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  • Public Development Banks Cant Drag Their Feet When It Comes to Building a Sustainable Future

    Public Development Banks Cant Drag Their Feet When It Comes to Building a Sustainable Future

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    Civil society organisations at the Finance in Common Summit. Credit: Noel Emmanuel Zako
    • Opinion by Bibbi Abruzzini (abidjan, ivory coast)
    • Inter Press Service

    ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, Oct 21 (IPS) – A coalition of civil society organisations is demanding public development banks (PDBs) to take radical and innovative steps to tackle human rights violations and environmental destruction. No project funded by PDBs should come at the expenses of vulnerable groups, the environment and collective liberties, but should instead embody the voices of communities, democratic values and environmental justice.

    The demands, part of a collective statement signed by more than 50 civil society organisations, come as over 450 PDBs gather in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, from October 19th, for a third international summit, dubbed Finance in Common.

    The COVID-19 pandemic and climate emergency, coupled with human rights violations and increasing risks for activists worldwide, is bringing the need to change current practices into even sharper focus. While public development banks may drag their feet on addressing intersecting and structural inequalities, civil society organisations are taking actions aimed at creating dignified livelihoods by embedding development with concrete affirmative measures towards climate, social, gender, and racial justice.

    PDBs cannot be reluctant to act. They need to hit the target when it comes to supporting the transformation of economies and financial systems towards sustainability and addressing the most pressing needs of citizens worldwide – from food systems to increasing support for a just transition towards truly sustainable energy sources. PDBs must recognise that public services are the foundation of fair and just societies, rather than encouraging their privatisation and keep austerity narratives alive.

    9 out of 10 people live in countries where civic freedoms are severely restricted, and with an environmental activist killed every two days on average over the past decade, development banks have an obligation to recognize and incorporate human rights in their plans and actions, following a “do not harm” duty.

    Civil society organisations at the Finance in Common Summit. Credit: Noel Emmanuel Zako

    Communities cannot be left out of the door. They need to be given the space to play the rightful role of driving forces in the answers to today’s global challenges, without them PDBs will move backwards rather than forward – and this means more environmental degradation, less democratic participation, and to put it bluntly an even greater crisis than the one we are facing today. And nobody needs that.

    The recommendations in the collective civil society statement emerge from a three-year process of engagement and exchange, involving civil society networks in an effort to shape PDBs policies and projects. You can find some of their words and messages below.

    As the call for accountability grows, the Finance in Common summits are an opportunity for PDBs to show moral leadership and help remedy the lack of long-term collaborations with civil society, communities and indigenous groups, threatening to curtail development narratives and practices.

    Here are the messages from civil society organisations from around the globe directed at public development banks.

    Oluseyi Oyebisi, Executive Director of Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) the Nigerian national network of 3,700 NGOs said: “The Sahara and Sahel countries especially have been facing the most serious security crisis in their history linked with climate change, social justice and inequalities in the region. Marked by strong economic (lack of opportunities especially for young people), social (limitation of equitable access to basic social services) and climatic vulnerabilities, the region has some of the lowest human development indicators in the world – even before the covid pandemic. Access to affected populations is limited in some localities due to three main factors: the security situation, the poor state of infrastructures and difficult geographic conditions. PDBs must prioritise civil society organisations and Communities initiatives supporting state programs of decentralization, security sector reforms and reconciliation. This will help reduce the vulnerability of populations and prevent violent extremism.”

    Mavalow Christelle Kalhoule, Forus Chair and President of Spong, the NGO network of Burkina Faso said: “Development projects shape our world; from the ways we navigate our cities to how rural landscapes are being transformed. Ultimately, they impact the ways we interact with one another, with plants and animals, with other countries and with the food on our plates. The decisions taken by public development banks are therefore existential. Such responsibility comes with an even greater one to include communities directly concerned by development projects, those whose air, water and everyday lives are affected for generations to come. For this to happen, public development banks must reinforce their long-term efforts to create dialogue with civil society organisations, social movements and indigenous communities in order to fortify the democratic principles of their work. We encourage them to listen, to ask and to cooperate in innovative ways so that development stays true to its original definition of progress and positive change; a collective, participative and fair process and a word which has a meaning not for a few, but for all.”

    Tity Agbahey, Africa Regional Coordinator, Coalition for human rights in development said: “Many in civil society have expressed concerns about Finance in Common as a space run by elites, that fails to be truly inclusive. It is a space where the mainstream top-down approach to development, instead of being challenged, is further reinforced. Once again, the leaders of the public development banks gathered at this Summit will be taking decisions on key issues without listening to those most affected by their projects and the real development experts: local communities, human rights defenders, Indigenous Peoples, feminist groups, civil society. They will speak about “sustainability”, while ignoring the protests against austerity policies and rising debt. They will speak about “human rights”, while ignoring those denouncing human rights violations in the context of their projects. They will speak about “green and just transition”, while continuing to support projects that contribute to climate change.”

    Comlan Julien AGBESSI, Regional Coordinator of the Network of National NGO Platforms of West Africa (REPAOC), a regional coalition of 15 national civil society platforms said: “Regardless of how they are perceived by the public authorities in the various countries, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) contribute to covering the aspects and spaces not reached or insufficiently reached by national development programmes. Despite the undeniable impact of their actions on the living conditions of populations, NGOs remain the poor cousins of donor funding, apart from the support of certain philanthropic or charitable organisations. In such a context of scarce funding opportunities, aggravated by the health crisis due to COVID-19 and the subsequent economic crisis, Pooled Finance, which is in fact a paradigm shift, appears to be a lifeline for CSOs. This is why REPAOC welcomes the commitments made by both the Public Development Banks and the Multilateral Development Banks to directly support CSO projects and programmes in the same way as they usually do with governments and the private sector. Through the partnership agreements that we hope and pray for between CSOs and banks, the latter can be assured that the actions that will be envisaged for the benefit of rural and urban communities will certainly reach them with the guarantees of accountability that their new CSO partners offer”.

    Frank Vanaerschot, Director of Counter Balance, said: “As one of this year’s organisers of the Finance in Common Summit, the EIB will brag about the billions it invests in development. The truth is the bank will be pushing the EU’s own commercial interests and promoting the use of public money for development in the Global South to guarantee profits for private investors. Reducing inequalities will be second-place at best. The EIB is also co-hosting the summit despite systemic human rights violations in projects it finances from Nepal to Kenya. Instead, the EIB and other public banks should work to empower local communities by investing in the public services needed for human rights to be respected, such as publicly owned and governed healthcare and education – not on putting corporate profits above all else.”

    Stephanie Amoako, Senior Policy Associate at Accountability Counsel said: “PDBs must be accountable to the communities impacted by their projects. All PDBs need to have an effective accountability mechanism to address concerns with projects and should commit to preventing and fully remediating any harm to communities”.

    Jyotsna Mohan Singh, Regional Coordinator, Asia Development Alliance said: “PDBs should have a normative core; they should start with the rights framework. This means grounding all safeguards into all the various rights frameworks that already exist. There are rights instruments for indigenous people, the elderly, women, youth, and people living with disability. They are part and parcel of a whole host of both global conventions and regional conventions. Their approach should be grounded in those rights, then it will be on a very firm footing.

    Asian governments need to support, implement, and apply strict environmental laws and regulations for all PDBs projects. The first step is to disseminate public information and conduct open and effective environmental impact assessments for all these projects, as well as strategic environmental assessments for infrastructure and cross-border projects.”

    IPS UN Bureau


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  • Saving Lives Cant Ever Be Divisive

    Saving Lives Cant Ever Be Divisive

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    • by Elena Pasquini (rome)
    • Inter Press Service

    ROME, Oct 20 (IPS) – That’s why a new ship with a big white “E” will navigate the Mediterranean Sea. The vessel has a red hull, is more than fifty meters long and has low decks. Soon, it will leave the port of Genoa and go out into the open sea. If those living on the north shore of that ‘water cemetery’ bearing the name of Mediterranean had chosen life, the “Life Support” would not have been greeted by the applause of a people packed square, on a late summer night, in the Italian city of Reggio Emilia. It would not be ready to sail now; . if they had chosen life, that ship would have another job.

    “Mom, I’m thirsty.” That’s how Loujin died, asking for water. She was four years old and had been at sea for ten days on a boat that launched an SOS to which no one responded until was too late on a still-very-hot September. She and her family were fleeing the war in Syria with the impossible hope of a refugee camp in Lebanon. She died along with six other refugees: “They died of thirst, hunger and severe burns,” said Chiara Cardoletti, Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Italy, on Twitter. “According to the reports of the survivors who are being verified by the police the corpses were thrown into the sea when they began to be stockpiled,” according to the newspaper Avvenire. The sea took at least eighty, dead off the coasts of Lebanon and Syria, just a few days later. Eleven other decaying bodies were recovered in the first half of October off the coast of Tunisia. Before that, water had snatched away so many lives that we are not even able to count them and cry for them.

    If there had been a ship, such as the one with a large white “E” on its red sides, perhaps Loujin would be alive. The “E” is that of Emergency, an Italian NGO founded in 1994 to bring aid to civilian victims of war and poverty.

    Emergency has made its choice: It will sail the Mediterranean, fishing for human beings regardless of the “barriers” erected in that water. Barriers created by laws, rules, and sometimes arbitrarily, do not prevent women and men in search of a future; instead, all too often, they turn into dead bodies – those that wars and starvation weren’t able to make.

    Ten thousand people were in Reggio Emilia at the annual meeting of Emergency, an organization that has turned the defense of human rights and its radical “No war” policy into concrete actions in the most difficult places on the planet. Those numbers, doubled compared to the previous year, portray a country, Italy, which longs for peace and hospitality.

    “Seeing and knowing that there are thousands of people dying off our shores is absolutely not acceptable. With we believe to represent many people in Italy who do not want to see this happen,” Pietro Parrino, Emergency’s director of the Field Operations Department, explained to us.

    From 2014 to the day of this writing, i.e., mid-October this year, 25,034 people have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean Sea. “They were more than 1,100 just in the absence of a coordinated search and rescue operation at European level,” a statement from the NGO said. “We must be at sea to save people’s lives,” Parrino stressed. Whatever the reason why those women and men have decided to take the most dangerous of journeys: “They simply need help and we are, and we try to be, in the places where help is needed,” he added.

    Being there, however, is a hard choice. There are very few NGO search and rescue ships, constrained by laws and bureaucracy that prevent them from getting to where they are needed, leaving migrants in the hands of the Libyan coast guards or forcing the vessels to wait days before docking at safe ports. Their work is not easy and they have even been accused of being “sea taxis” or “accomplices” of traffickers in a country where the call for a “naval blockade” has been a slogan for those who won the last political election.

    It takes courage to choose life, anyway.

    The last stretch

    Barriers, “walls” within the sea, ancient Romans called Mare Nostrum, built by other choices, political choices, such as the bilateral Memorandum of Understanding that Italy signed with Libya in 2017 or the Malta Declaration issued shortly after. Agreements “that form the basis of a close cooperation that entrusts the patrolling of the central Mediterranean to Libyan coastguards,” followed by the establishment of the Libyan SAR, a large maritime area where the responsibility for coordinating search and rescue activities was assigned to Libya, Amnesty International explained. The human rights organization is among those calling for the suspension of the Memorandum: “In the last five years, over 85 thousand people have been intercepted at sea and sent back to Libya: men, women and children who have faced arbitrary detention, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, rape and sexual violence, forced labor and illegal killings.”

    Any attempt to pull out those barriers, even if made up of boats, is doomed to fail; instead, it will produce pain. Migrations do not stop, new routes open up, and the old ones close and then reopen as the laws or European policies change. Crossing the sea is just the last stretch of a long journey in which human trafficking is a business built on desperation and managed by the same organizations that smuggle drugs and oil. Trips are a commodity sold on a market where the currency can be money or one’s body.

    The Mediterranean route will continue to be worth a lot of money. Dirty money, cash, mobilized in a very sophisticated way, ends up in the pockets of those we do not know, or rather, of those about whom we know what they do, financing other illicit businesses. It is not just a question of the “passage” , but it is a much more complicated mechanism.

    NGOs’ search and rescue operations were said to have increased the number of people who decided to travel to Europe. However, data from the Italian Ministry of the Interior show that this is false, as reported by the Huffington Post last year. In 2021, there were many more arrivals than the previous year even though there was not a greater number of vessels in the Mediterranean, as some of them were blocked by “bureaucracy.” There were few ships but a greater number of arrivals because those who flee wars and hunger always find new ways to organize the journey.

    “People who to leave countries like Afghanistan or the Horn of Africa and have thousands and thousands of kilometers in front of them to be covered on foot with little or no money, are people who have courage and determination unimaginable for us,” Parrino said. Desperation moves them, a desperation that puts them in the hands of those who promise a place in a rust bucket. “The story these people tell is that few get a simple ride. Many are enslaved for years, in the fields or as prostitutes, because the traffickers earn tens of thousands of euros by selling them and reselling them before setting them free again. The trafficking is not to let people cross the Mediterranean; the trafficking is the management of these thousands of desperate people who are exploited as labor slaves and sex slaves for months, for years, before receiving the green light to take the boat,” he added. “People do it because they have even less than the hope that lies ahead. They are people who accept a risk they already know”, Parrino stressed.

    Gabriele Baratto, a criminologist at the University of Trento, studied that market for a research project. He investigated the “digitization” of human trafficking.

    Smugglers use social media, especially Facebook, to find migrants who want to leave. Then Baratto and his team contacted them. They thought it would be difficult, that they would have to turn to the dark web, that they would have to use secret jargon. But no, everything happens in the light of day. It was enough to type simple keywords, questions such as: “how to get to Europe.”

    “ hundreds of posts, pages, and groups dedicated to promoting travel for migrants and these posts contained and contain basic information on the , point of departure, point of arrival and some indication on the price, date, month of departure. And the thing that left us most bewildered was that there was the phone number of the traffickers,” Baratto explained at Emergency’s meeting in Reggio Emilia.

    They are “tour operators” of pain, who ask to be reached by phone, WhatsApp, or Skype, which are more difficult to intercept. “We came up with scripts, stories saying: ‘I am in Italy but I have my sister, I have my brother, I have my parents .’ They answer, and if they don’t answer, they write to you. Within a maximum of half an hour you can talk to them on the phone and they give you all the information.” The more you pay, the safer, more “comfortable,” and more direct the journey is, and traffickers know how laws and policies of states in Europe change.

    “‘If you did this, why don’t the police do the same?’ ,” Baratto added. It is just too difficult to arrest traffickers one by one. The solution is only “a new approach to immigration,” he believes.

    Behind that market in the sunlight, there is hell – the hell that Emergency knows.

    “Is it possible to open a humanitarian corridor and decide with what means (to intervene)? … We know very well from where they come…” The only answer to those questions has been Europe’s agreement with Libya, ” ‘paying’ traffickers, providing patrol boats, money, convincing them not to let people leave. The flows from the countries of departure have not changed, the flows in the countries of arrival have greatly decreased. Where do all these people go? How do traffickers use them?” Parrino told us.

    To halt the chain of deaths, it would be necessary to eradicate the factors that force people to leave or to decide that it can’t be fate to open the doors of Europe: “Access cannot be by chance for who are saved at sea or manage to land on our shores by boat. We think that it should be much better structured, without launching ‘invasion’ alarms,” he said.

    Legal and safe access for those who must leave their countries: That’s the call of the NGO Emergency. Until then, it will be at sea because the sea swallows everything. “After a few minutes the sea is flat and you don’t realize that there has been a tragedy, there are no pieces left, nothing remains …” Parrino said from the Reggio Emilia stage.

    No one answered the SOS of the boat that took away the souls of those eighty people who died in mid-September, as happened to Loujin. No one listened to their cries, betraying the ancient law of the sea that imposes that obligation. Instead, Emergency wants to be there with its “Life Support” to respond to those ships that cry out. It will be one of the few of that small fleet of NGOs that resists the obstacles dictated by a guilty and inhuman bureaucracy that pulls invisible barbed wires straight into the water.

    A “bureaucracy,” the Italian one, to which the European Court of Justice replied in August, giving reason to the NGO’s Sea Watch vessels blocked for months in the ports of Palermo and Porto Empedocle in 2020. Ships subjected to inspections, prevented from operating for reasons such as “missing certifications” or “too many people on board.” Laws, political choices, and administrative stops that over time have forced NGOs to rethink even “how” help is brought.

    Emergency has already been operating since 2016 with other partners offering health and social assistance, a type of aid that was not so common in the past because search and rescue operations were quick and disembarkation never too long. But now, docking in Italy can be timeless.

    “The longest mission I can remember was fifty days. Fifty days at sea, of which at least thirty with the refugees on board because stuck in the harbor, with people jumping off the ship psychologists who had to get on,” Parrino remembered.

    There are no well-defined rules, he explained, but a lot of arbitrariness, differences according to the ports or the “political climate. There were moments that three or four days passed from identification at sea to disembarkation and moments when thirty or forty days passed,” he added.

    That’s why Life Support’s mission will be about fifteen days, as it could be necessary to stay on board longer. “If I had to leave and return from Sicily, it takes about a day to go patrolling in front of the Libyan coast, and you go there when there are good weather windows because in bad weather there are clearly no departures. Within two or three days you should be able to identify the target, so within four or five days the mission should be over.”

    That’s just theory. More often, boat persons must share the little space of the ship for days, and over time that forced coexistence can become hard. “Those vessels are clearly not cruise ships. We are renovating the one we bought to the fullest with the experience we have gained over the years, but there are certainly no one hundred and seventy cabins … so things get heavy.”

    Two or three days after the rescue, adrenaline turns into other fears, and “everything returns to memory: hunger, despair, what you have left … what you have suffered, the for what has been and for what will happen.” This is why keeping people on board for a long time has profound repercussions for everyone. We need to work “on empathy” and we need to increase the staff, doctors, nurses, “we need to have psychologists ready to board in case the ship has to stop, you have a crew under pressure,” Parrino explained.

    Search and rescue at sea by NGOs is often a divisive topic but saving lives cannot be divisive, ever. This is Energency’s starting point, also this time. That’s why the “Life Support” will go out into the open sea. On its red hull, it will take, off the shores of Genoa, the words of Gino Strada, its founder, who in 2017 won the SunHak Peace Prize and who passed away last year: “If the rights are not for every single person, you’d better call them privileges.”

    Life can’t be a privilege.

    IPS UN Bureau


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  • Developing Countries Battle Climate Change, While the Wealthy Make Frozen Pledges: Will COP27 Usher a New Era?

    Developing Countries Battle Climate Change, While the Wealthy Make Frozen Pledges: Will COP27 Usher a New Era?

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    Climate change is predicted to put pressure on the Nile Valley and Delta, where about 95% of Egypt’s population resides. Credit: Hisham Allam/IPS
    • by Hisham Allam (cairo)
    • Inter Press Service

    Cairo, Oct 20 (IPS) – The countdown to the UN Climate Summit COP27, which will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6 to November 18, has begun.

    This summit has drawn the attention of world leaders, high-ranking United Nations officials, and thousands of environmental activists worldwide.

    The COP27 summit is an annual gathering of 197 countries to discuss climate change and what each country is doing to limit the impact of human activity on the climate.

    About 90 heads of state have confirmed their attendance at the COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, according to the special representative of the Egyptian presidency.

    Amr Abdel-Aziz, Director of Mitigation at Egypt’s Ministry of Environment, noted that the central theme for COP27 is implementation.

    “We hope to demonstrate what that looks like in terms of mitigation and adaptation. If the summit can address the topic of implementation in all of its discussions, it will be a sign of its success,” Abdel-Aziz said.

    The primary objective of COP27 is to achieve positive results in terms of emissions reduction; on the agenda is also a discussion of financing losses and damage.

    “We also intend to advance the agenda to double climate adaptation financing by 2025 and reach an agreement on the unfulfilled $100 billion financial pledge from developed countries,” Abdel-Aziz told IPS.

    The overarching goal is to strike a balance between all parties’ interests. The mitigation program, for example, is primarily driven by developed countries and small island developing states, which are currently experiencing severe climate change impacts.

    On the other hand, emerging markets are principally accountable for adjustments, losses, and damages.

    “Our goal is to achieve a balanced result that meets all of these goals and objectives,” he continued

    “We wanted to cover as much of Egypt’s total emissions as possible,” Abdel-Aziz explains, “So we focused on three sectors: energy, oil and gas, and transportation. We also chose the industries that are most likely to reduce emissions.”

    Abdel-Aziz says he is optimistic about meeting the goals, especially in the transport sector, which could even exceed the goals as there has been significant progress including in the area of “transportation electrification and other forms of sustainable mobility.”

    The summit’s top priorities are to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals and progress in the fight against climate change. According to scientific research, limiting global warming to 1.5°C by 2030 requires cutting emissions in half.

    “Climate finance must be available for this to occur,” COY 17 Programme Leader Hossam Imam told IPS.

    COY17 is an annual event organized by YOUNGO, the Official Youth Constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This year’s event will take place on the sidelines of the 27th Party Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt (COP27).

    Imam will collaborate with 1,500 young people from 140 countries to draft the youth statement, which will be delivered to the presidency of the Climate Summit and discussed by high-ranking officials.

    “The impact of climate change on indigenous peoples and coastal city dwellers who face flooding is one of the most pressing issues to be addressed in COY 17,” Imam said.

    Environmental activist Ahmed Fathy told IPS that the most significant obstacle to developing countries achieving their climate goals is a “lack of adequate and adequate financing from developed countries. And, despite years of neglect, adaptation financing remains a top priority for developing countries. Without it, developing countries cannot combat and mitigate the effects of climate change.”

    The Nile Valley and Delta, where about 95% of Egypt’s population resides, make up only 4% of the country’s natural area. Climate change is predicted to put pressure on these areas, particularly the Nile, and the region could experience more frequent droughts.

    “Egypt is also one of the few nations that actually struggle with water scarcity,” Fathy added.

    “Since the world faces several economic issues in addition to the energy crisis, we expect that the conference will produce workable proposals,” said Fathy, the founder of the ‘Youth Love Egypt Association,’ involved in organizing the COY17 conference and the promotion of the COP27. “We expect the summit to produce a workable charter and to be COP for actions rather than COP for pledges.”

    IPS UN Bureau Report


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  • Accelerating Post-Pandemic SDG 6 Achievements on Water & Sanitation

    Accelerating Post-Pandemic SDG 6 Achievements on Water & Sanitation

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    Credit: United Nations
    • Opinion by Manzoor Qadir, Guillaume Baggio (hamilton, canada)
    • Inter Press Service

    HAMILTON, Canada, Oct 20 (IPS) – Global progress has been staggeringly inadequate against Sustainable Development Goal 6, “clean water and sanitation for all.”

    According to the latest SDGs progress assessment, 2 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water, 3.6 billion lack sanitation services, and 3 billion lack basic hygiene services.

    Waterborne diseases continue to take a heavy toll on the global community, with hotspots in developing countries most acutely affected.

    To address this crisis, the United Nations launched the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework in 2020 to fast-track progress. The framework is a roadmap for aligning national policies and financial resources and scaling up action at all levels, but it has two fundamental flaws that need to be addressed.

    Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic

    First, the Framework largely overlooks the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the means by which safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene services will be provided where needed.

    The pandemic badly affected and continues to affect the financial, political, and institutional structures and the social fabric of countries. Debt and inflation in many countries are rising while foreign investment declined by 35 per cent from 2019 to 2021.

    The ability to make critical capital improvements has also been drastically affected during the pandemic, causing a delay in completing planned water and sanitation infrastructure and further enfeebling already underfunded services in developing countries.

    Global and national financial, political, and institutional structures need to be reshaped, and the social fabric repaired as part of a truly transformative sustainability agenda.

    Undervaluing SDGs interlinkages

    Second, the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework undervalues the potential of strengthening interlinkages across SDGs. While it recognizes the importance of SDG 6 interlinkages, it does not call for systematic change in traditional forms of decision-making in the water and sanitation sector.

    The risks of addressing SDGs individually without considering their interlinkages was the subject of warnings early in this global process. Moreover, SDG interlinkages are context-specific and depend on several factors, such as geography, governance, or socio-economic conditions.

    The current economic slowdown could push another 263 million people into extreme poverty in 2022 — a number roughly equal to the combined populations of Germany, France, the UK and Spain — further compounding challenges across critical dimensions of sustainable development, such as health, education, gender, and water and sanitation.

    Policy coherence is indispensable to sustainable development. A post-pandemic framework for sustainability requires policies that are mutually supportive across multiple sectors. Countries must move on from merely identifying interlinkages between SDGs to strengthening and acting on them.

    Two actions to bridge the gaps

    The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic clearly necessitate better coordinated multi-sectoral policies. Next year, UN Member States meet at the UN 2023 Water Conference for the midterm review of the Water Action Decade 2018-2028, an effort to galvanize social, economic, and environmental action.

    National decision-makers and development actors need to act on the following recommendations:

    1. Prioritizing critical SDG 6 targets in the post-pandemic context. This means reshaping and strengthening today’s inadequate means of implementation and coming to the UN 2023 Water Conference with bold pledges, concentrating resources on bringing drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene services to the most vulnerable people — women and girls, migrants, the urban poor, schools, and hospitals, by 2030.

    2. Harnessing the potential of SDGs interlinkages in policies and implementation plans at all levels. Accelerating the achievement of SDG 6 supports many other SDGs, particularly those related to health, education, food, gender equality, energy, and climate change. In the context of scarce financial resources and insufficient capacity, countries can prioritize strongly interlinked SDGs to yield achievements across multiple sectors.

    We have seen and heard continuous global commitments to support the necessary conditions for sustainable development. In the post-pandemic context, progress in the water and sanitation sector has a new multifaceted purpose offering a wealth of benefits. It is time to realize them.

    Guillaume Baggio is a Research Assistant at the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto, and Manzoor Qadir is Assistant Director at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health.

    UNU-INWEH is supported by the Government of Canada and hosted by McMaster University.

    IPS UN Bureau


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  • Government Indifference Deprives the Trafficked of Compensation

    Government Indifference Deprives the Trafficked of Compensation

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    Anti-trafficking street play being stages in a tea house. Trafficking survivors often find it difficult to access compensation in India, and traffickers often escape justice. Credit: Rina Mukherji/IPS
    • by Rina Mukherji (pune)
    • Inter Press Service

    Pune, Oct 19 (IPS) – Fourteen-year-old Priti Pyne was returning from school in Basra village in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, when she and a friend came across a cold-drink seller selling an attractive-looking drink. The moment the girls sipped it, however, they felt dizzy. When they woke up, it was on a Delhi-bound train at Sealdah station in Kolkata. With the help of other passengers, the girls managed to get off the train.

    “We had been briefed in school about how people traffic youngsters, and so we got in touch with the stationmaster and rang up the non-governmental organisation (NGO) – Goran Bose Gram Vikas Kendra – working in our village. The NGO office-bearers immediately came over and arranged for our return home.” However, her father, who works as a labourer in a bag factory, and her homemaker mother did not want to lodge an FIR (case), and she has not been able to access the compensation as a survivor of trafficking.

    “I was a minor then; my parents took all decisions on my behalf. Now that I am an adult, it is too late to pursue it,” she laments.

    Shelly Shome and Molina Guin from Bagda, both from North 24 Parganas, got entrapped by love affairs and ended up trafficked. Shelly’s trafficker took her to Malda and locked her up in an “intermediate” lodging for a week on the way to a brothel, where police rescued her.

    Molina escaped on her own from a brothel in Nagpur (Maharashtra), where she had been sold, but she had spent six months there.

    “Since I did not know any Hindi, it was difficult. Ultimately, some Bengali boys who lived nearby helped me return home.” Although FIRs were lodged in both cases, neither Shelly nor Molina could access the compensation due to them. Worse, the traffickers are yet to be caught.

    Sunil Lahiri’s family were unable to repay a loan. So, his parents, uncle and siblings, who originally lived in Champa, had to seek employment in a brick kiln at Rohtak in Haryana. They were roped in by a labour contractor with big promises of good accommodation, pay and food. But once there, the family realised they had been trafficked, along with 20 other desperate neighbours in a similar situation. An adolescent then, Sunil had to work 12-14 hours a day and survive on meagre rations. No accommodation was provided, and they lived in a thatched hovel for shelter. Any attempt to escape was met with relentless torture and assault. After a couple of months, Sunil and his uncle made good their escape under cover of darkness to the nearest police station, from where they made their way home. However, in the absence of an appropriate FIR, he has not been able to claim the victim’s compensation.

    Lalita lives in Erode in Tamil Nadu and found herself trafficked for labour to a garment factory in Coimbatore, in the same state, when she was around 15. But once there, she found herself trapped in a hostile environment with many others and had to labour for 14-16 hours a day without a break. Housed in dirty dormitories, the girls were administered tablets to stop their periods lest they demand time off, resulting in many medical problems. She ultimately excused herself one day and sneaked home by claiming the death of a relative. Since she lodged no FIR, Janaki has been deprived of compensation too.

    Human Trafficking

    Trafficking in India is generally for sexual exploitation and cheap labour.

    The common thread that connects all victims of trafficking is poverty and lack of awareness. Poverty and unemployment drive people to migrate in search of work. Traffickers’ agents cash in on the plight of these individuals and whisk them away to be exploited for sex or cheap labour. This is often done across inter-state borders so escaping back home is difficult.

    Victims of both kinds of trafficking are entitled to compensation, but different laws deal with individual crimes. While victims trafficked for sexual exploitation are primarily dealt with under the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act of 1956, different laws deal with those trafficked for labour since they may be subject to bonded labour. In India, bonded labour had long been prohibited by the Constitution, but laws specific to it, such as the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, the Contract Labour ( Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, and the Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 are comparatively recent.

    Victim Compensation Laws

    In India, compensation was initially meant only for victims of motor accidents. It was only in 2008 that the Supreme Court modified Section 357 A of the Criminal Procedure Code ( CrPC) to compensate victims of criminal offences.

    While Sec 357A (1) provides for compensation to be given to either the victim or their legal heirs, Sec 357A (2) and 357 A (3) deal with the granting of compensation and its quantum by the District legal services authority (DLSA), and the District or Trial courts’ and Sec 357A (4) deals with the right to compensation for damages suffered by the victim before identification of the culprit and the starting of court proceedings.

    Following these directions of the Supreme Court, all Indian states came up with schemes to compensate victims of crimes such as acid attacks, rape, and the like.

    In 2010, as per the recommendations of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the government provided for the setting up of Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) in all states of the country to investigate and address trafficking. In 2013, in a related development, Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code ( IPC) was amended by widening its scope to include all sexual and physical exploitation forms.

    Why Victims Are Denied Compensation

    Despite all these measures, victims seldom get access to compensation. This is because claiming compensation depends on filing FIRs, as advocate Kaushik Gupta points out. Lack of sensitisation and training often prevents the police from filing FIRs that clearly state whether a victim is trafficked or not. This limits avenues for compensation.

    Another reason is that victims are ignorant of the law or fear stigma, preventing them from pursuing compensation. Worse, the paperwork involved may be overwhelming, getting victims and their guardians to step away.

    Although a victim or their legal guardian, as per law, can file an FIR anywhere, that is, either where they are rescued or once the victim reaches home, filing the FIR later can pose a problem. Activist Baitali Ganguly, who heads the NGO Jabala Action Research Organisation, points out, “If the FIR is filed on reaching home, it is difficult to prove that a person is a victim/survivor of trafficking. Proof of having been trafficked is an important factor when claiming victim compensation.”

    When a trafficked person is not rescued but escapes surreptitiously, filing the FIR may be scary since an organised mafia is involved. Moreover, with the rate of conviction being as low as 16 percent in 2021 (as per statistics furnished by the National Crime Records Bureau), victims remain in mortal fear for their lives and fear registering FIRs.

    The Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) have failed to deliver in most cases. A study conducted by the NGO, Sanjog as part of its Tafteesh Project found that Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) were non-operational in many districts in India. In several states, the composition of AHTUs did not follow the mandatory mix of legal professionals, doctors, and police officials. Even when functional, cases of trafficking were not handed over to them for investigation.

    The problem, activists opine, “is that victim compensation is lowest in terms of priority for the authorities. Moreover, with no dedicated fund to compensate victims of trafficking, money often falls short.” At times “the money is sanctioned but does not reach the victim’s bank account for months on end,” Suresh Kumar, who heads the NGO Centre Direct, points out.

    The Long Road to Rehabilitation

    Getting compensated, though, is not enough. Baitali Ganguly tells me, “We helped some survivors claim compensation. But they were in no mental state to embark on entrepreneurial ventures. Psycho-social help is what they largely need to begin life anew. Hence, we have been imparting their skills and helping them get employed as security guards, housekeepers and the like.”

    Psychologist and researcher Pompi Banerjee also stresses the need for counselling and medical assistance for survivors for thorough rehabilitation.

    Taking all these aspects into account, the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) drew a draft bill for a comprehensive law to check human trafficking. With necessary amendments as of today, the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Care and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2021, is the first attempt at victim-oriented legislation, and makes provision for forfeiture, confiscation, and attachment of property of traffickers, witness protection and guaranteed compensation for victims out of the property of traffickers.

    It also provides interim relief to survivors, for stringent punishment to traffickers extending up to life imprisonment, and in the case of repeat offences, even death. The Bill also provides a dedicated rehabilitation fund for survivors of trafficking.

    However, survivors of trafficking who have grouped themselves under the Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking (ILFAT) are unhappy about rehabilitating victims through “protection homes”, which they see as nothing better than prisons.

    Instead, they feel “community-based rehabilitation wherein job-oriented skills are imparted” is needed. Survivor Sunil Lahiri, who is now studying, and conducting awareness sessions in schools for Tafteesh/Sanjog, stresses the need to register and regulate placement agencies. “People in our villages have to migrate without employment opportunities. The authorities must ensure that they do not get exploited.”

    Survivors also feel the need for fast-track courts to handle cases of trafficking so that justice is swift.

    Although passed by the Lower House of India’s Parliament, the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Care & Rehabilitation) Bill 2021 awaits the nod of the Upper House to become an Act. One hopes that further improvements will be incorporated before the Bill is passed into law. A well-drafted law can well prove the first step in wiping out human trafficking altogether in India.

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  • Time to get off the couch, WHO warns, as 500 million risk developing chronic illness

    Time to get off the couch, WHO warns, as 500 million risk developing chronic illness

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    And the price of inaction and staying on the couch, will be severe, WHO said – around $27 billion in extra healthcare costs.

    The Global status report on physical activity 2022, measures the extent to which governments are implementing recommendations to increase physical activity across all ages and abilities. 

    Data from 194 countries show that overall, progress is slow and that countries need to accelerate the development and implementation of policies to increase heart rates and help prevent disease and reduce the burden on already overwhelmed health services.

    Unsplash/Adrian Swancar

    More than 80% of the world’s adolescent population is insufficiently physically active

    The statistics lay bare the extent of the challenges facing countries worldwide: 

    • Less than 50 per cent of countries have a national physical activity policy, of which less than 40 per cent are operational.
    • Only 30 per cent of countries have national physical activity guidelines for all ages.
    • While nearly all countries report a system for monitoring adult exercise, only 75 per cent of countries monitor adolescent activity, and less than 30 per cent monitor physical activity in children under 5.
    • In transport policy terms, just over 40 per cent of countries have road design standards that make walking and cycling safer.

    Time to take a walk: Tedros  

    “We need more countries to scale up implementation of policies to support people to be more active through walking, cycling, sport, and other physical activity”, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

    “The benefits are huge, not only for the physical and mental health of individuals, but also for societies, environments, and economies…We hope countries and partners will use this report to build more active, healthier, and fairer societies for all.”  

    The economic burden of taking it too easy is significant, says the WHO report, and the cost of treating new cases of preventable non-communicable diseases (NCDs) will reach nearly $300 billion by 2030.

    Whilst national policies to tackle NCDs and physical inactivity have increased in recent years, currently 28 per cent of policies are reported to be not funded or implemented.

    There is much to be said for countries running a national PR campaign, or mass participation events, that extoll the benefits of getting more exercise, said WHO.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has not only stalled these initiatives, but it also affected other policy implementation which has widened inequities when it comes to upping the heart rate in many communities.

    Physical activity reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety.

    Unsplash/Chander R

    Physical activity reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety.

    Fitness plan

    To help countries increase physical activity, WHO’s Global action plan on physical activity 2018-2030 (GAPPA) sets out 20 policy recommendations.

    These include safer roads to encourage more biking and walking, and providing more programmes and opportunities for physical activity in key settings, such as childcare, schools, primary health care and the workplace.

    “We are missing globally approved indicators to measure access to parks, cycle lanes, foot paths – even though we know that data do exist in some countries”, said Fiona Bull, Head of WHO’s Physical Activity Unit.

    “Consequently, we cannot report or track the global provision of infrastructure that will facilitate increases in physical activity”.

    “It can be a vicious circle, no indicator and no data leads to no tracking and no accountability, and then too often, to no policy and no investment. What gets measured gets done, and we have some way to go to comprehensively and robustly track national actions on physical activity.”

    National workout

    The report calls for countries to prioritize a fitness boost, as key to improving health and tackling NCDs, integrate physical activity into all relevant policies, and develop tools, guidance and training.

    “It is good for public health and makes economic sense to promote more physical activity for everyone,” said Dr. Ruediger Krech, WHO Director in the Department of Health Promotion.

    “We need to facilitate inclusive programmes for physical activity for all and ensure people have easier access to them.  This report issues a clear call to all countries for stronger and accelerated action by all relevant stakeholders working better together to achieve the global target of a 15% reduction in the prevalence of physical inactivity by 2030.” 

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  • Time is Running Out for Decisions on Debt Relief as Countries Face Escalating Development Crisis

    Time is Running Out for Decisions on Debt Relief as Countries Face Escalating Development Crisis

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    • Opinion by Lars Jensen, George Gray Molina (united nations)
    • Inter Press Service

    UNITED NATIONS, Oct 19 (IPS) – Developing low- and middle-income economies are taking hard hits from global economic developments outside their control. Monetary tightening in advanced economies coupled with increasing fears of a global recession have weakened currencies, sent interest rates soaring, and investors fleeing.

    All of which is contributing to a rapid deterioration of an already damaging debt crisis which is, as ever, hitting the most vulnerable the hardest.

    In new research released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 54 developing (low- and middle-income) economies are identified as suffering from severe debt problems, equal to 40 percent of all developing economies. 1

    Providing this group of countries with the debt relief they need should be a manageable task for the international economy as the group only accounts for little more than 3% of the world economy. Failing to do so, however, could result in catastrophic development setbacks as the group of 54 accounts for more than 50 percent of the world’s extreme poor and 28 of the world’s top-50 most climate vulnerable countries.

    Countries are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They cannot spend what is required to protect their citizens and safeguard their development prospects while continuing to also service their fast-rising debt burdens.

    Time is running out. Without an urgent step-up of debt relief efforts from the international community, many more defaults will follow, and the debt crisis will turn into an entrenched development crisis as history has taught us.

    Contrary to the advice given in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the face of high interest rates, inflation, and debt levels, the International Monetary Fund is now urging countries to reign in fiscal spending while providing targeted and time-bound support to vulnerable populations.

    But many developing economies cannot easily shift to effective and targeted social transfers or quickly increase tax revenues, – as the administrative capacity to do so takes years to build up.

    Without a viable alternative in the form of access to orderly and comprehensive debt restructuring, and additional liquidity support from the international community, countries will have to choose between a string of messy and costly defaults and/or abrupt spending cuts with disastrous consequences for low-income and vulnerable populations and development prospects at large.

    Furthermore, both options greatly increase the risk of political and social unrest threatening further setbacks and a deepening crisis.

    We must also remember that these things are happening against the backdrop of an intensifying climate crisis which we can only combat together as a global community. Without a rethink on debt relief the global climate transition will be delayed, the economic costs of the transition will rise, and developing economies, who have contributed the least to the problem, will continue to bear a disproportionate size of the costs.

    Developing economies must be allowed sufficient fiscal space to undertake ambitious sustainable development plans – including the undertaking of much-needed climate adaptation and mitigation investments.

    Debt relief is one of several crucial components of providing it. The G20’s Common Framework for Debt Treatments, under which countries with debt distress can seek a restructuring, will have to be reformed, including a shift in focus towards comprehensive debt restructurings in return for sustainable development objectives.

    This will require a change in attitude and sense of urgency, especially among major official creditors, as well as full debt transparency from both debtors and creditors. In our latest paper we discuss possible ways forward for the Common Framework focusing on country eligibility, debt sustainability analyses, official creditor coordination, private creditor participation, policy conditionalities and the use of debt clauses that target future economic and fiscal resilience.

    Decisions on debt relief can no longer wait.

    Nineteen developing economies – more than one-third of developing economies issuing dollar debt in international markets – have now lost markets access on account of skyrocketing interest rates, more than doubling from 9 countries at the beginning of 2022.

    Similarly, credit ratings have been sliding with 27 countries – close to one-third of credit-rated developing economies – rated either ‘substantial risk, extremely speculative, or default’, up from 10 countries at the beginning of 2020.

    Hard-won development gains achieved in the global south over decades are now being eroded by the intertwined cost-of-living and debt crises. Not only will a deepening development crisis result in great human suffering, but the cost of regaining whatever development gains are lost will increase substantially the longer we wait.

    It is inconceivable, both morally and economically, that we would allow a development crisis to escalate when the international community has the resources needed to stop it now.

    Lars Jensen is Economist at UNDP Strategic Policy Engagement Unit.; George Gray Molina is Head of Strategic Engagement and Chief Economist at UNDP

    1https://www.undp.org/publications/avoiding-too-little-too-late-international-debt-relief

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  • Farmers in Laos Imagine Improved Livelihoods Thanks to New Cross-border Links

    Farmers in Laos Imagine Improved Livelihoods Thanks to New Cross-border Links

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    Travelers await the Laos-China Railway. Credit: Bridget Dooley/IPS
    • by Bridget Dooley (vientiane, laos)
    • Inter Press Service

    VIENTIANE, Laos, Oct 18 (IPS) – Mountainous terrain in northern Laos has until now restricted chances for farmers and producers in much of the nation to export their goods, limiting them primarily to subsistence farming and also curbing development, education and poverty reduction in their communities.

    But as infrastructure and transportation in the “land of a million elephants” grows, the southeast Asian nation is moving from landlocked to land-linked. The Laos-China Railway is the most notable of these transformations, creating a high-speed means of bringing people and products through some of the most remote provinces, particularly in the north, and giving farmers access to new markets to sell their goods.

    It’s still too soon to gauge the economic impact of the railway, which opened in December 2021, on nearby communities. Through the Hand in Hand Initiative (HiH), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) aims to harness the potential of this blank slate to benefit Laotian farmers by attracting investors who will support the development of a green economic corridor along the track to sustainably empower the local communities that act as stewards of the land.

    HiH is an evidence-based, country-owned and led initiative of the FAO to accelerate agricultural transformation, with the goal of eradicating poverty, ending hunger and malnutrition, and reducing inequalities. The initiative was supporting 52 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East as of May 2022.

    Small markets limit production

    Investment in Laos via the HIH has the power to expand market options for producers and also improve their collective bargaining power and earning potential. Currently many of these farmers yield small harvests not because of natural circumstances but because of the lack of buyers, processers and exporters of their crops and livestock.

    Living in a fertile and relatively large country with a small population, Laotian farmers are primed to move “beyond feeding themselves, from subsistence farming to enterprise farming,” says FAO Country Representative Nasar Hayat. Because farmers tend to plough their profits into their families and communities, supporting their earning potential directly benefits communities, he added in an interview with IPS.

    “When a farmer earns, they put that money into homes, into their children’s nutrition and education, into local businesses. They don’t take a trip to Europe and drain the funds from their communities.”

    In order to tap into this earning potential, Hayat says that Laotian farmers must work collectively and be supported through market accessibility, scientific training, and research and development, all of which can be supported by investors. These advances can pave the way for positive long-term development, he added.

    While the fertile southern and central plains of Laos have historically been seen as the country’s breadbasket, the initiative aims to increase the capacity of the mountainous north. As a result, tea (which grows in the mountain forests) cassava (which can be cultivated on slopes) and livestock (which can be raised in any terrain) are the commodities included in the HiH.

    The owner of Nam Phu Vieng farm, Mrs. Vanheung Duanglasy, poses with her cattle outside of Vientiane, Laos. Credit: FAO - Living in a fertile and relatively large country with a small population, Laotian farmers are primed to move “beyond feeding themselves, from subsistence farming to enterprise farming”
    The owner of Nam Phu Vieng farm, Mrs. Vanheung Duanglasy, poses with her cattle outside of Vientiane, Laos. Credit: FAO

    Only one tea factory

    In the misty, mountainous northern province of Oudomxay, in the village of Ban Phouhong (population 270), members of the Khmu ethnic group have been earning their livelihoods by picking tea in traditional ways for the last eight years. Plucking the leaves takes skill and dexterity and the leaves are potentially highly valuable, but pickers in Ban Phouhong have unfortunately seen their profits limited by a meagre market: only one factory is accessible, giving its owner a de facto monopoly over the area’s tea.

    As a result, the factory owner has kept the prices he pays growers low, not at all in step with inflation rates and the rising cost of living. Picked tea earns just 15,000-20,000 Lao Kip per kilo (US$1.20), a rate which has stayed steady while food and gasoline prices have soared.

    The limited market also means that only two-thirds of the trees’ valuable leaves are being picked, because these older leaves are the only ones purchased and processed by the nearby factory. Meanwhile, the tea buds, which can be the most valuable part of the plant, are left unpicked. Investment in Ban Phouhong could give pickers access to their own means of processing these valuable buds.

    Also, while the workers have been trained in picking, they lack the knowledge necessary to grow their own enterprises: “We want to plant more seedlings, but we don’t know how. Only one family knows how to plant seedlings, and they have not been here for years,” said one picker. With investment, the villagers hope to get the scientific training they need to take control of their own growing potential.

    Outside of the capital Vientiane, in May Park Ngum, a group of cassava farmers has been wasting up to 15 metric tonnes of cassava per day of harvest, amounting to about 100 metric tonnes of wasted cassava each year, because of the limits of their local cassava market.

    The story of these farmers highlights how the potential benefits of Laos’ new connectivity are not limited to rural, remote provinces. After one export middleman failed to pay the May Park Ngum growers for their cassava – a debt amounting to about $1,200 per family – the farmers have been reticent to accept anything but cash for their crops. As a result, they have reduced their growing area by half and have also been stockpiling unsold cassava, much of which they have had to throw away because it has gone bad.

    Livestock workers on Nam Phou Vieng farm. Credit: Bridget Dooley/IPS - Living in a fertile and relatively large country with a small population, Laotian farmers are primed to move “beyond feeding themselves, from subsistence farming to enterprise farming”
    Livestock workers on Nam Phou Vieng farm. Credit: Bridget Dooley/IPS

    Growers turn to pesticides

    As a result of this loss, the farmers have unfortunately begun looking for less environmentally-friendly ways of boosting their profits, even as they are unsure of who would buy those crops. “We’ve been experimenting with pesticides on a small portion of our land. We found this could increase our yield from three metric tonnes of cassava per hectare per year to five metric tonnes of cassava per hectare per year,” said one grower.

    However, with more reliable buyers, the farmers could maintain their current organic growing methods while doubling their growing potential, in turn doubling the earnings of their 50 hourly workers and, most importantly, ensuring their crops are not wasted.

    Taking full advantage of the railway’s market-expanding power depends on following strict export regulations. For livestock, export requires vaccination to prevent the spread of transboundary diseases. While initial vaccination is costly, it pays for itself several times over through profits.

    The owner and operator of Nam Phu Vieng farm in Vientiane Province, Vanheung Duanglasy, says that the high cost of vaccinating against lumpy skin disease prevents her from selling more of her animals, despite the fact that she has the capacity to raise far more. While she has contacts with reliable buyers in Vietnam, vaccination costs about $45 per cow every three months, significantly limiting how many cows she is able to raise for sale.

    Like the cassava farmers, the owner of Nam Phu Vieng says that with investment and more buyers her farm could produce far more, expanding her profits and allowing her to hire more workers from her local community.

    © Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • Are Climate Summits a Waste of Time?

    Are Climate Summits a Waste of Time?

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    How will the incoming Egyptian presidency step up to the challenge? And how too will the new UN climate chief, Simon Stiell, approach this major meeting? Credit: United Nations
    • Opinion by Felix Dodds, Chris Spence (new york)
    • Inter Press Service
    • The 27th annual UN climate summit is taking place in November. Will it be worth all the time and effort? Professor Felix Dodds and Chris Spence—who have attended many of them—share what they’ve learned.

    NEW YORK, Oct 18 (IPS) – Next month, the latest annual United Nations climate extravaganza, COP27, will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Last year it was in Glasgow. Next year it will be held in (drum roll please) … Dubai!

    These big climate events have been around a long time. Since 1995, there has been a climate COP (short for “Conference of the Parties”) every year except 2020, when it was postponed due to the Covid pandemic. Over the years, the COP roadshow has traveled far and wide. From Berlin to Buenos Aires, Kyoto to Cancun, and Bali to Marrakesh, the COPs have criss-crossed the globe with the aim of finessing new agreements to see off the specter of climate change.

    These annual summits generate a lot of interest. The most recent in Glasgow attracted tens of thousands of participants. World leaders and celebrities often jet in and join the throng, while the global media reports every move in the corridors of power and concerned citizens protest outside. And yet the COPs are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to UN-sponsored climate meetings.

    If you add the several preparatory meetings in the lead-up to the COPs, plus a host of workshops and other events by various expert technical groups, you’re easily looking at several dozen gatherings every year.

    Each event is supposed to help us move the needle on climate change, keeping our warming world within the 1.5o Celsius threshold beyond which we face potentially catastrophic consequences. But what, exactly, do all of these many meetings accomplish? Are they really worth all this time and effort?

    The climate bandwagon: Roll up for the never-ending world tour!

    There are plenty of arguments against letting the climate circus continue its endless circuit. For a start, science tells us that in spite of all the many meetings held, we’re still on a dangerous path. Groups like Carbon Action Tracker estimate that we’re currently on track for somewhere between 1.8-2.7 oC, with the lower number representing their most optimistic—and least likely—scenario. This is clearly well above where we need to be.

    Another common complaint is that UN climate COPs are mostly just talking shops; in Greta Thunberg’s words, too much “blah, blah, blah” and not enough action. For all the millions, even billions, of words uttered at these events, they can often end in acrimony with little of substance agreed. Surely, the money used to hold these summits could be better spent on something else?

    Even when agreement is reached, say the critics, there is no guarantee governments and other stakeholders will keep their pledges. History is littered with broken promises and diplomatic treaties that aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.

    These arguments are all credible and we don’t disagree with any of them. But here’s the thing. For all their weaknesses and flaws, these summits actually matter a lot.

    Like a rolling stone …

    First, the United Nations climate process has definitely moved the needle when it comes to our response to climate change. When the UN climate treaty was first signed in 1992, it triggered a wave of national laws, policies, and regulations that have rippled out across every country on earth. This process has started to shift almost every aspect of our modern economic system away from 200 years of reliance on fossil fuels.

    Take our global energy systems, for instance. From being a niche market in the 1990s that could not compete on cost with coal, oil and gas-generated electricity, in 2020 solar power became the cheapest source of electricity in history. The technology behind both solar and wind have moved on in leaps and bounds since the 1990s, thanks in large part to the flow-on effects of international lawmaking.

    The much-maligned Kyoto Protocol of 1997, now largely superseded by the 2015 Paris Agreement, brought the private sector firmly into the equation, launching carbon markets and spurring private sector investment that has begun to reshape our global economy away from its reliance on fossil fuels.

    From electric vehicles to power generation to building design, the number of changes catalyzed by our international work on climate change are too many too list. Probably the best metric for judging the UN climate summits, however, is their impact on long-term global warming.

    In recent years, projections for the expected long-term warming have fallen from as much as 4-6C before the Paris Agreement was inked, to around 1.8-2.7C now, assuming we implement pledges made at UN summits. And while anything above 1.5C is still very, very bad and the need for more action remains urgent, it’s not as unimaginably catastrophic as those higher numbers would be.

    The worst approach … except for all the others

    That’s not to say the UN climate process can’t be improved. Some people would like to see them shrunk back to their size in the early days, when just a couple of thousand people—key negotiators and a smaller number of other stakeholders—met in person. This, they say, would render it more manageable, reduce the carbon footprint, and make it less of a “circus.”

    There are arguments on both sides here. While on the one hand it is true that arguably only a few hundred diplomats could handle the haggling over the official UN documents under negotiation, it is worth noting the impact those other participants can have.

    For a start, many new pledges and promises are emerging on the sidelines of the official negotiations; “coalitions of the willing” wishing to make progress in specific sectors like, say, green investment, electric vehicles, reducing methane emissions or halting deforestation.

    These alliances of governments, private companies and other stakeholders are able to make advances in specific sectors where the official UN negotiations—which require consensus among more than 190 governments—cannot. The groups involved in such coalitions choose to network, negotiate, and announce their plans during the COPs because of the public interest in these events.

    Attend just one of these COPs and you will soon notice how many connections are made, partnerships are formed, and ideas generated, by participants not involved in the formal UN business of treatymaking. The benefits of these meetings and collaborations are hard to measure, but certainly considerable.

    UN negotiations can often feel glacial. With the scientific community—and the daily news of extreme weather events around the world—reminding us of the need for urgency, it can feel like the discussions are going far too slowly. Obviously, there is much more to be done in a short space of time given that we are still hurtling towards some pretty frightening outcomes without more progress. Still, the UN process has made a difference and started to move the needle, even if is not yet happening fast enough.

    And what are the alternatives? No single country or private entity stands a chance of dealing with this threat alone. Neither Amazon nor Google can conjure up an online answer to this type of problem. The US or China can’t “go it alone” and no coalition of governments has been able to deliver what’s needed. It is clear, therefore, that a multilateral, global process involving all governments and stakeholders presents our only chance of containing such a global threat.

    Winston Churchill once described democracy as the worst form of government except for all the others. The same applies to multilateralism and climate change. It is flawed, frustrating and at times agonizingly slow. But it is still without doubt our last best hope of success.

    Stepping up

    So what needs to happen at COP27 in Egypt? Many are describing it as the “implementation COP” where we begin to turn pledges and well-laid plans into action. There will be pressure for countries to come with bolder measures to reduce their national emissions and for wealthier nations to bring more money to the table when it comes to supporting the developing world. In particular, more support for adaptation, as well as financial help dealing with the loss and damage already wrought by climate change, will need to be addressed promptly.

    We will also need to see inspired leadership. In our new book, Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy, we argue that dedicated and committed individuals can make a significant difference at these events. Examples from the recent past, such as the dedication of a handful of scientists and diplomats who helped create the Montreal Protocol and save the ozone layer, show that we can all play our part in turning the tide.

    More recently Christiana Figueres, the former head of the UN climate office and one of the architects of the Paris Agreement, is an example of the type of leadership that will be required at the next COP. Figueres is an advocate of “stubborn optimism” and the need to blend urgency with action. We agree. Persistence, combined with a belief that there is still time to make a difference, should be our guiding light during this critical time.

    Currently, the UK as hosts of COP26 still hold the climate presidency, which they will hand over officially to Egypt at the start of COP27 in November. Glasgow exceeded many insiders’ expectations, with Alok Sharma delivering a poised performance in spite of the UK’s recent domestic political turmoil. How will the incoming Egyptian presidency step up to the challenge? And how too will the new UN climate chief, Simon Stiell, approach this major meeting?

    As we look to COP27 and beyond, we wonder who the heroes of tomorrow might be? With time running out, we need environmental champions now more than ever.

    Prof. Felix Dodds and Chris Spence have participated in UN environmental negotiations since the 1990s. They co-edited Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy: Profiles in Courage (Routledge, 2022).

    © Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • With Planning Aging Population Could Result in a Silver Dividend

    With Planning Aging Population Could Result in a Silver Dividend

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    Maldives Minister for Gender, Family, and Social Services, Aishath Mohamed Didi, in her keynote address said her island country faced unique development challenges and is vulnerable to economic shocks and climate change.
    • by Cecilia Russell (johannesburg)
    • Inter Press Service

    Johannesburg, Oct 18 (IPS) – An aging population needn’t be a burden, experts told Parliamentarians at a conference co-hosted by UNFPA Asia Pacific Regional Office and the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA).

    Two National Transfer Account (NTA) experts told the session that with good planning and policy, it was possible to change the trajectory so that those in retirement were not only reliant on the state.

    NTAs provide a coherent accounting framework of economic flows from one age group or generation to another.

    UNFPA’s short video outlined the impact of an aging population in Thailand. Currently, adults take care of three elders and two children, but with the aging population in 2025, this will increase to four elders and three children, but by 2035, the number of dependents will increase to six elders and three children.

    Professor Sang-Hyop Lee of the East-West Center and the University of Hawaii, succinctly in an “elevator pitch,” explained his interests in population. These included “looking at how a changing population structure affects society and economy, current and future,” and “what public policies could be pursued to influence the outcome.”

    Lee said that using NTA tools with disaggregated data, including consumption (both private and public sector) and other variables like income and savings, could assist with policy development.

    By 2080, he said, the whole Asia Pacific region would have an aging population – and public policy could change the outcomes by including evidence and knowledge-based policy to influence labor patterns of the female, youth, and elderly labor force; increasing productivity through effective education, health investments, training and finally to improve the work-to-retirement transition.

    Eduardo Klein, Regional Representative of HelpAge International, who chaired the session, commented that the key takeaway was that the NTAs were a crucial tool for developing strategies to adapt to population aging.

    In her keynote address, Maldives Minister for Gender, Family, and Social Services, Aishath Mohamed Didi, said that her country, which was a small island state the country, faced “unique development challenges and is vulnerable to economic shocks and climate change.”

    The population is about 500 000 people, 70% of whom are Maldivians and the rest foreigners; 64% are working age, and more than 37% are under 25; those 65 and older account for 3.4% of the population.

    “The Maldives entered the window of opportunity in 2010 when the majority of the population was working, and it’s estimated that the democratic transition will be completed by 2030,” Didi said. “Due to a rapid fertility decline and increased life expectancy, it’s estimated it will become an aging population by 2030.”

    She outlined various policy changes in the Maldives, including addressing the investment in children, which was lower than in other economies with similar fertility or development levels. The country had included free basic education from ages four to 16 and also spent US$ 30 million supporting 15,000 students to achieve their first degrees. This has been expanded to include zero-interest rate loans. In the past two to three years, the Maldives had spent over US$ 64 million to support about 2000 students studying abroad in 31 countries. Other efforts to improve education included investing in technical and vocational education and providing skill development opportunities for youth, including apprenticeship programmes, particularly in the outer regions away from the capital or the central areas.

    Didi said the Maldives depended highly on tourism, but foreign workers (primarily men) comprised 60% of the workforce. Women only play a small role in the industry and hold the most informal sector jobs.

    “Young people are required to become skilled and equipped to compete with foreign workers in the domestic economy,” Didi said, adding that the demographic dividend transition was expected to create both opportunities and challenges. “The aggregate public spending on healthcare and other social protection needs to grow by more than 2 percent per year until 2050 to maintain the same level of service enjoyed by the population in 2022 – even with per capita benefits, the government’s budget needs to grow substantially.”

    Klein noted that Didi’s overview showed how the Maldives was in the demographic dividend and was investing in the future and that investment had a “return in improved health and a better educated, more productive, more engaged, and a healthier population living in a harmonious society.”

    Rikiya Matsukura, Associate Professor at Nihon University, noted that opportunities arose with planning and strategic policymaking. While an aging population was “inevitable” and “wasn’t curable,” policymakers played a crucial role in changing the trajectory.

    Matsukura outlined four demographic dividends: The first demographic was achieved through the expansion of the workforce. The second demographic dividend is achieved through investing in human capital – leading to higher productivity. The third demographic dividend, which he termed the “longevity dividend” or “silver dividend,” was achieved through investing in longevity and longer working life. Finally, the fourth dividend would be achieved by investing in education, especially in the STEM fields.

    While people aged 55 to 70 may not be working, if they are healthy, they could work, Matsukura said, that this could create an additional workforce.

    “In the case of Japan, the income generated by additional elderly workers could correspond to 3.2 to 6 percent of Japan’s real GDP,” he noted.

    This elderly workforce could be assisted by technology – artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics and the economy could grow by 35% if technology could make housework easier.

    Lee noted that there was no easy answer but what was required was short and long-term planning which took into account crises. This aging population issue will not go away.

    Klein too, noted said future planning was complex. For example, India (among other countries) had invested in education, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, children could not attend school for two years, which would have consequences for the future workforce. Climate change, in addition to aging, would need to be planned for in Bangladesh.

    During the discussion, parliamentarians were concerned about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Jetn Sirathranont, an MP from Thailand, noted that policymakers needed to use the NTA tools, but post-pandemic, every country, including Thailand, was experiencing a situation where there was “less income and less revenue but high expenses.”

    Sirathranont asked how one could apply NTA tools in these circumstances.

    While Klein quipped that this was a million-dollar question, Lee said what was required was short and long-term planning which took into account crises like the pandemic. However, he noted, “this aging population issue will not go away.”

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  • Bangladesh Coastal People Turn to Digital Devices to Succeed against the Odds

    Bangladesh Coastal People Turn to Digital Devices to Succeed against the Odds

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    Laboni Akhter works on a laptop in front of the digital service centre at Bawalkar village in Badarkhali, Barguna district, southern Bangladesh, in September 2022. Credit: Farid Ahmed/IPS
    • by Farid Ahmed (badarkhali, bangladesh)
    • Inter Press Service

    BADARKHALI, Bangladesh, Oct 17 (IPS) – A barefoot young man in rolled-up jeans clutches a laptop as he slogs through a narrow muddy aisle between rice fields on a drizzling late September afternoon. He’s rushing to help a farm couple who are facing trouble with their ducks in a coastal village in southern Bangladesh.

    The middle-aged couple, Rafiq Mridha and Nupur Akhter, run a small farm of 0.5 hectares in a district adjoining the Bay of Bengal. In the past year they made a hefty profit and overcame the losses of recent years caused by natural calamities, including the mighty cyclone Sidr, which ripped through the country devastating many districts 15 years ago.

    Like Mridha and Akhter, hundreds of villagers in Badarkhali, an area comprising three villages that is extremely exposed to climate change, were made paupers overnight by Sidr but are living an astonishing turnaround thanks to the arrival of digital technology.

    In the face of any unsolvable problem, the villagers can now call a local digital service centre, which responds with useful information on a vast range of topics, from farming and selling their crops to getting the local weather forecast.

    Co-operative members prepare fish feeds for their farms at the digital service centre in Badarkhali, Barguna district, southern Bangladesh, in September 2022. Credit: Farid Ahmed/IPS
    Co-operative members prepare fish feeds for their farms at the digital service centre in Badarkhali, Barguna district, southern Bangladesh, in September 2022. Credit: Farid Ahmed/IPS

    “For any problem, first we try to find a solution using our smartphones hooked to the internet, and in case of failure, we call people at the digital centre,” Akhter told IPS, adding that the centre taught them how to use technology to get support via mobile phone apps. “The digital centre has eased our life and made our business profitable,” she added.

    Akhter said she called the digital centre about her ducks when she couldn’t discover a reason for a decrease in eggs production among some of the fowl. The young man crossing the rice field with his laptop, HM Ranju, was dispatched from the digital centre. He searched online to discover common causes for a decrease in laying eggs and advised the farmer to observe if the ducks were eating properly and to change their feed if they were otherwise healthy.

    The problem was potentially serious – every morning year-round the couple earns 700-800 taka (US$7-8) selling duck eggs. “We’re trying to expand the farm regularly,” said Mridha. “We already have over 100 ducks and we’ve ordered more ducklings to be raised for eggs,” adding they had earned $14,800 from the farm last year.

    The couple also rears fish and cows on the farm along with growing a variety of vegetables. “As business is going well, we are planning to construct a brick house for ourselves next year,” noted Mridha.

    Co-operative members prepare fish feeds for their farms at the digital service centre in Badarkhali, Barguna district, southern Bangladesh, in September 2022. Credit: Farid Ahmed/IPS
    Co-operative members prepare fish feeds for their farms at the digital service centre in Badarkhali, Barguna district, southern Bangladesh, in September 2022. Credit: Farid Ahmed/IPS

    At a call centre run by the digital service centre, worker Laboni Akhter said that most inquiries concern animal feeds and fertilizers or how to control pests and diseases. “We use different types of apps to provide solutions to people’s queries,” she added.

    When a village woman arrives at the centre with a photo of a mottled spinach leaf infected with fungal disease, Laboni consults some apps and identifies it as a type of blight. She tells the woman to use fungicides to control it. “If the case is serious, we refer people to the district agriculture or veterinary officers,” Laboni said.

    In recent years, most of Badarkhali’s villagers, who earlier made their living by fishing in the Bay of Bengal or nearby rivers, found it difficult and risky to continue the ancestral profession because of changing climate patterns. They opted to start farming fish in ponds in their villages.

    Bent on growing the fish farming business together, the fishermen initiated a co-operative in 2005 with the help of a Danish government project. The arrival of digital information technology with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) boosted business further.

    The locals have expanded their livelihoods and now almost every household also grows crops and raises animals while Badarkhali is now known as a digital village.

    “We’ve developed our digital service centres… we’re connected among ourselves and also with the farmers in other districts across the country,” said co-operative chairman Mohammad Gafur Mia, also a public representative of Badarkhali. “We share information to grow our businesses and maximize profits.”

    The co-operative runs two digital service centres, one in a village and another in the market where people can pay to learn to operate computers and common digital technologies. The centres are equipped with three desktop computers, one laptop, three tablet computers, one printer and one scanner.

    The FAO introduced the global 1,000 Digital Villages Initiative in Bangladesh to promote digital technology to support inclusive, gender-sensitive rural development and sustainable agri-food transformation to meet Agenda 2030 goals.

    A global initiative inspired by FAO’s Director-General, QU Dongyu, the DVI is being piloted in the Asia-Pacific region. Badarkhali is one of nearly 60 villages in Bangladesh being showcased and sharing its advancements with other villages and areas in Asia and the Pacific as well as other regions of the world.

    The UN organization works closely with the government and Sara Bangla Krishak Society, a farmers’ network across the country. “FAO is providing the villagers with technological support,” said FAO’s coordinator Mohammad Abu Hanif.

    Recalling the horror of Sidr in 2007, Badarkhali villagers said all of their farms were utterly destroyed as tidal waves washed everything away. “Most of the people in the area even couldn’t save a pot for cooking food,” said Mohammad Ali Hossain. In the following years, the village faced more cyclones albeit not as severe as Sidr.

    “Now we use our digital devices to follow the weather forecast and know what to do to survive against all odds,” said Ali Hossain.

    Many villagers told IPS that there had been a sea change in the area after the arrival of digital technologies, and that they looked forward to other positive changes, such as improved rural governance and improved services. They also believed the FAO initiative would narrow the digital divide among people in the rural and urban areas.

    Mosammat Mahmuda catches fish with a net from her pond where she raises different kinds of fishes for commercial purposes in Badarkhali, Barguna district, southern Bangladesh, in September 2022. Credit: Farid Ahmed/IPS
    Mosammat Mahmuda catches fish with a net from her pond where she raises different kinds of fishes for commercial purposes in Badarkhali, Barguna district, southern Bangladesh, in September 2022. Credit: Farid Ahmed/IPS

    Mosammat Mahmuda said she had recently replaced her shabby thatched house with a brick one thanks to the profits from her work raising fish and poultry. The co-operative provided her with a loan to start the business. “The chances of loss are very slim as the digital service centre provides support to keep fishes and poultry safe from diseases and also to find a market where we can sell the products at a competitive price,” she said.

    Once, noticing her fish were not growing at the usual speed, she sought advice from the centre. It told her she was raising too many fish in a small area, so she quickly shifted some to other nearby ponds. Problem solved.

    The digital service centre was crucial during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as the entire country was under lockdown, said another villager, Mohammad Shah Alam. “Our traditional market was closed and we were unfamiliar with virtual marketing, but our digital service centre arranged buyers for our products,” he said.

    Many of the villagers felt that they would have faced huge losses without the arrangement.

    Osim Roy, general secretary of the co-operative, said only members were allowed to get loans from the organization but any villager could access all the other services from the digital centres by paying a small charge. “Apart from farm-related advice, people at the digital centre can also pay electricity and other bills and fill in any government online forms, mainly for birth or death registration or for a job,” he said.

    Before the centre opened, people had to travel four kilometres to go to a market to get these services. “Sometimes, we even go to the people’s houses to deliver the service,” Roy said.

    © Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • Rural Women Work the Hardest, Produce the Most, Eat the Least

    Rural Women Work the Hardest, Produce the Most, Eat the Least

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    Rural women are less able to access land, credit, agricultural inputs, markets, and high-value agrifood chains and obtain lower prices for their crops. Credit: Mallika Aryal/IPS
    • by Baher Kamal (madrid)
    • Inter Press Service

    MADRID, Oct 17 (IPS) – Make no mistake. Violence against women has been perpetuated, especially when it comes to those who have already been deprived of their basic human rights, as is the case of rural women in over two-thirds of the world.

    While gender-based abuses continue to be extended also in the industrialised societies, women in impoverished countries are still the hardest hit.

    Did you know that smallholder agriculture produces nearly 80% of food in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and supports the livelihoods of some 2.5 billion people?

    And that in many parts of Africa and Asia women produce more than 50% of all food?

    Yet they face significant discrimination when it comes to land and livestock ownership, equal pay, participation in decision-making entities, and access to resources, credit and market.

    Heavy workloads, no rights

    Moreover, rural women in these regions have also to bear with the current alarming increases in gender-based violence, transactional sex for food and survival, child marriage (with girls forced to leave school), and unpaid care and domestic workloads.

    Furthermore, rural women in poor regions are often left alone as males are recruited and killed in armed conflicts or obliged to migrate.

    In such cases, women are forced to bear the entire responsibility of keeping alive their numerous families, from care to food, while often eating the last and the least.

    International Day of Rural Women

    The above mentioned facts, among others, have been highlighted on the occasion of this year’s International Day of Rural Women on 15 October. See more:

    • Rural women are less able to access land, credit, agricultural inputs, markets, and high-value agrifood chains and obtain lower prices for their crops,
    • Structural barriers and discriminatory social norms continue to constrain women’s decision-making power and participation in rural households and communities.
    • Women and girls in rural areas lack equal access to productive resources and assets, public services, such as education and health care, and infrastructure, including water and sanitation,
    • Much of their labour remains invisible and unpaid, even as their workloads become increasingly heavy due to the out-migration of men.
    • Globally, with few exceptions, every gender and development indicator for which data are available reveals that rural women fare worse than rural men and urban women,
    • Rural women disproportionately experience poverty, exclusion, and the effects of climate change.

    In short, women account for a substantial proportion of the agricultural labour force, including informal work, and perform the bulk of unpaid care and domestic work within families and households in rural areas.

    Two related world days

    The focus on the harsh living conditions of rural women has been flashed out just one day before this year’s World Food Day (16 October), and two days earlier to the 2022 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October).

    In either case, the Days remind that millions of people around the world cannot afford a healthy diet, putting them at high risk of food insecurity and malnutrition.

    “But ending hunger isn’t only about supply. Enough food is produced today to feed everyone on the planet.”

    Despite this fact, about 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted and lost… every single year, the equivalent of one ton per each of the one billion hungry people, many of them are those who produced the food.

    In its recent reports: A World of One Billion Empty Plates, and Millions of Girls Abused in the Name of Toxic Masculinity, IPS has exposed how rising, cruel inequalities further push billions of humans into deeper impoverishment hitting girls and women the most.

    Nevertheless, far from addressing such a grim reality, the world’s biggest war lords continue to spend on weapons in just one year, the equivalent to the budget of the largest humanitarian body–the United Nations for over a long half a century.

    © Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • Say No to Foreign Intervention in Haiti to Kill our People: We Stand Ready for Peaceful Transition of Leadership

    Say No to Foreign Intervention in Haiti to Kill our People: We Stand Ready for Peaceful Transition of Leadership

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    • Opinion by Harvey Dupiton (new york)
    • Inter Press Service

    NEW YORK, Oct 17 (IPS) – Talks of an inevitable U.S. military intervention in Haiti are brewing within diplomatic circles. Without any constitutional or legal authority, our Haitian de facto government gave the green light for special forces to be sent to Haiti to combat our poor people-forgotten, jobless, left with no other choice for survival but the gang violence and insurrection ravaging the country.

    The last time the Haitian community was misled into the proposition of a surgical strike, as it was called, under the guise of assistance, was in 1994, 28 years ago. Our Haitian president at that time was the culprit behind that betrayal of our constitution.

    At his urging, the U.S. led 20,000 American troops into our sovereign land supposedly to uphold a fledgling democracy, but instead resulting in the dismantlement of our Haitian military and the breakdown of our society.

    Our Haitian president said the U.S.-led invasion was to be a quick fix. However, let us not forget that this military operation violated our constitution and the United Nations Charter. The mission quickly became a prolonged United Nations peacekeeping and peacebuilding operation.

    Twenty-eight years later, our country is in ruins like never before, right under the surveillance of the United Nations. Our Haiti of today has become a country of beggars, where the government is entirely at the mercy of foreign assistance.

    There are no viable institutions left; the political establishment in Haiti exists only on paper as shell organizations, with a parliament out of commission and a powerless judiciary branch. Even more alarming is that the replacement police force to the military is overrun and in despair, having ceded control to violent street gangs.

    Those of us in the diaspora want to help our country. Still, this reminds us of another failed nation-building experiment in Afghanistan. There is a lesson to be learned in all of this. Democracy can neither be interrupted nor forced upon a country.

    These days, it is with shame that we admit to our African friends and our neighbors from Cuba how we have failed our country, each of us living in the diaspora, simply by our inaction. To them, Haiti, having gained its independence over 218 years ago, was a beacon of hope for the enslaved.

    It would be foolish to think that Haiti’s problems are simply that of the gangs. Our Haitian leaders are responsible for the carnage and violence in the streets. They will do anything to get into office. Yet, these wannabe leaders cannot deliver as promised, often betraying the public’s trust, and pointing the finger of blame to absolve themselves of their failings.

    We have been failed and disappointed so many times by our leaders of late. Haitians are fed up with their leadership and the broken political system that brought them to power. Today, people are taking to the streets to say enough is enough.

    The majority are young people under the age of 25. They are ready to die at the hands of foreign troops, if need be, to take their country back. Haitians are resilient and are willing to pay the price with their lives. Behind the crime of opportunity, they commit in the absence of a law-and- order government, these are ordinary citizens who have been marginalized if not totally abandoned, and left disillusioned.

    We call for solidarity to say no to the proposed intervention in Haiti.

    We condemn the Haitian de Facto government for inviting foreign troops into our homeland against our people. We view this as an act of cowards, which is shameful, unpatriotic, and treasonous.

    We, at United Nations Association Haiti, represented by the diaspora, are ready to provide the transition leadership our country desperately needs to get out of this crisis and beyond.

    Our action plan is threefold:

    • On the question of security stabilization, a more peaceful approach to a forceful intervention would instead involve honest discussions with those occupying the streets. If they are not the chief problem behind the senseless violence and the terrorizing kidnappings, then they must be part of the solution.

    • Secondly, to address the concern of food security, we propose massive relief assistance as the centerpiece of our community engagement strategy. There are enough resources within our diaspora community to do without begging.

    • Lastly, on the most critical issue of future elections, we are prepared to take a different and unique approach to make fundamental adjustments to our democratic system, which might alleviate the chronic political instability seen in Haiti and throughout the African continent. We seek to find answers from the science driving our elections in the last 36 years. 1987 was the year we adopted a new electoral law. It was a significant piece of legislation that officialized our departure from dictatorship and military-backed ruling to a new democratic order.

    Somewhere along that reversal of order lies the fault lines that explains why our elections since, look more like the reality TV show, American Idol, than a construct grounded in institutional checks and balances.

    Haiti can no longer afford divisiveness but must embrace a path to stability and institutional norms. To get our next election right, Haitians may be required to welcome amends wherever necessary to achieve a democratic process that reconciles popular will with stakeholder confidence.

    We call on the Haitian community and all friends of Haiti to work with us. This is our opportunity to take our country back. This is your chance to be actively involved in the major decisions of your country.

    We call on the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, to respect the sovereignty of Haiti. There is no justification for intervention. There is not a Responsibility to Protect (R2P) a de facto government from its own people.

    We seek a peaceful solution for our country and the Haitian people. That is the Future We Want. That is the future we should all deserve.

    We stand ready to provide the leadership Haitians will trust to emerge out of this stalemate and move our nation forward united.

    It is time to right the wrongs.

    Harvey Dupiton is President, United Nations Association Haiti (NY); Chair, NGO Committee on Private Sector Development (ECOSOC NGOs); and former UN Press Correspondent, NTS News (Haiti)

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  • A new, financially independent life for former child brides in Mozambique

    A new, financially independent life for former child brides in Mozambique

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    Teresa Gala is a 44-year-old mother of five. She was married at 14, and had to leave school because of her new circumstances. For more than three decades, her days were filled with domestic chores and taking care of her children. During the agricultural season, Ms. Gala added to her daily routine by working on her family farm.

    However, her thoughts always remained focused on having her own business, one that would give her financial independence.

    “Since I didn’t study and didn’t have my livelihood, I always had to ask my husband for money, “says Ms. Gala. “Being aware that he didn’t earn much, sometimes I asked almost nothing, but I still heard ‘no’ many times. It was very humiliating”.

    Three decades ago, when she got married, there was almost no debate about child marriage in the country, but things are changing for the better. Since 2019, the Spotlight Initiative, a global initiative of the United Nations funded by the European Union, has been supporting the approval and implementation of Mozambican laws that protect women and girls from gender-based violence and harmful practices, such as early marriages.

    A safe space to thrive

    In 2021, life improved for Ms. Gala, when she joined the Tambara Women’s Association (ASMTA) in Manica province, an organization backed by the Spotlight Initiative. These associations and women’s groups create support networks where women can learn and grow together economically, and create trusting relationships and safe spaces to address issues related to gender-based violence and women’s rights. In Mozambique, over the past year, the Spotlight Initiative supported more than 9,000 women in this way.

    Through the group, Ms. Gala had access to a “business kit” which included the initial funds for her to start a company selling yogurt made from Malambe (baobab tree fruit) and Maheu (a fermented corn drink).

    In the Tambara district, where Ms. Gala lives, temperatures easily reach over 40 degrees Celsius but, by investing her first profits in a freezer, she was able to make Maheu and Malembe ice cream, which was an immediate hit with her customers.

    With more money coming in, Ms. Gala was able to buy a cell phone, enabling her to communicate with clients and social contacts, and join the national mobile financial system.

    With proceeds from her micro-enterprise, she now contributes to the household expenses and pays the university fees for one of her daughters, who is studying for a health degree.

    “My business makes me feel more respected at home. Today I am a financially stable woman, with savings, who contributes to household expenses and the education of my children”, she says. “I no longer have to wait for my husband to meet my financial needs”.

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  • Guterres calls for ‘sustained political commitment’ for a healthier world

    Guterres calls for ‘sustained political commitment’ for a healthier world

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    To accomplish this, “wealthier countries and international financial institutions need to support developing countries to make these crucial investments”, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. 

    In an address to the opening of the World Health Summit in Berlin, via a video message, he began by noting how poorly prepared most of the world is, for crises. The annual gathering is being hosted by the presidents of Germany, France and Senegal, alongside WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

    Women’s burden

    “Women have been among the hardest hit. They are shouldering an increased burden of care, in families and as frontline workers”, he said. But at the same time, many women has lost income due to job loss, and inadequate safety nets.

    He said COVID and now the food, energy and financial shocks spinning out from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are threatening the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and poverty reduction efforts.

    To advance the SDGs, “we must recalibrate multilateralism and strengthen global cooperation”, he added.

    Failing the developing world

    Too little is being invested in health and well-being and the “unbalanced global financial system is failing the developing world”, he declared.

    “This must change. All people need inclusive, impartial and equitable access to health services, to deliver universal health coverage”, including neglected mental healthcare services.

    Combined, good health is the foundation, for peaceful and stable societies, he said.

    Paradigm shift away from ‘sick care’: Tedros

    In his remarks at the opening ceremony, WHO chief Tedros said to fulfill the theme of “taking global health to a new level” in the year ahead, this translated into three key priorities.

    First, the new pandemic accord being negotiated by countries, and for countries, was key, so the world can truly come together as one in the face of further pandemics on a par with COVID-19.

    “It will not give WHO any powers to do anything without the express permission of sovereign nation States”, he reassured. 

    Second, a new “global architecture” is needed “that is coherent and inclusive.” The fractured COVID response made it clear that new and better tools are needed to shore it all up.

    Thirdly, a new global approach must be taken which prioritises promoting health and preventing disease, not just treating the sick. Too many health systems “do not deliver healthcare, they deliver sick care”, he said.

    Healthcare needs to be no longer just about one ministry or sector, but “of the whole of government, and the whole of society.”

    WHO

    Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomes the family of Henrietta Lacks for a special dialogue at WHO headquarters in Geneva.

    Lacks family in new Goodwill Ambassador role

    In another development on Sunday, WHO chief Tedros announced the appointment of the Lacks family, as WHO Goodwill Ambassadors for Cervical Cancer Elimination.

    Henrietta Lacks, an impoverished African-American woman, died in 1951 from the disease, but left behind an extraordinary legacy through the unique properties of her cancer cells, which became the first “immortal” cell line, able to replicate outside the human body, providing countless medical breakthroughs since then.

    The so-called HeLa cells were taken from her without her knowledge or consent: “Much like the injustice of Henrietta Lacks’ story, women all over the world from racial and minority ethnic groups, face disproportionately higher risks from cervical cancer”, said Tedros.

    Cervical cancer elimination

    “WHO’s goal is to eliminate cervical cancer, which means the innovations created”, with her cells, “must be made available equitably to all women and girls. We look forward to working with the Lacks family to raise awareness on cervical cancer and advance racial equity in health and science.”

    Speaking at a ceremony during the World Health Summit, Alfred Lacks Carter Jr. said the family was accepting the honour to serve as Goodwill Ambassadors, “in the spirit of my mother, Deborah Lacks, who lost her mother, Henrietta, to cervical cancer, and worked to make certain the world recognizes her impact.”

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  • Huge needs remain in Yemen as fragile peace extends beyond truce: UN deputy relief chief

    Huge needs remain in Yemen as fragile peace extends beyond truce: UN deputy relief chief

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    Some 23.4 million people in Yemen – more than two-thirds of the entire population – need humanitarian aid, said the deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, wrapping up a nine day fact finding mission, with 17 million people being food insecure.

    Malnutrition rates among women and children are among the highest in the world, with 1.3 million pregnant or breastfeeding women and 2.2 million children under five, needing treatment for acute malnutrition.

    Truce dividend

    On the heels of more than seven years of conflict, a UN-sponsored truce this April has led to a drop in civilian casualties and paved the way for much-needed fuel supplies to enter the country. The UN has called for the renewal and expansion of this truce, which so far is still holding.

     “Though important progress has been made since the start of the truce, enormous humanitarian needs remain in Yemen,” said Ms. Msuya, who has been talking to different communities during her trip, seeing conditions first hand.

    Aid for the long haul

    “There is no doubt: without continued commitment from donors, millions of people will go hungry, and the lives of millions of malnourished children will be put at risk,” she said. “This is a critical time for Yemen and humanitarian donors cannot take their foot off the pedal.”

     During her visit, Ms. Msuya visited Aden, Marib, Sana’a and Al Hodeidah. She met displaced and conflict-affected people who urgently need humanitarian assistance, as well as Yemeni officials and aid partners.

    ‘Extraordinarily inspiring’

    “It was extraordinarily inspiring to see the work that the humanitarian community is doing here,” Ms. Msuya said. “I am deeply grateful to all humanitarian workers who are doing everything possible to help displaced people and host communities.”

    In Marib, Ms. Msuya met people forced to flee their homes, and heard how they now lack food and safe drinking water, basic health services and education.

    She also met displaced women and girls who spoke to her about gender-based violence, being forced into early marriage and the lack of privacy and safety. Aid agencies have provided livelihood opportunities for many of these women, who are often the main breadwinners of their families.  

    War ‘destroyed everything we owned’

    Amal, who has been sheltering with her family in Al Sumyah site in Marib, has been uprooted four times in the past seven years. “The war destroyed our livelihood and everything we owned,” she said, emphasizing that her community requires livelihood opportunities and support for children’s education.

    Some 4.3 million have been displaced since the conflict in Yemen escalated in 2015. Most people who fled violence have been displaced for many years and many have been forced to move multiple times. Since April, an additional 160,000 people have also been uprooted by torrential rains and flooding across the country.

    Landmine victims

    In Hudaydah, Ms. Msuya visited the UN-supported Al Thawrah Hospital, where she met children and adults injured by mines and unexploded ordnance. Over the past six months, landmines and other explosive hazards have become the most common cause of conflict-related civilian deaths or injuries.

     Three weeks ago, Yousef, 17, was walking to his home in the Al Mandhar area when he stepped on a landmine. He lost his left leg.

    “We hope that all these mines will be cleared,” said Yousef’s brother. “We don’t want this tragedy repeated.”

    The deputy chief for humanitarian affairs also visited the hospital’s malnutrition treatment ward, where she spoke with mothers of malnourished children and saw the different ways humanitarian agencies are supporting women and children.

    Deadly price of poverty

     Ms. Msuya also met Safie, a displaced widow in her fifties, forced to flee her home six years ago. She lost her mother, sister and brother in the same month.

    “My sister died from birth-related complications because we couldn’t afford the treatment,” Safie said.

    Jobs and development

    “Everywhere I went, people told me they desperately wanted jobs so they could support their families, as well as access to healthcare, clean water and schools”, said the deputy relief chief. “We need development actors to step in to help authorities provide these services; humanitarians cannot do this alone.”

    Ms. Msuya said the two most effective ways to reduce humanitarian need in the country, were to build a sustainable and inclusive peace, and get the decimated economy back on its feet: “Without these, the drivers of the humanitarian crisis will persist and people will continue to suffer”.

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  • Ethiopia: UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ by escalation in fighting across Tigray

    Ethiopia: UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ by escalation in fighting across Tigray

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    The latest surge in violence began in August, after a fragile five-month humanitarian truce, which has halted aid deliveries into the northern Ethiopian region, where around five million civilians are in need of aid.

    Aid distribution continues to be hampered by a lack of fuel, and a communications shutdown across Tigray, while Tigrayan commanders have claimed that Eritrea has launched an offensive in support of Ethiopian Government forces, according to news reports.

    Aid worker, civilians killed

    UN partner organisation the International Rescue Committee, has reported that one of its workers was killed in an attack in Tigray, while delivering aid to women and children in the town of Shire, on Friday.

    In a statement on Saturday, the agency said another IRC staff member was also injured in the attack, and two other civilians reportedly killed and three injured during the bombing. Aid workers and civilians should never be a target, IRC added.

    There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, but Shire and other Tigrayan areas have suffered multiple airstrikes since August.

    ‘Devastating impact’

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in the statement issued by his Spokeperson, that the uptick in fighting was having “a devastating impact on civilians in what is already a dire humanitarian situation”.

    He is calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

    “The Secretary-General reiterates his full support to an African Union led mediation process and reaffirms the United Nations readiness to support the urgent resumption of talks in order to reach a lasting political settlement to this catastrophic conflict.”

    Just last month, African Union-mediated talks were due to take place in South Africa, but were postponed.

    Hundreds of thousands have been displaced in Tigray as well as neighbouring northern regions of Amhara and Afar, while tens of thousands are believed to have been killed. Millions of lives are being impacted by the conflict.

    Aid update

    In a humanitarian update on 4 October, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, said UN staff were now being allowed to rotate in and out of Tigray once more, but life-saving air supplies by road and air needed to resume urgently.

    “Those flights have remained suspended since 25 August, halting the transportation of supplies and operational cash into the region, which is vital for operations”, he said, briefing journalists in New York.

    “Despite security concerns, access restrictions and lack of resources, our partners continue to respond in areas they can access in the three regions”, he said.

    “In Tigray, the remaining humanitarian stocks continue to be distributed and basic services provided, despite the very difficult operational challenges.”

    As of 26 September, 32 mobile health and nutrition clinics were still operating in 58 health facilities and displacement sites in the region, he said. In Amhara and Afar, newly displaced families are being helped with food, water, emergency shelter and other supplies, as well as health services, Mr Dujarric added.

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  • Adapt and survive: 5 ways to help countries cope with the climate crisis

    Adapt and survive: 5 ways to help countries cope with the climate crisis

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    All nations need to make major cuts to fossil fuel emissions and transition to a low-carbon economy, if we are to have any chance of achieving the aim of reducing global temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

    This continues to be the message from the UN but, with so many countries suffering as a result of more frequent extreme weather events, that are threatening food security and global stability, more urgent measures need to be taken, to help countries to adapt to an increasingly hostile planet.

    Here are five tried and tested ways that nations can become more resilient, in the face of climate change.

    1 Early warning systems

    Research shows that a 24-hour warning of an oncoming heatwave or storm can reduce the subsequent damage by 30 per cent. Early warning systems that provide climate forecasts are one of the most cost-effective adaptation measures, yielding around nine dollars of total benefits for every dollar invested.

    With timely warnings, people can take early action by blocking up doors with sandbags to anticipate floods, stockpiling resources or, in some extreme cases, evacuating from their homes.

    In Bangladesh, for example, even as climate change becomes more severe, the number of deaths from cyclones has fallen by 100-fold over the past 40 years, due mainly to improved early warnings.

    But today, one-third of the global population is still not adequately covered by early warning systems. And while efforts have focused mainly on storms, floods and droughts, other hazards like heatwaves and wildfires will need to be better integrated as they become more common and intense.

    Earlier this year, the UN Secretary-General tasked the World Meteorological Organization to lead the development of an action plan to ensure every person in the world is covered by early warnings within the next five years. The plan will be presented at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 27) next month.

    2 Ecosystem Restoration

    The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration launched by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners in 2021 triggered a global movement to restore the world’s ecosystems. This global restoration effort will not only absorb carbon but also increase ‘ecosystem services’ to defend the world from its most devastating impacts.

    In cities, restoring urban forests cools the air and reduces heatwaves. On a normal sunny day, a single tree provides a cooling effect equivalent to two domestic air conditioners running for 24 hours.

    On coasts, mangrove forests provide natural sea defences from storm surges by reducing the height and strength of the sea waves. Moreover, protecting mangroves is 1,000 times less expensive per kilometre than building seawalls.

    In high altitudes, re-greening mountain slopes protects communities from climate-induced landslides and avalanches. For example, on Anjouan Island in Comoros, deforestation was drying up the ground and turning forests into deserts. With support from UNEP, a project has set out to plant 1.4 million trees over four years to hold back erosion and retain water and nutrients in the soil.

    3 Climate-resilient infrastructure

    Climate-resilient infrastructure refers to assets and systems such as roads, bridges, and power lines that can withstand shocks from extreme climate impacts. Infrastructure is responsible for 88 per cent of the forecasted costs of adapting to climate change.

    A World Bank report finds that climate-resilient infrastructure investments in low and middle-income countries could produce roughly $4.2 trillion in total benefits, around four dollars for each dollar invested. The reasoning is simple. More resilient infrastructure assets pay for themselves as their life-cycle is extended and their services are more reliable.

    Tools for encouraging investments in climate-resilient infrastructure include regulatory standards like building codes, spatial planning frameworks such as vulnerability maps, and a strong communication drive to ensure the private sector is aware of climate risks, projections and uncertainties.

    4 Water supplies and security

    The story of climate change is, in many ways, a story about water, whether it is floods, droughts, rising sea levels, or even wildfires. By 2030, one-in-two people are expected to face severe water shortages.

    Investing in more efficient irrigation will be crucial, as agriculture accounts for 70 per cent of all global freshwater withdrawals. In urban centres, roughly 100-120 billion cubic metres of water could be saved globally by 2030 by reducing leaks. Governments are being encouraged to develop holistic water management plans, known as Integrated Water Resource Management, that take into account the entire water cycle: from source to distribution, treatment, reuse and return to the environment.

    Research shows that investments in rainwater harvesting systems need to be sustained to make them more widely available. In Bagamoyo town, Tanzania, for instance, rising sea levels and drought from declining rainfall were causing wells to dry up and become salty. With no other options, children from the local Kingani School had to drink salt water, leading to headaches, ulcers, and low school attendance.

    With support from UNEP, the government began constructing a rainwater harvesting system involving rooftop guttering and a series of large tanks for storing water. Diseases soon began to fall, and the children returned to school. 

    5 Long-term planning

    Climate adaptation solutions are more effective if integrated into long-term strategies and policies. National Adaptation Plans are a crucial governance mechanism for countries to plan for the future and strategically prioritize adaptation needs.

    A key part of these plans is to examine climate scenarios decades into the future and combine these with vulnerability assessments for different sectors. These can assist in planning and guiding government decisions on investment, regulatory and fiscal framework changes and raising public awareness.

    Around 70 countries have developed a National Adaptation Plan, but this number is growing rapidly. UNEP is currently supporting 20 Member States in developing their plans, which can also be used to improve adaptation elements in Nationally Determined Contributions – a central part of the Paris Agreement.

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  • Farmers in Bhutan Turn To Asparagus and Strawberries To Boost Incomes

    Farmers in Bhutan Turn To Asparagus and Strawberries To Boost Incomes

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    Om, a homestay owner in Paro, is hoping to value add after growing strawberries in her small greenhouse. Credit: Chhimi Dema/IPS
    • by Chhimi Dema (paro, bhutan)
    • Inter Press Service

    PARO, Bhutan, Oct 14 (IPS) – Zam, 57, sits at her kitchen table looking out the window at her orchard of four dozen apple trees. In the past eight years she has sold only two crates (100 kilogrammes) of the fruit because of poor harvests. She turned her attention to vegetables instead but the production was low because of a water shortage.

    Zam (who uses one name only) lives in the village of Jukha in Paro district, near Bhutan’s international airport. She is now pinning her hopes on growing strawberries. “It’s my only hope for better earnings, although it is a niche product,” she tells IPS.

    The farmer is optimistic after seeing her neighbours grow the fruit, and increase their income. “I am inspired by that, and hope that I earn better from strawberries. I would like to save money for emergencies and spend on maintenance of my house.”

    The two-storey, mud home is perched alone atop a hill, looking onto a small valley bisected by a river. Other similar houses dot the landscape. But part of the roof of Zam’s house was blown away in high winds last winter.

    She is among the country’s farmers who have registered with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (MoAF) to grow a selection of crops identified for their potential to improve nutrition, withstand impacts of climate change and improve export earnings: strawberry, quinoa, black pepper and asparagus.

    The agriculture ministry will support these farmers through the Hand-in-Hand Initiative (HiH) of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

    Hand-in-Hand (HiH) is an evidence-based, country-owned and led initiative to accelerate agricultural transformation, with the goal of eradicating poverty, ending hunger and malnutrition, and reducing inequalities. The initiative was supporting 52 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East as of May 2022.

    Bhutan joined the HiH in June 2021. Through it, the agriculture ministry has since carried out baseline studies on food security and nutrition and agri-food systems. Results from the food security study showed “production gaps and nutrition gaps in current food systems,” according to the ministry’s records. The agri-food systems study identified entry points for diversifying and improving food systems.

    Farmers in Paro district are shifting their cash crop from apples to asparagus due to high earnings from asparagus. Credit: Chhimi Dema/IPS
    Farmers in Paro district are shifting their cash crop from apples to asparagus due to high earnings from asparagus. Credit: Chhimi Dema/IPS

    The value addition of strawberries is another opportunity that some farmers are waiting to explore. According to the finance ministry, a total of 2,477 kg of strawberries in preserved, fresh or canned form, were imported from 2019 to 2021. No records of exports were noted in those years.

    Thinley Yangzom and her family run a homestay on their farm in Paro, just west of the capital Thimphu. Established in 2002, it was among the first homestays in Bhutan and grows all the food needed for the family and their guests.

    The 37-year-old says that she is aiming to make strawberry jams, juice and smoothies for guests, and to sell any surplus in the market. “Growing strawberries on our farm will save us the cost of buying imported food. We hope to be able to export after some years,” adds Yangzom.

    Kinley Tshering grows asparagus on 0.4 hectares of land along with paddy and apples. Credit: Chhimi Dema/IPS
    Kinley Tshering grows asparagus on 0.4 hectares of land along with paddy and apples. Credit: Chhimi Dema/IPS

    Some farmers are already successfully growing the HiH-identified crops.

    Kinley Tshering has been raising asparagus for more than one decade. Nestled between two ridges and among a vast paddy field, he has cultivated an acre of asparagus. “I was growing potatoes before but what I earn from asparagus farming is more profitable,” says Tshering, 51, who supplies the vegetable to hotels and restaurants in the district.

    The farmer earns US$2,500 to $3,000 a year from selling the crop. “My hard work on growing asparagus is rewarded with the earnings,” he says.

    In 2021, 177.7 metric tonnes of asparagus were produced in the country, according to the MoAF. That compares to 126.6 MT in 2020, and 79.1 MT in 2019.

    Many farmers throughout the country were hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The shock became a lesson for them to diversify their sources of income.

    Tenzin Choden, 27, from Jangsa-Jooka in Paro, was supporting her family by rearing mules to carry the belongings of tourists trekking from her village. But in the past two years her income dropped 60 to 70 percent, leaving them with barely $200 a month.

    In the kitchen garden at the back of her two-storey house is a small greenhouse where Choden grows chillies, but with little demand she sells only small amounts.

    The farmer explains that Bhutan’s high altitude in the Himalayas does not allow the family to successfully grow other vegetables and that human-wildlife conflict is a major threat to their crops and livestock. Wild boars dig up their potatoes and bears break the apple trees.

    But having heard about asparagus, Choden borrowed a few seedlings from a neighbour and they grew well, in part because wild animals ignored the crop. “The trial was a success and this encouraged me to seek further support from the ministry,” she says. “We are hoping that asparagus will improve our earnings.”

    Jambay Dorji grows strawberries in his farm at Paro. With the Hand In Hand Initiative, he hopes to grow on a commercial scale. Credit: Chhimi Dema/IPS
    Jambay Dorji grows strawberries in his farm at Paro. With the Hand In Hand Initiative, he hopes to grow on a commercial scale. Credit: Chhimi Dema/IPS

    There is some concern that if farmers succeed in growing the HiH crops, they will lack access to a large enough market. According to Bhutan Alpine Seeds’ chief executive officer, Jambay Dorji, himself a farmer, while the local market for vegetables such as asparagus is growing, “if we are going on a commercial scale then we will need a market to countries such as Thailand, India and others.”

    A private company, Bhutan Alpine Seeds supplies seeds to government agencies and the private sector.

    “If the export route is fixed, then production within the country isn’t an issue,” adds Dorji. “People will make the effort to grow the vegetable because they can earn well from it.”

    © Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • World Food Day 2022 Call to Action as 828M People Go Hungry

    World Food Day 2022 Call to Action as 828M People Go Hungry

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    Climate change, among other crises, has impacted on food security. Changing rainfall patterns have affected a rural community from Kondh Adivasis, Odisha. Credit: Credit: Aniket Gawade / Climate Visuals Countdown
    • by Naureen Hossain (new york)
    • Inter Press Service
    • World Food Day is celebrated on October 16, 2022, with the theme Leave NO ONE behind. During this week, IPS will publish features that showcase better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life.

    New York, Oct 14 (IPS) – In this year alone, the global impact of compounding crises demonstrates, more than ever, why food scarcity must be addressed internationally and how there must be a shift in the food and agricultural systems.

    October 16 is World Food Day, and this year it seems crucial to take stock of the causes and consequences of global food insecurity. Food insecurity has already been of greater concern in recent years due to the global COVID-19 pandemic disrupting our interconnected governance, trade, welfare, and humanitarian aid systems. This year has seen a continuation of those disruptions exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic and increasing challenges brought on by climate and environment-induced disasters, conflict, and rising prices.

    The impact could not be more obvious. Findings from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that over 40% of the world population – or 3.1 billion people – cannot afford a healthy diet and that 828 million people are hungry. Rising food prices across crops in meats, cereals, and oils have disrupted the Food Price Index, which has been declining for six months.

    The increase in food insecurity and its impact on global hunger has been observed worldwide. But between certain regions, there are clear disparities. Africa has been bearing the greater burden of food insecurity. A new report from the FAO reveals that in 2021, 20.2 percent, or one-fifth of the total population, went hungry. The next highest rate is Asia, with 9.1 percent. A disparity that wide should be more than enough to raise the alarm.

    This food insecurity has also resulted in micronutrient deficiencies, such as zinc, iron, vitamin A, vitamin B, folate, and vitamin D. While at first unnoticeable; these deficiencies can lead to long-term losses in health and cognitive development. This would be fatal, especially to young children still developing and still needing proper nutrition.

    Researchers from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) conducted an analysis of the global prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies in preschool-aged children and non-pregnant women of reproductive age. Its findings suggested that over half of the preschoolers and two-thirds of the women in the study reported a deficiency in either iron, zinc, or folate. Regionally, the majority of the children and women lived in east Asia and the Pacific, south Asia, or sub-Saharan Africa. While the report acknowledged its limitations, and in how rarely the rate of deficiency is quantified and the absence of a global standard rate at the time of the study, as GAIN Executive Director Dr Lawrence Haddad has noted, one might observe the troubling implications for a wider demographic.

    “Once we factor in males and other age groups, such as schoolchildren and the elderly, these numbers imply that our current global suggestion that two billion people suffer from hidden hunger is a gross underestimation,” he said.

    In the context of Africa and the Sahel region, local governments’ capacity to respond to the food crisis have been limited or difficult to implement in the face of conflict within the region and in neighboring countries. Even international intervention from groups like FAO and World Food Programme (WFP) have had to work with limited resources and funding. In February, it was reported that within the last three years in the Sahel, the number of people dealing with starvation increased dramatically and dangerously, from 3.6 to 10.5 million.

    Forced displacement caused by conflict in the region also impacts food security, as more than 5 million people live in forced displacement from Burkina Faso to the Lake Chad Basin area.

    But what is perhaps more pressing, and more devastating, is the impact of climate change or environment-induced disasters on food security. The Sahel region in particular is susceptible to extreme weather conditions such as heavy rains and floods, and the Horn of Africa is suffering from a historic drought this year. Looking at other regions, the recent floods that devastated Pakistan destroyed over $70 billion USD worth in rice crops. This has also led to a rise in rice prices in the international market from other major rice exporters such as India, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Meanwhile, sub-Saharan Africa is heavily dependent on rice imports. It is an example of how connected the world is, and how we are dependent on each other to help meet that most basic and essential need: food.

    With all these crises piling onto one another, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. But it also makes the theme of World Food Day even more pertinent. It is why this year’s theme feels more like a call to action: leave no one behind. These challenges will persist and only further overwhelm the global community unless we are united in our efforts to mitigate food insecurity. We are undeniably and inextricably dependent on each other to meet our needs for food, health, and security. “Leave no one behind” is a simplified reminder and approach, to a problem with complex parts and overlapping problems.

    This call to action will only ring true when greater systematic changes are implemented in the food systems, and when this is revisited frequently rather than left for the next big natural disaster.

    IPS UN Bureau Report


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    © Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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