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Le commissaire à la Cohésion appelle à une réaffectation rapide des fonds de l’UE

Euractiv.fr - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 10:15
La Commission européenne a l’intention de profiter d’un prochain examen à mi-parcours des fonds régionaux pour consacrer davantage de dépenses aux « nouvelles priorités », selon le vice-président exécutif chargé de la Cohésion et des Réformes, Raffaele Fitto.
Categories: Union européenne

EU advisors push for integrating CO2 removal into EU carbon trading

Euractiv.com - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 10:14
This could create “an innovative financing model for scaling up removals" said board chair Ottmar Edenhofer.
Categories: European Union

How Tanzania’s Farmers, Pastoralists Paid the Price for a World Bank Project

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 10:01

The REGROW project, aimed at doubling the size of Ruaha National Park, has left many without land and prospects. Credit: Kizito Makoye/IPS

By Kizito Makoye
MBARALI, Tanzania, Feb 21 2025 (IPS)

A hush had fallen over Mbarali District, but it was not the quiet of peace—it was the silence of uncertainty.

Just months ago, the rolling plains were gripped by fear as government-backed rangers, dressed in olive green fatigues, roamed through villages, seizing cattle, torching homes, and forcing entire communities to the wobbly edge of survival. The REGROW project, a USD 150 million initiative funded by the World Bank to expand Ruaha National Park (RUNAPA), had promised tourism growth and environmental conservation. What it delivered was a brutal campaign of state-sanctioned land grabbing under the guise of protecting nature.

Then, in a stunning turn of events, the World Bank pulled the plug on the project in January 2025 after intense scrutiny from human rights watchdogs and the United Nations. On paper, it was a victory for the thousands of farmers and pastoralists whose lands were threatened. But for many, the damage had already been done.

A Victory Hollowed by Loss

“We lost everything,” said Daudi Mkwama, a rice farmer who watched helplessly as rangers confiscated his cattle and demolished his storehouse. “They told us we were trespassers on land our ancestors have farmed for generations.”

The REGROW project aimed to double the size of Ruaha National Park, claiming vast swaths of farmland and grazing land in the process. Villages that had coexisted with nature for centuries suddenly found themselves labeled as threats to conservation. The government, backed by international funding, deployed heavily armed TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks Authority) rangers to enforce new restrictions.

At least 28 villages in Mbarali District were affected, home to more than 84,000 people. Farmers were barred from their fields, and pastoralists were banned from grazing their livestock. Those who resisted faced brutal crackdowns. Reports of beatings, arbitrary arrests, and even extrajudicial killings surfaced, prompting an investigation by the World Bank’s Inspection Panel.

“One day, they came and took my cows—said I was grazing in a protected area,” said Juma Mseto, a Maasai herder. “We begged them to let us go. They just laughed and told us to go to hell.”

The Politics of Land and Power

Tanzania’s conservation model has long been marred by controversy. Despite its reputation as a wildlife haven, the country’s protected areas have historically come at a high human cost. The eviction of Indigenous communities has been a recurring pattern, from Ngorongoro to Loliondo, and now Mbarali.

The REGROW project was touted as a necessary step to protect Tanzania’s natural heritage and boost its tourism industry, a sector that contributes nearly 17% of the country’s GDP of approximately US$80 billion. But critics argue it was another case of conservation being weaponized against marginalized communities.

“This wasn’t about protecting nature,” said Onesmo Ole Ngurumwa, a human rights advocate who serves as the national coordinator of the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC). “This was about expanding state control over land, profiting from tourism, and sidelining the people who have lived in harmony with these ecosystems for generations.”

The World Bank’s involvement only deepened the controversy. When evidence of forced evictions and human rights abuses surfaced, the institution initially turned a blind eye. But mounting pressure from advocacy groups like the Oakland Institute, along with intervention from nine UN Special Rapporteurs, forced the bank’s hand.

In April 2024, funding was suspended. Seven months later, the entire project was scrapped.

Life After the Cancellation

Despite the decision, villagers say their suffering is far from over. Many who lost their homes and livelihoods have received no compensation. Schools remain closed, water access is scarce, and government beacons still mark the lands they were once told to vacate.

“We are still living in fear,” said Halima Mtemba, a mother of four. “They say the project is over, but will they return our cattle? Will they fix our schools? Will they give us back what they stole?”

Local leaders are calling for the removal of park boundary markers and official recognition of ancestral land rights. They also demand restitution for lost livestock, crops, and homes.

A Broader Pattern of Displacement

The battle over Mbarali is not an isolated incident. Across Tanzania, conservation projects continue to displace communities under the pretext of environmental protection.

In Ngorongoro, thousands of Maasai have been forced out to make way for elite tourism ventures. In Loliondo, violent evictions have turned vast grazing lands into private hunting concessions.

“The government has made it clear: it values animals over people,” said Maneno Kwayu, a pastoralist leader in Mbarali. “We are not against conservation. We are against being treated like intruders on our own land.”

Tanzania’s conservation policies are rooted in colonial-era frameworks that prioritized wildlife tourism over Indigenous land rights. Decades later, the same patterns persist, often with the backing of global financial institutions.

What Comes Next?

With the REGROW project dead, the focus now shifts to reparations. Human rights groups are pushing for an independent commission to oversee compensation and ensure the affected communities receive justice.

But there is little trust in the system.

“The World Bank may have walked away, but the government hasn’t,” said Ole Ngurumwa. “Until there are real legal protections for these communities, another project like this will happen again.”

For now, the people of Mbarali continue to live in limbo—celebrating a victory that came too late, in a battle they should never have had to fight.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 


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Categories: Africa

RDC : Les rebelles laissent des familles dévastées à la suite de leur avancée à l'est du pays

BBC Afrique - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 09:34
La BBC rencontre des habitants de Goma après la prise de contrôle par les rebelles et ceux qui sont contraints par le M23 de quitter les camps.
Categories: Afrique

OUADADA-Bénin inaugure deux nouveaux sites touristiques à Porto-Novo

24 Heures au Bénin - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 09:31

Le Président de l'Association OUADADA, Gérard Bassalé a procédé ce jeudi 20 février 2025, à l'inauguration de deux nouveaux sites touristiques à Porto-Novo, la capitale du Bénin. La cérémonie officielle de mise en service des deux ouvrages a été marquée par la présence de plusieurs personnalités dont Aurelle Cédric, représentant de l'Ambassadrice de France, le Directeur de l'Ecole du Patrimoine Africain (EPA), les représentants du Maire de la ville de Porto -Novo et du préfet du département de l'Ouémé.

La ville de Porto-Novo dispose depuis ce jeudi 20 février 2025, de deux nouveaux sites touristiques réalisés grâce à deux projets financés par l'Ambassade de France. Le premier est intitulé ''Valorisation du patrimoine culturel et parcours numérique connectés des places Vodun et des sentinelles du climat'' ; et le second, est relatif à la ''Réhabilitation et valorisation numérique du Jardin des Plantes et de la Nature''. Ces deux initiatives selon le Président de l'Association OUADADA, vont contribuer à l'attractivité de la ville capitale.

Caractéristiques des deux projets
Pour ce qui concerne les Sentinelles du climat, le Directeur du Centre Culturel Ouadada fait savoir que « 14 vidéos sont réalisées sur des articles et des œuvres des sentinelles du climat, sur l'histoire des quartiers, sur le changement climatique et sur la protection de l'environnement. A cela s'ajoute « un parcours aventure composé de 14 jeux interactifs virtuels et une quinzaine de plaques sur lesquelles sont imprimés des QR code contenant des données numériques, un espace aménagé et équipé de cinq tablettes pour diffuser les contenus du musée virtuel vodun ».
Du point de vue de la réhabilitation du JPN, Gérard Bassalé a fait le point de ce qui a été réalisé. Il s'agit d'après lui, de la charpente, la toiture et le plafond du bâtiment central qui sont réfectionnés, un espace multi media a été aménagé et équipé de 10 tablettes tactiles, une télévision 75 pouces, 20 vidéos sur les usages des plantes en médecine traditionnelle, 20 jeux interactifs pour sensibiliser les jeunes et les visiteurs à la préservation de l'environnement, et une vingtaine de plaques sur lesquelles sont imprimés les QR code contenant les données numériques.
Pour le représentant de l'Ambassadrice de France au Bénin, l'inauguration de ces deux nouveaux sites marque l'aboutissement d'un travail collaboratif exemplaire entre les deux parties. Il s'agit selon Aurelle Cédric, d'un travail qui incarne l'engagement commun des deux Etats pour la valorisation du patrimoine culturel et naturel, ainsi que l'innovation au service du développement durable. Le projet patrimoine 2.0 financé par l'ambassade de France au Bénin selon le représentant de l'Ambassadrice, s'inscrit dans une vision ambitieuse ; celle de « donner une nouvelle dimension au patrimoine béninois grâce aux technologies numériques ».
La cérémonie officielle d'inauguration s'est achevée par une visite sur le site des Sentinelles du climat en bateau solaire sur la promenade lagunaire de Porto -Novo.

F. A. A.

Quelques images

Categories: Afrique

Monténégro : l'impossible restauration de la mosquée Hajdar-pašina de Bijelo Polje

Courrier des Balkans / Monténégro - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 09:24

C'était une des plus prestigieuses mosquées du Monténégro, près de Bijelo Polje, détruite par les tchétniks durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. La population orthodoxe locale s'oppose à sa reconstruction, à moins d'un deal entre composantes bosniaques et pro-serbes de la majorité.

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Categories: Balkans Occidentaux

Europa bereitet sich auf ein „neues“ Deutschland vor

Euractiv.de - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 09:01
Der wahrscheinlichste Ausgang der deutschen Bundestagswahlen am kommenden Sonntag würde Berlin eine selbstbewusstere Rolle auf der europäischen Bühne verschaffen - auch wenn Europa im nationalen Wahlkampf eine untergeordnete Rolle gespielt hat.  
Categories: Europäische Union

Where do UN Member States Stand on a Feminist Secretary-General?

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 08:50

On 12 February 2023, UNA-UK launched Blue Smoke, a newsletter and website shining a light on senior UN appointments and elections.

By Mavic Cabrera Balleza, Ben Donaldson and Anne Marie Goetz
NEW YORK, Feb 21 2025 (IPS)

The selection of the next UN Secretary-General (UNSG) will be a pivotal moment in global efforts to resist authoritarianism and work together to address shared problems. Where do UN Member States stand on appointing a feminist woman to this role?

Informal campaigning is already underway for the position of the next UN Secretary-General. The race will officially kick off towards the end of the year; the successful candidate will take office on 1 January 2027. A decade ago, state after state stood up and said the next Secretary-General should be a woman. Then they voted for a man.

This time, civil society is not taking good intentions at face value, and wants concrete actions. The simplest way to break the 80-year old glass ceiling is if states commit publicly to only consider nominating women candidates – hardly a challenge given the plethora of talented leaders available.

The Accountability, Coherence and Transparency (ACT) coalition of 27 countries has included this issue to their list of key areas for revitalizing the UN’s effectiveness, insisting, last November: “We cannot miss the transformative opportunity to appoint the UN’s first woman SG.”

Civil society groups such as the 1 for 8 Billion coalition and the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) point out that the appointment won’t be ‘transformative’ unless the next SG is not just a woman but a feminist.

A recent study by the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, 1 for 8 Billion, and students at the Center for Global Affairs, School of Professional Studies, New York University, showed that only three UN Member States – Costa Rica, Spain and Slovenia – have backed up their emphatic support for a woman SG with concrete reform proposals to bring gender equality to the SG selection process.

The study is based on analysis of Member State public statements at the UN, for instance at the General Assembly in September last year and the meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly last November.

Beyond individual country positions, the research analyzed joint statements by collectivities such as the Non-Aligned Movement, the ACT group, the European Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and a group of 78 states coordinated by Mexico, Slovenia and Spain on the representation of women at UN leadership. Statements are assessed as ‘Very Strong’, ‘Strong’, ‘Indirect/Implied’, or ‘Opposed’.

Fifty states have indicated ‘Strong’ support, which means they have said that the next SG should be a woman, but they have not outlined specific actions to increase the chances of this outcome. Another 124 states have shown indirect support by saying that gender equality should be one of several considerations in the next selection round.

In the source material studied, not a single UN Member State has called explicitly for a feminist woman SG. Of the 15 countries that align with ‘feminist foreign policy’, only 5 – Canada, Chile, Spain, Slovenia and Germany – made a point of mentioning the importance of selecting a woman SG during the opening of the 79th General Assembly in September.

A lone woman leader will not be able to fix what ails the UN. To call for a feminist woman SG is to invoke the broader changes that the next SG must be empowered by Member States and work together to undertake. Gender equality has been proven to be an accelerator of all UN priorities, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

However, there is a serious attack on feminist thinking and activism by autocratic populists and religious fundamentalists. From Project 2025 to the edicts of the Taliban, weaponized misogyny – or the ‘gender ideology backlash’, as well as attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion – are used to revive antique versions of patriarchal control and eliminate opposition to unbridled militarization.

This makes the centering of gender equality by the first Madam Secretary-General imperative both substantively and symbolically.

Beyond calling for feminist women candidates with reform agendas, there are calls for an open selection process to enable candidates to build a broad support base for their visions. Carrying this support through to the 38th floor once in role will be vital, as the first Madam Secretary-General will need to work creatively to get things done in the current environment, reaching beyond Member States to connect directly with civil society and the global public.

Without a powerful mandate to lead, the first woman SG will be set up for failure, appointed to the edge of a glass cliff as polarization in geopolitics splinters the organization.

Doors are closing fast to opportunities to democratize the selection process and to ensure that a woman is selected. 1 for 8 Billion has set out feasible moves to support an inclusive and fair process. The General Assembly has the chance over the next few months to implement this agenda, when all states get a platform to publicly comment on the SG selection process at the meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the General Assembly.

The research mentioned above will be available on an Interactive Map tracking UN Member States’ positions on the appointment of a feminist woman SG. This will be launched on March 5th. GNWP’s website to register for the event.

Mavic Cabrera Ballez is Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders; Ben Donaldson is Advisor, 1 for 8 Billion campaign; Anne Marie Goetz is Clinical Professor, Center for Global Affairs, School of Professional Studies, New York University

Source: UN Association of the UK

IPS UN Bureau

 


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Categories: Africa

L’Expresso : Élections outre-Rhin : l’espoir de voir renaître le couple franco-allemand ?

Euractiv.fr - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 08:47
À la Une : élections outre-Rhin : l'espoir de voir renaître le couple franco-allemand ? Mark Rutte insiste sur l'urgence de réévaluer la stratégie de défense de l'UE, le chef de l'opposition presse Pedro Sánchez de présenter la stratégie du pays à l'égard de l'Ukraine.
Categories: Union européenne

Le Premier ministre portugais confronté à une motion de censure au sujet de la société immobilière de sa famille

Euractiv.fr - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 08:37
Le Premier ministre portugais, Luís Montenegro, s'est déclaré « très calme » concernant un éventuel conflit d'intérêt impliquant la société immobilière de sa famille. Une motion de censure a été déposée l'obligeant à s'expliquer prochainement devant le parlement.
Categories: Union européenne

La Suède veut équiper la police d’outils numériques pour lutter contre le recrutement des mineurs au sein des gangs

Euractiv.fr - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 08:28
Le gouvernement suédois a dévoilé une nouvelle initiative pour lutter contre le crime organisé, en lançant une « offensive policière numérique ». Le but ? Empêcher le recrutement dans les gangs, en particulier d’enfants, par le biais de plateformes en ligne.
Categories: Union européenne

Schweden: Mit digitalen Tools gegen Bandenkriminalität

Euractiv.de - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 08:19
Schwedens Regierung will mithilfe einer neuen "digitalen Polizeioffensive" organisierten Kriminalität bekämpfen. Die neue Initiative soll unter anderem die Rekrutierung von Minderjährigen über Onlineplattformen verhindern. 
Categories: Europäische Union

Espagne : le chef de l’opposition presse Pedro Sánchez de présenter la stratégie du pays à l’égard de l’Ukraine

Euractiv.fr - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 08:17
Jeudi, le leader de l’opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, a appelé le Premier ministre, Pedro Sánchez, à expliquer devant le Parlement les mesures que l’Espagne compte prendre avec ses alliés de l’Union européenne et de l’OTAN pour les prochaines négociations sur l’Ukraine.
Categories: Union européenne

En Slovaquie, le secrétaire général de l’OTAN insiste sur l’urgence de réévaluer la stratégie de défense de l’UE 

Euractiv.fr - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 08:09
Le secrétaire général de l’OTAN, Mark Rutte, s’est rendu en Slovaquie jeudi, où il a rencontré le président Peter Pellegrini, puis le ministre de la Défense Robert Kaliňák.
Categories: Union européenne

Arzneimittelgesetz: EU-Mitgliedstaaten wollen Anreize zur Medizinversorgung im Krisenfall

Euractiv.de - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 07:53
Die Europäische Kommission will das künftige kritische Arzneimittelgesetz am 11. März vorstellen, bislang ist es geheim. EU-Staaten drängen auf die detaillierte Benennung von konkrete Anreizen für Hersteller von Arzneimitteln, die im Krisenfall zur Verfügung stehen.
Categories: Europäische Union

Europe braces for a ‘new’ Germany

Euractiv.com - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 07:19
In today's edition of the Capitals, read about France's ambiguous 'food sovereignty' law, Polish anti-corruption chief resignation amid Pegasus scandal, and so much more.
Categories: European Union

Bulgarian government worries peacekeeper deployment could spark public panic

Euractiv.com - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 07:18
They fear citizens may panic over potential direct involvement in a war against Russia.
Categories: European Union

NATO chief meets Slovak leaders on Bratislava visit

Euractiv.com - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 07:14
Rutte, Pellegrini affirm Slovakia's NATO, EU commitment; call for defence strategy rethink.
Categories: European Union

Czech institutions demand equal penalties for communist and Nazi propaganda

Euractiv.com - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 07:12
Restrictions on Nazi ideology are strictly enforced, while measures against communist propaganda are insufficient.
Categories: European Union

Portugal’s PM to face parliament over family real estate company

Euractiv.com - Fri, 02/21/2025 - 07:04
He maintained that he has never shied away from giving explanations.
Categories: European Union

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