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  • Ocean Action on Global Agenda as Negotiations to Save Biodiversity Deepen

    Ocean Action on Global Agenda as Negotiations to Save Biodiversity Deepen

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    Delegates say the survival of humanity is interlinked with the sustainable use of ocean and marine biodiversity resources. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
    • by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
    • Inter Press Service

    NAIROBI, May 15 (IPS) – The oceans are as fascinating as they are mysterious. Home to the largest animals to ever live on Earth and billions of the tiniest, the top 100 meters of the open oceans host the majority of sea life, such as fish, turtles, and marine mammals. But there is another world far below the surface. In the belly of the ocean, there are seamounts—underwater mountains that rise 1,000 meters or more from the seafloor.

    It is within this context that negotiations on critical science, technical skills, and technology deepened on the second day of the 26th session of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Putting ocean action on the global agenda is a top priority to ensure conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity. Emphasizing an urgent need for further work on ecologically or biologically significant marine areas.

    “The survival of humanity is interlinked with the sustainable use of ocean and marine biodiversity resources. We rely on the ocean for food, relaxation, and inspiration. But now the ocean is under threat, and that threat is being passed on to our lives on land. We have to invest time, money, and every resource possible to save our oceans and, by doing so, save ourselves. Our biggest revenue comes from fisheries, and now we have to worry about rising sea level as we are a low-lying island,” Eleala Avanitele from the Forest Peoples Program in Tuvalu told IPS.

    Scientists warn that Tuvalu, the fourth-smallest country in the world, is sinking due to its vulnerability to rising sea levels, as the nation comprises nine low-lying coral atolls and islands. Across the globe, the world is in a crisis as oceans provide 50 percent of all oxygen on Earth and 50 to 80 percent of all life on Earth. This life is now at stake.

    Thus far, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, also known as the Biodiversity Plan, has been front and centre during ongoing negotiations, as it is a strategic plan for the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a global agreement that covers all aspects of biological diversity and is considered a framework for governments and the whole of society.

    Harrison Ajebe Nnoko Ngaaje from Ajemalebu Self Help (Ajesh) in Cameroon told IPS that his organization is a CSO registered in Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania, and the USA to create synergies and collaboration within and beyond the continent for the restoration, protection, and sustainable management of key biodiversity areas.

    “Conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity is very critical to Cameroon due to its vast and unique ecosystem and biodiversity. Limbe Beach, for instance, has shiny black sandy beaches made of lava sand from the Mt. Cameroon eruptions, an active volcano in the south-west region of Cameroon. We have mangroves under serious threat of degradation. Ajesh is strongly focused on marine protected area management and the conservation of marine aquatic ecosystems.”

    More than half of all marine species could be in danger of extinction by 2100. Nearly 60 percent of the world’s marine ecosystems have been altered or handled unsustainably. Marine, coastal, and island biodiversity were discussed within the context of the Biodiversity Plan. Target 3 of the Plan aims to ensure and enable that by 2030 at least 30 percent of terrestrial and inland water areas, and of marine and coastal areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed.

    The main goal of the SBSTTA discussions was to find and fix areas that need more attention under the Convention in order to help carry out the Biodiversity Plan for marine, coastal, and island biodiversity.

    Despite the Conference of the Parties adopting the program of work on marine and coastal biological diversity at its fourth meeting in 1998 and the program of work on island biodiversity in 2006, the world is significantly behind schedule when it comes to the conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity. Nevertheless, CBD continues to prioritize and facilitate cooperation and collaboration with relevant global and regional organizations and initiatives with regard to marine and coastal biodiversity.

    “It is very important that civil society, youths, and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) are part of the SBSTTA process, observing and being allowed the opportunity to make remarks. Parties make decisions but these actors also implement and are at the forefront of facing the consequences of biodiversity loss,” Ngaaje says.

    Onyango Adhiambo, a youth delegate from academia and research under the International University Network on Cultural and Biological Diversity, supported Ngaaje’s remarks.

    “Young people will need to understand the science, technical skills, and technology at play in saving our planet, for soon we will need to step in and step up. The future, which is now at stake, belongs to us, and when called upon to intervene on what the parties agree to, we must do so efficiently, effectively, and sustainably to save natural resources for future generations,” Adhiambo said.

    Highlights from the session included a recognition of the importance of science for decision-making and that there are many areas of the programmes of work on marine and coastal biodiversity and on island biodiversity that have not been fully implemented and for which enhanced capacity-building and development, in particular for least developed countries and small island developing states, are needed.

    The 2022 Biodiversity Plan says that we can get back on track by creating “ecologically representative, well-connected, and fairly governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, recognizing indigenous and traditional territories, where applicable, and integrating them into larger landscapes, seascapes, and the ocean, while ensuring that any sustainable use, where appropriate in such areas, is fully consistent with conservation outcomes, recognizing and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, including over their traditional territories.”

    Equally important is the agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, which was adopted on June 19, 2023.

    Collaboration in ocean conservation beyond national boundaries was strongly encouraged on issues such as marine genetic resources, including the fair and equitable sharing of benefits; measures such as area-based management tools, including marine protected areas; environmental impact assessments; and capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology.

    IPS UN Bureau Report


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  • South Africa will be President of G20 in 2025: Two much-needed Reforms it Should Drive

    South Africa will be President of G20 in 2025: Two much-needed Reforms it Should Drive

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    Credit: IMF
    • Opinion by Danny Bradlow (pretoria, south africa)
    • Inter Press Service

    During its G20 presidential year, South Africa will host a summit of heads of state and government. It will also be responsible for organising and chairing about 200 meetings of ministers and officials. These will come from the G20 members, invited countries and international organisations like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

    The meetings will focus on issues such as the challenges facing the global economy and whether the current arrangements for global economic governance are able to respond effectively.

    The G20 presidency, therefore, presents South Africa with an opportunity to promote reforms in global economic governance. But there are constraints. It will inherit an agenda from Brazil, the current G20 chair. And it will have to respond to developments in the current dynamic and complex global environment.

    Danny Bradlow

    The IMF/World Bank spring meetings held in April in the US suggest some achievable objectives for the G20 next year. There was a great deal of discussion about the inability of current arrangements to adequately address global challenges like climate, public health, inequality, poverty and digitalisation.

    There’s not necessarily agreement on how to prioritise these challenges. And, unfortunately, the views of the rich states, which prioritise issues like carbon emissions, dominate the discussions. For example, the World Bank highlighted the fact that, in the 2023 financial year, it increased the funds loaned for climate-related purposes by more than 20%, allocating 41% of all its lending to climate.

    But its own survey of its borrower countries shows that climate ranks number 11 on the list of priorities of its borrower states. Health, education, agriculture and food security, and water and sanitation rank much higher. Nevertheless, at least two gaps became evident in the discussions.

    The first relates to IMF reform. The second concerns the relationship between international organisations and their member states.

    South Africa should aim to fill these gaps. It should encourage the G20 to commission two studies on the scale and scope of the challenges that the international community faces, and propose some responses. Ideally, it should convince the G20 to commission these studies in 2024 so that it can begin discussing policy responses in 2025.

    This kind of approach has been effective. Over the last few years, the multilateral development banks have been the subject of G20-commissioned studies. This has led to proposals designed to make them “bigger and better”.

    Shortcomings

    The need for IMF reform is becoming more urgent. It is adapting its operations to deal with the macro-economic impacts of issues like climate, gender and inequality. The IMF has created a Resilience and Sustainability Trust that is providing financing to 18 countries, primarily for adaptation. It is reviewing its Debt-Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries so that it incorporates these “new” issues.

    These changes are being made in an opaque and unpredictable way, however. The IMF has not made publicly available the principles and procedures it uses when deciding what aspects of these “new” issues to take on.

    It can’t accurately assess the full impacts of these issues unless it understands how communities, workers, businesses and civil society organisations will respond to the social and environmental impacts of specific policy and fiscal initiatives with macroeconomic implications. It cannot gain this information without consulting these groups.

    This means it must engage more with a broader range of stakeholders than it did when it focused exclusively on more traditional macroeconomic and financial stability concerns. These new issues, therefore, raise questions about the appropriate form for the relationship between the IMF and its member states.

    At the spring meetings, the Development Committee of the World Bank and the IMF “reiterated the importance of accountability mechanisms in enhancing development outcomes and stimulating internal learning and feedback.”

    Yet the IMF remains the only international financial institution without an independent accountability mechanism.

    The second gap relates to the fact that developing countries are spending more on external debt service than on health and education. This is undermining their efforts to deal with climate change, inequality and sustainable development goals. Some discussants also regretted that there was a net outflow of funds from the global south to the global north.

    As some have noted, the amount of funding committed to new development financing initiatives by rich countries is paltry compared to what’s needed. This has led, for example, economic ministers from Brazil, Germany, South Africa and Spain to call for a global tax on billionaires.

    This is an important and creative idea. But the proposal raises difficult questions about state sovereignty and about the design of the institutions of global governance.

    What’s needed

    While multilateral development banks have been the subject of G20-commissioned studies, the IMF has not undergone a similar examination.

    South Africa should commission a group of experts to study how the IMF should change to take on these new issues. The study should look at IMF governance, operational policies and practices, and its financial needs. The purpose would be to identify the current shortcomings in structures and functions.

    Experts should also think of ways to make the IMF more responsive to the needs and priorities of all its member states and their citizens.

    Second, South Africa should call for a study of how best to divide responsibility between states and the international financial institutions. This is particularly important when it comes to the environmental and social impacts of operations.

    The purpose would be to understand how the roles and functions of these institutions are evolving and how this is affecting their relations with their member states. The study could propose ways to ensure that the structure and functions of institutions are both respectful of state sovereignty and appropriate for the responsibilities that the institutions are assuming.

    Raising a global wealth tax for developmental purposes could be one example used in this study.

    Danny Bradlow is a Professor/Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancement of Scholarship, University of Pretoria. In addition to his position at the University of Pretoria, he is also a Compliance Officer in the Social and Environmental Compliance Unit of the UNDP and Co-Chair of the Academic Circle on the Right to Development, which advises the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development.

    Source: The Conversation– a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good. The University of Pretoria provides funding as a partner of The Conversation AFRICA.

    IPS UN Bureau

    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • The Bleak déjà vu in Darfur

    The Bleak déjà vu in Darfur

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    Food is distributed to Sudanese refugees in Koufron, Chad. Credit: WFP/Jacques David
    • Opinion by James Elder (darfur, western sudan)
    • Inter Press Service

    DARFUR, Western Sudan, May 09 (IPS) – As dawn breaks over Darfur, my return after two decades feels heavy. Many millions are suffering once again. Twenty years ago, I was part of the humanitarian effort to make a difference. That was in the early 2000s, when celebrities and world-famous journalists would make the trek in a well-intentioned effort to focus attention on the atrocities across Darfur.

    Meanwhile, a former UN staff member who worked for a decade in Sudan’s Darfur region for the African Union-United Nations mission, UNAMID, has told UN News how she had to “avoid stepping on the bodies in the streets” as she fled for her life to neighbouring Chad. March 2024.

    But despite years of progress, this return is difficult; something akin to a bleak déjà vu. Indeed, in many respects, this time it is much, much worse for children and women. Sudan’s Darfur region has long been plagued by conflict, displacement, and unimaginable suffering.

    But now, as Sudan is torn apart by warring parties, there are no Hollywood actors, nor coordinated, concerted international pressure from politicians and media, to tackle what is the largest displacement crisis for children on the planet.

    Darfur faces one of the world’s worst man-made disasters, yet so few people are talking about. After a year of fighting, more than 4.5 million children have been displaced. That’s more children than the entire population of many countries.

    My initial experience 20 years ago left an indelible mark on me. Now, two decades later, I find myself standing once again on the soil of Darfur, the landscape hardly changed, but the problems all too familiar.

    There’s a frightful, familiar pattern to this current war. The fighting has been brutal. The ceasefires almost non-existent. The clashes spreading. And the atrocities many, with girls and women so frequently targeted.

    “If they couldn’t carry it, they burnt it”

    Talking to the people, most of whom are displaced, I hear familiar themes from 20 years ago. Fighters didn’t just battle each other but looted whatever they could find, including basics like beds, mattresses, blankets, pots and pans or clothes. They took everything and, as an elderly woman told me in the city of Genenia: “If they couldn’t carry it, they burnt it.”

    As I travel across West Darfur, I see evidence of a rebuilt life demolished once again, this time for the next generation. There were schools, health clinics and water systems less than 20 years old that now, after intense fighting, have been destroyed.

    Lifesaving services that protect children and families again on the brink of collapse. Frontline workers like nurses, teachers, doctors, have not been paid in months. They are running out of medicines. Safe water is sparse.

    Similarly, for those who were children the last time I was in Darfur it is again a desolate place. University students and graduates, mostly young men but some women – young people who wanted a job in economics, medicine or IT – are now refugees in Chad with next to nothing. They crave the tiniest opportunity.

    Dreams on hold

    In the chaos of this war, the brightest minds have been forced to abandon their studies, their ambitions shattered. As 22-year-old Haida said to me in Darfur: “I had a dream – to study medical science. I was living that dream. Now I have nothing. I do not dream. Sadness is my friend.”

    Her gentle voice, perfect clarity, and utter grief floor me. I can only imagine how much more attention Sudan would get if the world could meet young Sudanese women like Haida.

    Or Ahmed, 20, now in Farchana, Chad: “I cannot afford to dream here.” How then to reawaken their dreams? Those in power need to negotiate a ceasefire, and ensure aid is no longer blocked – from any side.

    Those in the region need to show leadership. Those in donor countries need to show compassion – and translate that into funding to address immediate needs.

    I speak to Nawal, 24, from Zelinge in West Darfur, for whom the stress of war had become so much that she delivered her baby, at home, two months premature. And then, as she was giving birth, Nawal’s house was bombed. Miraculously, she and her baby survived, but when I met her, the baby was badly malnourished. I will always remember the look of this mother, as she whispered to me, head bowed, “I am a nutritionist, but look at my child’.

    She was ashamed. I thought she was heroic. She had walked for a day to get her baby to a facility where the baby could receive treatment from UNICEF, but without additional resources and improved access, she will be one of the few lucky ones.

    James Elder is UNICEF’s spokesperson. Follow him @1james_elder

    IPS UN Bureau


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  • A Russian Veto Threatens to Trigger a Nuclear Arms Race in Outer Space

    A Russian Veto Threatens to Trigger a Nuclear Arms Race in Outer Space

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    A view of the Earth and a satellite as seen from outer space. Credit: NASA via UN News
    • by Thalif Deen (united nations)
    • Inter Press Service

    UNITED NATIONS, May 07 (IPS) – When the 15-member UN Security Council failed last month to adopt its first-ever resolution on outer space—co-sponsored by the US and Japan—the Russian veto led to speculation whether this was a precursor for a future nuclear arms race in the skies above.

    The vetoed resolution was expected to “affirm the obligation of all States parties to fully comply with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, including not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies or station such weapons in outer space in any other manner.”

    Randy Rydell, Executive Advisor, Mayors for Peace, and a former Senior Political Affairs Officer at the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), told IPS that the Security Council’s record on disarmament issues has long suffered from the same plague that has also tormented the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva: namely the veto and the CD’s “consensus rule.”

    Sadly, this vote on the outer space resolution should surprise no one, he said.

    The world is facing a crisis of the “rule of law” in disarmament. Key treaties have failed to achieve universal membership, failed to be negotiated, failed to enter into force, failed to be fully incorporated into domestic laws and policies of the parties, and failed to be fully implemented, while other treaties have actually lost parties, he pointed out.

    While the Outer Space Treaty will remain in force despite this unfortunate vote, Rydell argued, the specters of the existing nuclear arms race proliferating one day into space, along with unbridled competition to deploy non-nuclear space weapons, have profound implications not just for the future of disarmament but also for the peace and security of our fragile planet.

    “The Charter’s norms against the threat of use of force and the obligation to resolve disputes peacefully remain the most potentially effective antidotes to the contagion unfolding before us, coupled with new steps not just “toward” but “in” disarmament”.

    “I hope the General Assembly’s Summit of the Future in September will succeed in reviving a new global commitment to precisely these priorities,” declared Rydell

    By a vote of 13 in favor to 1 against (Russian Federation) and 1 abstention (China), the Council rejected the draft resolution, owing to the negative vote cast by a permanent member.

    Besides the US,  UK and France, all 10 non-permanent members voted for the resolution,  including Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland.

    Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation, told IPS it is impossible, amidst the current geopolitical rivalries and fog of propaganda, to evaluate the ramifications of the Security Council’s failure to adopt this resolution—though it does underscore the dysfunction in the Security Council created by the P-5’s veto power.

    “Russia and China have long been proponents of negotiations for a comprehensive treaty on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space, and in 2008 and 2014 submitted draft treaty texts to the moribund Conference on Disarmament,” she said.

    The United States, under both the Bush and Obama administrations, rejected those drafts out of hand, said Cabasso, whose California-based WSLF is a non-profit public interest organization that seeks to abolish nuclear weapons as an essential step in securing a more just and environmentally sustainable world.

    A week after its April 24 veto, Russia submitted a new draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council that goes farther than the U.S.-Japan proposal, calling not only for efforts to stop weapons from being deployed in outer space “for all time,” but for preventing “the threat or use of force in outer space.”

    The resolution reportedly states this should include bans on deploying weapons “from space against Earth, and from Earth against objects in outer space.” By definition, this would include anti-satellite weapons.

    With new nuclear arms races underway here on earth, with the erosion and dismantling of the Cold War nuclear arms control architecture, and with the dangers of wars among nuclear armed states growing to perhaps an all-time high, it certainly remains true, as recognized by the UN General Assembly in 1981, that “the extension of the arms race into outer space a real possibility.”

    “We are in a global emergency and every effort must be made to lower the temperature and create openings for diplomatic dialogue among the nuclear-armed states. To this end, the U.S. and its allies should call Russia’s bluff (if that’s what they think it is) and welcome its proposed new resolution in the Security Council,” declared Cabasso.

    Speaking after the vote, the representative of the United States said that this is not the first time the Russian Federation has undermined the global non-proliferation regime, according to a report in UN News. “It has defended—and even enabled—dangerous proliferators.”

    Moreover, with its abstention, the US said, China showed that it would rather “defend Russia as its junior partner” than safeguard the global non-proliferation regime, she added.

    “There should be no doubt that placing a nuclear weapon into orbit would be unprecedented, unacceptable, and deeply dangerous.”

    The US said Japan had gone to great lengths to forge consensus, with 65 cross-regional co-sponsors who joined in support.

    Japan’s representative said he deeply regretted the Russian Federation’s decision to use the veto to break the adoption of “this historic draft resolution.”

    Notwithstanding the support of 65 countries that co-sponsored the document, one permanent member decided to “silence the critical message we wanted to send to the world,” he stressed, noting that the draft resolution would have been a practical contribution to the promotion of peaceful use and the exploration of outer space.

    The representative of the Russian Federation, noting that the Council is again involved in “a dirty spectacle prepared by the US and Japan, said, “This is a cynical ploy.  We are being tricked.”

    Recalling that the ban on placing weapons of mass destruction in outer space is already enshrined in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, he said that Washington, D.C., Japan, and their allies are “cherry-picking” weapons of mass destruction out of all other weapons, trying to “camouflage their lack of interest” in outer space being free from any kinds of weapons.

    The addition to the operative paragraph, proposed by the Russian Federation and China, does not delete from the draft resolution a call not to develop weapons of mass destruction and not to place them in outer space, he emphasized.

    Meanwhile, outlining the treaty’s history, Cabasso said that in Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1967, States Parties agreed “not to place in orbit around the earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space in any other manner.”

    Yet, according to the UN Yearbook, by 1981, member states had expressed concern in the General Assembly that “rapid advances in science and technology had made the extension of the arms race into outer space a real possibility, and that new kinds of weapons were still being developed despite the existence of international agreements.”

    In his May 1 testimony to the House Armed Services subcommittee, John Plumb, the first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, claimed that “Russia is developing and—if we are unable to convince them otherwise—to ultimately fly a nuclear weapon in space which will be an indiscriminate weapon” that would not distinguish among military, civilian, or commercial satellites.

    In February, President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space. It is troubling, therefore, that on April 24, Russia vetoed the first-ever Security Council resolution on an arms race in outer space, said Cabasso.

    The resolution, introduced by the United States and Japan, would have affirmed the obligation of all States Parties to fully comply with the Outer Space Treaty, including its provisions to not deploy nuclear or any other kind of weapon of mass destruction in space. China abstained.

    Before the resolution was put to a vote, Russia and China had proposed an amendment that would have broadened the call on all countries—beyond banning nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons—to “prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space and the threat of use of force in outer space.”  The amendment was defeated, she said.

    Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram, in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.

    IPS UN Bureau Report


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  • First Person: Women in Madagascar too ashamed to seek help giving birth

    First Person: Women in Madagascar too ashamed to seek help giving birth

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    The predominantly rural region of Androy has been beset by a series of humanitarian crises which have affected the most vulnerable people there, including mothers-to-be, however the delivery of simple, inexpensive maternity kits is encouraging more women to access a range of services that will help keep them and their babies healthy.

    Ahead of the International Day of the Midwife, celebrated annually on 5 May, Jeanne Bernadine Rasoanirina, a midwife in Behara, in Androy, spoke to UN News’s Daniel Dickinson about the challenges of reaching the poorest women.

    “This is a very poor rural area, and many women are too ashamed to come to the health centre to have their babies delivered because they don’t even have the money for transport or to buy clean cloth in which to wrap their newborn. They don’t want other people to know they are poor.

    UN News/Daniel Dickinson

    The mothers-to-be who come here get all the support they need to give birth, and it’s free of charge, thanks to the government as well as UN agencies, including [the UN reproductive health agency] UNFPA.[The UN Children’s Fund] UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP) provide important nutrition advice and support, which complements our work and is essential to keeping mothers and their children healthy.

    Even though I have done this job for 19 years, it still really saddens me when women arrive who don’t have the means to look after themselves. They may be wearing dirty clothes, which is a sign of poverty, but also a lack of knowledge or respect for cleanliness.

    In the last week, I have delivered three babies and over the past month, I attended over 330 antenatal and postnatal consultations, so there is definitely a demand for services.

    Jeanne Bernadine Rasoanirina sits at her desk with the recently delivered maternity kits.

    UN News/Daniel Dickinson

    Jeanne Bernadine Rasoanirina sits at her desk with the recently delivered maternity kits.

    Maternity kits

    I think more women will be encouraged to come to the health centre, as yesterday we had a delivery of 240 maternity kits [supported by UNFPA] for the first time in over a year, which will last about three months.

    The kits include everything a mother needs to give birth – gloves, gauze, umbilical cord clip and a syringe for the delivery and then cloth wraps and clothes in which to dress the baby. They will remove the shame that mothers feel.

    It is frustrating that we have not had a consistent supply as this small item can make a big difference. It means more women will come to our health centre, which is a safer place to give birth. In 2023, we had only successful births; there were no deaths. We don’t know how many women gave birth at home nor how many children and mothers died as a result. There is definitely a risk of death if a woman doesn’t come here to deliver her baby.

    Polygamy

    There are still many cultural barriers to safe childbirth in the south of Madagascar. Children are considered a sign of wealth, even if families don’t have the means to look after them properly, so it is common to have many children, sometimes as many as 10.

    Polygamy is also practiced, and some men have up to five wives and want to have children with all of them. We provide information here and offer training about these issues, but we must always be sensitive about the local culture.”

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  • ‘Our voices need to be included’: Trinidadian youth make case for strong role in climate negotiations

    ‘Our voices need to be included’: Trinidadian youth make case for strong role in climate negotiations

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    Small island developing States are particularly vulnerable to climate change consequences, such as rising sea levels and heavy rains that cause flooding, increasing ocean temperatures that affect coral reefs and fishing and frequent hurricanes destroying homes and livelihoods. These countries often suffer from fragile economic conditions and don’t have the means to help their citizens to cope with these problems.

    In the face of such uncertain conditions, many young people are deciding that they want and need urgent changes to ensure that they have a world worth living in. Around the world, they are leading strikes, protests and demonstrations and gaining the skills needed to find solutions.

    At a coffee shop in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, UN News met some of the country’s leading young voices on the environment to find out what Trinidadians think about the climate emergency and how to address it.

    Priyanka Lalla, a teenage climate activist and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) youth advocate for the eastern Caribbean, represented Trinidad and Tobago at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow; Joshua Prentice, a climate and ocean scientist, has worked with the United Nations on projects related to chemicals and waste; and Zaafia Alexander is the 18-year-old founder of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) devoted to raising awareness of the climate crisis and elevating the voices of Caribbean youth on the international scene.

    UN News/Brianna Rowe

    Priyanka Lalla is a Trinidadian teenage climate activist and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) youth advocate for the eastern Caribbean.

    UN News: What inspired you to advocate for change?

    Priyanka Lalla: I grew up in a beautiful region with lush biodiversity, and I have seen the destruction and damage caused by storms, particularly after Hurricane Maria struck the Leeward Islands in 2017.

    I think there’s often a narrative that individual action does not create great impact. But it does, which is why I advocate for individual action and to empower young people and show them that we do have power.

    Joshua Prentice: Discussions are happening now that will shape our future, and our voices need to be included in all negotiations. This is why I decided to attend climate conferences and ensure that youth are represented, particularly from my region.

    Zaafia Alexander: For me it was an excruciatingly passionate geography teacher. They helped me understand why climate change should be a key topic of conversation in Trinidad and Tobago.

    Also, I was angry. It seemed to me that no one was taking any action, that no one my age was talking about the problem and that youth weren’t included in crucial decisions that affect us.

    Joshua Prentice is a Trinidadian climate and ocean scientist.

    UN News/Brianna Rowe

    Joshua Prentice is a Trinidadian climate and ocean scientist.

    UN News: You have all told me that not enough young people are getting involved in advocating for climate action. Why do you think that is?

    Joshua Prentice: I think that this is a by-product of it not being pushed more in the school system growing up. It trickles down from parents as well. They need to teach their children good recycling practices and why we should we take care of the environment. However, thanks to the internet and social media, young people are starting to be more engaged.

    Zaafia Alexander: This is why education and advocacy are so important. So many Trinidadians are not aware of the severity of the crisis or how it directly affects Trinidad and Tobago and other small island developing States. It’s not a part of the syllabus.

    Joshua Prentice: And many young farmers don’t understand how climate change is affecting their crops and their land because of things like drought and flooding.

    Zaafia Alexander: It’s ironic that we are heavily affected, but so many of us don’t understand why we’re seeing fluctuating weather patterns, sea level rises and increased temperatures or that mankind is primarily to blame.

    Priyanka Lalla: Yes, it’s the same marginalised coastal communities that are hit by flash flooding every year. Their homes are washed out, they lose their belongings, young children are forced out of education because their schools are destroyed and they don’t have the resources to build back. Sometimes they are forced to give up on education and are forced into child marriage or child labour.

    Zaafia Alexander is Trinidadian teenage climate activist, and founder of an environmental NGO.

    UN News/Brianna Rowe

    Zaafia Alexander is Trinidadian teenage climate activist, and founder of an environmental NGO.

    UN News: Some activists advocate for changes in legislation to address the climate crisis. Is this something you’re interested in pursuing?

    Joshua Prentice: As someone who practices environmental law, I can say that it’s very hard to update legislation. There needs to be immense public outcry for a law to change. However, in recent years we have made some progress because of public pressure.

    But, reaching out directly to the ministries directly overseeing this area can help. Youth activists should contact them and ask for their concerns to be taken up in cabinet. There are also NGOs in Trinidad that talk directly to ministers. By getting involved with them, you have a better chance of being heard.

    Priyanka Lalla: We need the support of our ministries, our policymakers, our governments. We also need the support of our young people, educators, homemakers. It needs to be a collective effort.

    I think that accountability comes from the voice of the young people. We continue to keep our governments, our policymakers, NGOs and various organisations accountable. But, I think we also need to acknowledge the good that has been done already and acknowledge it to make people feel empowered and inspired to continue.

    UN News: Trinidad has benefited from oil reserves over many years. Should the country stop exploiting this fossil fuel resource?

    Joshua Prentice: As an advocate for sustainable development and clean energy, I think that we should stop it. However, I exist in the real world as well. There are a lot of things that need to be done in the country, and we cannot afford to just leave oil and gas, which is by far its biggest revenue generator, overnight.

    There have been steps taken to diversify the country and move away from our dependency on oil and gas, and I do believe that we want to go further in this direction.

    Priyanka Lalla: Within the next few decades, we need to make that transition, even though it is taking longer than we’d like, for the sake of our people and the sake of our biodiversity.

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  • We Should Aim to be at Peace with Nature, Says David Cooper of UN Convention on Biological Diversity

    We Should Aim to be at Peace with Nature, Says David Cooper of UN Convention on Biological Diversity

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    Bee-harvesting in an urban setting. Preparations are underway for the 16th Biodiversity Convention of the Parties (COP16) in Cali, Valle del Cauca. Credit: USDA
    • by Stella Paul (hyderabad & montreal)
    • Inter Press Service

    HYDERABAD & MONTREAL, May 02 (IPS) – In a world faced with habitat loss and species extinction, climate change, and pollution, it’s crucial that countries develop their national action plans and create a society that lives in harmony with nature, says David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in an exclusive interview with IPS.

    And in a year where more than 4 billion people across the globe are expected to participate in elections, Cooper believes that politicians should put biodiversity on their manifestos.

    Since taking the reins from the previous Executive Director, Elizabeth Mrema, Cooper has been at the forefront of steering the CBD towards the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework.

    Later this year, world leaders will gather in Cali, Colombia for the 16th Biodiversity Convention of the Parties (COP16) slated for October 21 to November 1, 2024 for which preparations are currently underway.

    Cooper gives insight into the core issues that will be on the top of the COP16 agenda, the current status of biodiversity finance, including the newly operationalized biodiversity fund, the upcoming meetings of the scientific and technical bodies of the CBD, the current status of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAP) and what is likely to unfold in the coming months in Digital Sequence Information (DSI).

    David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
    David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

    Biodiversity Finance: On Track but at Slow Pace

    The UN Biodiversity Convention aims to mobilize at least USD 20 billion per year by 2025 and at least USD 30 billion per year by 2030 for biodiversity-related funding from all sources, including the public and private sectors.

    However, the current situation with biodiversity funding shows that while progress is happening, it’s not fast enough. Some countries and groups are trying hard to give more money to projects that help nature, but overall, it’s still below expectations, and there are unfilled promises, Cooper acknowledges.

    “We need to see a serious road map,” Cooper says, “All countries, in particular the donor country community, have to see how we are going to achieve at least that USD 20 billion by 2025 because that’s imminent.”

    He called on big donors to honor their commitments.

    “It’s really important that the big donors who promise money actually follow through and give the money they said they would. We need everyone to work together to make sure there’s enough money to protect our plants, animals, and the places they live,” Cooper says. “Certainly, we need to see all countries put efforts behind all of the goals and targets of the framework and that, of course, includes those on financial resources.”

    Cooper welcomed the decision by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to establish a new fund, the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund. He said the CBD secretariat was working closely with Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, the GEF CEO, and his team.

    “We then saw a number of contributions to that fund coming. The contribution from Canada is a significant one of 200 million Canadian dollars. Other significant donations came from Germany, Spain, Japan, and most recently, Luxembourg. Actually, the contribution from Luxembourg, if we look at its pro rata, given the size of the Luxembourg economy, is also quite generous, even though it’s only USD 7 million in total.”

    National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs)

    It’s not only about funding, Cooper says, but countries showing their commitment to their agreements, including developing NBSAPs. He acknowledged that very few countries had submitted so far.

    “It’s only a few countries so far, and Spain, Japan, China, France, Hungary, and Ireland have submitted their NBSAPS, as well as the European Union,” says Cooper.

    While he is optimistic that all the countries will develop their targets, he recognizes that it’s a complex process.

    “I think most countries are in the process of developing their national targets, which is the first thing they’re supposed to do. But this is a process that is also supposed to engage all the different sectors of the economy and all the different parts of society, with the engagement of local communities, indigenous peoples, businesses, and so on.”

    The CBD supports the countries through the complexities.

    “The developing countries in particular have been supported through the Global Environment Facility. We’ve also been organizing a number of regional dialogues so that countries can share their experience as they move forward,” Cooper says.

    At COP15, it was decided that all countries should submit their NBSAPs, if possible, before COP16.

    “If they’re not able to submit their full NBSAPS by then, then at least they should provide their updated national targets. So, we do expect many, many countries to have progressed on their NBSAPs by COP16. Immediately prior to COP16, there will be another meeting of the subsidiary body on implementation to also take stock of where we are on that.”

    COP16: What’s In, What’s Out

    The core focus of CBD COP16 is likely to revolve around the adoption and implementation of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. This framework sets out the global targets and goals for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use for the next decade and beyond. Key aspects of the framework may include targets related to halting biodiversity loss, promoting sustainable resource management, enhancing ecosystem resilience, and ensuring equitable sharing of the benefits derived from biodiversity.

    “I think I can highlight four key areas for COP 16,” says Cooper. “The first is that we have to see, and we have to have demonstrated progress in terms of implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework. That means national targets are set. That means NBSAPs developed in at least a majority of countries. That means funds are flowing, which means, as I said before, a credible path towards this USD 20 billion by 2025 target. It also means the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund should be receiving more funds and supporting more projects.”

    The second core issue will be the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of Digital Sequence Information (DSI) on genetic resources. There was an agreement made at COP15 to establish this mechanism, but no details were fleshed out at that time, so those details are now being negotiated in an intergovernmental working group.

    “Of course, the establishment of such a mechanism with a fund would give another major boost to the Convention because it would bring in another source of funding.”

    The third area would be finance, he says.

    “The fourth area that I would highlight is the need to further strengthen the role of indigenous peoples and local communities as key actors.”

    He also points out that there’s a number of other issues, such as the issue of biodiversity and health and synthetic biology, that need to be managed, including looking at a risk assessment and risk management for, for instance, gene-edited mosquitoes.

    “They’ve determined that the theme of the COP will be peace with nature, which is a broad theme that will include many, many issues,” he reveals.

     Plastic Pollution Treaty and CBD’s Role

    The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4) on plastic pollution in April 2024 at the Shaw Center in Ottawa, Canada, aims to develop an internationally legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, to end plastic pollution by 2040.

    Ending plastic pollution is also one of the biodiversity targets, Cooper says, adding that the CBD is actively involved in the logistical organization of INC-4.

    “Also, the reduction of waste from plastics and pollution from plastics is one of the elements of target 7 of the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. So, we are seeing the success of INC-4 negotiations as hugely important for the implementation of the Framework,” he says.

    What to Watch out for Between Now and COP16

    Although all eyes will be on the COP16 negotiations, there are a number of global events taking place in the next few months that will contribute to the agenda and determine the level of the world’s preparedness for the conference.

    “The most important ones are obviously the SBSTTA (Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice) and the SBI (Subsidiary Body on Implementation), then this working group on Digital Sequence Information that will take place in August,” Cooper says.

    Like the SBI, SBSTTA is a subsidiary body established under the CBD. While the SBI specifically assists in reviewing progress in the implementation of the Convention and identifies obstacles to its implementation, among other functions, SBSTTA plays a crucial role in ensuring that decisions made under the CBD are informed by the best available scientific evidence and technical expertise.

    “Then we have the G7 and G20 processes coming up, which are important processes to show leadership. The CBD COP itself will be followed by the COPs of climate change and desertification, making the linkage between these. Also, we expect Colombia and the indigenous peoples will host just before COP, a pre-cop focusing on indigenous peoples and local communities and their roles,” Cooper says.

    Finally, as a record 64 countries across the world hold their elections this year to elect a new national government, does this provide a unique opportunity to speak about biodiversity and should biodiversity, like climate change, be made an election issue?

    “Definitely,” says Cooper.

    “If we look at many of the extreme events that people suffered from, particularly last year, whether these be fires, wildfires, droughts, storms, or floods, you know, these are largely attributed by the media to climate change. Climate change is increasing the probability and severity of these events, but these events are also happening because of ecosystem degradation because we haven’t been managing biodiversity and ecosystems well. So, I think we all have an opportunity to make this message and these links clearer. Politicians have a particular responsibility to do so, and I hope more of them will do so as these various elections in various parts of the world pan out.”

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  • I Couldnt Remain Silent: Son Fights for Uyghur Journalists Release from Chinese Prison

    I Couldnt Remain Silent: Son Fights for Uyghur Journalists Release from Chinese Prison

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    Qurban Mamut (left) and Bahram Sintash (second from left) with their family in Xinjiang, China in 1989. Credit: Courtesy of Bahram Sintash
    • Opinion by Iris Hsu (taipei, taiwan)
    • Inter Press Service

    TAIPEI, Taiwan, Apr 30 (IPS) – This is the first in a series of articles on World Press Freedom Day, which the UN will commemorate on May 3.The last time Bahram Sintash saw his journalist father was in 2017. Qurban Mamut, an influential Uyghur editor had come to the United States for a visit but upon his return to Xinjiang in northwest China, he disappeared.

    Sintash later learned that his father had been swept up in China’s 2017 crackdown on Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups. China has said its policies in Xinjiang, which involve reeducation camps, forced sterilization, and family separations, are in the name of counter-terrorism, but 51 United Nations member countries have accused the government of “crimes against humanity.”

    Mamut, as a prominent intellectual who edited the state-owned Xinjiang Civilization and Tepakkur magazines, was sentenced to 15 years for “political crimes,” according to news reports. According to Sintash, his father’s decades of journalism drew the attention of the Chinese government in its efforts to quash the Uyghur cultural industry.

    After initially fearing that speaking out could harm his 74-year-old father’s case, Sintash decided to go public about the detention in 2018; in 2020, he joined the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA) in Washington, D.C. to be a “voice of voice-less Uyghurs.”

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) spoke with Sintash about his father’s love of journalism, restrictions on the press in Xinjiang, and what he knows of Mamut’s detention.

    This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The Chinese foreign ministry did not reply to CPJ’s email requesting comment on Mamut’s arrest and sentencing.

    What can you tell us about your father’s detention?

    I initially thought my father was detained in 2018, but later learned it was actually in late 2017. Communication with my family in Urumqi has been severed since then, with China cutting off our ability to talk in late 2017 and early 2018. My mother told me, “We can no longer talk to you,” leaving me without any information about my father.

    In September of the following year, I sought to find out what had happened to him. Eventually, one of my neighbors who also lives overseas informed me that my father had been taken away from our neighborhood. This neighbor had heard the news from their family who witnessed my father being taken from his home. I was shocked by this revelation.

    At the same time, I was considering what actions to take. I felt that raising my voice was the right decision, but I was extremely cautious. I was unsure of the exact steps to take or the words to use, as anything I said could potentially endanger my father further, given China’s unpredictable actions.

    What was the media environment like in Xinjiang before your father’s arrest?

    In 2016, a well-known writer, Yalqun Rozi, was detained and later sentenced to 15 years , a fate similar to that of my father. My father visited the United States in January 2017 and stayed for a month, during which time he learned about the detention of Yalqun, a close friend. Yalqun had not been sentenced at that point but was under arrest, likely due to his publication of sensitive topics.

    Yalqun had written extensively on various subjects, including Uyghur welfare, and had contributed many essays to my father’s journal, Xinjiang Civilization. Their past collaboration made my father concerned that Yalqun’s arrest might not be an isolated case.

    Yalqun’s detention marked the beginning of a broader crackdown on Uyghur intellectuals. China targeted Uyghur intellectuals first in order to more successfully repress Uyghur identity. They began by arresting individuals and then expanded their investigation to a larger network of Uyghurs.

    My father understood that this could happen, but we were uncertain about China’s next steps. After 2017, under Xi Jinping’s leadership, the situation became increasingly dire, reflecting the tense atmosphere of that time.

    Can you tell us about Xinjiang Civilization, the magazine your father edited from 1985 until 2017?

    The content in the magazine mainly focuses on culture, history, current affairs, the identity of Uyghurs, examining the shortcomings of the Uyghur nation and society, and opinion pieces. This was the main content before 2017, primarily when my dad was the sole editor-in-chief.

    Interestingly, all the names of the journal’s editorial board members were removed in the third issue of 2017 just half a month before the mass detentions began in 2017. The content of the journal dramatically changed in its last publication. It now became filled with red Communist propaganda.

    Many of the members on the board were subsequently taken to re-education camps, including my dad. At least two of other members, Abduqadir Jalalidin and Arslan Abdulla, as well as my dad were sentenced to long prison terms.

    Before the magazine’s third issue in 2017, its content mainly focused on Uyghur culture and literary works. However, after that issue, it primarily began publishing political content, which mostly revolves around studying Xi Jinping’s ideology.

    The next editor even wrote an open letter titled “Protecting the security of the ideological sphere is my priority,” in which he promised not to publish anything promoting “separatism,” “terrorism,” or “two-faced” behavior. The letter followed two articles written by Uyghur officials calling the readers to “protect the unity of the nations with hearts and protect the homeland with loyalty.”

    What was your father’s relationship to his journalistic work?

    My father was the sole editor; there were no secondary editors. However, he had two assistants who could be considered as secondary editors, but their main role was typing and assisting with computer-related tasks. My father worked tirelessly, often putting in 16-hour days. He would work at the office, come home for a quick meal, and then continue working late into the night, spending countless hours at his desk.

    Qurban Mamut (left) and Bahram Sintash (second from left) with their family in Xinjiang, China in 1989. Credit: Courtesy of Bahram Sintash

    Your father was quite well known for his journalism. How was he seen in the Uyghur community?

    My father was an exceptional teacher, not through writing himself, but by curating and compiling works from other writers. He focused on selecting the right topics, aiming to present the truth without imposing his own opinions on the journal.

    He steered clear of politics, especially avoiding any praise of the Chinese Communist Party or spreading its propaganda, which some writers and editors did to secure better positions and ensure their safety. My father, however, sought out authentic voices who could present genuine work, which is why the journal promoted many unknown writers who eventually became famous. The platform allowed them to express the truth.

    While my father didn’t publicly express his own views, he was frequently interviewed on TV talk shows due to his extensive knowledge of Uyghur culture. These appearances contributed to his fame. During the 1990s and 2000s, there was a period when Uyghurs enjoyed a degree of freedom to discuss their identity, language, and other aspects of their culture — a stark contrast to the current situation.

    Did your father face retribution for his journalism before his imprisonment?

    My father was called in for questioning in 2004, although he didn’t face persecution or punishment. This was related to an opinion piece published in his journal about the Uyghur language. At that time, Xinjiang authorities were starting to phase out the Uyghur language from schools and universities, replacing it with Chinese in subjects like mathematics and other majors.

    The writer of the piece was arrested, and my father was questioned by the security bureau and China’s intelligence department. To avoid worrying us, my father never shared the full details of what happened.

    You believe your father was arrested for his journalism. Why?

    After his retirement in 2011 , my father didn’t stop working. He continued to serve on the editorial board of Xinjiang Civilization, and became the head editor of a newly established magazine called Tepakkur. The magazine, published by the state-run Xinjiang Juvenile Publishing House, or Chiso, gained popularity due to my father’s reputation. “Tepakkur” means “think.”

    My father, invited to be the editor-in-chief, established this magazine to have more freedom and flexibility in selecting topics.It was not available digitally, only in print, and this was just before the mass arrests began around 2014-2015. As a result, I don’t have a copy and haven’t read the articles, but the journal was well-regarded by its readers.

    Can you tell us about your work at RFA? Has your father’s imprisonment made you rethink your personal safety, especially while covering Xinjiang?

    I joined RFA because my fear diminished as I became more vocal in advocating for other Uyghurs. I couldn’t remain silent; I had to speak the truth. My mindset became open, ready to face any challenge. Many Uyghurs, concerned for their safety and their families’, avoid RFA and don’t pursue journalism there. But for me, there were no limits. I saw RFA as the only true voice for Uyghurs worldwide, so I joined to work for my people.

    As for my efforts to free my father, it’s been an emotionally challenging task. I’ve been in constant communication with organizations, governments, NGOs, and even the United Nations, explaining my father’s situation and speaking to the media. My work extends beyond my father to all Uyghurs and our culture, which I learned to preserve from my father.

    Iris Hsu is CPJ’s China representative. Prior to joining CPJ, Hsu interned at Human Rights Watch, Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, and the Atlantic Council. Hsu obtained her master’s degree in international affairs from American University. She speaks Mandarin and French and lives in Taipei.

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  • Sudan: Security Council members call for immediate halt to military escalation in El Fasher

    Sudan: Security Council members call for immediate halt to military escalation in El Fasher

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    The call comes amid reports of an imminent offensive by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied militia against the city, which could threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of displaced persons currently sheltering there.

    At least 43 people, among them women and children, have been killed in fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and RSF – backed by their respective militia – since 14 April, when the RSF began its push into El Fasher, according to the UN human rights office (OHCHR).

    The office added that civilians trapped in the city – the only one in Darfur still in the hands of the SAF – are afraid of being killed should they attempt to flee. The dire situation is compounded by a severe shortage of essential supplies as deliveries of commercial goods and humanitarian aid have been heavily constrained by the fighting and access challenges through RSF-controlled territory.

    Plunged into turmoil

    Sudan has been plunged into turmoil since fighting erupted between SAF and paramilitary RSF, last April.

    More than 14,000 people have been killed and thousands more wounded, amid reports of abhorrent sexual and gender-based violence.

    The war has also displaced over six million civilians within Sudan and a further 1.8 million across its borders, against a backdrop of a massive crisis that has left 25 million people in need of humanitarian aid and protection.

    End military build-up

    In a statement, Security Council members called on SAF and RSF to end the build-up of military forces and to take steps to de-escalate the situation and comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law.

    Council members also repeated their call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, leading to a sustainable ceasefire.

    They urged all Member States to refrain from external interference that seeks to foment conflict and instability and instead to support efforts for a durable peace.

    They also reminded all parties to the conflict and Member States to adhere to their obligations to comply with the arms embargo measures as stipulated in resolutions 1556 (2004) and 2676 (2023).

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  • Cuban Family Harnesses Biogas and Promotes its Benefits

    Cuban Family Harnesses Biogas and Promotes its Benefits

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    Preschool teacher Iris Mejías and her husband Alexis García, a retired university professor, stand next to the geomembrane biodigester that since December 2023 provides about four cubic meters of biogas daily for their agricultural activities and the needs of their home in the semi-urban neighborhood of Sierra Maestra, in the municipality of Boyeros on the south side of Havana. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS
    • by Luis Brizuela (havana)
    • Inter Press Service

    HAVANA, Apr 26 (IPS) – Just to obtain a good fertilizer it was worth building a biodigester, says Cuban farmer Alexis García, who proudly shows the vegetables in his family’s garden, as well as the wide variety of fruit trees that have benefited from biol, the end product of biogas technology.

    García and his wife Iris Mejías organically grow all the agricultural products that make them self-sufficient, on the land around their home in the semi-urban neighborhood of Sierra Maestra, in the municipality of Boyeros on the south side of Havana.

    “I used to use a little urea, but because of the economic situation it has become very difficult to import this and other fertilizers. The bioproducts are an opportunity to make up for that shortage and, in some cases, function as pesticides,” García, a 62-year-old retired university professor who is now dedicated to his crops, told IPS.

    Biol is the liquid effluent with a certain degree of stabilization that comes out of the biodigester, once the process of anaerobic digestion of organic matter, which includes animal manure, crop waste and/or liquid waste, has been completed. It is rich in nutrients for crops and for restoring soil through fertigation.

    García pointed out that the challenges of obtaining energy and the need to process manure prompted the installation of the geomembrane biodigester, which as of December 2023 provides about four cubic meters of biogas per day.

    This is one of the three types of biodigesters most used at a small and medium scale in Cuba, together with the mobile type, also known as the Indian model, and the fixed dome or Chinese biodigester.

    “I had read a little about it and wanted to have a biodigester. With some savings we decided to start building one. In addition to the support of our sons Alexis and Alexei, we had the backing and advice of José Antonio Guardado,” coordinator of the Biogas Users Movement (MUB), said García.

    Founded in 1983, the MUB brings together some 3,000 farmers who use this technology in this Caribbean island nation of 11 million people.

    Preschool teacher Iris Mejías uses biogas to cook food, which gives her autonomy, saves money and improves the quality of life in her home in the south of the Cuban capital. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS
    Preschool teacher Iris Mejías uses biogas to cook food, which gives her autonomy, saves money and improves the quality of life in her home in the south of the Cuban capital. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

    Biogas opportunities

    Mejías, 59, said that “with biogas you lose the fear of not having enough fuel for cooking. It provides security.”

    Meiías, a teachers at a preschool for the young children of working mothers, says that when the economic crisis became more severe in the 1990s, she cooked with firewood, charcoal, kerosene and even coconut shells to prepare her family’s daily meals.

    “If you cook with electrical equipment, you depend on the power supply, or if you have a gas cylinder (liquefied petroleum gas), you worry that it will run out and you won’t have a spare. In both cases the biodigester saves money,” she said.

    Mejías said it is easier to cook food for domestic animals and heat water “without smut or smoke that makes it necessary to wash your hair every day or makes it difficult to take care of your hands.”

    Studies show that methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with a warming power 80 times greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO2).

    Proper management of the biological methane resulting from the decomposition of agricultural residues and manure can generate value and be a cost-effective solution to avoid water and soil contamination.

    Therefore, its extraction and use as energy, especially in rural and semi-urban environments, can be a solution to reduce electricity consumption and help combat climate change.

    According to García, the island could receive greater energy benefits if there were clear incentives for the installation of biodigesters.

    Although the acute domestic economic crisis has had a very negative impact on the national swine and cattle herd, “many dairies and pig farms do not know what to do with the daily output of manure. In fact, our biodigester is fed from nearby facilities where it is piled up and they give it to us for free,” he said.

    Alexis García dries coffee beans next to solar panels installed on the roof of his house in southern Havana. The possibility of storing energy with the back-up of recovered batteries provides the family with approximately three hours of autonomy during blackouts. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS
    Alexis García dries coffee beans next to solar panels installed on the roof of his house in southern Havana. The possibility of storing energy with the back-up of recovered batteries provides the family with approximately three hours of autonomy during blackouts. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

    Other incentives

    Cuba has a biogas production potential of 615,595 cubic meters per year from agricultural and industrial production, according to the Bioenergy Atlas 2022.

    That volume represents 189,227 tons of oil equivalent per year or 710,095 megawatt hours (MWh) per year. Of the total, 63 percent comes from agricultural production, he said.

    In García’s opinion, Cuba’s rural environment “is in a better position to achieve the desired energy independence. But economic facilities would be necessary, such as loans for the construction of biodigesters, bonuses for people to produce that energy and access to buy lamps, pots and even refrigerators that use biogas.”

    Of Cuba’s 11 million inhabitants, about 23 percent, some 2.3 million people, live in rural areas, according to official statistics.

    On the other hand, it is estimated that there are some 5,000 biodigesters on the island, although conservative estimates by specialists consider it possible to expand the network to 20,000 family units.

    Experts argue that the direct use of biogas is more efficient than transforming it into electricity.

    A significant percentage of Cuba’s four million households use electricity as the main energy source for cooking and heating water for bathing, which represents about 40 percent of consumption.

    Cuba is a country highly dependent on fuel imports.

    During the last five years, in parallel to the deterioration of the domestic economic situation, the decline of the main sources of foreign currency and the strengthening of the U.S. embargo, the authorities have faced increasing difficulties in meeting the demand for fuel.

    About 95 percent of Cuba’s electricity generation relies on fossil fuels. The government aims to increase clean sources from the current five percent to around 30 percent of electricity generation by 2030.

    “Imagine what it would mean if not all, at least most of the houses in the Cuban countryside had a biodigester or solar panels. Any strategy that encourages independence from the national power grid, or that provides energy, would be very positive,” said García.

    In recent years, the international Biomas-Cuba project (2009-2022) focused on helping to understand the importance of renewable energy sources in rural environments, the role of on-farm biodigesters and waste treatment systems in swine facilities.

    The initiative, financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (Cosude), was coordinated by the Indio Hatuey Experimental Station, a research center attached to the University of the western province of Matanzas, and involved related institutions in several of the country’s 15 provinces.

    Ministerial Order 395 of the Ministry of Energy and Mines of 2021 stipulated that each of Cuba’s 168 municipalities must have a biogas development program and strategy, and coordinate its management and implementation with their respective provinces.

    In addition, the non-governmental Cuban Society for the Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources and Respect for the Environment (Cubasolar), together with the MUB, encourages training workshops and the advice of specialists.

    Banana clusters can be seen growing in the backyard of the García-Mejías home in southern Havana. Both the vegetables in the nursery and the fruit trees benefit from biol, the end product of biogas technology, which provides fertilizer. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS
    Banana clusters can be seen growing in the backyard of the García-Mejías home in southern Havana. Both the vegetables in the nursery and the fruit trees benefit from biol, the end product of biogas technology, which provides fertilizer. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

    Moving towards energy independence

    One of the aspirations of the García-Mejías family is to achieve energy sustainability for their home and agricultural production.

    “We foresee the construction of a second biodigester, but this one will have a mobile dome, which should provide two cubic meters of biogas per day, but much more efficiently, and with a higher pressure. With a higher volume we can benefit some neighbors,” García said.

    On the roof of their house, six 720-watt solar panels backed up by recovered batteries give them autonomy of approximately three hours of electricity in the event of a power failure.

    “We plan to install a wind turbine, as well as a solar heater made of plastic pipes. We want to set up a demonstration area in the house to show the advantages of renewable energies and demonstrate how everything we do is done using these energy sources,” said the former professor.

    “We need a greater culture and awareness about renewable energies. There is resistance among some places and people. On the other hand, there are the high prices which do not foment the rapid expansion of technologies and equipment,” García said when IPS asked him in his home about the obstacles to increasing the household use of renewables.

    “People hear about the biodigester and think it’s difficult. It takes a little work, but then the benefits are many. There is a lack of information in the media. People come to us looking for help in building biodigesters. We also receive students, which opens up an opportunity for the new generations to grow up with the culture of using nature in a sustainable way,” he added.

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  • Small Island States Fostering Effective Energy Transition To Achieve a Blue Economy

    Small Island States Fostering Effective Energy Transition To Achieve a Blue Economy

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    Renewable energy for small island states formed part of the debate at the Fourteenth Session of the IRENA Assembly in Abu Dhabi. Credit: Amitava Chandra / Climate Visuals
    • by Aimable Twahirwa (abu dhabi)
    • Inter Press Service

    ABU DHABI, Apr 24 (IPS) – Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a distinct group of 39 states and 18 associate members, are making efforts to promote the blue economy as they possess enormous potential for renewable energy relying on the sea.

    Experts predict that switching to renewables will help SIDS countries decarbonize power generation as an appropriate option for islands to cut their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, fulfill Paris Agreement pledges and contribute to the global fight against climate change.

    In addition, ocean energy technologies, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), are likely to offer high predictability, making them suitable to provide a continuous supply of power.

    Dr Vince Henderson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business, Trade, and Energy, Dominican Republic, told IPS that the key has been prioritizing the development of various forms of renewable energies, focusing on clean and efficient energy exploration and exploitation.

    While SIDS have shown climate leadership through 100 percent renewable energy ambitions, experts believe that realizing these ambitions is critical.

    “Renewable energy innovations are a winning formula for our blue economy’s development,” said Henderson, whose country generates 85 percent of its electricity from imported fossil fuels.

    A delegation of Ministers from SIDS member countries addressing a press briefing at the Fourteenth Session of the IRENA Assembly in Abu Dhabi. Experts predict the widespread use of renewable energy among SIDS could have a positive impact on reducing the cost of renewable energy. Credit: Aimable Twahirwa/IPS
    A delegation of Ministers from SIDS member countries addressed a press briefing at the Fourteenth Session of the IRENA Assembly in Abu Dhabi. Experts predict that the widespread use of renewable energy among SIDS could have a positive impact on reducing the cost of renewable energy. Credit: Aimable Twahirwa/IPS

    By 2030, the renewable energy generation output for the whole SIDS member states is anticipated to reach 9.9 GW from current 5 GW.

    According to an analysis by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on the updated NDCs, a minimum investment of USD 10.5 billion is required to meet the additional capacity target, of which 3.2 GW is dependent on external financial assistance.

    “Improving a new system for mobilizing the much-needed financing to implement effective decarbonization actions is crucial,” Henderson said in an exclusive interview.

    While some experts believe that the widespread use of renewable energy among SIDS could have a positive impact on reducing the cost of renewable energy, such as solar photovoltaic, wind, and bioenergy, providing reliable and affordable electricity is considered an important step to ensure that the SIDS population is accessible to reliable social services such as health, education, public transport, and housing services.

    Arieta Gonelevu Rakai, Regional Programme Officer, Islands, at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), told IPS that despite progress achieved in decarbonizing the electricity sector, challenges remain in transport, industry, tourism, and services for islands.

    The ambitious target means that Island states will continue to upgrade renewable technologies to stimulate the rapid expansion of renewable energy installation while improving the efficiency and stability of power generation

    “International cooperation and collaborations between governments, regional and multilateral institutions, and the public and private sector are needed to drive this transformation,” said Rakai during an exclusive interview.

    Through established partnerships such as the SIDS Lighthouses Initiative (LHI), which is coordinated by IRENA, small islands saw a steady increase in the newly-installed capacity of clean energy thanks to a partnership with various stakeholders working with donor agencies to provide streamlined access to grants.

    While new efforts seek to explore energy for the benefits of blue economic resources, some experts believe that renewable technologies, although not yet cost competitive with fossil fuels, are set to become less costly over time.

    Miriam Dalli, Malta’s Minister of Environment, Energy, and Regeneration of the Grand Harbour, stressed that for small islands to meet their internal electricity demand while reducing their imports of electricity and fossil fuels, the development of alternative energy sources is crucial.

    For example, Malta, being an archipelago situated in the Mediterranean Sea, in which the islands generally use diesel generators to produce electrical power, is emphasizing increasing the share of primary energy consumption that comes from renewable technologies, with a major focus on solar and wind that sweeps its coasts and land.

    Sea wave energy happens to be another source of renewable energy in Malta, using the energy released by the wave to produce energy.

    “Marine energy is turning to be the most viable means for Small Island’s energy generation,” Dalli told IPS of the initiatives currently undertaken by the Mediterranean Archipelago to shift from fossil fuels to clean energy.

    Scientists and decision-makers gathered earlier last week in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for the 14th Session of the IRENA Assembly. Current global efforts to decarbonize both energy supply and demand from renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass can help small  islands reap the benefits of a rapidly growing ocean economy.

    According to the latest IRENA’s projections, ocean energy can provide clean, local and predictable electricity to coastal countries and island communities around the world, with the potential to generate a total capacity of 350 gigawatts (GW) by 2050.

    The deployment of ocean energy technologies, according to experts, can also facilitate new revenue streams and higher cash flows for territories, helping to reduce the levelized cost of electricity in these locations.

    Kerryne James, Minister of Climate Resilience, Environment, and Renewable Energy of Grenada, points out that some islands, such as Grenada, are perfect for solar and geothermal power.

    Grenada’s clean energy goals for increasing energy efficiency and implementing renewable energy from geothermal, wind, and solar technologies are matched by its renewable resources, which more than exceed current electric sector capacity.

    “We are currently implementing appropriate plans to further explore various renewable energy sources and support grid resilience,” she told IPS.

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  • Will a Two-State Solution include Palestine as a UN Member State?

    Will a Two-State Solution include Palestine as a UN Member State?

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    Robert A. Wood, deputy permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations, vetoes Palestine’s U.N. membership during the Security Council meeting on April 18, 2024. Credit: Manuel Elías/United Nations
    • by Thalif Deen (united nations)
    • Inter Press Service

    UNITED NATIONS, Apr 23 (IPS) – The Biden administration, once again displayed its political hypocrisy by denying UN membership to Palestine, while continuing to advocate a “two-state’ solution” to the crisis in the Middle East.

    But one lingering question remains: will the two-state solution include– or exclude– Palestine as a full-fledged UN member state?

    Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of the Washington-based Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), told IPS: “That the US has once again resorted to its well-worn veto to block Palestine’s UN membership is all you need to know about why its pretend commitment to a ’two-state solution’ is nothing but empty rhetoric”.

    The US has been Israel’s number one weapons supplier in ensuring that a Palestinian state never emerges, both by blocking meaningful action from the international community and providing Israel with a bottomless arsenal of weapons with which to terrorize Palestinians, she pointed out.

    Meanwhile, the denial of UN membership to Palestine also underlines the continued abuse of veto powers not only by the US but also China and Russia who use it as a weapon to protect their political and military allies worldwide.

    The beneficiaries mostly include Israel, North Korea, Syria and Myanmar.

    Since 1992, according to Wikipedia, Russia has been the most frequent user of the veto, followed by the United States and China.

    As of March 2024, Russia/USSR has used its veto 128 times, the US 85 times, the UK 29 times, China 19 times, and France 16 times. On 26 April 2022, the General Assembly adopted a resolution mandating a debate when a veto is cast in the Security Council.

    Robert A. Wood, deputy permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations, vetoes Palestine’s U.N. membership during the Security Council meeting on April 18, 2024. Credit: Manuel Elías/United Nations

    Stephen Zunes, professor of Politics and chair of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco and who has written extensively on the politics of the Security Council, told IPS the US has vetoed no less than 45 resolutions critical of Israel, “thereby rendering the Security Council effectively impotent”.

    Norman Solomon, Executive Director, Institute for Public Accuracy and National Director, RootsAction.org told IPS the U.S. solo veto again underscored its chosen isolation from world opinion and governmental lineup about Israel and the human rights of Palestinian people.

    Washington’s position is morally untenable, based squarely on “might makes right” geopolitics, he said.

    Even inside the United States, the political tide is shifting away from reflexive support for Israel, but — rhetoric aside — the White House remains locked into support for the Israeli system of apartheid and occupation, while a majority of Congress remains willing to fund Israel’s genocidal war on people in Gaza, Solomon pointed out.

    “The U.S. government doesn’t want Palestine to have a seat at the U.N. table because the U.S. government actually doesn’t recognize that such an entity as “Palestine” even exists. Nor do top policymakers in the U.S. executive and legislative branches truly proceed as though Palestinian people have legitimate claims on Palestine”.

    The tacit U.S. approach, he said, is that history in the region begins whenever convenient for the U.S.-Israeli alliance, whether in 1948 or 1967 or on Oct. 7, 2023.

    There are many flaws in the stances and pretensions of members of the Security Council, whether permanent or rotating. The governments they represent vary from having significant elements of democracy to operating as de facto dictatorships.

    “Yet, to a notable degree and to a wide extent, on matters involving Israel and Palestinians, the votes cast at the U.N. in both the Security Council and the General Assembly reflect as close to a consensus of governments and peoples as exists in the world today”.

    Israel is an apartheid state, its occupation of territories since 1967 is absolutely illegitimate, and its war on the people living and dying in Gaza is mass murder, said Solomon, author of “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine”

    According to an April 22 report on Cable News Network (CNN), Israel’s Foreign Ministry will summon ambassadors from several countries later this week to express its displeasure for their support for Palestinian membership at the UN, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz was quoted as saying.

    “The diplomatic push involves countries that have voted in favor of Palestinian membership in the UN and have ambassadors stationed in Israel, including France, Ecuador, Japan, Malta, South Korea, Slovenia, China and Russia”.

    Algeria, Sierra Leone, Guyana and Mozambique — which also supported the proposal — do not have embassies in Israel, CNN said.

    In a statement last week, the Washington, D.C., based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said: “The Biden administration should be ashamed and embarrassed after 12 nations rejected its plea to vote against membership for the State of Palestine, forcing the United States to stand alone with another unjust veto.

    “For decades, the UN Security Council has failed to prevent unjust wars and genocide around the world. The world should no longer accept a flawed system in which five nations can exercise veto power over the affairs of more than eight billion people, including nearly two billion Muslims who are not represented among the five permanent members.” CAIR said.

    “Nations and people of the world must push for the UN Security Council to be either radically reformed or abolished altogether in the years ahead.”

    According to the UN, States are admitted to UN membership by a decision of the 193-member General Assembly upon the recommendation of the 15-member Security Council.

    The resolution needs a two-thirds majority (currently 128 votes) in the General Assembly– and no vetoes in the Security Council. The State of Palestine was accepted as “a non-member observer state” of the UN General Assembly in November 2012.

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  • UN Lives CEO Katja Iversen Talks About the Power of Popular Culture and Sounds Right

    UN Lives CEO Katja Iversen Talks About the Power of Popular Culture and Sounds Right

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    UN Live’s CEO Katja Iversen at the launch of ‘Sounds Right’. Credit: Naureen Hossain/IPS
    • by Naureen Hossain (new york)
    • Inter Press Service

    NEW YORK, Apr 22 (IPS) – UN Live’s CEO, Katja Iversen, says the way to engage people in the environment is through popular culture—film, music, gaming, sports, food, and fashion. She is excited about the Sounds Right project, which puts the sounds of nature—bird songs, waves, wind, and rainfall—at the center of a campaign to support those involved in climate action.

    In an exclusive interview with IPS, Iversen shares the motivation behind this innovative project.

    The Sounds Right initiative was officially launched on April 18. It established NATURE as an official artist, eligible to earn royalties. Music fans were invited to support nature conservation by listening to NATURE’s recordings or tracks with musicians. This initiative was developed and delivered by the Museum for the United Nations (UN Live) and a broad range of partners in the music and environmental sectors.

    IPS: How was the Sounds Right initiative conceived? What is the significance of recognizing NATURE in the same way that we recognize and reward musical artists through royalties?

    Katja Iversen: The “Sounds Right” initiative was conceived as a global music movement to prompt conversations about the value of nature, raise innovative financing for conservation, and inspire millions of fans to take action.

    The original idea came out of a project called VozTerra in Colombia, which the Museum for the United Nations—UN Live helped initiate. The initiative, as it looks today, has been developed by UN Live in close partnership with musicians, creatives, and nature sound recordists, as well as environmental, campaigning, and global advocacy organizations and VozTerra.

    The significance of the initiative is that it treats NATURE as the artist she truly is and nature’s sounds—such as bird songs, waves, wind, and rainfall—as artistic works deserving of royalty payment. It leverages the power of music to connect fans with nature by having artists feature natural sounds in new and existing tracks.

    It is going to be really big. To test things out, NATURE was discretely established as an official artist two weeks ago on various streaming platforms, including with some pure nature sounds. As of today, on Spotify alone, NATURE is in the top 10 percent of artists, with over 500k monthly listeners and almost 5 million streams—even before the initiative is officially launched and a playlist with artists featuring nature tracks goes online.

    IPS: How was the Museum for the UN—UN Live able to bring together artists, music executives, and environmental groups for this initiative?

    Iversen: The Museum for the UN—UN Live, together with EarthPercent, has organized the collaboration between artists, music executives, and environmental groups by leveraging our unique position at the intersection of culture, sustainable development, and diplomacy. We, at UN Live, have a track record of engaging very diverse communities in innovative cultural programmes, and we were able to draw on our extensive networks and entrepreneurial skills to bring together a broad variety of groups around a great idea.

    It is a truly unique coalition of partners, including EarthPercent, AKQA, Hempel Foundation, Dalberg, Count Us In, VozTerra, Axum, Music Declares Emergency, Earthrise, Eleutheria Group, The Listening Planet, Biophonica, Community Arts Network, Limbo Music, LD Communications, No. 29, and Rare.  We developed the initiative in consultation with the UN Department of Global Communications, and we’ve also joined forces with The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society, APCO, Riky Rick Foundation, AWorld x ActNow and others to reach the many millions of people.

    Sounds Right poster.
    Sounds Right poster.

    IPS: How do you foresee artists and environmental groups from developing countries connecting with this initiative now and in the future?Iversen: We are very serious about this not being a Global North undertaking. Recognizing that the global majority is often at the forefront of experiencing the impacts of loss of biodiversity and climate change while living in some of the world’s most important ecosystems, this is also where the solutions and the most important voices are found—both the voices of humans and nature. Of the first group of 16 artists on the first Feat Nature playlist, there are musicians from Venezuela, Colombia, Kenya, India, and Indonesia. And on future compilations, more will come.

    Just imagine that as NATURE the artist grows and grows, more and more musicians will want to collaborate and feature nature in their music. We are looking forward to working with musicians from across the globe and will, in time, potentially also develop special releases focused on certain geographies, issues, or groups.

    The funds raised will be distributed under the guidance of the Sounds Right Expert Advisory Panel, a group of world-leading biologists, environmental activists, representatives of Indigenous Peoples, and experts in conservation funding. The majority of the experts are from the global majority.

    IPS: How does ‘Sounds Right’ go toward serving the SDGs?

    Iversen: Well, we are the Museum for the United Nations, and we are here to rally the world around the work, values, and goals of the United Nations, so naturally Sounds Right is also aligned with the SDGs.

    More particularly, it aligns with the goals related to life on land (SDG 15) and underwater (SDG 14) by funding conservation projects through royalties collected from nature-based recordings. Additionally, by raising awareness and fostering an appreciation for the environment through music, the initiative supports SDG 13 (climate action) and SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals) and also justice.

    Importantly, Sounds Right is an example of the power of popular culture and exemplifies how creative industries and popular culture platforms can contribute to achieving the SDGs, including by merging artistic expression with environmental activism.

    IPS: How does the Museum for the UN—UN Live leverage culture to promote the SDGs?

    Iversen: If we could solve the world’s problems and achieve the SDGs with data, facts, figures, and reports alone, it would have been done. What we also need is to work with culture, norms, opinions, feelings, and hearts. We know that popular culture—film, music, gaming, sports, food, fashion—affects people’s opinions, norms, and actions. So if we really want to change and if we want to reach the many, we go to where the many are. It’s in their earbuds, it’s on their phones, it’s on their screens, and it’s on their sports fields. That’s where you hit both the head and the heart.

    That’s what we need, in addition to the facts and the figures. U.N. Live worked with popular culture, unleashed the power of popular culture to reach many people—millions and billions of people—because they use popular culture. So we have to go where the people are with the messages they can understand and the actions they want to take.

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  • Who Should be the Next UN Leader? – PART 4

    Who Should be the Next UN Leader? – PART 4

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    • Opinion by Felix Dodds, Chris Spence (apex, north carolina / dublin, ireland)
    • Inter Press Service

    • With current UN Secretary-General António Guterres set to step down in 2026, who is in the running to replace him? In this seven-part series, Felix Dodds and Chris Spence reveal who might be in the running and assess their chances.

      The potential candidates include Amina J. Mohammed (Nigeria), Mia Motley (Barbados), Alicia Barcena (Mexico), Maria Fernanda Espinosa (Ecuador), Rebeca Grynspan (Costa Rica) and Michelle Bachelet (Chile). These are names that have come up in conversations with UN insiders and other experts. All six would offer skills and experiences we believe would be valuable in these fast-paced, uncertain times.

    APEX, North Carolina / DUBLIN, Ireland, Apr 18 (IPS) – Is the rough-and-tumble of leading the UN General Assembly a good preparation for the top UN job?

    Maria Fernanda Espinosa served as President of the UN General Assembly from 2018-2019, garnering votes from 128 out of 193 member states. With her victory, she became only the fourth woman—and the first from Latin America—to run this important UN body.

    The UN General Assembly in session.

    Her time in charge of the General Assembly was eventful. During her year as its leader, Espinosa pushed hard for progress on women’s empowerment and gender equality, particularly in terms of boosting women’s political participation. On several occasions she gathered women heads of state and government, as well as other female leaders, for events aimed at advancing this agenda.

    María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly. Credit: UN Photo

    She also focused on the rights of refugees, presiding over the adoption of the Global Compact on Refugees, as well as a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. Furthermore, she launched an International Year of Indigenous Languages and helped advance the international conversation on single-use plastics, supporting efforts to eliminate their use at UN headquarters in New York and Geneva.

    Additionally, she used her tenure to urge greater progress on nuclear disarmament and on diseases like tuberculosis.

    But her career began thousands of miles from New York. Her early focus was in the Amazon, working alongside indigenous communities in her native Ecuador. Later, she represented Ecuador as its Ambassador to the UN. She also served twice as her country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and in several other ministerial positions, including as Minister of Defense and, earlier, as Minister of Natural and Cultural Heritage.

    Prior to holding these senior government positions, Espinosa was an associate professor and researcher at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences. She also served as an advisor on biodiversity, climate change, and indigenous peoples’ policies. Later, she became regional director for South America for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a position she held from 2005-2007.

    Espinosa’s track record on climate change is also noteworthy, as she has served since 2009 as a key negotiator in several climate conferences, including COP21 in 2015, where the Paris Agreement was signed.

    Her early academic life was as broad and eclectic as her later professional career, with degrees in social science, Amazonic studies, anthropology, political science, and linguistics. She even won a national prize in poetry.

    Assessing Espinosa’s Prospects

    Could Maria Fernanda Espinosa’s wide-ranging experiences qualify her to be the next UN Secretary-General? Here is our assessment of her advantages and disadvantages, should she put her name forward.

    Advantages

    • Right Region: Like several of our other potential candidates, Espinosa’s Ecuadorian background and an apparent preference for a leader from Latin America and the Caribbean could work in her favor.
    • UN Experience: Espinosa has been both the President of the UN General Assembly, where she emerged with her reputation intact, and a UN Ambassador in New York. She has led the Group of 77 developing nations in UN negotiations and been a lead negotiator in key climate talks. These UN experiences should surely burnish her credentials.
    • Connections: Espinosa developed strong networks during her time leading the Group of 77 and as President of the UN General Assembly. She has strong connections among leading women’s groups and indigenous peoples. Could this robust set of networks among senior politicians and various important stakeholders help her become Secretary-General?
    • A Woman Leader: As noted previously, the UN has never had a female leader during its 80-year history. It is high time this changed. Espinosa would be another capable candidate. In addition, she has a clear track record promoting women’s leadership at the United Nations.

      She is current Executive Director of the Group of Women Leaders for Change Inclusion, hosting a successful summit in Madrid early in 2024 that drew leaders from the UN system, as well as high-profile names such as Hilary Clinton.

    Disadvantages

    • Should Only Prime Ministers Apply? The current Secretary-General, António Guterres, was previously Portugal’s Prime Minister. While earlier UN leaders did not head-up governments, it is an open question as to whether Guterres’ appointment will set a new precedent or expectation for future UN leaders. If it does, Espinosa and other candidates who cannot boast of being a former president or prime minister may have their work cut out. That said, historically the UN Secretary-General’s role often attracted former foreign ministers to apply. If that earlier precedent is restored, Espinosa’s time as Ecuador’s foreign minister (twice) could be an advantage.
    • An ‘Outside’ Insider? Like Alicia Bárcena and some other possible candidates, Espinosa can claim both outside experience as a government minister, and ‘inside’ UN expertise heading up the UN General Assembly and playing a leading role at major UN negotiations. However, it is worth noting that Espinosa has never actually worked within the UN as a staff member; most of her UN experience was gained while she was with the Ecuadorian government. This makes it substantively different. Espinosa will likely have less true inside working knowledge than some other possible candidates of how the UN operates internally, possibly meaning her learning curve would be steeper.
    • Name Recognition: While those in UN climate circles and at New York headquarters will know her, Espinosa is not a household name. Could this tell against her?

    Prof. Felix Dodds and Chris Spence have participated in United Nations conferences and negotiations since the 1990s. They co-edited Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy: Profiles in Courage (Routledge, 2022), which examines the roles of individuals in inspiring change.

    Previous parts:

    https://www.ipsnews.net/2024/04/next-un-leaderpart-1/
    https://www.ipsnews.net/2024/04/next-un-leaderpart-2/
    https://www.ipsnews.net/2024/04/next-un-leaderpart-3/

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  • Solar Power and Biogas Empower Women Farmers in Brazil

    Solar Power and Biogas Empower Women Farmers in Brazil

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    Leide Aparecida Souza, president of the Association of Residents of the Genipapo Settlement in the rural area of Acreúna, a municipality in central-western Brazil, stands next to breads and pastries from the bakery where 14 rural women work. The women’s empowerment and self-esteem have been boosted by the fact that they earn their own income, which is more stable than from farming, and provide an important service to their community. CREDIT: Marina Carolina / IPS
    • by Mario Osava (acreÚna/orizona, brazil)
    • Inter Press Service

    ACREÚNA/ORIZONA, Brazil, Apr 16 (IPS) – A bakery, fruit pulp processing and water pumped from springs are empowering women farmers in Goiás, a central-eastern state of Brazil. New renewable energy sources are driving the process.

    “We work in the shade and have a secure, stable income, not an unsteady one like in farming. We cannot control the price of milk, nor droughts or pests in the crops,” said Leide Aparecida Souza, who runs a bakery in the rural area of Acreúna, a municipality of 21,500 inhabitants in central Goiás.

    The bakery supplies a variety of breads, including cheese buns and hot dog buns, as well as pastries, cakes and biscuits to some 3,000 students in the municipality’s school network, for the government’s school feeding program, which provides family farming with at least 30 percent of its purchases. Welfare institutions are also customers.

    The bakery is an initiative of the women of the Genipapo Settlement, established in 1999 by 27 families, as part of the agrarian reform program implemented in Brazil after the 1964-1985 military dictatorship, which has so far settled 1.3 million families on land of their own.

    Genipapo, the name chosen for the settlement, is a fruit of the Cerrado, the savannah that dominates a large central area of Brazil. Each settled family received 44 hectares of land and local production is concentrated on soybeans, cassava and its flour, corn, dairy cattle and poultry.

    Six solar panels will reduce the costs of the women's bakery, installed on the former estate where 27 families were given land in Acreúna, in the Brazilian state of Goiás, as part of the country's ongoing agrarian reform program. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS
    Six solar panels will reduce the costs of the women’s bakery, installed on the former estate where 27 families were given land in Acreúna, in the Brazilian state of Goiás, as part of the country’s ongoing agrarian reform program. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS

    Bakery empowers rural women

    The women of the Association of Residents of the Genipapo Settlement decided to create a bakery as a new source of income 16 years ago. They also gained self-esteem and autonomy by earning their own money. In general, agricultural and livestock income is controlled by the husbands.

    Each of the women working at the bakery earns about 1,500 reais (300 dollars) a month, six percent more than the national minimum wage. “We started with 21 participants, now we have 14 available for work, because some moved or quit,” Souza said.

    A year ago, the project obtained a solar energy system with six photovoltaic panels from the Women of the Earth Energy project, promoted by the Gepaaf Rural Consultancy, with support from the Socio-environmental Fund of the Caixa Econômica Federal, the regional bank focused on social questions, and the public Federal University of Goiás (UFG).

    Gepaaf is the acronym for Management and Project Development in Family Farming Consultancy and its origin is a study group at the UFG. The company is headquartered in Inhumas, a city of 52,000 people, 180 km from Acreúna.

    Due to difficulties with the inverter, a device needed to connect the generator to the electricity distribution network, the plant only began operating in March. Now they will see if the savings will suffice to cover the approximately 300 reais (60 dollars) that the bakery’s electricity costs.

    Iná de Cubas stands next to the biodigester that she got from the Women of the Earth Energy project in the municipality of Orizona, in the center-east of the Brazilian state of Goiás. The biogas generated benefits the productive activities of small farmers in rural settlements, as do solar plants on a family or community scale. Image: Mario Osava / IPS
    Iná de Cubas stands next to the biodigester that she got from the Women of the Earth Energy project in the municipality of Orizona, in the center-east of the Brazilian state of Goiás. The biogas generated benefits the productive activities of small farmers in rural settlements, as do solar plants on a family or community scale. Image: Mario Osava / IPS

    “It’s not that much money, but for us every penny counts,” Souza said. Electricity is cheap in their case because it is rural and nocturnal consumption. Bread production starts at 5:00 p.m. and ends at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. from Monday to Thursday, according to Maristela Vieira de Sousa, the group’s secretary.

    The industrial oven they use is low-consumption and wood-burning. There is another, gas-fired oven, which is only used in emergencies, “because it is expensive,” said de Sousa. Biogas is a possibility for the future, which would use the settlement’s abundant agricultural waste products.

    Alternative energies make agribusiness viable

    Iná de Cubas, another beneficiary of the Women of the Earth Energy project, has a biodigester that supplies her stove, in addition to eight solar panels. They generate the energy to produce fruit pulp that also supplies the schools of Orizona, a municipality of 16,000 inhabitants in central-eastern Goiás.

    The solar plant, installed two years ago, made the business viable by eliminating the electricity bill, which was high because the two refrigerators needed to store fruit and pulp consume a lot of electricity.

    The abundance of fruit residues provides the inputs for biogas production, an innovation in a region where manure is more commonly used.

    The refrigerators in which Iná de Cubas keeps the fruit and fruit pulp that she prepares for sale to schools in Orizona in central Brazil consume a great deal of electricity. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS
    The refrigerators in which Iná de Cubas keeps the fruit and fruit pulp that she prepares for sale to schools in Orizona in central Brazil consume a great deal of electricity. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS

    “I only use an additional load of animal feces when I need more biogas,” said Cubas, who gets the manure from her neighbor’s cows, since she does not raise livestock.

    On her five hectares of land, Cubas produces numerous species of fruit for her cottage industry.

    In addition to typical Brazilian fruits, such as cajá or hog plum (Spondias mombin), pequi or souari nut (Caryocar brasiliense) and jabuticaba from the grapetree (Plinia cauliflora), she grows lemons, mangoes, oranges, guava and avocado, among others.

    For the pulp, she also uses fruit from neighbors, mostly relatives. The distribution of her products is done through the Agroecological Association of the State of Goias (Aesagro), which groups 53 families from Orizona and surrounding areas.

    Agroecology is the system used on her farm, where the family also grows rice, beans and garlic. The crops are irrigated with water pumped from nearby springs that were recovered by the diversion of a road and by fences to block access by cattle, which used to trample the banks.

    “The overall aim is to strengthen family farming, the quality of life in the countryside, incomes, and care for the environment, and to offer healthy food, without poisonous chemicals, especially for schools,” explained Iná de Cubas.

    Biodigesters made of steel and cement, solar energy for different purposes, including pumping water, rainwater collection and harvesting, are part of the “technologies” that the Women of the Earth Energy project is trying to disseminate, said Gessyane Ribeiro, Gepaaf’s administrator.

    In the area where Iná de Cubas lives, the project installed five biodigesters and seven solar pumps for farming families, in addition to solar plants in schools, she said.

    The eight solar panels on the roof of the Cubas family’s house, in the rural area of Orizona, make small agro-industrial processes viable, adding value to the wide diversity of native fruits from different Brazilian ecosystems, such as the Cerrado savannah and the Amazon rainforest, along with species imported throughout the country’s history. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS

    Network of rural women

    The Women of the Earth Energy Network, brought together by the project and coordinated by Ribeiro, operates in six areas defined by the government based on environmental, economic, social and cultural similarities. In all, it involves 42 organizations in 27 municipalities in Goiás.

    The local councils choose the beneficiaries of the projects, all implemented with collective work and focused on women’s productive activities and the preservation of the Cerrado. All the beneficiaries commit themselves to contribute to a solidarity fund to finance new projects, explained agronomist Ribeiro.

    “The Network is the link between the valorization of rural women, family farming and the energy transition,” she said. “We chose family farmers because they are the ones who produce healthy food.”

    “We offer technological solutions that rely on the links between food, water and energy, to move towards an energy transition that can actually address climate change,” said sociologist Agnes Santos, a researcher and communicator for the Network.

    Recovering and protecting springs is another of the Women’s Network’s activities.

    Two solar panels run a pump installed in a spring in the forest to pump the water needed by the 29 cows owned by Nubia Lacerda Matias' family in Orizona, in the state of Goiás, near Brasilia. Thus the cows stopped drinking water in the springs, which are now fenced off, vital to protect the water source for local families living downstream. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS
    Two solar panels run a pump installed in a spring in the forest to pump the water needed by the 29 cows owned by Nubia Lacerda Matias’ family in Orizona, in the state of Goiás, near Brasilia. Thus the cows stopped drinking water in the springs, which are now fenced off, vital to protect the water source for local families living downstream. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS

    Nubia Lacerda Matias celebrates the moment she was invited to join the movement. She won a solar pump, made up of two solar panels and pipes, which bring water to her cattle that used to damage the spring, now protected by a fence and a small forest.

    “It’s important not only for my family, but for the people living downhill” where a stream flows, fed by various springs along the way, she said.

    But the milk from the 29 cows and corn crops on her 9.4-hectare farm are not enough to support the family with two young children. Her husband, Wanderley dos Anjos, works as a school bus driver.

    Iná de Cubas’ partner, Rosalino Lopes, also works as a technician for the Pastoral Land Commission, a Catholic organization dedicated to rural workers.

    In his spare time, Lopes invents agricultural machines. He assembles and combines parts of motorcycles, tractors and other tools, in an effort to fill a gap in small agriculture, undervalued by the mechanical industry and scientific research in Brazil.

    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • Pioneering Digital Initiative Empowers Pacific Islands to Tackle Climate Disasters

    Pioneering Digital Initiative Empowers Pacific Islands to Tackle Climate Disasters

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    Andiswa Mlisa, Principal Advisor – Business Development, PIRMO at SPC giving a demo at the Digital Earth Pacific launch. Credit: SPC
    • by Catherine Wilson
    • Inter Press Service

    Apr 15 (IPS) – Winning a battle for survival requires understanding the opponent. And, for the peoples of 22 island nations and territories scattered across more than 155 million square kilometres of Pacific Ocean, the volatility and wrath of the climate are their greatest threats.

    The region harbours three of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, while eight are among those that suffer the highest disaster-related losses to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    But decision-makers at all levels across the region are grappling with a lack of reliable, detailed information about the connections between climate extremes and changes occurring on their islands. In a bid to bridge the deficit of data, the regional scientific and principal organisation, the Pacific Community (SPC), is spearheading a new project, called Digital Earth Pacific, to capture extensive satellite information about climate change and natural disasters in the region.

    “This is a real first for the Pacific and will bring incredible value to the region, which is so vast, but managed and stewarded by a small number of overstretched people in our member governments,” Dr Stuart Minchin, Director-General of the Pacific Community in Noumea, New Caledonia, told IPS.

    Mary Nipisina cultivating her peanut garden in Tanna, Vanuatu. Farmers will be able to access the DEP for easy access to up-to-date satellite derived information. Credit: SPC
    Mary Nipisina cultivating her peanut garden in Tanna, Vanuatu. Farmers will be able to access the DEP for easy access to up-to-date satellite derived information. Credit: SPC
    Pacific Island communities cannot afford escalating economic consequences of climate disasters. Credit: SPC
    Pacific Island communities cannot afford escalating economic consequences of climate disasters. Credit: SPC

    “Digital Earth Pacific provides a solution to the tyranny of distance that our Pacific people have to live with every day, allowing operational earth observation satellites to assist in monitoring and management of the vast Blue Pacific Continent,” he continued.

    Satellites provide an invaluable timeline of pictures, past and present, of the ways climate change and natural disasters are affecting coastlines, forest cover, population centres, and food production.

    The Pacific Islands are home to about 12.7 million people and natural disasters are leading to annual average losses in the region of USD 1.07 billion, reports the Australian Aid Agency.

    Digital Earth Pacific, launched by the Pacific Community in October last year, aims to halt that trend. To do this, it will set up far-reaching digital public infrastructure that gives national leaders, decision-makers, policymakers, and citizens, including farmers and local communities, easy access to up-to-date satellite-derived information. It will equip islanders to make better decisions about everything from building climate-resilient infrastructure to planting crops.

    The project will draw on the wealth of scientific information from Microsoft’s Planetary Computer and treat it as ‘public goods’ to be used by those who need it. It is now in the last stages of the first phase of development, with significant progress already made in establishing the digital infrastructure and designing products and applications. Minchin said that they had captured “coastline change, mangroves, and surface water resources, and each of these products is available for every island atoll and rock across the entire Blue Pacific Continent.”

    This is only “the beginning, though, with a significant pipeline of other products in development, bringing the region not just a historical view of how these issues have impacted local areas but an ongoing operational monitoring tool that will be updated regularly with new satellite observations,” Minchin explained.

    The development of products and services has been informed by extensive consultations with Pacific Island countries. “The insights from the consultations gave the project a very good indication of what kind of baseline data is missing and where earth observations can fit in for sound decision-making,” Sachindra Singh, the Geoinformatics Team Leader in the Pacific Community’s Geoscience Division in Suva, Fiji, told IPS.

    There is no Pacific Island nation that has not suffered the blow of devastating cyclones, the merciless corrosion of land by the sea or human hardships when the necessities of food and water perilously decline in the face of droughts or saltwater contamination.

    This century, the Pacific faces a forecast of relentless temperature increases, extreme rainfall, and floods that risk the perishing of crops and rises in human illness and disease, such as heat stress and dengue fever, reports the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). More destructive cyclones and rising sea levels will lead to continued loss and damage to towns, villages, and basic services, for instance, water, sanitation, power, and roads.

    In recent years, the region has been burdened with exorbitant loss and damage bills from cyclones. In 2015, Cyclone Pam cost Vanuatu USD 449.4 million, while Cyclone Winston, which descended on Fiji in 2016, caused damages to the value of US$600 million.

    SPC Director General-Stuart Minchin at the DEP Launch in Noumea last year. It is hoped that the project will assist in the containment of the impacts of climate disasters in terms of lives and livelihoods. Credit: SPC
    SPC Director General Stuart Minchin at the DEP Launch in Noumea last year. It is hoped that the project will assist in the containment of the impacts of climate disasters in terms of lives and livelihoods. Credit: SPC
    Destruction from the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha?apai eruption and tsunami in 2022. Natural disasters are leading to annual average losses in the region of USD 1.07 billion. Credit: SPC
    Destruction from the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha?apai eruption and tsunami in 2022. Natural disasters are leading to annual average losses in the region of USD 1.07 billion. Credit: SPC

    Pacific Island nations cannot afford the escalating economic consequences of climate disasters. Especially because ‘countries in the Pacific region commonly face low GDP growth, high reliance on grants and external loans and under-development in disaster-resilient infrastructure, the economic impact of natural disasters tends to be larger than for other comparable low-income and emerging economies,’ reports the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    The new digital project is, therefore, an essential tool for prevention, ensuring that islanders can act effectively before the next disaster hits and build lives that are resilient to climate excesses in the decades ahead.

    At this stage, the project will have operational products ready to use by 2024.

    “All this information is made easily accessible through the Digital Earth Pacific website in a user-friendly viewer,” Singh said.

    Users can then “identify how their shorelines have changed over time, what areas of their islands are floodprone or have historically faced droughts. They will be able to identify how the health of their mangroves recovers after a severe tropical cyclone and monitor the progress of replanting efforts over the years,” he continued.

    A major beneficiary will be the Cook Islands, a self-governing group of 15 islands, including low-lying coral atolls, located between Tonga and French Polynesia.  It has a population of about 17,500 people who live on a total island landmass of 240 square kilometres. Here, people contend with limited land for food production, an expanding population, and constrained water resources. And, from November to April each year, the country is exposed to tropical cyclones.

    John Strickland, Director of Emergency Management in the Cook Islands, told IPS that the country was particularly prone to cyclones, flooding, sea surges, and drought.

    “With 30 years of satellite data collected through Digital Earth Pacific… has provided images of how the Cook Islands’ coastal area has been affected by climate change, also indicating water observations during floods,” Strickland said.

    “With the data captured, this will assist the Cook Islands in future planning on ensuring that affected coastal and low-lying areas affected by floods are captured and monitored. It will provide us the ability to report on affected areas and forecast, in future, zones that are vulnerable during a disaster.”

    The Pacific Community also believes that access to the data will aid economic growth by informing better investment and planning by local industries and businesses.

    Bringing such a massive infrastructure scheme to fruition will take an equally sizeable investment. And the Pacific Community is currently seeking donors and partners who will help the vision become reality.

    “We have already received strong support from the National Oceans and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United Kingdom and New Zealand governments and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, allowing us to develop the Digital Earth Pacific capability for the first year or two of operation and we are very grateful for this support to date,” Minchin said. But he emphasised that ongoing financial and technical support is vital in the coming years.

    Ultimately, the Pacific Community’s goal is to give islanders the power to forge sustainable lives, limit climate-related poverty, reduce fiscal exposure, and retain their sovereignty.

    &IPS UN Bureau Report


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    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • First Person: ‘I no longer amount to anything’ – Voices of the displaced in Haiti

    First Person: ‘I no longer amount to anything’ – Voices of the displaced in Haiti

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    He and others spoke to Eline Joseph, who works for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Port-au-Prince with a team which provides psychosocial support to people who have fled their homes because of the violence and insecurity.

    She spoke to UN News about her working life and supporting her family.

    “I have to say it has become more difficult to do my job as I am unable to move about freely and provide care to displaced people, especially those who are located in red zones, which are too dangerous to visit.

    © UNOCHA/Giles Clarke

    Daily life continues on the streets of Port au Prince, despite the insecurity.

    The insecurity in Haiti is unprecedented – extreme violence, attacks by armed gangs, kidnappings. Nobody is safe. Everyone is at risk of becoming a victim. The situation can change from minute to minute, so we have to remain vigilant at all times.

    Loss of identity

    Recently, I met a community of farmers who were forced, due to gang activity, to leave their very fertile land on the hills outside Petionville [a neighbourhood in the southeast of Port-au-Prince] where they grew vegetables.

    One of the leaders told me how they have lost their way of life, how they could no longer breath the fresh mountain air and live off the fruits of their labour. They are now living in a site for displaced people with people they do not know, with little access to water and proper sanitation and the same food every day.

    He told me that he is not the person that he once was, that he has lost his identity, which he said was all he possessed in the world. He said he no longer amounts to anything.

    I have heard some desperate stories from men who have been forced to witness the rape of their wives and daughters, some of whom were infected with HIV. These men could do nothing to protect their families, and many feel responsible for what happened. One man said that he felt worthless and was having suicidal thoughts.

    Workers from a local UN NGO partner, UCCEDH, assess the needs of displaced people in downtown Port-au-Prince.

    © UNOCHA/Giles Clarke

    Workers from a local UN NGO partner, UCCEDH, assess the needs of displaced people in downtown Port-au-Prince.

    I have listened to children who wait for their fathers to come home, dreading that they may have been shot dead.

    Psychological support

    Working on the IOM team, we provide the psychological first-aid for people in distress, including one-to-one and group sessions. We also make sure they are in a safe place.

    We offer relaxation sessions and recreational activities to help people unwind. Our approach is people-centred. We take into account their experience and introduce elements of Haitian culture, including proverbs and dances.

    I have also organized counselling for older people. One woman came up to me after a session to thank me, saying that this was the first time she had been given the opportunity to put into words the pain and suffering she was experiencing.

    Family life

    I also have to think of my own family. I am forced to raise my children within the four walls of my home. I can’t even take them out for a walk, just to breathe fresh air.

    When I have to leave the house for shopping or work, my five-year-old daughter looks me in the eyes and makes me promise that I will return home safe and sound. This makes me very sad.

    My 10-year-old son told me one day, that if the president, who was murdered in his home, is not safe, then no-one is. And when he says that and tells me that he has heard that the bodies of murdered people are being left on the streets, I don’t really have an answer for him.

    At home, we try and have a normal life. My children practice their musical instruments. Sometimes we will have a picnic on the veranda or have a movie or karaoke night.

    With all my heart, I dream that Haiti will once again be a safe and stable country. I dream that displaced people can return to their homes. I dream that farmers can return to their fields.”

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  • World Says Goodbye To a Caribbean Literary Giant

    World Says Goodbye To a Caribbean Literary Giant

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    Maryse Condé. Credit: MEDEF
    • by SWAN – Southern World Arts News (paris)
    • Inter Press Service

    PARIS, Apr 12 (IPS) – Maryse Condé, the acclaimed Guadeloupean author who died in France last week at the age of 90, will be bid an official farewell April 12, amidst an outpouring of tributes from across the world, and particularly from the Caribbean.

    Her funeral service will take place at a famed church in Paris, and the French government has announced there will be a national homage to her April 15.

    This follows the community wake organized by authorities and family members April 6 in Pointe-à-Pitre, where the public could join in communion to celebrate the life and work of a writer who “always carried Guadeloupe in her heart”.

    Born in 1934 on the Caribbean Island (a French overseas department), Condé studied in mainland France, lived and taught in Africa and the United States, and wrote more than 20 books over her lifetime. She particularly addressed the history and legacies of slavery and colonialism and spoke out against racism, in Europe and elsewhere.

    In 2018, she won the “alternative” Nobel Prize for her work, and she said she wished to share the honour with her family, her friends and, “above all, with the Guadeloupean people who will be so thrilled and touched by seeing me receive this award”.

    (The honour replaced that year’s official Nobel Prize in Literature, which was postponed to 2019 following a scandal. Condé’s award, formally called The New Academy Prize, was set up by “a wide range of knowledgeable individuals” who accepted the nominations of authors from Sweden’s librarians.)

    In its citation, the New Academy declared: “Maryse Condé is a grand storyteller. Her authorship belongs to world literature. In her work, she describes the ravages of colonialism and the postcolonial chaos in a language which is both precise and overwhelming. The magic, the dream and the terror is, as also love, constantly present.”

    Paying homage after the announcement of her death April 2 at a hospital in Apt, southern France, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “A literary giant, Maryse Condé paints a picture of sorrow and hope, from Guadeloupe to Africa, from the Caribbean to Provence. In a language of struggle and splendour that is unique, universal. Free.”

    Condé’s best-known books include the internationally lauded novels Ségou(Segu), Moi, Tituba sorcière (I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem) and, her final publication, L’Évangile du Nouveau Monde (The Gospel According to the New World).

    Her writing has been rendered into numerous languages, by translators including her husband Richard Philcox, and she will be remembered for work that moved readers across the world and influenced students at institutions where she taught – such as Columbia University in New York.

    “Her life and writing have been an inspiration to many young scholars, students, writers – and will continue to be so,” said Madeleine Dobie, professor of French and Comparative Literature at Columbia.

    (For Columbia’s full tribute to Maryse Condé, see: Tribute – Maryse Condé

    Although Condé wrote in French, her work has long transcended linguistic lines in the Caribbean, where a range of Creole languages as well as English, French, Spanish and Dutch are spoken.

    “Her contribution is beyond measure,” said Jamaican professor, writer and translator Elizabeth “Betty” Wilson. More than 30 years ago, Wilson and her sister Pamela Mordecai edited an anthology of Caribbean women writers titled Her True-True Name, which carried a story by Condé in English translation.

    “I am so sad that she is gone,” Wilson said. “She lived life to the full.”

    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • To Mitigate Climate Change Associated Disasters That Impact the Agricultural Sector – Launch Multipronged Efforts

    To Mitigate Climate Change Associated Disasters That Impact the Agricultural Sector – Launch Multipronged Efforts

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    In 2023, the United Nations released a report revealing that extreme weather disasters had incurred economic losses totaling $4 trillion, with significant impacts felt across various sectors, notably agriculture. Credit: Miriet Abrego / IPS
    • Opinion by Esther Ngumbi (urbana, illinois, us)
    • Inter Press Service

    Additionally, the report highlighted the economic losses and other impacts extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heatwaves, and tropical cyclones have on agriculture.

    Indeed, globally, and in the United States, record-breaking, extreme weather disaster events, such as flooding, storms, and droughts, have become extremely costly and excessively too common.

    According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 377 events have resulted in losses of over $2.6 trillion have been documented. In 2023, the United Nations released a report showing that extreme weather disasters have resulted in economic losses worth $4 trillion, including in the agricultural sector.

    Undoubtedly, this should worry all since the agricultural sector is vital for meeting our food and nutrition security needs. In the United States, for example, agriculture, food, and related industries contribute approximately $1.4 trillion to the gross domestic product.

    In Asia, Africa, and many other continents, the agricultural sector is equally important, and further serves as a source of employment, and thus a poverty-reducing sector. According to UN FAO, agriculture accounts for over 35 percent of Africa’s GDP.

    Emerging, therefore is the need for multipronged efforts to help to mitigate the impacts these climate change associated disasters have on agriculture.

    First. Inform agricultural sector stakeholders including farmers about newly launched technologies and most recent science-backed climate solutions.

    Researchers, entrepreneurs, and innovators continue to bring to life novel technologies, climate solutions, and innovations that can be deployed to help to mitigate climate change impacts.

    From artificial intelligence powered prediction models that can reliably forecast when disasters are going to happen, prompting stakeholders to act, to climate resilient crops, to regenerative agricultural practices such as cover cropping, mulching, and digging trenches that can help mitigate the impacts of drought and flooding to indoor agriculture that cushions agricultural crops from weather, pests and water and space limitations.

    To make sure that this information is available, governments or innovators could keep a tab or have an inventory of all recent climate solutions. This can be a one stop database that carries the most recent info.  It could be in the form of a climate solutions dashboard.

    Complementing information is the need to create incentives to accelerate the adoption of these newer climate solutions, technologies, and strategies. Monetary incentives, for example, could go a long way in facilitating the rapid adoption of research backed climate solutions for agriculture. For example, in Illinois, farmers who are practicing regenerative practices such as cover cropping are eligible for a three-year contract payment of $50 per acre.

    Moreover, there is a need to actively engage the next generation of farmers. Programs such as the recently launched US Department of Agriculture climate corps, a program that will mobilize over 100 young people to help advance sustainable agriculture, is a move in the right direction.

    Second. Continue to invest in research, entrepreneurs, agencies, and programs dedicated to climate research. 

    Research continues to be central in helping to generate new solutions. As such, there is need to keep funding researchers that are actively engaged in research aimed at generating newer solutions or understanding the direct and indirect impacts of climate change associated disasters.

    As an example, in 2023, USDA invested over $46M in the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program that funds research that has over the years resulted in the development of climate-smart solutions. In the same year, The Rockefeller Foundation committed $1billion to advance climate solutions.

    Third.Take good data before, during, and after climate disasters.

    Good data can be leveraged to help address climate change impacts to agriculture including being used in machine learning, to help to create predictive models that are continuing to revolutionize our ability to predict disaster events and act. Moreover, data can be used to introduce real-time solutions while helping to accurately capture solutions that are working.

    Certainly, data driven solutions will continue to be important now and in the future and should continue to be leveraged.

    At the core of preventing direct impacts of weather events on the agricultural sector should be a respect for nature and biodiversity.

    Indeed, we live in a biodiverse world, that has other creatures in our ecosystem. For example, the soil matrix is home to earthworms and microbes that underpin agricultural productivity. As such, strategies, solutions, and interventions rolled out should also protect these invisible friends.

    In dealing with record-breaking extreme weather events that directly and indirectly impact the agricultural sector, we must choose to launch multipronged solutions that leverage data, incorporate newly available climate solutions and innovations, and create incentives to amplify the adoptions of these solutions. A functioning agricultural sector will continue to be important as we strive to meet our food and nutrition security needs.

    Esther Ngumbi, PhD is Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, African American Studies Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • In the Shadows of the Wars in Ukraine & Gaza, Iran and Russia are Growing Ever Closer

    In the Shadows of the Wars in Ukraine & Gaza, Iran and Russia are Growing Ever Closer

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    • Opinion by Hamidreza Azizi (berlin, germany)
    • Inter Press Service

    BERLIN, Germany, Apr 08 (IPS) – Russia and Iran currently appear to be pulling firmly in the same direction in terms of foreign policy; ‘What has caused humanity’s suffering is unilateralism and an unjust global order, one manifestation of which can be seen in Gaza today.’ These were the words of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on 7 December.

    The content of the statement, coupled with its context – an Iranian-Russian summit in Moscow – succinctly summarises how the war in Gaza has shifted Iran’s perspective toward Russia as a steadfast partner in its stance against Israel and on the war, underpinned by shared viewpoints on major international topics.

    Though Putin did not explicitly endorse Raisi’s comments, he did not disappoint his visitor either, pointing out the mutual comprehension between the two states on regional issues, including the Gaza conflict, as one of the topics of bilateral negotiations.

    A shared vision on Gaza

    The Raisi-Putin meeting, marking the most significant diplomatic engagement between Iran and Russia concerning Gaza since the start of the war, was not an isolated event. Since shortly after the war’s outset, the issue has consistently featured in phone discussions and in-person meetings among the two countries’ officials.

    Beyond this bilateral framework, the shared stance on the Gaza issue has also been articulated in multilateral settings where both Iran and Russia are present. The most notable instance was the trilateral ‘Astana format’ meeting between Iran, Russia and Turkey.

    While the forum is primarily focused on Syria, the three parties emphasised the significance of preventing the expansion of the armed confrontation in Gaza and the involvement of other regional states in the conflict.

    They also ‘expressed deep concern over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and stressed the need to end Israeli brutal onslaught against the Palestinians and send humanitarian aid to Gaza’.

    The growing convergence between Iran and Russia on the Gaza issue is also evident in the official narratives promoted by each country separately; a convergence that has been apparent since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Iran’s support for it, attributing international problems and crises to the detrimental role of the West, notably the United States.

    Iran and Russia have labelled Western responses to the Gaza conflict as hypocritical, juxtaposing them with Western actions in other global conflicts, especially in Ukraine. This narrative aims to spotlight perceived inconsistencies and biases in Western foreign policies.

    Both governments also advocate for regional solutions to regional problems, contesting Western interventions in the Middle East.

    Indeed, the alignment in narratives and perceptions between Iran and Russia transcends the immediate context of the war in Gaza. It is part of a broader strategy aimed at transforming the global order into a more multipolar structure, wherein Western dominance is contested and alternative power centres, such as Iran and Russia, assume a more pronounced role.

    Concurrently, the negative impact of Western influence is blamed for the inefficacy of international institutions, including the United Nations, in ending the war in Gaza. This aspect also appears to have broader implications.

    The Astana talks on Syria demonstrate the commitment of Iran and Russia, along with Turkey, which has equally criticised the Western response to the Gaza war, to establishing alternative platforms for conflict resolution and international cooperation.

    In essence, the focus on Gaza in the final statement of the Astana meeting signifies that Iran, Russia and Turkey intend to extend their trilateral cooperation in Syria, which was partly also replicated in the South Caucasus after the latest war between Azerbaijan and Armenia (within the framework known as 3+3), to a wider Middle Eastern context.

    Following Syria and the South Caucasus, Gaza may also emerge as a venue for the trilateral cooperation of Tehran, Moscow and Ankara – despite differences in positions – to manifest.

    In any case, as many analysts anticipated from the onset of the Gaza war, Russia has sought to leverage the conflict as an opportunity to extend its outreach to the Global South, particularly to Muslim countries critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza. In this context, Russia’s relations with the Islamic Republic have been notably influenced.

    On the one hand, the Islamic Republic, as a principal supporter of Hamas and Israel’s foremost adversary, seizes any opportunity to broaden international support for its ally and to weaken Israel’s position.

    On the other hand, for the leaders of the Islamic Republic, Russia’s stance is an affirmation that their decision to back Moscow in the Ukraine conflict was judicious.

    A nuclear-armed Iran?

    The spillover of the Gaza war into other areas in the Middle East and the engagement of Iran’s proxies and non-state allies in the ‘axis of resistance’, from the Houthis in Yemen to Iraqi militias, has introduced an additional layer to the already complex Iran-West dynamics.

    Western powers, particularly the United States and Britain, increasingly attribute responsibility to Iran for the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and the operations of Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria. Indeed, following the expansion of Iran’s nuclear programme, Tehran’s support for Moscow in the Ukraine war and the suppression of the 2022 popular protests in Iran, the Gaza war has now added a new problem to Iran’s relations with the West.

    At the same time, these developments have dimmed the prospects for reviving the Iran nuclear deal or achieving a new agreement between Iran and the US. Under these circumstances, Iran is expected to gravitate more toward its Eastern partners, namely Russia and China.

    The war in Gaza has also laid bare the limitations of Iran’s asymmetric warfare strategy utilising proxies and non-state partners. American strikes in Yemen on one side and in Iraq and Syria on the other, although not having reinstated deterrence as Washington had hoped, have revealed that Iran’s network of non-state allies and proxies is quite vulnerable.

    Meanwhile, the continuation of Israeli military operations against Hamas has significantly impaired the military capabilities of this Palestinian militia. Some analysts speculate that this might incline Iran toward developing nuclear weapons as the ultimate deterrent.

    An alternative, or perhaps complementary, strategy could be forming a military alliance with friendly powers like Russia and China. Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali-Akbar Ahmadian’s visit to Moscow and the heightened emphasis from both sides on finalising a long-term strategic cooperation agreement should be viewed in this context.

    Concurrently, reports have emerged suggesting that Iran has finally decided to provide Russia with ballistic missiles. Russia has also acquired a new model of Iranian drones, Shahed 238. All these indications show that both sides, driven by their practical needs as well as long-term strategic outlooks, are increasingly inclined to forge a robust military partnership.

    In fact, even if Iran decides to pursue nuclear weapons, it needs to secure Russia’s support. Thus, fostering relations with Russia remains crucial. Currently, there’s no concrete evidence suggesting that Russia would endorse a nuclear-armed Iran. However, it’s not entirely implausible, depending on future Russia-West relations.

    The above factors have reinforced Iran’s reliance on Russia as a strategic partner. Concurrently, it appears that Russia-Israel relations are approaching a point of no return. Indeed, it remains vital for Russia that Israel not support Ukraine.

    But at least in the short term, Israel must prioritise its own security needs amid the war in Gaza and appears incapable of providing substantial security assistance abroad.

    Furthermore, Russia is now relatively confident in its achievements in Ukraine. However, this does not imply that Russia desires a complete overhaul of its relations with Israel; rather, it simply perceives less necessity for Israel and believes it now has the upper hand in this relationship.

    Yet, factors exist that could challenge the transformation of the Iran-Russia partnership into a steadfast alliance. Most notably, Russia’s ambition to cultivate relations with the Arab states of the Persian Gulf to attract investment and for diplomatic manoeuvring is significant enough that Russia was prepared to endorse the UAE’s stance on three islands in the Persian Gulf disputed between Iran and the UAE, eliciting unprecedented criticism of Moscow in Iran, even among top officials.

    Ultimately, Russia was compelled to reaffirm its commitment to Iran’s territorial integrity. Currently, the improvement in Tehran’s relations with Arab capitals, partly facilitated by the Gaza war, may simplify Russia’s task of balancing its relations with both sides of the Persian Gulf. However, there’s no assurance that this approach will remain viable in the long term.

    Dr. Hamidreza Azizi is a Visiting Fellow in the Africa and Middle East Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin.

    Source: International Politics and Society (IPS)-Journal published by the International Political Analysis Unit of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Hiroshimastrasse 28, D-10785 Berlin

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