 beyond any doubt had established that infections are spread by bacteria, and in 1881 introduced heat sterilization of all surgical instruments, medical science would never be the same again.

Accordingly, to label general health as a concern for “maricas” is not only a sign of ridiculous machismo, but also a manifestation of profound ignorance. When Jair Bolsonaro equaled “fear of COVID-19” with effeminacy he demonstrated contempt for the bravery and professionalism homosexual men have demonstrated as physicians and nurses, as well as he demeaned women who through centuries have combated sickness and fatal injuries, as well as caring for home and family and enduring painful births. On top of that, Bolsonaro revealed a profound ignorance of the fundamentals of modern, medical science and its foundations on women´s well-being.

Sources: https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-54902608 and Shorter, Edward (1984) A History of Women’s Bodies. London: Pelican Books.

Jan Lundius holds a PhD. on History of Religion from Lund University and has served as a development expert, researcher and advisor at SIDA, UNESCO, FAO and other international organisations.

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

The post Women’s Bodies, COVID-19 and Male Chauvinism appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A health worker fills a syringe with vaccine at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Credit: UNICEF/Patrick Brown.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 11 2020 (IPS)

There is a longstanding belief that virtually everything in this world is stacked up against the poor and the downtrodden.

The Covid-19 vaccine is no exception because some of world’s richest nations, including the US, Canada and UK, seem to have cornered most of the supplies — whilst marginalizing the world’s poorer nations.

The move towards hijacking the newly-found remedy has triggered a new brand of misguided patriotism: vaccine nationalism.

According to a report on Cable News Network (CNN) December 9, the histrionics from American and British leaders point to growing vaccine nationalism in wealthier nations.

Rich countries with 14% of the world’s population have bought more than half of all the most promising vaccines, according to the People’s Vaccine Alliance, an international coalition of health and humanitarian organizations.

Nine out of 10 people living in 67 poor countries will miss out on the vaccine in 2021, the Alliance said, pointing out the deals made by rich countries mean they have “hoarded enough doses to vaccinate their entire populations nearly 3 times over.” Canada has reportedly bought enough doses to immunize its citizens five times over.

“Unless something changes dramatically, billions of people around the world will not receive a safe and effective vaccine for Covid-19 for years to come,” according to Anna Marriott, health policy manager for Oxfam, a member of the coalition.

Vaccine nationalism is also one facet of the widening economic inequalities between the developing and the developed world.

Ben Phillips, author of ‘How to Fight Inequality’, told IPS the scandal is not just that rich nations are marginalizing poor nations from scarce supplies but the bigger scandal is that there is only such scarcity of supplies because companies are being allowed to hoard licenses and know-how.

Between 1996 and 2001, the prioritization of companies’ intellectual property over people’s health meant millions of people in poor countries died from AIDS when the treatment to HIV was known, and producible cheaply, but was kept by profit-driven policy deliberately too costly and too rare, said Phillips.

He said: “it’s astonishingly mean-spirited, and utterly short-sighted, that the same approach is being pursued now with Covid-19”.

The drug company shareholders would still grow their riches – just a little more slowly – if licensing and know-how were shared so that international mass production at scale could begin, he noted.

“We can still change course. That way, lives can be saved and the global economy restarted. No one is safe until everyone is safe, and the world can’t recover till all countries can,” said Phillips.

“But none of this will be given freely by leaders – it will only happen if enough people push them to do so. Covid-19 survivors, backed by HIV survivors who know the stakes, are leading an inspiring fight for just that,” he added.

The United Nations says the widespread pandemic, which has claimed the lives of over 1.6 million people worldwide since early this year, “is not only the greatest global health crisis since the creation of the United Nations 75 years ago but it is also a humanitarian, socio-economic, security and human rights crisis.”

Source: CNN, December 10

Addressing a two-day Special Session on Covid-19 on December 3-4, the President of the General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir said: “The world is looking to the UN for leadership, to step up and take demonstrable action to address the greatest challenge our world is facing today. This crisis compels us to shake up how things are done, to be bold, and to restore confidence and trust in the United Nations.”

Professor Kunal Sen, Director at the Helsinki-based UN University– World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), told IPS while it is understandable that rich country governments want to immunize their own citizens, especially those in vulnerable categories, vaccine nationalism may deprive citizens of low-income countries of COVID-19 vaccines for many months to come.

“The world needs a people’s vaccine which can be provided universally, and it is important for the international community to develop a vaccine which is compatible with universal access,” he declared.

The New York Times reported December 10 that three of Trump’s close political allies, who were infected with the virus and recovered fast, were given medications that were unavailable to the rest of the Americans. As a result, Covid-19 is being described as a disease of the haves and the have-nots.

Asked about the “lip service” by rich countries on equitable access to vaccine while glaring inequalities persist in the distribution to Africa and other developing countries, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters December 9: “It’s true we are seeing vaccine nationalism moving with full speed. But the vaccines the African continent needs, and we all need… has to be properly supported. Or we will not be able to fight the pandemic anywhere effectively”.

The only way, of course, is to make sure that the COVAX initiative –a coalition of more than 150 countries, plus the World Health Organization, Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance) and CEPI (The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) — is fully financed.

The initiative, he said, needs $4.2 million in the next few months, and then additional funding afterwards, to make sure that vaccines approved by the WHO can be distributed in Africa sooner rather than later.

Guterres said: “It is my hope that we’ll be able to do it before the second quarter, but it is true that what we are seeing today is an enormous effort by several countries in order to ensure vaccines for their own populations. And until now, it has not been fully met, the requirements of COVAX in relation to the financing that is needed”.

But COVAX is working hard, he said, and there are several vaccines in the pipeline for COVAX, and it is perfectly possible to deliver if the financing is guaranteed.

Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal reported December 9 that a Chinese vaccine, which will be accessible mostly to developing countries, has shown to be 86% effective in protecting people against Covid-19 in late-stage trials. The trials were conducted last week in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

  

The post A Vaccine That Was Hijacked by the Rich appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

“Vaccinating the world against COVID-19 will be one of the largest mass undertakings in human history, and we will need to move as quickly as the vaccines can be produced,” says Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director.

The post A Vaccine That Was Hijacked by the Rich appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent.

As part of the deal, the US agrees to recognise Morocco's claim over the disputed Western Sahara.

Italian prosecutors accuse four Egyptian officers over the 2016 murder of a Cambridge student.

In a "landmark" court ruling, four women assaulted after the 2007 election will get compensation.

By External Source
Dec 10 2020 (IPS-Partners)

H.E. Mr. Stanislas Ouaro became the Minister of National Education and Literacy of Burkina Faso in February 2018 after a long academic career. Between 2012 and 2018, Mr. Ouaro was the President of the Université Ouaga II. Prior to that, the eminent mathematician held several teaching and administrative posts with Ouagadougou University. Mr. Ouaro is widely published, and has also served as the President of the Réseau pour l’Excellence de l’Enseignement Supérieur en Afrique de l’Ouest (Network for Excellence in Higher Education in West Africa). A leading advocate for education and equality, Mr. Ouaro has been awarded several academic awards in Burkina Faso and elsewhere.

In this incisive interview, the minister explores the upcoming Education Cannot Wait-financed multi-year resilience programme and the triple threat of Conflict, COVID-19 and the Climate Crisis, which have come together to displace over 1 million people in Burkina Faso. Learn more about ECW-financed programmes in the Sahel and Burkina Faso.

ECW: Please tell us about the situation in the education sector in Burkina Faso. What are the key challenges and priorities?

H.E. Mr. Stanislas Ouaro: In Burkina Faso, the education sector is suffering the negative effects of the security and health crises. The security crisis is characterized by terrorist attacks resulting in the deaths of students and teachers, as well as the destruction of education infrastructure. This has resulted in the closure of more than 2,300 schools and a massive displacement of populations estimated at more than one million people, including school-age children and youth. As for the COVID-19 health crisis, this resulted in the closure of all schools in Burkina Faso for several months. The education system is therefore faced with many challenges, including the reopening of closed schools, the schooling of displaced children and maintaining the continuity of education for all learners.

To meet these challenges, a certain number of priority actions are envisaged within our department through the National Strategy for Education in Emergency Situations, which is our reference framework for education in emergencies (EiE). This involves promoting access and retention through (i) the reopening of closed schools, (ii) increasing the capacity of schools in areas hosting displaced communities, (iii) the rehabilitation of damaged buildings, (iv) the establishment of temporary learning spaces, (v) relevant supplies to school canteens to take into account internally displaced students, (vi) the provision of textbooks and school kits for schools hosting displaced children, (vii) increasing coordination and steering capacities of the education sector, (viii) training teachers on the EiE/INEE standards approach and on education curricula in emergency.

In addition, the operationalization of “Educational Radio and Television” will ensure the continuity of education in areas that are hard to reach or with poor infrastructural coverage. In addition to this, the creation of an emergency fund for EiE will increase the resilience of the education sector in the face of these crises.

ECW: Your partnership with Education Cannot Wait has been instrumental in delivering emergency responses in the education sector. As we now move forward with a multi-year education investment that addresses both humanitarian and development needs in the education sector, what are your expectations on the ECW Multi-Year Resilience Programme (MYRP) which will be launched soon and why is it so crucial today.

H.E. Mr. Stanislas Ouaro: I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Education Cannot Wait for their unwavering support in our efforts to support education in emergencies. As for our expectations, we would like the multi-year programme to help improve access, quality, and the management and resilience capacities of communities. Regarding access, we hope this programme can help to diversify learning opportunities in areas affected by insecurity through the creation of temporary learning spaces and the promotion of education alternatives. These interventions should also facilitate access to school for many children from vulnerable households, minority groups, children living with disabilities, girls, etc. In addition, through interventions adapted to the emergency context, we would like to improve the quality of learning, protection and retention of students. Strengthening the technical and logistical capacities of state actors responsible for coordinating EiE activities is also a key expectation. Finally, the multi-year programme should help strengthen the resilience capacities of local communities. Indeed, due to the scarcity of resources and the recurrence of humanitarian crises, it is important to equip beneficiary communities with essential skills to prevent the occurrence of crises or to respond to them effectively.

ECW: Burkina Faso is facing the terrible triple threat of Conflict, COVID-19 and Climate Crisis. There are now over 1 million internally displaced persons and 20,000 refugees in Burkina Faso. Knowing what you know now, what is your message to children and youth in Burkina Faso?

H.E. Mr. Stanislas Ouaro: My message to children and young people in this context of both security and health crises is to have faith in the future. It may seem difficult, if not impossible, to hold on to hope in a context as complex as that of insecurity, but I would like to point out that faith is a powerful springboard for overcoming the trials that life places on us at times. While protecting us from relinquishing, it pushes us to cling to life, to dream of the world we aspire to and to fight to make our dream come true: a world where everyone occupies their rightful place in terms of the education they have received. Moreover, education can equip individuals with the knowledge essential to their permanent adaptation to an increasingly changing living environment. Conversely, the lack of education can plunge many children and young people into a certain vulnerability that could benefit terrorist groups who dream of embroiling them in their murderous madness. It is in this perspective that the State, together with its technical and financial partners, is doing everything to ensure quality education for all despite the specific circumstances of the emergency situation.

However, this dream cannot be realized without taking responsibility at the individual and collective level; that’s why I invite everyone to fully play their part. Moreover, our steadfast determination is to fight to guarantee them a quality education because it is the most powerful weapon to overcome ignorance. I firmly believe that by increasing the level of knowledge of individuals through education, we can bend the curve towards violence and hatred into the direction of a world of peace. Of course, it is a long-term struggle that requires us to dig deep within ourselves for the necessary resources to move forward, but together we will achieve it. We will certainly stumble, sometimes even fall, but we will always stand back up stronger, more determined and more convinced because we are fighting a fair fight.

ECW: During the Central Sahel Ministerial Roundtable convened in October, ECW pledged important seed funding to cover one-third of the total budget of the upcoming Multi-Year Resilience Education Programme in Burkina Faso (and Mali and Niger). What message would you like to share with donors in relation to the remaining $94 million funding gap and why is it urgent to fill the gap?

H.E. Mr. Stanislas Ouaro: Education cannot wait, as the name of your organization says. This is even more true in areas affected by crises such as in the Sahel, which is facing a gradual deterioration of the security situation. This has caused an increase in the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and also refugees, and created huge gaps in terms of access to basic social services such as education and health.

In Burkina Faso, the number of IDPs increased from 779,741 in March 2020 to 1,049,767 in November 2020, an increase of approximately 34 percent. Children, who should benefit from basic social services in order to grow up in optimal conditions, constitute nearly 60 percent of IDPs. Unfortunately, resource mobilization does not keep pace with increasing needs. According to an overview of humanitarian needs published by OCHA, as of 30 July 2020, out of a total requirement of US$424.4 million, approximately 32.4 percent of resources have been mobilized, i.e. a funding gap of US$287 million needs to be filled.

When we compare the proportion of children in urgent need of education with the resources available, it seems imperative to once again seek support from donors. The need to fill this gap stems from the fact that if nothing is done urgently, more than 600,000 children will be deprived of education, protection and health. And, there is no need to explain how this could negatively impact the social equilibrium in this region and in the world in a few years. If we fail to create the conditions for the optimal and equitable development of children today, especially those who suffer the brunt of insecurity on a daily basis, it is the society of tomorrow that we are jeopardizing.

ECW: From your unique vantage point as Burkina Faso’s Minister of National Education and Literacy, do you have any words of advice for our readers around the world, who are committed to education for countries affected by crisis, like Burkina Faso.

H.E. Mr. Stanislas Ouaro: We are delighted to know that there are people around the world who are committed to the education of children and youth in areas affected by crisis situations, such as those in certain regions of Burkina Faso. It seems very easy to destroy; but building, and above all, educating girls and boys to become productive, responsible adults, is a long-term endeavor which requires a lot of love, patience, selflessness, self-sacrifice, etc. We would like to assure ECW’s readers that we are doing everything we can to ensure that children and youth in areas affected by crises and other natural disasters in our country can benefit from an accessible, safe, inclusive, protective quality education. We would like to point out that taking an interest in, and learning about, the education situation in areas affected by the security crisis in Burkina Faso is already a significant step. This is support that we appreciate, applaud and encourage! Talking about it with friends and relatives is already taking a form of action. This is how we will establish a chain of solidarity on an international scale to overcome the destructive forces which try to destroy what is the best in humanity: brotherhood and sisterhood. Together, we are never alone.

ECW: In conclusion, we would like to learn a bit more about you on a personal level. We know that you are a mathematician and graduated with your doctorate based upon your thesis, ‘Etude de problèmes elliptiques-paraboliques nonlinéaires en une dimension d’espace’. Could you tell us about the three books that have influenced you the most, and why?

H.E. Mr. Stanislas Ouaro: I will cite two books that have really influenced me in my life. These are the books “A quand l’Afrique” by Joseph Ki-Zerbo, and “Il s’appelait Sankara” by Sennen Andriamirado. For me these two books mainly have two things in common. First, they talk about two illustrious African politicians, President Thomas Sankara and the historian Joseph Ki-Zerbo. These two characters constitute benchmarks for the youth of our countries through the journey of their careers – and for their love of the African continent in general and for their country Burkina Faso in particular. Secondly, these two works tell us that Africa cannot be developed by people other than by Africans themselves, hence the famous statement of Joseph Ki-Zerbo: “One does not develop X or Y, one develops oneself.” According to both of them, Africa must conquer its identity and be proud of its contribution to the human adventure.

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

The post Education Cannot Wait Interviews H.E. Mr. Stanislas Ouaro, Minister of National Education and Literacy, Burkina Faso appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
BANGKOK, Thailand, Dec 10 2020 (IPS)

The Pacific Island Developing State of Vanuatu has emerged as one of the region’s great success stories. Vanuatu has joined the ranks of Samoa and the Maldives as one of only six countries to graduate from being a least developed country, since the category was introduced by the United Nations in 1971.

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

This historic achievement is the result of major development gains and strategic planning. It shows that the country has successfully raised levels of income and improved social development indicators, with marked declines in mortality rates and significant progress in education. All of these are among the factors the UN regards as critical in determining whether a country is considered as a least developed country or not.

Yet despite these development successes, accelerated actions are urgently needed to ensure Vanuatu can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Upon graduation, Vanuatu will no longer be eligible for international support measures granted to least developed countries. Unilateral and non-reciprocal trade preferences under Duty-Free Quota-Free schemes from various developed and developing trading partners will be off the table.

Fortunately, based on current trading patterns, the overall impact of losing preferential market access will be minimal, as more than half of Vanuatu’s main exports are being traded under negotiated duty-free market access arrangements, rather than afforded under least developed country concessional measures. Vanuatu will also remain eligible for financing on concessional terms under the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) as it is afforded a special status as a ‘small island economy’.

Importantly, Vanuatu will benefit from an improved country-image after graduation, which may attract larger flows of foreign direct investment as several other graduated countries have experienced.

Graduation is however taking place at a time of significant risks to the global economic situation. Unexpected shocks such as the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic are posing grave challenges to development.

Despite acting swiftly when confronted with the rapid spread of COVID-19, taking steps such as banning travel among islands, closing international borders and imposing curfews on businesses – the impact on Vanuatu has been severe. The resulting collapse of tourism has had widespread repercussions on the economy, with arrivals declining by 65 per cent in the year to July compared to the previous year. This contributed to an estimated 70 per cent job or income loss in the first six weeks after borders were closed and is an important factor in the decline in output of 8.3 per cent expected in Vanuatu for this year. The country also recorded its first official case of COVID-19 in November, having successfully warded off the virus for many months.

As a developing country, Vanuatu still remains vulnerable to other external shocks. The threats of climate change are very real. The first category 5 tropical cyclone of 2020, Tropical Cyclone Harold, demonstrated this as it passed over Espiritu Santo, Pentecost Island and Ambrym earlier this year, displacing an estimated 80,000 Ni-Vanuatu people, equivalent to over 27 percent of the nation’s population. This was the second strongest cyclone to affect Vanuatu, following Tropical Cyclone Pam of 2015, which suggests such storms are becoming more frequent as our climate changes.

The UN family has supported Vanuatu in its independence since 1980. Its regional development arm, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), has been providing development assistance to Vanuatu since it became a member in 1984. More recently, this support has included identifying avenues to mobilize financial resources domestically in recognition that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will require significant resources, especially in such a vulnerable environment.

Dedicated technical support has been provided since 2017 to assist Vanuatu produce its smooth transition strategy (STS), built upon Vanuatu 2030 The Peoples Plan – the National Sustainable Development Plan for 2016 to 2030 – that reflects the unique identity of the Ni-Vanuatu people. At the same time, ESCAP has provided advisory services to the National Coordinating Committee on Least Developing Countries Graduation, which oversaw the formulation of the STS and decided on its associated follow-up actions.

As we focus on building back better in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, ESCAP stands ready, along with the UN family, to continue supporting Vanuatu in its development aspirations and in implementing the STS. This includes support to link the STS with budgets, offering specialized technical assistance to strengthen capacities in trade negotiations and developing productive capacities in Vanuatu, thereby enabling better structural transformation and diversification of the economy.

This year, Vanuatu celebrates 40 years since its independence. By working together, we can build resilience to external shocks in the Pacific region to ensure the next stage in Vanuatu’s development journey will continue to be a success story in the decades to come.

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

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

The post Celebrating Vanuatu’s Path to Sustainable Development appeared first on Inter Press Service.

In the background can be seen the gigantic Cauchari Solar Park and in the foreground are tolas, typical drought-resistant shrubs of the Puna highland plateau. The largest plant of its kind in operation in South America is in the middle of nowhere, a few kilometres from the Kolla community of Puesto Sey, where there are now 962,496 solar panels. CREDIT: Cauchari Solar

By Daniel Gutman
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 10 2020 (IPS)

The unprecedented growth of renewable energies in Argentina over the last three years has borne its greatest fruit: the Cauchari solar park, with nearly one million photovoltaic panels and 300 MW of installed power, which was connected to the national power grid on Sept. 26.

The solar park is located in the extreme northwest province of Jujuy some 1,700 km from Buenos Aires, near the borders with Chile and Bolivia, with whom it shares the Puna ecoregion of high Andean plains covered by grasses and shrubs.

The initiative cost 390 million dollars and is the latest reflection of China’s involvement in the Latin American economy: not only the two construction companies but also most of the financing came from the Asian giant."It is the largest operating solar park in South America and we consider it a great boost for changing the energy mix in the entire region…It is still too early to say, because we are in a stage of adjustment and depend on natural phenomena, but it is likely to be one of the most efficient solar parks in the world." -- Guillermo Hoerth

An indigenous shepherd tending his llamas or a herd of wild vicuñas that flee as soon as they see a vehicle approaching are the only sights that attract the visitor’s attention – as IPS found on a recent visit to the area – in the solitude of the arid Cauchari environment, which covers some 800 hectares in the Argentine Puna, at an altitude of more than 4,000 metres.

Between September 2018 and October 2019, 2,664 trucks with containers loaded with Chinese components and technology arrived at this remote spot so far from the large centres of electricity consumption, where water is scarce and it is hard to breathe because of the altitude.

Previously they had disembarked in the Chilean port of Antofagasta, on the Pacific Ocean, or in the Argentinean port of Zarate, on the Atlantic.

“It is the largest operating solar park in South America and we consider it a great boost for changing the energy mix in the entire region,” Guillermo Hoerth, president of Cauchari Solar, a company owned by Jujuy province, told IPS by phone.

“It is still too early to say, because we are in a stage of adjustment and depend on natural phenomena, but it is likely to be one of the most efficient solar parks in the world,” Hoerth added.

The president of the plant explained that the intense solar radiation throughout the year is combined with low temperatures, which help the panels retain heat and make the Puna an extraordinary place for this type of renewable energy.

Cauchari is the greatest success story of the Law of National Promotion of the use of Renewable Energies for the Production of Electric Power, passed by Congress in September 2015.

The new law modified the electric mix of this Southern Cone country, which is the third-largest economy in Latin America, built until then almost exclusively by oil, natural gas, large hydroelectric dams and, to a much lesser extent, nuclear energy.

According to official data, 135 new renewable energy projects, mostly solar and wind, have been launched in Argentina since 2016. The ones already in operation and those that are still under construction represent a combined total of 4,776 MW of installed power, with an estimated investment of close to 7.2 billion dollars.

The entrance to Cauchari Solar Park is reached by a desolate dirt road about 40 kilometres long that connects to paved highway 52, which in the northern province of Jujuy leads to the Chilean border. Technically there are three solar parks, to get around the 100 MW limit set by the tender. CREDIT: Daniel Gutman/IPS

The most graphic reflection of the rise in renewable sources, which under the law have priority over conventional sources, is that they accounted for 9.1 percent of the electricity consumed in Argentina in the first 10 months of 2020 and climbed to a record 11.9 percent in October. Although it must be kept in mind that this occurred in a context of falling electricity consumption due to the drop in economic activity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thus, renewable sources, which until three years ago represented less than two percent of electricity generation in Argentina, reached – with a slight delay – the goal of contributing eight percent of electric power, which Law 27191 of 2015 had set for Dec. 31, 2017.

The law outlines a second stage of the plan, with a goal of reaching 20 percent by 2025. But experts believe this will be virtually impossible to achieve.

The global economic crisis and Argentina’s financing problems – this year the country restructured almost 66 billion dollars of debt with private creditors and still owes some 52 billion dollars to the IMF – are major obstacles.

But they are not the only ones.

“Argentina is a large country, with great potential for solar energy in the north and wind energy in the south,” economist Julián Rojo of the General Mosconi Argentine Institute of Energy, a non-governmental research organisation, told IPS.

But “the problem is that for transporting electricity to the centres of consumption there is a lack of high voltage lines, which today are close to saturation. And there is no intention of investing in new ones,” he said in a telephone conversation.

An engineer oversees the installation of the panels during the construction of the solar park, which involved the arrival of more than 2,600 trucks carrying Chinese technology to a remote area in the Puna high mountain plateau in the northwest of Argentina. CREDIT: Daniel Gutman/IPS

In Rojo’s view, Argentina does not currently need additional electricity generation, because peak demand was reached in 2017 and, if necessary, the country has an important gas pipeline network that makes it more convenient to build thermal power plants near the centres of consumption.

Making an offering to Pacha Mama for the expansion of the solar park

Marcelo Nieder, director of renewable energy in Jujuy province, told IPS that such a remote location was chosen to build the Cauchari solar park not only because of the excellent solar radiation in the Puna ecoregion, but also because a high-voltage line built in 1999 to export electricity to Chile passes through the area.

“Chile used it to supply its mining industry, but since 2006 Argentina stopped selling to Chile, so there was a possibility to take advantage of the power line,” he explained by phone from Jujuy, also the name of the provincial capital.

Because this high voltage line still has transport capacity the governor of Jujuy, Gerardo Morales, visited Cauchari in October to make an offering to the Pacha Mama – Mother Earth for the indigenous people of the Andean region – and to ask for an expansion of the solar park, up to 500 MW of power.

“We have already designed the expansion and we are betting that China will finance it, as in the case of the park that was already inaugurated,” Felipe Albornoz, president of Jujuy Energía y Minería Sociedad del Estado (JEMSE), the state-run energy and mining company that manages Cauchari, told IPS by phone from the provincial capital.

China’s state-owned Eximbank financed most of the construction, with a 330 million dollar loan that the province of Jujuy must pay back over 30 years, at an annual interest rate of 2.9 percent.

The remaining 60 million dollars were obtained through a green bond issued in the United States, for which the province of Jujuy is trying to postpone the maturity date, according to Albornoz.

Signs in Spanish and Chinese are an unexpected sight in the middle of the untamed landscape of Argentina’s Puna high mountain plateau and are a reflection of China’s heavy involvement in the development of solar power in Latin America. CREDIT: Daniel Gutman/IPS

The president of JEMSE explained that Jujuy expects to sell power to the national electricity market for about 25 million dollars a year. The company projects that Cauchari will produce 840,000 MW/hour per year, which would save the emission of 325,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent into the atmosphere, thanks to the reduction in the use of fossil fuels.

Two percent of the net profits will go to Puesto Sey, a Kolla indigenous community that has collective rights over the land where there is now an endless expanse of solar panels.

The irony is that Puesto Sey, like the other communities in the area, do not receive electricity from Cauchari because they are not connected to the national grid.

Most of the villages and small towns in the Puna, mainly inhabited by Kolla indigenous people, are supplied with electricity from diesel-fueled generators, although in recent years some small local solar parks have been built.

Nor does Cauchari make a difference today in terms of local employment, because although the two-year construction process employed more than 1,500 people, the plant itself only needs 60 to 70 highly specialised technicians.

And perhaps the most difficult question to answer is whether Argentina or any other Latin American country will ever be able to supply such large renewable energy projects with local technology.

Hoerth told IPS that the construction process brought about 100 million dollars to Jujuy’s domestic market, since 22.7 percent of the plant’s electromechanical components were domestically made.

However, the president of Cauchari said the local manufacture of technology for renewable energy sources is still a distant dream.

“I wish we could develop a national industry. But it is very complicated because China has reached such cheap costs that it has flooded the European market,” he said.

Related Articles

• Solar Energy Transforms Villages in Argentina’s Puna Highlands
• Solar Power Fills Gaps in Underserviced Rural Argentina

The post Solar Power from Argentina’s Puna Highlands Reaches Entire Country appeared first on Inter Press Service.

After breaking news of Ahmad's impending ban in October, BBC Sport Africa details the reasons for the Fifa vice-president's sanction and why a second investigation is already under way.

Farmers in Indonesia’s West Java province. Indonesia’s agriculture sector is facing two major issues – decreases in both the number of farmers and irrigated rice fields. Credit: Kanis Dursin/IPS

By Kanis Dursin
JAKARTA, Dec 10 2020 (IPS)

When his friends prodded him to use an agricultural app in July, rice farmer Mustafa reluctantly downloaded RiTx Bertani into his smart phone. Four months later, he feels happy to have given the technology a try.

“I started using the application in early September when I planted rice on 0.7 hectare of irrigated land,” the 41-year-old told IPS last month in a phone interview from Bondowoso regency in East Java, a one-hour flight east of the capital Jakarta.

“I cannot tell yet if it helps boost production or not, but I am very happy with the technology. It helped me detect and identify a rice disease in late September. We had always called rice diseases brown planthopper before and used the same medicines to control the disease. Thanks to the technology, we now know different rice diseases and can use appropriate insecticides to deal with them,” said the father of two.

Developed by start-up tech company PT Mitra Sejahtera Membangun Bangsa (MSMB), RiTx Bertani is designed to help farmers deal with climate change and other problems they may have through digital technology. RiTx comes from the words agriculture technology, while Bertani literally means farming.

Another farmer, Kurlufi, meanwhile, said he downloaded the application in 2018 but uninstalled it shortly after as he found it less helpful for his chilli crop. Earlier this year, he decided to reinstall it as the price of chilli suddenly dropped.

“The price of chilli has dropped sharply since the coronavirus hit the country in March. I looked for alternative crops when the application suggested that my field was suitable for cucumber,” the 42-year-old father of two told IPS from Banyuwangi regency, also in East Java.

The coronavirus pandemic, which has killed 18,366 people as of today (Dec.10) has forced people to work from home and plant vegetables at their backyards, driving down the price of food crops due to low demand.

Kurlufi owns 0.95 hectares of farm land. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, he has planted cucumber on 0.6 hectares of his field for two successive seasons, harvesting eight kilograms of cucumber seeds in the first season and 18 kilograms in the second. Each season last for almost three months.

“I sold the seeds for Rp450,000 (US$32) per kilogram to a local company,” he said.

“I find the technology very useful for people who have no prior or little experience in farming. In my case, it helps me decide what crops to plant and when to hire workers to do the pollination as it provides weather forecasts for the next six to seven days,” Kurlufi added.

Mustafa and Kurlufi are two of 11,000 farmers in eight provinces in Indonesia using RiTx Bertani, one of dozens of agricultural apps currently available as the government promotes Smart Farming 4.0 or digitised agriculture.

MSMB project manager Rizal Dwi Prastyo said they have both hardware — in the form of on-field sensors, which are connected to the internet — and software — in the form of the RiTx Bertani app.

“Users have to submit detailed information about their fields, including the size, borders, latitude, and longitude for the sensors to locate. Once the sensors detect the fields, they immediately measure the soil’s moisture and air temperature and feeds those information to the internet,” Prastyo told IPS from Yogyakarta, a 50-minute flight east of Jakarta.

One sensor, which costs approximately $2,700, covers an area of 10 hectares of land.

Based on the soil’s current moisture, Prastyo said, agriculture experts at the company provide suggestions to farmers through the app on what crops suit their land best for the next planting season.

“Throughout the season, the sensors measure soil moisture and air humidity every 10 minutes and upload them into the internet. Users can read the feeds through the app under the sensor menu. Farmers need this kind of information to apply fertiliser or spray pesticides, if needed,” he continued.

The application, Prastyo said, also allows farmers to record all farming activity and save them under a record menu so they know exactly when next to apply fertiliser or spray pesticides or insecticides. Farmers can also ask for additional assistance through the online forum.

Activist Said Iqbal of non-governmental organisation People’s Coalition for Food Sovereignty welcomed the use of apps in farming but said he doubted that digitised agriculture would improve the welfare of farmers and help the country achieve food sovereignty in the immediate future.

“Digitising the agriculture sector is unavoidable now but the root of the matter is farmers find no incentive to boost production. Why? Because they control on-farm activities only, while upstream and downstream activities are controlled by big businesses. It has become a public knowledge that intermediaries or traders earn more than twice of farmers’ earnings,” he said.

He also said most farmers in Indonesia were small holders, with each owning an average of 0.2 hectares of irrigated land. “Because of that condition, many farmers choose to sell their productive land and work as cheap labour, further reducing irrigated fields, especially on Java Island,” Iqbal said.

Another activist, Tejo Wahyu Jatmiko of the Alliance for Prosperous Village, agreed with Iqbal, saying that Indonesia’s agriculture sector was facing two major issues – decreases in both the number of farmers and irrigated rice fields.

Quoting a report by the Central Statistics Agency or BPS, Jatmiko told a webinar in Jakarta that the country had only 33.4 million farmers in 2019, down from 35.6 million in 2015, while irrigated fields stood at 10.68 million hectares in 2019, down by 700 hectares from 2018.

These conditions have resulted in fluctuations in rice production, forcing the government to import rice to meet the needs of over 270 million people. BPS reports show that the country imported 444,508 tons of rice in 2019, down from 2.25 million tons in 2018, 305,270 tons in 2017, and 1.28 million tons in 2016.

However, in terms of sustainable agriculture, Indonesia has a score of 61.1 out of 100,where 100 is the highest sustainability and greatest progress towards meeting environmental, societal and economic Key Performance Indicators. This is according to the Food Sustainability Index, developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition. 

In a bid to increase farmers’ welfare, since 2017 President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has promoted farmer corporation, where farmers are organised into business ventures, founded and financed by farmers themselves, with the aim of controlling both on-farm and off-farm activities in the agricultural sector.

Dr. Syahyuti, a researcher with the Indonesian Center of Socio-Economic and Agricultural Policy of the Ministry of Agriculture, said under the corporation concept, farmers are also involved in the provision of seeds, fertiliser, agricultural machines, and capital with on-farm activities, and buying, milling, and selling rice in off-farm activities.

Based on experiences in some sub-districts, Syahyuti said farmers corporations increased farmers’ income by 72 percent.

While the government is working to organise farmers into business groups, Mustafa is upbeat that digitised agriculture will help increase the number of farmers in Indonesia.

“I notice the number of people tilling land in the district has increased since [using] the RiTx Bertani [app]. Many of them are young and unexperienced. I get the impression that with the technology arming is no longer a dirty job, but a lifestyle that more and more people embrace,” Mustafa said.

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• La Niña Weather Phenomenon Could Endanger Colombia’s Food Security
• Digitisation Could Transform African Agriculture
• Scientists Draw up Guidelines to Help Agri-food Companies Align with 2030 Agenda

The post Can Agricultural Apps Bring Indonesia’s Farmers Back to the Fields? appeared first on Inter Press Service.