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The Israeli government’s actions in Gaza have been criticized by the United Nations, specialized agencies, Western allies, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), human rights and humanitarian organizations and independent observers. Credit: Frank van Beek / UN

By Joseph Chamie
PORTLAND, USA, Nov 11 2024 (IPS)

As a result of its policies and actions in response to the 7 October attack, the Israeli government has not only alienated its allies and acquired adversaries but also found itself isolated diplomatically. The consequences of those developments and realignments have occurred across countries, organizations and groups worldwide.

 

Situation

The Israeli government’s actions in Gaza have been criticized by the United Nations, specialized agencies, Western allies, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), human rights and humanitarian organizations and independent observers.

Israel has found itself in violation of the decisions of international courts, in conflict with international humanitarian and human rights organizations, viewed critically by most of the world and increasingly isolated diplomatically

US president Biden, for example, warned Israel that it was losing international support because of its indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza Strip and described Israel’s military response in Gaza over the top. President Macron of France also said that Israel has used excessive force, resulting in disproportionate casualties and destruction.

Over 150 civil society and non-governmental organizations have urged world governments to help end the war crimes being committed by the Israeli government in Gaza. Also, more than 800 scholars of international law and genocide have signed a public statement arguing that the Israeli military may be committing genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza.

 

Setting

The long-running conflict between Israelis and Palestinians concerns a relatively small but historically important parcel of land. In addition, the two populations directly involved are comparatively small in numbers.

Israel is about the territorial size of the US state of New Jersey and has about the same size population. Israel’s population is close to 10 million, with 77 percent being Jewish. The Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), which is about one quarter the size of Israel, has a population of about 5.5 million. The combined population of Israel and the OPT is approximately 15.5 million, or about the size of a large metropolitan city, such as Istanbul, Los Angeles or Moscow. About half of the combined population of Israel and the OPT would be Jewish (Figure 1).

 

Source: Israel, Central Bureau of Statistics and State of Palestine, Central Bureau of Statistics.

 

Decisions

Despite the land areas and populations being comparatively small, the Israeli- Palestinian conflict continues to be an issue of concern extending well beyond its borders.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), for example, has concluded that Israel’s occupation and annexation of the OPT are unlawful. The ICJ found that Israel’s discriminatory laws and policies against Palestinians violate the prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid. In addition to ICJ, Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights organizations as well as independent observers have found Israel practicing apartheid in the OPT.

The findings of the ICJ are supported by the majority of countries. In a vote in September by the 193-member UN General Assembly, 124 governments supported the ICJ advisory opinion, while 14 opposed it. The adopted UN resolution also demands that Israel “brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence” in the OPT (Figure 2).

 

Source: United Nations, Israel and State of Palestine.

 

Earlier in May, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member and recommended that the Security Council reconsider the matter favorably. The vote reflected the increasing global solidarity with Palestinians and a rebuke to America and Israel.

While 143 countries supported the resolution calling for full UN membership of the State of Palestine, 14 countries opposed it. The resolution was adopted by the General Assembly a month after the US vetoed the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member in the Security Council.

Although it has not become a full UN member, by mid-2024 the State of Palestine has been officially recognized as a sovereign state by 146 countries, representing 87 percent of the world’s population.

The most recent countries to recognize the State of Palestine are Spain, Ireland and Norway. Those three countries hoped that their recognition of Palestine would encourage the peace process in Gaza and spur other European Union countries to follow suit.

 

Consequences

The Israeli government’s responses to the Hamas-led terrorist attack on 7 October have contributed significantly to alienating its allies and acquiring adversaries. Many countries have voiced objections to Israel’s intensive bombing of Gaza, resulting in high numbers of civilian deaths and injuries, especially women and children.

Over twelve months of conflict since the 7 October attack, the reported number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza is about 20 times greater than the number of Israeli deaths. Moreover, the mortality rate of the Palestinians is 100 times greater than the Israeli mortality rate.

Top United Nations officials recently described the current situation in northern Gaza as being “apocalyptic”. They warned that the entire Palestinian population in North Gaza is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence. They also stressed that required humanitarian aid cannot keep up with the needs of the Palestinians due to the blockade and access constraints by Israeli forces.

Although Israel disagrees with the finding of the ICJ, the court found that some of the rights asserted by South Africa versus Israel under the Genocide Convention are plausible. In addition, many scholars of international law and genocide have concluded that the Israeli attacks on Gaza are being conducted with potentially genocidal intent and have described the assault on Gaza as unprecedented in scale and severity.

The ICJ’s findings have also contributed to political problems in the US over the Biden’s administration’s indispensable role and complicity in what many American progressives have described as “Israel’s slaughter and starvation of Palestinians”. Protests and progressive activism opposing Israel’s actions, which are viewed as having created a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, have taken place across America as well as in other countries.

A July national opinion poll of US voters reported that a narrow majority disapproved of Israel’s actions in Gaza. The Israel war on Gaza has also impacted the US Congress and affected the US presidential election in some important swing states.

The Israeli government’s recent actions in Lebanon have also been publicly criticized in the US. The administration said it opposed the scope of Israel’s air strikes in Beirut amid a rising toll of deaths and injuries. Also, former CIA director, Leon Panetta, labeled Israel’s deadly pager explosions in Lebanon a form of terrorism.

In addition to governments, specialized agencies and international courts, more than fifty global humanitarian and human rights organizations have condemned the Israel’s actions in Gaza. They also called on world leaders to protect UNRWA and use all diplomatic means to prevent Israel from severely limiting or outright banning UNRWA.

 

Proposals

Various proposals have been offered to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The proposal most widely supported is the two-state solution. It recommends establishing an independent state for Palestinians alongside that of Israel with the two states existing peacefully within recognized borders and security ensured for both nations.

The UN General Assembly and the Security Council have concluded that a lasting end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only come through the two-state solution. The Israeli government, however, is opposed to the two-state solution. In addition to government officials, Israel’s Knesset passed a resolution that overwhelmingly rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Some believe that the two-state solution is no longer an option primarily due to today’s realities. Approximately 750,000 Israelis, or about 10 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, are currently residing in settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, which is in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Consequently, the de facto option to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict appears to be the one-state solution.

The one-state solution ensures equal rights for all citizens, irrespective of religious identity. However, Israel rejects the one-state solution since it would undermine the Jewish character of Israel.

Other proposals to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict include a confederation of Israel, Jordan and Palestine, a federation of smaller Palestinian provinces or cantons, autonomy-plus for the Palestinians and the establishment of a Jewish Greater Israel (Table 1).

 

 

Many Israelis of the religious far right seek the establishment of a Jewish Greater Israel. Its establishment would necessarily involve the departure, expulsion or transfer of large numbers of the non-Jewish populations residing in the OPT.

 

Conclusions

The Israeli government has recently rejected the two-state solution, the one-state solution and various other proposals to resolve its conflict with the Palestinians. Moreover, Israel’s government has been unwilling or unable to provide an explicit peace plan of its own to resolve the conflict.

Consequently, it appears that Israeli government is pursuing the continuation of the status quo, which includes increasing settlements in the OPT. However, many consider the continuation of the status quo to be untenable, clearly not a resolution to the conflict and contributes to placing Israel’s Jewish democracy in peril. Many maintain that it’s time for diplomacy that leads to a negotiated settlement as military action won’t solve the conflict.

Due to its policies in the OPT, its recent actions in Gaza and its lack of an explicit peace plan, the Israeli government has increasingly alienated its vital allies and acquired additional adversaries.

Israel has found itself in violation of the decisions of international courts, in conflict with international humanitarian and human rights organizations, viewed critically by most of the world and increasingly isolated diplomatically.

In brief, the Israeli government appears to be winning the battles on the ground but losing the war in the hearts and minds of people in governments, international agencies, human rights organizations and communities around the world.

 

Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division and author of numerous publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Population Levels, Trends, and Differentials”.

 

José Carlos Castro, founding partner and former president of the Arteza Cooperative in Ribeira, Paraíba state, northeastern Brazil. Credit: Carlos Müller / IPS

By Carlos Müller
CABACEIRAS, Brazil, Nov 11 2024 (IPS)

The small community of Ribeira stands out in the Northeast, the poorest region of Brazil. There is no unemployment here. One in five inhabitants make a living directly or indirectly from the Arteza Cooperative of Tanners and Leather Artisans.

“An idea has the power to transform your world,” said in a philosophical tone Ângelo Macio, president of Arteza, recalling the creation of the cooperative in 1998 under the impulse of a Dutch priest who no longer lives in the region.

“You come to the community and you don’t see unemployed young people, they all work in the workshops, they have their income, they raise their children, they have their houses… their transport. Everything comes from the leather activity”, he said, while showing a sandal made by one of the cooperative’s artisans.

This is the case of Tarcisio de Andrade, 29, and a member of the cooperative for seven years. “I am married and have a son. My wife doesn’t work, but we all live off my work in Arteza. I don’t plan to leave Ribeira,” he said while making a sandal.

The expansion of the cooperative, which has a tannery, a shop selling supplies and tools, other shops selling its products and online commerce, has boosted the local economy. At first, the tannery processed 800 hides per month, then it spiked to 12,000, a number the members had never thought they would reach. Nowadays they process 20,000 hides.

The 1,700 residents of Ribeira seem to believe that anything is possible.

Before, there was no petrol station, no department shops, and no pharmacy. Thanks to the cooperative’s earnings, now they have all that, and people don’t have to travel 13 kilometres to Cabaceiras, the capital of the municipality of 5,300 inhabitants, of which Ribeira is a part.

The headquarters of the Arteza Cooperative in Ribeira, municipality of Cabeceiras, in the microregion of Cariri, with a long tradition of leather work. Credit: Carlos Müller / IPS

Solar energy, the driver

The cooperative’s success is largely due to solar energy. In 2018, it received equipment worth US$ 58,728 from the government of the state of Paraíba, where the municipality is located, with resources from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The savings obtained with the 170 panels installed were decisive.

“Solar energy was a milestone in our history. Today we would be paying 10,000 reais (US$ 1,755) in electricity bills in the tannery alone, and now it’s down to 600 reais (US$ 105). We were able to buy two new machines that allowed us to increase production and improve the quality of the hides,” Macio said.

There was no longer any need to increase the number of panels because when they were installed they were already double what was needed at the time. Today, with this energy, it would be possible to double production and process 40,000 hides.

The original plan was to install photovoltaic panels on the roof of the tannery, but the cooperative’s board of directors came up with a better idea: to build a new roof.

Thus, they increased the drying area for the hides and they seized the opportunity to collect water from the scarce rainfall for the water-consuming treatment of the hides. Apart from the economy, the old roof could only dry 300 skins. Under the solar panels it is possible to dry 2,500.

There is no unemployment in Ribeira, a community of 1,700 inhabitants in northeastern Brazil, says Ângelo Macio, president of Arteza cooperative. Credit: Carlos Müller / IPS

Tradition in leather

At the beginning, the 28 founding members of Arteza were supported by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), a private entity financed through a compulsory contribution from the companies. There are now 78 partners, benefiting some 400 families.

The entire micro-region of Cariri, where the municipality is located, and especially Ribeira, have a long tradition of leather work.

Macio’s great-grandfather worked with leather, but his product was rustic and consisted mainly of coarse clothes, hats and work utensils used by the herders to navigate the caatinga, the predominant biome in the northeastern interior with many thorny plants.

The cooperative’s production evolved from traditional products due to the decline of extensive cattle raising and young people’s desire for more modern products. Today, work clothes account for some 10% of the total.

Currently, the flagship product are sandals, which account for about 60% of the total production, including wallets, women’s bags and backpacks, the most expensive product, which cost the equivalent of 150 dollars.

By joining the cooperative, artisans can buy inputs such as glue and tools, as well as leather at cost price. Those who are not members and have other suppliers pay 40% more on average. Members do not need to worry about sales: they hand over the product to the cooperative, which negotiates it with the traders.

When the cooperative receives the money from the sales, it deducts the value of the inputs that the members have withdrawn. In the end, they receive a 30% profit in average.

Some artisans, however, remain faithful to traditional products. This is the case of José Guimarães de Souza, who specialised in the production of quaint ‘horn hats’.

Zé, as everybody knows him, is not a member of the cooperative, although his workshop is 100 metres from it. He learned the trade from his father, whom he reveres with a photo next to a crucifix as if he were an icon. He buys the raw material and sells his hats through a local merchant.

The cooperatives’ products are sold in craft shops all over Brazil, especially in the cities of the Northeast, where the Arteza brand is already recognised. That is why, with Sebrae’s support, the cooperative is working to establish the products’ designation of origin with their own seal next year.

The Arteza cooperative in northeastern Brazil has built a new warehouse to expand the drying of hides and install 170 solar panels, enough to generate twice the energy currently consumed by the tannery. Credit: Carlos Müller / IPS

“Tomorrow, anything can happen…”

In front of Souza’s workshop, called ‘Zé’s Crafts – The King of the Horn Hat’, a graffiti catches the eye. It reads: “Don’t worry, everything can happen tomorrow, even nothing”. It is the first verse of a local folk song called “The nature of things”.

The tannery was processing 16,000 skins when the pandemic started, forcing the cooperative to suspend work for more than six months. It has now reached 20,000 units. The cooperative’s income grew by 70%, including leather and handicrafts.

“The pandemic’s impact was huge. We went almost to the bottom of the well,” Macio recalled. In late 2021, the cooperative started promoting its products through Instagram and other social media to sell online. At first, this type of sales amounted to 20% of the total. Today it reaches between 35% and 40%.

In Cariri there is not so much leather and the cooperative is forced to buy it from other states. Now the cooperative’s problem is finding raw materials and labour because everyone in the community, especially young people, is already employed.

“Handicrafts have been my survival. Through it I have raised my whole family without having to leave my beloved land”, said José Carlos Castro, a founding member and former president of the cooperative. He currently works in the tannery, doing heavy work: removing the hair and defective parts of the skins.

The “chapéus de chifre”, as the traditional horn hats are called, handcrafted by José Guimarães de Souza and displayed in his workshop, next to the Arteza Cooperative, in the Ribeira community. Credit: Carlos Müller / IPS

Sustainability

Arteza is the only tannery that works with natural products, such as the bark of anjico (Parapiptadenia rígida), a tree native to several South American countries. The tanning process lasts one month. If chemicals, such as chromium, were used, it would only take two days.

“We maintain a natural process to avoid environmental damage and harm to people. The natural process is in our DNA,” Macio explained. But difficulties arise. Existing trees in the region are not enough, although the cooperative avoids predatory consumption.

A few years ago, when the bark was removed, the tree died. Nowadays, the tree is cut down and sprouts again, and can be cut down again after five to six years. From what has been cut, the bark is removed, put through a shredder and placed in tanks with water where it releases the tannin.

When the tannin is gone, the bark is used as mulch for planting fodder palm, a type of cactus used for animal feed in the dry season.

The water is treated and disposed of in the wild and the shelled sticks of the anjicos are used for fencing.

Mahim Mazumder spends his days tending to his crops. Credit: Juheb Jhony/IPS

By Aishwarya Bajpai
DELHI, Nov 11 2024 (IPS)

“Farming is in my blood, and I can’t imagine doing anything else,” said Mahim Mazumder, a farmer from Assam. “Even though the past three to five years have seen drastic changes—with temperatures rising so much that even sitting under a tree no longer offers relief—I will keep farming, even if it only yields a small harvest. I’ve spent my entire life farming, and despite all the challenges, I’ll continue.”

Mahim has been farming alongside his father since childhood, and now, at 55, he continues to rely on growing paddy and vegetables, both heavily dependent on the weather. However, floods and erratic temperatures often devastate his crops. With the changing climate, cultivating anything with certainty has become increasingly difficult. Mahim hails from Assam, a northeastern region of India often overlooked but now recognized as a climate hotspot.

Though it constitutes just 2.4 percent of India’s land area, Assam accounts for nearly 9.4 percent of the country’s flood-prone regions. Severe flooding and natural disasters, worsened by climate change, strike the state annually, wreaking havoc on millions of lives and livelihoods.

A Climate Vulnerability Assessment for Adaptation Planning in India, jointly conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Mandi, IIT-Guwahati, and the Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore, identifies the districts of Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganj in Assam’s Barak Valley as among the most vulnerable to climate change.

Data on Farmer Suicides in Assam. Credit: Aishwarya Bajpai/IPS

Of the 25 most vulnerable districts in India, 15 districts from Assam have been highlighted as highly vulnerable. Farmers are the ones who are most severely affected by this as they struggle to deal with the worsening climate crisis, which frequently results in tragic extremes like an increase in farmer suicides.

Long-standing problems in India include farmer suicides brought on by crushing debt, deteriorating the environment, droughts, severe weather, and the unfavorable effects of pesticides, which in some cases have even caused cancer.

The year-long farmers’ protest in 2021, held amid the COVID-19 pandemic, serves as a stark reminder of how farmers have been treated—many lost their lives during the movement.

India is now on the verge of becoming the global epicenter of farmer suicides, where these tragedies make the news but no longer dominate the headlines. Many farmers are still struggling to cope with the intensifying crisis as the cycle of debt and economic hardships worsen.

Farmer suicides in India have averaged between 10,000 and 12,000 annually from 2015 to 2022 (NCRB 2015-2022). In Assam, agricultural laborers faced higher suicide rates than land-owning or leasing farmers, highlighting their increased vulnerability.

The year 2021 saw the highest number of suicides (227), largely as a result of a sharp increase in suicides among farmers who were cultivating their own land (134), possibly as a result of severe economic or climate-related difficulties that year. Though the number dropped to 123 in 2022, the data reveals a persistent crisis, particularly impacting agricultural laborers and small-scale farmers.

Climate change is adding another layer of distress, with fluctuating temperatures, erratic rainfall, groundwater depletion, and extreme heat further harming their livelihoods. Mahim Mazumder says, “The weather has changed dramatically! In the past, around the 15th day of Bhadhro Mash (September), we’d see mist, signaling the onset of winter, which was crucial for vegetable crops.”

However, now floods disrupt the farmers’ schedules.

“We once experimented with various crop varieties, but now we’re forced to stick to the basics, fearing total loss. While we know how to handle traditional flooding, this extreme heat is new, and we don’t know how to cope. Creeper plants wither in the heat, and even our livestock struggle—some have collapsed from heatstroke.

Crops that used to thrive in higher temperatures now wilt under the pressure of climate change. Every flood wipes out everything, and even during normal seasons, we face a 20 percent reduction in yield due to the rising heat and poor-quality inputs,” says Mash.

The Indian government recognizes the impact of climate change on agriculture and farmers. Since 2014, a total of 1,888 climate-resilient crop varieties have been developed, along with 68 location-specific climate adaptation technologies, which have been demonstrated to farming communities for broader adoption.

But without adaptation, rainfed rice yields could drop by 20 percent by 2050 and 47 percent by 2080, while irrigated rice may decline by 3.5 percent and 5 percent, respectively. Wheat yields are projected to decrease by 19.3 percent by 2050 and 40 percent by 2080.

Kharif maize yields are expected to fall by 18 percent in 2050 and 23 percent by 2080. Climate change not only reduces crop yields but also lowers produce quality, with extreme events like droughts severely impacting food consumption for all.

The agrarian crisis in India runs deep, rooted in financial strain, crop failures, and climate-related challenges that are pushing the farming community to the edge. Rising suicide rates among agricultural laborers reveal just how precarious their situation has become.

As farmers like Mahim Mazumder continue to face the effects of climate change—unpredictable floods, rising temperatures, and reduced crop yields—their livelihoods and futures remain at risk. This isn’t just a crisis of economics or agriculture; it’s a human crisis affecting generations who have relied on farming for survival.

While the Indian government has made strides by developing climate-resilient crop varieties and location-specific technologies, these measures are not being adopted at the scale and speed necessary to prevent further losses. The impacts of climate change are no longer a distant concern but an immediate threat, eroding not only the output from farms but also the lives of those who till the land.

As climate change accelerates, so too must the response from policymakers and institutions. It’s not enough to focus on agricultural yields alone—reforms must also prioritize the well-being of the farmers themselves, ensuring that they have the resources and support needed to adapt, survive, and thrive in the face of this growing crisis.

If we fail to act, the consequences will be devastating, not just for India’s farming community but for the nation’s food security as a whole.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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By External Source
Nov 11 2024 (IPS-Partners)

 
Climate change continues to pose an existential threat to humanity.

Recent science estimates that we may have less than six years left to change course.

This intensifying climate emergency is being seen everywhere in heatwaves, droughts, floods, fires, and hurricanes.

April of this year was the world’s hottest month on record – the 11th consecutive month to set a new temperature high.

And while we are witnessing mass coral bleaching from Australia to Kenya to Mexico, East Africa and Brazil have been devastated by floods – killing hundreds and displacing hundreds of thousands.

Few scientists believe we will manage to keep within the internationally agreed target of limiting post-industrial era temperature increases by 1.5C.

This year’s COP29 UN Climate summit will be hosted in Azerbaijan – the petro-state still committed to fossil fuel production.

Indeed, the government’s share of oil production was a staggering $19.3 billion in 2022 – surpassing the entire public spending budget of that year.

But who will pay for the economic and physical damage brought by climate change?

The IMF calculates that global fossil fuel subsidies amounted to $7 trillion in 2022 – about 7% of global GDP.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, $2.4 trillion was spent on military costs and weapons in 2023.

“Climate justice” was a key theme at COP28, where countries agreed to help climate vulnerable communities.

Voluntary pledges by developed countries have amounted to $700 million – a drop in the ocean, as the UN estimates the costs of climate-related losses will range from $160-$340 billion a year by 2030.

Reaching net zero emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases by 2050 means they must halve by 2030.

The UK, a global leader in cutting emissions, is backsliding on its commitments, and there is danger other powerful allies will withdraw from the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.

Corporate giants of fossil fuels and their political allies tell us that the 2050 zero emissions target is too much too soon.

Asking us to adjust our sights, they point at China – the world’s biggest polluter.

But China’s solar installations in the first quarter of 2024 were up by 34%.

Their wind installations were up by nearly 50% on the preceding year.

If China can maintain such green energy growth, then it is possible that global emissions may start to fall later this year or next.

G20 nations have been much too slow to increase their climate ambitions.

The start of a downward trend would be a historic moment that could shift the dial on what societies and our political leaders can think of being possible.

By contrast, a recent report by the United Nations Development Program highlights the less privileged showing resilience in the face of death:

93% of Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States have submitted climate pledges or plan to do so.

More than 40 nations have started actively reducing their emissions. The big question is how quickly can we reduce?

Todd Stern, former special envoy for climate change under Barack Obama, believes net zero by 2050 is possible.

It’s extremely difficult and will require huge changes to the world economy.

But it is possible.

 

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A Lebanese mother holds her child as she heads toward a UNICEF clinic after being displaced from her home due to escalated violence. Credit: UNICEF/Abdallah Agha

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 11 2024 (IPS)

The ongoing, escalating violence in Lebanon forces millions of Lebanese civilians to face daily bombardment, repeated orders of evacuation, routine destruction of critical infrastructure, and limited access to basic services. With the death toll and rates of displacement on the rise, humanitarian organizations fear that the upcoming winter season is expected to exacerbate these harsh conditions, making Lebanon almost uninhabitable.

On November 7, peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported a multitude of airstrikes across Lebanon that were issued by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, 40 people were killed in an airstrike on the ancient city of Baalbek, which also damaged the ancient Ottoman Manshiya building, a UNESCO world heritage site. “The destruction of this exceptional monument next to a UNESCO World Heritage site is an irremediable loss for Lebanon and for world heritage,” said Lebanese Culture Minister Mohammad Mortada.

Bombardments have also continued in Beirut’s suburbs. On October 6, at least four separate airstrikes in different parts of the city occurred after the IDF issued an evacuation order. It is not yet known how many civilians were killed or injured by this attack. One day prior, Lebanon’s Civil Defense Agency announced that 30 bodies had been pulled from the rubble of a four-story apartment building in Barja, which was leveled by an airstrike. It is estimated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that around 4,000 residential buildings have been destroyed.

Recent estimates from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show that approximately 3,000 Lebanese civilians were killed in the past year, including 185 children and 560 women. Additionally, in the past year there have been over 78 attacks on healthcare facilities, resulting in the deaths of 130 healthcare workers. Equipment was damaged and supplies were looted during these attacks, further aggravating the lack of accessible healthcare in Lebanon.

According to Jihad Saada, the head of Beirut’s Rafic Hariri hospital, Lebanon’s current economic crisis has taken a significant toll on the nation’s healthcare system. According to OCHA, since the escalation hostilities, the nation’s gross domestic product fell from $54.9 billion in 2018 to $17.94 billion in 2023. This has led to significant levels of hyperinflation, rendering daily necessities unaffordable. 44 percent of the entire population lives in poverty, with 59 percent of households unable to sustain themselves financially.

“The healthcare crisis started due to the economic crisis in the country, which has affected hospitals in multiple ways,” said Saada. “One main issue is the loss of nurses because they are the backbone of the hospital. Many have moved to the private sector or emigrated outside of Lebanon. As a result, the hospital’s budget has been strained, leading to some shortages in our stock and maintenance, which require funding.”

According to OCHA, the IDF has issued evacuation orders for over 160 villages and 130 buildings across Lebanon’s most critically endangered areas. IOM reports that as of November 4, approximately 872,808 civilians have been internally displaced within Lebanon, with new displacements being recorded on a daily basis. OCHA reports that displacements are particularly concentrated in the Haret Saida and Baalbek regions, where bombardments and evacuation orders have considerably increased in the past few weeks.

As of November 6, approximately 3,530 internally displaced persons are residing in shelters run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the Near East (UNRWA). Living conditions in these shelters remain dire, primarily due to a lack of essential resources. The World Food Programme (WFP) states that severe food insecurity has deepened throughout Lebanon over the course of this conflict, with 1.26 million people, or approximately half of all Lebanese families, struggling to feed themselves.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), over 11,000 pregnant women are currently residing in displacement shelters with little to no access to prenatal care, nutrition, clean drinking water, and hygiene materials. Rita Abou Nabhan, a specialist working with Relief International’s Health Program in Bekaa Valley, says the lack of water is particularly concerning as it makes infections far more likely. According to estimates from the UN, 85 percent of all displacement shelters in Lebanon have been outstretched to maximum capacity.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that they had recorded cases of measles, hepatitis A, and other infectious diseases among displaced communities, warning that widespread resurgence is in the realm of possibilities due to the decreased sanitation levels in displacement shelters that occurs in the winter season.

The UN has launched an appeal for 2.7 billion dollars in an effort to assist struggling communities in Lebanon. This will provide refugees and vulnerable populations living in shelters with essential services such as food, clean drinking water, hygiene kits, winter preparation materials, and education. With the upcoming winter season expected to aggravate living conditions in shelters, the UN urges further donor contributions so efforts can be maximized.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Credit: UNRWA

By James E. Jennings
ATLANTA, USA, Nov 11 2024 (IPS)

For religious, humanitarian, and scientific reasons, Israel’s increasingly apparent plan for the de facto colonization of the Northern Gaza Strip is a bad idea. When that program was rejected recently by Israel’s own Defense Minister Yoav Galant, he was summarily fired by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

However, the founding document of the worldwide Jewish community, the Torah, and especially the Decalogue, states plainly, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife…or anything that is thy neighbors.” If religion still means anything to people in the modern nation of Israel, it should be clear that whatever belongs to others should be left alone and neither coveted nor stolen.

For obvious humanitarian reasons the one-sided bombing of Gaza must stop. After more than a year of an ongoing holocaust in Gaza, Israel’s relentless bombing has produced casualties totaling nearly 150,000 dead and wounded people, mostly civilians.

Now with UN sources reporting that starvation is setting in, people everywhere must demand that this racist, inhumane bloodshed stop immediately. Otherwise, international law has no force and the word “humane” has no meaning.

In scientific terms, the contamination of the water, soil, and air in northern Gaza from explosive dust, including Depleted Uranium, will clearly persist for decades, if not generations. That is neither good for the inhabitants if they manage to return to their homes, nor for the Jewish colonists if they should return to their previous colonies in the strip.

US bombing of Iraq two decades ago, especially in and around Basra, as much scientific and eyewitness testimony—including my own on the scene report—proves, has produced a plethora of birth defects.

The idea of some capitalists that Gaza will become a future Dubai—a wealthy trade zone that will be a veritable Las Vegas on the Mediterranean shore—is actually a good one. Geographically and commercially, Gaza is a potential Hong Kong.

The only thing wrong with the plan is the question of who will control this mighty future entrepot, the Palestinians, investors from the Gulf States and the West, or Israel? Answering that will take another century of bloodletting.

Far better that the United States, NATO, the United Nations, the International Court of Justice in the Hague or somebody other than HAMAS or the extreme right wing and increasingly bloodthirsty Likud government now in power in Jerusalem should deal with that issue and guarantee justice.

The ICJ/International Court of Justice, responsible governments everywhere, and especially the campus protesters and those on the streets of cities around the world, must keep chanting, “NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!” “NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!”

James E. Jennings, PhD is President of Conscience International and Executive Director of US Academics for Peace

IPS UN Bureau

 

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A child receiving his second dose of the polio vaccine at a health clinic in Gaza City. Credit: UNICEF/ Eyad El Baba

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 8 2024 (IPS)

On November 6, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the second round of polio vaccinations in the Gaza Strip has been completed. A total of 556,744 children under ten years of age received the mOPV2 vaccine along with a dose of vitamin A to ensure immunization. However, due to rampant hostilities from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the campaign has not been entirely successful, leading to humanitarian organizations fearing that herd immunity has not been achieved.

During a United Nations (UN) press briefing, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric informed reporters that despite the numerous access challenges faced by aid personnel, the campaign has been relatively successful. Approximately 103 percent of children in central Gaza were immunized, meaning that more children in this region were reached than expected. 91 percent of the children in southern Gaza received the vaccines.

However, northern Gaza has been of great concern for humanitarian groups due to frequent access challenges and hostilities since September. Preliminary data from the UN suggests that only 88 percent of children in this region received the vaccine.

Figures from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) show that there are an estimated 7,000-10,000 children that remain unvaccinated in the Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun regions.

According to a press release from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, at least 90 percent vaccination coverage during each round of the campaign is necessary in order to effectively stop the outbreak in Gaza and prevent the international re-emergence of polio. Due to Gaza’s compromised healthcare, water, and sanitation systems, civilians are particularly vulnerable to the spread of disease.

Escalated hostilities in the Gaza Strip in the days preceding the completion of the second round of vaccinations had significantly hampered immunization efforts. Despite the campaigns in central and southern Gaza having run relatively smoothly, hostilities in northern Gaza in the days preceding the completion of the second round of vaccinations had significantly hampered immunization efforts.

On November 2, the IDF issued an airstrike on a healthcare center in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City. WHO reported that this attack led to six civilians being injured, including four children.

“This attack, during humanitarian pause, jeopardizes the sanctity of health protection for children and may deter parents from bringing their children for vaccination. These vital humanitarian-area-specific pauses must be absolutely respected,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, in a statement issued to X (formerly known as Twitter).

Attacks in the Gaza Strip have continued after the humanitarian pause designated for the vaccination campaign was lifted. The recent bills passed by the Knesset exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) can no longer play their pivotal role in providing aid.

Israel’s ongoing aerial campaign in Gaza has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, decimated entire neighborhoods, and made areas in the northern region, such as Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun almost uninhabitable.

In a press release from WHO, the situation in northern Gaza has been described as “apocalyptic”. It added that dozens of school-turned-shelters have been targeted by the IDF or evacuated. Tents have been burned and refugees have been shot at. Injured civilians are taken to almost non-functioning healthcare centers, in which life-saving services have been disrupted and essential supplies and equipment have been destroyed.

Additionally, millions have been displaced from their homes, with Gaza being one of the biggest displacement crises in the world. On October 5, IDF Brigadier-General Itzik Cohen informed reporters that civilians from northern Gaza would not be allowed to return to their homes. Cohen cited that troops entered certain areas twice, such as the Jabalia camp, and therefore, allowing Gazans to return there would complicate security efforts. He added that routine humanitarian aid deliveries would be allowed in the southern and central regions of Gaza, but not the north, since, as he claimed, “there are no more civilians left.”

UNRWA’s absence in the Gaza Strip is expected to be severely felt by the approximately 2 million people struggling to stay alive.

“The decision (Israel’s bills banning UNRWA) will further undermine the ability of the international community to provide sufficient humanitarian aid and to save lives in any safe, independent and impartial way. Israel has bombed Palestinians to death, maimed them, starved them, and is now ridding them of their biggest lifeline of aid. Piece by piece, Israel is systematically dismantling Gaza as a land that is autonomous and liveable for Palestinians,” says Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa.

On November 6, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini addressed the UN General Assembly, urging the UN to prevent the implementation of Israel’s two most recent bills.

“Without intervention by member states, UNRWA will collapse, plunging millions of Palestinians into chaos,” Lazzarini said. “First, I ask that Member States act to prevent the implementation of the legislation against UNRWA. Second, I ask that Member States ensure that any plan for a political transition delineates UNRWA’s role. Finally, I ask that Member States maintain funding to UNRWA, and do not withhold or divert funds on the assumption that the Agency can no longer operate.”

Lazzarini reminded the General Assembly of the toll that UNRWA and its staff has taken through the duration of the crisis. 239 UNRWA personnel has been killed, and more than two thirds of UNRWA’s facilities had been damaged or destroyed. Lazzarini urged that these violations of international humanitarian law be investigated.

It is estimated that the costs of providing funding to UNRWA in this transitional period will be immense. However, dismantling UNRWA will be particularly costly as well. Through its flash appeal, the UN is seeking over 1.2 billion dollars in funding to assist over 1.7 million people who are facing extreme conditions. Due to the recent banning of UNRWA, these costs are estimated to be much higher. It is crucial for donor contributions to continue as humanitarian aid is still being blocked in northern Gaza. Conditions are expected to further deteriorate as the harsh winter season approaches.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, addresses the General Debate of the General Assembly’s 75th session September 2020. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

By Mandeep S.Tiwana
NEW YORK, Nov 8 2024 (IPS)

On the day following the US election, UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres issued a brief statement commending the people of the United States for their active participation in the democratic process. He wisely omitted to mention that the election of Donald J. Trump – who attempted to overturn the people’s mandate by inciting an insurrection in 2020 – is a major setback for the UN’s worldwide quest to advance human rights and the rule of law.

Trump is a self-avowed admirer of authoritarian strongmen like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orban who disdain international norms that the UN seeks to uphold. Unsurprisingly, questions posed to the UN Secretary General’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, in a press conference on November 6, ranged from what will be Trump’s response to the war in Ukraine to potential funding cuts that might come with the new US administration to whether the UN has contingency plans ready for when Trump takes office.

The US plays an outsized role in global affairs. Therefore, any changes in policy in Washington impact the whole world. As someone who bears responsibility for stewarding a global civil society alliance, it worries me what a second Trump presidency will unleash.

Even without Trump in power we are living in a world where wars are being conducted with complete disregard for the rules; corrupt billionaires are dictating public policy for their benefit; and greed induced environmental degradation is putting us on a path to climate catastrophe. Hard fought gains on gender justice are in danger of being rolled back.

The first Trump administration showed disdain for the UN Human Rights Council and pulled the US out of vital global commitments such as the Paris Agreement to combat climate change. It restricted support for civil society groups around the world and targeted those that sought to promote sexual and reproductive rights of women. Promotion of democracy and human rights are key pillars of US foreign policy.

It’s deeply concerning that when disinformation and misinformation have assumed pandemic level proportions, the majority of the US electorate have cast their vote in favour of a candidate who ran his campaign on divisive dog whistles, half-truths and outright lies. These tactics have deepened fissures in an already polarized United States.

Families countrywide were left devastated by Trump’s negligence and COVID denialism as president which resulted in tens of thousands of Americans dying of avoidable infections. His administration’s immigration detention and deportation policies instilled fear in minority communities. This time Trump has vowed to deport millions of people.

Trump’s stances on abortion rights have caused women immeasurable suffering in several US states that have introduced laws to ban the procedure. He has promised to accelerate harmful fossil fuel extraction and undoubtedly views gender justice advocates, environmental defenders and migrant rights activists as a threat his power.

Given the stated predilections of Trump and his advisors, opposition politicians, activists and journalists exposing corruption and rights violations are likely to be at risk of enhanced surveillance, intimidation and persecution by the new administration.

At the international level, Trump’s election casts a pall over efforts to ensure accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Sudan and Ukraine due to his tacit support for authoritarian leaders in Israel, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom are fueling conflicts and causing havoc abroad. A future Trump administration could try to starve the UN of funding to erode the rules based international order, emboldening autocrats.

Even if things appear bleak today, it’s important to remember that there are hundreds and thousands of civil society activists and organisations around the world who remain steadfast in their resolve to celebrate diversity and promote justice and equality. To imagine the future we sometimes have to take heart from the past.

India’s freedom struggle, South Africa’s struggle against apartheid and the civil rights movement in the United States wasn’t won by authoritarian leaders but by brave and determined individuals united in solidarity and determined to resist oppression for as long as it takes.

There is a lesson here for civil society in the US that higher American ideals are worth standing up for and will outlive any sitting president.

Mandeep S. Tiwana is Interim Co-Secretary General of CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance. He also serves as CIVICUS representative to the United Nations.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Credit: Emdadul Islam Bitu / UNDP Bangladesh

By Deodat Maharaj
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 8 2024 (IPS)

The Paris Agreement on climate change is a decade old this month. While there has been progress – with new net zero pledges and new technological solutions, we are still grappling with the reality that global temperatures continue to soar. 2023 was the hottest year ever on record.

This alarming trend poses grave consequences for the world’s 45 Least Developed Countries (LDCs). These countries bear the brunt of the burden from the climate crisis even though they are the lowest carbon emitters on the planet. According to the World Bank, over the last decade, the world’s poorest countries have been hit by nearly eight times as many natural disasters, compared with three decades ago, resulting in a three-fold increase in economic damage.

Changing weather patterns, increasing droughts, flooding, crop failures, deforestation and sea level rise matter hugely to LDCs, which are largely agricultural economies. When climate change threatens farming productivity, the overall outlook for the people in these poor countries becomes even bleaker.

Policymakers meeting in Azerbaijan later this month for the United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP 29) urgently need to deliver on the financial, technical, and capacity building support that LDCs need to address the climate crisis. There is precious little time left.

Delivering results in these core areas with financing could make a difference:

Scale up early warning systems

Firstly, we need to scale up early warning systems linked to satellites and weather stations that can help forecast severe weather events such as cyclones, flooding, and droughts. Despite evidence that getting clear information on time can save both lives and livelihoods, the current capacity for monitoring and forecasting across Africa is low and in need of investment.

Early warning systems also need engagement from communities for communication and coordination and the technical training of local stakeholders to maintain and monitor them. In Fatick, in Senegal, for example, early results of a collaborative pilot project to forecast extreme heat show increased awareness and behaviour changes among the community and improved preparedness by the local health system.

Leverage cutting edge technology

Secondly, we need to leverage technology such as boosting access to climate modelling powered by artificial intelligence and big data analytics. This can provide important insights into long-term climate trends, identify patterns, and predict future changes. CLIMTAG-Africa, which is part of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, currently offers climate information for three African countries: Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia with plans to expand it further.

The tool provides users with accessible climate information to support decisions about what crops to plant and when to plant them – vital to economies where small-scale subsistence farming is the norm. Similarly, it is about replicating and coming up with cost-efficient and relevant impact technological solutions in agriculture so salt-water resistant strains of rice can be planted in countries affected by sea level rise such as The Gambia.

Provide real-time weather data

Thirdly, we need to invest in low-cost, high impact innovations to provide real-time weather data and advice that can be readily shared. In Mali, the ‘MaliCrop’ App has become an essential resource for farmers in this drought-affected country. By accessing the app, farmers can receive forecasts and information in French and several local languages about weather predictions and even crop disease risks.

The project is used regularly by over 110,000 people. However, although mobile phone penetration is increasing in low-income countries, mobile infrastructure, and internet connectivity, particularly in rural areas, is lagging behind and is a barrier to access.

These are promising examples which will only have an impact if properly scaled up and supported. However, acutely limited access to finance remains a major obstacle especially for the LDCs. According to the 2023 UNFCCC Adaptation Finance Gap Update, the costs of adaptation for LDCs is estimated at US$ 25bn per year – or 2 per cent of their GDP. Actual financing to these already fiscally constrained and largely highly indebted countries falls woefully short of what is needed.

A decade ago, COP 21 in Paris offered LDCs much hope. Since then, the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries are no better off in terms of financing. However, advancements in technology, including AI, provide a glimmer of hope. To deliver results for LDCs, COP 29 must commit to more funding, scaled-up technology transfer, strengthened partnerships and relentless capacity-building.

The people in the poorest and most vulnerable countries cannot continue to absorb the hits wrought by the developed world’s carbon emissions. The choice is clear, agreement on an action agenda for LDCs or a COP-out where everyone loses.

Deodat Maharaj is the Managing Director, United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries and can be reached at: deodat.maharaj@un.org

IPS UN Bureau

 

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In Khan Younis, thousands of people are fleeing for their lives again. Credit: UNRWA

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 8 2024 (IPS)

When the United Nations imposes sanctions or penalizes a member state – be it the General Assembly or the Human Rights Council – the resolutions are “non-binding” and often remain unimplemented.

But the Security Council resolutions are “binding” – and still openly violated by countries such as North Korea—because all these UN bodies have no means of implementing these resolutions, nor a standing army to forcibly enforce them. But they only carry moral weight.

The Council can also impose its own sanctions, mostly in economic, financial and trade sectors, against violators of its decisions.

And last week there was a move to impose arms sanctions against Israel – and rightly so, judging by the 43,000 plus, mostly Palestinian civilians, killed in Gaza largely with US-supplied weapons since October last year.

But how effective will this be since the strongest opposition will come from the US, an unyielding supporter of Israel, which will unhesitatingly use its veto power if the resolution comes before the Security Council?

Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, a former UN Under-Secretary-General and one-time Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, told IPS anything short of a real, permanent ceasefire would not create a pathway to end the perpetration of the ongoing genocidal aggression by Israel.

In this context, he said, the joint letter calling on all countries to stop the sale of arms and ammunition to Israel, signed by 52 countries and two UN-recognized multilateral organizations, is meaningfully forward-looking, and contains a purposeful objective of contributing to that “pathway”.

In fact, the Foreign Minister of Turkiye, whose country initiated the letter, asserted that “We must repeat at every opportunity that selling arms to Israel means participating in its genocide.”

“It would be argued rightfully that the United Nations and its apex body, the General Assembly have no powers to enforce such an arms embargo. The Security Council, the sole UN entity which can authorize an arms embargo and obligate the arms suppliers desist from sending arms to the areas of conflict, also becomes powerless if one of the P-5 uses the notorious veto”.

“However, I strongly believe that a General Assembly resolution following the call for the arms embargo to Israel would have a moral value which has its own merit. Despite the politics and power-play which is destroying the UN’s credibility and marginalizing its operational capacity to resolve conflicts, the arms embargo would highlight the principled position taken by the UN,” said Ambassador Chowdhury.

In a way, he pointed out, that would strengthen the Secretary-General’s efforts to promote the much-needed ceasefire.

In the aftermath of Israel’s declaration of the Secretary General as persona non-grata (PNG) and its extension of the attacks on UNIFIL in Lebanon, the General Assembly needs to show that its moral and normative role as envisaged in the UN Charter has not been cowed down by the politics of the frequently-used threat of veto, he declared.

Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, who has written extensively on the politics of the Security Council, told IPS: “This initiative reflects the view of the vast majority of the world’s governments and peoples and is consistent with imperatives of international humanitarian law, but given that the major arms supplier of Israel is a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, it is unlikely to have much of an impact.”

Also problematic, he pointed out, is that some of the countries sponsoring the initiative, such as Russia and Saudi Arabia, have been guilty not only of similarly providing weapons to those engaging in war crimes but engaging in war crimes themselves.

Turkiye’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan said last week his country had submitted a letter to the United Nations, signed by 52 countries and two inter-governmental organizations, calling for a halt in arms deliveries to Israel.

“We have written a joint letter calling on all countries to stop the sale of arms and ammunition to Israel. We delivered this letter, which has 54 signatories, to the UN on November 1,” said Fidan, according to the Times of Israel.

“We must repeat at every opportunity that selling arms to Israel means participating in its genocide,” said Fidan, adding that the letter is “an initiative launched by Turkiye.”

Among the signatories were Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Algeria, China, Iran and Russia, plus the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC),

Elaborating further, Ambassador Chowdhury said the UN should not forget that the UN’s International Court of Justice which determined that Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank is illegal under international law. The judgment was followed by a General Assembly resolution last September, demanding Israel leave the occupied territories within a year.

“I am encouraged by the UN’s own 45 Human Rights Experts and Special Rapporteurs, who, driven by their conscience, forcefully called for a ‘permanent ceasefire, … an ‘arms embargo on all warring parties,’ and ‘the deployment of an international protective presence in the occupied Palestinian territory under the supervision of the UN.’ All these well-thought-out measures would only promote dialogue and diplomacy over death and destruction”.

The UN Secretary-General needs to endorse and welcome this call by his in-house experts and recommend to the General Assembly to do the same without any delay, he declared.

Back in April 2024, in a resolution adopted by 28 votes in favour, six against and 13 abstentions, the 47-member Human Rights Council backed a call “to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel, the occupying Power…to prevent further violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights”.

Presented by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, delegates heard that the resolution had also been motivated by the need to stop “egregious” human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Co-sponsors of the text included Bolivia, Cuba and the State of Palestine, ahead of the vote which saw support from more than two dozen countries including Brazil, China, Luxembourg, Malaysia and South Africa, according to UN News.

Unlike the UN Security Council, Human Rights Council resolutions are not legally binding on States but carry significant moral weight, and in this instance is intended to increase diplomatic pressure on Israel as well as potentially influence national policy decisions.

Israel’s two largest arms sources, the United States and Germany, have resisted calls for an embargo on Israel, though each has been accused of withholding certain arms during the war.

In an October 2024 report, the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI) said in the past decade, Israel has greatly increased its imports of arms. SIPRI estimates that in the five-year period 2019–23, Israel was the world’s 15th largest importer of major arms, accounting for 2.1 per cent of global arms imports in the period. In 2009–13 it ranked only 47th.

Although only three countries supplied major arms to Israel in 2019–23, the United States, Germany and Italy, many others supplied military components, ammunition or services. The three other global major arms exporters among the top 10: the United Kingdom, France and Spain.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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A flood in Feni City, Bangladesh. Bangladesh, which is one of the most climate-sensitive regions in the world, is particularly vulnerable to climate shocks, such as rising sea levels. Credit: UNICEF/Alaa Seoudy

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 7 2024 (IPS)

Cities are in a unique position, simultaneously the biggest emitters of greenhouse gasses and the most affected areas of the greenhouse effect. As a new UN report shows that rapid urbanization and industrialization have adverse effects on the environment, causing a rise in sea levels, prolonged rainfalls and flooding, and an increase in overall temperature. The coastal areas that cities most often inhabit face the brunt of these effects, with marginalized populations being the most vulnerable.

The United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) World Cities Report 2024 details a comprehensive list of findings from studies that focused on the relationship between urban development, climate change, and the exacerbation of existing inequalities.

The report stresses the urgency of action to alleviate the climate crisis. 2023 was recorded as the hottest year in human history, making humanitarian organizations, climate groups and world leaders fear that the climate crisis could threaten “civilization collapse”.

“The global rise in temperatures continues unabated, leading to a recurring and escalating trend of extreme weather events—heatwaves, hurricanes, storms, floods, fires and other hazards—posing severe threats to lives, livelihoods and well-being, especially among marginalized populations. The vulnerabilities of these communities mean that routine weather events can become full blown humanitarian crises, with their attendant impacts: loss of lives, property destruction and displacement,” says the report.

According to figures from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the first two decades of the 21st century have been approximately 1°C hotter than the century preceding it. Key findings from the World Cities Report project that if the world follows its current global practices, more than 2 billion people would be exposed to hotter climates. 99 percent of all urban populations would be subjected to more arid climates.

Climate change in urban environments is projected to generate massive losses for the global economy. It is estimated that by 2030, annual losses from global heating and natural disasters could reach over 430 billion dollars. By 2050, it is estimated that extreme weather events associated with the greenhouse effect could destroy over 25 trillion dollars’ worth of housing.

In addition, the rising temperatures in cities create a host of problems for both civilians and urban infrastructure. It is estimated that over 180 million people in cities around the world would face water scarcity due to urban water reserves drying up or becoming compromised. Hotter temperatures also lead to a higher demand for cooling, which can exhaust local power grids, resulting in blackouts.

“When buildings, homes and vital infrastructure like water and transportation systems are poorly planned, built and managed, they are no match for climate-fueled disasters like rising seas, heatwaves, and other extreme weather impacts. This challenge disproportionately affects the poorest and most vulnerable people,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Rising sea levels are of particular concern for urban developments. According to the IPCC, average worldwide sea level is projected to rise between 0.43 and 0.84 meters by 2100, in relation to the sea level in 1986-2005. The impacts of this will affect coastal communities the most. According to C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group Inc., a coalition of 96 cities around the world that amount to one twelfth of the world’s population, by the year 2050 over 800 million people from 570 cities will live in cities that are impacted by coastal inundation. Furthermore, estimates suggest that rising sea levels could cause over 1 trillion dollars in damages by the midpoint of the century.

In the United States, for instance, New York and Miami are projected to face a rise in global sea level that is three times faster than average. South Asian cities such as Kolkata, Mumbai, and Dhaka, are expected to have the highest number of civilians at risk of coastal inundation, between 11 and 14 million.

Flooding and natural disasters are also a concerning byproduct of climate change that will have adverse effects on urban environments. According to the report, exposure to flooding from climate change has grown significantly in urban areas from lower income countries. For urban communities, exposure to floods is expected to grow 20 percent by 2025 and another 20 percent by 2030.

In 2023, it was reported that 1,700 people were killed by climate driven flooding in Pakistan. In late October of this year, Spain’s residential province Valencia was struck with prolonged torrential rains and flooding that killed over 200 people and caused billions of dollars in damages. Hurricane Rafael, an ongoing tropical cyclone, is expected to cause significant flooding and hazardous weather conditions in cities along the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay County area.

Historically, marginalized communities have been disproportionately affected by climate driven disasters in urban environments. Facing systemic inequalities and limited access to basic services, vulnerable groups are having their issues greatly exacerbated by rising temperatures. According to UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach, women, children, people with disabilities, older people, migrants, minorities, indigenous people, and individuals living below the poverty line are typically situated in areas that are particularly environmentally sensitive and lack protective structures. Additionally, these groups are less likely to receive support.

According to the World Cities Report, communities in slums face an “unrelenting cycle of hardship”. Due to relying on agriculture or other climate-sensitive industries for income, certain urban communities are kept in a state of poverty. These communities often live in areas with low drainage or sanitation, few to no medical and educational facilities, and in low quality housing that is highly susceptible to destruction from extreme weather events.

This comes with a host of adverse health effects as well. Climate change exacerbates unsafe working conditions for lower income communities, with death and injury being frequent. Climate shocks, like storms, heatwaves, and floods cause large scale food system disruptions, leading to hunger and famine. Food security continues to be a major issue for marginalized groups in urban areas.

Furthermore, water reserves in slums are often compromised by extreme weather events and lack governmental support to rectify these issues. This leads to the spread of vector-borne diseases. Health complications, such as cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, and mental health issues, run rampant in these areas as well, with limited to no access to healthcare or medications.

In order to prevent a wide scale loss of human life in urban environments, it is crucial to address these systemic inequalities and begin adopting healthier global practices to mitigate the greenhouse effect. “City and local leaders must also continue to be at the forefront of the fight against climate change. In many cases, cities are going further and faster than national governments in limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The success or failure of new national climate plans will be realized at the community level, and local leaders must be involved every step of the way,” said Guterres.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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A flooded village in Matiari, in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Credit: UNICEF/Asad Zaidi

By Umar Manzoor Shah
NAIROBI, Nov 7 2024 (IPS)

The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) 2024 Adaptation Gap Report has warned that adaptation actions are not keeping pace with the surging demands of a warming planet. Released ahead of the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, the report—titled Come Hell and High Water—projected a bleak future where vulnerable communities bear the brunt of climate-induced hardships. 

It stresses that robust, well-funded adaptation strategies are vital to safeguarding those most at risk and calls for immediate, substantial global action in adaptation planning, finance, and implementation. With the surging demands of a warming planet. Released ahead of the COP 29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, the report—titled Come Hell and High Water—projects a bleak future where vulnerable communities bear the brunt of climate-induced hardships. 

It stresses that robust, well-funded adaptation strategies are vital to safeguarding those most at risk and calls for immediate, substantial global action in adaptation planning, finance, and implementation.

Wildfires, floods, and rising temperatures continue to inflict devastating impacts on people worldwide, especially the poor. UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen has underlined the urgency of scaling up adaptation efforts: “The world is failing to adapt to current climate impacts, let alone those that will come if we do not cut greenhouse gas emissions decisively.

“It is time to treat adaptation as one of humanity’s top priorities, alongside emissions reduction. Those already facing the consequences deserve effective, fair adaptation actions that address their unique needs.”

Furthermore, the report stresses that the scale of climate impacts is moving faster than the world’s response.

“Adaptation is no longer a distant option; it is now a priority,” says UNEP’s Chief Scientific Editor Henry Neufeldt, summarizing the report’s call for urgent action. The report arrives at a time when nations are expected to boost their financial commitments for adaptation as part of the Glasgow Climate Pact.

This Pact urges developed countries to double adaptation finance to developing nations by 2025, a goal that aligns with the need for a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance, slated for negotiation at COP29.

Also, UNEP notes that adaptation finance reached only USD 28 billion in 2022, up from USD 22 billion the previous year. While this is a notable increase, it remains far below what is needed to address the vast scale of climate change impacts. According to UNEP, estimated global adaptation needs range between USD 215 billion and USD 387 billion per year through 2030, leaving a significant financing shortfall. Even doubling current financing flows would close only a small fraction of the adaptation finance gap.

“We can’t rely on one source alone. The financial burden is too great,” says Neufeldt. “We must pursue creative financing models and mobilize both public and private sectors to ensure resources reach those who need them most.”

According to the report, 87 percent of the world’s countries have at least one adaptation plan in place, though the quality and coverage vary significantly.

Out of the 197 UN member countries, 171 have established at least one national adaptation instrument, yet 10 nations—most grappling with internal conflict or political instability—are yet to initiate formal adaptation planning. Furthermore, many adaptation plans lack specific timeframes and budgets, undermining their effectiveness.

Anne Hammill from the International Institute for Sustainable Development, who co-authored a chapter on adaptation planning, writes in the report, “There’s a noticeable increase in awareness and preparation for adaptation planning globally. However, for some nations, fragility and limited capacity present obstacles to formulating and executing these plans.”

Moreover, UNEP finds that only 68 percent of countries with national adaptation plans align these strategies with their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the climate pledges under the Paris Agreement. This disconnect, as per the report, has resulted in overlapping efforts and inefficient resource use.

“When countries update their NDCs, they must ensure these are harmonized with adaptation plans,” Hammill notes. “This alignment is essential to avoid duplicated efforts and to streamline investments where they matter most.”

The uneven quality of adaptation plans means that even those countries with established strategies may struggle with execution. In many cases, adaptation projects—particularly those with international funding—don’t have long-lasting effects. For example, almost half of the projects evaluated were rated either unsatisfactory or unsustainable without continued external funding.

“Adaptation actions need long-term funding and local support to be effective. Temporary measures, while beneficial in the short run, often fail to address underlying vulnerabilities in the long term,” reads the report.

Slow Implementation Leaves Vulnerable Communities Exposed
The report reveals that implementation of adaptation measures lags significantly behind planning efforts, leaving at-risk communities dangerously exposed to climate impacts. An analysis of data shows that adaptation implementation has not kept pace with the accelerating rate of climate change. Floods, wildfires, and extreme weather events increasingly affect millions, yet financial and institutional barriers stymie progress in implementing effective adaptation measures.

The report elaborates, “The data on adaptation implementation is concerning. Many countries start strong with initial adaptation projects, but sustaining them has proven challenging. This gap between planning and action often leads to severe consequences for vulnerable communities.”

In addition to the need for more robust financing mechanisms, UNEP underlines the importance of inclusive adaptation measures that integrate the voices of marginalized communities. Many of the most impacted groups, including women, indigenous peoples, and economically disadvantaged populations, are frequently excluded from the planning process.

“Adaptation must be inclusive and equitable,” Hammill says. “Vulnerable groups often face the worst climate impacts, yet their voices remain underrepresented in the adaptation process.”

The Adaptation Finance Gap: A Call for New Approaches
A central focus of the report is the persistent adaptation finance gap. Although public adaptation finance flows to developing countries saw a record year-on-year increase, UNEP stresses that even substantial gains fall far short of what is required. “Current financing levels are simply inadequate. Doubling the finance might reduce the gap by about 5%, but we need much more ambitious targets to meet the needs.”

To bridge the finance gap, the report advocates a shift from reactive, project-based funding to a more proactive, transformative approach. This requires financing for anticipatory and systemic adaptation actions, such as building climate-resilient infrastructure and enhancing social protection. According to UNEP, innovative financing instruments, such as resilience bonds, risk insurance, and payments for ecosystem services, could mobilize new sources of adaptation funding.

The report points out that the private sector has a key role to play. “While public funds are essential, we need private investments to scale up adaptation,” it explains, adding that in sectors such as agriculture, water, and infrastructure, private finance can be instrumental if de-risking measures are implemented. However, private finance is often inaccessible to the most vulnerable; there is a need for public-private partnerships and targeted government support.

Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer for Effective Adaptation
Beyond finance, UNEP’s report also calls for stronger investments in capacity-building and technology transfer. These efforts are vital to empowering developing nations to manage climate impacts effectively. According to the report, developing countries require additional support for building local adaptation capacity in sectors like agriculture, water management, and public health.

The report also highlights the importance of a multifaceted approach. “Capacity-building must go beyond technical solutions. It requires investing in human resources, policy frameworks, and long-term community engagement. While we see capacity needs highlighted in many national plans, a strategic, coordinated approach is still missing.”

The report indicates that sectors such as food and agriculture receive the most technology-related development finance, yet other crucial areas like coastal protection and disaster preparedness need more support. For example, developing countries face obstacles in adopting technologies like solar-powered irrigation due to high installation and maintenance costs, making widespread use challenging. It suggests that bridging this technology gap will require both public investment and private sector involvement.

Path Forward at COP 29 and Beyond
As COP 29 approaches, the 2024 Adaptation Gap Report has pinned the need for decisive action in Baku to secure global adaptation commitments. At the heart of these discussions is the establishment of a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance, a successor to the USD 100 billion annual goal set in 2010. This new target, UNEP argues, must prioritize adaptation and recognize the unique challenges faced by developing nations.

Andersen, who will lead UNEP’s delegation to COP 29, expresses hope that the international community will rally around adaptation as a central theme.

In addition to setting an ambitious finance goal, COP 29 will discuss mechanisms for better tracking adaptation actions, establishing loss and damage funding, and addressing the debt burdens that restrict developing nations from prioritizing adaptation investments. UNEP advocates for debt relief and restructuring as a way to free up funds for climate adaptation, particularly in nations where high debt costs eclipse adaptation funding.

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By Srinivas Tata, Christine Arab and Channe Lindstrøm Oğuzhan
BANGKOK, Thailand, Nov 7 2024 (IPS)

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted in 1995 during the Fourth World Conference on Women, remains a cornerstone in the global pursuit of gender equality and women’s empowerment. With the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on the Beijing+30 Review fast approaching, now is the time to reflect on the progress made and the challenges that remain in Asia and the Pacific.

Despite significant strides in women’s education and health, and some progress made in women’s political representation in the past three decades, progress towards gender equality appears to be stagnating, and even regressing in some areas such as labour force participation. Women in all their diversity continue to face significant barriers.

Gender-based violence, discrimination, and women’s disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care work, persist across the region. Women continue to perform up to five times more care work than men. And in South Asia, projections show there will be 129 poor women for every 100 poor men by 2030. The level of political will to address these issues remains inadequate.

Moreover, women and girls have been disproportionately affected by multiple and inter-related crises. The socioeconomic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the triple-planetary crisis (climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss), food insecurity, energy crises and growing digital divides disproportionately impact women, with vulnerable groups hit hardest.

Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action

The upcoming Ministerial Conference in Bangkok from 19-21 November 2024 as well as the CSO Forum immediately preceding the conference will be a platform for enhanced cooperation among member States and key stakeholders. It will:

• Evaluate Progress: Assess the implementation of the Beijing Declaration across the region, identifying successes and areas for improvement.

• Heighten Ambitions: Encourage Member States to set more ambitious gender equality targets within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

• Foster Collaboration: Promote regional cooperation and share good practices.

• Innovate Solutions: Highlight innovative approaches that can drive gender equality, such as digital inclusion and green economy initiatives.

In addressing these objectives, the series of deliberations will also consider the impact of megatrends, including poverty and inequality; demographic changes; urbanization; digitalization and AI. The importance of a just transition must be emphasized to ensure economic shifts benefit women equally, which will in turn benefit all of society.

As underscored during the Summit of the Future, taking decisive actions now is essential to safeguard the rights of future generations and ensure an inclusive, sustainable world.

While notable progress has been made across the Asia-Pacific region, further advancements will depend on how we address recurring challenges:

Megatrends Shaping Gender Equality

Climate change: A just transition to sustainable economies must consider the social implications for disadvantaged groups, including women in vulnerable situations. Women are disproportionately affected by job losses in traditional sectors and increased care responsibilities. Ensuring access to new opportunities, such as green jobs, is essential.

Additionally, policies must address gender-specific vulnerabilities, promote women’s leadership in climate action, and ensure that transitions are inclusive and equitable. Also, climate-induced disasters in the Asia-Pacific region disproportionately impact women and girls, highlighting the urgent need for increased attention to resilience-building initiatives and gender-responsive disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies that empower and protect them in the face of escalating environmental risks.

Inequalities: Poverty and inequality often wear a woman’s face because women are disproportionately affected by economic disparities and lack access to opportunities for education, employment, and healthcare. Women are more likely to engage in unpaid care work and informal employment, which offers little social protection.

Cultural norms and discrimination further limit women’s access to resources. Targeted policies are critical to achieving gender equality. Women and girls facing intersecting forms of inequalities require greater partnerships and greater representation so that policies and services address their specific challenges, prevent further discrimination, and allow for all women to equally benfit from the region’s rapid growth and innovation.

Demographic shifts, particularly population aging: The Asia-Pacific region is experiencing both a youth bulge and rapid aging, each with significant gendered impacts. For countries experiencing a youth bulge, a demographic dividend is possible but is hindered by high unemployment and limited educational opportunities, disproportionately affecting young women and heightening risks of instability.

In aging populations, gaps in social protection and healthcare access particularly burden older women, who often lack retirement benefits due to informal, lower-paid work histories. Addressing these dual shifts requires policies that recognize unpaid care work and invest in the care economy, ensuring equitable support across age groups.

Urbanization: Rapid urbanization creates opportunities but also increases vulnerabilities, such as challenges in accessing services and exposure to violence. Gender-responsive urban planning can ensure women benefit from urban growth. This includes creating safe public spaces, accessible and affordable care services, safe transportation, and affordable housing that can accommodate women’s needs.

The emergence of digital technologies: The advancement of digital technologies and AI presents opportunities for empowering women through access to information, education, and economic opportunities. However, technology is widening inequalities in the region and increasingly being used to mete out violence against women and girls and gender biases in AI algorithms persist, perpetuating existing inequalities. Only 30% of the workforce in the renewable energy sector are women.

Looking forward to November!

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action remains a vital framework for achieving gender equality in Asia and the Pacific. We look forward to discussing these issues with a broad range of stakeholders at the upcoming Ministerial Conference.

This conference represents a crucial moment to reflect on progress, address ongoing challenges, and seize new opportunities to empower women and girls. When coming together, we can foster innovative solutions and build a more equitable and prosperous future for all, ensuring that the aspirations of the Beijing Declaration are fully realized for generations to come.

Additional information is available on the ESCAP and UN Women dedicated websites for the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on the Beijing+30 Review:

https://www.unescap.org/events/2024/asia-pacific-ministerial-conference-beijing30-review In Focus: Beijing+30 in Asia Pacific

Srinivas Tata is Director, Social Development Division; Christine Arab, Regional Director, UNWOMEN and Channe Lindstrøm Oğuzhan, Social Affairs Officer, Social Development Division.

Source: ESCAP

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Christophe Aïnagnon dropped out science degree because he realized he would not be able to find a job with his degree. Credit: Megan Fahrney/IPS

By Megan Fahrney
COTONOU, Nov 7 2024 (IPS)

At just 11 years old, with a heavy heart, Louis  peered up at his parents and said goodbye. He was leaving his small village in northern Benin to live with his uncle in Parakou, where the schools were better. Ever since, Louis has continued to make sacrifices to pursue a strong education and a better life. 

Now, at 23 years old, Louis finds himself with an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Benin’s largest public university, speaking nearly perfect English, unable to find formalized employment. His response?

“Hustle,” he says.

“I’m an entrepreneur,” Louis said. “It won’t be easy for me to create a startup, but I have to tell myself in my mind that I can do it even if it is hard. I will [do] whatever I can to make it possible.”

Louis said he is currently launching a company providing computer programming services. He and his team hope to develop apps, create websites and solve technical problems for clients.

In Benin, college graduates struggle to find formalized work. Educated young people find themselves working odd jobs, creating their own companies or remaining entirely financially dependent on their parents.

Few in the country decide to pursue higher education at all. According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, only 15% of men and 8% of women in Benin enroll in tertiary education.

Of those who do enroll, the percentage of students who complete their degree is even lower. In the 2022-2023 school year, 58,456 undergraduate students enrolled in the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin’s largest public university. That same academic year, only 6,614 received a diploma .

Christophe Aïnagnon, now an English student at the University of Abomey-Calavi, dropped out of the science department after two years because he recognized he would not be able to find a job with his degree.

Aïnagnon said he has many friends who drop out of college altogether because they do not think it is worth it to continue. Other friends of his have finished their degrees but cannot find work.

“They think that if they finish, they won’t find a job, [so] they vanish,” Aïnagnon said. “I even have many friends… they study, they work hard, they did everything to finish, but… they didn’t happen to find a job. It’s not that they didn’t know how, but a lot of them are at home now doing nothing.”

Aïnagnon, for his part, has launched his own business breeding rabbits to earn an income.

“It’s the kind of business [through which] I can become who I want and live my best life,” Aïnagnon said.

Last month, the Ichikowitz Family Foundation published a survey that found 60 percent of young Africans ages 18-24 want to emigrate in the next five years. The report surveyed 5,604 individuals and was conducted in 16 different countries.

Louis said it is his dream to immigrate to the United States and has applied for the visa lottery many times.

“That’s why I’m motivated to speak English: to immigrate, to go to the U.S.A.,” Louis said. “When I was a kid, I wanted to study at MIT.”

Others do not wish to emigrate, citing lack of connections abroad, the challenge of finding employment in a foreign country and the difficulty of the immigration process.

Mirabelle Awegnonde, an English student at the University of Abomey-Calavi, said she wants to be a teacher but has to start thinking of alternative self-employment options in case she cannot find a teaching job.

“It makes me afraid sometimes,” Awegnonde said. “I’m afraid. I tell myself, how can I get a job in the future? How can I make myself a job instead? Because I’m a shy person, so… it is hard for me.”

Note: Megan Fahrney is a Fulbright scholar currently living in Benin.

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Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development met in Bahrain to to address water scarcity. Credit: APDA

By Joyce Chimbi
MANAMA & NAIROBI, Nov 7 2024 (IPS)

The Arab region is among the most water-scarce areas globally, as nearly 392 million people live in countries facing water scarcity or absolute water scarcity. So dire is the situation that, of the 22 Arab countries, 19 fall below the annual threshold for water scarcity in renewable resources, defined as 1,000 cubic meters per person.

Worst still, 13 countries fall below the absolute water scarcity threshold of 500 cubic meters per person per year. Water scarcity in the Arab region poses a serious challenge, threatening the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals and the realization of the fundamental human right to access water and sanitation. 

It is within this context that the Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development, in collaboration with the Asian Population and Development Association in Japan and with support from the United Nations Population Fund, held a meeting on October 26, 2024, in the Kingdom of Bahrain to address water scarcity as a development concern and promote coordinated action across different sectors.

Dr. Mohamed Al-Samadi, Secretary-General of the Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development, stressed the need for coordinated governance and measures to close the gap between water security and the Sustainable Development Goals. The gathering that included Bahraini parliamentarians from committees focused on population and development, along with representatives from civil society organizations, experts, academics, and government officials.

The gathering reiterated that “researchers in the field of water science have set the water poverty line at 500 cubic meters per person annually, while 1,000 cubic meters of freshwater per person is considered the threshold for achieving water security. Reports also link this to food security, showing that producing an individual’s annual food supply requires over 2,000 cubic meters of water.

Lawmakers and experts stressed the need for coordinated governance and measures to close the gap between water security and the Sustainable Development Goals. Credit: APDA

Stressing that the “water security in the Arab world is now critically at stake as annual usable water resources fall below 40 billion cubic meters. A large portion of these resources is lost to evaporation and infiltration into the soil, and additional amounts are necessary to sustain river flows to their endpoints. Any country that uses 40 percent or more of its total annual water resources is considered to be facing severe water scarcity according to the Water Scarcity Index, also known as the Water Sustainability Index.”

Dr. Muneer Ibrahim, a Member of Parliament and member of the Committee on Water, Environment, and Public Utilities, spoke about water security and the SDGs, emphasizing that water is the fundamental pillar for achieving these global goals across their economic, social, and environmental dimensions, as water security is an essential requirement for their realization.

Further stressing that the relationship between water and sustainable development is reciprocal, and this interconnectedness poses significant challenges in the Arab region, especially given the current water situation. Necessitating the development and implementation of effective policies and solutions to ensure sustainable water resources for various uses.

Hassan Ibrahim, a Member of Parliament and the rapporteur for the Water Committee, spoke about innovation for sustainable water management, highlighting that resolving the water crisis is essential for a livable future on our planet. Noting that whether water is overly abundant, severely scarce, or highly polluted, it presents a triple threat exacerbated by climate change, depriving billions of people of access to clean, safe water and sanitation services.

He said that this then “threatens economies, encourages migration, and may fuel conflict. We need global action to establish water security to enable inclusive and resilient green growth while addressing the interconnected relationship between water, climate, and conflict. Despite the progress made, we are falling behind in achieving the SDGs related to water, which directly affect inclusive development.”

Current trends indicate that by 2030, 1.6 billion people will lack access to safe drinking water, 2.8 billion will be deprived of safe sanitation services, and 1.9 billion will be without basic hygiene facilities. Globally, the investment needs for the water sector exceed USD 1.37 trillion and must increase sixfold from current levels to meet the sixth SDG on ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030.

“Water accounts for less than 2 percent of public spending, and private investment levels in this sector are also low in low- and middle-income countries. Bahrain has adopted strategies and initiatives to improve the management of water resources, support the strategic water stock, and increase the area and sustainability of rainwater harvesting efficiency to enhance natural groundwater resources,” Ibrahim said.

Bahrain is implementing advanced technical solutions to utilize treated wastewater for irrigation needs, which also helps reduce environmental pollution, address the impacts of climate change, and minimize the depletion of natural water resources. Bahrain, through the Water Security Strategy 2030 launched by the Ministry of Energy and Environment, aims to ensure the sustainability and continuity of access to water under both normal conditions and extreme emergencies.

The key targets of the strategy include reducing total water resource demand by 21 percent, increasing the water productivity index to USD 110 per cubic meter, lowering the water scarcity index by three degrees, and raising the percentage of treated water reuse to 95 percent. Dr. Walid Zubari, a water resources expert and president of the Arab Water Association, presented on the vital role of civil society institutions in raising water awareness to achieve water sustainability and address the challenges facing the water sector in Bahrain.

Regarding civil society institutions, Dr. Zubari said, “It is important for them to play a role in water awareness. Once community members understand the implications of their behavior in dealing with water and there is a religious and moral incentive, it is likely that they will voluntarily rationalize their water usage. If this happens, the community and the executors will be in the same boat, enabling them to achieve water sustainability.”

Dr. Karim Rashid, Member of Parliament, delivered a comprehensive presentation on the importance of water and its essential role in supporting sustainable development, as water impacts all aspects of development and is closely linked to nearly every SDG, driving economic growth, supporting healthy ecosystems, and being essential for life itself.

Still, nearly two billion people worldwide lack access to safely managed drinking water services, while around 3.6 billion suffer from inadequate sanitation services. To enable effective climate change adaptation, he said activities should reflect the importance of water management in reducing vulnerability to risks and building resilience against climate change.

Further emphasizing the necessity of political commitment and leadership, technological innovations, and the advancement of service delivery models and financing to support governments in fulfilling their commitment to achieve Target 6.2 of the SDGs—”to ensure access for all to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene services by 2030.”

The expert and water sector advisor at the Ministry of Water in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Eng. Mohammed Sawar, called for adopting a model transformation in the management of water resources in the GCC countries, shifting from the current focus on “supply sustainability” to “consumption sustainability.” Emphasizing economic efficiency in water usage and financial sustainability of water services.

Note: This meeting was supported by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Japan Trust Fund (JTF).

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By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov 6 2024 (IPS)

 

More durable than bronze, higher than Pharaoh’s
pyramids is the monument I have made,
a shape that angry wind or hungry rain
cannot demolish, nor the innumerable ranks
of the years that march in centuries.
I shall not wholly die:
some part of me will cheat the goddess of death.

Thus wrote, not without reason, in 23 BCE the proud and self-conscious Horace. So far, he has been quite right – ancient monuments have crumbled, or disappeared completely, while his poetry still remains. However, you might ask – for how much longer? Latin is already dead, at least as a spoken language, while its connoisseurs are dwindling. Pessimists may contradict Horace’s optimism with Thomas à Kempis phrase from 1418: O quam cito transit gloria mundi, how quickly the glory of the world passes away. As a matter of fact, more and more people, in particular youngsters, have a diminishing interest in the written word, in particular in the form of longer texts like novels and newspaper editorials, preferring short messages and slogans that are easy to understand and preferably not longer than half a page.

Nevertheless, some human creations remain for a very long time. The most potent form of nuclear waste does, according to most scientists, need to be safely stored away for up to one million years, the time needed to ensure radioactive decay, i.e. actually a far longer stretch of time than the period that has passed since the first Neanderthals appeared on earth.

How may we be able to warn future generations about lethal dangers buried beneath Earth’s surface? Thousands of years from now, our descendants can probably not understand any of the writing systems currently in use. And how can we now adequately predict which future geological upheavals lay in store? Nuclear waste is drilled deep down into primeval rock, but can it really be guaranteed that cracks cannot occur, that atomic waste will not sip into underground water resources? Considering who little was expected from the effects of climate change just a few years ago, it makes you wonder about the safe future of our planet and the shortsighted damage we are doing to it.

In 2008, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault was inaugurated on the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen. It is intended to be a secure backup facility for the world’s crop diversity. More than 100 metres below earth, in the tunnels of an abandoned coal mine, the Seed Vault currently conserves 1,280,677 accessions, representing more than 13,000 years of agricultural history.

By the inauguration of this unique seed-bank it was said that the deep-frozen plant material would be safe from any temperature change and water damage, resting as it was under Arctic permafrost. However, already in 2016, an unusually large amount of water seeped in to the Vault’s entrance tunnel, 100 metres underground. The water flow was stopped just before it reached the precious plant material, though the incident indicated that the frozen permafrost no longer is a guarantee for safeguarding the Vault – Arctic temperatures are now rising four times faster than in the rest of the world making the permafrost melt at an unexpected speed. Improvements to the Vault have been made to prevent water intrusion, the tunnel walls have been made “waterproof” and above ground, draining ditches now surround the entrance to the Vault.

Filled with pride, hope and expectations Horace wrote that his poems would survive for thousands of years. Nevertheless, he could not have predicted how humans now are destroying our shared environment. Authors have for more than a hundred years warned us about what is currently happening. First it was mainly science fiction writers who produced terrifying dystopias about what could happen to our planet if we continue to abuse its natural resources, depleting its organic life, and destroying its life preserving beauty. This literary trend is still alive, particularly after the nuclear bombs that in 1945 wiped out Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the melt down of the nuclear reactor in Tjernobyl. One disturbing and well written example of such dystopias is the Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya’s novel The Slynx from year 2000.

After some kind of nuclear disaster, disfigured people survive in what was once Moscow. They depend on mice for food and clothing, and know almost nothing about the past. Most of them cannot read and write, though a handful of people who live in this nightmarish reality remember how life was before the Blast, before civilization collapsed and brought culture down with it. These people occasionally quote poetry and dream of bringing about a cultural renaissance, though the reader understands they are a dying breed and there is almost nothing left to resurrect. Books still exist, but anyone found with one of them is hunted down and severely punished, while their books are confiscated, all in the name of stopping “freethinking.”

Is a nuclear catastrophe necessary for us all to end up in such misery? The author Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta. He grew up in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and is currently living in New York. In his non-fiction book The Great Derangement, Gosh wonders why an extremely dangerous threat like climate change is not overshadowing cultural expressions. He emphasizes that the frightening effects of climate change are already with us. They are evident everywhere, though strangely enough people are still listening to dangerous climate change deniers, like the increasingly deranged Donald Trump. According to Gosh, depictions of the threat of climate change can no longer be banished to science fiction, but has to be convincingly expressed in all strands of art, literature, theatre, and movies. Gosh provides an example of this in his own novel Gun Island, which takes its starting point in Sunderbans, a huge West Bengali mangrove forest, currently threatened by polluting biochemical industries and rising sea levels. The novel deals with the vulnerability of climatological migrants and the ongoing, galloping destruction of human and animal habitats. As a story coloured by magic realism it ranges from Bangladesh, which climate change threatens with almost complete annihilation, to Venice, this dreamlike treasure house of amazing art that likewise appears to be doomed to disappear.

Gosh’s novel leads us back to Spitzbergen. Close to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is another abandoned coal mine, even deeper than the one where the Seed Vault is accommodated. At the depth of 300 metres, we find the vaults of the Arctic World Archive (AWA), where governments, associations and private persons are welcomed, for a fee, to store what they assume to be world heritage. Down deep below, under permafrost (so far) we find copies and microfilm of a wide assortment of items that AWA is guaranteeing to safeguard for at least 2000 years. Here the Vatican has sent copies and microfilms of its vast collection of inestimable manuscripts, an organisation called Linga Aeterna is preserving recordings of 500 languages on the brink of extinction, the Polish Government has deposited copies of literary works and Chopin’s manuscripts. Here we find a wide collection of movies and rock music, as well as blueprints of architectural-, industrial, and car designs from the World’s biggest firms, etc., etc.

Thoughtful speculators and depositors are by AWA treated with advertising materials and movies reminding them of threats to the cultural heritage, like war and terrorism with footage showing the destruction of the immense Buddha in Bamiyan and how ISIS destroyed priceless cultural treasures in Palmyra and Mosul. Other disasters are highlighted, not the least those triggered off by climate change, which if nothing is done to stop it, will around 2050 have placed most of Florida, Bangladesh and the Maldives under water and completely inundated and destroyed Venice.

Spitzbergen is not the only place harbouring deposits of cultural heritage. In the salt mines of Hallstatt in Austria the so-called Memory of Mankind stores, within specifically designed, “indestructible” ceramic containers, huge amounts of microfilm and copies of valuable art and manuscripts. Libraries and archives around the world also shelter underground labyrinths, filled with books, magazines, and documents.

However, the question remains – for how long time will these enormous deposits be able to withstand the drastic changes that menace our Earth, and will future generations, if they now survive what threatens us all, be able to find these deposits of human endeavour, be interested in them, or even be able to understand them? Will our descendants be capable of benefitting from all that presumably has been preserved in these secluded places – or will they like the miserable creatures of Tolstoya’s depressing wasteland either despise all of it, or consider these items to be dangerous? Let us at least for the moment appreciate the written treasures left to us by poets like Horace and teach our children to appreciate what our ancestors have left behind, learn from it and also value, and enjoy what is written today.

Main sources: Gosh, Amitav (2016) The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable. University of Chicago Press. Gosh, Amitav (2019) Gun Island. London: John Murray. Horatius Flaccus, Quintus (1967) The Odes of Horace Translated by James Michie. Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics. Stagliano, Riccardo (2024) “A futura memoria”, Il Venerdi di Repubblica, 25 ottubre. Tolstaya, Tatyana (2016) The Slynx. New York Review of Books.

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Submerged structure in Tubigon, Philippines. Credit: Greenpeace
 
In the Philippines, a group of islands is rapidly sinking due to an unprecedented rise in sea levels. This blog dives into how these coastal communities are utilizing marine resources and ecosystems to find solutions and build resilience against climate risks.

By Anne Cortez
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Nov 6 2024 (IPS)

Imagine living with water up to your knees for half of the year, where homes are flooded, and people constantly fear that the sea might one day engulf the town and everyone in it.

This is the reality for the sinking islands in the Philippines—a cluster of four island barangays in Tubigon located in the south-central region of Bohol. Here, the sea level is rising at an alarming rate of 10.8 millimeters per year, three times faster than the global average. If this continues, these islands could disappear by 2100.

Tubigon sank by one meter after being hit by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake over a decade ago. While still recovering, the islands were devastated by a super typhoon in 2021, unleashing four-meter-high tidal waves that destroyed over 1.7 million homes and displaced more than 3 million people. This year, the islands were declared inhabitable by the government.

Existential Climate Threats to Coastal Communities

Coastal communities like the Philippines are severely threatened by accelerating sea level rise compounded by extreme weather events. Similar to small island developing states, also known as SIDS, low-lying coastal areas are the most vulnerable to climate change.

Their geographic location leaves them highly-exposed to natural disasters and hazards like cyclones and tidal flooding. These vulnerabilities exacerbate coastal communities’ unique development challenges.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that with the current 1.5 degree temperature increase, global sea levels will continue to rise and low-lying coastal regions are to experience extreme sea events such as storm surges and massive tides annually by 2050.

SIDS, including Tuvalu and the Maldives, along with the sinking islands of Tubigon, are proof of the existential threats of climate change. These communities are at risk of vanishing unless urgent action is taken.

Bouncing Back from Climate Risks

While island communities are under threat, they are not powerless. Many of them have shown commitment to addressing climate-related risks in their national climate action plans. Their goal is to build climate resilience.

The term “resilience” is often mentioned in climate change discussions, but what does it really mean? It comes from the Latin verb resilire, meaning “to bounce back.” Resilience refers to the ability to recover from risks, which, in the context of climate change, is determined by the degree of vulnerability and exposure to climate-related threats.

For coastal communities and low-lying islands, rising sea levels pose a significant risk, so they must build resilience to endure and recover from climate-related hazards and disasters.

Turning to Blue Carbon Ecosystems for Solutions

Many SIDS set a good example in piloting measures to build resilience and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Similarly, the residents of Tubigon, many of whom are fisherfolks, have learned to adapt to the rising tides.

The local community has developed resilience strategies and initiatives to help them sustain their lives on the islands. One promising solution involves utilizing the sea and its resources, part of what is called the blue carbon ecosystem.

Blue carbon ecosystem is a collective term for natural marine resources such as mangroves, seagrasses, and marshes known for their ability to capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Research shows that these coastal resources can transfer and store carbon ten times more effective than tropical forests.

These ecosystems also support fishery production, protect shorelines and reduce flooding, and provide habitats for wildlife and migratory species. Studies indicate that conserving blue carbon ecosystems is a timely and cost-effective strategy to help coastal communities adapt to climate change.

Harnessing Coastal Resources for Climate Change Adaptation

Tubigon and the Bohol region have long implemented measures to protect their blue carbon ecosystems, helping residents adapt to climate-related risks. Their strategy is two-fold: eliminating destructive fishing practices and conserving coastal resources particularly mangroves.

The local community has designated bantay dagat (which translates literally to sea protectors) to patrol its marine area spanning 156 hectares of coral reefs and 335 hectares of mangroves. These protectors report illegal fishing activities and safeguard the mangrove forests.

Over time, many locals have transitioned from destructive fishing methods, such as dynamite and cyanide use, to more sustainable aquaculture and alternative livelihoods, including crab and squid jigging, grouper farming, and ecotourism.

Moreover, particular focus is given to mangrove conservation. The vast mangrove area in Tubigon is considered a valuable blue ecosystem resource playing an important role in sequestering carbon. Experts estimate that a 4-decade mangrove plantation can store over 370 tons of carbon per hectare.

Additionally, mangroves act as natural seawalls, reducing wave energy and shielding residents from rising sea levels and tidal flooding. By investing in the preservation of blue carbon ecosystems, coastal communities like Tubigon tap into an essential resource that supports their livelihoods and enhances their resilience to the effects of climate change.

Turning the Tide

The islands of Tubigon stay afloat amidst the intensifying battle against climate threats. Most recently, the Philippines joined an alliance to build the resilience of coastal communities. It was also selected as the host of a fund dedicated to supporting countries to respond to loss and damage, enabling them to recover and rebuild from the adverse effects of the climate crisis.

Allowing islands to sink and entire communities to disappear is unimaginable, especially when we have the resources and tools to address the planet’s most significant crisis. Time is running out, but there is still hope to turn the tide.

This article is originally published in Global Dev as part of its Climate Resilience series.

Anne Cortez is a communications and knowledge management consultant with over a decade of experience working with governments, academic institutions, and international organizations including the UN, ADB, and The Asia Foundation. She has spearheaded and managed development programs and capacity building initiatives promoting climate action, digital inclusion, and health equity across Asia and the Pacific. Previously, she led the knowledge and communications team at the UN think tank for global health based in Malaysia, and the social mobilization division at the Department of Education in the Philippines. Anne has a master’s degree in international studies and an undergraduate degree in communications. Learn more about her work here.

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By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Nov 6 2024 (IPS)

Despite earlier income convergence among nations, many low-income countries (LICs) and people are falling further behind. Worse, the number of poor and hungry has been increasing again after declining for decades.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

After the post-Second World War ‘Golden Age’ ended over half a century ago, the world has seen unequal and uneven economic growth, industrialisation, and poverty reduction. Income divergence and convergence have involved inequalities within and among countries.

While some national-level income inequalities have fallen, North-South disparities have trended unevenly, partly due to the quantitative influence of China’s and India’s large economies.

Dividing billions
Paul Collier’s original ‘Bottom Billion’ included 58 developing countries. By 2021, they had 1.4 billion people. Failing to grow sustainably, poverty in these nations has persisted.

Despite rejecting the World Bank’s LICs and the UN’s least-developed countries, Collier and his World Bank colleagues’ revival of his Bottom Billion notion offers a valuable review of recent distributional trends.

Without supporting evidence, the authors insist most developing nations were similar at independence, with little significant difference between the Bottom Billion and the “growing” Five Billion.

Per capita incomes of most Bottom Billion countries have not risen much. Although much of the world has grown since the 1960s, many of the poorest nations have fallen further behind, albeit unevenly.

Slow economic growth and rapid population increase have reduced per capita incomes. Most Bottom Billion countries have barely grown since and are now much worse off than the ‘Lucky Billion’ of 38 rich member nations of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Poverty is increasingly concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa. Also, overall poverty is worsening as African populations continue to grow faster as the poor have more children to improve family circumstances.

Average output per capita of OECD member countries rose by half, from under $30,000 in 1990 to almost $45,000 in 2021. Even the poorest OECD nations are at least upper-middle-income countries.

Despite some convergence, world inequality continued to grow unevenly after 2000. The average per capita income gap between developing countries and prosperous economies has not narrowed since the turn of the century.

In recent decades, sustained high-growth episodes have mainly been in East and South Asia. Average output per capita in such ‘emerging markets’ almost tripled from under $5,000 in 1990 to nearly $15,000 by 2021.

Convergence?
Angus Maddison found divergence among world regions over the last two millennia but agreed that recent Asian growth has made convergence more plausible.

Since the Industrial Revolution two centuries ago, extended periods of divergence have been interrupted by brief episodes of convergence. Between 1870 and 1990, the ratio of the highest to the lowest incomes increased tenfold.

The remaining ‘Five Billion’ are between the Bottom and Lucky Billions. Successful ‘developing market economies’ include large, populous, rapidly growing economies like India and China, as well as small petroleum-rich states.

The Lucky Billion were already well ahead in 1990 and have remained better off since. The incomes of some of the Five Billion have risen rapidly to converge with the Lucky Billion, but the Bottom Billion are not much better off.

Some studies claim these Five Billion grew fast enough for incomes to converge worldwide. Rejecting counterclaims of divergence, the authors insist on ‘unconditional convergence’, regardless of countries’ starting positions.

Other research claims unconditional worldwide convergence as poor nations catch up. Income convergence in the 1990s and 2004-14 suggests higher primary commodity prices financed growth during the latter ‘Golden Decade’, enabling brief LIC progress, including in Africa.

This last brief growth acceleration collapsed with most commodity prices a decade ago. The Bottom Billion’s average income growth rate briefly exceeded the OECD’s during 2004-14

But the episode is wrongly seen as proof of longer-term convergence. Few developing nations have narrowed the average gap in per capita incomes with rich countries. Trends can mislead if not interpreted in context.

For years, China’s average income was below the world’s mean. This previously supported claims of worldwide convergence but will change as China’s mean income overtakes the world average.

But overall convergence can coexist with some countries and people slipping further behind while the number in ‘extreme poverty’ rises. However, data limitations and methodological disagreements make consensus unlikely.

Falling further behind
World output (in constant US dollars) more than doubled from $36 trillion in 1990 to $87 trillion by 2021. While a few developing economies have made rapid progress and more have made modest advances, many have been left behind.

As growth has been higher in East Asia and India, World Bank estimates of the poor fell from 1990 until the pandemic, although the number in ‘extreme poverty’ increased.

Despite continuing growth until the 2008 global financial crisis and declining poverty before the pandemic, many developing countries’ per capita incomes continue to fall further behind.

Hunger numbers have risen in the last decade, while the number of poor has increased since the pandemic. Ongoing economic stagnation has been worse for the Bottom Billion, who have struggled to cope with higher interest rates and capital flight since 2022.

Meanwhile, hunger numbers have been rising for a decade, while the number of poor has increased since the pandemic. Worse, higher interest rates recently have worsened the ongoing economic stagnation.

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Cart laden with firewood in Gonzoma, Zimbabwe. Woodpoaching for household fuel is having an impact on forests in Zimbabwe. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS

By Jeffrey Moyo
CHIMANIMANI, Zimbabwe, Nov 6 2024 (IPS)

Linet Makwera (28) has a baby strapped on her back as she totters barefoot, picking tiny pieces of wood on both sides of a dusty and narrow road, peering fearfully at people passing by along the road in Chimanimani’s Mutambara area in Gonzoma village located in Zimbabwe’s Manicaland Province, east of the country.

Her fears, Makwera says, are the patrolling plain clothes police officers, who often target people, cutting down the few available trees in search of firewood.

In the midst of firewood shortages countrywide, more than 300,000 trees were destroyed between 2000 and 2010, according to Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.

In fact, in 2011, the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe found out that the country was losing about 330,000 hectares of forests per year. According to Global Forest Watch in 2010, Zimbabwe had 1.01 Mha of natural forest, extending over 2.7 percent of its land area. In 2023, it lost 4.67 kha of natural forest, equivalent to 3.27 Mt of CO₂ emissions.

A slight drop from the previous one, currently, Zimbabwe’s annual deforestation rate is estimated to be at 262,348.98 hectares per annum, the Forestry Commission says.

According to UNDP in 2022, the use of local forests for fuel wood has also been one of the many drivers of deforestation in the country.

UNDP has been on record, saying presently, fuel wood accounts for over 60 percent of the total energy supply in the country and almost 98 percent of rural people rely on fuel wood for cooking and heating.

The Forestry Commission says up to 11 million tons of firewood are needed for domestic cooking, heating and tobacco curing every year in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is ranked top of the United Nations-ranked Least Developed Countries (LDCs) that have battled the highest rate of deforestation in the world, as many rural dwellers here depend on firewood for cooking.

Yet still, even as the felling of trees for firewood gets worse and worse in Zimbabwe, it is a crime for anybody to be found cutting trees for any purpose without the authorities’ blessing.

If caught on the wrong side of the law, a wood poacher can be fined USD 200 to 5,000

Like many villagers domiciled in her remote area, Makwera has to battle with firewood deficits as the forests disappear under massive deforestation.

But the laws prohibiting people from cutting down trees have also meant hard times for many, like Makwera.

Yet despite her struggles to find firewood often in order to cook food for her family, she (Makwera) has had to soldier on, just like many other villagers in her area.

With even the hills and mountains now running out of firewood in Makwera’s village, life has never been the same for the villagers, as they do not have electricity, which, even though it might have been there, would not have saved any purpose amid daily power cuts gripping the Southern African nation.

“Finding firewood is now a huge challenge. Yes, we buy. We have no choice. We suffer to find the firewood. In the hills and mountains where we used to find firewood, there is now nothing,” Makwera told IPS.

Named using vernacular Shona, a tsotso stove typically is a tin with holes pricked into it, with a few tiny sticks stashed inside the home-made stove to produce some fire heat needed for cooking.

Stung by the growing firewood deficits, Zimbabwean villagers are even resorting to buying firewood from woodpoachers moving around in scotch carts touting for customers.

Such are many, like 33-year-old Tigere Mhike, also a resident of Gonzoma village, who said he has been for a long time earning his living through selling firewood to the desperate villagers.

He does this illegally, and in order to escape the wrath of law enforcers, Mhike said he and his assistant often operate under the cover of darkness in their search for the wooden gold.

“Where we live here, there are now too many people who are crowded. Some pieces of land that had plenty of firewood are now occupied by more and more people. We now have to travel very long distances, waking up very early in the mornings sometimes at 2am to go and search for firewood so that we deliver to the villagers wanting the firewood. We sell one scotch-cart full of firewood at 25 (US) dollars,” Mhike told IPS.

Amid incessant droughts actuated by climate change that have also led to the gradual disappearance of Zimbabwe’s forests, with the use of tsotso stoves requiring fewer wood sticks to produce the cooking heat, villagers here have said they are gradually adapting to the crisis.

Even to environmental experts like Batanai Mutasa, part of the panacea to surmount firewood deficits has turned out to be the now popular tsotso stoves in the face of Zimbabwe’s laws forbidding the cutting down of trees.

Mutasa is also the spokesman for the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), a non-governmental organization comprising of legal minds fighting for this country’s environment.

As the trees disappear amid firewood poaching in Zimbabwe’s villages like Gonzoma in Manicaland Province, Mutasa has a piece of advice.

“My advice to people struggling to find firewood in remote areas is that they should work together to find other means that protect our trees from being damaged, things like using biogas or stoves that don’t require much firewood like tsotso stoves,” he (Mutasa) told IPS.

In worst case scenarios, said Mutasa, to preserve forests as they search for firewood, people should resort to just plucking off branches from the surviving trees to use these to make fire, leaving the trees alive.

Mutasa said: “Mainly, people should make it their habit to plant and replant trees. People can team up with authorities in their villages to fight off woodpoachers in their areas.”

Another Gonzoma villager, Mzilikazi Rusawo, in his early sixties, said faced with desperate times in their search for firewood as the few forests are jealously guarded by law enforcers, they now have to seek permission from authorities before they cut selected trees for firewood.

“The law does not allow us to just cut down trees for firewood anyhow. We actually seek permission from authorities before cutting trees for firewood, which we do with care—sparsely cutting down the trees in order to leave many other trees standing,” Rusawo told IPS.

For the Zimbabwean government, the options are, however, fast running out as rural dwellers battle with firewood shortages.

Some of the options can not be afforded by many residents in rural areas in a country where more than 90 percent are jobless, according to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).

“Firewood shortages are a huge challenge for all people living in rural areas, but it is not only firewood that can be used for cooking. People can also use biogas,” Joyce Chapungu, spokesperson for the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), told IPS.

With the retail price of biogas in Zimbabwe going for approximately two dollars per kilogram, not many rural residents can afford buying the cooking gas.

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This G20 ministerial meeting, held in Rio de Janeiro on February 28 this year, discussed the global energy transition, with biofuels as a central issue. Credit: Paulo Pinto / Agência Brasil

By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 5 2024 (IPS)

Holding this year’s presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) large industrial and emerging economies is allowing Brazil to push forward the dream of creating a global biofuels market without the current trade barriers.

Brazil is trying, at least since the beginning of this century, to free up global trade in ethanol, but so far without success. The scenario is more favourable now, with the worsening of the climate crisis and other countries joining the production and consumption of bioenergy.

Presiding the G20 this year, Brazil is in charge of the issues and projects to be discussed, creating working groups and promoting agreements, which will crystallise at the group’s annual summit to be held on 18-19 November in Rio de Janeiro.“There is a conflict of interests, of split personality. If Brazil wants to lead in biofuels, it must rule out new oil exploration”: Pedro de Camargo Neto.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government has promoted social issues and included biofuels as a central aspect of the energy transition. Several of its proposals were approved in sectoral working groups or meetings of ministers, experts and civil society throughout 2024.

“The current context, driven by Brazil’s more active leadership in the G20 and regulatory progress on alternative fuels, offers a more optimistic outlook for the country’s success in expanding its biofuels market,” summarised Rafaela Guedes, senior fellow at the Brazilian Centre for International Relations (Cebri).

“The focus is no longer limited to ethanol,” she said in an interview with IPS in Rio de Janeiro. New products, such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and bio-bunker for maritime transport, open up multiple markets and reduce the risk of dominant suppliers.

These are joined by biodiesel and green diesel, both derived from animal and vegetable inputs but different in their production process and properties, the latter being chemically identical to fossil diesel.

Then there is ethanol, already produced on a large scale, and biomethane, equivalent to natural gas and the product of refining biogas extracted from animal manure, and agricultural, urban and industrial waste.

All these products gained new regulations and incentives in Brazil through the so-called Future Fuels Law, passed by the legislative National Congress in September and effective from 8 October 2024.

The new legislation should attract investment and reduce trade barriers by defining rules and standards in a country that leads biofuel production and presents itself as “a supplier and also a strategic partner for innovation and energy security”, said Guedes, an economist specialising in energy transition.

The biogas and biomethane plant of Cocal, a company that produces ethanol and sugar from sugarcane and biogas, biomethane and other derivatives from waste, in Narandiba, in the southern Brazilian state of São Paulo. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Fear of dependence

Ethanol thrived as a free trade fuel partly out of fear of being held hostage by a few producers. Brazil and the US account for around 80% of its global production, with 35.4 billion litres and 58 billion litres respectively in 2023.

Brazil tried to encourage production in countries with high production or potential for increased sugar cane planting, such as India, Cuba and Mexico, in order to lower barriers to international ethanol trade.

In addition to the fear of dependency, environmental and food security concerns remain another stumbling block. It is argued, especially in Europe, that bioenergy takes land away from food production.

That was the claim of Cuba, which until the 1980s was the world’s largest exporter of sugar, but whose sugar cane production subsequently fell to the point where it is now practically limited to supplying the domestic market of 10 million inhabitants, who are suffering from a severe energy crisis.

But now India, previously reluctant, has joined ethanol production, as have other countries, since its consumption, blended with gasoline, has spread to more than 70 countries. Investment in biofuels has increased in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“This diversification of producers reduces the possibility of monopolies” and thus the fears of dependency, according to Guedes, who says growth in the production capacity of emerging countries and the consequent expansion of global supply are favourable factors for a freer global market for biofuels.

“India has invested heavily in biofuels in its energy security and emissions reduction strategy. Its policies of using agricultural waste to produce ethanol and biodiesel contribute to increasing its productive capacity, as a potential exporter in the medium term,” she cited as an example.

Other Asian and Latin American countries are using their abundant biomass and organic waste resources to produce bioenergy, biomethane and green diesel, in what represents another model.

Rafaela Guedes, an economist specialized in energy transition, believes conditions are favourable for the creation of an international biofuels market, as Brazil desires. Credit: Cebri

Inputs are waste, not food

Restrictions based on food security were also relaxed because biofuels are largely made from waste, whether agricultural, urban or industrial.

Second-generation (2G) ethanol, made from waste such as bagasse, is another solution. The United States and Brazil have plants producing it, which are set for rapid expansion.

In Brazil, Raizen, a large sugar and bioenergy producer with the participation of the British oil consortium Shell, has been operating its first 2G ethanol plants since 2015 and estimates that this technology can produce 50% more ethanol than a similar area planted with sugarcane.

Guedes also adds that the International Energy Agency has defined sustainable agricultural practices, such as crop-livestock-forest integration, which is expanding in Brazil, traceability in production chains and criteria for defining sustainable energy, which strengthen confidence in biofuels that benefit the climate.

These are policies that promote so-called low-carbon agriculture, preserve soil quality and ensure that Brazil’s agricultural frontiers can expand sustainably and without affecting food security, she said.

Ambiguity

But Brazil’s decision to promote biofuels, even internationally, causes bewilderment according to Pedro de Camargo Neto, a cattle rancher who leads a movement of agribusiness, that of large farmers, that seeks to reconcile his sector with environmentalism, after decades of stubborn antagonism.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (center) visited Raizen’s bioenergy park in Guariba, a sugarcane-producing municipality located 340 kilometers from São Paulo in southern Brazil, in May. Credit: Ricardo Stuckert / PR

“There is a conflict of interests, of split personality. If Brazil wants to lead in biofuels, it must rule out new oil exploration,” he told IPS by telephone from Bandeirantes, a municipality in the central-western state of Mato Grosso do Sul, where he has a farm.

He criticizes the intention of Petrobras, the national oil company, to drill near the mouth of the Amazon River in search of oil deposits.

Large oil deposits are believed to exist in the Equatorial Margin in northern Brazil, an extension of the sea basin that already produces oil in Guyana and Suriname.

New and abundant stocks would make oil and gas cheaper, to the detriment of biofuels, argued Camargo, who has previously chaired the Brazilian Rural Society, a key farmers’ group, and held top positions in the agriculture ministry.

“Brazil does not know what it wants,” he said.

This is because it promotes a free and global market for biofuels, for economic and environmental reasons, and at the same time wants to become an oil producer, to the detriment of the climate and its own strategy.

The country currently ranks eighth in the world in oil production, with 4.3 million barrels (each holding 159 litres) per day on average in 2023.

The country should advocate international measures to make fossil fuels more expensive. This would enable a biofuels boom everywhere, with increased investment in a market in which Brazil is already a leader. Europe has already taken steps in this direction, Camargo said.

Oil exploration near the mouth of the Amazon is blocked by demands from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, which considered Petrobras’ evaluations and guarantees insufficient.

An authorisation or denial of exploratory drilling will be ‘technical’, based on local environmental impacts, according to Environment Minister Marina Silva.

This is a mistake, according to Camargo, who calls for a broader assessment, not because of the local consequences, but due to the global climatic effects, i.e. greenhouse gas emissions, and because of the economic strategy of prioritising biofuels, which also favours the country’s foreign policy.