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Tag: Joyce Chimbi

  • Africas Vast Arable Land Underutilized for Both Cash and Food Crops

    Africas Vast Arable Land Underutilized for Both Cash and Food Crops

    A new conversation is needed about food production in Africa. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
    • by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
    • Inter Press Service

    NAIROBI, Jan 16 (IPS) – Concerns are rife that while Africa is growing more crops, these are not for food and that on the current trajectory, present food import costs into Africa, now estimated at 55 billion US dollars a year, could double by 2030.

    Three crop species-maize, wheat and rice meet an estimated 50 percent of the global requirements for proteins and calories, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

    Yet despite Africa’s expensive agricultural sector, the continent’s maize, rice, and wheat account for 7, 5, and 4 percent of the world’s production, respectively. But experts say pitting food crops against cash crops is not the right conversation to have.

    “The most productive conversation should be firmly centered on how to support farmers to produce more food for everyone and to export even more as this will improve the farmer’s quality of life and get themselves out of poverty,” says Hafez Ghanem, former regional Vice President of the World Bank Group and a current nonresident senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution.

    He tells IPS the mistake many countries made after independence was to try to ensure cheap food for people in the cities by keeping farmgate prices low and by trying to coerce farmers into producing certain food crops. The result was that the farmer became poor. If the farmer is poor, they cannot produce, and in the long run, everybody becomes poor and hungry.

    “No country can produce all the foods that it needs. We will have to export some and produce some. If we start increasing yields for cereals, for instance, through increased use of quality seeds, fertilizer, and irrigation, farmers can produce more food crops without interfering with cash crops production, and the farmer will be richer.”

    According to the Africa Agriculture Status Report 2022, “for Africa, accelerating the transformation of our food systems is more vital than ever. Africa has a few other incentives for transforming its food system; with one of the most degraded agricultural soils in the world and increasing droughts, Africa will face significant exposure to water-related climate risks in the future.

    At least 90 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s rural population depends on agriculture as its primary source of income. More than 95 percent of agriculture is reliant on rainfall, according to the report.

    The report finds that the consequences of unpredictable rainfall, rising temperatures, extreme drought, and low soil carbon will further lower crop yields exposing Africa’s poorest communities to increasingly intense climate- and water-related hazards with disastrous results.

    Ghanem does not believe that the issue of food security in Africa is a consequence of producing too many cash crops. The real issue, he says, is two-fold.

    “The first part of the issue is that, in general, the productivity of land under cultivation for both cash and food crops is low. We need to increase land yields for both cash and food crops. The solution, I do not believe, is to stop exporting cash crops to produce more food,” he explains.

    The second part of the issue, he says, is the challenge presented by climate change, and “we need to do much more to make agriculture more resilient to climate change.”

    He says that concerns that there is the prioritization of cash crops over food crops are misplaced, “think about the profile of farmers in Africa. We are talking about very smallholder farmers. In countries such as Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, farmers are making much more profits producing cocoa or coffee than producing rice, for example.“We cannot ask our farmers to produce crops that are lower yielding and therefore less profitable.”

    Any solution that we propose for food security, he cautions, has to bear in mind that the most food insecure and poorest people in Africa are in the rural areas.

    Against this backdrop, experts such as Ghanem see no conflict between the production of food and cash crops, saying that Africa has vast lands to produce both. Outside of countries such as Egypt and other countries in North Africa, he says the rest of the continent has vast and available arable land.

    Data by FAO shows Africa is home to an estimated 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land. Ghanem, therefore, says the solution is to facilitate farmers to irrigate their lands and access high-quality seeds and fertilizer.

    Africa needs about $40 to $70 billion in investment from the public sector and another $80 billion from the private sector annually to sustain food production on the continent, according to Africa Agriculture Status Report.

    Ghanem says investing in technology that can produce critical inputs such as fertilizer and climate-resilient high-quality seeds will prove highly productive in the future.

    Take, for instance, fertilizer which is expensive because it is imported. He lauds the establishment of some of the world’s largest fertilizer-producing companies in Nigeria and Morocco, calling for such investments in other parts of the continent.

    Ghanem says subsidies for farm inputs such as fertilizer are not the solution and that producing inputs that farmers need in-country or at least on the continent will set the agricultural sector on a resilience path to greater productivity, enough food for all, and profitability.

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  • Lessons from Niyamgiri Movements Success to Protect an Indigenous Sacred Mountain

    Lessons from Niyamgiri Movements Success to Protect an Indigenous Sacred Mountain

    IPBES’ Assessment Report on Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature Report tells of the successful campaign by the Niyamgiri Movement.
    • by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
    • Inter Press Service

    Nairobi, Nov 23 (IPS) – The Dongria Kondhs say they are the descendants of Niramraja, a mythical god-king who is believed to have created the Niyamgiri range of hills in Odisha, an eastern Indian state on the Bay of Bengal.

    This indigenous community has worshipped the Niyamgiri Mountain and lived in the region, which spans over 250 square kilometres through the Raygada and Kalahandi districts of Odisha. Their survival is closely linked to the ecosystem integrity of Niyamgiri Mountain.

    But in 2003, a socio-economic conflict of values erupted over the mythical sacred kingdom when Vedanta Resources – a UK-based mining giant – began to acquire land towards constructing an Aluminum refinery at the foot of the Niyamgiri Mountain. This did not require forest clearance.

    Protests erupted immediately and intensified when it was revealed that Vendata also planned to acquire Niyamgiri Mountain and mine bauxite, a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. In 2004, the company sought approval to clear forest for a mine. Environmentalists moved to court.

    Such conflict over short-term profits and economic growth vis-a-vis values that affected communities ascribe to their land came into sharp focus in July 2022 when IPBES released the Assessment Report on Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature.

    IPBES provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the contributions they make to people, as well as options and actions to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets.

    In this regard, the Values Assessment responds to the need to support decision-makers in understanding and accounting for the wide range of nature’s values in policy decisions to address the current biodiversity crisis and to achieve the UN’s SDGs.

    Approved by representatives of the 139 Member States of IPBES, the full report, released in October 2022, found a “dominant global focus on short-term profits and economic growth, often excluding the consideration of multiple values of nature in policy decisions” and that “decisions based on a narrow set of market values of nature underpin the global biodiversity crisis.”

    A global biodiversity crisis is increasingly placing economies, food security and livelihoods of people in every corner of the world at greater risk. For instance, IPBES alerted the world that a million species, out of an overall eight million, of plants and animals, now face extinction, many within decades. Today, the world’s wildlife populations have declined by 69 percent since 1970.

    According to IPBES, increased global gross domestic product drives increased use of natural resources, and “such extractive policies have created immediate loss of multiple nature values at different geographical and social scales, disproportionately affecting indigenous and local communities.”

    The Niyamgiri case illustrates the power issues and value conflicts between economic development projects and indigenous peoples and local communities. Sixty-two tribal groups are found in Odisha, of which 13 are particularly vulnerable.

    The Niramgiri Mountain contains approximately 75 million tonnes of bauxite. India is one of five countries that lead the production of bauxite in the global market, according to national data.

    The Values Assessment report particularly highlights how the loss of nature’s values in pursuit of profits has led to a crossing of key planetary boundaries, accelerating the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. Such loss was imminent, and the Odisha state government entered a memorandum of understanding with Vendata Resources.

    A mining project would set in motion activities to turn an indigenous sacred mountain and the ancestral home of the vulnerable Dongria Kondhs and Kutia Kondhs, among other vulnerable people, into bauxite.

    Equally important, the community maintains the Sal Forest because the community honours a taboo against cutting trees on Niyamgiri’s summit. Approximately 90 percent of the 660-hectare mining lease area, agreed upon between the Odisha state government and the mining company, was considered to be Sal Forest.

    Resistance against the planned assault on nature was first led by the community with support from professional activists; this led to the birth of the Niyamgiri Movement, a social movement against bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri mountains or indigenous sacred land.

    In 2004, environmentalists petitioned India’s Supreme Court not to allow the mine permit, but the petition was unsuccessful. The decision was reversed in 2013 when the Court ordered that the Dongria Kondh’s right to worship their sacred mountain must be “protected and preserved”.

    According to the court order, those with religious and cultural values associated with the area must be included in the decision-making process. A local referendum by affected villages unanimously rejected the mining project.

    According to IPBES, “the Niyamgiri case includes a range of valuation approaches: the firm’s bottom-line considerations, cost-benefit analysis; focusing on instrumental values, portrayals of ecological (intrinsic) values, and evidence of (relational) cultural values of indigenous peoples.”

    In this case, the power to make decisions influences which values were prioritised and which valuation methods were deemed appropriate. IPBES finds that the case also “exemplifies how different valuation logics succeed or fail in representing different life frames and sets of values.”

    IPBES references the Life Framework of Values which links the richness of ways people experience and think of nature with the diverse ways nature matters. It shows why the natural world matters. People can live from, live in, live with or as nature.

    Living ‘as’ nature characterises a oneness with nature and people. Living ‘with’ nature means living in accordance with nature and living ‘from’ nature prioritising benefits such as profits and economic growth from natural resources over the integrity of an ecosystem.

    The first court decision largely prioritised economic development and emphasised industrialisation. A cost-benefit analysis focused on instrumental values such as employment income, infrastructure expenses, and profits in line with Vedanta’s interests.

    Conservation activists, IPBES stresses, were grounded upon both the living ‘as’ and living ‘with’ nature frame. An intact Niyamgiri ecosystem is considered a core value, and activists highlighted the intersections between cultural and biodiversity values and the rights of local communities to define their livelihoods.

    Overall, the activists managed to represent the cultural, spiritual and territorial values that were most important to local indigenous people and won the day in India’s Supreme Court. Today, the mythical kingdom of Niyamgiri Mountains remains under the control of the descendants of Niramraja, their god-king.

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  • Pan-African Approach to Tackle Food Insecurity Arising from Conflict and Climate Shocks

    Pan-African Approach to Tackle Food Insecurity Arising from Conflict and Climate Shocks

    Pan-African initiatives to boost food production and research and development could increase yields on farms on the continent. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
    • by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
    • Inter Press Service

    Nairobi, Nov 22 (IPS) – Upheaval on the global stage, the war in Ukraine, conflict in the Horn of Africa, severe climatic shocks, high international inflation, increasing global commodity prices, high prices of agricultural inputs and low intra-continental trade are fuelling food insecurity across Africa.

    Of the 24 countries classified as hunger hotspots by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme in 2022, 16 are in Africa. The continent accounts for 62 percent of the total number of food insecure in hotspot countries.

    “Over time, climate shocks have significantly impacted Africa’s fragile food chain. The most severe drought in the Horn of Africa in decades is ongoing, floods in West Africa and severe cyclones in Madagascar and Mozambique. Climate change will contribute to a decline in African agricultural yields, which are already very low, by 5 to 17 percent by 2050,” says Hafez Ghanem, former regional Vice President of the World Bank Group and a current non-resident senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution.

    External factors – the disruption of food systems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent reduced purchasing power, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to an increase in world food, fuel and fertiliser prices – coupled with drastic weather changes, and continuation or intensification of conflict and insecurity have compromised an already fragile food chain.

    Ghanem says that conflict and climate change are the most pressing challenges for Africa, creating conditions for food insecurity, worsening food insecurity levels and making it difficult for the continent to put food on the table. Rising food insecurities are, in turn, a catalyst for conflict.

    One in five, or an estimated 140 million people, in Africa, face acute food insecurity. The situation is even worse in conflict-affected countries and regions, including the Horn of Africa, northern Nigeria, eastern DRC and the Sahel region.

    According to FAO and WFP, three countries – DRC, Ethiopia, and Nigeria – account for more than 56 percent of the food insecurity in Africa.

    “The three countries have two characteristics in common, conflict and vulnerability to climate change. This situation is further worsened by external factors such as the war in Ukraine, global inflation and rising fuel prices,” he observes.

    As a net food and fuel importer, FAO research shows Ethiopia is particularly affected by high international prices. Food price inflation averaged 40 percent during the first half of 2022.

    The onset of floods in 27 Nigerian states earlier in February 2022 has, according to FAO and WFP joint reports, damaged 450,000 hectares of farmland, seriously compromising the 2022 harvest. Floods have similarly disrupted agriculture in South Sudan.

    Ghanem says that these climatic shocks coming after the locust infestation of 2019-2020, which affected 1.25 million hectares of land in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, have had substantial negative consequences for food security in the region. Political instability and conflict in Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Somalia have worsened the situation.

    He says that the Sahel – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger – has seen a 50 percent increase in food insecurity compared to 2021. A reflection, he says, “of the sharp increase in political instability and conflict in Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, and rising world prices for food, fuel, and fertilisers.

    Ghanem urges political leaders and civil society to address the root causes of conflict and instability and says solutions include dealing with the social, political and economic exclusion of large segments of the population. He says all people should feel invested in their own country.

    Against this backdrop, he argues for pan-African initiatives to boost food production “Africa’s agriculture has the lowest yields in the world. Africa has the least percentage of irrigated land and uses the least fertiliser per hectare. The continent also invests the least in research and development.”

    In the absence of up-to-date research to produce innovative approaches to combat challenges facing agriculture today and without the use of quality fertiliser, certified seeds and new and more climate change-resilient varieties of seeds, he says the continent will be hard-pressed to overcome rising food insecurities.

    “Despite these challenges, I am optimistic that pan-African initiatives and joint projects are viable to address these gaps, including establishing four or five research centres for agriculture on the continent, joint irrigation projects and building fertiliser-producing companies,” he explains.

    “Africa imports about 60 percent of all fertiliser use, making it very expensive for our farmers, leading to low fertiliser usage. We already have big fertiliser-producing companies, including Dangote in Nigeria and OCP in Morocco. The continent can work with such African fertiliser producers to establish more fertiliser factories on the continent.”

    He stresses that Africa is ripe with opportunities for inter-African cooperation and that the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, which all 54 countries have signed on the continent, will accelerate the free flow of goods and services and could increase pan-African investment projects in agriculture.

    In making a case for a pan-African approach to tackle food insecurity, Ghanem says besides open markets and free trade, this would be an opportunity to promote multi-country regional investments in infrastructure, which would, in turn, enhance agricultural productivity and resilience to climate change.

    Further, he sees such an approach as an opportunity to create an African council to coordinate and encourage agricultural research and development. Equally important, a pan-African approach could support a facility to ensure vulnerable African countries can finance food imports in times of crisis.

    Buoyed by its vast natural resources and human capital, he says a united vision for Africa will help develop Africa’s bread baskets and deliver a future with food security for all. For more on this subject, see Ghanem’s paper here.

    IPS UN Bureau Report

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  • Younger Generation Needed in Efforts to Change the Leprosy Perceptions, Says Miss World Brazil

    Younger Generation Needed in Efforts to Change the Leprosy Perceptions, Says Miss World Brazil

    Miss World Brazil Letícia Frota and Pragnya Ayyagari, Miss Supranational India agreed that zero leprosy and campaigns to destigmatize the disease should not be sidelined because of COVID-19. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
    • by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
    • Inter Press Service

    Nairobi, Nov 08 (IPS) – Deep-rooted discrimination against persons affected by leprosy or Hansen’s disease has marginalized individuals and communities. As social pariahs, opportunities to pursue their dreams are limited because, at best, they live at the periphery of society and, more often than not, are ostracized.

    Yohei Sasakawa, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, said that because of discrimination and shame, “We had a long period when all people affected by leprosy had to live silently. Today, we have the Don’t Forget Leprosy Campaign, and we all have a role to play in this endeavor.”

    Yohei Sasakawa, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, says everybody has a role to play in destigmatizing leprosy. Credit: Sasakawa Foundation
    Yohei Sasakawa, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, says everybody has a role to play in destigmatizing leprosy. Credit: Sasakawa Foundation

    He was speaking during the third and final day of the 2nd Global Forum of People’s Organizations on Hansen’s Disease held by the Sasakawa Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) Initiative in Hyderabad, India, from November 6 to 8, 2022, where participation was both in person and virtual.

    During the Forum, discussions centered on the challenges persons affected by leprosy face and the vision of the future they wish to create moving into the post-COVID era. The primary objective was to strengthen and maximize the roles and capacities of people’s organizations to promote the dignity of persons affected by Hansen’s Disease.

    Speakers and participants at the 2nd Forum highlighted how persons affected by leprosy are increasingly speaking out and seeking participation in implementing leprosy programs and formulating related policies. There are at least 41 People’s Organizations on Hansen’s disease in 25 countries across the globe.

    Good practices of how people’s organizations are building capacities and expanding roles to enhance the dignity of those affected by the ancient disease from countries such as Ethiopia, India, Nepal, and Indonesia were extensively shared on days one and two of the Global Forum.

    This gave way to the third and final day for speakers and attending participants to host side events on a theme of their choice in line with the Forum’s overall objective.

    Miss World Brazil Letícia Frota and Pragnya Ayyagari, Miss Supranational India held a special session to raise visibility about persons affected by leprosy within the context of the Don’t Forget Leprosy Campaign. They reminded the world that leprosy should not be sidelined amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The beauty queens spoke passionately about the need for a united vision toward a future without leprosy. They participated in a panel discussion that included Sasakawa and representatives of the Movement of Reintegration of Persons Afflicted by Hansen’s Disease (MORHAN) in Brazil and the Association of People Affected by Leprosy-India (APAL).

    Discussions were firmly centered on the need to raise awareness and increase visibility around Hansen’s disease and the people affected, to work towards their inclusion and integration, and to particularly reach out to the younger generation as their role is critical towards zero leprosy.

    “I am very empathetically connected to this cause, and I will use my influence to connect with young people in raising awareness about Hansen’s disease. I am very encouraged about ongoing efforts by MORHAN to educate school-going children about Hansen’s disease,” Ayyagari explained.

    Frota stressed the need to spread awareness, especially to the younger generation who remain in the dark regarding leprosy. To change the future, she said, “We need to change the landscape of the disease by actively engaging young people. I will continue to engage and raise funds towards a future without leprosy.”

    Miss World Brazil further spoke about the rights of people affected by leprosy to live and enjoy opportunities without discrimination. She highlighted the need for early detection and treatment of leprosy as critical to reaching zero leprosy.

    Participants were pleased with the involvement of the beauty queens because, as celebrities, they can use their massive following to draw attention to the disease.

    Representatives of MORHAN and APAL said that as people affected by leprosy, there is an urgent need to take the message to the world that leprosy is curable and that the community must not be forgotten even as COVID-19 continues to take center stage.

    They all lauded ongoing efforts to bring the global community together to bring attention to the ancient disease and to forge a way forward toward its elimination.

    Sasakawa encouraged those at the forefront of fighting stigma and discrimination against leprosy and those taking active steps towards its elimination always to remember that they are not alone.

    “So many like-minded people support you and are comrades in this fight. You might face certain challenges going forward but remember that so many people are backing you,” he said.

    During the panel discussion, persons affected by leprosy from different countries had an opportunity to speak about how they are still grappling with the pain of stigma and discrimination even after being healed from leprosy.

    They stressed that even though they cannot transmit leprosy to others, they are still treated with fear, and many are silenced by the stigma, unable to live life to their full potential. They vowed to use this pain to fuel and boost the Don’t Forget Leprosy campaign towards a future free from all forms of discrimination against those affected by the ancient disease.

    In all, representatives of persons affected by leprosy urged participants to use the little they have to do whatever they can. By and by, they said, the global campaign to eliminate leprosy will grow wings to fly to every corner of the world, to reach people with the message that leprosy is curable, and to give hope to every person affected by leprosy.

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  • Broken Relationship with Nature Exposed as Global Wildlife Population Plummets

    Broken Relationship with Nature Exposed as Global Wildlife Population Plummets

    Biodiversity is in trouble as the WWF report, 2022 Living Planet Index, indicates that the global wildlife population had decreased by 69 percent since 1970. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
    • by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
    • Inter Press Service

    Nairobi, Oct 25 (IPS) – Home to a variety of iconic and rare animal and plant species, freshwater lakes, rivers, waterfalls, and the expansive Indian Ocean coastline, Kenya’s place as a biodiversity hotspot has never been in doubt.

    But the first National Wildlife Census report finalized in August 2021 pointed to signs of trouble. For instance, as many as five wildlife species are critically endangered and could disappear in the immediate future. The report noted that there were just 1,650 Tana River Mangabey, 897 black rhinos, 497 Hirolas, 51 Sable antelopes, and 15 Roan antelopes.

    Biodiversity expert John Mwangi Gicheha tells IPS the decline in species population abundance has now been validated by the newly-released Living Planet Report 2022.

    “The health of planet earth is well and truly on a sharp decline, and we are not only seeing a decrease in the global population of species but a decline in their genetic diversity and a loss of species climatically determined habitats,” Gicheha expounds.

    Conducted by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), an independent conservation organization, this is the first ever most comprehensive report on the state of global vertebrate wildlife populations, and it makes a startling revelation: the world’s wildlife populations have declined by 69 percent since 1970.

    As a measure of the state of the world’s biological diversity among population trends of vertebrate species from terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats, the 2022 Living Planet Index analyzed approximately 32,000 populations of 5,230 species across the world.

    By tracking trends in the abundance of mammals, fish, reptiles, birds, and amphibians worldwide since 1970, a disturbing image emerged: one million plants and animals are threatened with extinction.

    Worse still, 1-2.5 percent of birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and fish have gone extinct.

    Key findings include revelations that monitored freshwater populations are hardest hit as there is an alarming decline of 83 percent in the last 50 years, more than any other species groups.

    The decline in freshwater population is mainly caused by habitat loss and barriers to migration routes which account for an estimated half the threat to these populations. Further, only 37 percent of rivers over 1,000 kilometres remain free-flowing in their natural state.

    Against this backdrop, the report stresses that the global community is living the consequences of double crises and shows how “interlinked emergencies of human-induced climate change and the loss of biodiversity are threatening the well-being of current and future generations.”

    The greatest regional decline in wildlife population is in Latin America and the Caribbean region, whose average population abundance decline is 94 percent.

    Africa comes second with a 66 percent fall in its wildlife populations over the past 52 years, and across the board, the poor and marginalized remain highly vulnerable and most affected by the decline.

    There was an 18 percent decline in Europe and Central Asia and a 55 percent decline in wildlife populations in the Asia Pacific.

    More findings show despite mangroves being unique forests of the sea; they remain at great risk as they continue to be lost to aquaculture, agriculture and coastal development at current rates of 0.13 percent per year.

    Mangrove loss is not only a loss of habitat for biodiversity, the report emphasizes, but the loss of ecosystem services for coastal communities.

    Further, approximately 50 percent of warm water corals have already been lost. Even worse, a warming of 5 degrees Celsius will lead to a loss of 70 to 90 percent of warm water corals.

    Overall, the global abundance of 18 of 31 oceanic sharks and rays declined by 71 percent since 1970. By 2020, three-quarters of sharks and rays were threatened with an elevated risk of extinction. Kenya is currently home to 9 whale sharks, two blue whales and 17 tiger sharks, per the National Wildlife Census.

    The report stresses that dominating the natural world irresponsibly, taking nature for granted, exploiting of resources wastefully and unsustainably and, distributing these resources unevenly have life-altering consequences.

    Judy Ouya, a government official in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry tells IPS that said consequences could no longer be ignored as they are too severe and frequent. They include loss of lives and economic assets from extreme weather conditions, deepening poverty and, severe food and water insecurity from droughts.

    For instance, the reports references Amboseli, Kenya, Maasai community who rely on selling livestock and are now greatly affected by the severe prolonged dry spell.

    Earlier in June 2022, the World Bank projected that Kenya’s growth will slow down within the year and into 2023-24 due to the ongoing ravaging drought and other external influences, such as the war in Ukraine.

    “The ongoing climate and biodiversity crises are significantly induced and sustained by human activity and particularly our land use change and, our interactions with ocean and lake ecosystems. There is significant over-exploitation of nature, and the consequences are coming faster and more severe than expected,” Ouya observes.

    WWF finds that while ongoing conservation efforts are helping, urgent action is required if the global community is to reverse nature loss. The broken relationship with nature, experts such as Ouya emphasize, impacts all aspects of human life and will significantly derail economic development and attainment of UN SDGs.

    Overall, the index finds too much nature has been lost at a speed that calls for higher ambitions to effectively, efficiently and sustainably address the six key threats to biodiversity loss which include habitat degradation and loss, exploitation, the introduction of invasive species, pollution, climate change and disease.

    Higher ambitions include working together towards the complimentary goals of net-zero emissions by 2050 and net-positive biodiversity by 2030 as they represent “the compass to guide us towards a safe future for humanity, to shift to a sustainable development model, to support the delivery of the 2030 SDGs.”

    If the global community works together to achieve these goals and because nature can bounce back, the report foretells a promising future, of a decade that will end better than it started with more natural forests, more fish in the ocean and river systems, more pollinators in our farmlands, more biodiversity worldwide.

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  • IPBES, IPCC Joint Winners of the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity 2022 Dedicated to Climate Change

    IPBES, IPCC Joint Winners of the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity 2022 Dedicated to Climate Change

    Anne Larigauderie, the Executive Secretary of IPBES, with Hoesung Lee, President of the IPCC. IPBES and the IPCC were joint winners of the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity 2022, which was dedicated to climate change. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
    • by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
    • Inter Press Service

    Nairobi, Oct 13 (IPS) – IPBES’ assessment report on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species, released in July 2022, painted a troubling picture of the ongoing global biodiversity crisis that could paralyse economies and endanger food security and livelihoods.

    Earlier in February 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) painted a similarly troubling picture: a warning that every tenth of a degree of additional warming could escalate threats to people, species, and ecosystems.

    IPBES and IPCC both produce scientific knowledge, alert society to climate change and biodiversity loss, and inform decision-makers to make better choices for combatting climate change and the loss of biodiversity. In doing so, they provide tools to foster a low-carbon future, mitigate climate change’s negative effects, and promote a resilient society.

    For their contribution to climate change adaptation and resilience building, IPBES and IPCC today (October 13, 2022) emerged winners of the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity 2022, which was dedicated to climate change.

    “The decision to award the 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity to both IPBES and the IPCC is a powerful statement confirming that the global loss of species, destruction of ecosystems, and degradation of nature’s contributions to people together represent a crisis not only of similar magnitude to that of climate change, but one which must be addressed with at least similar urgency,” said Anne Larigauderie, the Executive Secretary of IPBES who accepted the prize alongside Hoesung Lee, President of the IPCC.

    “The unified message from both of our expert communities is that either we tackle and solve the biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis together – or we will fail on both fronts.”

    Additionally, Lee emphasised that science was “our most powerful instrument to tackle climate change, a clear and imminent threat to our wellbeing and livelihoods, the wellbeing of our planet and all of its species. For IPCC scientists, this prize is an important recognition and encouragement. For the decision-makers, it is another push for more decisive climate action.”

    IPBES is an independent, intergovernmental body set up in 2012 with the objective of improving the interface between scientific knowledge and political decision-makers on questions around biodiversity, the protection of ecosystems, human wellbeing, and sustainability.

    IPCC, the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2007, in conjunction with Al Gore, is a United Nations-affiliated organisation that fosters the production of scientific knowledge within the scope of evaluating the climate impacts of human actions and supporting governments with regard to their decision-making and the implementation of measures able to combat climate change.

    Angela Merkel, former Chancellor of Germany, chaired the jury Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity 2022. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
    Angela Merkel, former Chancellor of Germany, chaired the jury Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity 2022. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

    The two entities – IPBES and IPCC – were selected out of 116 nominations from 41 nationalities spanning five continents. Angela Merkel, former Chancellor of Germany, chaired the jury with vice-chair Miguel Bastos Araújo (Geographer, Pessoa Award 2018).

    Merkel attended the prizegiving, as did António Feijó, President of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation that introduced the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity in 2020.

    The focus on climate change, Feijó explained, was a very simple decision: “Climate change and all which this philanthropic organisation does, they represent an existential condition for humanity.”

    Merkel reiterated the importance of focusing on climate change acknowledging the controversies that often surround decisions made and the many policies on the table for the potential way ahead.

    “Science is the most important link. Scientific evidence cannot be removed from the equation. We may have our own political views, but I believe we must make the right decision in order to ensure the survival of humanity,” Merkel observed.

    Merkel further stressed that humanity now faces two crises, biodiversity loss and climate change, emphasising their interlinkages.

    On biodiversity, Larigauderie spoke of the 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, which alerted the world that a million species, out of an overall eight million, of plants and animals, now face extinction – many within decades.

    This degradation of nature, she said, is affecting the capacity of ecosystems to deliver on a number of key functions central to human survival, including the capacity to mitigate against climate change and to achieve food security.

    The jury, comprised of leading figures in global climate and environment research and action, highlighted how this prize recognises the role of science on the front line of tackling climate change and the loss of biodiversity.

    Finding that “evidence-based science has been fundamental not only to advancing many of the political and public actions but also the need to attribute the ‘nature of urgency’ to the ways in which the political agenda approaches the question of combatting the climate crisis”.

    In this regard, Larigauderie and Lee expressed their gratitude to thousands of scientists and indigenous and local knowledge holders for volunteering their time and expertise to deliver robust research on climate change and biodiversity.

    “Our reports are the most authoritative, may I say, the scientific voice of the United Nations about climate change. They provide the world’s leaders and decision-makers at all levels with a sound and most scrutinised scientific knowledge about our climate system, climate change and how to tackle it,” Lee observed.

    “The Prize comes at a critical time for climate change science. IPCC reports are clear and unequivocal. Climate change is man-made, widespread, rapid and intensifying. Today, we are not on track to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”

    Against this backdrop, the Jury stressed that IPBES and IPCC stood out in highlighting the relationship between “science, climate, biodiversity and society, representing the best that is done in this field all around the world.”

    The Jury, therefore, recognised how the two organisations serve to emphasise “the need to look at the climate crisis and biodiversity in conjunction, with concerted approaches making recourse to nature-based solutions.”

    With an annual cash award of €1 million, the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity recognise people, groups of people or organisations from across the globe that make outstanding, innovative, and impactful contributions to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

    This is the third edition of the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity. It was awarded for the first time in 2020 to the young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. In 2021 the Prize was awarded to the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, the largest global alliance for climate leadership in cities, comprising more than 10,600 cities and local governments from 140 countries, including Portugal.

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  • Lives Hang in the Balance as Kenyas ASAL Region Ravaged by Severe Prolonged Drought

    Lives Hang in the Balance as Kenyas ASAL Region Ravaged by Severe Prolonged Drought

    Experts say pastoralists are at the edge of climate change adaptability due to perennial prolonged dry spells and occasional drought. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
    • by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
    • Inter Press Service

    Nairobi, Oct 04 (IPS) – The sight of children begging for water from motorists along the Garissa highway in the northeastern part of Kenya signals that all is not well. Unable to go to school on an empty stomach, drought-affected children wait for good Samaritans along the road, begging for water and food.

    Despite very high temperatures, drought-impacted children wait under the scorching sun for left-over food items and drinks from travelers. Animal carcasses and goats on the verge of death from lack of water and pasture can also be seen along the highway. For even in the face of a looming threat to life from a most prolonged dry spell, pastoralists do not consume dying livestock.

    The area is sparsely populated, and the highway is far from busy, but the potential danger facing children on the lonely highway pales in comparison to the possibility of starving to death.

    Thirteen-year-old Leah Kilonzi paints a dire picture of a severe food and water shortage, “we have nothing to eat when we wake up in the morning or during lunchtime. We have to wait for nighttime to have a small cup of porridge and boiled maize.”

    Younger children lie down a few meters from the road, too hungry to cry and hoping silently that the older children will get something.

    Garissa is one out of 23 Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) counties ravaged by an ongoing severe drought as three years have gone by without a drop of rainfall. Children, pregnant and lactating women are severely affected by the acute food shortage, and diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, and malaria are on the rise across drought-stricken regions.

    Government data shows that the ongoing drought situation is the climax of four consecutive below-average rainy seasons in ASAL regions of this East African nation. As a result, an estimated 4.2 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, according to the Kenya Drought Flash Appeal.

    “The most recent data from the government shows that from March to June 2022, at least 942,000 children under the age of five years living in ASAL regions were suffering from malnutrition. More than 134,000 pregnant or lactating women were malnourished and requiring immediate treatment,” Kariuki Muriithi, a food security expert in northeastern Kenya, tells IPS.

    “Overall, at least 229,000 children were suffering from severe acute malnutrition as of June 2022. The situation has since escalated, and the burden of malnutrition is heavier.”

    The National Drought Management Authority drought update for the month of September 2022 confirmed that the drought situation continued to worsen in twenty 20 of the 23 ASAL counties.

    Putting into perspective the degree and magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in the ASAL region, counties such as Mandera have reached critically alarming levels of malnutrition. The prevalence of global acute malnutrition in the County is 34.7 percent, more than double the emergency threshold of 15 percent.

    An estimated 89 percent of Kenya’s land area is classified as ASAL or drylands and is home to about 26 percent of Kenya’s population, according to the state department for development of the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands. ASAL regions are dominated by pastoral communities, their lives characterized by prolonged dry spells and occasional drought, heightening levels of destitution and impoverishment.

    The ongoing drought is the most severe in four decades, prompting the government to declare a national drought emergency.

    David Korir, a senior officer in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, says across Kenya’s ASAL regions, the number of people classified as being in an emergency drought situation is at least 785,000, or five percent of all people affected by the drought. At least 2.8 million people, or 18 percent, are classified as being in crisis.

    He says nine out of all 23 ASAL counties, including Garissa and Mandera, have over 40 percent of their population classified as being in crisis or worse.

    Government projections show that the food security situation is likely to worsen between October and December 2022. As such, at least 3.1 million people are likely to be classified as being in crisis, and another 1.2 million in an emergency.

    “Of particular concern is the fact that pastoralists have been pushed to the edge of climate change adaptability. Across ASAL regions, we have about 13 million pastoralists and agro-pastoralists,” he tells IPS.

    Pastoralists sustain domestic, regional, and international livestock markets but with more than 1.5 million livestock dead thus far and the cost of surviving livestock declining by up to 40 percent, their livelihoods now hang in the balance.

    “Levels of vulnerabilities from prolonged dry spells and droughts are so high that an increasing number of pastoralists can no longer cope with the deepening famine,” he expounds.

    Their adaptive capacities are further compromised by perpetual political and socio-economic marginalization.

    Faced with rising temperatures, dry wells, and an unyielding sky, Korir speaks of a precarious pastoral economy. He says pastoralists are unable to re-stock animals lost to drought or to explore alternative feeding models such as harvested fodder or commercial feed because natural pasture is no longer an option.

    Similarly, they are unable to keep livestock and, particularly, camels, which are more drought resistant because camels are too expensive. A young camel calf that has just been born goes for around $500 to $600, pastoralist Fred Naeku tells IPS.

    “Pastoralists have coped with drought by moving from place to place in search of pasture and returning to their home areas when drought situation improves. This is no longer a viable option because the entire horn of Africa is affected, and pastoralists cannot run to neighboring Ethiopia or Somalia for relief,” Korir observes.

    “We are increasingly seeing pastoralists with herds of cattle within the City of Nairobi. They are desperate, stranded, and in dire need of a solution and are hopeful that their presence inside one of Africa’s leading cities will provoke their leaders into offering much-needed relief in form of sustainable coping mechanisms.”

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