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Tag: global issues

  • Record-Breaking Global Migration

    Record-Breaking Global Migration

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    On Monday 15 May 2023, the Member States of IOM elected Ms. Amy Pope as its new Director General.
    • Opinion by Lansana Gberie (geneva, switzerland)
    • Inter Press Service

    GENEVA, Switzerland, Oct 03 (IPS) – On 14 June, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) issued his flagship annual report, Global Trends: Forced Displacement 2022. It states that by the end of 2022, the number of people displaced by war, persecution, violence and human rights abuse had dramatically increased by 19.1 million — the biggest increase on record — reaching a total of 108.4 million.

    This record-breaking displacement resulted mainly from the war in Ukraine and the eruption of conflict in Sudan. Ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, in Africa’s Sahel region and elsewhere also contributed, as did prominent natural disasters related to climate change.

    Rush to conflict, slow to solution

    In the report, High Commissioner Filippo Grandi was right to blame this tragedy on people who “are far too quick to rush to conflict, and way too slow to find solutions,” leading to such “devastation, displacement and anguish for each of the millions of people forcibly uprooted from their homes.”

    On Monday 15 May 2023, the Member States of IOM elected Ms. Amy Pope as its new Director General.

    Yet, to blame the perpetrators of such conflicts is not to absolve the rest of the world for responding so appallingly to such displacements. This is inevitably irregular or illegal migration. On the day that the UN report was released, as many as 600 men, women and children perished needlessly when a human smuggler’s boat, Adriana, capsized off the coast of Greece.

    In the following month of July, news photographs showed 27 bodies of African migrants along with dozens of inebriated figures stranded along the Libya-Tunisia border. A few weeks later on 21 August, Human Rights Watch reported that border guards of an important Middle Eastern country had carried out “widespread and systematic” abuse of hundreds of African migrants and asylum seekers trying to cross its border between March 2022 and June 2023.

    That country has rejected the allegation as false. If the evidence proves otherwise, then we could consider this an extreme example of “a kind of grim and tragic monotony,” the phrase used by the American Quaker humanitarian Louis W. Schneider in 1954 to characterize the world’s aggressive attitude toward unwanted migrants.

    Lansana GberieSecure borders, safe passages

    Perhaps more pernicious, because more subtle and more easily replicable elsewhere, is the growing practice by wealthy countries of providing training, logistical coordination and other high-tech support to poorer countries so that those poorer countries can forcibly prevent migration to the rich ones.

    Linked to such pernicious support and coordination is the recent migrant boat tragedy off the coast of West Africa, after patrol boats chased a fishing boat carrying migrants. Maneuvering in pitch darkness to escape, the migrant boat lost its way and struck rocks off a popular beachfront in Dakar, Senegal, killing at least 16 people.

    No doubt those countries have legitimate, and probably even humane, reasons for their robust efforts to stop this kind of irregular and dangerous migration: thousands of young Africans have died over the years trying this perilous route. And state sovereignty requires secure borders.

    Still, it is hard to shake off the impression that staunching illegal migrant flows is a greater priority than helping desperate young people — often displaced by conflict and ecological disasters — to more secure and prosperous destinations.

    The issue is not just a matter of moral consideration. It is a hugely complex problem, clearly one of the great global challenges of our unequal world, and one without an easy fix. Even so, the world must find a more humane and effective way of addressing it.

    Humane management of migration

    The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) was founded in 1951 to “help ensure the orderly and humane management of migration, to promote international cooperation on migration issues, to assist in the search for practical solutions to migration problems and to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, including refugees and internally displaced people.”

    The vision is ennobling, and IOM takes its mission seriously. The organization is currently made up of 175 member states, operating in 180 countries around the world (including my own, Sierra Leone). It employs thousands of people from diverse backgrounds in fulfilling this mission.

    In March this year, as chair of the governing council of IOM, I visited two African countries where IOM has a significant presence. My first stop was Morocco — Rabat and Casablanca — where, during two days in March this year, I met with migrants, staff of IOM, senior government officials, diplomats and civil society organizations working with migrants.

    Morocco is a critical migration hub — a source country, a transit point, and increasingly, a destination country for migrants. It combines border security arrangements with richer countries to its north with its own efforts to accommodate migrants, though perhaps with a lopsided provision of resources between the two.

    Because of Morocco’s strategic location, the African Union in 2020 established the African Migration Observatory (AMO) in Rabat. Headed by an Egyptian diplomat, Ambassador Amira Elfadi, the observatory could potentially assist in monitoring events such as the tragedy at the Tunisia-Libya border. But when I met Ms. Elfadi, she had no staff yet. The AMO needs support for operations as extensive and energetic as those in Kenya.

    The most effective combination

    I had wide-ranging conversations with IOM staff in both countries, in town halls organised by local IOM leaders. Passion for the work of the organisation was very strong. Passion combined with strong technical knowledge and an eagerness to engage with migrant communities and local authorities at all levels — which I found stronger in Kenya — makes for greater effectiveness.

    In May, by resounding vote and unanimous acclamation, IOM elected Amy Pope as its director general. She is a resourceful and energetic American who embodies this combination of passion, knowledge, and enthusiasm for engaging with staff at all levels, with all governments and local authorities, and with migrant communities.

    A veteran migrant defender, Ms. Pope is the first woman to head this important organization since its founding 72 years ago. In her vision statement, she committed to a “people-centred” approach, defining this as a commitment to “the migrants, vulnerable people, and the communities IOM serves, IOM’s member states and its workforce.”

    Since becoming deputy director of IOM over two years ago, Ms. Pope has consistently pursued this vision with a passion rare in the staid corridors of Geneva power offices. She is now one of a handful of pioneering women to lead important international organizations in Geneva, which hosts a few dozen. All of them assumed their positions within the past four years. It has been a refreshing change.

    A novel leadership of a global organization grappling with a large global challenge tends to come with high expectations. It is both the attraction and a pitfall of progressive change. Either way, it will not detract from Ms. Pope’s commitment to posit that she will be as successful only in so far as the world wants her to succeed.

    With the extraordinarily grim developments heralding her tenure, the world must embrace her “people-centred” approach. A failure to do so could mean unending calamities like the ones described above.

    Dr. Lansana Gberie is Sierra Leone’s Permanent Representative in Geneva. He is Chair of the Governing Council of International Organization for Migration.

    IPS UN Bureau


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  • Small Islands with Big Aspirations

    Small Islands with Big Aspirations

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    Kentaste is a local company reviving the coconut industry along the Kenya coast. (Photo courtesy of Joanne Muchai)
    • Opinion by James Michel (victoria, seychelles)
    • Inter Press Service

    VICTORIA, Seychelles, Oct 02 (IPS) – Everyone knows that small island states are on the frontline of global warming. Rising sea levels, acidification destroying fisheries and coral reefs, and changing patterns of rainfall are just some of the challenges. Some low-lying islands have already been lost to the ocean.

    These challenges are real and can hardly be understated. Yet there is another side to the story, too: one that tells of a creative response and new opportunities. The fact is that small island states are on the frontline of the Blue Economy.

    Several years ago, in 2016, I wrote a book (Rethinking the Oceans: Towards the Blue Economy) to show why urgent action was needed. The interconnected seas cover most of our planet and yet we have always treated them as second best, as if the riches that are found there will last forever. Instead, I have for long argued that our approach must be sustainable. It must serve not only today’s needs but also tomorrow’s generations.

    A decade ago, the idea of the Blue Economy was poorly understood. Why, people would ask, is it any different from how the sea has always been used? Things have changed since then and the question is no longer ‘why’ but ‘how’. In my second book on the subject, Revisiting the Ocean: Living the Blue Economy, I show what progress has been made and where we can find some of the most important changes.

    There is a great deal more to be done, not least of all in stemming the relentless flow of harmful practices. But there are already signs of progress. To show this, I look to local communities and business startups, to visionaries and philanthropists, as well as international bodies. Go to remote beaches to see how communities (often led by women) are taking matters into their own hands. Or to the workshops of inventive young entrepreneurs who are finding ways to do things better. I am a realist but also an optimist and in my new book I try to balance a pervasive sense of impending doom with a strong message of hope.

    Kentaste is a local company reviving the coconut industry along the Kenya coast. (Photo courtesy of Joanne Muchai)

    COP28 will bring together the great and the good, drawn by the prospect of a new approach. But it will also attract those who are not so enamoured with a sustainable approach to the ocean. Fast-growing nations with, literally, billions of mouths to feed will not so easily be persuaded that sustainability is the right approach. Nor will commercial and other interests which are poised to scrape the ocean floor for rich mineral reserves. Yet, if we are not to destroy our planet, restraint has to win the day. In the crowded rooms of the upcoming event in Dubai, we must lose no opportunity to press the case.

    My own nation, Seychelles, has one of the world’s smallest populations and yet, surrounded by a vast stretch of ocean, we have pioneered new ways to sensibly manage this immense gift of nature. Planning our marine space in a rational way is how we are making progress and I commend the lessons to other small island nations. We have also been innovative in attracting funds and the ways we have done this, too, is a shared resource.

    Under the auspices of the European Union, Seychelles last year hosted an event where African entrepreneurs displayed their exciting ideas and projects. Fabrics produced from leaves and fish skin gathered locally, natural fertilisers from seaweed, productive ways to recycle fishing nets, and desalination units using renewable energy. With the help of large funding bodies like the UN and EU, much more can be done to unleash creative energy. Revolutions invariably start in small ways and nothing short of an ocean revolution is needed. Urgently!

    I look forward to COP28 and I know that the host nation, the United Arab Emirates, will do all that it can to lead by example. Let us go to the conference with enthusiasm, welcoming every new initiative. I will be there, along with friends from other small island states and it is up to us all to make our voice heard.

    Copies of my new book will be available at the event (as well as direct from https://www.jamesmichelfoundation.org) and I hope I can share with you some of my own ideas and a record of the wonderful efforts being made around the world to save our precious ocean.

    James Michel is a former president of the Republic of Seychelles and a leading international advocate of the Blue Economy.

    IPS UN Bureau


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    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • Informal Workers Key to Successful Waste Management in Africa

    Informal Workers Key to Successful Waste Management in Africa

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    The Mbeubeus dumpsite in Dakar, Senegal, where Practical Action, an international organisation is helping the communities phase out open burning of waste. Credit: Practical Action.
    • by Robert Kibet (nairobi)
    • Inter Press Service

    NAIROBI, Oct 02 (IPS) – With the African continent recycling less than 11 percent of its waste, COP28 provided leaders on the African continent to consider integrated waste systems that include informal waste workers.

    Akinyi Walender, Africa Director at Practical Action, an innovative international development group, says the informal waste workers are rarely involved. She was speaking recently at the inaugural Africa Climate Summit.

    “For us to tackle the issue of waste, we really have to look at how we can have a more integrated system in place, which means we need to bring everybody along,” she told a session on open burning of waste on the sideline of the summit.

    Coming ahead of the upcoming Cop28 summit, Wandeler says it provided an opportunity for the African continent to think concretely about what it wants to achieve on climate issues.

    “The situation on climate is so dire that we do need to really act. We should already begin to look at opportunities within the continent and make those good while we wait for the funding that is supposed to come on adaptation,” Walender told IPS in an interview.

    Over 90 percent of waste generated in Africa is disposed of at uncontrolled dumpsites and landfills, often with associated open burning. Nineteen of the world’s 50 biggest dumpsites are located in Africa, all in Sub-Saharan Africa.

    The African Union set an ambitious target for African cities to recycle at least half of their waste by 2023, but many are still far from achieving this.

    According to the UN Environment Programme, the goal can be met and even surpassed with a shift of organic waste to composting and bioenergy recovery, along with the refurbishment, repair, reuse, and recycling of the waste.

    In 2016, Sub-Saharan Africa alone generated around nine percent of global waste or 180 million tonnes, of which about two-thirds is dropped in landfills and open dump sites, left to pollute the nearby environment and global climate. This is projected to quadruple by 2050.

    Last year, environment ministers from 54 African countries met in Dakar, Senegal, at the 18th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), committing to achieve a 60 percent reduction of open waste burning by 2030 and fully phase out open burning of waste by 2040.

    It is an ambitious target, which Walender says, “With the much wider UN 2030 Agenda on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in place, many countries have so much that they need to grapple with”.

    Akinyi Walender, the Director of Practical Action Africa, speaking during a session on open burning of waste at the sideline of the recent Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi. Credit: Robert Kibet/IPS
    Akinyi Walender, the Director of Practical Action Africa, speaking during a session on open burning of waste at the sideline of the recent Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi. Credit: Robert Kibet/IPS

    “We have many policies in place, but most are hardly implemented. The whole topic on open burning of waste and its 2040 timeline is very short. Many have yet to even put in place those policies that govern the open burning of waste. I feel that this timeline is actually very short,” Walender told IPS in an interview.

    Sam Dindi, director for training and community mobilization at Mazingira Yetu, a Kenyan-based environment organization, says if countries embrace a green and circular economy in which waste is reused, it has the potential to create job opportunities for the youth.

    “Open burning of waste is a quick way of addressing a problem, but again, it brings an even bigger problem that we may not be able to solve both as a country and as a continent,” he told IPS in an interview.

    Last year, Kenya passed the Solid Waste Management Act 2022, dubbed Sustainable Solid Waste Management Act 2022, which requires the closure of all open dumpsites and transit to landfills, a controlled form of dumpsite.

    “Kenya is making progress. Last year, Kenya passed the Solid Waste Management Act 2022, which transforms how we manage waste from the previous linear economy and promotes a circular economy in which waste is given a new lease of life. It is either upcycled or recycled,” says Dindi.

    According to Dindi, the implementation of the policies in place remains a barrier to the efforts of various stakeholders.

    “Implementation of the policies is where the rubber meets the road. This is where we lack the political goodwill because perhaps implementing these policies is perceived to affect some businesses, policymakers, or other interested parties,” Dindi told IPS.

    Dumping of waste, according to stakeholders who spoke at the session, agreed that the open burning of waste heavily impacts the impoverished and marginalized communities.

    A 2021 report by Practical Action dubbed Managing Our Waste indicates that nearly two billion people on the planet live without any form of waste collection, with Sub-Saharan Africa experiencing some of the lowest waste collection coverage.

    The report recommends monitoring waste management as a people-centred service, integrating the voice of those most affected and improving informal waste workers’ lives and working conditions.

    “At all levels, waste policies need to focus not only on environmental benefits but also on improving the lives of the poorest communities and workers. Their voices need to be heard in all key decision-making processes,” reads the report.

    In Senegal, Practical Action is working with local communities and government agencies to reduce the open burning of waste at two major dumping sites, namely, the infamous Mbeubeus site in Dakar and a second one in Thiès.

    “While it is generally seen as a responsibility of the local government, the community and the private sector need to be involved. If you look at the whole circular economy, there is the ability to reuse, recycle the waste, and reorient it in terms of packaging,” Walender told IPS.

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  • World Habitat Day focuses on cities as drivers of growth

    World Habitat Day focuses on cities as drivers of growth

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    Global economic growth is declining to about 2.5 per cent this year, the UN said. Apart from the initial COVID-19 crisis three years ago, and the global financial crisis in 2009, this represents the weakest level since 2001.

    Given the size of the contribution of cities to national economies, the future of many countries will be determined by their productivity.

    Investment and access

    Urban areas can promote inclusive, green, and sustainable growth, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message for the Day.

    “Building greater resilience and better protecting vulnerable populations requires far greater investments in sustainable infrastructure, early warning systems, and affordable, adequate housing for all,” he said.

    “At the same time, we must work to improve access to electricity, water, sanitation, transport, and other basic services – while investing in education, skills development, digital innovation, and entrepreneurship.”

    In this regard, “local action is vital, and global cooperation indispensable,” he added.

    Planet urbanizing rapidly

    The push for more resilient, safe and inclusive cities is among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which point the way to a fair, just and green future for all people and the planet by 2030.

    Currently, more than half the world lives in cities, which is projected to rise to 70 per cent by 2050. Over one billion are living in slums, and their numbers will also increase.

    Speaking at the official ceremony for World Habitat Day in Baku, Azerbaijan, the head of the UN’s urban development agency said countries are “far behind” in achieving SDG 11. The biggest challenge is data reporting and monitoring at the national and local levels.

    Fair financing

    Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, recalled that at the recent SDG Summit at UN Headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General urged world leaders to strengthen both multi-level governance and cooperation.

    She also drew attention to “the elephant in the room” – financing – noting that the issue was raised by most delegates at the UN General Assembly last month.

    “As the Secretary General said, we need to reform the current unsustainable and unfair financial system,” she told participants.

    “We cannot expect least developed and small island developing states to implement the SDGs as well as climate adaptation measures if 70 per cent of their total revenues are used to service debt.”

    Ms. Sharif said UN-Habitat is working with over 600 cities in all regions of the world and will finalize a position paper on financing sustainable urbanization.

    Urban October

    World Habitat Day has been commemorated annually since 1986.

    It marks the start of Urban October, which provides an opportunity for people everywhere to join the global conversation around the potentials and perils of a planet that is becoming ever more urban.

    The month concludes with World Cities Day on 31 October.

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  • The Human Cost of a Green Energy Transition Without Safeguards

    The Human Cost of a Green Energy Transition Without Safeguards

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    • Opinion by Olivier Ndoole Bahemuke (goma, democratic republic of congo)
    • Inter Press Service

    GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Oct 02 (IPS) – The world is moving away from fossil fuels towards so-called “green” energies as a solution to the climate crisis, which has increased the demand for strategic minerals such as cobalt, copper and lithium.

    As a human rights lawyer in the Democratic Republic of Congo – which has the world’s largest cobalt reserves and among the largest copper reserves – I represent communities and ecosystems in Virunga, Kahuzi Biega, Okapi and elsewhere that have suffered numerous human rights violations as a result of the extraction of these minerals.

    Home to the second-largest tropical forest in the world and vast mineral wealth, the DRC has exceptional natural resources. However, the country has faced a complex humanitarian crisis since 1994; plagued by war and violence in the eastern regions which has led to conflict, poverty, malnutrition and recurring epidemics.

    The people I represent have been forcibly evicted from their land due to mining operations by extractive companies; major human rights violations and violence that accompany the mining process; and loss of clean air, soil and water because of destructive mining practices. Certain companies exploit land in protected areas in violation of national laws, and fail to respect due diligence standards in place for businesses.

    Corruption is rampant – Chinese and Canadian companies, among others, wield influence on public institutions to cut corners and avoid living up to their obligations. In many cases, no impact assessments are carried out; when they are carried out, it is often to formalise the exploitation process and not to safeguard the climate, let alone to provide social protection for the communities most affected.

    In short, thousands of farmers, their villages, their means of survival and their cultural values are impacted by the exploitation of cobalt, copper and other strategic minerals in the DRC.

    This panorama poses a number of major challenges. In the pursuit of their interests, multinationals extracting minerals from the DRC have no respect for the rights of peasants, national laws, climate emergency needs or social safeguards.

    People living in areas surrounding mining operations suffer endemic poverty and health crises amid wider energy and climate injustice. Children are not able to attend school, there are widespread land evictions and expropriations, rivers are polluted, and women and children are exploited.

    State institutions are often weaponised against ordinary people – the justice system and certain military officers and/or armed groups are co-opted for security, to protect business interests against local people.

    It shouldn’t have to be this way for communities living in resource-rich countries like DRC. There should be some minimum guidelines in place to safeguard against such violations.

    States in the Global North and Global South should set up a major strategic coalition to ensure compliance with due diligence standards and strengthen the corporate social responsibility of extractive companies. Such a coalition should:

      • Ensure the monitoring and evaluation of national and international mechanisms for mining investment;
      • Reinforce local communities’ knowledge of international laws and best practices in the field of human rights and investment;
      • Provide legal support for victims of land and environmental injustice caused by mining operations;
      • Build the capacities of civil society organisations in terms of technical and scientific expertise in impact monitoring and evaluation;
      • End investments in fossil fuels which negatively impact people’s livelihoods, biodiversity and land, and instead invest in sustainable alternatives;
      • Strengthen legal reforms to better uphold climate and social safeguards, prohibit the exploitation of certain more devastating natural resources, develop community guidelines on rights and legal means against investments;
      • and decolonise energy narratives.

    Over 13 kg of cobalt are needed to produce the battery for an average electric vehicle, and around seven grams are required for a cell phone. Demand for cobalt, which has tripled since 2010, is expected to reach 222,000 tonnes by 2025.

    Without a major shift to put in place safeguards in the supply chain, extractive industries will continue to ride roughshod over the rights of local communities, and we will sadly see an escalation of human rights violations.

    We need to act fast to stop this. We need a global monitoring programme and far-reaching legal reforms for a fair energy transition that prioritises the human rights of local communities.

    Olivier Ndoole Bahemuke, from Goma, eastern DRC, is described as a leader among environmental and land defenders in the country and one of the most trusted advocates on behalf of communities impacted by land grabs, trafficking, and illegal resource extraction activities. He was the Africa regional winner of Front Line Defenders’ 2023 Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk.

    IPS UN Bureau


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  • UN teams support burn victims amidst Karabakh crisis

    UN teams support burn victims amidst Karabakh crisis

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    More than 170 people were killed and over 200 more injured, many with grievous burns and in a critical condition, in an explosion at a crowded fuel depot along the route taken by those entering Armenia last Monday.

    ‘Heart-breaking’ scenes

    WHO Special Envoy Robb Butler, who visited a burns treatment centre in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, described the suffering as “heart-breaking”.

    “Every single bed in this 80-bed hospital is occupied with a survivor from the explosion in Karabakh. Health workers here are working hard to treat and rehabilitate them, but this is a small country with limited capacity, and the needs are immense.”

    The UN health agency, for its part, is bringing in burns kits as well as mobilizing international support to deploy burns specialist to support the needs there. It is also gauging how it can best support rehabilitation for the survivors in the medium and longer term.

    Addressing needs

    Alongside support to the victims of the fire, WHO is providing refugees with vital health services, including mental health and psychosocial support.

    It is setting up modular prefabricated clinics, and is supporting the Armenian Government integrate health workers, including about 300 doctors and 1,200 nurses – who arrived as of Saturday from the Karabakh region – into primary healthcare centres and hospitals in Armenia. It is also sending medicines for non-communicable diseases, which will cover three months of treatments for up to 50,000 persons.

    © WHO/Nazik Armenakyan

    Refugees in the border town of Goris in Armenia.

    Coordinated UN effort

    According to latest estimates, about 100,000 people have crossed into Armenia. Working with the authorities and partners, UN teams on the ground are supporting the arrivals.

    The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has established a children’s’ safe space in Goris, serving nearly 300 children every day along with their parents. It offers a space for children to play, a breastfeeding space for mothers, and paediatric support to help with acute concerns.

    The World Food Programme (WFP), UN’s emergency food relief agency is providing people with hot meals, food parcels and food cards, while the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is supporting the Government with technical equipment, including laptops and tablets, to facilitate registration.

    It also provided essential relief items such as foldable beds and mattresses for refugees.

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  • How Costa Rica drafted Latin America’s first ever anti-hate strategy

    How Costa Rica drafted Latin America’s first ever anti-hate strategy

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    “Costa Rican society does not teach us that there are indigenous people in this country,” she said. “It is a form of discrimination, making the existence of indigenous peoples invisible.”

    Amid an alarming trend of spiraling hate speech and discrimination online platforms, Costa Rica, with UN support, has been designing Latin America’s first ever strategy to fight back, Poised to unveil the powerful tool by the end of 2023, the landmark strategy aims at laying the foundation for new national policies,

    “We must not let expressions of hate, violence, and discrimination become normalized in public and digital spaces,” Costa Rica’s Communication Minister Jorge Rodríguez explained when announcing the strategy’s unveiling. “Today, we recognize that decisive action is required from the State, but also from all social actors to address this great challenge.”

    Targeted people are ‘scared’

    Attempts to unravel the social fabric may be virtual, but the threats are real. An artificial intelligence (AI) driven UN study earlier this year detected more than 1.4 million messages and conversations related to hate and discrimination on Costa Rica’s social media platforms, a 255 per cent spike since 2021.

    Allegra Baiocchi, the UN Resident Coordinator the country, said her team realized that most hate content targeted women, particularly those in leadership positions, LGBTQ issues, and migrants.

    “When we started speaking to women and some of the people who had been targeted, they told us that they felt scared, scared to express their opinions,” she said.

    After the UN urged immediate action, Costa Rica stepped up, laying the groundwork for a safe digital space for all, which can act as a replicable blueprint for fighting hate online around the world.

    Multi-pronged approach

    Aligned with the UN Secretary-General’s priorities to stamp out hate and led by a multidisciplinary expert team from the UN and the Government, the new strategy will provide solutions to stop these scourges from spreading online, from determining responsibilities, creating new monitoring, and identifying areas of action.

    “With the launch of this process of creating a national strategy, we are taking a step in the right direction,” Ms. Baiocchi said.

    Steps already taken include the recent launch of a guide to confront digital violence against women in politics. In the same vein, the Government established an observatory on hate speech with the University of Costa Rica, passed a law protecting women in politics, and forged a partnership with the Lawyers Committee Association, who studied laws on hate speech evolving around the world and produced a handbook for those affected.

    “In Costa Rica, if you’ve been a victim of hate speech, you can go to this handbook and see what is already available for you to protect yourself,” said Ms. Baiocchi, highlighting other such ongoing initiatives as teaching debate in schools.

    “Fundamentally, the message behind any work on hate speech and discrimination…is about being able to respect each other and coexist,” she said.

    That approach is in line with UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ aim of crushing hate speech online and off. In response to trends of growing xenophobia, racism and intolerance, violent misogyny, antisemitism, and anti-Muslim hatred around the world, the Secretary-General launched the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech in 2019.

    “If left unchecked,” he said, “hate speech can even harm peace and development, as it lays the ground for conflicts and tensions, wide scale human rights violations.”

    Find out more about how the UN is helping Costa Ricans here.

    Subscribe to our podcast series, UNiting Against Hate, here.

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  • UN condemns ‘abhorrent’ terrorist attacks in Pakistan

    UN condemns ‘abhorrent’ terrorist attacks in Pakistan

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    A further 70 people were injured in Friday’s attacks at the Hangu mosque in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and at a religious procession in Mastung, Balochistan.

    “It is particularly abhorrent that the attacks occurred at a place of worship and during the celebration of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday,” Mr. Guterres said in a statement.

    He reiterated UN’s solidarity with the Government and people of Pakistan in their efforts to address terrorism and violent extremism.

    ‘Criminal and unjustifiable’

    Members of the UN Security Council also condemned the attacks “in the strongest terms”, stressing that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.

    “Any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed,” they said in a statement.

    Council members urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Government of Pakistan and other relevant authorities to bring those responsible for the attacks to justice.

    Miguel Ángel Moratinos, High Representative for the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), also denounced the attacks, reiterating “houses of worship are sacred places where worshipers should be able to practice their faith safely and freely.”

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  • New UN framework to protect environment from harmful chemicals

    New UN framework to protect environment from harmful chemicals

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    Agreed at the fifth International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM5), in Bonn, Germany, the Global Framework on Chemicals sets concrete targets and guidelines across the lifecycle of chemicals.

    Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), welcomed the new framework.

    “Everyone on this planet should be able to live and work without fear of falling sick or dying from chemical exposure. Nature, free from pollution, should be able to thrive and support humanity for millennia to come,” she said.

    “This is why this framework provides a vision for a planet free of harm from chemicals and waste, for a safe, healthy and sustainable future.”

    Concrete targets

    The framework is based around 28 targets, designed to improve responsible management of chemicals and waste. These targets also aim to establish stronger connections with other important global agendas, including climate change, biodiversity, human rights and health.

    Governments have committed to setting up policies and regulations aimed at reducing chemical pollution by 2030 as well as promoting safer alternatives. Industries also pledged to managing chemicals in a manner that reduces pollution and its adverse impacts.

    By 2035, the framework aims to phase out highly hazardous pesticides in agriculture where the risks have not been managed.

    Bonn Declaration

    In addition to the Global Framework, the Conference also adopted the Bonn Declaration.

    The Declaration aims to “prevent exposure to harmful chemicals, and phase out the most harmful ones, where appropriate, and enhance the safe management of such chemicals where they are needed.”

    It also encourages countries to support the transition to circular economies, fostering the development of safe alternatives and substitutes for chemicals.

    This approach aims to not only safeguard health and the environment but also reduce waste and enhance recycling efforts.

    Act immediately

    Ms. Andersen urged all parties to start acting immediately.

    “The World Health Organization (WHO) tells us that direct chemical pollution of the air, land, water and workplace is causing two million deaths per year,” she said.

    “As any athlete will tell you, beating a target is better than meeting a target, so I call on governments, the chemicals industry and everyone involved to go above and beyond what has been agreed to protect people and the planet upon which we all depend.”

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  • First Person: From Afghan refugee to Ukraine aid worker

    First Person: From Afghan refugee to Ukraine aid worker

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    Having previously endured conflict in Afghanistan, Ali comprehended the far-reaching implications of large-scale military actions on the lives of civilians.

    Immediately after the start of the Ukraine war, Ali and his wife, the owners of a small clothing store in Odessa, began to engage in relief work and donate clothes to people who had been forced to flee their homes due to the conflict,

    He told UN News about his work for The Tenth of April relief organization which works alongside the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, in Ukraine.

    © UNHCR/Victoria Andrievska

    ‘More concerned about war in Ukraine’

    “Twenty-four years ago, my parents took me and my brother and sister and moved from Afghanistan, fleeing war and persecution. This country became our new home.

    We are more concerned and worried about the situation in Ukraine than in Afghanistan, and we are trying to help as much as we can.

    At such a moment, when the country desperately needs help, it is necessary to get involved, to do something good.

    Now I work a lot with people who suffer from shelling in Odessa oblast. We distribute humanitarian aid, which is extremely necessary for the affected people.

    With each passing day, we see an increasing number of people seeking assistance.

    I can speak a number of languages, so I am able to work with The Tenth of April to aid refugees and asylum seekers who had earlier fled to Ukraine to seek protection. I am now engaged as a social worker and logistician.

    Frontline destruction

    What is happening in the villages near the frontline is simply terrible. Everything is broken there, Houses are destroyed. People barely survive there.

    Gratitude in people’s eyes inspires me the most. Because of it, I forget about tiredness. A girl, an internally displace person from a family from Kherson, once gave me a yellow-blue ribbon, which she made herself, and it touched me very much. Such moments are unforgettable.

    Staff members of this organization supported my family when we were asylum seekers in Ukraine, I saw how committed they were to their work.

    My wife and 15-year-old son do not want to leave Ukraine and are trying to help however they can.

    Recently, during the distribution of construction materials among the residents of the house that was damaged during the shelling in Odessa, my son went to the distribution and helped unload, and he was with me until night.

    Today, among my colleagues are internally displaced people from Kherson, from Mykolaiv. I see that they put their heart into everything they do, and this inspires me to work as best as possible and do more.”

    How UNHCR is helping Ukrainians

    • The UN estimates that 18 million people will need humanitarian assistance this year.
    • Humanitarian needs are particularly acute for internally displaced persons who have been away from home for a long time and for those who have remained in frontline areas during the war.
    • The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, cooperates with 29 partner organizations, such as The Tenth of April, to help people in need throughout Ukraine.
    • With the support of its donors, UNHCR aims to help 3.6 million people in Ukraine in 2023.

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  • Innovative Business Models, Critical for African Governments to Unlock Carbon Markets

    Innovative Business Models, Critical for African Governments to Unlock Carbon Markets

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    Carbon credits in Africa can be generated by projects that curb emissions with a major focus on switching to renewable sources such as solar energy. Nasho solar power plant in Eastern Rwanda. Credit: Aimable Twahirwa/IPS
    • by Aimable Twahirwa (nairobi)
    • Inter Press Service

    NAIROBI, Sep 29 (IPS) – With current efforts to boost Africa’s carbon credit production by 2030, experts believe the commitments will require Governments to switch from a voluntary to a compliance market by generating renewable energy for a portion of national and regional electricity supplies.

    The compliance market in Africa, according to experts, is critical for countries to establish a carbon price through regulations to control the supply of allowances that are then distributed by national and regional regimes.

    “It is all about getting the business model right (…) the capability of African Governments is there very central to having the right kind of information and investing in local business models,” Mahua Acharya, the Chief Executive Officer of C-Quest Capital (CQC), one of the world-leading carbon finance company told IPS.

    Currently, African leaders are pushing market-based financing instruments, such as carbon credits which can be generated by projects that curb emissions with a major focus on switching to renewable energy sources.

    Carbon market initiative allows polluters to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by investing in development or initiatives such as tree-planting or renewable energies. Nevertheless, experts point out that they are still cheaper to purchase in Africa due to poor regulations and weak policies.

    Renewable energy was at the heart of discussions at the 2023 Africa Climate Summit (ACS) in Nairobi, Kenya, and shifting away from centralized fossil fuel energy towards people-centred green energy sources is now seen as the single most effective way to expand the continent’s participation in voluntary carbon markets.

    The African initiative’s goal is to produce 300 million new carbon credits annually by 2030, comparable to the number of credits issued globally in voluntary carbon offset markets in 2021.

    Mahua Acharya, the Chief Executive Officer of C-Quest Capital (CQC) recommends Innovative business models for African Governments to unlock carbon markets. Credit: C-Quest Capital
    Mahua Acharya, the Chief Executive Officer of C-Quest Capital, recommends Innovative business models for African Governments to unlock carbon markets.

    “This is a very ambitious target and a fantastic opportunity for Africa to set the course,” Mahua said in an exclusive interview.

    Article 6 of the Paris Agreement’s rulebook governing carbon markets gives countries a right to emit carbon dioxide at an agreed price per tonne, but one of the major challenges facing most African countries is the lack of appropriate strategies to earn money on these carbon markets.

    The latest report on carbon markets and climate finance by the Eastern Africa Alliance shows that Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda are currently scaling up carbon credit production via voluntary carbon market activation plans.

    Under the new move, internationally traded credits between governments and private sector players are acceptable under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

    For example, Rwanda, as one of the few countries that expressed willingness to begin trading in voluntary carbon markets, is currently exploring key strategic sectors in which projects that reduce carbon emissions can be designed to sell credits on the carbon market. Officials emphasize that the major focus will be on renewable energy, the country leveraging on the carbon market as the source of climate finance.

    However, some experts point out that such projects and programs need to be “authorized” to avoid the same carbon credit being sold twice.

    “Voluntary approach is vulnerable to the decisions of corporate entities to meet their net zero goals – which is fine, but shaky if you think that countries should be basing economic planning decisions around this,” Acharya said.

    Carbon finance – the revenue from the sale of carbon emission reduction linked with mitigation activities – is a green growth opportunity for many developing and emerging economy countries.

    On the sidelines of the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi earlier this month, some activists rejected carbon markets, describing them as “false solutions and narratives that undermine African communities’ rights, interests and sovereignty.”

    The Executive Director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), Mithika Mwenda, told IPS that he was disappointed that the principle of shared responsibility was a missing point.

    “The initiative seems to be promoted by powerful interests who benefit from maintaining the status quo of fossil fuel dependence,” he said.

    While Mithika is convinced that, in most cases, these carbon market investments do not serve the climate justice imperatives for Africa, Acharya points out that different African countries are at different stages of preparedness and clarity towards putting carbon markets to work.

    “These carbon finance transactions are very precious to many African countries because they are forex-based and provide a good degree of risk mitigation,” Acharya said.

    The latest Africa Environment Outlook for Business by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) shows that Africa could become a trailblazer in renewable energy solutions, with abundant solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and geothermal resources that may contribute to a 6.4 per cent increase in GDP from 2021 to 2050.

    Businesses in the energy efficiency sector can provide products and services, such as lighting systems, smart buildings, and efficient industrial processes on the continent, it said.

    While Carbon markets are seen as an incredible opportunity to unlock billions for the climate finance needs of African economies while expanding energy access, some carbon credit experts stress the need for the African Union (AU) as a continental body to position itself economically on equal footings with other major economic blocks.

    “There are thousands of billions of dollars are being allocated as loans on high-interest terms to poor countries seeking help to cope with climate change impacts,” said Adhel Kaboub, Associate Professor of economics at Denison University in Ohio, USA, and the president of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity.

    “Through these schemes, Africa cannot continue to play the role of source of cheap raw materials while serving as a large consumer market for the Global North,” he said.

    Rwanda is among the countries planning to use carbon markets to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCS) to the Paris Agreement.

    Currently, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) are the two operational mechanisms allowing the country to earn carbon credit units by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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  • Food Loss and Waste: An Unacceptable Reality

    Food Loss and Waste: An Unacceptable Reality

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    When addressing food insecurity, it’s clear that insufficient food production isn’t the problem. According to FAO estimates, Latin America and the Caribbean could feed over 1.3 billion people, twice their population. Credit: Riccardo De Luca / FAO
    • Opinion by Mario Lubetkin (santiago)
    • Inter Press Service

    SANTIAGO, Sep 29 (IPS) – Mario Lubetkin is FAO Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the CaribbeanIn recent years, the population of Latin America and the Caribbean has seen a worrying increase in hunger figures, especially among the poorest in the region.

    When we talk about food insecurity in our region, as in the rest of the world, we realize that this problem does not stem from deficient food production. According to FAO estimates, Latin America and the Caribbean could feed more than 1.3 billion people, twice its population.

    Thus, where does this problem arise? A relevant factor in this matter is food loss and waste, which prevention is fundamental in the development of agri-food systems.

    In 2019, the United Nations General Assembly first established 29 September as International Food Loss and Waste Awareness Day, recognizing the positive impact of reversing FLW can have on people’s food and nutrition security.

    Four years after the declaration of this day, we must take stock of what we have achieved, look ahead and take immediate action to reverse a complex scenario with economic, social, environmental, and moral costs.

    According to FAO figures, 13% of the world’s food is lost in the supply chain, from post-harvest to retail, and a further 17% is wasted in households, food services, and retail. The highest levels of losses occur in nutrient-rich foods such as fruit and vegetables (32%), meat, and fish (12.4%).

    Inefficiencies along the food chain and in consumption also have a significantly impact on the environment. Therefore, preventing food loss and waste can help to combat hunger and the consequences of climate change through greenhouse gas emissions.

    Current scientific evidence points to innovative solutions that support family farming, distribution and supply systems, drive circular bio-economy actions, and target investments and funding to develop monitoring and early warning systems to prevent FLWs, as well as comprehensive legal frameworks aimed at prevention. But it is still not enough.

    At the end of August, the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean organized a discussion on how to prevent and reduce food losses and waste in the context of food security and nutrition, with the participation of the Holy See, representatives of the Chilean government, and FAO.

    This conversation explored ideas and solutions to move from reflection to action and to understand that ending the phenomenon of food loss and waste has a direct impact on the lives of individuals and society as a whole.

    The way forward is clear: to address this situation it is imperative to work in a coordinated and multi-sectoral way to achieve results quickly. Governments, businesses, civil society and academia must join forces, to generate evidence, investments in infrastructure and technology, and other measures to address this situation.

    Much needs to be done. Food loss and waste must be addressed from an ethical, political and scientific perspective. We are all responsible for this challenge.

    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • Wrecked by Climate Change, Farmers in Kashmir Shift to Lavender Cultivation

    Wrecked by Climate Change, Farmers in Kashmir Shift to Lavender Cultivation

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    Mohammad Subhan Dar decided to abandon farming forever as changes in climate affected his traditional crops, but a project introducing lavender farming saved his farm. Credit: Umer Asif/IPS
    • by Umar Manzoor Shah (bijbehara, india)
    • Inter Press Service

    BIJBEHARA, INDIA, Sep 29 (IPS) – Creating resilience is crucial to climate change justice. In Bijbehara, a hamlet south of Kashmir’s capital, Srinagar, lavender farming has meant farmers grappling with unseasonal rains, prolonged heat waves, and severe water scarcity have found a new means of survival.
     Mohammad Subhan Dar diligently tends to some bright purple plants on a four-acre farm in Bijbehara, a hamlet south of Kashmir’s capital, Srinagar. As you draw nearer, you’ll be mesmerized by the sight of sprawling lavender fields, where about 10 to 15 farmers, including Dar, prepare for a promising harvest.

    Smiles grace the faces of these hardworking individuals as the harvest season draws near.

    However, this hasn’t always been the case. The farmers in this village were deeply troubled by the significant shifts in weather patterns. Unseasonal rains, prolonged heat waves, and severe water scarcity have become constant sources of concern for them.

    Kashmir Valley – a northern Indian state bordering Pakistan – has agriculture as its primary source of livelihood. Farmers comprise 80 percent of the state’s population, and agriculture and horticulture are the backbone of the state’s economy. The unique climate in the foothills of the Himalayas allows for the growing of exotic fruits and vegetables not usually found in India.

    According to government records, an estimated 60 percent of Kashmir’s agriculture is dependent on rainwater for irrigation. However, during the past few years, Kashmir Valley has witnessed the worst-ever dry seasons. Meteorological Department shows that instead of an average of 622 mm of snow, the mountain ranges in Valley during the past three years witnessed a mere 172 mm – indicating a problematic change in the weather pattern. This has directly affected the region’s agriculture sector, with farmers incurring devastating losses.

    Farmers cooperate and now benefit from lavender which is a valuable source of essential oils that find their way into soaps, cosmetics, fragrances, air fresheners and medicinal items. Credit: Umer Asif/IPS
    Farmers cooperate and now benefit from lavender which is a valuable source of essential oils that find their way into soaps, cosmetics, fragrances, air fresheners and medicinal items. Credit: Umer Asif/IPS

    Mohammad Subhan Dar is one such farmer who, in 2018, decided to abandon farming forever.

    “My huge chunk of land gave me no income. It was like working round the year and getting nothing in the end. While we sowed the paddies, hoping for profitable yields, the dry weather would leave us wrecked. We would not be able even to get basic costs mitigated, let alone earn anything out of it,” Dar told IPS.

    Around this time, the government’s Department of Agriculture asked farmers if they could switch to alternate farming methods that could provide them profitable harvests owing to indications of climate change in the region. Lavender farming was provided as a viable alternative.

    Lavender is a valuable source for extracting essential oils, which finds its way into creating various products, including soap, cosmetics, fragrances, air fresheners, and medicinal items. Notably, lavender plants are not particularly water-thirsty and tend to resist pests and other crop-damaging creatures. A single lavender plant can start being harvested after just two years from planting, continues to bloom for up to fifteen years, and demands minimal maintenance.

    An estimated 1,000 farming families are engaged in lavender cultivation across more than 200 acres in various regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Credit: Umer Asif/IPS
    An estimated 1,000 farming families are engaged in lavender cultivation across more than 200 acres in various regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Credit: Umer Asif/IPS

    Lavender farming was initiated as part of the ‘Aroma Mission,’ a collaborative effort between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

    Following the successful completion of Phase I, CSIR has embarked on Phase II, a larger endeavour that aims to involve more than 45,000 skilled individuals and benefit over 75,000 families. According to officials, the climate in Jammu and Kashmir is exceptionally well-suited for lavender cultivation, given its ability to thrive in cold temperatures and moderate summer conditions.

    The Kashmir region within the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is widely recognized as a significant centre for medicinal plants. Lavender holds excellent promise as a therapeutic and aromatic herb that can positively impact India’s economic and healthcare prospects. The lavender produced in Kashmir has garnered attention from both domestic and international markets. Research findings have indicated that lavender farming can be lucrative for farmers, provided there is sustained demand and well-organized farmer activities.

    Dar says he had a chunk of land adjacent to his paddy field, and other villagers had pockets of cultivable lands there.

    Lavender is resilient and doesn't need lots of water; it is also resistant to pests and has a 15-year lifespan. Credit: Umer Asif/IPS
    Lavender is resilient and doesn’t need lots of water; it is also resistant to pests and has a 15-year lifespan. Credit: Umer Asif/IPS

    “We joined hands, got training from the government, and began the cultivation of lavender. It needs meagre care, and climate change doesn’t affect its production in any manner. It was a win-win situation for us. The hopes were high from the very beginning. As we slowly ventured into it, we found its importance,” Dar says.

    Another farmer, Imtiyaz Ahmad, says the profit from Lavender farming is far greater than rice cultivation and that the farmers are a little worried about losses if the weather remains bad.

    “There is nothing like dry weather or heavy rainfalls here that could affect the lavender cultivation. The research done at the government level has revealed how suitable this place is for lavender crops. Farmers in large numbers are switching to lavender cultivation and abandoning the traditional methods that used to provide them nothing except anxiety and losses,” Ahmad said.

    Farmers claim that selling at least one litre of its oil fetches them Rs 30,000 (500 USD). The farmers say that lavender grown over one hectare of land gives them a minimum of 50 litres of lavender oil.

    As per the government estimates, over 1,000 farming families are currently engaged in lavender cultivation across more than 200 acres in various regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Each of these farmers has provided employment opportunities to at least five additional individuals, resulting in the mission already benefiting over 6,000 families.

    “Farmers in the districts of Anantnag, Pulwama, Budgam, Ganderbal, and Kupwara have begun to shift away from traditional crops and are increasingly embracing lavender cultivation,” a senior government official told IPS.

    Dar believes that it has secured his future.

    “It proved to be the best alternative to traditional farming in times of the drastic changes occurring at a frantic pace in Kashmir.”

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  • Wanted: A New Local Oversight Structure to Achieve SDGS, Climate Action & Biodiversity Preservation

    Wanted: A New Local Oversight Structure to Achieve SDGS, Climate Action & Biodiversity Preservation

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    Credit: United Nations
    • Opinion by Simone Galimberti (kathmandu, nepal)
    • Inter Press Service

    KATHMANDU, Nepal, Sep 29 (IPS) – The links between Agenda 2030 and SDGs, including climate action and biodiversity preservation are clear and straightforward. Yet, leveraging them, and bringing them to together in a unified framework, remains extremely challenging.

    The only way possible to create synergies would be to rethink the way governments are accountable towards these issues at national and local levels. After all, there are two whole SDGs, SDG 13 and SDG 15, respectively focus on climate and biodiversity preservation.

    On the top of these two goals, there are plenty of additional elements, within Agenda 2030, that have a direct, impact in the double-edged fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.

    Unfortunately, despite these profound connections and interdependences, climate action and biodiversity preservation have been discussed and dealt with through staggering separate and disjointed processes.

    Proving this disconnection, hardly any news reports are covering the underlying interconnections that are indispensable to achieve a sustainable, just and fair planet. This is indeed, an overarching goal only possible if a new novel, holistic framework of action comes in place.

    In an attempt to a common response to this siloes like system, UN DESA and UNFCCC, convened in May this year, a technical group of experts, focused at “analyzing climate and SDG Synergies and aiming to maximize action impact”.

    During the recently held SDG Summit 2023, these experts released their first report entitled Synergy Solutions for a World in Crisis: Tackling Climate and SDG Action Together. As evident from its official title, the remit of this group neglected biodiversity.

    Despite this weakness, the document is an important contribution to what I call the “Better Sustainability and Better World Global Agenda”. With this term, I imply the need to come up with a truly comprehensive blueprint that can turn around the global, UN led mechanisms intended to deliver a fairer, more just agenda for our planet.

    The insights found in the document are not only important in terms of analyzing the “win-win” policies and related benefits from pursuing better joint policies.

    Green infrastructures that follow the latest technological breakthrough in their design and construction modalities, sustainable consumption practices, including new approaches in the agriculture, all offer potent solutions to reduce emissions and preserve the environment.

    Furthermore, the report explains how “the co-benefits related to health and agricultural productivity were found to globally offset the costs of climate policy and contribute to increased global GDP”.

    As much as new evidence on the correlations of between the SDGs and climate action is essential, yet, the more fascinating aspect of the report is the focus on what are defined as the “political and institutional barriers and governance and institutional settings”.

    An honest and frank assessment of the systems governing the implementation of Agenda 2030, the Paris Agreement and the Kunming- Montreal Biodiversity Framework, provide a frank assessment of the existing segmentation.

    Climate change, with the legally binding framework approved in Paris commands, by vast margin, the highest level of attention and are perceived as the most important issue. Instead, much less is known or discussed about both the SDGs and the new biodiversity framework approved, thanks to the co-stewardship of China and Canada.

    Among the three processes, no matter how much emphasis on the recently held SDG Summit, Agenda 2030 is where inaction and carelessness from the global leaders is most visible. The reason is simple: Agenda 2030 is not intergovernmental and therefore not legally binding.

    Its enforcement mechanism, the so called Voluntary National Review, as it is self-evident from the name itself, remains purely up to the member states for its implementation. In an overly complex and fragmented landscape, it is unsurprising to know that bureaucrats and policy makers, especially in the developing world, do struggle in both planning and reporting because they have to deal with different and unrelated toolkits and frameworks.

    The climate agenda is itself complex with multiple areas of work within the broad Paris Agreement. Governments have to prepare not only the so called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) in relation to the mitigation aspect of climate action but also separate planning and reporting for its adaptation dimension.

    On the latter, states should, at least in theory, prepare National Adaptation Plan or NAP, geared for longer terms and National Adaptation Programme of Action or NAPA. Planning and reporting, as a consequence, is truly, a daunting job for national governments and for an utterly unprepared and unequipped global governance system.

    The experts’ report could not be clearer.

    “Complex governance arrangements and institutional structural rigidity can impede synergistic action and integration due to factors like overlapping authority, lack of mandate, department-specific jargon, unequal access to information, and lack”, the document explains.

    The reality is that Agenda 2030, due to its weak legal dimension and its equally weak accountability mechanisms, is falling short of the expectations. It is doing so, especially in relation to its incapacity to include and bring together all the existing mechanisms and processes related to fights against poverty, climate and biodiversity.

    Unfortunately, the ambitious agenda to reform the multilateral system, put forward by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is not ambitious enough. There is no joint or combined planning, neither globally nor locally, to achieve a real a new Global Deal for the future of our planet.

    Indeed, at ground level, local governance mechanisms are, structurally unable of bringing coherence and unity among the three dimensions. Yet it is at local levels where we should place our best hopes to create a truly “anti-silos” system approach that unifies the three agendas.

    Because of the way they have been designed and implemented so far, the Voluntary Local Reviews or VLRs, should be entirely repurposed. We are talking about the tools at the hands of local governments to monitor the implementation of the SDGs.

    They should not only be strengthened in terms of accountability but should become real planning instruments able to engage and involve the people. The creation of the expert working group on the synergies between climate action and the SDGs was possible thanks to a number of reports generated from a series of UN convened conferences, focused on climate change and SDGs.

    The latest of these global events, formally the 4th Global Conference on strengthening synergies between the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” was held on the July 16 this year. This series of events and the insights they generated, also backed, though vaguely and in general terms, the importance of revisiting the institutional mechanisms.

    At very practical level, what could be done?

    To start with, in terms of higher accountability standards, the UN Country Systems should be further empowered. The experts’ report calls for leveraging system wide changes and fostering policy integration.

    Among its recommendations there is “promote institutional capacity building and cross-sectoral and international collaboration at national, institutional, and individual levels, especially for the Global South”.

    Moreover, the document highlights the importance of “ensuring policy coherence and coordination among policy makers across sectors and departments for enhancing climate and development synergies at the national, sub-national, and multi-national levels”.

    Here few ideas on how these principles could be put into practice.

    In what could become an almost revolutionary evolution of the ways the UN works at local levels, the offices of the countries level UN Resident Coordinators should be transformed into watchdogs able to independently evaluate the work done by the governments

    While the UN agencies and programs, at national levels, are mandated to support the governments to implement their international commitments for a fairer, greener and more just planet, the UN Resident Coordinators should embrace the role of impartial and independent evaluator.

    Alternatively, these offices should become the guarantors of independently UN managed but country owned local mechanisms tasked with verifying and checking on the compliance of the governments.

    This could be either a permeant mechanism of a new global accountability system put in place at local level to ensure the common good or, otherwise, a temporary one.

    In the latter option, we could imagine a transitionary only solution that would remain in place till when national authorities would become capable of developing and running independent, fit for purpose, compliance instruments on the three issues of the SDGs, climate and biodiversity.

    In either way, an equal number of international and local independent experts, under the leadership of an authoritative local national, a person of undisputed integrity, symbolically responding to the UN Resident Coordinator, would make up the mechanism with the support of local staff.

    Only bold solutions will help achieve the “Better Sustainability and Better World Global Agenda”. Starting from the bottom, rethinking how UN works to ensure governments fulfill their responsibilities locally, could offer the best odds for success.

    States must admit and accept that, in order to fight inequality and poverty while reducing and slowing climate change and biodiversity degradation, they need to work under enhanced scrutiny and within a much more tighter accountability system.

    This new proposed approach, while very ambitious and radical, is not impossible to be negotiated and put in place.

    We just need, imagination and tons of political will!

    The Writer, co-Founder of ENGAGE and The Good Leadership, is based in Kathmandu.

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  • Peru Faces Challenge of Climate Change-Driven Internal Migration

    Peru Faces Challenge of Climate Change-Driven Internal Migration

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    • by Mariela Jara (lima)
    • Inter Press Service

    LIMA, Sep 28 (IPS) – Nearly 700,000 people have migrated internally in Peru due to the effects of climate change. This mass displacement is a clear problem in this South American country, one of the most vulnerable to the global climate crisis due to its biodiversity, geography and 28 different types of climates.

    “We recognize migration due to climate change as a very tangible issue that needs to be addressed,” Pablo Peña, a geographer who is coordinator of the Emergency and Humanitarian Assistance Unit of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Peru, told IPS.

    In an interview with IPS at the UN agency’s headquarters in Lima, Peña reported that according to the international Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, the number of people displaced within Peru’s borders by disasters between 2008 and 2022 is estimated at 659,000, most of them floods related to climate disturbances.

    In this Andean country of 33 million inhabitants, there is a lack of specific and centralized data to determine the characteristics of migration caused by environmental and climate change factors.

    Peña said that through a specific project, the IOM has collaborated with the Peruvian government in drafting an action plan aimed at preventing and addressing climate-related forced migration, on the basis of which a pilot project will begin in October to systematize information from different sources on displacement in order to incorporate the environmental and climate component.

    “We aim to be able to define climate migrants and incorporate them into all regulations,” said the expert. The project, which includes gender, rights and intergenerational approaches, is being worked on with the Ministries of the Environment and of Women and Vulnerable Populations.

    He added that this type of migration is multidimensional. “People can say that they left their homes in the Andes highlands because they had nothing to eat due to the loss of their crops, and that could be interpreted, superficially, as forming part of economic migration because they have no means of livelihood. But that cause can be associated with climatic variables,” Peña said.

    In a 2022 report, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) identified Peru as the country with the highest level of food insecurity in South America.

    Pablo Peña, coordinator of the Emergency and Humanitarian Assistance Unit of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Peru, stands in front of the headquarters of this United Nations agency in Lima. He highlights the need to address the situation of internal migration driven by the impacts of climate change. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS
    Pablo Peña, coordinator of the Emergency and Humanitarian Assistance Unit of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Peru, stands in front of the headquarters of this United Nations agency in Lima. He highlights the need to address the situation of internal migration driven by the impacts of climate change. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS

    The Central Reserve Bank, in charge of preserving monetary stability and managing international reserves, lowered in its September monthly report Peru’s economic growth projection to 0.9 percent for this year, partly due to the varied impacts of climate change on agriculture and fishing.

    This would affect efforts to reduce the poverty rate, which stands at around 30 percent in the country, where seven out of every 10 workers work in the informal sector, and would drive up migration of the population in search of food and livelihoods.

    “The World Bank estimates that by 2050 there will be more than 10 million climate migrants in Latin America,” said Peña.

    The same multilateral institution, in its June publication Peru Strategic Actions Toward Water Security, points out that people without economic problems are 10 times more resistant than those living in poverty to climatic impacts such as floods and droughts, which are increasing at the national level.

    The country is currently experiencing the Coastal El Niño climate phenomenon, which in March caused floods in northern cities and droughts in the south. The official National Service of Meteorology and Hydrology warned that in January 2024 it could converge with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) global phenomenon, accentuating its impacts.

    El Niño usually occurs in December, causing the sea temperature to rise and altering the rainfall pattern, which increases in the north of the country and decreases in the south.

    The manager of Natural Resources of the Piura regional government, Juan Aguilar, described the vulnerability to climate change of this northern coastal region of Peru at a September meeting organized by the IOM in Lima. The official explained that the El Niño climate phenomenon has become more intense and frequent due to the effects of climate change, which aggravates its impacts on the population, such as severe flooding this year. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPSThe manager of Natural Resources of the Piura regional government, Juan Aguilar, described the vulnerability to climate change of this northern coastal region of Peru at a September meeting organized by the IOM in Lima. The official explained that the El Niño climate phenomenon has become more intense and frequent due to the effects of climate change, which aggravates its impacts on the population, such as severe flooding this year. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS
    The manager of Natural Resources of the Piura regional government, Juan Aguilar, described the vulnerability to climate change of this northern coastal region of Peru at a September meeting organized by the IOM in Lima. The official explained that the El Niño climate phenomenon has become more intense and frequent due to the effects of climate change, which aggravates its impacts on the population, such as severe flooding this year. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS

    Reluctance to migrate to safer areas

    Piura, a northern coastal department with an estimated population of just over two million inhabitants, has been hit by every El Niño episode, including this year’s, which left more than 46,000 homes damaged, even in areas that had been rebuilt.

    Juan Aguilar, manager of Natural Resources of the Piura regional government, maintains that the high vulnerability to ENSO is worsening with climate change and is affecting the population, communication routes and staple crops.

    At an IOM workshop on Sept. 5 in Lima, the official stressed that Piura is caught up in both floods and droughts, in a complex context for the implementation of spending on prevention, adaptation and mitigation.

    Aguilar spoke to IPS about the situation of people who, despite having lost their homes for climatic reasons, choose not to migrate, in what he considers to be a majority trend.

    “People are not willing overall to move to safer areas, even during El Niño 2017 when there were initiatives to relocate them to other places; they prefer to wait for the phenomenon to pass and return to their homes,” he added.

    View of the Rimac River as it passes through the municipality of Lurigancho-Chosica, in the Peruvian province of Lima. In this town, many families are still living in housing in areas at high risk, which is exacerbated during the rainy season that begins in December and has intensified due to climate change and the increased recurrence of the El Niño climate phenomenon. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS
    View of the Rimac River as it passes through the municipality of Lurigancho-Chosica, in the Peruvian province of Lima. In this town, many families are still living in housing in areas at high risk, which is exacerbated during the rainy season that begins in December and has intensified due to climate change and the increased recurrence of the El Niño climate phenomenon. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS

    He explained that this attitude is due to the fact that they see the climatic events as recurrent. “They say, I already experienced this in such and such a year, and there is a resignation in the sense of saying that we are in a highly vulnerable area, it is what we have to live with, God and nature have put us in these conditions,” Aguilar said.

    He acknowledged that with regard to this question, public policies have not made much progress. “For example after 2017 a law was passed to identify non-mitigable risk zones, and that has not been enforced despite the fact that it would help us to implement plans to relocate local residents to safer areas,” he added.

    The regional official pointed out that “we do not have an experience in which the State says ‘I have already identified this area, there is so much housing available here for those who want to relocate’ , because the social cost would be so high.”

    “We have not seen this, and the populace has the feeling that if they are going to start somewhere else, the place they abandon will be taken by someone else, and they say: ‘what is the point of me moving, if the others will be left here’,” Aguilar said.

    Paulina Vílchez, 72, has always lived in the Peruvian municipality of Lurigancho-Chosica. Despite the fear every year that the Rimac River might flood and that mudslides could occur in one of the 21 ravines in the area, she has never thought of moving away. "I'm not going to go to an empty plot to start all over again, that's why I've stayed. I leave everything in the hands of God," she said. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS
    Paulina Vílchez, 72, has always lived in the Peruvian municipality of Lurigancho-Chosica. Despite the fear every year that the Rimac River might flood and that mudslides could occur in one of the 21 ravines in the area, she has never thought of moving away. “I’m not going to go to an empty plot to start all over again, that’s why I’ve stayed. I leave everything in the hands of God,” she said. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS

    The fear of starting over

    Some 40 km from the Peruvian capital, in Lurigancho-Chosica, one of the 43 municipalities of the province of Lima, the local population is getting nervous about the start of the rainy season in December, which threatens mudslides in some of its 21 ravines. The most notorious due to their catastrophic impact occurred in 1987, 2017, 2018 and March of this year.

    Landslides, known in Peru by the Quechua indigenous term “huaycos”, have been part of the country’s history, due to the combination of the special characteristics of the rugged geography of the Andes highlands and the ENSO phenomenon.

    In an IPS tour of the Chosica area of Pedregal, one of the areas vulnerable to landslides and mudslides due to the rains, there was concern in the municipality about the risks they face, but also a distrust of moving to a safer place to start over.

    “I came here to Pedregal as a child when this was all fields where cotton and sugar cane were planted. I have been here for more than sixty years and we have progressed, we no longer live in shacks,” said 72-year-old Paulina Vílchez, who lives in a nicely painted two-story house built of cement and brick.

    On the first floor she set up a bodega, which she manages herself, where she sells food and other products. She did not marry or have children, but she helped raise two nieces, with whom she still lives in a house that is the fruit of her parents’ and then her own efforts and which represents decades of hard work.

    Vílchez admits that she would like to move to a place where she could be free of the fear that builds up every year. But she said it would have to be a house with the same conditions as the one she has managed to build with so much effort. “I’m not going to go to an empty plot to start all over again, that’s why I’ve stayed. I leave everything in the hands of God,” she told IPS.

    Maribel Zavaleta's home in the Peruvian municipality of Chosica is built of wood, near the Rimac River and just a meter from the train tracks. She arrived there in 1989, relocated after a mud, water and rock slide two years earlier in another part of the town. She constantly worries that another catastrophe will happen again, and says she would relocate if she were guaranteed safer land and materials to build a new house. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS
    Maribel Zavaleta’s home in the Peruvian municipality of Chosica is built of wood, near the Rimac River and just a meter from the train tracks. She arrived there in 1989, relocated after a mud, water and rock slide two years earlier in another part of the town. She constantly worries that another catastrophe will happen again, and says she would relocate if she were guaranteed safer land and materials to build a new house. CREDIT: Mariela Jara / IPS

    Very close to the Rimac River and next to the railway tracks that shake her little wooden house each time the train passes by lives Maribel Zavaleta, 50, born in Chosica, and her family of two daughters, a son, and three granddaughters.

    “I came here in 1989 with my mom, she was a survivor of the 1987 huayco, and we lived in tents until we were relocated here. But it’s not safe; in 2017 the river overflowed and the house was completely flooded,” she told IPS.

    Zavaleta started her own family at the age of 21, but is now separated from her husband. Her eldest son lives with his girlfriend on the same property, and her older daughter, who works and helps support the household, has given her three granddaughters. The youngest of her daughters is 13 and attends a local municipal school.

    “I work as a cleaner and what I earn is only enough to cover our basic needs,” she said. She added that if she were relocated again it would have to be to a plot of land with a title deed and materials to build her house, which is now made of wood and has a tin roof, while her plot of land is fenced off with metal sheets.

    “I can’t afford to improve my little house or leave here. I would like the authorities to at least work to prevent the river from overflowing while we are here,” she said, pointing to the rocks left by the 2017 landslide that have not been removed.

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  • Nigerian Women Challenge ‘Colonialist’ Patriarchy

    Nigerian Women Challenge ‘Colonialist’ Patriarchy

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    Bukes Saliu, a forklift driver, is a Nigerian woman who challenging stereotypes. Credit: Promise Eze/IPS
    • by Promise Eze (lagos)
    • Inter Press Service

    LAGOS, Sep 28 (IPS) – Bukes Saliu wakes up very early every workday to beat the gruesome Lagos traffic to head to a job quite unusual for a woman to engage in Nigeria. She is a forklift operator in one of the busy depots in the coastal city, a task traditionally meant for men in the West African country.

    In a country where women are seen as second-class citizens and whose roles are expected to be confined to the kitchen, Saliu is not letting patriarchal norms put her in a box.

    “People are always thrilled when I tell them what I do. Sometimes I get snide remarks from some men I work with, but I don’t allow that to get to me,” Saliu says.

    In August 2022, her curiosity was piqued when she came across a post on WhatsApp from her friend featuring a woman confidently posed beside a forklift machine. That ignited her interest in the job. Soon after, she enrolled in training to become a skilled forklift operator.

    “It was a change of career path for me. I used to be a project manager with a non-profit, but I left the job to be a forklift operator. The first day I started work, I was a bit afraid, but now I operate the machine like any other man would do. I believe that women should be allowed at the table because it brings different perspectives, ideas, and experiences,” she adds.

    Patriarchy Lives in Nigeria

    Discrimination against women has been a serious problem in Nigeria. Women still grapple with an array of challenges and are marginalized despite the Nigerian constitution providing for gender equality and nondiscrimination

    Women face a heavier burden of violence, and different types of bias, which creates significant obstacles in their quest for gender equality. This is frequently caused by unfair laws, religious and cultural traditions, gender stereotypes, limited education opportunities, and the unequal impact of poverty on women.

    Although the government has attempted to tackle these deep-rooted issues, the pace of progress remains sluggish. Women’s representation within politics and decision-making spheres remains poor. For example, out of a total of 15,307 candidates in the 2023 general elections, only 1,550 were women. Only three women were elected as senators as against nine in the last election, and only one woman emerged as a presidential candidate.

    Women are often excluded from economic prospects. Within Nigeria’s populace exceeding 200 million, a mere 60.5 million people contribute to its labor force. Among this workforce, around 27.1 million women participate, a significant portion of whom find themselves involved in low-skilled employment. Nigeria’s position on the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index is a lowly 123rd out of 156 nations.

    Swimming Against the Tide

    A limited number of women are challenging conventional gender norms for the purpose of livelihood, stepping into roles that are male dominated in Nigeria. However, this transition is often met with resistance and negative reactions.

    In 2021, Iyeyemi Adediran gained widespread attention for her exceptional mastery of driving long-haul trucks for oil companies. However, despite her remarkable skill, the then 26-year-old shared that she faced derogatory remarks for daring to break gender norms associated with truck driving—an occupation traditionally considered male-dominated.

    In 2015, Sandra Aguebor, Nigeria’s first female mechanic, gained widespread attention for her all-female garages across the country. However, she revealed that her mother initially did not support her ambitions, believing that fixing cars should only be done by men.

    Faith Oyita, a shoemaker in Benue State, Nigeria, is not letting patriarchal norms stop her. Despite Aba, a growing men-led market in southeast Nigeria, dominating the shoemaking industry, Oyita has been determined to make a name for herself since 2015, even though she resides kilometers away. She says she has trained over 300 other people on how to make shoes.

    “When I first started, I didn’t care about the challenges that came with shoemaking. I had a deep passion for it, and I wanted to beautify people’s legs. Even though it was a skill dominated by men, I was determined to do things differently. I knew that greatness doesn’t come from convenience. In the beginning, many people questioned why I chose shoemaking. Even the man who taught me was hesitant and doubted my potential. I was the only female among all his apprentices, and many assumed that I came because I wanted to date him. Despite all the negative remarks, I never gave up,” she tells IPS.

    Patriarchy Came Through Colonialism

    “A lot of what is happening today is not how we originally lived our lives as Nigerian women. Patriarchy actually entered our society during the colonial era. Before colonization, both men and women were able to do things without being restricted by gender. Historically, women were involved in trading goods and services, and they could even marry multiple wives for themselves.

    “However, when the colonialists arrived, they distorted our culture and, using religion, promoted the idea that men held more power. We should strive to correct this narrative. It’s unfortunate that we have been socialized to believe that men should always be in leadership positions and that women should only be in a man’s home,” says Añuli Aniebo Ola-Olaniyi, Executive Director, HEIR Women Hub.

    Speaking further, Ola-Olaniyi argues that women who want to break gender norms must have a change of mindset and be ready to face challenges.

    “The country that colonized us has their women driving buses and flying planes. They have progressed from where they colonized us. But Nigeria has failed to empower its women. When a Nigerian woman does something that is traditionally seen as only for men, it is seen as a big accomplishment. However, she has always been capable of doing those things. It’s just that the opportunities were not available. I don’t even think it’s a switch in gender roles. I believe that women are simply starting to realize their potential,” she tells IPS.

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  • Nature Doesnt Know Borders: Collaboration for Conservation in Cyprus

    Nature Doesnt Know Borders: Collaboration for Conservation in Cyprus

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    During UN-organized beach and buffer zone clean-ups, though, youth from both the north and south of Cyprus work side-by-side with peacekeepers. Credit: UNFICYP
    • by Abigail Van Neely (united nations)
    • Inter Press Service

    UNITED NATIONS, Sep 27 (IPS) – Along the 180-kilometer-long buffer zone separating the north and south of Cyprus, there is a surprising sign of unity: recycled ammunition boxes no longer hold bullets. They are home to baby birds.

    Over the past five years, United Nations police have collaborated with local authorities to place 100 boxes throughout the uninhabited border area. An alternative to harmful pesticides, the man-made nests attract barn owls who prey on rodents. By supporting these kinds of projects, United Nations peacekeepers in Cyprus are helping to facilitate conservation efforts that impact communities on both sides of the island’s divide.

    The UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus (UNFICYP) is one of the world’s oldest active missions. Following violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s, Cyprus was split in 1974 into a northern third run by a Turkish Cypriot government and a southern two-thirds run by an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government. UN forces monitor the dividing militarized buffer zone.

    UNFICYP peacekeepers have a double mission, environmental conservation and ensuring peace between north and south Cyprus. Credit: UNFICYP
    UNFICYP peacekeepers have a double mission, environmental conservation, and ensuring peace between north and south Cyprus. Credit: UNFICYP

    Fresh Tensions Persist

    In August, UN peacekeepers were seriously injured by Turkish Cypriot security forces during a controversy over unauthorized construction work in an UN-controlled area, Reuters reports. According to the BBC, reunification talks remain slow.

    Still, peacekeepers are trying to bring the two communities together through a shared interest in protecting the environment.

    A small Mediterranean island, Cyprus is an important breeding, nesting, and foraging area for many animals. While activists say sensitivity to the importance of sustainability has increased, climate change is a greater threat than ever throughout Cyprus. Development from wealthy investors has fragmented habitats and led to the loss of natural areas.

    Tourism has exacerbated water scarcity. Record high temperatures have aggravated social inequities for people who cannot afford air conditioning. Wildfires across the island have threatened to trigger minefields in the buffer zone. When everyone breathes the same air, air pollution is everyone’s problem.

    “Environment doesn’t really know boundaries or borders and different nationalities,” Cyprus advocate Meryem Ozkan says. “But how we are acting, protecting, and preserving everywhere all around the island is affecting us all living on it.”

    UNFICYP Senior Police Advisor Satu Koivu strives to practice environmentally responsive policing in line with UN environmental management mandates. Patrols of the buffer zone have reduced illegal waste dumping and helped curb the long tradition of bird poaching along the island’s famous bird migration routes.

    Meanwhile, mission-level initiatives include installing solar panels, driving hybrid vehicles, and using reusable water bottles.

    Ultimately, Koivu says supporting local people is her priority. Partnerships with local authorities, civil society organizations, and community members are essential. Communication and outreach are critical tools, especially for bringing people together.

    Many kids would cringe at the thought of enduring an hour-long bus ride on a hot summer day just to spend hours collecting trash. During UN-organized beach and buffer zone clean-ups, though, youth from both the North and South of Cyprus learn to appreciate the importance of their conservation efforts while working side by side with uniformed peacekeepers. The explicit goal is to discuss environmental solutions. Peacebuilding is a happy bonus.

    Ozkan, the current operations manager for the North Cyprus Society for the Protection of Turtles (SPOT), collaborated with the UN on a couple of beach clean-ups. SPOT’s sea turtle conservation project centers aim to raise awareness through firsthand experiences. “If people don’t love what you love and feel the need to protect, they will not want to put the effort in,” Ozkan said.

    Ozkan sees the UN’s open community events as important platforms for NGOs from both sides to communicate on equal footing without misunderstanding. Ozkan says engagement between organizations in the north and south has become more common in the last decade. Recently, SPOT partnered with NGOs around Cyprus to collect data about when sea turtles are trapped in fishing nets and engage fishermen through outreach activities.

    UNFICYP Senior Police Advisor Satu Koivu strives to practice environmentally responsive policing in line with UN environmental management mandates. Here is admires a young barn owl; the population has been introduced into the buffer zone between north and south Cyprus. Credit: UNFICYP
    UNFICYP Senior Police Advisor Satu Koivu strives to practice environmentally responsive policing in line with UN environmental management mandates. Here is admires a young barn owl; the population has been introduced into the buffer zone between north and south Cyprus. Credit: UNFICYP

    Youth Activists for Climate Change

    Youth activists who helped coordinate Cyprus’ second Local Youth Conference on Climate Change say the UN has helped them connect with each other and a wider audience. At one UN event, their team presented a draft policy proposal to install solar panels in the buffer zone to Cyprus government officials. They welcome not only the voices of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots but the perspectives of other minority and migrant communities as well.

    “There is a huge need for environmental action across the aisle at the moment,” Victoras Pallikaras, a former UNFICYP Champion for Environmental Peace, stressed. Different governmental regulations on either side of the island can make coordination and compliance a challenge. While the south follows and receives support from the European Union’s environmental directives, Pallikaras notes, the north has different policies.

    “The UN is kind of a pressure for both communities to bring them back together,” Pallikaras said. Even if it’s imperfect, “the most important thing is that the UN is making a huge effort.”

    At first, Nicolaos “Nikos” Kassinis, one of the Cyprus Game and Fauna Service staff responsible for coordinating the barn owl nesting project, found it strange to be escorted by foreign UN officers in his own country. Over the past years, they’ve developed a “great trust.”

    “Without these people, it will be impossible to do work in the buffer zone,” he now says.

    “Wildlife doesn’t recognize fences and divides that are on the map,” the conservationist emphasizes. In the future, he would like to see the barn owl project expand to include the Turkish Cypriot side of the island — pesticide residue has been found in birds of prey that travel across Cyprus.

    Koivu hopes that her environmental work will help the public also associate police with positive initiatives.

    “As an individual, I cannot change the world. But I can start the ball rolling, and then together, we can make this difference and impact. So, I try to be positive,” she says. Less serious, her crisp blue uniform crinkles with her grin when she emphatically talks about the magic of seeing a new owlet.

    “They are so cute, these babies!”

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  • Zimbabwes Food Security Ambitions in El Ni񯒳 Crosshairs

    Zimbabwes Food Security Ambitions in El Ni񯒳 Crosshairs

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    Wildfires under dry conditions have been cited as contributing to the El Nino phenomenon. Credit: Ignatius Banda/IPS
    • by Ignatius Banda (bulawayo, zimbabwe)
    • Inter Press Service

    BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE, Sep 27 (IPS) – Zimbabwe is riding a wave of food security assurances after what officials said was last year’s bumper grain harvest, but recent El Niño forecasts could test the country’s agriculture production ambitions.

    The devastating phenomenon could further bring the spotlight on Zimbabwe’s disaster preparedness as the country has, over the years, received early warnings of impending climate-induced humanitarian crises but found wanting.

    While the landlocked southern African country has invested heavily in farm mechanisation and irrigation, there are concerns that the looming El Niño could test if these interventions will help sustain food production at a time when aid agencies say more people will require assistance into the coming year.

    During the 2022/23 season, Zimbabwe recorded its highest grain harvest in years, with the agriculture ministry declaring that the country will not be importing any food in the short term.

    However, fresh climate uncertainty concerns have brought back worries about the country’s ability to feed itself, where thousands of smallholder farmers – the primary growers of the staple maize – rely on rain for their agriculture activities.

    According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), up to 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s population subsists on rainfed agriculture, effectively exposing the vulnerability of food security as El Niño looms.

    In a July update, FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning Systems listed Zimbabwe as one of the southern African countries where the UN agency had prepared what it called “anticipatory protocols for drought” ahead of El Niño.

    “El Niño is likely to result in a mixed start to the 2023/24 rainy season in Zimbabwe. Precipitation from December to March, during the height of the rainy season, is likely to be below average, negatively impacting the 2023/24 agricultural season,” the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS-NET) said in a June update.

    Climate ministry officials say El Niño has previously affected agricultural production, noting that more remains to be done to counter its devastating effects.

    “The combination of drought and water scarcity results in decreased agricultural productivity, leading to reduced food production, and this subsequently impacts food security and increases food prices,” said Washington Zhakata, a director of the Environment Ministry’s Climate Change Management Department.

    He noted that the country could still have more to worry about in the aftermath of El Niño.

    “El Niño conditions create conducive conditions for the outbreak of crop diseases and pests. When the crops are weakened, they become more susceptible to infestations and diseases, further affecting agricultural yields,” Zhakata told IPS.

    While Zimbabwe has committed to building a multi-billion-dollar agriculture sector, climate uncertainty could derail those plans as the country has been slow in setting up infrastructure such as irrigation and new dams.

    According to Zhakata, countermeasures such as escalated investment in the sector could cushion the country against future climate shocks.

    “Investment in irrigation infrastructure, such as dams, weirs, boreholes and water conveyancing systems to where the water will be required, to provide alternative water sources during drought periods, enhance farmers’ access to irrigation systems, and promote efficient water management practices,” Zhakata said.

    This comes as the World Food Programme (WFP) says more people will require food assistance during the traditional lean season early next year, already worsened by El Niño.

    “Nutritional vulnerability is highest at the peak of the lean season (January – March) when food stocks from the previous growing season run low and prices in the market increase,” said Mary Gallar, WFP-Zimbabwe spokesperson.

    “Recognising the challenges experienced by communities in some poor performing areas, it is expected that a large number of people will rely on food assistance at the beginning of next year,” Gallar said.

    According to FAO, El Niño last hit Zimbabwe in 2016 and left 40 million people in southern Africa needing food assistance.

    It is yet to be seen what preparations the country’s grain reserves will be enough in the event of another El Niño-induced drought.

    According to agencies, the 2016 El Niño “severely reduced seasonal rains and higher-than-normal temperatures linked to El Niño caused an anticipated 12 percent drop in aggregate cereal production.”

    Amid such anticipated reduced food production, Zimbabwe’s 2023 bumper grain harvest will provide a litmus test of the country’s grain statistics, which some analysts have questioned.

    According to climate ministry officials, Zimbabwe is one of many countries bearing the brunt of climate uncertainty yet to benefit from loss and damage pledges by rich nations, further compounding efforts to address climate-related emergencies adequately.

    “The 27th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) acknowledged that existing funding arrangements fall short of responding to current and future impacts of climate change and are not sufficient to addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse impacts of climate change,” Zhakata said.

    “So far, no Parties have benefitted from this facility; it is a prerequisite to have clearly defined operational modalities and initial resources being deposited into the fund before it can be accessed. It is expected that the modalities will be agreed in December to pave the way for the operationalisation of the Fund,” he added.

    For now, as potentially devastating El Niño drought approaches, smallholders could find themselves none the wiser as they count their losses in the absence of measures to mitigate the impact of climate change.

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  • Navigating Challenges of New City Development for Nusantara, Indonesias Future Capital

    Navigating Challenges of New City Development for Nusantara, Indonesias Future Capital

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    Credit: Asian Development Bank
    • Opinion by Omar Sidique – Diani Sadiawati – Diandra Pratami (bangkok, thailand)
    • Inter Press Service

    BANGKOK, Thailand, Sep 27 (IPS) – Many nations are engaged in ambitious urban planning endeavors and the creation of new capital cities. Nusantara, Indonesia, is the latest in a series of modern cities that have sprung up across Asia.

    The government aims to create a model capital city based on the principles of liveability and green urban development on the island of Borneo.

    Indonesia seeks to relocate its capital due to flooding, land subsidence, overpopulation and congestion in Jakarta, located on the island of Java, where 60 per cent of the country’s population of close to 280 million lives.

    Nusantara will also play a role in rebalancing the country’s economy, and redistributing economic growth outside Java. But how can the government get such a complex endeavor right?

    In this article, we explore how planners of Nusantara are leveraging a UN-supported mechanism, called the Voluntary Local Review (VLR), to promote sustainability and uphold human rights. VLRs are typically performed by authorities of existing subnational administrative areas such as provinces and cities.

    Nusantara will be the first VLR for a new city ever undertaken – in order for authorities to integrate sustainability actions and key principles such as leaving no one behind already during the development stage.

    Valuable lessons from other new Asian cities

      • Malaysia’s sustainable approach: Putrajaya, just south of Kuala Lumpur, was designed as an intelligent garden city. Its planning emphasizes green and sustainable development. Rather than separating indigenous residents from their traditional land, it incorporated existing Malay villages into the plan. The lesson here is that new capital cities should prioritize local land rights and sustainability through green infrastructure. Such initiatives contribute to a better quality of life and environmental preservation.
      • Republic of Korea’s phased development: Sejong City’s incremental approach to its development as an administrative capital is a testament to the advantages of not rushing construction and drawing from lessons learned throughout the process. It was created to decentralize economic and political power away from Seoul. It also showcases the importance of designing new capital cities with resilience to climate change in mind, given the increasing threats of extreme weather events.
      • Kazakhstan’s sustained investments: Astana’s development and transformation as a capital city involved substantial investment in infrastructure, including the futuristic Norman Foster-designed Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center and the Bayterek Tower. One key lesson is that comprehensive urban planning, including spatial integration of transportation, housing, green spaces and public services, are crucial. Astana’s transformation into a thriving city of 1.3 million demonstrates the importance of having a clear, long-term vision.
    Credit: Asian Development Bank

    Seven key takeaways for Nusantara’s way forward

    Nusantara is learning from these examples by leveraging sustainability in its master planning and closely working with ESCAP, the UN Country Team in Indonesia and the Asian Development Bank to prepare a baseline VLR report as a tool for fostering inclusive, sustainable and rights-based development.

      1. Transparency and accountability: The VLR promotes transparency by providing detailed information about the progress and challenges faced in implementing the new capital. This transparency can help build trust among stakeholders, including the public, investors and government agencies. The VLR can demonstrate how the new capital’s development aligns with global goals.
      2. Assessment of progress: The VLR can evaluate the sustainability of the new capital, including its expected environmental impact and efforts to promote sustainable practices. Nusantara aims to be a “sustainable forest city” with 25 per cent built up urban area, 65 per cent tropical forest through reforestation and 10 per cent parks and food production areas. The plan aims to conserve much of Nusantara’s tropical forest, allowing the city to be a net carbon sequestration sink before 2030 along with the goal to be a carbon neutral city by 2045.
      3. Data-driven decision making: By collecting and presenting data on the new capital’s development in one place, the VLR can facilitate integrated data-driven decision-making. It can help policymakers identify trends and make informed choices regarding resource allocation and policy adjustments. In this process, the VLR requires municipal government departments to effectively work together and break down silos.
      4. Stakeholder engagement: Indigenous communities live on the site, including approximately 800 families of the Balik people. The VLR can highlight the importance of involving local communities in the planning and implementation process. It can document community feedback and demonstrate how their input has been considered and make recommendations for institutionalizing stakeholder engagement processes.
      5. Attracting investment: The cost estimate for Nusantara is $33 billion (Rp466 trillion), with the state budget only able to cover up to 19 per cent of the cost. Investors often look for transparent and well-documented information when considering investments. A VLR can serve as a tool to attract both domestic and international investors by showcasing the potential and progress of the new capital.
      6. International collaboration: Sharing a VLR report with international organizations and other countries can open avenues for benchmarking, collaboration and support. This can include financial aid, technical assistance, and knowledge exchange.
      7. Risk mitigation: Identifying risks and challenges in the VLR allows for proactive mitigation strategies. This can help prevent delays and cost overruns in the development process.

    While significant attention is focused on Nusantara, it’s clear that relocating administrative functions may not address all social and environmental problems in Jakarta, especially for those most vulnerable.

    The development of Nusantara has the potential to help Jakarta address its longstanding problems by relieving population pressure, improving infrastructure and setting an example for sustainable urban development. However, the success of this endeavor will depend on careful planning, infrastructure investment, and effective governance.

    Omar Sidique is Economic Affairs Officer, UN Economic and Social Commissions for Asia and the Pacific; Diani Sadiawati is Special Staff to the Head, Nusantara Capital City Authority, Government of Indonesia; and Diandra Pratami is Development Coordination Officer, UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, Indonesia

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  • Don’t Count on PPP Solutions

    Don’t Count on PPP Solutions

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    • Opinion by Jomo Kwame Sundaram (kuala lumpur, malaysia)
    • Inter Press Service

    KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sep 27 (IPS) – In recent years, public-private partnerships (PPPs) have spread rapidly. While usually profitable for the private partners, PPPs have generally not served the longer-term public interest.

    PPPs as miracle all-purpose solution

    As Eurodad has shown, PPP financing has grown in recent years, particularly in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) funding discourses. Adopted by the UN in September 2015, the SDGs endorsed PPP financing.

    Jomo Kwame Sundaram

    Earlier, the mid-2015 Third UN Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa had failed to ensure adequate financing. This was mainly due to rich nations opposing a UN-led international tax cooperation initiative.

    Instead, PPPs were strongly endorsed in the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda. Weeks later, SDG17 referred to PPPs as ‘means of implementation’. This all sought to “encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships”.

    PPPs have been promoted as a means to finance and deliver infrastructure, social services and, increasingly, climate-related projects. Advocates claimed PPPs would also help overcome other problems besides funding. PPPs, they claimed, would help improve project selection, planning, implementation and maintenance.

    PPP promotion

    Some advocates even claim only the private sector can deliver high-quality investment and efficiency in infrastructure and social service delivery. Private financing reduces budget-constrained governments’ need to raise funds upfront to finance, develop and manage projects.

    Increased private financing supposedly also overcomes public sector incapacity to deliver high-quality infrastructure and public services. Undoubtedly, many government capacities have been diminished by decades of structural adjustment, austerity and less public finance.

    This has been worsened by rich countries’ unmet commitments to contribute 0.7% of national income as official development assistance (ODA) on concessional terms. The global North has also been unwilling to effectively stem illicit financial outflows, e.g., due to tax dodging.

    PPP promotion has involved many means, media and institutions, including ‘donor’ agencies, multilateral development banks (MDBs), UN agencies, international consultants, transnational accounting firms, and the World Economic Forum (WEF).

    The World Bank has long promoted private financial investments in development, as well as ‘blended finance’ and PPPs more recently. In 2022, the influential WEF even proclaimed PPPs as essential for pandemic recovery.

    Promoting private finance

    Such promotion of private finance has implications far beyond the actually modest amount of funds raised through ‘blended finance’ and PPPs. Almost every project so funded is touted as proof that private finance should be privileged, including by guaranteeing returns using public finance.

    The World Bank and other MDBs are devoting considerable effort to advise governments on the use of PPPs. By contrast, they have not put comparable efforts into improving the quality and effectiveness of publicly financed infrastructure and social services.

    Over the years, the World Bank Group has produced different tools – including model language for PPP contracts, which favour private sector interests – often to the detriment of the public partner, ultimately governments in need of financing.

    Regional development banks – such as the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank – have strategic frameworks, networks and dedicated offices to support countries implementing PPPs.

    National PPP promotion

    PPP advocacy has led to changes in laws, regulatory frameworks and policy environments at international, national and local levels. Developing countries have also started including PPPs – to scale up infrastructure and public service provision – in national development plans.

    Many developing countries have enacted laws enabling PPPs and set up ‘PPP Units’ to implement PPP projects. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and regional development banks work closely with private partners to provide policy guidance advising governments on how to best enable PPPs.

    All this has transformed policy formulation for public service provision to attract private investors – an agenda Daniela Gabor dubs the ‘Wall Street Consensus’. This implies “an elaborate effort to reorganize development interventions around partnerships with global finance”.

    PPPs have not delivered

    But actual experiences have not confirmed this favourable impression promoted by PPP advocates. Instead, PPPs have become a major cause for concern. Reliable data on international PPP trends are hard to find. Also, different PPP definitions and terminology have confused reporting.

    The World Bank’s Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects Database reports on economic infrastructure – such as for energy, transport, water and sewerage – in 137 low- and middle-income countries.

    The Covid-19 pandemic undoubtedly disrupted PPP planning, preparation and procurement. But even the World Bank admits that delays and cancellations were not only due to Covid-19 as the pandemic exposed projects already in trouble for other reasons.

    Nonetheless, PPPs’ financial impacts to date have been small, as the public sector continues to dominate. But little private investment – including PPPs – goes to low-income countries. Most such projects are concentrated in a few countries.

    PPPs tend to be found in countries with large and developed markets allowing faster cost recovery and more secure revenues. This implies market ‘cherry-picking’ – a selection bias – with private investments going to more affluent urban areas rather than to the needy.

    The major setbacks to both the SDGs and climate progress in the last decade are not only due to financing. But they are more than enough to underscore that recent reliance on blended finance and PPPs has worsened, rather than helped the situation. The empire of private finance has no clothes!

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