Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE

By External Source
Jun 22 2020 (IPS-Partners)

For generations, elephants have been inextricably tied to the lands of Mondulkiri in Cambodia.

The people who call this place their home — the indigenous Bunong community — share a unique bond with the gentle giants of the land.

It is a relationship that has been tried and tested over the years and pressure to make ends meet has pushed some villagers to rent out elephants at high prices to companies with a record of mistreating animals.

Some villagers have even sold the elephants to companies. There is also a taboo about elephants giving birth within the community.

However, there are sanctuaries such as Mr Tree’s that attempt to breed, rescue and care for elephants which were either kept in captivity or were sold off.

To know more about the elephants of Mondulkiri and their stories, watch the video.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

The post A look into the lives of Cambodia’s gentle giants appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Photo: AFP

By Nilima Jahan
Jun 22 2020 (IPS-Partners)

The life of sex workers on the streets, hard as it is during normal times, has taken a worse turn after the coronavirus pandemic hit the country.

Many floating sex workers have been pushed into begging, as their regular means of income has almost disappeared.

They are also facing assault and harassment at the hands of local goons, law enforcers and other people, living on the streets.

Mukta, 40, a floating sex worker, shared how she was attacked and wounded while looking for clients near Golap Shah Mazar at Gulistan in the first week of April.

She said three young men availed her service and were about to leave without payment. When she asked for money, they berated her for sex work amidst the shutdown and then beat her mercilessly. One of them hit Mukta on her nose with a shard of blade.

“The wound required six stitches and I think the scar will never heal,” said Mukta, who now begs on the streets.

At least five other sex workers shared similar experiences with this correspondent.

They said they are compelled to come out on the street risking coronavirus infection as many of them have children to feed and families to support.

Mukta said for the last three months she could not pay the monthly fee of Tk 2,000 for her two kids, who live at a private shelter for sex worker’s children.

“The shelter in-charge has been calling and yelling at me for the money. How can I make her understand that I’m in such a condition that I am having to skip most of my meals?”

Aleya Begum Lily, general secretary of Sex Workers’ Network (SWN), a platform for 29 sex workers’ organisations, said, most of the around 1,02,000 sex workers including the 5,000 registered in the 10 brothels of the country are jobless now.

In the capital, there are almost 20,000 sex workers, of whom 8,000 sell sex on the streets, hotels and rented apartments, she added.

Those who lived in hotels or failed to pay house rent are now living on the streets, in the parks, mausoleums, railway stations or under the bridges, Aleya said.

A large number of sex workers, who work under brokers, have also been suffering due to a sharp decline in their clientele.

Nazma, who lived and worked along with five other girls at the capital’s Rayer Bazar area, was facing routine abuse at the hands of their drug addict broker.

“It was his responsibility to manage clients for us. Yet, he would hit me on my head as I couldn’t give him money [due to decline in business],” said Nazma.

“I escaped in April after a physical assault. Currently, I am begging and sleeping at the Gulistan Golap Shah Mazar,” she mentioned.

Drop-in-centres (DICs) for sex workers are also becoming difficult to run because of the pandemic, informed officials of Light House, an NGO funded by the international development agency Save the Children.

Across the country, Light House has 27 DICs, where sex workers usually stay from 9am to 5pm.

Md Zalkad Ali, coordinator of the NGO’s Chankharpul DIC, said, “It has been difficult to continue our work because of constant pressure to shift the office. Many [landlords and neighbourhood people] treat them [sex workers] as suspected Covid-19 positive cases since they have roam the streets and mingle with unknown men.”

“My landlord sent us a notice to vacate the flat immediately, and restricted the access of the sex workers. We disinfect the stairs, maintain social distance and hygiene, yet they have been harassing us in different ways,” he added.

Another DIC coordinator Rina in Gopibagh also mentioned getting an eviction notice during the shutdown.

They, however, managed the landlord by limiting the number of sex workers who can enter and use the facility at a time, she said.

Beforehand, 15-20 sex workers used the DIC per day, but now a maximum of ten people are allowed, she added.

Nazma said she and others like her now use the DICs only to take showers.

Though the registered sex workers living in the brothels received some aid from the government, the floating ones didn’t receive any, said Aleya Begum.

Of the 29 organisations under the Sex Workers’ Network, 19 were provided Tk 3,50,000 during April-May for distribution of food and other essentials among their members, Aleya informed.

“Few may have received some relief as a distressed woman but not as a sex worker,” she added.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

 

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The post Broke and broken, sex workers ending up homeless appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By External Source
Jun 22 2020 (IPS-Partners)

Ed Conway and Sajid Javid talk to the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund about the global economic outlook, the level of support it’s providing during the pandemic, how globalisation can help ease inequality and how she sees the shape of economic recovery.

Ascolta “MD of the International Monetary Fund – Kristalina Georgieva” su Spreaker.

The post MD of the International Monetary Fund – Kristalina Georgieva appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Sonja Davidovic, Delphine Prady and Herve Tourpe
Jun 22 2020 (IPS)

The practical challenge of quickly getting financial support in the hands of people who lost jobs amid the COVID-19 economic crisis has baffled advanced and developing economies alike. Economic lockdowns, physical distancing measures, patchy social protection systems and, especially for low-income countries, the high level of informality, complicate the task. Many governments are leveraging mobile technology to help their citizens.

Togo, a small West African nation of 8 million, was able to quickly distribute emergency financial support to half a million people in less than two weeks using mobile phones. The technology helped deliver benefits to women in particular, and it supported a transparent rollout of the program. Informal workers in Morocco are also receiving government help through their phones quickly and efficiently.

Social assistance and cash transfers

Many emerging and low-income countries are scaling up direct support to households and individuals because they cannot directly protect jobs. Missing data on employment status and blurry lines between corporations and individuals in the informal sector hinder the effectiveness of labor market policies. Therefore, governments bet on cash transfers when trying to boost their social protection systems, while trying to expand their coverage.

In sub-Saharan Africa, over 80 percent of measures announced since the beginning of the pandemic are in the form of transfers, and only 4 percent were labor market policies. Globally, 30 percent of all the initiatives taken by countries are cash transfers.

Typically, the delivery of income support targeted to the most vulnerable households relies on a robust national identification (PDF) system linked to socioeconomic information, and requires a variety of approaches in distributing cash to those most in need. Missing any one of these components in their immediate response to the crisis can generate difficult challenges (PDF): for instance, if a government cannot target beneficiaries due to the lack of socioeconomic information, it may have to choose between either spending more to cast a wider safety net or keeping the budget in check and excluding households in need of support.

Effective cash transfer mechanisms

Mobile money is as an effective and physical-distancing-friendly option to deliver cash transfers in large scale, given that ownership and use of mobile phones in emerging and developing economies is very high, and globally, there are 228 mobile money agents (the small retailers where customers can deposit or withdraw cash in and out of mobile accounts, buy phone airtime cards, etc.) per 100,000 adults compared to only 11 banks and 33 ATMs. Mobile money can therefore help rural and remote populations gain access to government transfer programs without traveling long distances or waiting in lines, or even having a bank account—a critical advantage in a world where 1.7 billion still don’t have access to formal financial institutions.

The pandemic has led many countries to strengthen their mobile money ecosystems and address specific constraints. Governments with more developed operations were able to react faster.

Ecuador doubled the number of licensed cash agents in two weeks. Malaysia expanded free mobile internet access. Nigeria partnered with mobile network operators to identify vulnerable informal workers in urban areas through airtime purchase patterns. Saudi Arabia reduced mobile usage fees to encourage mobile payments. Some years ago, Peru fostered the creation of a platform that allows transfers across three leading mobile operators and 32 banks.

Mobile money does have risks and limitations. People in rural and remote areas may lack mobile coverage, easy access to money agents, or simply electricity. Exchanging mobile money for cash can still be expensive. And digital and financial illiteracy are known to hinder adoption of digital mobile services.

In many countries, the pandemic has forced policymakers to react quickly to reduce regulatory weaknesses around mobile money issued by telecom or fintech firms, whose customers are often not protected by regulation in the same way as banks’ clients. It’s important to ensure that the risks of accelerating mobile money, including cyber-risks and digital fraud, don’t outweigh the benefits.

A mobile-money framework

Beyond the crisis horizon, many countries have sought to boost mobile payment platforms to reduce corruption, improve efficiency and budget transparency, and broaden financial inclusion, especially for the informal sector and women.

While scaling mobile cash transfers quickly to help alleviate the impact of the pandemic, governments should take a broad approach that goes beyond the technology and consider the whole ecosystem behind a robust and resilient mobile program.

A holistic approach should be considered by policymakers and the industry to integrate all the “building blocks” of a sustainable mobile-money platform, including stakeholders and design and policy elements that help maximize benefits against risks.

As countries move from crisis mode to a new normal, it’s a good time to also take note of the impediments they encountered in expanding support to people suffering the economic consequences of lockdowns. At the same time, they can build on solutions that worked best to make up for income losses, focusing on sustainable solutions instead of workarounds deployed at the height of an emergency. This should be part of broader government strategies to strengthen social protection systems in the medium term through technology.

 

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The post You’ve Got Money: Mobile Payments Help People During the Pandemic appeared first on Inter Press Service.

. Credit: Hope And Homes for Children.

By Larisa Abrickaja
LONDON, Jun 22 2020 (IPS)

As the world continues to struggle with the Covid-19 pandemic, the situation in institutions like prisons or care homes has shown how quickly overcrowded facilities can become a breeding ground for an infectious disease. But what about other congregate facilities like residential institutions for children, such as orphanages? What risks do they face? And how should governments be responding during – and after – this pandemic?

How has the pandemic affected orphanages?

The Covid-19 pandemic has had one significant impact on so-called orphanages – or residential homes for children. In the majority of cases, lockdowns and social distancing have meant that there are fewer staff taking care of institutionalised children, as those not living on site are not allowed to return – a measure to avoid the risk of infection. It goes without saying that poorly staffed facilities increases the risk of neglect and abuse.

The vast majority of children living in orphanages worldwide are not orphans - over 80 percent have a living parent. Evidence from different regions shows that many of the children will have been sent to institutions for child protection reasons; though not because of violence or neglect in the home, but because of socio-economic conditions in the family

Understanding that it’s not possible to provide adequate care during the current crisis, numerous institutions have either closed or stopped admitting more children, including in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Kenya and Ukraine. In cases where children have been sent back to their families, proper planning, support and monitoring have been rare. But there’s a glaring question here: if these children have families, what are they doing in orphanages?

 

Not quite orphans

The vast majority of children living in orphanages worldwide are not orphans – over 80 percent have a living parent. Evidence from different regions shows that many of the children will have been sent to institutions for child protection reasons; though not because of violence or neglect in the home, but because of socio-economic conditions in the family, such as low household income or substandard housing conditions – a result of families not receiving enough support to take care of their children. This is especially the case for children with disabilities who often require considerable assistance but for whom local authority support is rare.

The circumstances in which these contexts arise may differ, but they are all linked to financial difficulties. In Ethiopia, India and Guatemala, for example, many rural farmers facing drought and crop failure and with no means to support their family resort to placing their children in orphanages. Meanwhile across Africa and South Asia, the recent wave of privatisation of education often means that poor families cannot afford even the minimum cost of sending children to school, and are lured by so-called orphanages promising an education and better life for their children.

 

Foreseeable dangers made worse

The Covid-19 pandemic risks further entrenching this culture of institutionalisation. Concerns have been raised that many children will be abandoned or separated from their families as a result of increased poverty, poor health, family stress or domestic violence. In many cases, large numbers of children will be orphaned.

A likely global economic recession will also have an impact. Recent history shows us that economic stagnation can actually become the main reason for institutionalisation of children, as occurred in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina in the mid-1990s, where the number of orphanages increased by more than 300 percent.

And history may repeat itself as a consequence of the current pandemic, even though research amply shows that institutional care is harmful for all individuals, in particular for children, causing long-term effects on their health and psychosocial development.

Particularly for children with disabilities, who are usually overrepresented in residential care, the risks posed by this pandemic are life-threatening, as many have underlying health conditions and weak immune systems, so they are more vulnerable to developing severe complications from contracting Covid-19 or because of neglect, as we’ve seen in recent cases in Belarus and Kazakhstan, respectively.

 

A more optimistic scenario

Notwithstanding these dire situations, the current pandemic also presents opportunities to move away from a culture of putting vulnerable children in institutions. International consensus is that children are better off in a family or a family-type setting, as the institutional nature of care means that even a small, clean and safe care home is still an institution which doesn’t allow children to establish long-term emotional bonds with a significant adult.

As a positive example, some countries where children have been released from orphanages at the start of the pandemic are now trying to avoid readmitting them to institutions after lockdowns end, as is the case in parts of India.

Experts agree that children can be best served through family reintegration, adoption, kinship care, foster care, kafalah, and other family-based care models – not forgetting that families may take different and diverse forms, including married and unmarried couples, single parents, same sex parents and others.

Investing to keep families together or ensuring family-type care is available is therefore crucial, and the current pandemic has already prompted some countries to take the first steps or accelerate ongoing reform. Bulgaria is investing 10 million euros in municipalities to expand their social support services and cover more vulnerable people, including children with disabilities.

Ukraine also announced plans to increase the number of social workers across the country from 3,000 to around 11,000 in order to help vulnerable families cope during the pandemic. In countries with poor social protection systems, national cash transfer programmes have previously shown to preserve families and support relatives caring for children, as we saw during the Ebola outbreak.

 

A call to action

The current public health crisis is a brutal reminder that residential care for children is not only a dated concept, but a dangerous one. More than ever now is the time to fundamentally rethink how to support vulnerable children living or at risk of being placed in an institution. Human rights advocates, for instance, are calling for “emergency deinstitutionalisation” and immediate provision of housing and support in the community for people with disabilities living in institutions.

What’s key is to stop the cycle of institutionalisation because, once established, orphanages are difficult to reform or replace. Governments must recognise that supporting vulnerable families and investing in communities is not only better for children, but cheaper for the governments too. Institutions can never – and should never try to – replace family-based care.

 

Larisa Abrickaja is Policy and Partnerships Manager at the Child Rights International
Network (CRIN).

The post Children in Out-of-Home Care: Lessons from the Pandemic appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The Ibrahim Malik public hospital in Khartoum, Sudan. Abortion is only legal in Sudan under very specific circumstances. As a result a number of women continue to access unsafe abortions. Courtesy: Abdelgadir Bashir

By Reem Abbas
KHARTOUM, Jun 22 2020 (IPS)

Omnia Nabil*, a Sudanese doctor, who worked in one of the largest hospitals in Khartoum, the country’s capital, was devastated to witness the deaths of 50 young women who had unsafe abortions during a space of just three months.

“I would see 16 cases of failed abortions on a given day. I would insert my hand and pull out syringes or leaves, unsanitary items that were inserted by midwives to induce a miscarriage,” Nabil told IPS.

For Sudanese women, getting an abortion is often a very lonely and dangerous process because it is only allowed in very specific cases.

Article 135 of the Criminal Law of 1991 legalises “miscarriage” only to save the mother’s life, if she is a victim of rape in her first trimester or if the foetus is dead. However, in all cases, women need their husband’s consent for the procedure.

Women who do not meet these requirements generally end up going to traditional midwives. But it places the women’s lives at risk. And if caught, it is an offence punishable with imprisonment of up to six years or a fine.

• This Northeast African nation of some 41 million people was ruled for 30 years by dictator Omar al-Bashir until he was removed from power by the country’s military in April 2019 after mass pro-democracy protests.
• Under Al-Bashir’s rule the country experienced decades of war and repression resulting in the current internal displacement of 2.1 million people. 

Sudan’s transitional government, formed in August 2019, allocated 40 percent of its parliamentary seats to women. This resulted in laws restricting freedom of dress, movement and work being repealed and female genital multination being criminalised. However, there have been no changes to the law on abortion.

Abortion – a dangerous and lonely procedure

But as international organisations working on reproductive health were slowly shut down in years prior to the transitional government being formed, small groups or networks of people have been working together to ensure that women are able to access safe abortions.

Because most women can’t access hospitals or healthcare facilities because they fear arrest, they end up having the abortions alone, or with little help. Sarah Ali* was one of them.

When Ali found out about her pregnancy, she struggled to find a nurse or doctor who would help her obtain an abortion.

“I was running out of options and a midwife working at a private hospital had agreed to help me, but was unable to find the pills. I was entering my 11th week when I received the pills sent in a package by Women on Web,” Ali, who no longer lives in Sudan, told IPS.

The pills, a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol, were sent by Women on Web, a Canadian non-profit organisation that “advocates for and facilitates access to contraception and safe abortion services to protect women’s health and lives”, according to its website.

• The organisation provides women with abortion pills within the first 10 weeks of their pregnancy, after an online consultancy, which allows those who have a problem accessing a safe abortion to have a medical abortion in their homes. According to the organisation, a medical abortion in the first 10 weeks is “very low risk of complications and resemble having an early miscarriage”.

“After the procedure, I was able to go back to the midwife for a check-up and make sure I didn’t get an infection,” said Ali.

There are no recent statistics on unsafe abortions in Sudan. However, according to Women Deliver, “An estimated 25.1 million unsafe abortions take place [globally] each year. Every year, approximately, 6.9 million women in developing countries are treated for complications from unsafe abortions, and complications from unsafe abortions cause at least 22,800 deaths each year.”

Nabil watched as women who had unsafe abortions and came to the hospital for help eventually died.

“They would usually die from what we call septic abortion, which is essentially an infected abortion process and even though I was pro-choice from early on, this tragedy inspired me to start the abortion network,” said Nabil, who has since left the country.

Underground networks help women access safe abortions

With a core group of doctors, doctors-in-training and supporters, Nabil created a network to obtain misoprostol for patients and supported them if they had future complications. The network was a small and deeply-secure structure.

“The work was dangerous. At some point, we had a patient in the hospital and the doctor treating her suspected that she was unmarried, she called the police and I had to help her and her partner escape,” said Nabil.

Knowing the risks, Nabil took her precautions. She had a separate phone and always used a fake name with patients seeking abortions.

The core team worked for years without getting caught and recruited younger doctors when those in the team had moved on to other jobs.

“We tried to support girls from lower-income households and offered them the pills at reduced prices relying on our acquaintances in the field. But in the end, we were unofficial and dependent on word of mouth, so you have to know someone to make the initial contact,” said Nabil.

In the last few years, the network’s capacity was reduced as more of its members moved on to other countries seeking better economic situations. Nabil continued to help from a distance and her close friend was the last one in the network, until he also left the country.

Shrinking space for service providers 

The last statistics on the use of misoprostol dates back to 2011, when DKT International, a health charity operating in Sudan and the largest non-government provider of reproductive health products and services at the time, published a report stating that 450,000 units of Misoprostol and 16,000 kits of MVA were used/sold that year.

DKT came under attack in 2012 when radical parliamentarians clashed with the Minister of Health over family planning, abortion equipment and the distribution of condoms.

But things became worse when the government shut down another international organisation working on reproductive health.

“This organisation had provided an important device called vacuum aspirator or NVA for abortion and miscarriage cases and it was registered in Sudan until the government stopped it. It is life-saving and important and now few doctors have it and can only do it under the table,” said Salma Habib* an activist working on SRHR issues here.

In the meantime, there is one doctor in Sudan who is willing to perform medical abortions and support his patients in taking misoprostol, but he has been banned from working here since 2006.

When Dr. Abdelhadi Ibrahim, a young Ob/Gyn specialist moved to Sudan from the UK in the 1997, young women patients started asking him to perform abortions.

Ibrahim estimated that he had provided safe abortions to at least 10,000 women over a period of seven years and helped many others restore their hymens to indicate virginity.

In 2006, Ibrahim was arrested and tried in a high-profile court case and was sentenced to six years in prison and his license was revoked by the Sudan Medical Council.

“Until today, I am fighting to get back my license. I won two law suits and the council continued to stall and now after the revolution, they just made appointments in the council and a committee should be formed to look into it, I must’ve visited the council’s building hundreds of times,” Ibrahim, who he has not worked in 14 years and was forced to sell some of his property to support himself, told IPS.

Abortion pills too costly for most women

In the meantime, prices of medical abortion pills have soared.

“Today, most women can not afford a safe abortion in Sudan. The pills could cost at least $142 to $214 or even more and the quality of the pills and their expiration date could be a problem because you are buying from the black market after all,” said Habib, who added that there are fake pills on the market also.

Most Sudanese women have to use traditional midwives as they can’t access the expensive pills. It places them at risk to unsafe abortions.

The procedures performed by midwives are often dangerous, but in addition the midwives often criminalise the behaviour of their patients.

“I know a girl who was circumcised by a midwife after an abortion and was told that this is to stop her from having sex again, it is clear that midwives could punish you or take advantage of your situation,” said Ali.

But as Nabil’s abortion network closed, parallel networks sprung up. Habib supports her network by accessing pills from Women on Web and from trusted sources inside Sudan.

“There are people working now, I don’t know many of them, but one of my former clients is now leading the same efforts and helping other women,” said Nabil.

*Names changed to protect identity. 

 

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The Providencia Solar company, El Salvador. Latin America counts some of the globe’s most abundant and cost competitive renewable energy resources including hydroelectricity, solar, and wind. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

By Cecilia Aguillon
LA JOLLA, California, Jun 22 2020 (IPS)

The COVID-19 pandemic and crisis has led to increasing attention and clamor to redouble efforts toward an energy transition that would help the world reduce C02 emissions. In many countries of the region, how to manage hydrocarbons, but with an eye on the energy transition has only been accentuated. We believe clean hydrogen is part of that broader policy and reconstruction debate.

Clean hydrogen markets can be a key part of the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, accelerate the decarbonization of Latin America’s electricity and transportation sectors, attract investment and create jobs. Indeed, the possibilities for oil and gas companies to produce and deliver hydrogen should facilitate and accelerate its adoption in Latin America particularly when combined with the region’s considerable renewable energy upside.

As the US Energy Information Administration notes, hydrogen is the most abundant element on the planet and the simplest. Furthermore, the EIA underscores that “hydrogen, like electricity, is an energy carrier that must be produced from another substance.”

Clean energy policies with clear objectives and successful implementation have resulted in renewable auctions that were over-subscribed throughout the region. The policies also engendered competition and electricity prices among the lowest in the world all the while injecting billions of dollars of direct investment into their economies

According to the US Department of Energy, most hydrogen today is produced from fossil fuels, specifically natural gas, but there is also increasing production from electricity including renewable sources such as biomass, geothermal, solar, and wind.

With regards to technology, most hydrogen is produced through steam methane reforming, a high-temperature process in which steam reacts with a hydrocarbon fuel to produce hydrogen. Electrolysis is also commonly used to produce hydrogen by separating H2O into oxygen and hydrogen. Hydrogen can be compressed, liquefied, transported and used at gasoline stations to fuel vehicles.

Latin America counts some of the globe’s most abundant and cost competitive renewable energy resources including hydroelectricity, solar, and wind. The elements that make the region a world-leader in renewables can facilitate a similar ascension for clean hydrogen production this decade. But it is important to note that in order to spur investment, economies of scale must be supported and enhanced through policy and market incentive programs.

Take the photovoltaic (PV) industry. PV has demonstrated that policies with a well-conceived implementation strategy greatly incentivizes the market and leverages steep cost reductions. Average PV prices in the United States dropped 89% from $359 USD per MWH in 2009 to $40 USD per MWH in 2019.

Over the last ten years, most countries in Latin America enacted clean energy targets and laws that include fiscal incentives and goals to achieve a determined percentage of their electricity mix from clean energy sources by specific timeframes. Using a reverse auction mechanism, solicitations were announced attracting bids from mostly wind and solar developers. A major energy auction in Mexico in 2017 delivered prices in the $20´s USD per MWH.

Clean energy policies with clear objectives and successful implementation have resulted in renewable auctions that were over-subscribed throughout the region. The policies also engendered competition and electricity prices among the lowest in the world all the while injecting billions of dollars of direct investment into their economies.

Latin America’s power sector is well-positioned to be the main driver for a clean hydrogen boom as the pace of solar and wind energy projects continues to accelerate. In some cases, their intermittent nature, however, creates mismatches in the supply and demand of electricity in the system which prompts grid operators to temporarily shut down generation when it exceeds demand.

This reduces return on investments. Reliable and cost-effective batteries are needed to address the problem. Hydrogen-based storage is emerging as a technically viable and effective solution, but more has to be done to foster a competitive industry.

According to IRENA´s latest report on hydrogen and renewables, the lowest average cost of producing hydrogen from wind is $23 USD per MWH. There is consensus that reducing the cost of storage will help maximize the use of renewable energy generation, reduce energy imports, and contribute to economic prosperity.

There are natural allies in this effort. Policymakers and regulators together with power companies and renewable energy investors are increasingly aligned with similar objectives and goals. Latin America does not have to start from scratch; there are important lessons from around the globe.

Clean hydrogen projects being developed in Asia, Europe, and the United States could lead to policies, programs, and robust industries. Lessons learned and best practices from early adopters can be harvested and adapted to develop successful hydrogen markets.

In Latin America, Chile could emerge as the clean hydrogen market leader since the country has surplus production of solar and wind electricity that could be leveraged for producing hydrogen. The government is already developing its post-pandemic stimulus package with a heavy focus on energy decarbonization by 2040 backed by aggressive policies targeting growth and further deployment of renewable energy and electric mobility.

The Energy Ministry is even working on a specific plan to develop a hydrogen market. In addition, the Chilean government is enlisting the participation of its power and energy sectors to join the effort. Chile´s success with solar and wind deployment along with its new decarbonization strategy can be a template for developing sustainable and robust hydrogen markets throughout the region.

For many countries in Latin America, one of the thorniest challenges to reduce emissions is in their transportation sector. Even highly-touted renewable energy markets such as Costa Rica have struggled to reduce fossil fuel consumption for transport. Hydrogen offers an important possible solution. Indeed, hydrogen can help decarbonize the fuel sector, most likely as a source for heavy duty transportation such as long-haul buses and trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes.

The current environment of low oil prices is providing many countries relief from onerous fuel subsidies. Indeed, in some markets such as Ecuador have begun to remove them entirely. It could be wise to consider applying some of these savings to promote the modernization of their public transportation infrastructure to accommodate the use of clean fuels and by extension, support economic development and reduction of CO2 emissions.

Moreover, national oil companies have had to shut down refineries due to the recent drop in fuel demand caused by the lockdowns in the fight to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. This forced shutdown could provide an opportunity to use the time to retrofit equipment and train workers on hydrogen fuel production.

Taking such measures in the near-term would allow for an important step towards diversification while transitioning to clean fuels. In some cases, oil and gas companies are able to obtain low-cost financing in addition to having the infrastructure, distribution channels, and know-how to produce fuels. As countries emerge from the pandemic and review policies and stimulus packages to reactivate their economies, governments should further consider designing road maps that include the promotion of clean hydrogen to decarbonize their power and transportation sectors.

Uruguay provides an example that public-private partnerships can work towards developing a local hydrogen market and one that can inform neighboring countries. The national oil company, ANCAP, together with the government, the national electricity company UTE, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and private investors are developing a pilot project to produce hydrogen using renewable energy to power trucks and buses, and to support green electricity through storage. This is to comply with the government´s goal of achieving 100% renewables by 2030.

In Uruguay, a comprehensive roadmap was enacted in 2010 with clear objectives and specific milestones that includes active collaboration of the various public agencies with specific roles to play to achieve the target. The policy also calls for regulations and standards that promotes the use of renewables throughout every sector of the economy making Uruguay a renewable energy leader in the southern cone. The inclusion of traditional energy sectors in the hydrogen pilot project could help the country achieve its decarbonization goal ahead of schedule.

As the example from Uruguay underscores, well-crafted policies and successful implementation of regulations are essential to attract foreign and domestic investments. The technology and resources to produce clean hydrogen are available. Scaling manufacturing to achieve cost-effectiveness is already taking place thanks to programs to promote hydrogen throughout the world.

The current investment profile and soaring amounts for renewable energy has shown the myriad actors and players – from Wall Street and private equity to multilateral agencies to local and international banks – willing to invest in renewable technologies particularly shown by the scale of deployment levels of wind and solar. Furthermore, the potential ability of oil and gas companies to produce and deliver hydrogen should facilitate and accelerate its adoption in Latin America.

Governments throughout the region should also consider direct participation in the clean hydrogen market. By serving as customers, governments can further support and develop critical mass for fast adoption through investment and modernization of state-own transportation infrastructure. Moreover, governments should consider fiscal incentives for heavy industry and traditional fuel suppliers to adopt the technology. Lessons learned from developing successful renewable energy programs should inspire political will to make clean hydrogen the next link in the chain to achieve zero carbon economies for this generation across Latin America.

Navigating the path forward from the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the persistent threat of climate change makes clean hydrogen a possible solution for the day after and the region’s energy and economic recovery.

The post Latin America’s Potential Green Hydrogen Economy appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Cecilia Aguillon is Director of the Energy Transition Initiative at the Institute of the Americas in La Jolla, California

The post Latin America’s Potential Green Hydrogen Economy appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: Heifer International

By Pierre Ferrari and Cory Gilman
Jun 22 2020 (IPS)

There has been far less social progress in the United States in the last 155 years than many people would like to believe. In 2020, racism still seeps its way into every aspect of life; from unconscious bias and micro-aggressions in everyday interactions to domestic and international policy and enforcement.

As an organization with 76 years of history supporting smallholder producers, we have a responsibility to use our experience to name and break the barriers that have plagued Black, Indigenous and People of Color farmers. Fighting injustice in all its forms – hunger, malnutrition, poverty, income inequality, climate change and gender inequity – has long been a tenet of our work.

A farmer who participated in the Heifer International and Prentiss Institute 30-year partnership in Mississippi. Credit: Heifer International

We have worked to break down barriers that prevent the inclusion and success of marginalized groups in agriculture. Heifer International has assisted with land rights, helped farmers organize, provided technical assistance to increase their production and productivity, and improved access to capital and to markets. But good intentions do not equal positive impact. It is not enough to mean well. We have to do well.

Our mission cannot be fulfilled without recognizing how deeply agriculture is rooted in racism. It’s imperative to address how synonymous the origins of our food system are with the battle currently being fought – how the success of global agriculture has been sown with the blood and sweat of people of color.

In the United States, modern agriculture was built on the backs of enslaved people who were used as property and valued only as production units. They produced cotton, tobacco, sugar, indigo, rice, sweet potato, peanuts, watermelon and okra. This unrelenting free labor, coupled with simultaneous extraction of farming knowledge, directly led to America’s economic domination of the 18th century and pervasive industrialized agricultural ascendancy that remains today — facilitating an empire of production, processing and trade. When slavery finally became illegal, the tradition of Black exploitation for food-flow gain continued in the form of tenant farming, sharecropping and land grabbing.

In the 1930s, as minimum wage and other legislation was enacted to protect labor rights, the agricultural industry remained exempt and farmworkers (at the time, predominately African American) were excluded; this loophole was not modified until the 1980s. Simply put, our country’s designation as the ‘crop basket of the world’ would not have been possible without the unwilling sacrifice of Africans and African Americans.

But today, the Black community is disproportionately impacted by food insecurity, malnutrition, diet-related disease, lack of land ownership and largely exclusion from agriculture as a whole.

Farmer works in her peanut field in Zambia. Credit: Heifer International

The U.S.’s agricultural foundation follows a tradition of forced labor spanning huge expanses of time and place. Most of our favorite grocery items are a product of colonialism, widely available thanks to the almost standardized practice of one powerful predominantly white nation dropping anchor onto a foreign land, conquering and brutally subjugating its indigenous people, ravaging the soil with the compulsory workforce of human ‘property,’ and sending resulting agricultural goods back to its own and other wealthy countries at an enormous profit.

Farmer works in her familys sweet potato field in Malawi. Credit: Heifer International

The Dutch East Indies brought Arabica and sugar, British India produced tea and spices, German East Africa ushered in sesame and Robusta, French West Africa brought chocolate and peanuts and the Belgian Congo palm oil and sugar. When slavery was no longer condoned, oppressive conditions on stolen land remained. While each wave of colonialism has its own nuanced narrative, they all propagated from the same seed – racism.

This subjugation continues to play out, under new names but similar practices, all over the world. In many countries, racial, indigenous, ethnic or caste groups are deemed ‘less than’ – less worthy of basic safety and human rights, of fair pay and equal opportunity and of dignity. Considering 70% of the world’s hungry are or used as food producers, it’s a statistical certainty that what is on our plates stems from one of these groups.

Poverty is not an accident. When entire groups of people experience similar forms of socio-economic marginalization, that is by design. It is intergenerational. It is systemic, born of racially and ethnically driven oppression. It is intolerable.

Farmer and farm worker Sevia Matinanga (right) harvest sugar cane in Zambia. Credit: Heifer International

We cannot change the past, but we can actively acknowledge it. We must begin the more critical work of changing the course of the future, which means actively supporting communities of color in our local and global food system. There’s much to be done. Governments must enact policies to ensure full, inclusive and healthy participation in agricultural livelihoods and access. Organizations like Heifer International need even deeper commitment to social, economic and environmental justice on every level of our work, saying “no” to complicit systems and “absolutely” to accelerating the visions marginalized smallholder farmers have for their futures. Consumers can seek out black-owned agri-businesses and take a stand against corporations that source ingredients for unethical prices and in many cases, via actual forced and/or child labor. The world is ripe for real change, and we are ready for it.

The post Agriculture: Rooted in Racism appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Systemic racism in agriculture is painfully obvious. Why has it taken a new Civil Rights movement to clearly expose the sordid roots and present-day inequalities in food and farming?

The post Agriculture: Rooted in Racism appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Yasmine Sherif is Director, Education Cannot Wait

By Yasmine Sherif
NEW YORK, Jun 22 2020 (IPS)

To realize the concept of ‘build back better,’ we need a foundation. That foundation is education. This is an incontestable truth.

It has now been three months since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The coronavirus has both exposed and exacerbated the global inequities that lay at the core of our frail social fabric as a human family. The World Bank estimates that 40-60 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty as a result of COVID-19. The World Food Programme cautions that the number of acutely hungry people could double globally from 135 million to 265 million. UNDP forecasts human development is set to decline this year for the first time since 1990. Meanwhile, the number of displaced populations has continued to rise to an unprecedented 79.5 million by the end of 2019, according to UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report, released on World Refugee Day today.

Yasmine Sherif

The most effective way of forcing children and youth into a life in extreme poverty and acute hunger, while also dismissing all their human rights is to deny them an education. Conversely, a quality education is one of the few absolutes that raises development indicators, strengthens the protection of human rights and enables the young generation to live a life of dignity, productivity and opportunity. As UN Deputy-Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed states in her interview in this month’s ECW Newsletter: “Indeed, a quality education and lifelong learning is foundational to all other aspects of human development and sustainable development.”

As long as education is considered a ‘lesser priority’ in crises, the vicious cycle of global inequity and its brutal consequences will continue to haunt humankind. We can no longer merely stitch together a shredded social fabric. We must lay a solid foundation to build back better, or as Desmond Tutu says: “Inclusive, good, quality education is a foundation for dynamic and equitable societies.”

We know that COVID-19 is further deepening the already existing inequalities across the globe. We know that the consequences are most severe for children and youth left furthest behind in conflicts and forced displacement. We know that those with disabilities and girls who are already disadvantaged because of their gender are the most vulnerable and will likely bear the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. We know that they now risk plunging further down a precipice from where they may never have the ability to climb back. With this knowledge, education clearly must be a top priority in the COVID-19 response and recovery.

Before COVID-19, an estimated 75 million children and adolescents, of whom 39 million are girls, living in armed conflict and forced displacement contexts, were deprived a quality education. These numbers are now increasing, while funding is decreasing! A recent report by the Malala Fund estimates that 10 million secondary school-aged girls could drop out of school as a result of the pandemic. Meanwhile, a separate study, carried out by the Centre for Global Development, reinforced this concern, while noting that one third of NGOs fighting to prevent school-drop outs are facing the threat of layoffs because of funding cuts.

Yes, we are facing an unprecedented economic recession. Yet, the consequences of not investing in a foundation for those left furthest behind will eventually be even more severe. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated in his message on the International Day of Family Remittance, referring to World Bank projections, global remittances – a funding flow three times that of international aid – could plummet by $110 billion this year, limiting for millions a vital source of funding for health, education and livelihoods. In the same vein, the UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of Education Cannot Wait’s High-Level Steering Group, Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, warns that: “Failure by the G20 group of leading developed and developing nations to organize a global COVID-19 recovery plan is a potential death sentence for the world’s poor.”

COVID-19 and its consequences are stark reminders that we must now recognize that children and youth who are conflict- and disaster-affected, who are internally displaced or are refugees, can no longer wait until the crisis is over. At worse, we will be accomplices to reducing their humanity; at best, we will keep patching up a shredded social fabric – but we will not rebuild.

To end the spiral of global inequity, gender-inequality, racism and discrimination in all its ugly forms, especially towards girls, we must recognize that those left furthest behind are entitled to a solid foundation to build back better. Like the rest of us, that foundation starts with inclusive and equitable, quality education, from the first 1,000 days of a child’s life onwards.

The post The Foundation to Build Back Better: Education appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Yasmine Sherif is Director, Education Cannot Wait

The post The Foundation to Build Back Better: Education appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A municipal truck sanitizes the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh in order to prevent COVID-19.

By External Source
DHAKA, Bangladesh, Jun 22 2020 (IPS)

One of the most densely populated countries in the world, Bangladesh exemplifies the triple blow that many emerging market countries have suffered from COVID-19: domestic slowdown caused by the disease and the efforts to contain its spread; a sharp decline in exports, particularly in the ready-made garment sector, and a drop in remittances. Its once robust economy has dramatically slowed in recent months.

To help Bangladesh during this crisis, the IMF has approved emergency loans totaling around $732 million. IMF Country Focus spoke with the IMF’s resident representative for Bangladesh Ragnar Gudmundsson about some of the specific challenges facing the country.

How has Bangladesh been affected by COVID-19?

Bangladesh has been severely impacted. Up until the crisis, the economy had been growing close to 7 percent a year on average over the past decade. We now project 2 percent for 2020—a drop of 6 percentage points from 2019.

The economic impact has been felt in three main avenues: first, a drop in domestic economic activity, after the shutdown announced on March 26 (now gradually being lifted); the second is a decline in exports of ready-made garments, which represent more than 80 percent of Bangladesh’s exports and have been strongly impacted (overall exports fell by 83 percent year-on-year in April).

Finally, there has been a fall in remittances from Bangladeshis living mostly in Middle Eastern countries, affected not just by the pandemic but also by the decline in oil prices.

What is the outlook for the future?

We are still expecting a pick-up in activity toward the end of 2020 and in 2021, with growth climbing back to around 6 percent.

Of course, that depends on the domestic economy starting to recover. But there is so much uncertainty and it is very difficult to ascertain with precision the recovery’s speed or extent. We still expect that the country would quickly come back to previous growth rates, if global economic conditions are supportive.

Credit: UNDP Bangladesh/Fahad Kaizer

The UN Development Programme with the support of UK Aid, is rolling out emergency support for 50,000 poor urban families in Bangladesh in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

What particular challenges has Bangladesh faced during this crisis?

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, and this is a huge challenge when you are trying to contain the impact of a pandemic like COVID-19. Another challenge is limited health infrastructure.

The capacity of the health system is really being put to the test, and requires considerable support from development partners. It is estimated that the country needs about $250 million for clinical equipment, testing, and contact tracing, just to respond to the initial impact. This amount will need to be mobilized with external support.

How are IMF resources expected to be used?

IMF resources, in the form of loans under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) and Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), will be channeled through the budget to help the government meet its new spending needs in health and social protection; to meet balance of payments needs; and to catalyze additional donor support. Financing from other international institutions and donors has been approved.

How can it be ensured that the money is used transparently?

Bangladesh recognizes the importance of transparency, accountability, and good governance. The government is committed to using the crisis resources transparently and effectively, and to carry out an audit of COVID-19 related expenditures within 12 months of the end of the crisis.

The country has also committed to amending existing rules so as to provide information on the beneficial ownership of companies that are awarded procurement contracts.

What will be the effect on Bangladesh’s debt?

Before the crisis, Bangladesh was in a very good position, with a low risk of overall and external debt distress. We anticipate that all the crisis-related borrowing will raise the public debt-to-GDP ratio to about 41 percent of GDP over the coming years, from 36 percent at the end of 2019

Even so, debt should remain sustainable. In a way, this is a testament to the sound economic and fiscal policies implemented in recent years, with limited aid dependency, prudent borrowing and, up until the crisis, adherence to a deficit ceiling of 5 percent of GDP.

Over the medium term, the government needs to mobilize more resources domestically to fund additional spending for health, education, infrastructure, and social protection.

What is being done to protect the country’s large vulnerable population?

Since March, several stimulus measures were deployed to sustain economic activity and protect the most vulnerable. There is a package of about $600 million to support the wages of workers in the ready-made garment sector, provided in the form of subsidized loans to companies so that they can pay wages for three months.

This is very important because the ready-made garment sector is responsible for much of the recent progress in incorporating women into formal economic activity.

Additionally, takas totaling about $150 million will be provided as cash assistance to about five million families displaced by the pandemic. There are also measures to protect the homeless and for food distribution. Cash allowances for the elderly, widows, and disabled individuals are also being expanded.

Amid the crisis, how can the country continue to address climate change concerns?

Climate change is a priority for Bangladesh’s development objectives, as it is one of the countries most vulnerable to extreme weather events. Increased investments in adaptation have made the country more resilient to natural disasters.

Cyclone Amphan, a few weeks ago, was perhaps less devastating than initially feared because of better early warning systems and more investments in embankment infrastructure and shelters.

As efforts to promote a green recovery take hold, Bangladesh is also well placed to attract foreign investment that will contribute to climate change mitigation.

The post Helping Bangladesh Recover from COVID-19 appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By External Source
Jun 19 2020 (IPS-Partners)

Ms. Amina J. Mohammed is the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Mohammed served as Minister of Environment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where she steered the country’s efforts on climate action and efforts to protect the natural environment. Ms. Mohammed first joined the United Nations in 2012 as Special Adviser to former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with the responsibility for post-2015 development planning. She led the process that resulted in global agreement around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Ms. Mohammed began her career working on the design of schools and clinics in Nigeria. She served as an advocate focused on increasing access to education and other social services, before moving into the public sector, where she rose to the position of adviser to three successive Presidents on poverty, public sector reform, and sustainable development. Ms. Mohammed has been conferred several honorary doctorates and has served as an adjunct professor, lecturing on international development. The recipient of various global awards, Ms Mohammed has served on numerous international advisory boards and panels. She is the mother of six children and has one grandchild.

ECW. As an inspirational global women leader who has dedicated your life to service, how do you see the progress and challenges we face in advancing gender equality and empowering the next generation of women leaders through girls and adolescent girls’ right to a quality education?

Amina J. Mohammed. I am inspired by the upcoming generation of women leaders who in the face of disasters, conflicts, and health emergencies prioritize their education and use their platforms to advocate for the right of all girls and young women to a quality education. Advancing gender equality and amplifying the voices of these young women needs to be at the center of all our work.

The great progress we have made globally to advance gender equality cannot be underscored enough – more girls are going to and staying in school than ever before and the number of out-of-school girls has dropped by 79 million in the last two decades. Yet, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 132 million girls were still out of school.

Girls – particularly adolescent girls – face significant barriers to a quality education in many contexts. There are risks of sexual harassment, exploitation, abuse and violence – both on the way to and at school. Many girls have competing demands on their time due to care and household responsibilities. Many families face the difficult choice of which of their children will get an education due to financial constraints – and many times, boys are chosen over girls. Girls’ education is particularly under threat in emergencies and for children on the move and we need to continue to empower this next generation of women leaders through a quality education.

All these issues have been exacerbated by COVID-19. Lockdowns and the socio-economic crisis have brought dramatic increases in domestic violence, including for girls and adolescent girls. Furthermore, rates of child marriages have increased, and it is not clear what effects that would have if schools remain closed for a long period.

To tackle the challenges exacerbated by the current pandemic, we need strengthened efforts to not only ensure gender equality dimensions are prioritized in all our work, but also apply targeted measures to ensure girls, and the most vulnerable, do not bear the heaviest burden and are protected.

ECW. There is a global education crisis in the world, and it is increasingly clear that education, or Sustainable Development Goal 4, is foundational to realising the full spectrum of the Sustainable Development Goals. How do you see the interrelation and why is it so important to connect those dots in advancing all of the Sustainable Development Goals?

Amina J. Mohammed. Education is a human right and is central for building sustainable and resilient societies, as well as for achieving personal aspirations and all the other Sustainable Development Goals. There is no doubt that equipping children and youth with relevant knowledge and skills has a catalytic impact on eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, improving health, driving economic growth and achieving gender equality.

Without investing in youth to create an enabling environment for them to learn and acquire skills for decent work, sustainability, climate change awareness and global citizenship, we will not deliver on our promise for the future we want.

Without ensuring quality and inclusive education for all, we will not be able to advance our efforts for more peaceful and inclusive societies and for promoting respect for human rights. Yet, we have seen warning signs that on current trends, the world is not on track to achieve the SDG4 goal and targets.

Before COVID-19, more than 260 million children, adolescents and youth were out of school. while more than 617 million were not learning, achieving only minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics. Now COVID-19 has exacerbated the global education crisis with more than 1.5 billion children who face disrupted education while too many children are still at risk of not returning to school, especially those most marginalized – including girls, children with disabilities, and children on the move. Violence against children is increasing. COVID-19 is not just a health crisis – it is a human crisis and an education crisis.

Indeed, a quality education and lifelong learning is foundational to all other aspects of human development and sustainable development. The foundations for learning start in the womb – maternal health and nutrition is vital for brain development. We know that the first 1,000 days of a child’s life are critical and set the stage for learning throughout the lifecycle. We know that children who experience stunting also experience difficulties with learning. When children do not have access to clean water and sanitation or life-saving vaccines for preventable diseases, their lives are at risk. Without access to quality and relevant education, young people cannot build the skills needed to succeed in life and work, and consequently they and their communities suffer.

We need to make sure that all children and youth have an equal chance – girls and boys, children and youth with disabilities, children and youth from marginalized communities. In order to achieve real progress on any of the SDGs, our approaches need to put education at the center.

ECW. The UN General Assembly President recently stressed the need to continue to invest in education during the current COVID-19 crisis and pointed out that many governments in the South do not have the infrastructure to provide adequate remote learning through technology, and this risks deepening the already existing global education divide. How do we translate global cooperation into a concrete bridge that reduces the divides, starting with financing, economic cooperation, and socio-economic development and equity?

Amina J. Mohammed. The COVID-19 crisis in combination with the existing global digital divide has posed considerable challenges for addressing the learning crisis. The pandemic has presented an additional risk of deepening the global education divide and losing the gains that have been made so far. With nearly three quarters of learners being affected by the school closures globally, many countries are facing unprecedented economic challenges including how they can ensure the equity and inclusion of their education systems. Reliance on new technologies for the provision of education during the crisis has highlighted the importance of investing more into making all education systems more resilient, open, inclusive and flexible.

The lack of access to technological readiness and connectivity in some developing countries, but also the overall level of their preparedness to adapt the curricula, prepare learners, educators and families, as well ensure efficient assessment and certification processes, would need to be addressed at scale if we are to learn from the COVID-19 crisis.

To address this complex situation, we all need to work together in partnership to ensure that all children and youth continue to learn, maintaining a focus on the those most in need.

The technology to reach everyone everywhere is available. It’s up to all of us to make sure that at all levels we can scale up these solutions empowering teachers to meet every child and young person’s learning needs in every context. Of course, this should be complemented with improving education systems’ preparedness to face global challenges while advancing on the achievement of the sustainable development for all.

ECW. The UN Secretary-General’s Reform places strong emphasis on ‘The New Way of Working,’ the ‘humanitarian-development coherence’ and the principles of ‘less bureaucracy and more accountability.’ These approaches and principles are also embedded in the strategy and work of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), which is hosted by the UN (UNICEF). Having followed ECW’s work closely since its inception, how do you see ECW contributing to UN reform and the SDGs, especially as we accelerate during the Decade of Action, through concrete measures and results.

Amina J. Mohammed. Despite progress on education provision in crisis-affected situations, the persisting barriers to education have worsened due to the pandemic. ECW’s response during COVID-19 has exemplified the ways in which it implements the new way of working with humanitarian speed and development depth. During the unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic, ECW and partners mobilized to provide education support at record speed. The quick release and flexibility of funding allowed UN country teams to respond quickly and to implement education interventions in the ways most appropriate for each context.

At the onset of COVID-19, utilizing the in-country education coordination mechanisms, a total of US$23 million was rapidly disbursed to 55 grantees across 26 countries within a period of 9 days between the receipt of initial applications and the first disbursements of funds. This collaborative approach ensures transparency, and promotes coordinated response and efficiency and effectiveness within the sector.

As an example, in Cameroon, the COVID-19 education response was developed by the education cluster members in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and key stakeholders. UNESCO and UNICEF were identified by the education cluster in country to receive the ECW first emergency response funds. The grantees are implementing with the support of the Education Cluster, the Government of Cameroon and civil society organizations. The US$1.5 million allocation in Cameroon for the COVID-19 response will ensure access and continuity of children’s learning, reaching 3.9 million children, of whom 2.2 million are girls, as well as 8,600 teachers, 60 per cent of whom are women.

ECW. With COVID-19, we have all had to adjust and reassess how we operate in the current environment to continue to deliver on the SDGs and will also need to look ahead as this crisis will stay with us for some time. What do you see as the priorities, both in terms of development sectors and strategic approach in mitigating the impact of the global COVID-19 crisis and the people we serve, especially those left furthest behind, such as low-income countries affected by conflict and refugee-hosting countries?

Amina J. Mohammed. Our first and foremost priority really is to address the human face of this global crisis and do it with a global response, which really does need solidarity. Therefore, in the UN, we see the emergency response as threefold. The health response in suppressing transmission of the virus. The Humanitarian response which we have to keep fueling to ensure people are safe in this crisis situation; and an urgent socio-economic response to stem the impact of the pandemic, by helping Governments and people act in a way that builds a better and greener future.

A UN socio-economic response framework was developed to protect the needs and rights of people living under the duress of the pandemic, with particular focus on the most vulnerable countries, groups, and people who risk being left behind.

The five streams of work that constitute this framework include: 1. ensuring that essential health services are still available and protecting health systems; 2. helping people cope with adversity, through social protection and basic services; 3. protecting jobs, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, and informal sector workers through economic response and recovery programmes; 4. guiding the necessary surge in fiscal and financial stimulus to make macroeconomic policies work for the most vulnerable and strengthening multilateral and regional responses; and 5. promoting social cohesion and investing in community-led resilience and response systems. These five streams are connected by a strong environmental sustainability and gender equality imperative to build back better.

The UN´s response in the field of social protection and basic services includes supporting governments to adapt, extend and scale-up services to secure sustained learning for all children, and adolescents, preferably in schools. As such, the UN is working with national education authorities and private sector education service providers to support preschools and schools that can safely remain open, while assisting governments to scale up digital and other forms of remote learning. All efforts need to be put in place to make sure all children and youth remain engaged in remote learning if available and return to school once these reopen. The UN is also supporting teachers through professional training programmes on alternative learning methods.

The UN recognizes a multilateral response like none ever before is required. One that needs the courage to flip the current orthodoxies because we need new tools, new measures and we need to lift the policy barriers that we often find as an excuse as to why we can’t do things at the speed that it needs to be done.

We are presented with a once in a generation opportunity to reach all children and deliver on the SDGs. To do so, we need to work together and leverage partnerships. Our priority is to ensure that all children are learning – whether that’s returning to school, accessing education for the first time, utilizing digital technologies or sitting in a classroom. We need to reach those that are furthest behind, we need to innovate how we do business, and we need to provide real-time response. Children in emergencies and children on the move are in greatest need of support and must be included in any approach.

ECW. In the face of the global COVID-19 crisis unprecedented to our generation, it is also a time for reflection and a real resolve to building back better. Considering that an inclusive quality education for every child and adolescent is one essential part of the solution, how can all of the UN’s constituencies pro-actively and concretely provide unwavering support to realize the values and commitments made 75 years ago?

Amina J. Mohammed. COVID-19 presents us with an opportunity for countries to build back better with equity and inclusion at the center, anchored in the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement on climate change. We have an opportunity to reimagine the overall purpose, content and delivery of education in the long term and importantly how the UN system could best support countries in making their education systems more resilient with current and future crises. It is important that we utilize the comparative advantages of each UN entity and other partners for a strengthened, efficient, and comprehensive global response. With UNICEF’s global field presence and education programming in 145 countries, and UNESCO’s network of specialized institutes and mandate to lead the global coordination of the achievement of the education related targets, the UN can utilize inter-sectoral approaches and tap into collective experience and practices from our expertise around the world.

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About Education Cannot Wait: ECW is the first global fund dedicated to education in emergencies. It was launched by international humanitarian and development aid actors, along with public and private donors, to address the urgent education needs of 75 million children and youth in conflict and crisis settings. ECW’s investment modalities are designed to usher in a more collaborative approach among actors on the ground, ensuring relief and development organizations join forces to achieve education outcomes. Education Cannot Wait is hosted by UNICEF. The Fund is administered under UNICEF’s financial, human resources and administrative rules and regulations, while operations are run by the Fund’s own independent governance structure.

Please follow on Twitter: @EduCannotWait @YasmineSherif1 @KentPage
Additional information at: www.educationcannotwait.org

 

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Djibouti Port. Credit: James Jeffrey/IPS

By External Source
JOHANNESBURG, Jun 19 2020 (IPS)

The unfolding US-China power rivalry bears a striking resemblance to the tensions between the US and the Soviet bloc during the Cold War years. Back then, African countries were positioned like pawns on a grand chessboard. Their social and economic progress was hampered because they expended energy aligning themselves with either of the superpowers in the battle for world supremacy between communism and capitalism.

With notable exceptions, African states generally failed to exercise positive agency for their own development. They also eroded the institutional and governance foundations vital for economic success.

In the current context of rising geopolitical tensions between the US and China, African countries may find themselves repeating the same mistakes unless they proactively shape their own destinies.

Despite their institutional under-preparedness, African countries can – and indeed must – be highly strategic and tactical in how they respond to the US-China tensions. Failure to do so will inevitably mean sacrificing their own interests

The tensions between the two great powers, characterised by a vicious trade war, are deepening at a time when the world economy is under enormous strain due to COVID-19. At the same time African countries are facing their worst economic crises since independence.

Africa is institutionally under-prepared to weather the combined effects of the health pandemic and severe economic recession. Its leaders will need to consciously design strategies of engagement that will help them to manage the ongoing superpower tensions to their advantage. They should do so without taking sides. This requires that they deal with each of these great powers based on pragmatic – rather than ideological – choices.

Despite their institutional under-preparedness, African countries can – and indeed must – be highly strategic and tactical in how they respond to the US-China tensions. Failure to do so will inevitably mean sacrificing their own interests.

There are three arenas of challenges and opportunities for the African continent in the current geopolitical climate. The first involves technological frontiers, the second is global supply chains, and the third is trade integration and economic cooperation.

 

New technological frontiers

There is overwhelming evidence that technological innovation is the key driver of economic growth. Therefore, access to and exploitation of new technologies such as 5G is vital to Africa’s development. Fifth generation technologies are important options for a continent like Africa where mobile technology has leap-frogged more traditional technologies.

Access to technologies like 5G offers access to universal broadband, which is critical for the continent’s advance to a digital economy.

In May last year the US government put the Chinese firm Huawei, the world’s leading supplier of 5G network infrastructure, on its list of entities deemed to pose a significant risk to national security and foreign policy interests.

Huawei was effectively banned from importing and incorporating key US technologies into its products and services. This included both hardware, such as high-tech semiconductor components, and software, like Google Mobile Services (GMS). The ban was later extended to key technologies from non-US firms. These included the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, a major Huawei supplier.

In the month following the initial ban, the CEOs of four major South African telecommunications operators – Telkom, Vodacom, MTN and Cell C – wrote a joint letter to South African president Cyril Ramaphosa requesting his urgent intervention on the US action against Huawei. Their aim would have been to lend diplomatic weight to prevent damage to South Africa’s telecommunications sector.

In July last year Ramaphosa came out in support of the four operators as well as Huawei. He said the ban was:

an example of protectionism that will affect our own telecommunications sector, particularly the efforts to roll out the 5G network, causing a setback on other networks as well.

This was an example of pragmatism on the part of the South African government.

African policymakers should strenuously safeguard their right to choose from the widest possible range of technology options that suit their countries’ development needs. And they should insist on acquiring and developing new technologies like 5G based on pragmatism.

 

Global supply chains

The second theatre of struggle for African countries is in global supply chains.

The COVID-19 reality, combined with the ratcheting up of US-China tensions over trade, technology and supply chains, has opened up opportunities that African countries should exploit.

Combined, they have exposed serious problems in supply networks across various sectors. These include digital products, food, pharmaceutical and medical supply chains.

These sectors represent opportunities for African countries to develop new products, services and capabilities. They could, for example, provide answers to safeguarding Africa’s food security needs, local production of essential drugs and medicines, low-cost medical tests and equipment, and logistics.

But African countries will need to work more collaboratively to develop thriving economic sectors and cross-border industrial linkages. Trade will, in our view, be a critical enabler for this.

This leads us to the third domain, namely the need for African countries to deepen trade integration and economic cooperation. This will provide a basis for diversifying from over-reliance on export markets such as China and the US, and to build internal resilience.

 

Intra-Africa trade

Intra-African trade accounts for just 16% of total African trade. This compares with 52% in Asia and 73% in Europe. African trade is highly concentrated on a few economic hubs: China and Europe together account for 54% of total African trade, with China being Africa’s single largest trading partner. It accounts for over 14% of total African trade.

The African Continental Free Trade Area creates the institutional and infrastructural framework for Africa to strengthen intra-African trade, diversify its trading partners and implement long-overdue trade policy reforms.

COVID-19 has induced significant delays in the implementation of this trading arrangement. It should, in fact, have magnified a sense of urgency. But instead of showing adaptability, African leaders pressed a pause button. As a result, the continent could miss an opportunity to accelerate development of cross-border value chains in medical supplies and equipment and other areas.

 

Imagination and courage

African countries should seize the opportunities presented by deepening tensions between China and the US to realise positive agency and chart their own future. They will need to be more proactive and adaptive under the fluid and uncertain global environment. This will require a great deal of imagination and courage.

African countries face a daunting set of challenges and constraints. But policymakers always have options.

Mzukisi Qobo, Head: Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand and Mjumo Mzyece, Associate Professor of Technology and Operations Management, University of the Witwatersrand

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Courtesy: Pramila Patten

By Samira Sadeque
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 19 2020 (IPS)

While the coronavirus does not discriminate, its impact does. And the needs of survivors of sexual violence in conflict “cannot be put on pause, and neither can the response” during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, Jun. 19 marks the sixth annual International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. This year, the day focuses on the COVID-19 impact on survivors of sexual violence and to ensure that neither them nor their access to care is forgotten, Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, told IPS.

Akila Radhakrishnan, president of the Global Justice Centre, said that COVID-19 has been disproportionately affecting women, with higher risks of domestic violence, and difficulty in accessing assistance. 

“All of these risks are amplified in conflict settings, resulting in very real concerns over delayed access to care and legal processes,” she said.  

She said countries must go beyond paper commitments and take concrete steps to end impunity for these crimes, and provide meaningful support to survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). 

“This crime is preventable, we just need the political and moral will to make it so,” she said. 

The day, which is being observed ahead of next month’s debate on conflict-related sexual violence at the Security Council, aims to raise awareness about sexual violence in conflict, which is often used as a tactic of war, terror and political repression.

Patten told IPS that in the last two years, their work on the rights of children born of rape in conflict zones led to a Security Council resolution that highlighted the importance of “survivor-centred approach” in addressing the issue.

Excerpts of the interview with Patten follow. Some of the answers have been paraphrased for clarity.

Inter Press Service (IPS): How many people are annually affected by the issue of sexual violence in conflict? Are there specific countries where the issue is especially rampant? 

Pramila Patten (PP): It is indeed difficult to ascertain the exact prevalence owing to a range of challenges, including underreporting resulting from the intimidation and stigmatisation of survivors, as well as restrictions on access for United Nations staff. Unfortunately, most survivors of CRSV face daunting social and structural reporting barriers that prevent their cases from being counted, much less addressed. It is estimated that for each rape reported in connection with a conflict, 10 to 20 cases go undocumented.

The Secretary-General’s report on CRSV currently focuses on 19 countries for which credible and verifiable information is available. Some examples where CRSV remains rampant are the [Central African Republic] CAR, the [Democratic Republic of the Congo] DRC, South Sudan, Sudan and Somalia. 

IPS: How are these specific regions equipped to handle the coronavirus crisis’ impact on this issue? 

PP: No country is really “equipped” to address CRSV at this time of the pandemic. All conflict countries have just one priority: to tackle the spread of COVID-19. U.N. entities are all supporting countries through this emergency, with their main focus on supporting countries in their COVID-19 preparedness. When it comes to supporting my mandate, they are also facing their own challenges as resources are having to be diverted to the COVID-19 response.

Additionally, in a number of my priority countries, suspension of programmes of different U.N. entities has resulted in essential gender-based violence service providers being unable to deliver services during the period of lockdown. In others, COVID-19 prevention guidelines are having other unintended effects such as the limitations in movement of Women Protection Advisors and human rights monitors or reduced patrols and restricted face-to-face interaction with local communities. 

IPS: What are the most crucial needs that have to be addressed because of COVID-19’s impact on sexual violence in conflict? 

PP: Since I took office, I have been advocating for a survivor-centred approach to CRSV — one that seeks to empower the survivor by prioritising her rights, needs and wishes. Survivors of sexual violence needs a range of comprehensive services: from medical to psychosocial and legal support. Because victims of sexual violence are often rejected by their families and communities, economic support is essential in the rehabilitation process.

However, one of the crucial needs of survivors is unimpeded and timely access to medical services. In particular, after rape, some interventions will only be effective in the hours (e.g. treatment of injuries) or few days (e.g. HIV prophylaxis, emergency contraception) after the assault. 

IPS: How has the pandemic affected addressing the issue of sexual violence in conflict?

PP: Firstly, the pandemic is having an impact on the reporting of cases. In addition to shame, stigma, and fear of repercussions, now cases are going unreported because of quarantines, curfews and other restrictions on movement, including limited access to first responders and civil society organisations such as women’s groups who often serve as first points of call, as well as fear of contracting COVID-19.

Secondly, there is an increased burden on health services due to the pandemic, with resources being prioritised for COVID-19. Contraction of routine health services means barriers to service provision for victims of sexual violence, including reduced supply of essential services, and access to sexual and reproductive health.

Referral pathways have also changed with the closures of shelters and women-friendly spaces in certain settings. In some settings where the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a militarisation of the health system, negative effects for women and children have also been noted. 

Thirdly, we are noting an impact on the rule of law and accountability. With the lockdown on judges, justice workers, prosecutors and lawyers, COVID-19 is severely affecting the functioning and effectiveness of justice systems. The lack of access to justice opens doors to a context favourable to impunity. Combatting impunity for sexual violence is a fundamental aspect of deterring and preventing such crimes. 

IPS: What are the challenges for this support system becoming remote?  

PP: The challenges are mainly in engaging with governments “remotely” in the implementation of the commitments they have undertaken through the signing of Joint Communique with the U.N. on the prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence. 

On the one hand, their attention and resources are focused on COVID-19. On the other hand, a number of implementation plans that needed to be prepared – for example, in Mali, CAR, DRC, and Sudan, with the technical support of my office, have been stalled on account of closure of borders. A range of technical support which my office was scheduled to provide to a number of countries – from Iraq to Somalia, and which requires in country visits, have also been impacted negatively. 

However, with an advocacy mandate instead of a programmatic mandate, I am not so significantly hampered in providing coherent and strategic leadership. Even remotely, I am able to make progress. 

IPS: What do you hope for this Day to achieve in the future?

PP: This day is an opportunity for me to be the voice of these numerous invisible and voiceless survivors and to make critical recommendations such as the need for: all parties in conflict to immediately cease all forms of sexual violence, sexual and gender-based violence response services to be designated as essential services in order to prevent their de-prioritisation and defunding, and efforts to address sexual and gender-based violence must be integrated into national COVID-19 response plans.

The post Q&A: Sexual Violence Survivors and their Access to Care Should not Be Forgotten appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

In marking the sixth annual International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, experts reiterated how crucial it is to keep accessible services to survivors, as they are being affected in complex ways due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

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Coconut farmers in Mafia Island, Tanzania, rely solely on donkeys as the mode of transporting their products from farms to markets. Credit: Alexander Makotta/IPS

By Alexander Makotta
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, Jun 19 2020 (IPS)

As she says goodbye to a group of her friends, Esther Ishabakaki asks whether any of them knows a good tailor who might be interested in joining her newly-opened clothing business. It’s a venture she started three months ago after quitting her farming venture.

Setting up a greenhouse in Tanzania’s commercial city, Dar es Salaam, Ishabakaki started by attempting to grow tomatoes. But a series of challenges chipped away at her passion and dreams for a horticulture business.

“I had invested a lot in that business: money, time, even emotion. But when you fall at every hurdle, it reaches a point where you just give up. I concluded I better quit and trial a different business,” 35-year-old Ishabakaki tells IPS.

Inexperience in greenhouse farming was a challenge when Ishabakaki started farming tomatoes. But while her skills improved as time went by, it was the post-harvest losses that she says she was unable to control.

After harvesting perfectly fine produce, Ishabakaki, like many millions of farmers, faced the gauntlet of preserving the quality and quantity of her crops before they reached the consumer.

Increasing domestic food demand and a rising unemployment rate are just some of the factors pushing governments across the continent to try and strengthen the agriculture sector, and Tanzania is no exception.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO), for instance, says youth unemployment in Tanzania currently stands at 11 percent.

Unfortunately, Ishabakaki’s experience with post-harvest losses is not unique. Experts say it resonates with many youth and farmers at large in the country, and could be driving new entrants to quit the market.

“The problem of post-harvest losses in the agriculture sector is huge,” Adella Ng’atigwa, a researcher and agricultural economist at the Ministry of Agriculture, tells IPS. As a research fellow of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ng’atigwa is currently working on a policy brief that documents post-harvest losses the reasons for this, as well as outlining the obstacles that prevent the youth from participating in Tanzania’s agricultural sector.

She notes that some crops are more affected than others – cabbage farmers often report losses of up to 60 percent of their produce.

“Farmers in Njombe, in the southern highlands of Tanzania, told me that poor demand is a major cause of produce loss in the area. But I also noticed that poor handling of crops and lack of agronomic practices also contributes to this problem,” says Ng’atigwa.

She also pointed out that poor transportation and storage facilities and low quality packaging contributes to the problem.

But Ng’atigwa is hopeful that cooperation between the government and private sector could help resolve the problem.

“Public Private Partnership could invest in infrastructure development, like construction of pack houses and investment in agro-processing.

“This approach could be used to increase the frequency of youth training and awareness and the creation of horticultural Post-harvest Management innovations through extension officers,” she says.

In addition, Ng’atigwa says the government could lower taxes on post-harvest management initiatives, making their services more affordable and accessible to farmers. 

Traders sell vegetable produce at the Darajani market in Zanzibar. According to research, certain produce such as cabbage and tomatoes are more prone to post-harvest losses than others. Credit: Alexander Makotta/IPS

The IITA, a non-profit that works with partners in Africa to enhance crop quality and productivity, is working to fill some of the gaps with regards to the challenges still facing the agriculture sector. 

Through its youth programme, IITA says it helps young people turn their challenges into opportunities to create jobs for themselves and others.

The programme works from farm to fork, starting with seed sowing, through to marketing and all the way to processing the product for consumption.

“We have an incubation programme, where we train people to acquire skills for agribusiness, skills for entrepreneurial development, skills for management of different technical skills and then we prepare them to become businesspeople in agriculture,” Dr. Victor Manyong, IITA Director for Eastern Africa, tells IPS.

Manyong believes there are plentiful opportunities in agriculture for youth to make money; for example by increasing production at the farm level.

He confirms young people are keen to take on these opportunities, but often need help along the way.

“They need technical skills, they need entrepreneurial skills, they need business skills. We have interacted with young people who want to do business but they don’t even know how to develop a business plan. There are young people with good ideas but they can’t develop them because they don’t have capital,” he says.

Other agricultural experts agree with Manyong that there are many opportunities in the agricultural sector for young people, but warn that there must be a holistic investment in youth to help them seize these opportunities.

Revokatus Kimario, Executive Director at Sokoine University Graduate Entrepreneurs Cooperative, which prepares, enables, and supports innovative, knowledge-intensive agriculture entrepreneurs, believes the best place to start is with young people’s mindset.

“We have to change people’s mindset right from a young age, to embrace agriculture as a business just like any other business.

“Apart from that we have to employ the use of technology in this sector, not only to appeal to young people but also to increase efficiency in production,” Kimario tells IPS.

Regarding post-harvest losses, which continues to discourage young people like Ishabakaki, Kimario says the solution could be the market.

He says young farmers need to be trained to respond to the market demand with the type and volume of crops they grow.

“The market has to tell you what to produce, at what quantity, quality and time. If you are producing tomatoes for instance, you will know whether your market wants fresh or processed ones.”

 

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Security Council: Time is on no-one’s side in Syria, warns top UN envoy. Credit: United Nations

By Susanne Grabenhorst
BERLIN, Jun 19 2020 (IPS)

The Covid-19 pandemic has spread across the world. Although the numbers of infections and deaths vary between countries, they are increasing dramatically in some places, threatening people’s health as well as the basis of their economic and social lives.

The effects of the infection, but also of the political measures to contain it, such as shutdowns and lockdowns, are particularly dangerous for those countries whose medical and financial resources are limited.

Their populations often suffer from war, poverty, the consequences of climate change and exploitation by a deeply unfair economic system. One of the consequences is that large numbers of health workers have left those countries.

If on top of that, they are targets of unilateral sanctions, the suffering of the civilian population will increase and that in turn will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe – in particular for women, the elderly, young people and children.

In this context, UN Secretary General António Guterres has called for a lifting of sanctions. A demand that Pope Francis endorsed in his Easter message.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of sanctions, Alena Douhan, also urgently pleaded for the lifting or at least suspension of ‘unilateral coercive measures’. She called for help for the health systems of states subject to sanctions to enable them to respond appropriately to the corona pandemic.

All governments that use sanctions as a foreign policy tool should immediately end any measures that impede the trading and financing of medical services and materials, food and essential goods.

Susanne Grabenhorst

In a statement on 10 June 2020, the German Advisory Board for Civilian Crisis Prevention also recommended that the German Presidency of the UN Security Council in July be used to put Covid-19 back on the agenda as a threat to international peace and security.

They also suggested to call for the temporary suspension of sanctions and the opening of borders for humanitarian and medical care for particularly hard hit population groups.

Sanctions lead to unnecessary suffering

Countries such as Iran, Syria, Venezuela and Cuba, but also Russia and China, are currently subject to sanctions. The EU alone is imposing sanctions against 33 states and non-state entities. The sanctions also directly and indirectly affect essential goods such as medicines and medical tools and equipment, thereby endangering the health and lives of millions of people.

The threat of ‘secondary sanctions’ against third-country nationals who do business with the sanctioned state hampers alternative supply options. Moreover, the legal uncertainty leads to so-called ‘over-compliance’ by financial institutions and companies fearful of the possible consequences. This further exacerbates the negative consequences for the sanctioned state.

Even in the face of the corona pandemic, the US and EU member states, which are using these unilateral sanctions to pursue their foreign policy goals, do not seem to shy away from the predictable consequences for the human right to health and life. There are individual offers of help.

However, the de facto blockade of essential medicines and medical supplies during a pandemic not only poses a massive threat to the affected populations, but also endangers the entire human race – given that the spread of the virus does not stop at national borders.

Moreover, the sanctioning states are hindering the options and opportunities for knowledge exchange and concerted action against the pandemic, which, in their own words, can only be defeated by the combined efforts of the whole of society.

Syrian refugees resort to ever more desperate measures to resist pandemic impact. Credit: United Nations

We are all dependent on each other and will only be able to control the spread of the virus together. This means that sanctions against states with vulnerable health systems must be lifted.

The US continues to impose its sanctions on Iran unabated and has in fact tightened them since the outbreak of the pandemic. It is even disregarding an order from the International Court of Justice in October 2018 that explicitly obliged the US to lift sanctions against the export of medicines, medical equipment, food and agricultural products.

EU member states have not managed so far to mitigate the consequences of the US sanctions policy. Instex, the company set up by Germany, France and the UK to maintain trade with Iran, has managed to carry out a single transaction, in March 2020.

The plight of Syria and Gaza

The sanctions imposed on the government of war-ravaged Syria by the US and the EU, among others, obstruct not only reconstruction but also the containment of the pandemic.

According to a recent publication by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, they contribute to making money transfers from abroad and the import of food and foodstuffs more difficult, increasing production costs and impeding the production of medical goods.

The UN World Food Programme estimates that 9.3 million Syrians no longer have enough to eat. The UN assumes that only two thirds of Syrian hospitals are still operating. In addition, up to 70 per cent of those Syrians who had been working in the health sector have now fled the country.

Nevertheless, on 17 June the US imposed new sanctions under the Caesar Civilian Protection Act, after the code name of a whistle-blower of state torture. The sanctions penalise most transactions with the Syrian state and are aimed at restricting its military, construction projects and oil and gas industry.

Whilst the halt to arms exports is certainly welcome and a measure that we generally support, other economic activities affect governments and companies worldwide, including Assad allies Iran and Russia. So, Syria’s economic situation will deteriorate even further.

In addition, the EU extended sanctions, which have been enforced since 2011 at the end of May. On 15 March 2020, the governments of Great Britain, France and Germany declared that the Syrian government alone was to blame for the current situation and the devastating humanitarian consequences.

So far, the areas in Syria under Assad’s control have been denied any EU aid for food or medical supplies. The investigation and prosecution of crimes committed by all parties to the conflict is a legitimate goal, but cannot, in the current situation, constitute grounds for refusing or obstructing such aid measures.

Another example of the negative impact on health systems is the longstanding blockade of Gaza by Israel, with the support of the US and Egypt, which the EU is not tackling with sufficient resolve. The desperate health care situation and the confined living space there could lead to a highly dangerous situation in the event of a Corona outbreak.

Experts such as Tamara Alrifai, spokesperson of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and the international and human rights lawyer Shannon Maree Torrens are therefore warning of a potential catastrophe. Despite the efforts of the Gaza administration and the WHO, there is cause for great concern over the Covid-19 cases that have now been identified.

The pandemic is a powerful demonstration of the fact that we live in a world defined by networks. We are all dependent on each other and will only be able to control the spread of the virus together.

This means that sanctions against states with vulnerable health systems must be lifted. The objection that many of the problems arising from the pandemic are the fault of the states themselves is not an argument against lifting them, nor an excuse for inaction.

*This article was originally published in International Politics and Society. Based in the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s (FES) Brussels office, International Politics and Society aims to bring the European political debate to a global audience, as well as providing a platform for voices from the Global South. Contributors include leading journalists, academics and politicians, as well policy officers working throughout the FES’s global network.

 

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Excerpt:

Susanne Grabenhorst is Chair of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) , a non-partisan federation of national medical groups in 63 countries*.

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By External Source
Jun 18 2020 (IPS-Partners)

The Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho is a place of stark beauty; deep canyons, majestic highlands, vertiginous hillsides, alpine grasslands, sun and sky. Although no bigger than Belgium, it is a critical watershed, giving rise to the headwaters – the ‘white gold’ – that feed two of the major river systems of southern Africa, the Senqu (Orange) and uThukela.

But, living in this mountainland comes with more than its fair share of rigours, and small-scale farmers like Mrs Maitumeleng Mabaleka struggle to survive. Land degradation and climate change have upended traditional agricultural practices for her and many others like her who struggle to make a living or grow enough food to feed their children and build a better future.

“I have been selected to be a lead farmer in my village to help other households with some advice on vegetable production and food preservation. I have become an agent of change.” – Maitumeleng Mabaleka, community leader.

The risks posed by climate change can mean the difference between life and death, prosperity and poverty.

Drought, rising temperatures, and an increase in extreme weather, are pushing people to migrate, and triggering new conflicts. It is a roadblock to the country achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reach their Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement.

With the support of the UNDP and funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Government of Lesotho is building innovative incentive programmes its Reducing Vulnerability from Climate Change (RVCC) project.

These incentives allowing farmers to rehabilitate and protect their environment and foster climate-resilient agricultural that will transform the way they plant crops, raise livestock and manage their natural resources.

A story of hope

A community leader, Maitumeleng Mabaleka was provided a simple shade net and drip irrigation for her household garden. With the improved production on her half hectare household farm, she has increased her annual income by US$2,000 by selling fresh produce and preserved vegetables from her farm.

“In the past, my vegetable production was low due to drought and sometimes insects, but now I am able to harvest water from my roof and water my garden in an efficient manner using drip irrigation – relatively new technology.” – Maitumeleng Mabaleka

The surplus has been a boon for the family. Her husband, who is retired, looks younger and healthier every day with all the farm-fresh food on the table. To protect against future shocks – everything from the next big drought to a catastrophic pandemic like COVID-19 – Maitumeleng preserves some of her surplus with bottling and solar dryers provided through the project.

Incentives work

Lesotho’s afro-alpine ecosystems are as fragile as they are beautiful. Land and water resources are deteriorating because of prolonged droughts. Ecosystems are being pushed to their limits by over-cultivation, overgrazing, and over-harvesting, as communities are forced to adopt coping measures that push the land beyond its capacity. And the people of Lesotho, the Basotho, are suffering.

This creates a vicious cycle that drives climate change and increases of deeply-rooted poverty. Recent droughts induced by El Niño are pushing even more Basotho into poverty and hunger, with one out of three people facing acute levels of food insecurity and more than half of the country living below the poverty line.

The incentive packages introduced through the RVCC project encourage voluntary land rehabilitation. These packages started with drought-tolerant seeds, agricultural equipment, and improved livestock breeds. In exchange farmers are rehabilitating and resting rangelands, they’ve improved water-harvesting capacity and other sustainable land management .

The project is in the process of including cash transfers as well as fuel-efficient stoves, solar power-packs and solar cookers.

The project has trained local leaders such as Chief Shoaepane on how to sustainably manage rangelands and wetlands.

“As an area Chief it was becoming difficult to govern these days because the neighbouring communities were fighting over access to better rangelands. Another major challenge was indiscriminate burning of rangelands by herders, which is now gradually ending because we are closely working with the government officials in raising awareness about management of our resources. Now that we participate in quarterly community-leader meetings and capacity building opportunities, we work closely with livestock owners and herders and encourage our communities to practice rotational grazing and other sustainable land management practices.” – Chief Shoaepane

According to the Chief, these improved practices have seen a return of wildlife to the area, and are sowing the seeds for a more peaceful and productive society.

“Our children will get to know some of the remaining wildlife in the country following the extinction of some species. There has been a reduction of violent clashes concerning village boundaries and grazing rights.” – Chief Shoaepane

“Now that we participate in quarterly community-leader meetings and capacity building opportunities, we work closely with livestock owners and herders and encourage our communities to practice rotational grazing and other sustainable land management practices.” – Chief Shoaepane. Photo: Russell Suchet

Climate-smart enterprises

Mr Bataung Mafereka is an agricultural genius. Before the project came, his tiny 5,000-sq-metre lot produced just US $800 a year in vegetables and was often damaged by frost and hail.

With a new shade net and other tools, he earned US$1,667 in just five months growing tomatoes and he has hired four workers to support the new enterprise. With year-round growing capacity, he and his team will switch to maize and beans later in the year to earn more money.

“I have been empowered by this project to produce throughout the year. This gives me competitive advantage over other regional farmers who do not have the type of infrastructure and skills that I now have acquired. Most of the youth in my village were forced to leave and look for employment in the cities, but I will stay here with my family to improve my village and prove that farming can solve our economic problems.” – Bataung Mafereka

Sweet success

Female producers has been a key to the project’s success—more than 75 percent of those who take part in the project are women.

With the world bee populations under threat, some enterprising producers are turning to beekeeping.

Mrs Mamorena Seqao has been beekeeping for a few years now, but with better equipment and five new hives, she now makes US$1,600 per year from her organic honey, beeswax candles and propolis, which is used in health supplements.

She sells mostly in neighbouring South Africa—a true transformation from a local producer to an international businesswoman on the rise in a field traditionally dominated by men.

“South Africans like Lesotho products as they are produced organically. This year I got so many orders for my propolis that I had to buy from other local farmers and resell it to my customers.” – Mamorena Seqao

The RVCC project is implemented by Lesotho’s Ministry of Forestry, Range and Soil Conservation with support of UNDP and finance from the Least Developed Countries Fund. Learn more at www.ls.undp.org.

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This handout picture released and taken on June 17, 2019 by the Turkish coastguard shows illegal migrants being rescued after their boat sank in the Aegean sea, off the coast of southwestern Turkey. Today the odds are heavily stacked against young people from Bangladesh and other poor countries seeking a better life in Europe. Photo: Afp/Turkish Coastguard

By Tasneem Siddiqui
Jun 18 2020 (IPS-Partners)

May 27, 2020 marked another dark chapter in the history of global migration. On that day, 26 sons of Bangladesh were brutally murdered in Libya. The crime for which they paid this ultimate price was that they dared to dream! They dreamt of having a better life. They had the audacity to reject the rigid class-based society of theirs, which offers little scope to make an upward transition in life. Had fate been kind to them, they would have made it to Italy, or Spain, or some other European nation. They gambled with their life and lost the game. How long can such gambling continue?

Unfortunately, we have no answer to that because the odds are always stacked against these young men. Think of Asadul, one of those hapless victims. There was no land for him to cultivate. What job prospects did he have? Are education and individual capabilities sufficient to secure a job? Did he have the right political contact or money to bribe his way into a job? Was business an option for him? Where would he get the capital needed? Would any bank offer him loan without collateral?

But don’t we, one may ask, have the anti-trafficking law of 2012 that is supposed to stop these tragedies? So many judges, lawyers and police personnel have been trained to enforce the law. So many NGOs have taught the villagers how to file FIRs. So many tele-dramas have been aired to highlight the plight of migrant workers. In reality, rules to implement the law were only framed in 2017. The majority of the special courts are yet to be established. Trafficking cases are tried in special courts of women and children. There have been so many cases of abuse against women—dowry-related violence, acid throwing, physical torture by husband or in-laws, etc. Our understaffed judiciary cannot handle all these cases, let alone cases against traffickers. Till 2019, out of 5,700 cases, only 250 were resolved. The kingpins remain above the law. Who will dare to give evidence against them? Fifty-four petty foot soldiers were convicted.

One cannot help but think how brave those young men were. Asadul went from Madaripur to Kolkata via Benapole by bus, and from Kolkata by plane to Mumbai, Dubai, Cairo, Benghazi, and finally almost there to Tripoli. It is hard to believe that this young man had never stepped out of Madaripur before this journey.

There are so many questions that come to mind. Why have the western powers made such a mess of countries like Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Libya where our men used to go for work? Why have the western powers enacted a policy of “Fortress Europe” when employers of those countries are so happy to use irregular migrants? Why have the developed states not treated trafficking with the same vigour as they did radical extremism? Perhaps, they feel they have played their due part by shuffling Bangladesh between tier 2 and tier 3 in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.

Our law enforcement agencies have cutting-edge surveillance equipment. Yet they have failed to apprehend the masterminds who traffic innocent youths by preying on their hopes and dreams.

Take the case of a young man named Zillur. He was also stranded in Libya while trying to go to Europe. Zillur left Bangladesh on a tourist visa to Sudan through the Chittagong airport. Isn’t it strange that our immigration officers did not think it odd that an illiterate person, with no history of travel and a brand new passport, should suddenly decide to go to Sudan for tourism? Did border and coast guards spare a thought as to why hundreds of poor Bangladeshis and Rohingya men, women and children were migrating to Thailand by boat? Can you recall any case where a member of law enforcement or of the civil administration was held accountable for these tragedies? In political science, we call this impunity.

I call migrant workers “today’s freedom fighters”. In 1971, freedom fighters gave us independence. Today, migrants are pushing the country forward by earning foreign exchange. For so many years, we have been honouring the achievements of migrants and their left-behind families as shonar manush—the golden sons and daughters of Bengal. We even framed a slogan: “The sweat of the migrants earning, keeps the wheels of our country turning.”

I have dedicated 25 years of my life to this cause. But today, I can celebrate migration no more. My heart has been broken along with the mothers of all those poor young men. I can no longer paint migration as a life-enhancing experience for many. Neither can I call it a tool for development with the conviction I once did. For the poor rural families, it has turned into an enticement to enter the jaws of death—or at best, the quickest path to impoverishment.

Tasneem Siddiqui is Founding Chair, RMMRU, and Professor of Political Science, University of Dhaka.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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A woman wearing a mask to protect herself from the contagion of the coronavirus, waits to buy food outside a store in the Playa municipality, in Havana, Cuba. As of Tuesday, Jun. 16, 1.7 million people have been affected by the virus across Latin America and the Caribbean -- doubling in the last week. Credit: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

By Samira Sadeque
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 18 2020 (IPS)

The multi-dimensional impacts of the coronavirus pandemic in Latin America could lead to a “hunger pandemic” if not addressed with urgency. 

Norha Restrepo, communications officer at the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Latin America office, shared this concern with IPS following a briefing by the United Nations agency on Tuesday about COVID-19’s impact on the region. As of Tuesday, Jun. 16, 1.7 million people have been affected by the virus across Latin America and the Caribbean — doubling in the last week.

Miguel Barreto, WFP’s Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, raised concerns about the region’s massive informal labour sector, which have been especially hard-hit by lockdowns, as well as the grave effects of other compounding factors such as food insecurity and climate change. 

“Our region already had problems related to economic and climate shocks, as well as insecurity and displacement,” he said at the briefing, adding that between 50 and 70 percent of workers in the region earn their income through jobs in the informal sector, which makes them more vulnerable and facing food insecurity under lockdown. 

“Now, with COVID-19 restrictions in place to save lives, millions have lost all or part of their income. Many do not know where their next meal is coming from,” he said. 

Restrepo echoed Barreto’s thoughts in conversation with IPS.

“In an extraordinary situation like this one, every other aspect of society will definitely be impacted,” she said. “But for the most vulnerable, the people who really depend on the society and the economy moving, the impact on hunger was immediately seen — and this can really get worse. So we definitely have to do much more to avoid this from becoming a hunger pandemic as well.” 

A vulnerable demographic

Experts all pointed out that Latin America and the Caribbean have recently become the hotspot for the virus because it’s a region that was already facing its share of struggles. 

“Latin American countries became hot spots because measures of prevention and control are much less effective than in industrialised countries,” Dr. Cesar Chelala, a global health consultant who has in the past voiced concerns about the public health issues in the region, told IPS.   

In a March 2019 report, Chelala detailed how issues such as “sprawling urbanisation, environmental problems, and increasing levels of obesity that affect all age” as well as prevalence of non-communicable diseases were a massive concern in the region.

With the virus being especially quick to spread in crowded areas, and affecting people with underlying conditions, the prevalence of Chelala’s highlighted factors are worrisome. 

“Any serious underlying condition lowers a person’s immunity and, as a result, the impact is much bigger. That is why not only very sick people but also older people are more prone to getting the most serious forms of the infection,” he told IPS.

Beyond the concerns of the direct impact of the virus, there are also concerns of secondary impacts — such as the consequences of the lockdown and food insecurity. 

With such a large part of the workforce being out of job during lockdown, the poor are only getting poorer, and having trouble accessing food — whether because of financial troubles or their inability to physically go to a store, said Restrepo of WFP.  

As a result, issues such as food insecurity have heightened, according to Restrepo, who added that with COVID-19, there has been an increase in people living with severe food insecurity — from 700,000 to 1.6 million people. 

Furthermore, she added, the migrant crisis is also affecting the situation. She said more than five million Venezuelan migrants are in the region, and are extremely vulnerable as they’re not part of any social protection system because they are not citizens.

These migrants also maintain informal jobs, and thus, for them it’s “extraordinarily complicated to cope,” she added. 

Meanwhile, other concerns about the individual economies in the region remain. 

Dr. David Alexander Walcott, Founder of NovaMed and a doctor in Jamaica, told IPS that given tourism is crucial for Jamaica’s economy, the lockdown means people are having to make difficult choices between earning a livelihood and remaining alive.

“One of the urgent issues to be addressed is how do we reopen our economy and allow the traditional sectors that have kept Jamaica afloat to thrive,” he said. “How is it that we tow the line between managing our caseload and being responsible from a public health perspective while being responsible from an economic perspective?” 

Solutions 

Potential solutions would require the collaboration of every actor, said Restrepo. 

In addition to that, Chelala pointed out the role the education sector can play in providing appropriate messages to the students and the general population. “Accessible water and sanitation, and the hygiene measures involved, are important to control the spread of the disease,” he added. 

Restrepo suggested that the countries would benefit from soft credit to governments by  international financial institutions. This way, she said, “governments can invest the money into protecting and supporting the most vulnerable people.”  

She also suggested social protection which can help people stay at home so those working in the informal work sector don’t have to go out or have to choose between death and an income.

She added: “Because the pandemic is such an enormous magnitude, it means everybody has to be involved — from the individuals to really enormous institutions with a lot of capital.”

Related Articles

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• Latin America Has Weak Defences Against the Pandemic

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Amina Mohammed. Credit: United Nations

By Amina J. Mohammed
GENEVA, Jun 18 2020 (IPS)

I welcome this opportunity to speak to this urgent and necessary debate of the Human Rights Council.

I bring you warm greetings from Secretary-General António Guterres, who shares your abhorrence of racism and is committed to fighting it with every tool we have.

Allow me to quote from the letter he sent last week to all UN staff: “The position of the United Nations on racism is crystal clear: this scourge violates the United Nations Charter and debases our core values.”

The Secretary-General has called for dismantling racist structures and confronting the systemic ills of institutions. In the UN, he has launched a one-year process to address these grave staff concerns.

He has also called for massive investments in social cohesion. Diversity, he has stressed, “is a richness, not a threat”.

I wish to echo the recent cogent words of UN Under-Secretaries-General who are African or of African Descent. In a statement three days ago, they stressed that: “Not enough can ever be said about the deep trauma and inter-generational suffering that has resulted from the racial injustice perpetrated through centuries, particularly against people of African descent. To merely condemn expressions and acts of racism is not enough. We must go beyond and do more.”

The Human Rights Council meets as marches for racial justice and equality fill the streets of cities and towns around the world. The most recent trigger for these protests was the killing of George Floyd in an appalling act of police brutality.

But the violence spans history and borders alike, across the globe. Today, people are saying, loudly and movingly, “Enough”.

The United Nations has a duty to respond to the anguish that has been felt by so many for so long. This cause is at the heart of our Organization’s identity.

Equal rights are enshrined in our founding Charter. Just as we fought apartheid years ago, so must we fight the hatred, oppression and humiliation today.

UN Human Rights Council in session. Credit: UN Photo / Violaine Martin

We must also never forget the crimes and the negative impacts, in Africa and beyond, of the transatlantic slave trade, one of history’s most appalling manifestations of human barbarity.

Across the world, Afro-descendants continue to be trapped in generational cycles of poverty created by unfair obstacles to their development.

They receive unequal services, and face unjustifiable housing and employment practises. Racial profiling is widespread. And because of poverty and structural racism, they are also among the communities hardest-hit by COVID-19.

As we recover from the pandemic, returning to these systems is out of the question. We also need measures that will genuinely re-set law enforcement.

The battle against racism did not end with this or that legislation, and racism was not vanquished by this or that election. The poison of racism still rages, and so the fight must still be waged.

On a personal level, from my high school days in the United Kingdom through my career across the private sector, civil society and now international public service, I have grown thick skin. I have even become numb, to the extent that one has forgotten how to feel the injustice of racial slurs and my human right to live a life of dignity and respect.

When I consider the beauty of my diversity and the amazing diversity of race… When I consider that we are born equal, only to find that the colour of one’s skin sentences us to a life of discrimination and injustice…

I ask myself, I ask all of you, I ask people everywhere : How can we possibly continue to turn the other way? Enough is enough.

The world must rise to end racism in all its obnoxious forms. Let us turn the page of history today by making this a turning point when we agree that all humans have the right to thrive with dignity and freedom from racism and discrimination in all its forms.

I too, like Martin Luther King Jr, have a dream where my granddaughter Maya will grow up in a world where she will not be judged by the colour of her skin but by the strength of her character.

Lasting peace, and sustainable development can only be built on the equality, human rights and dignity of everyone. The United Nations, its leadership and staff, stands with all those who are pursuing the end of the scourge of racism in all its forms.

This is today’s sacred battle.

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Excerpt:

Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General, in an address to the UN Human Rights Council

The post Scourge of Racism Violates UN Charter appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: Marcin Jozwiak on Unsplash

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana and Inger Andersen
BANGKOK, Thailand, Jun 18 2020 (IPS)

The world before COVID-19 looks very attractive right now. In light of the disease, mass unemployment and social distancing, a return to pre-pandemic normality seems appealing. Yet we should remember what normal was.

Normal was obtaining 85 per cent of our energy fossil fuels and losing 7 million people a year to air pollution. Normal was careening toward a global temperature rise of over 3.5 C by the end of the century, with island nations facing obliteration. Normal was 1 in 8 species threatened with extinction, continued squeezing of wild spaces into smaller and smaller corners, and the rampant illegal trade in wildlife. Normal contributed to causing this pandemic

We should also remember that COVID-19’s effects on health, jobs and economies are simply an acute version of what climate change is predicted to bring – and in places already has. Unless we aspire to a better normal with recovery, we are treating the symptom, not the disease. We must build back better than before.

Many governments are preparing stimulus and relief packages to support COVID-19 recovery. Trillions of dollars will be ushered into the economy across Asia and the Pacific. These stimulus measures should help us achieve a better normal – a greener, more equitable normal. How? A recent survey of 230 economists in 53 countries suggests that green, climate-friendly stimulus measures are the best options for an economic rebound, offering the highest economic multipliers in the short- and long-terms.

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

Even before the pandemic, the UN determined that climate action could trigger $26 trillion in economic benefits by 2030, create more than 65 million new jobs and avoid 700,000 premature deaths from air pollution. Governments have no shortage of options when it comes to directing a green, equitable stimulus package. They can offer support to the construction industry to develop energy efficient and zero-energy buildings. This is a high employment sector, and investments can be quickly implemented.

It may be tempting to scale up funds for infrastructure like roads, but that funding can go to improved and greener public transport systems to service more people. More public transit capacity will reduce the load on roads and reduce air pollution and emissions. The lockdown has shown it’s possible to lean more heavily on IT to decentralize business operations, reducing time lost and carbon produced in commutes and travel. Governments should now consider incentives to companies that invest in IT solutions for their operations.

Many industries will be looking for bailouts to bounce back. There is no time like the present for governments to include terms that will require companies to work toward climate neutrality. Airlines supported by governments should be asked to make stronger commitments and take bolder action to reduce emissions, which will be needed anyway for the industry to guarantee long-term sustainability and employment for the millions who rely on it. The example is being set by those governments who have made their support dependent on energy efficiency targets and shifting short haul flights to rail.

Bailouts to the auto industry can be directed to investments in e-vehicle and battery production, and efficiency technology. Where bailouts should not happen is in the fossil fuel sector. Developing Asian countries account for nearly one-third of global fossil fuel subsidies.

The COVID-19 recovery period is the right time to end these subsidies, and ensure there are no new investments in coal. The savings to governments can support investments in areas like public health and renewable energy. This is one answer to the question of where stimulus money will come from.

Inger Andersen

Across Asia and the Pacific, governments have scarce financial resources to apply toward recovery measures at the scale needed. This underlines that existing resources must be deployed to policies with the highest economic multipliers. It also implies that finding additional revenue will be a priority.

Putting a price on carbon emissions and reforming subsidies for agriculture and fossil fuels can be especially effective with oil prices at record lows, when the social impact of removing subsidies will be lessened. Measures like feebates – – which impose a fee on high-carbon vehicles and give a rebate to low-carbon cars – to incentivize greener transport and energy efficiency improvements provide more options for increasing revenue.

Green bonds can also finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Outside China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, green bonds are scarce in the region. Now is the time to capitalize on a proven idea to support a sustainable and resilient recovery from COVID-19.

COVID-19 is a message from nature. So is the ongoing climate crisis. Normal isn’t working. We need to build back better.

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

Inger Andersen is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme

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