Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
KUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, Nov 5 2019 (IPS)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO), all dominated by rich countries, have long promoted trade liberalization as a ‘win-win’ solution for “all people—rich and poor—and all countries—developed and developing countries”, arguing that “the gains are large enough to enable compensation to be provided to the losers”.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Yet, the IMF’s 2016 World Economic Outlook has warned that free trade is increasingly seen as only or mainly benefiting the well-off. The help and compensation needed by those disadvantaged by trade liberalization has rarely if ever been forthcoming, even in most developed economies.

Dubious claims
In 2001, World Bank research papers claimed a strong positive effect of trade for growth, arguing that globalization would accelerate growth and poverty reduction in poor countries. Similarly, a November 2001 IMF brief noted, “Integration into the world economy has proven a powerful means for countries to promote economic growth, development, and poverty reduction”.

Earlier, its 1997 World Economic Outlook claimed, “Policies toward foreign trade are … promoting economic growth and convergence in developing countries.” A host of Fund research papers likewise advocated trade liberalization.

However, surveying a large body of influential early research, Rodriguez and Rodrik concluded, “we are skeptical that there is a strong negative relationship in the data between trade barriers and economic growth…”

Likewise, the historical record since 1870 offers no support for claiming a positive growth-openness relationship before the 1970s – the correlation was, in fact, negative during 1920-1940.

Similarly, during 1990-2003, growth was not significantly correlated with any measure of national trade openness. After all, the effects of any national trade policy also depend on the trade policies of others, especially existing and potential trading partners.

Baldwin observed that general policy advice of openness should not imply “that no government interventions, such as selective production subsidies or controls on short-term capital movements, are appropriate at certain stages of development.” He cautioned, “we must be careful in attributing … lowering of trade barriers as being a sufficient government action for accelerating the rate of economic growth.”

Trump backlash
With US President Donald Trump attacking trade liberalization, the nature of the debate has changed. For him, trade liberalization mainly benefits large corporations which profit from producing abroad, depriving American workers of jobs and decent remuneration.

Anis Chowdhury

Trump’s trade restrictions have reversed decades of uneven trade liberalization. By insisting on bilateral over plurilateral and especially multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), he has undermined trade liberalization’s advocates and their claims. With Trump, the US, erstwhile champion of freer trade, has become its nemesis.

This policy U-turn has not only strengthened earlier doubts about the ostensible benefits of trade liberalization, not only for American workers, but also for developing countries, who have long insisted that international trade gains and costs are unequally distributed among nations.

Trade liberalizers strike back
Growing scepticism about trade liberalization, even before Trump’s election in late 2016, had rekindled the IMF-World Bank-WTO advocacy, e.g., in Making Trade an Engine of Growth for All, despite its acknowledgement that “trade is leaving too many individuals and communities behind, notably also in advanced economies.”

Reinvigorating Trade and Inclusive Growth is also unpersuasive, with poorly substantiated patronizing assertions, as if preaching to the converted. For the trio, the backlash is due to ignorance and failure to better advertise the benefits of free trade. Their touching faith remained unshaken despite considerable evidence, including their own, qualifying their advocacy claims.

Instead of more nuanced, and credible advocacy of multilateral trade liberalization, unencumbered by intellectual property, investment and other non-trade agreements, they can only recommend targeted ‘safety-nets’ and pro-active ‘labour market programmes’ (e.g., retraining).

UNCTAD dissent
By contrast, UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report 2018 focused, inter alia, on the ‘Free Trade Delusion’. The World Input-Output Database suggests trade liberalization has favoured capital at the expense of labour.

Capital’s share of export value added in manufacturing global value chains (GVCs) rose from 44.8% in 2000 to 47.8% in 2014. Exceptionally, China’s labour share rose from 43.0% to 50.4%, underscoring how government policy can influence distributional outcomes.

Besides exporting primary commodities, by participating in GVCs, some developing countries now produce intermediate manufactures, typically with imported inputs and equipment. Meanwhile, South-South trade has also increased.

From the 1980s, much of international trade growth was contributed by East, including Southeast Asia, accounting for growing shares of world output and manufactured exports. By 2016, East Asia accounted for over two-thirds of manufactured exports by developing countries.

“Asia alone accounted for about 88 per cent of developing country gross exports of manufactures…, and for 93 per cent of South–South trade in manufactures, while East Asia alone accounted for 72 per cent of both.”

Services: great new hope
UNCTAD’s report acknowledges that services, particularly those enabled by digital technologies, offers new opportunities for development. However, while the trio claim that opening up e-commerce would generally lift living standards, ostensibly because medium and small enterprises would benefit, UNCTAD notes e-commerce is dominated by a few giant transnationals.

The advantages conferred by intellectual property monopolies, incumbency, resources, name recognition and ‘network effects’ favour ‘winner-takes-all’ outcomes, strengthening domination of e-commerce, software, payments and others by a few large corporations. In 2014, for example, the top 1% of exporting firms accounted for 57% of exports (besides oil, gas and services), the top 5% for more than 80%, and the top quarter for almost all.

‘Big data’, secured by providing services to users, have been very profitably used by ‘free’ digital service providers. By 2015, 17 digital giants accounted for a quarter of the market capitalization of the top 100 transnational corporations.

The UNCTAD report suggests three policy measures to address digital service providers’ profitable abuse of ‘big data’. First, privacy laws must require ‘informed consent’ before collecting and using data from digital users.

Second, appropriate ‘anti-trust’ and competition policy measures should minimize ‘restrictive practices’ and other such abuses by monopolies and oligopolies. Third, effective digital policies involving data localization, data management flows, technology transfer, custom duties on electronic transmissions and other such measures can help increase gains.

Development, not liberalization
Trade liberalization has undoubtedly had varied consequences, and may well undermine a country’s development prospects, food security and more. With trade liberalization, the main benefits often chiefly accrue to powerful transnational corporations and their business partners.

Meanwhile, employment generated in developing countries has often been seen as being at the expense of rich country workers displaced by the internationalization of GVCs. In the face of such challenges, appropriate and pragmatic government interventions have helped increase gains, reduce costs and develop economies.

As UNCTAD highlights, “Developing countries will need to preserve, and possibly expand, their available policy space to implement an industrialization strategy”. But such options for development diminish as economies liberalize indiscriminately, praying for the best.

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Young students take part in Tsunami evacuation drills in Bali, Indonesia. Credit: UNDP Asia-Pacific

By Asako Okai
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 5 2019 (IPS)

Once considered rare in their occurrence, in the last 10 years tsunamis have struck nearly every year: from Samoa to Chile, and from Iceland to New Zealand.

Usually triggered by a massive earthquake which is impossible to predict, there is often very little time to respond to a tsunami warning. Yet, if the warning is clear and people know what to do, thousands of lives can be saved.

As we mark World Tsunami Awareness Day November 5, I’d like to express my appreciation to the Government of Japan for supporting the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in raising tsunami awareness among school children in disaster prone countries in Asia and the Pacific.

In Japan, every school child knows what a tsunami is, and how to respond to it. Now, through this initiative, Japan’s good practice and experience is helping school children in the region learn and improve their preparedness.

Under the three-year partnership until mid-2020, at least 10-12 schools each in 23 tsunami prone countries would have updated their preparedness plans and tested them through drills.

To date, we have already trained over 100,000 students and teachers from about 250 schools in 19 countries. Preparedness plans have been updated, School Committees have been set up, evacuation routes have been identified – and in some instances newly built – and safe evacuation zones have been designated.

What started off as strengthening school preparedness has gone beyond expectations in many countries. I’d like to elaborate by sharing four country examples.

In Indonesia, one of the most tsunami prone countries in the world, we held our very first drills under this initiative. The drill was in a school in Bali, right in the middle of a highly urbanized locality.

Since the latest risk assessment had shown that the school premises would get inundated in the event of a tsunami, students were made to evacuate and move to higher ground – in this case to the roof of a six-storey hotel.

The drill resulted in creating awareness on the need for providing a safe evacuation area and led eight hotels in the locality to sign agreements with the local government offering their space for safety to the local school children and neighbouring communities.

In the Pacific Ocean, the terrain in Gizo, Solomon Islands looks quite different from Bali, with the sea on one side and steep hills on the other. Fifty two children and adults had lost their lives in the 2007 tsunami that had hit the island.

The school drills exposed the lack of preparedness and new evacuation routes were constructed to help students safely escape to higher ground. The National Disaster Management Organisation is now committed to scaling up drills in other vulnerable islands.

The reality in the Maldives is yet again unique. The 2004 tsunami swept over nearly all the atolls. Unlike other countries, there were no waves, rather it was as if the low-lying islands were sinking.

Survivors do not wish to recall the devastating memories and most of the young people have little or no knowledge of a tsunami. The safest evacuation is by boat and by moving to higher ground – in this case a building that may not be higher than two-storeys. Most islands have only one school, so our preparedness initiative helped to educate the entire community.

Typhoons and storm surges hit the Philippines, often creating tsunami like waves with very little warning. While earthquake drills are regularly conducted, our tsunami preparedness initiative has spurred the government to combine earthquake with tsunami drills.

Together with Government agencies and local partners, we’ve held several drills in disaster prone provinces reaching 60,000 students and teachers in the country.

Based on the positive feedback of the preparedness initiative from students, teachers and communities in various countries and our own experiences, we have developed a regional guide for schools to help them to be prepared so that we can scale up awareness and preparedness in more at risk schools.

With new students entering school every year, strengthening school preparedness helps us to build resilient generations.

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Excerpt:

Asako Okai is UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of UNDP’s Crisis Bureau

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Freedom House president Mike Abramowitz warned of online propaganda and disinformation spreading ahead of elections in 24 countries this past year. Credit: Erick Kabendera/IPS

By James Reinl
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 5 2019 (IPS)

Using armies of online fans, trolls and, automated ‘bots’, the world’s authoritarians and populists are increasingly using the web to drown out opponents and swing public opinion and elections their way, a new study says.

The Freedom on the Net report, compiled annually by Freedom House, a United States government-funded research group, confirms the fears of many online activists and paints a bleak portrait of how the internet is straining democracies.

The 32-page document, released Tuesday and titled “The Crisis of Social Media” found that more than half of the world’s 3.8 billion web users live in countries that censor the internet and use pro-government trolls to manipulate the online realm.

Freedom House president Mike Abramowitz warned of online propaganda and disinformation spreading ahead of elections in 24 countries this past year. The group assesses web freedom in 65 countries that host 87 percent of the world’s web-users.

“Governments are finding that on social media, propaganda works better than censorship,” Abramowitz said in a statement. 

“Authoritarians and populists around the globe are exploiting both human nature and computer algorithms to conquer the ballot box, running roughshod over rules designed to ensure free and fair elections.”

Researchers found that officials had worked with celebrity yes-men, business titans and semi-autonomous “online mobs” to spread clickbait, conspiracy theories and misleading memes from “marginal echo chambers to the political mainstream”.

The report spotlights Brazil, where Jair Bolsonaro’s presidential election win in October 2018 was preceded by misleading news, anti-gay rumours and doctored images being spread by the right-winger’s fans via YouTube and WhatsApp, researchers said.

In Egypt, the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi blocked some 34,000 websites to stifle debates about whether el-Sisi should be allowed to hold power until the end of 2030 ahead of an April referendum, the report said.

Hundreds of thousands of online trolls spread fake news to swing voters behind two main parties in April-May elections in India this year, it added. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “NaMo” app was reportedly relaying users’ data to a private analytics firm.

The world’s two biggest economies — the United States and China — come in for special scrutiny.

In the U.S., much like in the 2016 presidential election that brought Donald Trump to power, online trolls spread “disinformation” during the November 2018 mid-term vote and during the confirmation process for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. 

Meanwhile, U.S. immigration officials are increasingly demanding access to the mobile phones and laptops of visitors and snooping on immigrants’ social media feeds, operating with “little oversight or transparency”, the report says.

China remains the “world’s worst abuser of internet freedom” — a title it has held for four consecutive years, and where a phalanx of online commentators known as the 50 Cent Army pushes government messages online.

Beijing clamped down harder on web users ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre on Apr. 15 and got tighter still in the face of ongoing anti-government protests in Hong Kong, the report says.

Adrian Shahbaz, the group’s research director for technology and democracy, warned that even governments of smaller economies can now afford large-scale “advanced social media surveillance programs”.

Last month, Facebook sued NSO Group, an Israeli surveillance firm, for using the WhatsApp messaging service to hack the phones of some 1,400 dissidents, journalists, diplomats, officials and others for their clients, understood to be governments and spy agencies.

“Once reserved for the world’s most powerful intelligence agencies, big-data spying tools are making their way around the world,” said Shahbaz. “Even in countries with considerable safeguards for fundamental freedoms, there are already reports of abuse.”

Researchers noted that officials in 47 countries, armed with such sophisticated web-snooping tools, had arrested web users between June 2018 and May 2019 for posting political, social or religious messages online.

“The future of internet freedom rests on our ability to fix social media,” said Shahbaz. 

“Since these are mainly American platforms, the U.S. must be a leader in promoting transparency and accountability in the digital age. This is the only way to stop the internet from becoming a Trojan horse for tyranny and oppression.”

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Zimbabwean smallholder farmer relies on weather information via his mobile phone to aid his cropping activities. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Gareth Willmer
Nov 4 2019 (IPS)

People living in Africa are charged an average of 7.1 per cent of their monthly salary for a gigabyte (GB) of mobile data, more than 3.5 times the threshold considered affordable.

That’s according to a report by the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), which classifies the affordable rate as 2 per cent of monthly income. It finds that progress towards competition is stalling across low- and middle-income countries amid consolidation between mobile and internet operators.

The trend threatens to jeopardise the push towards affordable internet access for all, with half the world’s population still unable to connect. Even though the 50 per cent mark was reached at the end of last year, that’s still far short of the UN’s goal of universal access.

The trend threatens to jeopardise the push towards affordable internet access for all, with half the world’s population still unable to connect. Even though the 50 per cent mark was reached at the end of last year, that’s still far short of the UN’s goal of universal access

The 2019 Affordability Report, published on 22 October, estimates that people in countries with low levels of mobile and internet competition pay about US$3.42 per gigabyte (GB) of data more than those in competitive ones. This premium, says A4AI, is “unaffordable” for many people in low-income countries.

A4AI estimates that 1GB of data costs $7.33 more in a country with a monopoly market than one with two mobile operators — with an estimated 260 million people worldwide having access to just one operator, and 589 million living in low-competition countries.

The impact of limited competition is substantial in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where that price equates to about 5.8 per cent of average monthly income.

In a range of countries that A4AI tracked for affordability between April and June 2019, African nations made up the bottom 13, with the price for a gigabyte in those countries at 10 per cent of average monthly income or more. The figure was as high as 26 per cent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and more than 20 per cent in the Central African Republic and Chad.

 

Lack of competition

Less than half (65 out of 136) of the low- and middle-income countries studied in the report have fully competitive markets, says A4AI. “This trend underlines the urgency of promoting competition to support healthy markets that provide affordable internet access,” it adds. “Policymakers and regulators must work to encourage competition and support new entrants.”

Dhanaraj Thakur, research director at the World Wide Web Foundation, which runs A4AI, believes competition must be boosted through regulation to encourage new entrants, more options for public internet access and joint initiatives between the public and private sector, and municipally owned or community networks.

Villages or groups of villages can set up their own not-for-profit networks with services that are relevant to them, Thakur suggests, pointing to examples such as the Zenzeleni community-owned network in rural South Africa.

“Access to broadband internet is still too expensive,” he says. “One of the ways to help reduce costs is through greater competition and a greater mix of solutions… We believe not enough is being done in that regard.” This requires a concerted push from governments, he adds.

 

Moving forward

Although progress is slow, Thakur says governments are gradually adopting policies and affordability is improving. The report names Cameroon and Mali among countries that have helped boost affordability with new national broadband plans.

Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu at the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States says the world has seen “tremendous advances” in digital technology, but that millions of people are being “left behind”.

 She calls for support for the world’s poorest countries to form policies, regulations and projects to foster internet access and adoption. “We know all too well that internet access and use significantly shape human, social and economic conditions,” she said.

Claire Melamed, CEO of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, says it is vital that “technological advancement doesn’t reinforce disadvantage”.

“Giving people visibility and opportunities to connect with others and make their voice heard are an important part of human and economic progress,” she said. “It’s not easy for overstretched governments to grapple with complex regulatory environments, but coordinated policies and approaches are needed to make a reality of the push to ‘leave no one behind’.”

 

This story was originally published by SciDev.Net

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By Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations*
BANGKOK, Thailand, Nov 4 2019 (IPS)

We are facing tense and turbulent times around the globe. Rising inequality is a danger everywhere. Trade and technology tensions are building. Growth forecasts are being revised down. Unease and uncertainty are going up. This is a global phenomenon. No region is immune.

As I said at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, I see another concern emerging on the horizon, the possibility of a Great Fracture – with the two world’s largest economies splitting the globe into two – each with its own dominant currency, trade and financial rules, its own internet and artificial intelligence capacities, and its own zero sum geopolitical and military strategies.

We must do everything possible to avert this Great Fracture and maintain a universal system – a universal economy with universal respect for international law; a multipolar world with strong multilateral institutions.

I firmly believe the nations of ASEAN are well-positioned to play a key role in the solution of this question. I fully appreciate ASEAN’s steadfast support for multilateralism and a rules-based international order.

We are also grateful for the collective contribution of more than 5,000 peacekeepers to UN operations, including a growing number of women.

Strong economic development in ASEAN countries has improved lives and lifted millions out of poverty. But it is important to recognize that there are still people being left behind.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is our shared blueprint for a fair globalization. Yet our world is far off track in meeting the Goals. Together, we have identified many complementarities between ASEAN’s Vision 2025 and the 2030 Agenda.

The United Nations stands ready to support ASEAN to urgently accelerate progress across all the SDGs, in particular through our collective efforts on peace and justice, decent work and climate action.

I know you also keenly understand the interconnections of the climate crisis with sustainable development, peace and human security. Indeed, the climate emergency is the defining issue of our time.

Four of the ten countries most affected by climate change are ASEAN Member States. This region is highly vulnerable, particularly to rising sea-levels, with catastrophic consequences for low-lying communities, as recently published research illustrated.

Seventy percent of global population that will be more affected by rising sea-levels are in countries both within ASEAN and countries that will be represented at summits later this week.

I thank you for your important contributions to September Climate Action Summit. If our world is to avoid climate catastrophe, far more is needed by all to heed the call of science and cut greenhouse emissions by 45 percent by 2030; reach carbon neutrality by 2050; and limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century.

I have been strongly advocating for more progress on carbon pricing, ensuring no new coal plants by 2020, and ending the allocation of trillions of dollars of taxpayers’ money for fossil fuel subsidies that serve only to boost hurricanes, spread tropical diseases and heighten conflict.

I am particularly worried about the future impact of the high number of new coal power plants still projected in some parts of the world, including several countries in East, South and South East Asia.

At the same time, developed countries must fulfil their commitment to provide $100 billion a year from public and private sources by 2020 for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.

I count on your leadership to undertake the concrete actions necessary to confront the world’s climate emergency. We are closely following the work of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights as well as ASEAN’s Commission on the Rights of Women and Children, that have our full support.

The United Nations will continue to work with ASEAN in key human rights areas such as freedom of expression, the right to a healthy environment and conducting business in a way that fully respects human rights – a very important initiative by Thailand recently.

We look forward to ASEAN’s further efforts to deepen trust in the region towards sustainable peace, security, and complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

I remain deeply concerned about the situation in Myanmar, including Rakhine State, and the plight of the massive number of refugees still living increasingly in difficult conditions.

It remains, of course, Myanmar’s responsibility to address the root causes and ensure a conducive environment for the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable repatriation of refugees to Rakhine State, in accordance with international norms and standards.

To facilitate dialogue with refugees and pursue confidence building measures.
To ensure humanitarian actors have full and unfettered access to areas of return, as well as communities in need;

To approve without delay Quick Impact Projects focused on livelihoods, infrastructure, basic services and protection; to allow for a rapid solution for those still internally displaced in the country.

All these steps are in line with the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State which needs urgent follow-up in its entirety. I welcome ASEAN’s recent engagement with Myanmar and encourage its continued efforts.

In the broader region, I am encouraged by ASEAN Member States and China’s ongoing efforts to conclude a Code of Conduct on the South China Sea.

The United Nations has consistently called on all parties to resolve disputes through peaceful dialogue, in accordance with international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Finally, the United Nations will also continue to provide technical support for ASEAN’s comprehensive strategies for counter-terrorism and preventing violent extremism, including by involving women, youth and civil society.

Let me conclude by once again expressing my great appreciation for our Comprehensive Partnership.

Together, let us keep building on this vital partnership to ensure dignity and opportunity for the people of the ASEAN region and beyond.

*Excerpts from an address to the ASEAN Summit on ‘Advancing Partnership for Sustainability’ in Bangkok, Thailand last week.

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By External Source
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 2 2019 (IPS)

“Without journalists able to do their jobs in safety, we face the prospect of a world of confusion and disinformation”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned in a statement released ahead of the International Day to End Impunity Against Journalists, which falls on 2 November.

“When journalists are targeted, societies as a whole pay a price”, added the UN chief. “Without the ability to protect journalists, our ability to remain informed and contribute to decision-making, is severely hampered”.

 

Killings and attacks on the rise

A new study from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, underscores the risks that journalists face, showing that almost 90 per cent of those found responsible for the deaths of more than 1,100 of them, between 2006 and 2018, have not been convicted.

The deadliest countries for journalists, according to the statistics, are Arab States, where almost a third of the killings took place. The Latin American and Caribbean region (26 per cent), and Asian and Pacific States (24 per cent) are the next most dangerous.

The report, “Intensified Attacks, New Defences”, also notes that killings of journalists have risen by some 18 per cent in the past five years (2014-2018), compared to the previous five-year period.

The deadliest countries for journalists, according to the statistics, are Arab States, where almost a third of the killings took place. The Latin American and Caribbean region (26 per cent), and Asian and Pacific States (24 per cent) are the next most dangerous.

Journalists are ofen murdered for their reporting on politics, crime and corruption, and this is reflected in the study, which reveals that, in the past two years (2017-2018), more than half of journalist fatalities were in non-conflict zones.

In his statement, the Secretary-General noted the rise in the scale and number of attacks on journalists and media workers, as well as incidents that make their work much harder, including “threats of prosecution, arrest, imprisonment, denial of journalistic access and failures to investigate and prosecute crimes against them”.

A high-profile example is the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017. The case is being followed by independent UN human rights expert Agnès Callamard, among others, who has suggested that too little has been done by the Maltese authorities to investigate the killing.

On Friday, as Haiti continued to face a protracted, violent crisis that has led to the deaths of some 42 people, and 86 injured, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on all of those involved in the violence to refrain from targeting journalists, and respect the freedom of the media to do its job: at least one journalist is among those killed, and nine other reporters have been injured, according to Ms. Bachelet’s Office (OHCHR).

 

Keep Truth Alive

This year UNESCO has launched the #KeepTruthAlive social media campaign, which draws attention to the dangers faced by journalists close to their homes, highlighting the fact that 93% of those killed work locally, and featuring an interactive map created for the campaign, which provides a vivid demonstration of the scale and breadth of the dangers faced by journalists worldwide.

The Day is being commemorated with a flagship event in Mexico City next week on 7 November – an international seminar entitled “Strengthening regional cooperation to end impunity for crimes and attacks against journalists in Latin America” – and events are also taking place in 15 other countries, including an exhibition of press cartoons, under the headline: “Draw so as not to write them off”, at UN HQ in New York, which honours the memories of French journalists Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, murdered in Mali on 2 November 2013.

This story was originally published by UN News

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By Maged Srour
ROME, Nov 2 2019 (IPS)

Each year 100 journalists are killed in the course of their work. Nine out of 10 cases remain unresolved.
On Nov. 2 the United Nations recognises the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is concerned that impunity damages societies by covering up serious human rights abuses, corruption, and crime.

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Drone visual of the area in Upper East Region, Ghana prior to restoration taken in 2015. Experts say that Africa’s youth need to become involved in land restoration projects. Credit: Albert Oppong-Ansah /IPS

By Diana Wanyonyi and Nalisha Adams
ACCRA, Ghana/JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Nov 1 2019 (IPS)

The last time Siyabulela Sokomani ran a marathon he did so with a tree strapped to his back. A native wild olive sapling to be exact. It affected his race time for sure, with the seasoned runner completing the 42.2 km race in 4.42 hours rather than his usual 3.37 hours.

But the entrepreneur, who is co-owner of the ethical South African nursery Shoots and Roots, which uses controlled release fertilisers, which are less harmful to the environment, and 70 percent less pesticides, was doing it for a good cause.

The #runningtreecampaign — a fundraising effort by the non-profit Township Farmers which Sokomani started with children’s rights activist Ondela Manjezi — was raising funds to plant some 2,000 indigenous trees in the former apartheid black housing area of Khayelitsha. In addition to planting trees, Township Farmers also educates school kids about gardening their own vegetables and how to plant and take care of trees.

Sokomani grew up in Khayelitsha an area known for the distinctive white, beach sand — in which you can still find seashells — which serves as soil. It’s an environment in which only indigenous plants can flourish.

Under apartheid these areas received little or no services, and had no green spaces. And many still lack this. It was only thanks to a teacher who taught him and his classmates about the importance of the environment, recycling and growing your own food that Sokomani pursued studies and eventually a career in horticulture.

“There was nothing. There was not even a culture of planting trees. The main thing that people strived for was to get a job and to feed their families,” he tells IPS.

So Sokomani and his friends and colleagues hit the pavement, completed the Cape Town marathon and raised the money for the indigenous trees. They have already started planting them in schools in Khayelitsha — starting with Sokomani’s alma mater, Zola Senior Secondary School.

Dotted around the schools are now wild olive, sand olive and silver oak trees, among others.

In September, horticulturalist and entrepreneur Siyabulela Sokomani (right) and friends ran the Cape Town marathon with wild olive saplings trapped to their backs to raise funding for 2,000 indigenous trees which planted in the disadvantaged township of Kayaltishea, South Africa. Courtesy: Siyabulela Sokomani

Making a business out of land restoration

The 34-year-old Sokomani, who was elected as a youth ambassador leading restoration initiatives by the 4th African Forest Landscape Restoration (AFR100), has just returned from Ghana’s capital, Accra, where the annual meeting concluded this week.

His attendance at AFR100, a project where African countries have committed to restore over 111 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, was important. As an entrepreneur Sokomani was there to show other African youth how to create viable business opportunities within the land restoration space.

Shoots and Roots has a number large clients in South Africa, regularly providing 150,000 to 200,000 indigenous trees to single clients in one order, and with a capacity to grow one million trees.

“We are missing something. We are missing the youth being actively involved in the management side of things,” Sokomani pointed out.

The AFR100 Secretariat at the African Union’s development agency, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), coordinates restoration activities on the continent, with support from the initiative’s technical partners, including the Center for International Forestry Research, United Nations Environment and World Resources Institute (WRI), among others.

Land degradation remains a threat to global security, according to the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, with two-thirds of Africa comprising desert or drylands. UNCCD figures show that in 2019 some 45 million people across Africa, mostly from East and Southern Africa, are food insecure.

Aside from restored land providing food security, the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released in August states that better land management can help combat global warming and limit the release of greenhouse gases. The report authors recommended vigorous action to halt soil damage and desertification.

Engaging the energy and innovation of Africa’s youth

But many believe that without engaging the youth in these activities, success may not be possible.

“We have to engage young people meaningfully, invest in them. We need to harness their energy or get out of the way. Are we ready for these young people?” Wanjira Mathai, co-chair of the World Resources Institute’s Global Restoration Council and the current Chair of of the Wangari Maathai Foundation, told the meeting. Mathai’s mother was the late Wangari Maathai — the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and an environmentalist and human rights activist.

Speaking to IPS, Mathai said that youth were an “incredibly important demographic in this restoration movement” as they were Africa’s largest demographic. Some 60 percent of Africa’s population is under the age of 25.

“If you don’t work with youth, who are you working with because they are after all the majority.

“Restoration and many environmental initiatives are very slow and deep because they take time, it takes 30 years for some trees to mature and that is fast in our tropics, it could be even longer — 90 years in Scandinavia. The generation that is actually going to deliver a lot of these ambitions and ambitious commitments that are being made today are the youth,” Mathai told IPS.

She said young people “want to be involved in entrepreneurship ventures many of them are environmentalists but we have not created spaces for them, we only often think they are too young”.

Mathai said that it was not obvious to many nations that the youth should be involved in land restoration and environmental efforts and that new and innovative ways needed to be explored to support youth engagement.

“What we know for sure is that if we leave them out, we leave them out at our own peril because they are energetic, they think differently and they are operating on a completely different level of consciousness that is needed especially for this decade that 2013 is end of a lot of different ambitious targets,” Mathai told IPS.

According to the African Development Bank, 420 million of the continent’s youth aged 15 to 35 are unemployed.

Creating jobs by financing entrepreneurs

This challenge can be solved if the youth venture into agroforestry, says Honorine Uwase Hirwa, founder Rwanda’s Youth Forest Landscape Restoration initiative, which has trained more than 15,000 young Rwandans to plant trees.

“There’s an opportunity especially on this restoration movement, one can establish a tree nursery, one can plant fruit trees and sell the fruit, there is a lot of opportunity when it comes to restoration it’s a matters of empowering them with knowledge and making it easy for them to access the finance,” she told IPS.

Sokomani agrees.

As a South African in the Western Cape province, where only 4,9 percent of agricultural land is owned by the black population, for Sokomani it was particularly hard to succeed in a business that requires land.

But Sokomani has not received bank or grant funding for his business and instead was able to make a success of the business, thanks to the involvement of a business partner and former client, Carl Pretorius.

But he tells IPS, “you won’t get anywhere unless you have a passion for trees…it’s all about the passion and what you do”.

Land restoration more than planting trees

“Forest landscape restoration is more than just planting trees,” Mamadou Diakhite, Sustainable Land and Water Management (SLWM) team leader at NEPAD, told the meeting.

Later, he told IPS why this had to be differentiated: “We had to  make this statement loud and clear because there are some papers now including scientific papers that are being written and disseminated that portray and show AFR100 initiative as only planning trees, fencing them and preventing communities and people to access it which is the exact opposite, that’s is why we say that restoration is beyond only tree planting. It is more about agro forestry and agro ecology systems.”

Mathai concurred: “Sometimes there are agro forestry which are food production and trees and sometimes they are purely for food production. It is about understanding the landscape, the mosaic of the landscape and then maintaining the integrity of the landscape as a whole. The reason you hear us mentioning that all the time is to remind ourselves that landscapes occur in mosaics.”

Horticulture — a business opportunity right in front of you

For Sokomani, the type of trees planted remains important. He said that while we often hear about large, bold initiatives of forests of trees being planted in a single day, he questioned the types of trees planted.

“If we don’t create entrepreneurial opportunities through the establishment of nurseries that are growing [indigenous] trees and, in some areas, [indigenous] grasslands and bulbs and plants that actually thrive in those areas, we are really going to be messing up,” the horticulturist said.

He said he heard of land restoration efforts where the Chinese Popular, a non-indigenous tree, was being used. “You can’t restore degraded land with exotic species.”

He said indigenous trees should also be grown and propagated among local communities and the resultant horticultural enterprises could also prevent migration of local populations to larger cities.

“For the youth out there in Africa, Asia and South Africa, I always say it is very easy to start a horticulture business because your initial inputs are right in front of you. You can get seeds from a tree, from your block or from a forest, you can do division, you can do many other propagation techniques that you actually just start your business,” he said.

Sokomani said that if someone didn’t study horticulture like he did it would require a little bit of effort to learn the techniques, but he insisted that he didn’t believe in the myth of “green fingers” and anyone could learn to propagate and grown plants.

This weekend the horticulturist/marathon runner will slip into on running shoes and participate in one of South Africa’s well-known races – the Soweto marathon. This time though, he will be doing it without a tree strapped to his back.

“Let’s start today, because we really don’t have time when it comes to mitigating climate change.”

Related Articles

• Desertification a Frontline Against Climate Change: IPCC
• Desertification Costs World Economy up to 15 trillion dollars – U.N.
• Displaced by the Desert: An expanding Sahara leaves Broken Families and Violence in its Wake

The post Africa’s Youth make Land Restoration their Business appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Protests in Egypt. Credit: @oxfamNovib

By Ine Van Severen
JOHANNESBURG, Nov 1 2019 (IPS)

2019 has been a year of protest. From Algeria, to Chile, to Hong Kong, ordinary people have taken to the streets to voice their dissatisfaction with governance systems. Their causes are as diverse as the people pouring into the streets.

Public grievances range from corruption, anti-austerity measures, and electoral irregularities. The reasons for the mass mobilisations may differ, but the response by those in power are becoming alarmingly similar.

In far too many countries, the response has been to shut down the space for people to organise and to persecute those calling for change.

The new civic space watchlist by the CIVICUS Monitor shines a spotlight on Hong Kong, Colombia, Egypt, Guinea and Kazakhstan where there are escalating rights violations against activists, journalists and civil society groups.

In particular, this shortlist profiles a sample of countries where there are serious and ongoing attacks against the freedoms of peaceful assembly, expression and association.

In Hong Kong, there has been a continued deterioration of civic space since millions of people took to the streets on 9th June 2019 to protest against a proposed extradition bill, which would allow individuals, including foreigners, to be sent to mainland China to face trial in courts controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

In response to weekly protests, human rights groups have documented excessive and unlawful force by security forces against protesters with impunity, including the use of truncheons, pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets. Journalists have also been targeted.

More than 1,300 people have been arrested in the context of the mass protest and some activists have also been attacked by pro Beijing mobs.

In Egypt, recent anti-government protests resulted in mass arrests and the use of excessive force by the authorities. Thousands of people have been arrested since the protests started in September, including journalists, human rights lawyers and activists. Many of those arrested have been charged on dubious grounds of using social media to spread false news, aiding terrorist groups and for participating in unauthorised protests.

The crackdown has also expanded to target the political opposition and anyone deemed to be connected to protests dating all the way back to 2011.

In Guinea, tensions have been on the rise since Guinea’s ruling party made a public call to change the constitution, which could abolish presidential term limits. The West African country is set for 2020 presidential elections and the current president, Alpha Condé, is not eligible under the current 2010 constitution.

During three days of protests in October against the proposed constitutional changes, at least nine people were killed and several protesters and protest leaders arrested. According to human rights organisations in Guinea, the plans for a new Constitution may destabilise the country and lead to renewed violence.

Since presidential elections this past June in Kazakhstan, human rights abuses have hit a new high in the former Soviet state. Post-election protests have seen police and special forces detain several thousand peaceful protesters, often with excessive force.

In addition, the authorities have obstructed the work of journalists and electoral observers, as well as periodically blocking access to social media and messenger applications. The repression has cast a shadow on the elections and the beginning of Tokayev’s period in office.

Colombia is the fifth country on the Monitor Watchlist, which remains one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a human rights defender. Dozens of community leaders have been killed this year as well as 7 political candidates running for local office in an election campaign marked by violence. Impunity for such crimes has been the rule.

The country is further backsliding into violence as post-conflict communities are left vulnerable to dissident armed groups and commanders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announce their intentions to take up arms again, nearly three years after the historic peace accord with the Colombian government was signed.

While protests flare in all regions of the world, it is of utmost importance that people are able to freely express dissent without authorities using excessive force against them. Instead of using violence against protesters and restricting fundamental freedoms, governments should seek solutions by listening to the grievances of ordinary citizens and dissenting voices.

The post The Rapid Decline in Civic Freedoms: 5 Countries to Keep an Eye on appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Ine Van Severen is Civic Space Researcher at CIVICUS

The post The Rapid Decline in Civic Freedoms: 5 Countries to Keep an Eye on appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By African Development Bank
Oct 31 2019 (IPS-Partners)

• Bank’s capital base more than doubles. Jumps from $93 billion to $208 billion
• Largest capital increase in the Bank’s history signals a united front by shareholders

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 31 October, 2019 – At an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting today in Abidjan, Governors of the African Development Bank, representing shareholders from 80 countries, approved a landmark $115 billion increase in capital for the continent’s foremost financial institution.

The capital increase, the largest in the history of the African Development Bank since its establishment in 1964, is a remarkable show of confidence by shareholders.

With the approved increase, the capital of the Bank will more than double from $93 billion to $208 billion. This solidifies the Bank’s leadership on development financing for the continent.

The boost in capital ensures that the Bank will continue to maintain a sterling AAA rating, all stable, from the top rating agencies.

The African Development Bank launched discussions on the request for a general capital increase two years ago, to help fast track the delivery of its High 5 development strategies, the sustainable development goals and the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the President of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara said: “the integration of the continent’s priorities into the High 5s indicates that the African Development Bank group is a strategic partner for African governments.”

In the past four years, the Bank’s High 5 priorities have delivered impressive results on the ground, including helping to connect 16 million people to electricity, 70 million people provided with agricultural technologies to boost food security; 9 million people given access to finance through private sector investee companies; 55 million people provided improved access to transport services; and 31 million people with access to water and sanitation.

According to African Development Bank President, Akinwumi Adesina,  “We have achieved a lot, yet there is still a long way to go. Our responsibility is to very quickly help improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. This general capital increase represents a very strong commitment of all our shareholders to see better quality projects that will significantly have an impact on the lives of the people in Africa –  in cities, in rural communities, and for millions of youth and women.”

With the new general capital increase, the Bank plans to do more, with the following expected results: 105 million people to have access to new or improved electricity connections; 244 million people to benefit from improvements in agriculture; 15 million people to benefit from investee projects; 252 million people to benefit from improved access to transport; and 128 million people to benefit from improved access to water and sanitation.

Adesina noted that “the Bank will continue its leadership role on infrastructure development, strengthening regional integration, helping to realize the ambitions of the African Continental Free Trade Area, supporting fragile states to build resilience, ensuring sustainable debt management, addressing climate change and boosting private sector investments. We will do a lot more. This is a historic moment.”

He added: “I applaud the shareholders for their strong confidence in the Bank and for boosting support for Africa’s development”.

President Adesina, Bank senior vice-president Charles Boamah and vice president for Finance and African Development Bank Chief Finance Officer Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala, will be available for interviews and further comment about the increase.

Contact: Victor Oladokun, Director, Communications and External Relations Department, African Development Bank, email: v.oladokun@afdb.org

 

 

The post African Development Bank Shareholders approve landmark $115 billion capital increase, signalling strong support appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Child labour is a cancer in Nigeria, with children engaged in domestic labour, forced begging, quarrying gravel and armed conflict. Credit: Tobore Ovuorie and Yemisi Onadipe/IPS

By Tobore Ovuorie and Yemisi Onadipe
LAGOS, Nigeria, Oct 31 2019 (IPS)

“Human trafficking is when someone is taken from Nigeria to another country to be a prostitute. Or, to do other illegal jobs that are not good for humanity,” said Kingsley Chidiebere, a commercial motorcycle rider in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos.

He is one of the over 27 Nigerians interviewed so far by IPS who thinks human trafficking is when a “lady goes to Europe to prostitute herself”.

Though a father himself, Chidiebere, like others interviewed, does not know that children are trafficked to other countries and within Nigeria as well.

Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) April to September 2018 report indicates females are the overwhelming majority of identified victims in Nigeria. According to the report, most rescued victims are now from Kano State, closely followed by Edo State. Credit: Tobore Ovuorie and Yemisi Onadipe/IPS

Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), founded in 2003 in response to the country’s high rate of human trafficking, said while most of the victims of trafficking here are women, children and men now make up a significant portion of trafficked victims compared to a decade ago.

• In a 2014 report,  NAPTIP said children comprised 28 percent of detected victims, and men, 21 percent. 
• NAPTIP said that the two most-reported human trafficking cases here include cases where women are prostituted internationally and the employment of children as domestic workers. In many cases these child labourers also suffer physical abuse. 

Human trafficking and modern day slavery involve the illegal trade of people for exploitation or commercial gain and is a $150 billion global industry.

Two thirds of this figure — $99 billion — is generated from commercial sexual exploitation, while another $51 billion results from forced economic exploitation, including domestic work, agriculture and other economic activities. 

Nigeria remains a source, transit and destination country when it comes to human trafficking. Credit: Tobore Ovuorie and Yemisi Onadipe/IPS

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its 2016 Global Report On Trafficking In Persons says globally more than 500 different trafficking flows were detected between 2012 and 2014.

• In Nigeria, 42 percent of detected victims between 2012 and 2014 were adults, with the remaining numbers accounting for children.
• The UNODC reports 69 countries reported to have detected 21,251 victims from Sub-Saharan Africa between 2012 and 2014. Nigeria had 1,030 detected trafficking victims. Of these, 322 were adults (61 males, 261 females) and 708 were children (458 boys, 250 girls).
• “More recently, reports have surfaced that children in northern Nigeria are being forced by the terrorist group Boko Haram to carry out suicide attacks, the ultimate form of exploitation.
• “Earlier this year, UNICEF reported that suicide attacks by Boko Haram rose 11-fold from 2014 to 2015, and that 20 percent of the attacks were committed by children as young as eight,” the report stated.

Barrister Julie Okah-Donli, the Director General of NAPTIP said parents who give their children away to work as domestics are endangering them. She warned that these kids end up in the hands of human traffickers. 

The 2018 Global Slavery Index Report reveals Nigeria ranks 32/167 of the countries with the highest number of slaves. The report indicates Nigeria produces no fewer than 1,38m slaves. According to Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the average age of trafficked children in Nigeria, is 15. Credit: Tobore Ovuorie and Yemisi Onadipe/IPS

Nigeria’s government agency responsible for tackling trafficking reported in 2016 that 75 percent of children trafficked within the country are trafficked across states, while 23 percent of the kids are trafficked within states. Only two percent of those who are trafficked are trafficked outside the country. The boys in the yellow and pink shirts are pictured transporting goods from the market during school hours. Credit: Tobore Ovuorie and Yemisi Onadipe/IPS

In 2006, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) report indicated child trafficking was the third-most common crime in Nigeria after drug trafficking and economic fraud. UNESCO highlighted Nigeria’s gross poverty, corruption, conflict, climate change/resulting migration and Western consumerism as factors which increase vulnerability to being trafficked in the country. The boys in the yellow and pink shirts are pictured transporting items they had begged for from the market during school hours. Like most trafficked children they don’t understand or speak English. These boys spend their days begging for money and food. Credit: Tobore Ovuorie and Yemisi Onadipe/IPS

In January, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released a report stating that the number of modern day child slaves constitute almost one-third of all global victims. A young boy works at a shop during school hours selling palm oil from morning to night for the ‘madam’ he works for. He said she brought him to Lagos from a village and away from his family. Where the village from where he comes is, he doesn’t recall. When asked by IPS, he said he did not know his age. Credit: Tobore Ovuorie and Yemisi Onadipe/IPS

 

A report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) reveals shocking statistics: 99 percent of the 4.8 million victims of commercial sexual exploitation in 2016 were women and girls, with one in five being children. The young girl pictured here has never been to school and has marks from flogging over her hand. She timidly tells IPS that rice fell on her hand, but the signs of beating are clear. She lives with the person for whom she sells rice for and does not know her age. Credit: Tobore Ovuorie and Yemisi Onadipe/IPS

The Global Slavery Index reveals women and girls represented 84 percent of the 15.4 million people in forced marriages, and 59 percent of those in private, forced labour. The Index maintains that modern day slavery is most prevalent in Africa with Nigeria being one of the leading countries where the practice thrives. Africa, has no fewer than 9.24 million modern day slaves with an average vulnerability score of 62/100. When young women and children are trafficked to Lagos from Northern Nigeria, mostly Kano and Kaduna state, they have no where they sleep. Often their traffickers make them sleep in the streets and beg for money which they hand over to the person who trafficked them. Credit: Tobore Ovuorie and Yemisi Onadipe/IPS

—————————————–

The Global Sustainability Network ( GSN ) is pursuing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 8 with a special emphasis on Goal 8.7 which ‘takes immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms’.

The origins of the GSN come from the endeavours of the Joint Declaration of Religious Leaders signed on 2 December 2014. Religious leaders of various faiths, gathered to work together “to defend the dignity and freedom of the human being against the extreme forms of the globalisation of indifference, such us exploitation, forced labour, prostitution, human trafficking” and so forth.

Related Articles

• Why Prosecuting Human Traffickers in Nigeria is Nothing More than a Mirage
• Beaten and Tortured for a Ransom, Lured by the Promise of a Livelihood
• Human Trafficking – It Came Disguised as the Opportunity of a Lifetime

The post Locked Out – Nigeria’s Trafficked Children Have Never been to School appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

This is part of a series of features from across the globe on human trafficking. IPS coverage is supported by the Riana Group.

The post Locked Out – Nigeria’s Trafficked Children Have Never been to School appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The Providencia Solar company inaugurated in 2017 is the first photovoltaic power plant in El Salvador, in the central department of La Paz. With 320,000 solar panels, it is one of the largest solar installations in Central America, whose countries are making efforts to transition their energy mixes to renewable sources. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

By Luis Felipe López-Calva
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 31 2019 (IPS)

The UN Climate Action Summit 2019, which took place in the days leading up to the 74th UN General Assembly, delivered new pathways and practical actions for governments and private sector to intensify climate action.

Among these, it recognized that the path towards protecting our planet requires a fundamental change in terms of how households, and the society as a whole, produce and consume electricity.

Despite important efforts, we are still not moving slowly in terms of investments in clean energy. According to the International Energy Agency, in 2018 alone global energy-related CO2 emissions rose 1.7 percent to a historic high, driven by higher energy demand.

This #GraphForThought looks at how Latin America and the Caribbean generates and consumes energy, and outlines some elements of the way forward for LAC energy markets.

It highlights that while LAC is a region whose contribution to global carbon emission from energy generation has been relatively low (contributing to less than 8% of total emissions worldwide), it has contributed significantly to the solution by moving firmly into more renewable sources of energy.

Luis Felipe López-Calva

Energy needs to be transformed in order to be useful. Primary sources of energy – those found in nature such as coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear fuels, the sun, wind or rivers – need to be transformed into electricity (a so-called secondary source) to be used by industry, households, services and transportation, among other things.

Additionally, electricity cannot yet be stored at a large scale: it is either used or lost. The process of electricity generation produces a series of effects that inevitably have an impact on people and the environment, albeit some more than others.

That is, social and environmental impacts differ if electricity is generated by burning coal, inundating a valley, or building a wind farm, with effects varying from greenhouse gas emissions, displacement of local populations, and disturbances to local ecosystems (i.e. wind farms threaten flying wildlife).

The goal in energy planning is to balance benefits and costs, aiming ideally to find mechanism that internalize the environmental impact (either through markets or through regulation, both of which require effective governance: clear, stable and credibly enforced rules).

So, how does LAC fare in terms of its energy use? According to a widely used index, the “energy intensity indicator”, LAC is the most efficient region in the world when it comes to energy use.

This index captures the amount of energy needed to generate one dollar of product or service. LAC is also becoming more efficient over time, with the index falling in past years, suggesting that the region is doing relatively more with less energy.

To a large extent due to the presence of large hydroelectric power generators, 52% of LAC’s energy came from renewable sources (by 2013). This is almost three times higher than the global average of 22% and has been increasing steadily over the past two decades

This involves clearly many challenges ahead. Among the most pressing is related precisely to the impact of climate change on renewable energy generation: hydropower may be a highly efficient renewable energy system, but it is becoming less reliable due to changing weather patterns.

This has been exacerbated by the effect of the El Niño and La Niña phenomena, which strongly influence rain levels in the region. In parts of South America, these lead to reduced rains and to droughts that hinder the capacity to generate electricity from hydro sources, resulting in a need to increase the generation of electricity based on fossil fuels to be able to meet growing demands.

In other parts of the region, namely the deepest southern end of the continent, these phenomena produce extreme increases in rain, resulting in an unprecedented increase of water levels that affect families and lead to high vulnerability for the populations.

It is also crucial to understand the distributional impacts of continuing the transition towards renewable sources of energy in LAC. Energy transitions will have unequal distribution of their costs and benefits, particularly for communities that depend on traditional energy infrastructure for their livelihoods.

Rising fuel prices can also trigger protests, as we have seen in various countries in the region including Brazil, Mexico, and most recently Ecuador (although, in this case, the rise in price was not explicitly due to a transition to renewable sources but its was clearly related to “pricing the carbon right”, by the phasing out of fuel subsidies).

Inclusiveness and affordability, as well as a comprehensive understanding of winners, losers, and potential instruments for compensation and mitigation, will be critical components for a sustainable transition.

So, what is the future of energy in LAC? While hydropower will continue to be the largest energy source in the region for a while, exploiting its complementarities with other renewable energy sources will be key to ensure sustainability.

This change is facilitated by the fact that technological advances have allowed for a reduction in cost and improvement in efficiency of using these renewable sources (solar and wind, for example). Countries addressing diversification efforts are working to create the enabling policy and regulatory environments for other renewable sources –such as wind and solar– to flourish.

For example, recent auctions in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and Peru have helped to accelerate the deployment of thousands of megawatts of wind and solar energy in the region. Opportunities for investments are vast.

Promoting the use of clean energy in efficient ways is a critical objective in our fight against climate change. LAC has been at the forefront in the use of renewable sources, being a relatively low carbon emitter.

However, there are challenges ahead, with the regional demand for energy expected to keep growing as countries develop and poverty levels fall. Investments and changes in the policy environment will be needed to continue to transition towards sustainable renewable sources of energy.

As Nick Stern has stated recently: if we get it right, clean energy –and climate action in general– is the inclusive growth story of the twenty first century.

The post Going with the Wind: Transition to Clean Energy in Latin America & the Caribbean appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Luis Felipe López-Calva is UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean

The post Going with the Wind: Transition to Clean Energy in Latin America & the Caribbean appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The Pacific island is one of the countries worst affected by sea-level rise. Credit: UNICEF

By Farhana Haque Rahman
ROME, Oct 31 2019 (IPS)

Barely a week passes without alarming news of the most recent scientific research into the global climate crisis compounding a growing sense of urgency, particularly the impact on small island states from rising sea levels and extreme weather.

Latest findings suggest that several hundred million more people than previously thought are at risk of coastal flooding due to climate change. Climate Central, a non-profit research and news organisation, found data used in past calculations overstated the elevation of many low-lying coastal communities.

And for the people of the Bahamas who had just endured Hurricane Dorian, the most intense tropical cyclone on record to hit their islands, it came as little surprise when the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) soon after released its landmark special report on the planet’s oceans and frozen regions, warning of “multiple climate-related hazards” for coastal regions.

“The ocean is warmer, more acidic and less productive,” the IPCC report stated.

The “Blue Pacific” concept sees the island states establishing themselves as “large ocean states” and guardians of the region rather than “small island states”

Oceans are absorbing heat twice as fast as just two decades ago, with hundreds of billions of tonnes of melting ice raising sea levels at an average rate of 3.6 millimetres a year, more than twice as fast as during the last century.

If greenhouse gas emissions “continue to increase strongly”, the IPCC report said, then levels could rise more than a metre by 2100.

Some island states in the Pacific face becoming uninhabitable. As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted while visiting Tuvalu, the sea level rise in some Pacific countries is four times greater than the world average, posing “an existential threat” to several island states.

Against this background the UN COP25 climate change summit scheduled to be held in Santiago in December had been dubbed the Blue COP, with expectations of a focus on the oceans and commitments of aid to poorer nations most at risk. So it comes as a serious blow that President Sebastian Pinera has just announced that Chile is calling off its hosting of COP25 because of mass anti-government protests rocking the country.

While the UN anxiously looks for an alternative venue (and Santiago had been the second choice after Brazil’s newly elected president, Jair Bolsonaro, pulled out of hosting it), the small island states of the Pacific will be making their voices heard as they seek to confirm themselves in the role of custodians of the world’s largest region.

It is an existential struggle but it is not a blame game however.

Farhana Haque Rahman

As Micronesia’s President David Panuelo declared last week in The Diplomat: “Rather than point fingers, we must all point the way toward solutions.”

“No single country created this problem, and certainly a small country like ours is bearing far greater responsibility for the solution than we ever contributed to the crisis in the first place. But we sit shoulder to shoulder in a coalition which has set a goal of growing economies while achieving 30 percent marine protection globally,” he wrote in a plea for action to save the oceans.

“Everyone must do more when garbage patches larger than entire countries float in the Pacific, and rising carbon dioxide levels increase ocean acidity and devastate coral reefs and marine life.”

The Pacific Community, the principal scientific and technical organisation in the region and founded as the SPC in 1947, counts 22 Pacific island countries and territories among its members who see themselves as the “tip of the spear” in terms of the impacts of climate change and their efforts to adapt.

SPC has recently established the Pacific Community Centre for Ocean Science (PCCOS) to provide the framework to “focus its scientific and technical assistance on providing solutions that will build, sustain, and drive blue economies in Pacific Island countries and territories” and support SDG 14 of conserving and sustainably using oceans and marine resources.

The SPC’s new and growing Pacific Data Hub is a public resource of data and publications on the Pacific across key sectors, from education and human rights to oceans and geoscience.

Such initiatives reflect how Pacific Island states have grown more assertive in their diplomacy, becoming more active in global multilateral forums and using their voices and votes for increased leverage rather than the old reliance on support from Australia and New Zealand.

The “Blue Pacific” concept sees the island states establishing themselves as “large ocean states” and guardians of the region rather than “small island states”. As stewards of the Pacific with their cultural identity shaped by the ocean, the Blue Pacific framework seeks to establish leadership on issues, with smart policies backed by scientific expertise and data.

As Micronesia’s president has reminded us, the climate crisis is neither abstract nor “tomorrow’s faraway challenge”. It is happening now and as the IPCC’s special report on the oceans and cryosphere warned in September the crisis is gathering speed, as seen in the recent acceleration of sea level rise.

In Antarctica the rate of ice loss tripled in the decade 2007-2016. May and August in 2019 were the warmest on record for the Arctic while this year saw the summer minimum extent of sea ice reaching a joint-second lowest in 40 years of satellite records.

As summarised by Carbon Brief, the IPCC warns that this accelerating ice loss, and the more rapid sea level rises it causes, will continue to gather pace over this century regardless of whether greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. The “likely” maximum rise of 1.1 metres by 2100 is some 10cm above the top-end estimate from its previous estimate, while a rise of 2 metres cannot be ruled out.

Such warnings were intended to provide input at COP25 for world leaders who face mounting calls to adopt more ambitious goals for carbon emission cuts. Those negotiations will not be happening in December in Santiago after all. An alternative must be found urgently.

The post Red Alert for Blue Planet and Small Island States appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Farhana Haque Rahman is Senior Vice President of IPS Inter Press Service; a journalist and communications expert, she is a former senior official of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The post Red Alert for Blue Planet and Small Island States appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Old taxi Park in Uganda's Capital Kampala. Credit Wambi Michael/IPS

By External Source
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 31 2019 (IPS)

Over half of the world’s population now live in cities, with numbers expected to double by 2050, but while urbanization poses serious challenges, cities can also be powerhouses for sustainable development; something the UN is spotlighting on World Cities Day, marked 31 October. 

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) will host a celebration at its Paris Headquarters on Thursday, convening representatives from all corners of the world for discussions on how cities can combat the climate crisis, create more inclusive urban spaces, and contribute to technical innovation.

Cities provide a wealth of opportunities, jobs included, and generate over 80 per cent of gross national product across the globe, according to UN estimates. Urban areas also account for between 60 and 80 per cent of all energy consumption, despite only occupying three per cent of the planet’s surface and are responsible for three quarters of all greenhouse gas emissions

 Cities provide a wealth of opportunities, jobs included, and generate over 80 per cent of gross national product across the globe, according to UN estimates. Urban areas also account for between 60 and 80 per cent of all energy consumption, despite only occupying three per cent of the planet’s surface and are responsible for three quarters of all greenhouse gas emissions.

In addressing these pros and cons, the Organisation has advocated for a “people-centred” development model, and aims to “re-humanise cities” in the face of trends impacting them, from population growth, demographic shifts, and increasing the risk of disasters induced by climate change.

This year’s theme: “Changing the world: innovations and better life for future generations” spotlights the role of technology and young people in building sustainable cities. To do so, Thursday’s commemorative event will be organized along four key discussion themes: ‘Cities 4 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’, ‘Cities 4 Climate Action’, ‘Cities 4 Communities’, and ‘Cities 4 the Future’.

In line with its multidisciplinary mandate, UNESCO’s 2004 Creative Cities Network continues to harness the various ways cities spanning the globe are placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans.

From gastronomy in Tucson, Arizona, to design in Nagoya, Japan, the network engages 180 cities in total, which integrate creative approaches in their development plans. See the complete list of cities, and their creative undertakings here.

For World Cities Day this year, UNESCO is partnering with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), UN-Habitat, and refugee agency (UNHCR) to amplify the concerted action of the United Nations for cities alongside their planners and other urban players.

The UN-proclaimed World Day serves as a call for States, municipalities and city dwellers to work together for transformative change and sustainable strategies for cities, as urbanisation continues to swell.

 

This story was originally published by UN News

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By Emilio Godoy
VILLA DE ZAACHILA, Mexico, Oct 30 2019 (IPS)

The sun’s rays are also used to cook food and thus replace the burning of firewood and gas, improve the health of local residents and fuel the energy transition towards the use of renewable sources – the objectives of an enterprise in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Sponsored by the Washington-based non-governmental organisation Solar Household Energy (SHE), women from 10 communities have received some 200 solar cookers, including residents of the municipality of Villa de Zaachila, which has about 43,000 inhabitants.

Solar cookers function as a sort of greenhouse that cooks food by concentrating heat. They are are low-tech devices that use reflective panels to focus sunlight on a pot set in the middle.

 

 

The pot “uses as fuel the sun’s rays, which are totally free, are 100 percent clean, do not emit carbon dioxide and thus promote the energy transition. The technique foments women’s empowerment, makes it possible to cook healthy foods and keeps women from inhaling smoke from burning firewood,” explains Margarita Christlieb, SHE’s representative in Mexico.

In 2004, the first attempts began to distribute solar cookers in Oaxaca. In 2008, activists created the initiative “Solar energy for mobile food stalls in Mexico”, sponsored by three Swiss institutions: the Geneva city government, the SolarSpar cooperative and the non-governmental organisation GloboSol.

In 2016, SHE initiated a pilot project in indigenous communities to evaluate how well the solar cookers had been accepted.

The four-litre pot, which has a useful life of between five and 10 years, costs about 25 dollars, of which SHE covers half and the beneficiaries the other half.

Some 19 million of Mexico’s 130 million people use solid fuels for cooking, a practice that led to an estimated 15,000 premature deaths in 2016 from the ingestion of harmful particles, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

The main material consumed by 79 percent of these households is LPG, followed by wood or charcoal (11 percent) and natural gas (seven percent).

In Oaxaca, gas and firewood each account for 49 percent of household consumption, with other fuels making up the rest. It is one of the three Mexican states with the greatest energy poverty, defined as more than 10 percent of a household’s income spent on energy.

The promoters of the initiative are betting on expanding the delivery of the devices. But to do so they need government and private support, as part of a broader policy fomenting the use of solar energy.

 

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By African Development Bank
ABIDJAN, Cote d’Ivoire , Oct 30 2019 (IPS-Partners)

The Board of Governors of the African Development Bank will hold its fifth extraordinary meeting on Thursday, 31 October 2019, at the Sofitel Abidjan, Hotel Ivoire. During the meeting, the Bank’s shareholders will make signification decisions, and a major announcement is expected.

The Board of Governors of the Bank represents the 80 members, including 54 countries of the African continent, and 26 across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

About the Bank

The African Development Bank was established in 1964 by 33 African countries, many of which had only just achieved independence. Their objective was to have an African development finance institution to manage African issues and under African control, a role the Bank has effectively played since its inception. The Bank currently has 80 member countries, including the 54 states of the African continent, and 26 across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Apart from the Bank’s unique and central role in Africa’s economic transformation, it has several comparative advantages, with considerable experience and skill in: investing in quality infrastructure, strengthening Africa’s private sector, promoting regional integration, strengthening economic governance; and mobilizing development funds for Africa.

Media Contact: Alkassoum Diallo, Communication and External Relations Department, African Development Bank, email: a.a.diallo@afdb.org

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Justin Sandefur is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD). Julian Duggan is a research assistant at the Center for Global Development.

By Justin Sandefur and Julian Duggan
WASHINGTON DC, Oct 30 2019 (IPS)

Leading economic indicators have slowed or reversed. Criticisms of official statistics are mounting. But the IMF and World Bank continue to forecast 6-percent growth by simple extrapolation.

As of late last year, official data suggested India was the fastest growing major economy in the world. But serious doubts have begun to emerge about the true state of the economy.

The head of the government’s own think tank has expressed alarm at a liquidity crisis that he called “unprecedented in the last 70 years,” and analysts are debating the causes and depth of an ongoing economic slowdown.

Nobody was surprised earlier this month when the World Bank lowered its 2019 growth projection for India to 6 percent from 7.5 percent just four months earlier, and the IMF followed suit, dropping its 7 percent forecast from July down to 6.1 percent.

But given the state of affairs in India’s economy to date in 2019, the immediate question for the World Bank and IMF isn’t why they lowered their forecasts, but why they still remain so high.

The dramatic slump in non-GDP indicators
We looked at the growth of leading economic indicators from official Indian government sources for April to September 2019, which corresponds to the first six months covered by the IMF’s new forecast.

Several key indicators are not just slowing, but in absolute decline, including non-oil imports (-6.6 percent in current dollars), non-oil exports (-1.6 percent in current dollars), and the index of production of capital and infrastructure goods (-3.5 percent up to August 2019).

Other indicators show positive growth, but far below the 6 percent benchmark that the World Bank and IMF project for the economy as a whole: the aggregate index of industrial production is up just 2.5 percent, the index of manufacturing output up just 2.1 percent, and receipts from the goods and services tax are up just 1.6 percent in real terms. Growth in toothpaste sales is slowing, car sales have declined for 11 consecutive months, and reports suggested declines in underwear sales.

India: IMF growth forecast versus early 2019 indicators

The IMF’s 2019 growth forecast for India looks optimistic given other key indicators for the first half of the fiscal year

Note: Growth of non-oil imports and exports are expressed in current US dollars, downloaded from the government of India, Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics. GDP is measured in real Indian rupees, deflated with the official CPI. The 2018 growth rate is taken from the World Bank WDI. The index of industrial production is taken from Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and ends in August rather than September 2019.

The failure of GDP to track imports has been cited as evidence of manipulation of official growth rates, particularly in the case of China.

A recent paper by John Fernald, Eric Hsu, and Mark Spiegel of the San Francisco Fed shows that the correlation between GDP and imports is higher in countries with better statistical systems (0.9 for the U.S.), and that imports—which can be verified using the export data of third parties—are a better predictor of other leading economic indicators than is GDP in China’s case.

In India’s case it is not just imports, but also exports, industrial production, tax revenues, and the banking system all pointing in the same downward direction.

New data, new doubts
The latest indicators from April to September 2019 reinforce doubts about India’s official GDP that made a big splash in Delhi earlier this year.

In June, Arvind Subramanian, former Chief Economic Advisor to the government of India and our former colleague here at the Center for Global Development, published a Harvard working paper (and a follow-up paper) suggesting that technical changes in national accounts methodology in 2011 had led India to significantly exaggerate its official GDP growth rate ever since. Rather than 7 percent growth from 2011-12 through 2016-17, Subramanian suggested the true rate might have been closer to 4.5 percent.

That discrepancy is, as they say, big, if true.

Official government of India sources dismissed Subramanian’s analysis out of hand, and some independent analysts have questioned whether the recent divergence of GDP growth from growth in other indicators was a sufficient basis to abandon the official figures.

But other analysts have looked at the data and reached broadly similar conclusions as Subramanian. Whichever numbers you believe, the core mystery posed by Subramanian remains: How is India growing so fast if, as the government’s own statistics show, a long list of other major economic indicators have slowed or even reversed?

Any errors in India’s data are baked into IMF and World Bank forecasts

Suppose, just for the sake of argument, that Subramanian’s concerns are justified, and that actual growth has been considerably slower than reported growth.

Wouldn’t independent analysis by the World Bank and IMF serve to ’fact check’ the government of India’s numbers?

It seems not.

The problem is that, rather than examining independent indicators of economic activity, the Bretton Woods’ forecasts appear to be based primarily on (a) extrapolation of the official growth figures, and (b) some subjective adjustment based on staff’s assessment of policy changes.

The details of the IMF’s growth forecast methodology are not publicly documented, but in response to a query, the IMF noted that the India forecast takes into account data from the first quarter of 2019—i.e., an official growth rate of 5 percent—combined with the IMF staff’s assessment of recent policy moves, including more accommodating monetary policy from the Reserve Bank of India and a cut in the corporate income tax rate.

While reasonable on its face, this approach is extremely vulnerable when confronted with erroneous official numbers. If the growth series up to 2019 is mis-measured, then all those errors are going to be directly baked into the IMF forecast as well.

With trade volumes shrinking and indicators of real economic activity slowing to a crawl, it might be time for the IMF and World Bank to ask some harder questions. India no longer relies on the Bretton Woods institutions for any meaningful share of its financing needs, but if these DC institutions have one thing to offer Delhi, it should be an impartial, technically sound perspective on economic reality.

That reality suggests that Indian growth is in barely positive territory, while the IMF-World Bank forecasters appear too timid to tell the emperor he has no clothes—not to mention cars, toothpaste, or underwear.

The post If India Stopped Growing, Would the IMF and World Bank Say So? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Justin Sandefur is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD). Julian Duggan is a research assistant at the Center for Global Development.

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Medina of Fez in Morocco is a UNESCO World Heritage Site frequented by tourists.

By Hugo Bourhis
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 30 2019 (IPS)

The crème de la crème of Hollywood was in Marrakech, Morocco, for the wedding of British movie star Idris Elba in April this year. Elba tied the knot with his Canadian model girlfriend, former Miss Vancouver Sabrina Dhowre, at the Ksar Char-Bagh hotel, an exquisite Alhambra-style hotel.

Kenyan-Mexican Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, American actress Jessica Alba, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and others have all embraced the glamour of the rose-coloured city of Marrakech and its plethora of tourist attractions, including the vibrant Jemaa el-Fnaa square and the picturesque Majorelle Garden.

Morocco draws tourists from the far corners of the world. They may be seen strolling along the Corniche in Casablanca—an oceanfront boardwalk lined with restaurants, nightclubs, theatres and hotels—or dining at one of the small cafés in the quiet city of Azemmour—a short day trip or overnight jaunt from the big city.

Adil El Fakir, director of the Moroccan National Tourist Office (ONMT), says that over 12 million tourists visited Morocco in 2018, of whom 2.4 million headed for Marrakech.

Morocco’s tourist attractions include the spectacular beaches of Essaouira, an Atlantic coastal town included on the World Heritage List of UNESCO since 2001, and the country’s mountains, particularly the Atlas and the Rif.

“Tourism is a terrific land-use tool, and our territory is rich in its activities, its landscape, its heritage, its culture and its gastronomy,” declares Mohamed Benamour, a former president of the Morocco Tourism Federation.

A cultural crossroad
The country is also a cultural hub, reflecting the diversity of its inhabitants’ national origins: sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and the Middle East. This crossroads attracts fashion designers, artists, filmmakers and other cultural tourists.

In 2017, for example, a museum on the international luxury fashion house Yves Saint Laurent opened in Morocco. “Marrakech taught me colour. Before Marrakech, everything was black,” Saint Laurent once noted.

Over 50 Hollywood motion pictures have been shot in the country, including Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much; Lawrence of Arabia, directed by David Lean; Orson Welles’ Othello; Jesus of Nazareth, directed by the late Franco Zeffirelli; and the latest James Bond movie, Spectre.

The country is also becoming a major hub for international conferences due to its proximity to Europe, Middle East, the Americas and the rest of Africa. The country recently hosted the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which brought about 20,000 participants to Marrakech.

Last year, the Global Forum for Migration and Development and the conference on the adoption of the Global Compact for Migration were held in Marrakech and attracted representatives from most UN member states and nongovernmental organizations.

In March the city hosted the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development on “fiscal policy, trade and the private sector in the digital era: a strategy for Africa”, which was organized by the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

This year, UNESCO’s first International Forum on Artificial Intelligence in Africa and the Africa Youth Leadership Summit, among other events, will take place in Marrakech. These international conferences shine a spotlight on the country while contributing to the economy.

Tourism revenues account for 11% of total GDP, according to the tourism ministry. Industries in the sector, such as air and land transport, food service and hospitality, generate significant employment opportunities for young people. Morocco was the most visited country in Africa in 2016, with 10.3 million tourist arrivals.

Despite the potentials in the tourism sector, climate change effects threaten to put a dampener. In 2015, for example, Morocco’s economic growth nosedived to 1.5% due to drought, according to the World Bank. To address the situation, the country is constructing the world’s largest desalination plant, which turns seawater into drinking water, in Agadir, near the Atlantic coast.

It has also set ambitious goals that focus on, among others, generating 52% of its electricity needs from renewables by 2030 and improving coastal zone management.

Regulatory reforms introduced in 2010 are bringing Morocco closer to its goal of making the country one of the world’s 20 leading tourist destinations by 2020. Its 10-year plan, dubbed Vision 2020, is aimed at creating eight new tourist destinations and 470,000 new jobs while doubling tourist receipts.

That goal is within reach, it seems. The country has set its sights on a good slice of the 1.4 billion global tourists traveling abroad annually, many of whom are Chinese. Following Moroccan king Mohammed VI’s visit to Beijing in 2016, the number of Chinese arrivals in Morocco skyrocketed to 180,000 in 2018, up from 42,000 in 2016.

By 2020 Morocco hopes to reach the 500,000 mark, according to the Moroccan National Tourist Office, a wing of ONMT.

Investing in tourism
Massive investments in new infrastructure, such as new airport terminals, roads and railways, and the relaxed visa requirements for citizens of some countries, such as China, are two factors in Morocco’s success.

Thanks to the new airport terminal in Casablanca that was opened earlier in 2019, the airport can now handle up to 14 million passengers a year, up from 7 million. Another newly built terminal in the Rabat-Salé Airport can now handle 4 million passengers a year, up from 1.5 million.

Investments in airport infrastructure have had a domino impact on the broader economy. For example, the Rabat airport expansion is transforming the neighbouring city of Kenitra into a fast-growing industrial hub, attracting international companies such as Groupe PSA, the French company that manufactures Peugeot and Citroën.

“[The economic growth of] Kenitra has exceeded our expectations,” says Moulay Hafid Elalamy, minister of industry, investment, trade and the digital economy.

With improving infrastructure, safety and security, Morocco is on its way to becoming a premier destination for an increasing number of tourists.

This article was first published by Africa Renewal.

The post Africa Watch: Morocco Tourism Gains Momentum appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Africa Renewal, United Nations*

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Credit: World Bank, Indonesia

By Andrew Bovarnick
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 29 2019 (IPS)

The annual rhythm of the United Nations year peaks with the General Assembly in September. One month on, it’s a good time to reflect on this year’s gathering which was remarkable for its focus on fighting climate change, the transforming effect of one 16 year old girl telling it like it is, and the way people heard her words in a way they haven’t heard before.

“People are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing, we are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth”

The world has heard many comprehensive scientific explanations of what we need to do to combat global heating. All of those were many times longer than the 495 words that Greta Thunberg used in her speech to delegates, and yet her words had a galvanizing effect on everyone who heard them, and she is spurring more people to act with a sense of urgency that was never triggered by thousands of pages of carefully argued science. Why are so many people hearing these messages as if for the first time?

The reasons behind this are important to explore and should cause us to think about how we try to bring about change in the world. They are embedded in human psychology, and can help us learn how our messages are received by those we would wish to influence.

Understand these human foundations, and we will understand why sometimes our climate change arguments hit home, and sometimes they seem to hit a wall. It’s all to do with calm, clear messaging, which can arise from within, as it seems to for Greta, or for the rest of us through the use of mindfulness techniques to calm ourselves before we speak.

Andrew Bovarnick holds Sustainable Development Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts at the Good Growth Conference (Peruvian Amazon, May 2019).

We need to light a fire under the seats of decision makers. Greta has sparked the flame but we must learn how to keep it burning brightly. Extinction Rebellion is certainly fanning the flames but what can we as development practitioners do to keep up the momentum?

A calm and direct voice helps us to hear these messages better than the raised voices in a high-volume argument. Research has found that the human ear closes down to reduce the volume of strident speech, so a measured approach cuts through more effectively than raised voices.

Note how Extinction Rebellion, though determined to get their point across, are unfailingly polite and forever apologizing for the disruption they cause. Getting the tone of voice right – and using techniques such as meditation to build audible compassion and empathy with our audience – helps people to feel safe and truly hear the message.

How can we do this?

In UNDP’s Green Commodities Programme we have developed a series of carefully designed processes that bring all the relevant stakeholders together into carefully curated safe spaces where people can explore differences, find common ground and build sustainable commodity solutions together.

We call it Multistakeholder Collaboration For Systemic Change. It instils trust amongst stakeholders, builds resilience to external shocks, and produces a community of stakeholders that can calmly hear each other’s ideas and problems.

If we are to take the actions we must take to combat climate change, we need not only to change what we do, but also consider how we think and speak. And we must create collaborative spaces where we can be calm and feel safe if we are to truly hear each other’s solutions.

The post How Can We All Hear That the World is on Fire? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Andrew Bovarnick is Lead Natural Resource Economist and Global Head of UNDP’s Green Commodities Programme

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Phlida Kharshala of Meghalaya's Khasi indigenous community and her 8-year-old grandson sell mushrooms in Shillong city, India. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS

By Manipadma Jena
SHILLONG, India, Oct 29 2019 (IPS)

The sun has barely risen when Phlida Kharshala shakes her 8-year-old grandson awake. He hoists an empty cone-shaped bamboo basket on his back, sets the woven strap flat across his forehead and off they go into the wilderness.

By the time they reach the V-crossing at Mawpat Circle, mothers are walking children to school, while others are on their morning walk. They are all Kharshala’s prospective customers.  She quickly lays and smoothens a tattered sackcloth on the asphalt and out come mushrooms from the cone basket. Raw sienna, purple-grey, snow white, dried white, funnel shaped – jostling in tiny heaps.

“Come post-monsoon it’s mushroom time,” the 60-year old grandmother of six tells IPS in this street corner of Shillong city — perched 1,525 metres above sea level in the Indian Himalaya’s north-east Meghalaya State.

“In my childhood women and girls would sally out in large groups singing loudly in the dawn to forage for mushrooms and many other wild greens, berries and roots, and the forests gave us plentifully,” the Khasi indigenous community matriarch explains.

Khasi women see the climate crisis as already upon us and are determined to not only bring back their traditional cuisine but also the wild edibles that made their sustainable food system so nutritious, chemical-free and virtually free of cost.

India’s northeastern region is one of the richest in biodiversity with vegetation ranging from a tropical rain forest in the foothills to Alpine meadows and cold deserts.

A little Khasi tribal boy peeks from behind a large variety of pickled chilly pepper, chopped bamboo-shoots, wild fruits and berries being sold along Assam to Meghalaya highway, northeastern India, as his mother attends to buyers. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS

“Older Khasi women’s knowledge about local agro-ecology is phenomenal,” says Bhogtoram Mawroh, senior researcher and knowledge manager at North East Slow Food and Agrobiodiversity Society (NESFAS), a Shillong–based organisation that runs multi-pronged programmes to enhance sustainability of local agro-biodiversity and supports family farmers, with the ultimate goal of achieving food sovereignty.

“Traditional ecological knowledge is equally important to modern science,” Mawroh tells IPS.  “Indigenous food systems are a good way to deal with the climate crisis because there is diversity of land and diversity of food crops not only the ones we grow but those that are in the wild, they have survived for hundreds of years and are more resilient to climate stress than the farmed crops,” he adds.

While generally dryland crops, krai  — or millets in the local Khasi language — are the heritage food of the indigenous people. It flourishes in Meghalaya’s heavy monsoons. Forty years back, each household in the Nongtraw village in East Khasi Hills district used to get an yield of around 500 kilograms annually, assuring food as well as nutritional security.

“Indigenous women too have been growing local crops, collecting and using variety of food and medicinal plants from forests. They are the seed keeper, the knowledge repositories of agro-ecology, best equipped to manage food security in tiles of climate change,” Mawroh says. Several of the wild foods have been successfully domesticated by women family farmers, he adds.

In Shkenpyrsit village in the West Jantia Hills district, recently Phron Kassar a 52-year-old woman farmer and a traditional healer concocted a strong pesticide from a plant the local community has been using for generations as a toothache cure. It has local anaesthetic properties, so Kassar deduced pests would not be particularly drawn to it if applied on plants. Now she trains others to make the concoction.

In other seasons Kharshala sells wild, hand-picked leafy greens; Jatira (Oenathe linearis) and Centella (Centilla Asiatica) which she sells tied in handful bundles with forest vines side by side with homestead-grown spinach (Spinacia Oleraca).

“These make my grandchildren strong and able to climb hills without tiring, but the youngsters are keener on non-traditional spicy, fried food they see on television and in markets today,” the Khasi grandmother says regretfully.

Jatira is rich in Calcium (24 milligram per 100 gram), Potassium (85mg) and Sodium (3mg) the latter two help prevent hypertension and arteriosclerosis and helping normal functioning of cardiac muscles and blood coagulation. Likewise Centella leaves that grandmother Kharshala sells, contains 15 mg of iron per 100 grams while the more widely used spinach contains just 3mg.

To bring back the traditional indigenous cuisine into favour with the youth, NASFES has begun monthly Mei Ramew or the Mother Earth local-food farmers market where women growers sell local fruits, vegetables, wild edible plants and other food while dishing out delicious recipes like blood rice – a cereal dish with chicken or pig blood or local strawberry dessert.

Also springing up are Mei Ramew Cafés  in villages set up by indigenous women who still cook traditionally. NESFAS is working with six Mother Earth cafes and their partners are working with three more. The society is also working with other shops that do not necessarily sell indigenous food — ones that mostly sell rice, meat, tea and usual packaged snacks — to upgrade their offerings.

“These are our efforts to advocate for our ancient chemical-free, healthy, local food,” Mawroh says.

“If we don’t have forests around our villages, our diets and our food won’t be there,” environmentalists in Meghalaya say.

In Khweng, a village in Meghalaya’s Ri-Bhoi district a boiling smoked beef aroma wafts in the air. Plantina Mujai (35) has already cooked the Jadoh Lungseij – Bamboo-shoot rice, a traditional late-monsoon staple that is harvested when bamboo shoots are abundantly sprouting in forest and farm hedges, that will be served with the beef. 

Hungry farm workers wait impatiently as Mujai adds pumpkin and wild Taro leaves, string beans to the now tender beef quickly stir-fried on high flames with sliced onion, ginger paste and a dash of black pepper.

At Dial Nuktieh’s Mother Earth Café in the same village rural customers ask for dry fermented fish boiled with luscious Roselle leaves plucked fresh from the wild, and garnished with black sesame powder.

Mother Earth Cafés — also known as Kong shops — are fast coming up in rural Meghalaya. Set up and run by indigenous women to popularise traditional cooking with traditional local ingredients, they are growing in popularity.

Kharshala cooks up a mouthwatering dish she loved as a child in order to entice her grandchildren to eat the greens, which the NESFAS survey found is sorely lacking even in adult diets in Meghalaya.

Adding onion, ginger and garlic paste and a dash of red chilly to hot oil, she fries them to a golden brown. Next some preserved smoked beef goes in while she finely chops healthy handfuls of jatira and jalei leaves stirring till the greens merge with the beef and the kids do not notice or object to it.

The Indian government’s 2019 Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment for the Indian Himalayan identifies three major drivers of vulnerability to climate change in Meghalaya. With 80 percent of livelihoods depending on agriculture, yield variability is a major risk especially because half the population lives below the poverty line.

Degradation and fragmentation of forests adds to their vulnerability as forest food constitutes a large supplement both in terms of income and nutrition.

“Discouraging shifting cultivation locally called ‘jhum’, the government is pushing indigenous people towards cash crops like areca nut and broom grass, hitting food security,” Mawroh says.

Researchers have now established that the food system contributes substantially to climate change.

Apart from deforestation, the biggest causes of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions globally are the use of fertilisers and rearing livestock, in the form of methane and nitrous oxide. Food miles in terms of transportation, refrigeration and packaging adds to the environmental impact from what we choose to put on our plate, according to Slow Food, a Piedmont-based global, grassroots organisation, that works to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how food choices affect the world around us.

The key to the solution say experts involves spreading the concept of zero food miles, where farmers and food producers sell their food to local consumers, tap into local biodiversity and grow chemical-free. All of which the indigenous women of Meghalaya are fighting to put in place within their families and community and beat climate change.

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