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By Sam Olukoya
LAGOS, Nigeria, May 12 2021 (IPS)

People affected by leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, are often stigmatised. In countries like Nigeria, many of them end up as beggars due to the psycho- and socio-economic problems they face. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought fresh challenges for them and life is getting increasingly difficult. Sam Olukoya in Lagos takes a look at how people affected by leprosy in Nigeria are faring in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

 

SCRIPT

SONG:

NARRATION: In Nigeria, many people affected by leprosy survive as beggars. They usually sing songs like this as they solicit for assistance. One of them, Musa Gambo, says life has changed for the worse for them since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

GAMBO: We have been facing problems since the Corona pandemic started. The price of food has gone up, everything is expensive, yet we cannot do any job. The money people give us as alms now is much lower than what they used to give us in the past. Some people will give you nothing and just walk away because they are facing difficult times. Some people are even angry and irritated when you beg them for money because life is tough for them. They will ask why you are disturbing them for money as if you are not aware that there is corona.

SOUND OF BUCKETS

NARRATION: Musa Ibrahim arranges buckets which he uses to store water. Ibrahim who is affected by leprosy says as beggars they often face arrest.

IBRAHIM: The lockdown has been lifted and people can move about freely, but for us if we go out they will arrest us and they will not release us. They came even yesterday. It is difficult for us to go and beg for alms g because they will arrest us. Our crime is that we are begging, they said they don’t want beggars, for us that is the only way we can get money to sustain ourselves. If we cannot beg for money honestly it will be difficult to feed. They did not give us jobs yet they are stopping us from looking for money, that is not good.

NARRATION: Audu Garba says people like him who are affected by leprosy have to survive as beggars due to the discrimination they face.

GARBA: Because we have leprosy, people will not patronise us if we set up a business due to the stigma. Here in Lagos anyone with leprosy who set up a business is deceiving himself because the business will not succeed. If I have money my business idea will be breeding and selling livestocks. If I have the resources for this business I will cease to be a beggar.  But I don’t have the resources. I cannot farm, so if I don’t live as a beggar what else should I do? I cannot get loan from the bank, who will give me loan in the bank, when I don’t have a farm or a house that I can use as collateral to get a loan?

NARRATION: Garba says the pandemic has increased the stigma against people affected by leprosy as many Nigerians believe they are infected by the Corona virus.

GARBA: We have been facing discrimination in the past and it has continued. It is now double discrimination with corona, because now they see us as the people who actually have Corona. I swear. It saddens me when they say we have corona. Till now they go about with that impression that we have Corona. When some people even pity you and want to give you money, they will throw it at you from a distance. Yes, it is because of the stigma that we have Corona that is why they treat us this way. They discriminate against us because they don’t regard us as normal human beings.

NARRATION: Lagos based medical doctor, Kunle Ogunyemi, says once treated, people who had Hansen’s disease are not contagious and can live a fairly normal life. He said misconceptions about the disease make many people think they are still contagious.

OGUNYEMI: Ordinarily when they are fully cured, they are not infectious. Perception of the public or even some health care workers unfortunately does not accommodate them at all because knowledge about it, it is not a common disease at all and because not too many people know, the tendency is still to keep them at arms length.

SONG:

NARRATION: With songs like this, people affected by leprosy often appeal to society to respect the rights of vulnerable people like them. But Garba says so strong is the discrimination against them that he is not optimistic that they will get the COVID-19 vaccine which is supposed to be freely available to Nigerians.

GARBA: We are happy that there is vaccine, but it is not meant for us. If the populace are vaccinated we shall thank God, but for us, it is not a priority. If they look for us we shall take the vaccine since everyone ought to have it, but if they don’t look for us, we shall not force ourselves to get it, it will be difficult for us to get the vaccine. Take the newly introduced national identification card, I don’t have one, because they asked for money, I don’t have money. The situation with the vaccine will be similar, they will ask for money but we don’t have money.

A local cemetery working running on the ground collecting logs for funeral pyres, to perform the last rites for patients who died of Covid, on 29 April at the Ghazipur cremation ground in New Delhi. (Ghazipur Cremation Ground/File-Amit Sharma)

By Shubha Nagesh and Ifeanyi Nsofor
DEHRADUN, India/ABUJA, May 12 2021 (IPS)

The media is awash with the devastating news of deaths and sufferings due to COVID-19 coming out of India. What most media outlets overlook is the way Indian communities are rallying to save lives, reduce sufferings and stop the current wave of the pandemic.

As of May 11, 2021, India’s COVID-19 case total is about 23 million – with above 19 million recoveries, while total deaths are 250,025, according to the health ministry. All levels of hospitals and health facilities are full, after optimising their beds and staff, oxygen is almost not available, medicines are being bought in the black market and crematoriums have been inundated, forcing them to use nearby open spaces and parking lots to deal with the surge. Despite being the world’s largest producer of vaccines, India does not have enough for its own people.

Communities have to be acknowledged as the true heroes in this second wave of COVID-19 outbreak in India. Without support however, even they cannot flatten the COVID-19 curve

Shubha lives in Dehradun, in North India- with a population of one million, Dehradun is no different from anywhere else in India, but for the lack of much media attention. The Kumbh Mela, (a major pilgrimage and festival in Hinduism) did bring some focus to the state of Uttarakhand as a super-spreader event in the last month.

The past week has been consumed with calls all day around beds, medicines, oxygen and plasma. It all got really intense when someone in her own family got really serious and her condition scared the family tremendously. That was when the reality actually hit home – the scarcity, the fear, and the unrelenting nature of the virus.

While institutional care has taken priority in the conversation around COVID, from what is evident on the ground, it is the people who are enabling each other to seek appropriate care. Communities are coming together to maximise the resources they have, to promote preventive care and support post-hospital care. Mahatma Gandhi captured this sense of community aptly;

“a nation’s culture resides in the heart and in the soul of the people”.

This quote by Gandhi describes an important truth – one that still inspires us to believe the tremendous strength and courage that the people of India show in coming to the aid of sick people.

The current situation in India is clearly demonstrating the inequity in access to care, utilisation of care and showcases how institutions are catering to the privileged while the less-privileged suffer. As India attempts to rebuild, one good starting point is strengthening community supports and networks between the community and healthcare facilities.

Communities are the heart and soul of India. They have the potential to make or break the health of its people and impacts the determinants that drive health. It is important for us to understand its might and do all to meet the potential, now.

We give five examples of communities taking leadership to stem this second wave of COVID-19 in India:

First, religion unites. Religious communities have come forward to do their bit for patients and their families. The Sikh community in India and abroad has come forward to support families by distributing food, creating helplines, distributing oxygen, converting gurudwara premises into makeshift health facilities, and so much more.

Second, the power of celebrity. In India’s Covid-19 response, while most of the celebrities chose to stay quiet, one celebrity has been helping all along, including transportation for the migrant workers to return home, arrangement for hospital beds and oxygen cylinders, etc- Sonu Sood has been phenomenal in his relief efforts, and as he admits, “This was sheer teamwork and the will to help our fellow countrymen”.

Third, the Indian community knows no boundaries. Within the country and the Indian diaspora communities, the people are providing support. Nothing is too small to give. It all eventually adds up. For instance, the India COVID SOS is less than two weeks old.

However, it now has more than 500 members donating funds, equipment and expertise to stem the outbreak. In Dehradun, the number of people who have connected to share information about beds, oxygen, medicines and tests is unbelievable. It will take all of us, each of us, to get through this difficult time.

Fourth, heroic efforts of good samaritans, men, women and many others have ensured food for families through the pandemic. Pushkar Sinha of South Delhi collected details of all the elderly living in his building, collaborated with a nearby hospital and registered them for getting Covid-19 vaccination through the government’s Co-WIN app.

When some of the people said they were unable to get to the hospital, he arranged cars to ferry them. Deshna Krupa and her mom Ahalya from Chennai have been cooking free meals for Covid-19 patients who are quarantined at home.

Two sisters from Patna, Bihar, Anupama Singh and Neelima Singh along with their mother, Kundan Devi prepare and deliver food to homes.

Within days, groups all over India emerged to help support those in need.

Finally, the power of youths. Young people becoming volunteers to create resources for those in need of services. When Arushi Chaddha asked for help on Instagram, Suhail Shetty came forward to arrange for an oxygen concentrator. Nupur and Rahul Agarwal started “Mission Oxygen” to track oxygen concentrators and supplies, when they found a shortage of 3000.

With the help of social media, youth developed digital covid helplines to support affected families with testing, treatment, hospitalisation, oxygen support facilities, mental health, counselling and food services. Youth volunteers have created mobile apps to track bed situations in hospitals across the country.

India is really struggling with Covid-19 and needs global support. Importantly, communities have to be acknowledged as the true heroes in this second wave of COVID-19 outbreak in India. Without support however, even they cannot flatten the COVID-19 curve. The government must show responsibility to ensure that these community efforts are amplified.

The General Assembly held a “dialogue” on May 7, 2021, with the UN’s member countries and António Guterres, the only officially recognized candidate for UN secretary-general and an incumbent. Only two civil society groups were able to ask questions across the three-hour session. Credit: ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO

By Barbara Crossette
NEW YORK, May 12 2021 (IPS)

It was all over in one crucial week. Barring an unforeseen hitch, António Guterres is the clear winner of a second, five-year term as secretary-general of the United Nations, beginning on Jan.1, 2022. This was not a surprise: he had no major competition and the process moved faster than expected.

A three-hour question-and-answer session with UN diplomats from around the world in the General Assembly on May 7 appeared to support a growing sense internationally that the Security Council may decide by late June or July, three months before the normal deadline for a candidacy to go to the General Assembly for final affirmation.

Guterres spoke mostly in generalities at the session, but he sometimes used statistics and technical points about his vision for the UN in the ensuing years.

The center of his campaign in 2016, on preventing conflicts, has not been borne out under his current leadership, some diplomats contend.

The Armenian ambassador, Mher Margaryan, asked Guterres, for example, how he would “strengthen” the UN’s response to early-warning signs of atrocity crimes occurring. (United States President Joe Biden recently recognized the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire.) Guterres answered, in brief, that the problem was not missing early-warning signs but “the problem is in early action.”

In July, the rotating presidency of the Council will be held by France, which may announce the decision to back the 72-year-old Guterres, a diplomat from Latin America, told PassBlue. The European Union has been the strongest supporter of the incumbent secretary-general, as Guterres is from Portugal, so a fellow European. He was the only candidate proposed by a government, Portugal.

The Biden administration has not formally and publicly endorsed Guterres. In remarks to a Security Council debate on multilateralism, also on May 7, however, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke of a renewed American commitment to the UN Charter and international cooperation after the destructive Trump years.

“Nationalism is resurgent, repression is rising. Rivalries among countries are deepening — and attacks against the rules-based order are intensifying,” he said to his fellow Council members and the public. “Now, some question whether multilateral cooperation is still possible.”

“Multilateralism is still our best tool for tackling big global challenges, like the one that’s forcing us to gather on a screen today rather than today rather than around a table,” Blinken added, describing the Council’s virtually staged session because of the pandemic.

On May 4, the General Assembly president, Volkan Bozkir, explained in a news conference why he had ruled out candidates other than Guterres for the May 7 event. Seven people have submitted applications to him in the last few months, and civil society organizations were also calling for a wider slate. Bozkir, a Turk, passed all applications to the Council, he said at the news conference.

“It looks like the Security Council has a view that only candidates or applicants supported by a country will be considered by the Security Council,” he said to numerous questions on the process. None of the applicants has been recognized by Bozkir or any of the monthly rotating Council presidents, who both lead the procedure.

Further confusing reporters, Bozkir added, “And again, this doesn’t necessarily mean that a person who is supported by a country will get the guarantee of becoming a candidate.”

Armenia’s ambassador to the UN asked how the organization could better react to early-warning signs of atrocities, May 7, 2021.

None of the Council’s permanent members with veto power — Britain, China, France, Russia and the US — has so far publicly questioned a second term for Guterres. And Guterres has certainly not ruffled those countries’ feathers too much, to the consternation of certain civil society advocates, like Human Rights Watch.

In 2001, the US vetoed a second term for Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt and persuaded other Council members to back Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian, who then served two terms unopposed.

How and why did Guterres win the approval of the Security Council members so easily? With Western support locked in, he spoke last week by phone with Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, without revealing whether the subject of the secretary-generalship came up. China has welcomed his bid for a second term.

Guterres is planning a trip to Moscow from May 12 to 13. The speech by Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, at the Security Council session on May 7 was the most bitter during the discussion of multilateralism. His remarks were directed at Western democracies.

Guterres, who was UN high commissioner for refugees for a decade, has been what could be described as an acceptable head of the UN for many of its 193 member governments.

He is, however, not a popular or well-known figure outside the UN, nor is he much liked among many employees of the organization, according to civil society groups, advocates and some UN staff themselves.

He is criticized for being a secretive minimalist who has not dealt well with internal crises, such as the continuing, documented sexual abuse in and around UN peacekeeping and the scant help available for survivors of rape and other assaults.

Women are often the most vulnerable people not only where UN peacekeeping operations are based or in active conflict zones but also in refugee camps or ad hoc congregations of displaced people. Men and children also suffer.

When babies are born of rape, they often grow up in extreme poverty, hungry and stigmatized for life, and the UN defers the resolution of these hardships to the national governments of the peacekeepers instead of getting involved directly.

Guterres said on May 7 in the General Assembly in response to critiques and questions from civil society participants (only two were given the opportunity to be heard) that the UN was, for example, meeting resistance from governments over problems like conducting paternity tests of peacekeepers when complaints were lodged.

In his introductory remarks to diplomats taking part in the live session, in which he appeared flustered at times, he acknowledged that much of civil society had not been offered seats “at the world’s main diplomatic table.” He added that cities, the corporate world and young people are “essential voices that must he heard.”

He also said, agreeing with some envoys who raised the issue at the dialogue, that the UN system needed better coordination of all its parts — agencies, programs and semiautonomous bodies like the World Health Organization. Yet that bureaucratic challenge has never been solved by any secretary-general, despite attempts at reform.

The most insistent opposition to the renewal of Guterres’s appointment came from advocates for the election of a woman and diverse groups that generally backed a more transparent process for selecting the chief official of the UN, such as the 1 for 7 Billion campaign.

The UN, at 76 years old, has never been led by a woman. The demands of advocates included adding women to the list of candidates and not requiring applicants to have official endorsement of governments. But both requests have been overlooked by Bozkir and the monthly Security Council presidents.

The important involvement of advocates for a woman as secretary-general is a sign of changing times. More women are emerging in top political positions in many countries, corporations and other high-profile organizations.

Some, like Angela Merkel, the retiring German chancellor, made it clear that she did not want the job of UN secretary-general, despite persistent questions about her interests. Other women elected as prime ministers or presidents of their countries think they would be more useful in geopolitics as national leaders.

And some of the women who could have challenged Guterres this year saw the light early on: as a white, male incumbent who knew how to navigate around the self-interests of the permanent Council members, he was a shoo-in.

In 2016, under a more open campaign process, there was no incumbent. Ban Ki-moon, a South Korean who had completed two terms, was also a widely criticized secretary-general for an administration that was often cloaked in secrecy and shielded by fellow South Korean aides.

Well-qualified women competed to be elected his successor in 2016, a position that ultimately went to Guterres, a former prime minister.

Among the women competing in 2016 were Irina Bokova, a Bulgarian and former director-general of Unesco; Helen Clark, a former prime minister of New Zealand and administrator of the UN Development Program; Kristalina Georgieva, also Bulgarian, a former European Commissioner for International Cooperation and now managing director of the International Monetary Fund; and Susana Malcorra, who had been Ban’s chief of staff before becoming Argentina’s foreign minister when she ran.

This year, there were no equally qualified women interested in seeking the job against considerable odds; the few campaigns that surfaced — including “protest candidates” against UN “corruption” — quickly became sideshows.

Even one potentially serious candidate who emerged recently, Rosalía Arteaga, a short-lived president of Ecuador, said she had the support of President Lenín Moreno but then asked him to drop it, as she preferred to be a “civil society” candidate, she told PassBlue in an email. (A new Ecuadorean president, Guillermo Lasso, is to be inaugurated this month.)

Many feminist organizations, realizing the futility of launching campaigns for candidates this year, opted to wait it out until the 2027 term. With the world in crisis on many fronts and a seasoned politician in charge at the UN, it was believed that being a woman was not enough this year. Moreover, no woman wanted to compete, keenly aware of the negative optics of losing.

A list of six Latin American women — some former heads of state, like Michelle Bachelet of Chile (now the UN high commissioner for human rights) — circulated this spring among high-level political circles in the region to test who might be the most successful candidate to run for secretary-general next time.

But Eastern Europe, which tried to win the current term because it was that region’s unofficial turn to claim the job, is ready to contest Latin America on that front.

Last month, Maritza Chan, a diplomat from Costa Rica, pointed out in a meeting at the UN about the overall secretary-general selection process that her country “strongly believes that the time has come to select a female secretary-general. . . . We believe that should qualifications among candidates be equal, we should choose a woman.”

By doing this, she added, “we uphold the principle of equality and empower the women of today and tomorrow.”

Lyric Thompson is the senior director of policy and advocacy at the International Center for Research on Women, which grades the work of Guterres with annual report card on gender issues. He got a B for 2020, up from a C- in 2017 and a B- in both 2018 and 2019.

Thompson, who was a member of the Biden administration’s delegation to the UN’s annual Commission on the Status of Women this year, pointed to tough speeches by Guterres warning of pushbacks on women’s rights and his frequent condemnations of worsening violence against women and girls. He also attempted, with limited success, to persuade governments to donate more financially to UN initiatives on women.

Indeed, Guterres calls entrenched patriarchy “stupid,” and told an audience in New York City early in 2020: “Just as slavery and colonialism were a stain on previous centuries, women’s inequality should shame us all in the twenty-first.”

In an interview with PassBlue early this year, Thompson said that feminists were focusing on the next election for a secretary-general.

“I think we will see an unprecedented drive for a female SG after his second term,” she said, adding that “this is a long way off . . . which means the UN will not have had a woman leader across its 81-year-history.”

The post The UN’s Guterres, an Incumbent With Strong Backing by Europe, Is Bound to Win Another Term appeared first on PassBlue.

Barbara Crossette is United Nations correspondent for The Nation, a senior fellow of the Ralph Bunche Institute at the City University of New York, contributing editor at PassBlue.com, and a freelance writer on foreign policy and international affairs. Most recently she was a co-author with George Perkovich of a section on India in the 2009 book Powers and Principles: International Leadership in a Shrinking World.

 

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Excerpt:

Barbara Crossette, PassBlue

A relative wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) attends the funeral of his family member who died from Covid, at one of the biggest cremation grounds in New Delhi on 26 April. (Seemapuri Cremation Ground/File-Amit Sharma)

By Sania Farooqui
NEW DELHI, India, May 11 2021 (IPS)

The Coronavirus infections and deaths in India recorded a daily high on Monday, 10 May, with 366,161 new infections and 3,754 deaths as reported by the Indian health ministry, taking India’s total tally to 22.66 million with 246,116 deaths. Experts have raised a flag stating India’s actual figures could be far higher than what is currently being reported.

The rise in case numbers have been exponential in the second wave, and has been widely attributed to the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first identified in the U.K. and also a homegrown variant, called B.1.617, with double mutations. The World Health Organization has classified the B.1.617 variant as a variant of global concern, with some preliminary studies showing it spreads more easily.

Reopening of public places, crowded election rallies and big religious gatherings are being blamed for the uptick. The national vice-president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Dr Navjot Dahiya called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a ‘super spreader’ and blamed him for the second wave of COVID-19. In his interview given to an English Daily, Dr Dahiya said, “while the medical fraternity is trying hard to make people understand mandatory covid norms, PM Modi did not hesitate to address the big political rallies tossing all Covid norms in the air.” While the rallies were later converted to ‘virtual rallies’, people were still being called to watch and attend those virtual rallies in large gatherings.

People refill medical oxygen cylinders for Covid patients at an advanced gas refilling station in an upside industrial area in Agra, Uttar Pradesh on 3 May. (Oxygen Refilling Centre, Agra-File-Amit Sharma)

India, which is one of the largest economies in the world, spends only 1 % of its GDP on its healthcare, making it even more difficult for public health systems to survive the burden of this pandemic. What’s worse is at a time when the government should have focused all its time, energy and effort in managing and organising a pandemic response, Prime Minister Modi chose to prioritise elections. The government turned away, ignoring all the helpless citizens who died on the streets, outside hospitals, in makeshift ambulances and homes, gasping for oxygen, medicine or any form of medical help. Right from the time when one is infected with Covid-19, till the time of death and cremation, there is no dignity. Bodies of suspected Covid patients are now found floating and washed up on the banks of Ganga in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. This report by NDTV states that “in the absence of any Covid protocols at rural crematoriums, locals fearful of further spread of the infection, families have been forced to consign the bodies in the river.”

These are not just reports and visuals, but lived experiences of hundreds and thousands of Indian citizens who have suffered, and have seen their family members and loved ones suffer from this ignorance, which could have easily been prevented, if this pandemic could only be a priority for the top brass who run the country.

A local cemetery working running on the ground collecting logs for funeral pyres, to perform the last rites for patients who died of Covid, on 29 April at the Ghazipur cremation ground in New Delhi. (Ghazipur Cremation Ground/File-Amit Sharma)

At a time when most Indian cities have run out of hospital beds, oxygen supplies and medicines, with crematoriums running day and night in several cities across the country, with people having to wait for hours to get the deceased cremated or buried, the government should pause and introspect what this outbreak is doing to the country. There has been an outpour of global support, with several countries sending oxygen cylinders, concentrators, ventilators and other medical gear for Indians. However spending $1.8B on rebuilding the capital’s historic center in the middle of a pandemic, also highlights the priorities of the current government.

The second wave in India stripped all Indians from the dignity and respect a state should have given its citizens, at a time of global crisis, even more for being democratically elected not once, but twice. It would have been easier to call out the failures of this government if they had atleast tried in preventing the second wave, but the top leaders were busy with election rallies and encouraging mass religious gatherings, the repurcursion of which we are yet to bear. BBC reports “Kumbh Mela pilgrims turn into super spreaders, stating “its disastrous”. West Bengal, a state where recent elections were held, continues to see sharp increase in Covid cases.

A local priest and relative of a family member who died from Covid watching a pyre burn at the Garh Ganga Ghat in Mukteshwar, in Uttar Pradesh on 4 May. (Mukteshwar, Hapur/ File-Amit Sharma)

Meanwhile it is the volunteers who have stepped up to save lives, and social media has become a life saving tool, for finding oxygen supplies and medical supplies. Strangers are going out of the way to help each other and do whatever to keep a person they perhaps don’t even know… alive. This should not have been the case. Amid such reports, there are also reports from the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked officials to take action under the National Security Act and seize the property of individuals who spread “rumours” and propaganda on social media and try to “spoil the atmosphere”, as reported by The Hindu.

All adults in India are now eligible to be vaccinated, however the over-18 vaccination drive has been hit by vaccine shortage and technical issues with multiple users not being able to register on the website or get an appointment. Several states say they don’t have the doses to carry out the exercise.

A health worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) is seen collecting a swab sample of a person on the ground, along with his relatives at a district hospital in Agra, Uttar Pradesh on 3 May. (Covid Testing in Agra/ File-Amit Sharma)

Earlier in January, Prime Minister Modi had declared India as one of the countries that had successfully controlled the coronavirus. While addressing the World Economic Forum’s Davos Dialogue virtually on 28 Janury 2021, PM Modi said, “ India took a proactive public participation approach and developed a COVID-specific health infrastructure and trained its resources to fight Covid.” The exaggeration and early declaration of the government’s success was a self fulfilling prophecy, only to be proved catostrophic just a few weeks later. After all, “pyres tell the truth”, and India’s complaint media can only do so much to pin the blame on “the opposition, liberals, Muslims, activists, leftists, protestors, NGOs and other assorted “anti-nationals.”

‘Power of Positivity’ is that during a pandemic, when the country is battling a ‘variant of global concern’, in absence of robust healthcare system and pandemic management, the “positivity” from the Covid-19 virus infection, which unlike mere mortals, sees no religion, no caste, not even votes or vote banks, it only takes a virus particle, a spherical shell that protects a single long string of genetic material, inserts it into a human cell – to eventually just kill the body it ends up infecting.

Instead of asking the citizens to be positive, which most already are with Covid-19, the focus from the government should only be in restoring whatever little dignity is left for its citizens in India, and it will take a lot of effort to fight this “positivity” in the air. Health experts have already warned that a Covid third wave is inevitable in India. With an already collapsed and exhausted health care system and an aggressive variant spreading fast across the country, the government has very little time to fix these cracks, if it all it values the lives of its citizens.

 

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Excerpt:

Sania Farooqui is a journalist and filmmaker based out of New Delhi.

The biodigester of the Monje Agricultural and Livestock Cooperative, which brings together 550 small farmers in this town in northeastern Argentina on the banks of the Paraná River, produces biogas that feeds electricity to its oil plant and biofertilisers used on the crops. CREDIT: Courtesy of CopMonje

By Daniel Gutman
BUENOS AIRES, May 11 2021 (IPS)

“Until five years ago, we didn’t know about the circular economy, but today our waste generates environmentally neutral products that also offer a return,” says José Luis Barrinat, manager of a cooperative that brings together some 550 small farmers in Monje, Argentina.

Their story reflects a reality that has begun to spread in recent years in the rural areas of this South American country, a traditional powerhouse in food production. Today both small farmers and large agribusiness companies generate energy and other products from what was once considered waste and was solely an environmental problem.

The Monje Agricultural and Livestock Cooperative is located 370 km north of Buenos Aires, in the northeastern province of Santa Fe, and has a pig farm of some 200 sows which sells some 90 animals each week, Barrinat told IPS by telephone from his home town.“Farmers are beginning to realise that livestock production effluent is not a waste product but a raw material that can generate value, and that an environmental problem can become a profitable solution." -- Diego Barreiro

Until recently, the manure was collected in large open ponds, which were a major emitter of methane, one of the main greenhouse gases (GHG) contributing to global warming, into the atmosphere.

Everything changed, however, with the 2018 inauguration of a biodigester, where effluent from the pig farm are now treated together with other organic waste, such as decomposing grains.

The biodigester replicates nature by converting organic matter into energy using bacteria that carry out an anaerobic degradation process.

The biodigester in Monje is made up of a large tank with waterproofed walls covered by a canvas reinforced with rubber that seals it hermetically, into which the effluent from agricultural activities runs through channels.

Barrinat explained that the resulting biogas has two uses: “We use it as fuel for an electric generator, which covers part of the consumption of our oil plant, and also for a grain dryer that we use when the harvest is wet. We also extract biofertilisers, which we use on our 35-hectare field.”

Building the biodigester cost nearly 100,000 dollars and was made possible thanks to a grant from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and advice from Argentina’s governmental National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA).

“The use of biogas has grown enormously since 2015 in this country, alongside research and the creation of knowledge,” said Jorge Hilbert, an international advisor at INTA. “Unfortunately, this came to a halt in the last two years, due to the financing difficulties that Argentina is experiencing,” he added, speaking to IPS in the capital.

In Cristophersen, a town in northeastern Argentina, biodigesters were built by Adecoagro, an agroindustrial company that invested six million dollars to produce biogas from the manure of 12,000 cows. Adecoagro has been selling renewable energy to the national electricity grid for more than three years. CREDIT: Courtesy of Adecoagro

Hilbert coordinates the Global Digital Biogas Cooperation project in the country, which last year investigated market conditions in Argentina, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia and South Africa. The initiative was financed by the European Union, which is interested in exporting its biogas technology to emerging countries.

In the case of Argentina, the study noted that there are 100 biogas plants in operation and that the main potential for this renewable energy lies in the effluent from pork and beef production and the dairy industry.

Biogas generation received a boost in 2015, when the Law for the Promotion of Renewable Energies was passed. The following year the government launched the RenovAr Programme, by which the State guarantees the purchase of electricity generated with non-fossil fuel sources.

Environmental engineer Mariano Butti, an INTA researcher in the city of Pergamino, told IPS that thanks to RenovAr, 36 large-scale biogas plants have been built or are under construction, which inject energy into the national power grid.

However, Butti said by telephone from that city, located some 220 km from the capital, that there is still a long way to go, especially for medium and small farmers.

“The benefit of biodigesters is twofold, because they generate biofertilisers that replace chemical, fossil-based fertilisers, and because they cut GHG emissions from untreated effluent,” he said.

“Today in Argentina we are wasting a resource,” added Butti, who cited concrete examples, such as Navarro, an agricultural municipality located 120 km from Buenos Aires.

The expert explained that “Navarro has 20,000 inhabitants and 180 cattle farms, with a total of 38,000 cows. Today, they generate local electricity with two diesel engines and dump the effluent from livestock into a river, instead of making use of it.”

However, developing the potential of agricultural waste in Argentina is not an easy task.

In 2018, INTA developed a project for Chañar Ladeado, a town of 6,000 people, also in the northeastern province of Santa Fe, where the main activity is pig farming. Thanks to the effluent, biogas would have been supplied to the whole community, which currently uses bottled gas, but the plan collapsed because the financing fell through.

Faced with the failure of the initiative, a local pig farmer, Gabriel Nicolino, installed a biodigester on his own farm, which has 200 sows. “I did it with the help of INTA, a bit by trial and error, because in this country it is very difficult to get credit,” Nicolino told IPS by telephone from that town.

“I am starting to use the biogas as a fuel to generate electricity for the breeding barn, which includes heating the pigs in their first few weeks of life. I hope to recoup the investment in the long term,” he added.

José Luis Barrinat, manager of the Monje Agricultural and Livestock Cooperative, stands by the biodigester, next to the gas filter and the facilities where the gas is cooled before being sent to the electricity generator. The biodigester works with effluent from the pig farm and other organic waste. CREDIT: Courtesy of CopMonje

Who pays the environmental costs?

Ignacio Huerga, an INTA specialist from the city of Venado Tuerto, notes that the outlook for the generation of biogas from agricultural waste is very different depending on the scale of the farms.

“Large farmers have to think about investments of millions of dollars with technology imported from countries like Germany and Italy. Smaller producers are left with developments from universities or national companies that provide technology,” he told IPS from that city.

He added that “the problem of economic viability has to do with the fact that in Argentina nobody pays the cost of the environmental impact of their activity. If they had to pay it, things would be different. In any case, biogas is sure to grow over the next few years in this country.”

One of the large Argentine agribusiness companies that chose biogas is Adecoagro, which produces milk, grains, rice, sugar and ethanol in Argentina and also does businesses in Brazil and Uruguay. Adecoagro describes itself as a “producer of food and renewable energy under a sustainable model.”

The company has four dairy farms in the town of Cristophersen, Santa Fe, with 12,000 dairy cows.

“In 2004 we began to investigate how we could take advantage of cow manure. Back then we applied it on our fields as fertiliser, because our first natural biodigester is the cows’ stomachs, but we saw that there was more potential,” Lisandro Ferrer, head of Industrial Projects at Adecoagro, told IPS.

Thanks to the RenovAr plan, and using Italian technology, Adecoagro invested six million dollars in a biodigester and has been injecting electricity into the national grid since November 2017. “We have 1.4 MW in installed power. We could cover the energy needs of a town of between 500 and 1,000 residents,” Ferrer said by phone from Cristophersen.

“The biodigester is fed with 200 tons of cow manure per day, which is sent to three 5,000-cubic-metre concrete tanks. The way we see it is the cows transform the corn they eat into milk, and what is left over we transform into biogas to generate electricity,” he explained.

However, promoters of biogas still have to work to spark the interest of agricultural producers. Fourteen years ago Diego Barreiro founded the Argentine company Biomax, dedicated to the manufacture and commercialisation of biodigesters, and since then he has been touring the country explaining the benefits of the system.

“We are working hard to lower costs. Today we have 54 biodigesters installed and interest is growing. We have a farmer who, thanks to the biofertiliser made from pig manure, managed to increase the yield of his soybean field so much that in one year he recovered the investment,” Barreiro told IPS in Buenos Aires.

He said “Farmers are beginning to realise that livestock production effluent is not a waste product but a raw material that can generate value, and that an environmental problem can become a profitable solution.”

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COVID-19 has shown that we need to act fast as changes at the interface of humans, livestock and wildlife are driving increased risk of emerging disease threats across the globe. Credit: Marc-André Boisvert/IPS

By Olanike Adeyemo
IBADAN, Nigeria, May 11 2021 (IPS)

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that global health challenges cannot be solved only by health sector interventions.

Many of the recent epidemics — Ebola, Zika and even Covid-19 — are emerging infectious diseases transmissible from wildlife species. In addition, other global health challenges greatly impact people, livestock, wildlife and agriculture which results in adverse effects on local, national, and global economies.

To truly tackle prospective pandemics, Africa’s higher education institutions need to promote a more integrated approach to healthcare training that breaks down the silos between doctors, veterinarians, laboratory scientists and other aligned professions to embrace a “one health” approach. In short, every discipline is affected and all must be taken into consideration when applying solutions.

We must begin to coordinate and optimise resources across human, veterinary and environmental sectors for prevention, detection and control of infectious disease outbreaks

The One Health approach refers to the collaboration of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally towards optimal health for people, animals, plants, and the environment. It brings together different disciplines to tackle issues holistically and is critical for Africa since most of the emerging and re-emerging diseases have been linked to wildlife.

The concept has been already been endorsed by several national and international organisations and is beginning to be implemented in several medical schools in North America.

But not in Africa.

Take, for example, Nigeria where the education model encourages competition and territoriality among professions instead of collaboration in practice.

Currently, only 2% of clinical trials conducted globally occur in Africa, according to Tom Kariuki, director of programmes at the African Academy of Sciences. This could hinder the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine in terms of gaining an understanding of immune response and safety in African populations.

There are historical challenges that have limited vaccine trials in Africa. In Nigeria, these challenges are exacerbated by professional tussles. Whereas drug and vaccine approval is under the purview of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the oversight of conduct of clinical trials involving human subjects lie with National Health Research Ethics Committee, Nigeria (NHREC). This at times portends bureaucratic difficulties.

Some African countries do have networks involved in One Health training, research, and outreach. However, most of these are not integrated in approach and practice. For example, the Nigerian Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (NFELTP) is a service-oriented training program with three different options or tracks: applied epidemiology, public health laboratory practice, or veterinary epidemiology means the different tracks still maintain their traditional professional territory.

Recently, while working at the frontlines during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic as the leader of the Decontamination and Containment arm of the Covid-19 Taskforce for Oyo State, Nigeria, it became clear that healthcare workers still lacked an understanding of what a One Health approach means in practice. Most requests to decontaminate facilities where Covid-19 patients had been evacuated were either not communicated, were delayed or relayed through wrong channels.

The lack of synergy in information communication has significant implications for the overall efforts to curtail the spread of the virus. A global One Health approach requires individuals who have technical competencies to work across sectors, disciplines, and borders to successfully manage complex health issues and disease outbreaks.

We have already seen examples of this in action on the continent. Through curriculum development workshops the University of Rwanda’s School of Veterinary Medicine, in association with Tufts University, revised its curriculum to incorporate collaborative skills across disciplines in order to better prepare graduates for the reality on the ground.

The approach has been endorsed by WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus who said “we can only prevent future pandemics with an integrated #OneHealth approach to public health, animal health and the environment we share”.

While it is not possible to immediately refashion all medical, veterinary and environmental health practitioners transformed into One Health workforce, we can start by organising ongoing in-service professional development in One Health keep practitioners abreast of best practice cross-sectoral responses.

Higher Education institutions must incorporate One Health concepts, skills, and competencies to create enhanced curricula and programmes. Finally, we must strengthen communication among medical, veterinary, and environmental Health practitioners on the field.

COVID-19 has shown that we need to act fast as changes at the interface of humans, livestock and wildlife are driving increased risk of emerging disease threats across the globe. We must begin to coordinate and optimise resources across human, veterinary and environmental sectors for prevention, detection and control of infectious disease outbreaks.

By doing so, we will be better prepared for the next pandemic.

Olanike Adeyemo is a Professor in the Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria and a 2021 Aspen New Voices Fellow. She advocates for an integrated one health workforce to support a cohesive approach for a healthier world. Follow her on Twitter @OlanikeAdeyemo1.

Daud Khan, Ahmed Raza and Mahnoor Malik speak to a young immigrant in Italy about his journey to Europe

By Daud Khan
ROME, May 11 2021 (IPS)

We met 22-year old Ali B. in a park in Rome’s city center on a rather cold and windy April evening. We could not share a meal, or even a coffee, as all restaurants were shut due to continuing COVID-19 restrictions. He had travelled down from Cerveteri (a small town about 50km north of Rome) where he works for an old couple. They provide boarding and lodging as well as a decent salary and social security benefits. In return, he has to cook for them and look after the kitchen.

Ali B.

Ali’s calm demeanor belies the arduous life he has lived. From losing a parent early in life to migrating to Italy at the tender age of sixteen, he has experienced serious hardships. Admirably, he has not let these experiences deter his ambition. When not at work, Ali spends time studying – he is keen to complete a high school diploma. He also contributes part of his time to writing a book about his experiences.

We decided to tell Ali’s story not only because it is moving but also inspirational. Most importantly, he embodies a spirit of independence and of courage for taking destiny in his own hands – making the most of whatever life has given him. He is also an example for Pakistani migrants in Italy. In the few years he has been here, he has shown what one can achieve by opening up to a new culture.

Given that Ali arrived in Italy at an impressionable age, he easily assimilated to the Italian way of life. Unlike many of his compatriots from Pakistan, his language skills and comfort with the Italian norms and customs has helped in integrating with locals and their culture. Talk of Pakistan, his life there or its culture does not invoke any strong nostalgia in him. Rather it reminds him of economic hardships and the life-threatening journey he embarked on a few years ago.

We asked him what the journey to Europe was like.

He told us that the journey started on a bus from his hometown close to Sheikhupura to Lahore, and then by train to Karachi. There, he met up with others and a group of 40 young men and boys was put on a small launch which took them to Iran. From there they travelled on foot, or by car and bus, to Turkey and eventually to Greece. At each leg, the group got larger or smaller as others joined or left – depending on the logistics of the next stage.

The journey to Greece took about three to four weeks and over this period he had about 10 handlers. Luckily for Ali, the handlers, many of whom were Iranians, were a generally humane lot. The travelers were usually provided food, a clean place to sleep and reasonable facilities. Most important, they were not mistreated in any significant way, as happens often on the human trafficking routes through North Africa where depravation, as well as physical and sexual violence are common.

We asked him why he chose Italy once he entered the European Union.

He said that upon arriving in Greece, he stayed in a camp managed by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees for over a month. At that time Angela Merkel’s government was making arrangements to allow groups of Syrian refugees to enter Germany. Ali and four other Pakistanis decided to mingle with the Syrians and found themselves on a bus headed to Austria. In Vienna, they were given train tickets to Germany.

The Pakistani boys realized that sooner or later the German authorities would find out that they were not Syrians and they would face an uncertain future. One of them managed to contact a cousin who was an agricultural laborer near Rome. Based on this short call, Ali and his small group decided that they were better off separating from the Syrians. Not having any money, they had to travel without tickets. Quite predictably they got caught by the railway staff and thrown off the train several times before they eventually ended up in Rome.

The “cousin” picked up the four of them and took them to Latina, an important hub for the production of fruits and vegetables for the Rome market. Many Pakistanis, often without any papers, work in the fields there. But Ali was only 16, a “minor” and generally even unscrupulous employers are hesitant to take them on. The next morning, Ali was put on a bus and advised to contact the police, inform them that he was a minor and ask for help.

So here was this 16 year old boy, cold, hungry, reduced to below 50 kilos, with long unkempt hair at Rome’s central railway station. No money, nor a word of Italian – and no documents except a birth certificate (janam pathrii).

We asked him what was the most frightening thing about this journey.

“In Iran we travelled for one night and a day in the boot of a car. I was with another rather big person. It was not only very uncomfortable but also frightening being in the dark for so many hours. Another time, Iranian police chased us and our handlers dumped us in an apple orchard and told us to hide among the trees. The Iranian apples are very nice, and we stuffed our stomachs and pockets.”

“But the really hair-raising part of the journey was when we had to cross a high mountain pass from Iran into Turkey. We joined a number of other small groups and were 40 people, including women, children and old people. The crossing was at night. It was very cold and the paths were icy and treacherous. I recall that a few people fell off the path and given the conditions, it was unlikely that they were rescued. I was terrified of falling off and being left behind.”

His recount is overwhelming and makes us wonder why a teenager from a relatively sound socio-economic background would dare to take such a plunge. So, we ask him what led him to leave home?

He revealed that hostile environments within the household coupled with limited economic prospects in his hometown drove him towards Europe.

“My mother passed away when I was thirteen. My father was preoccupied with managing his small plot of land and five buffaloes and had little time for me and my siblings. He remarried and I was sent to live with my paternal uncle. It was a hard and lonely time.”

“I did not get much schooling and never had time or energy to play with other children, or even to watch TV or listen to the radio. Next came a job in a local factory that manufactured parts for tractors. In addition to the factory work, I had to continue to look after my uncle’s small dairy enterprise. It was an unexciting and dull life and I was always tired.” He does not delve into more details. It is clear that this was a challenging period in his life.

Now in 2021, there is nothing dull or unexciting about Ali. He has friends from all over the globe, some of whom he met in learning centers funded by the government and international NGOs. He owns a smartphone, maintains a healthy social media presence and even runs a small business online selling silk-screened T-shirts.

We asked him when he did make the decision to leave.

“Working all the time, I knew nothing of a wider world. The decision to leave was made for me. One of my uncles, not the one I was staying with, but another one who often traveled and moved around with city folk, suggested we sell my late mother’s jewelry to finance my trip to Europe – I recall hearing we paid about Rs3-4 lakhs (about US$3-4,000 at the time). And so I was given a little case with a few clothes and some cash (I think it was about Rs5-10,000), and was sent off to Karachi. It was the last time I saw my home, my neighborhood or my relatives.”

We asked him what were the most important factors behind integration in Italy.

“The most important factor is language – we must learn Italian,” he said. “I was given the chance to learn in a center called Civico Zero in Rome. It is funded by Save the Children. They also helped me register for the various courses which helped me get a job. With language and a job, I have a chance to build a life for myself.”

We asked him if there was anyone who was instrumental in making him who he was today.

“Many people were kind to me. There were many people from NGOs working in various shelters – their dedication to helping me was incredible. There was a family in Rome who used to come by and take me out on weekends and buy me ice-cream. There were several Pakistanis, some were second generation and others who were here for a long time, who helped me realize how lucky I was to be in Italy and the importance of integration. All these people showed me more love and kindness than I got from my family. Now I have friends from all over the world, many of whom I met in shelters and while doing various courses. I am lucky.”

We asked him what were the activities and things he enjoyed the most.

“When I was at CivicoZero, I discovered theatre. I wrote and performed a 45-minute solo piece on my trip from Pakistan. I had no idea what theatre was or that anyone would be interested in what I had to say. I was wonderful. That was what made me start on my book – I want people to know my story.”

“Also it is nice in the countryside where I live, but I want to move back to Rome or another big city. There is so much to do in a city and so easy to meet people which I really enjoy.”

The writers are Pakistanis who work and live in Rome. This is the second in a series of articles on Pakistanis in Italy

Source: The Friday Times, Pakistan

 

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Excerpt:

Daud Khan, Ahmed Raza and Mahnoor Malik speak to a young immigrant in Italy about his journey to Europe

Justus Kimeu on his farm in Kithiani village, Makueni County, Kenya. By using the regenerative agriculture (RA) technique this farmer produced a bumper maize harvest during a very dry season. Almost 900 farmers in Kenya's two dryland counties of Embu and Makueni are participating in a pilot project to see how regenerative agriculture can be used to improve food productivity. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

By Isaiah Esipisu
MAKUENI, Kenya, May 11 2021 (IPS)

It is an uncommon occurrence to see farms with flourishing healthy crops in Kenya’s semi-arid Makueni County. But in Kithiani village, Justus Kimeu’s two-acre piece of land stands out from the rest. After embracing the regenerative agriculture (RA) technique, the 52-year-old farmer is looking forward to a bumper harvest of maize as all his neighbours count their losses following this year’s failed season.

“I have been a farmer for many years, but I have never seen such a healthy crop during such a dry season,” Kimeu told IPS. “All the road users who pass by this farm can hardly go away without stopping to have a second look at a crop that has defied the prevailing tough climatic conditions.”

Kimeu is one of 900 farmers in Kenya’s two dryland counties of Embu and Makueni who are participating in a pilot project to see how RA can be used to improve food productivity.

The technique, which is being piloted by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), is a dynamic and holistic way of farming that involves all the principals of permaculture and organic farming, such as minimum tillage, use of cover crops, crop rotation, terracing to reduce soil erosion, heavy mulching to keep the soils moist, use of basins to preserve soil moisture and the use of composted manure to give the topsoil the texture of a virgin fertile arable land.

“The main theory of this technique is actually to return the topsoil back to its original state,” Michael Mutua, an associate program officer in charge of RA at AGRA, told IPS. “Instead of feeding the crop, we concentrate on feeding the soil,” he said.

According the Food Sustainability Index created by Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition (BCFN) and the Economist Intelligence Unit, increased adoption of regenerative farm practices reduces carbon emissions during cultivation and sequesters carbon into the soil.

In a proposal of 10 interdisciplinary actions to finding ways to nourish both people and the planet post-COVID-19, one of the suggestions by BCFN was that the world develop internationally agreed-upon standards for RA practices and agroecology, as well as common definitions for healthy and sustainable food systems and food.

BCFN experts further acknowledged that regenerative and agroecological agricultural practices have the potential to boost soil health, preserve water resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

To popularise the new farming technique in Kenya, AGRA collaborated with the two county governments of Makueni and Embu, and with the Cereal Growers Association (CGA) to identify lead farmers.

The farmers were then trained on RA practices and were supported to create plots known as ‘mother demos’.

“A mother demo is actually a place for farmers’ practical lessons,” said Mutua. “It consists of four plots, where one plot is done using all the recommended RA practices, the second one using farming methods commonly used in the area, the third one is by using part of the regenerative agriculture principles, and the fourth one is the control plot, where the same crop is planted without any agronomic practice,” he explained.

Each farmer then recruited up to 100 smallholder farmers from the neighbourhood to teach them from the mother demo. Once the farmers felt confident, they returned to their own farms to set up a baby demo, which is a single plot using all the principles of AR.

“Nearly all our farmers are at the baby demo stage,” said Mutua. “But a few bold ones like Kimeu went straight to implementation without doing a small demo for the learning purpose,” he said.

According to Kimeu, the lessons at the mother demo stage were sufficient, “and doing a baby demo for him, would amount to a wasted season,” he told IPS.

“When I decided to implement this technique, my farm was bare without much vegetation. So I started by making terraces and after it rained, different weeds sprouted. Together with my household members we manually uprooted all the weeds and left them on the farm to dry and decompose before making small basins in which we were going to plant the crop,” explained the farmer.

The basins were then filled with organic manure and some topsoil. And when it rained for the second time, hybrid drought tolerant maize variety seeds were planted inside the moist basins and any weed that sprouted was manually uprooted and left to dry and rot on the farm.

“We try as much as possible to avoid tillage or any form of disturbing the soil for it to regenerate naturally to its original form,” Kimeu said, noting that he also avoided use of conventional fertilisers.

With regenerative agriculture, weeds are used to form part of the soil. Farmer Justus Kimeu produced a bumper maize harvest during a very dry season using this farming technique. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

Almost 900 farmers from the two counties are expected to graduate from the baby demo stage and implement RA during the 2021/2022 season. “If well implemented, it will more than double food security among the participating households,” said Mutua.

Bob Kisyula, the Makueni County Minister of Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries, told IPS: “If our smallholder farmers could embrace these techniques and produce such healthy crops, then we will never need alms and food aid even in the toughest seasons.” 

Kisyula said that the County Government also invested in rippers, which are used to ensure that there is minimum disturbance of the soil as part of the RA approach.

Today, Kimeu has become a role model and a village hero.

“In this short period, I have been approached by hundreds of farmers from my village and other places who are seeking to understand how the technique works,” he said.

 

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Credit: UNICEF/Nahom Tesfaye

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, May 11 2021 (IPS)

Thanks to President Biden, the US now supports a suspension of intellectual property (IP) rights to increase vaccine supplies. However, without vaccine developers sharing tacit technical knowledge for safe vaccine mass production, it will be difficult to rapidly scale up vaccine output.

Waiver delayed is waiver denied
The CEOs of Pfizer and Astra Zeneca had recently asked the US President to reject the waiver request. Nevertheless, on 5 May, US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai announced US support for a vaccine waiver. The hope is that many, mainly rich countries will now stop opposing the developing country waiver proposal.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver request by South Africa and India also includes COVID-19 tests, treatments and personal protective equipment (PPE), albeit only for the duration of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the WHO Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) remains grossly underfunded, and thus unable to achieve most of its objectives. Many developing countries are still not even able to effectively do mass testing to ascertain those infected and follow up measures.

The developing world also faces huge supply gaps, and hence, long delays in treatment. Many ‘frontline workers’ in poor countries remain poorly protected. All this, of course, adversely compromises the world’s ability to contain the pandemic.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Foot dragging for profit
The waiver request is clearly very specific, modest and limited. Affordably producing the other non-vaccine needs is still desperately needed. Involving patents, they are immediately actionable. Hence, it is crucial for the US to support the full waiver request.

As the WTO waiver requires unanimous approval by its members, there is likely to be much foot dragging. Furthermore, even if WTO member states eventually reach a consensus on approving the waiver in principle, there is probably going to be further procrastination in negotiating details.

The WTO Director-General hopes to get a decision by December despite the likely difficulties of achieving consensus. Already, the European Union has registered doubts. Hence, many fear the new US position is unlikely to boost supply quickly.

Vaccine monopolies not yet IP dependent
Getting vaccine developers to actually share the technical information required to rapidly scale up vaccine production can be challenging. After all, no successful vaccine developer has joined the WHO COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) initiative to share such knowledge.

There are likely to be many changes to experimental vaccines in response to new knowledge, mutations and problems. Hence, IP per se may not be the most urgent obstacle to improving access to vaccines, even without developers ‘evergreening’ patents.

Patent details must be filed within 18 months, effectively an eternity in trying to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. But patent disclosures do not contain ‘trade secrets’ and other ‘tacit’ technical knowledge essential for quickly increasing vaccine output.

Vaccine profits kill
Pfizer’s CEO now projects a steady massive revenue stream as COVID-19 becomes endemic, e.g., requiring vaccine boosters. Unless the pandemic is globally contained, it will continue to threaten the world. While reducing the likelihood of severe infection, existing vaccines do not provide full protection against infection.

Vaccine developers — especially the major pharmaceutical transnational corporations — have already been dictating prices and other terms to customers. However, as their monopoly powers are not yet reliant on patents, suspending their IP rights does not ensure urgent access to COVID-19 vaccines.

Monopolies allow companies to almost unilaterally determine prices. ‘Super-profits’ can thus be secured with patents. Despite pioneering anti-trust law over a century ago, the US — the largest producer and market for many patented products — has no laws against ‘price gouging’, implying few checks on pricing practices.

Last week, Pfizer announced that prices of vaccines sold to the European Union will increase by 60% although development of its vaccine was heavily subsidised by the German government. Earlier, it announced an increase in sales revenue of over 70%, pushing up its share price and executive remuneration.

The current vaccination delay has been projected to cause an additional 2.5 million deaths! Delays are likely to allow more virus mutations, further setting back global herd immunity. This will mean many more infections and deaths as well as economic and other losses due to the pandemic and policy responses.

TRIPS discourages knowledge sharing
Until TRIPS, there were many technology transfer agreements with developing country governments, voluntarily negotiated by companies. But since 1995, TRIPS has induced more reluctance to share knowledge, retarding technological progress.

Refusal to share technology is the biggest stumbling block to rapidly ensuring global access to vaccines. Multilateral cooperation is urgently needed, not corporate or national greed.

But not a single major company has signed up to C-TAP, the WHO initiative for knowledge sharing to address the pandemic, ignoring Dr Anthony Fauci’s appeal to them to do so.

Meanwhile, Bill Gates and others misleadingly claim that developing countries do not have the capacity or ability to produce vaccines safely. Presuming developing countries’ lack of competence and capacity, without bothering to verify, provides yet another excuse for further delay.

In fact, many developing countries have previously produced vaccines. Of course, not all will be able to produce particular vaccines due to their specific technical requirements.

Existing COVID-19 vaccines are still experimental, only receiving conditional approval for emergency use. The urgent need to mitigate the severity of pandemic infections with such vaccines, after only Phase Two trials, is also the pretext for indemnity clauses in sales contracts.

Globalisation in recent decades has involved internationalisation of supply chains, with even high-tech corporations establishing sophisticated facilities in poor developing countries. But suddenly, developing countries are all dismissed as wanting.

Accelerate vaccinations for all
Late last month, President Biden reiterated his presidential campaign pledge to share COVID-19 “technology with other countries” and to “ensure there are no patents to stand in the way of other countries and companies mass producing those life-saving vaccines”.

The Biden administration must use its discretionary powers to accelerate needed progress. Besides making clear US WTO TRIPS waiver support for tests, treatments and PPE, the US has to compel vaccine companies to share the knowledge needed to quickly scale up safe vaccine production.

The 1980 Bayh-Dole Act applies to Moderna’s vaccine, publicly funded by Operation Warp Speed. The US government can require Moderna to fully honour President Biden’s original promise to share vaccine technology. After all, Moderna has promised not to profit from the pandemic.

 

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• IP, Vaccine Imperialism Cause Death and Suffering, Delay Recovery
• Intellectual Property Cause of Death, Genocide
• Poor Lives Matter, but Less
• Intellectual Property Monopolies Block Vaccine Access
• Intellectual Property Raises Costs of Living

Justice Motlhabani, left, and Letsogile Barupi, followed by Oratile Dikologang, leave the magistrate’s court in Gaborone, Botswana, on April 14, 2020. (Mmegi/Thalefang Charles via Committee to Protect Journalists, New York)

By Jonathan Rozen
NEW YORK, May 11 2021 (IPS)

Oratile Dikologang was naked when police officers pulled black plastic over his head during his detention in April 2020. It was difficult to breathe, but the interrogation continued, he told CPJ in a recent phone interview.

“What are your sources, where do you get information,” he recalled them asking repeatedly. “It was the most painful experience,” he said.

Dikologang, the digital editor and co-founder of the Botswana People’s Daily News website, and two others still face jail time in relation to Facebook posts that police were investigating when they hauled the three in for questioning.

CPJ documented the incidents, and made several attempts to reach representatives of the government and police in Botswana for comment. Dikologang denies responsibility for the Facebook posts at the heart of the case, and said that police questioned him about his own reporting.

Dikologang told CPJ that he refused to reveal his sources – but he did provide the password to his phone. Police then “successfully extracted” and “thoroughly analyzed” thousands of the journalist’s messages, contacts, images, audio files, and videos, as well social media accounts and applications, according to an affidavit that they submitted to court to support the ongoing prosecution.

Other police documents reviewed by CPJ say Orange Botswana provided mobile account information for Dikologang and his co-accused, as well as another newspaper editor who was questioned during the investigation.

To examine the phone, police used a Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) sold by Israel-based Cellebrite and a Forensic Toolkit (FTK) from U.S.-based AccessData, according to the affidavit from the Botswana Police Service Digital Forensics Laboratory, which CPJ reviewed.

Websites run by the two companies advertise their technologies’ utility for extracting information from phones and computers, as well as breaking into locked devices and decrypting information.

The search of a journalist’s phone in detention exemplifies the threat digital forensics technologies pose to privacy and press freedom around the world. CPJ has previously identified the acquisition of UFED and FTK in Nigeria, and of UFED and similar tools in Ghana – both countries where journalists report having their devices seized and being interrogated about their sources. And police in Myanmar used UFED to extract information from jailed Reuters reporters, The Washington Post reported in 2019.

“It’s a huge breach for a journalist,” Outsa Mokone, the editor of Botswana’s Sunday Standard newspaper, whose devices were taken when he was arrested in 2014, told CPJ in a phone interview this month. “We can’t protect our sources if our phones are seized.”

Dikologang was arrested alongside Justice Motlhabani, a spokesperson for an opposition political party at the time – who told CPJ that police tasered him during interrogation – and Letsogile Barupi, a university student who ran the Facebook page identified in the charges.

The police affidavit says that in February 2020, well before the arrests took place, a senior officer had ordered that their devices be searched for information about “offensive” Facebook posts. Barupi and Motlhabani also told CPJ that they gave police the passwords to their devices and accounts during interrogation in April.

Facebook pages they operated were subsequently disabled, they said, and CPJ has not been able to review the posts they were questioned about.

“This thing has sent shivers down the people who take journalism seriously,” the Standard’s deputy editor Spencer Mogapi told CPJ. Mogapi, who is also editor of local newspaper The Telegraph and chairman of the Botswana Editors Forum, said he was also questioned in the case because of messages he had exchanged with Motlhabani, which officers presented to him in a printout. He said he had known Motlhabani for years and was not charged in the case.

Police obtained the identity attached to Mogapi’s phone number in a “subscriber report” from his mobile company Orange Botswana, according to separate police documents submitted to court by the prosecution and reviewed by CPJ.

“It’s shocking,” Mogapi said when CPJ informed him of the report this month. “I don’t know what they have on me, what information they have about my contacts,” he said.

The documents say Orange Botswana also identified accounts owned by the three men facing charges and provided an “activity log” from Dikologang’s; a company representative previously told CPJ by email that they “comply with all court orders” and cannot disclose details to third parties.

In a follow-up email regarding Mogapi’s subscriber report, Orange Botswana said CPJ should direct questions to the police in Botswana.

Reached by phone in April 2021, Morwakwena Tlhobolo, the police officer who conducted the forensic searches and submitted the affidavit, said he was not able to answer questions without senior approval.

When CPJ called back, a person who answered the phone at the police forensics lab said that Tlhobolo was not permitted to respond.

Botswana police spokesperson Dipheko Motube has told CPJ before that he could not comment on the case because it was before the court, something he reiterated in response to a message about Mogapi.

Cellebrite responded to CPJ’s questions by email in April via representatives of Fusion Public Relations company. “We have multiple checks and balances to ensure our technology is used as intended. We require that agencies and governments that use our technology uphold the standards of international human rights law,” the email said.

“When our technology is used in a manner that does not meet international law or does not comply with Cellebrite’s values, we take swift and appropriate action, including terminating agreements,” the email said. Cellebrite declined to comment on “any specifics” involving their customers or the use of their technology.

On April 8, Cellebrite, which is owned by the Japan-based Sun Corporation, announced it would go public via a shell company and be listed on Nasdaq, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

In an emailed response to CPJ’s questions, Sun Corporation said, “We are very sorry to hear about what happened, however we are afraid that we are not prepared to provide any comments, where there is no evidence provided.” CPJ asked what kind of evidence would warrant a response, but received no reply.

AccessData and its parent company, Exterro, did not respond to questions CPJ emailed in mid-April to addresses listed on their websites and to two people who identified themselves as Exterro marketing representatives on LinkedIn.

CPJ called AccessData’s offices in the U.S. but was unable to connect to a representative. A voicemail CPJ left on the company’s U.K. phone number in May was not returned before publication. In early May, a person who answered the phone at Exterro’s U.K. office said they would find someone to respond to questions, but did not return CPJ’s call before publication.

“This affects my work,” Dikologang told CPJ of the incident. “Since [my sources] know the phone has been taken by the state, maybe they will be afraid to give information.”

*Jonathan Rozen is CPJ’s senior Africa researcher. Previously, he worked in South Africa, Mozambique, and Canada with the Institute for Security Studies, assessing Mozambican peace-building processes. Rozen was a U.N. correspondent for IPS News and has written for Al-Jazeera English and the International Peace Institute.

 

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By External Source
May 10 2021 (IPS-Partners)

Melissa Fleming is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Global Communications – taking up her functions as of 1 September 2019 – and oversees operations in 60 countries and platforms that reach millions of people in multiple languages.

From 2009 until August 2019, Ms. Fleming served UNHCR as Head of Global Communications and Spokesperson for the High Commissioner. At UNHCR, she led global media outreach campaigns, social media engagement and a multimedia news service to distribute and place stories designed to generate greater empathy and stir action for refugees.

Ms. Fleming is a frequent interview guest on international media platforms and her talks are featured on TED.com. She is author of the book, A Hope More Powerful than the Sea, and host of the award-winning podcast, Awake at Night.

Ms. Fleming joined UNHCR from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), where she served for eight years as Spokesperson and Head of Media and Outreach. Prior to IAEA, she headed the Press and Public Information team at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Earlier still, she was Public Affairs Specialist at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Munich, having started her career as a journalist. From 2016 to 2017, she also served as Senior Adviser and Spokesperson on the incoming United Nations Secretary General’s Transition Team.

Ms. Fleming holds a Master of Science in Journalism from the College of Communication, Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts in German Studies from Oberlin College.

In a recent interview for the Awake at Night podcast, Ms. Fleming sat down with Education Cannot Wait Director Yasmine Sherif to learn more about the mission of the UN’s global fund for education in emergencies, and ECW’s movement to reach the world’s most marginalized children and youth.

Please find below ECW’s new, compelling and inspiring interview with Melissa Fleming.

ECW: You have dedicated your life to bringing awareness to the world of those left furthest behind – refugees and other forcibly displaced populations. You have worked around the globe reporting on their challenges and the need for compassion, you created and manage an award-winning podcast “Awake at Night” to share the work of UN officials in crisis-affected countries and you are leading the United Nations public information efforts to advance multilateralism and solidarity under the UN Charter. Please tell us what inspired you and keeps inspiring you to take this path in life?

Melissa Fleming: We spend most of our waking hours working for a living. From the start of my career, it was important for me to also live for the work I am doing. The best way I could find to use my talents to contribute was to communicate – not just in facts and figures, but in stories. And not just stories of suffering and death, but of resilience and hope. There is a saying – ‘statistics are human beings with the tears dried off.’ If we are going to build bridges of compassion to people who need our help, we need to stir hearts, produce wet tears and inspire giving.

ECW: Prior to COVID-19, the estimation of children and youth with their education disrupted amounted to 75 million. As a result of COVID-19, the estimation is today 128 million. In other words, the number of children and youth deprived of a quality education in crisis is rapidly growing. Why do you consider education or SDG4 such an essential service among all SDGs to those who suffer from forced displacement, armed conflicts and climate-induced disasters?

Melissa Fleming: It is deeply traumatizing for anyone to have to flee their homes, leaving the safety of their homes, the comforts of their community and the foundations of their past for a scary unknown. But for children, also being forced to leave their schools and friends and teachers behind is a calamity. That is why emergency schooling is so critical – not just so children can continue to nurture their minds, but also to give them a place of healing and hope.

ECW: You are also a staunch supporter of the UN-hosted Fund Education Cannot Wait, which is dedicated to those left furthest behind. ECW’s investments to date have reached millions of children and youth in crisis, and the Fund has dedicated 50 per cent of its investments to those forcibly displaced from their homes and countries. Could you please elaborate on your belief and trust in the Education Cannot Wait Fund and its positive influence in serving those left furthest behind and the United Nations mission?

Melissa Fleming: I served for 10 years at UNHCR and it pained me to see that education programs for refugee and displaced children were acutely underfunded. Not funding refugee education, I felt, was not just shortsighted, it was also dumb. During my visits to refugee camps and settlements, I have always thought, ‘If they knew them, they would care and if they cared, they would increase funding.’ What if they met Hany, a Syrian refugee teen who – when given only minutes to decide what to take with him when he had to flee – chose his high school diploma? A talented young man who was on track to go to university and become an engineer, who realized that certificate held the key to his future. Who, after two years living in a shack in a muddy field in Lebanon, told me: ‘If I am not a student, I am nothing.’

The Education Cannot Wait Fund is clearly filling a critical gap, so refugee children no longer have to languish, but can return to learning and heal from their trauma at the same time. I believe such investments in refugee children are also a strategic investment in a future of peace. That Education Cannot Wait is hosted by the UN system is also an illustration of how the United Nations moves with speed, delivers quality and with real results.

ECW: The United Nations Secretary-General, António Gutteres, the United Nations Deputy-Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, as well as the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, consider education a foundational right and priority for the United Nations and work in partnership with the World Bank, the European Union and the African Union, among others, to achieve SDG4 as a means of achieving all SDGs. How can you, as the Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, help advance the United Nations ambitions and outreach among UN Member States and the private sector to achieve greater awareness and commitment to increase financial resources for education for refugees, internally displaced and other crisis-affected young people?

Melissa Fleming: Hearing about mass suffering and the millions of children out of school can generate shock and concern. But it can also cause people to shut off. When the problem seems too big to contemplate, it can make big refugee crises feel impersonal, and take away the sense that something can be done. The key to generate compassion and donations is to make this crisis relatable. What if this were your child? What does education mean to you? We universally love children and we instinctively want to protect them. What is effective for fundraising is relatable storytelling that connects to a potential donors’ own experience, with examples of the transformation that a contribution to education will bring. It is also inspiring to invite people to join an incredible coalition of Education Cannot Wait’s existing donors, advocates and partners.

But refugee crises are not just about numbers. They are about human beings.

ECW: You are the author of a very compassionate, highly successful and most relevant book in today’s world: A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee’s Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival. You are a role model for all UN staff, and also an example of one of our most creative and empathetic women leaders in the UN. Please tell us a bit more about your book. What is your message and what can we all learn from it?

Melissa Fleming: I met so many remarkable refugees in my work, but there is one who, for me, is a real-life hero: Doaa Al Zamel, who survived one of the worst shipwrecks on the Mediterranean Sea. 500 of her fellow passengers, including the love of her life, her fiancé, drowned in front of her eyes. And when she was rescued, after four days and four nights on just a child’s swim ring floating in the middle of the Mediterranean, she had managed to save a little baby. I first told that story at the TED stage and then I wrote it in detail in a non-fiction account. And, my proudest moment was when I saw it first in print on a bookshelf in Barnes & Noble, at Union Square in New York City, which was the first stop of my book tour. Now it is optioned for a film, all a sign that people are hungry for individual human stories of remarkable survival, resilience and hope. There are millions of refugee stories that have these elements. They just need to be told.

ECW: Any final comments or inspirational words from you?

Melissa Fleming: I often think of this quote by Maya Angelou as an inspiration for our communications: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

 

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By Benjamin Larroquette and Reina Otsuka
NEW YORK, May 10 2021 (IPS)

Data, analysis and information are essential building blocks in our race to save humanity from the clear and present risks posed by the climate crisis.

We are headed on a crash course with oblivion, and we need take definitive and far-reaching action if we are going to protect our people and our planet from the devastating impacts of rising seas, spiking temperatures, extreme weather and other climate impacts that are derailing human, social and economic development worldwide.

Benjamin Larroquette

The only problem is that we live in a world of digital haves and have nots. Simply put, we must bridge the digital divide and we must build more effective and actionable climate risk assessments if we are going to save humanity from the truly existential risk of this vast and complicated crisis.

Climate risk assessments will future-proof investments for the next 30 years and provide the evidence we need to achieve the targets for low-carbon climate-resilient development outlined in the Paris Agreement.

Understanding the challenge

While we are making progress in improving our ability to model climate change, there are still large gaps in the overlay of vulnerability, environmental and weather data that hinder our ability to accurately assess future risks and build effective models at the local, regional and global levels.

In Africa just 26 percent of weather monitoring stations met WMO reporting requirements as of 2019. Across the developing world, climate data is still being recorded by hand. These data sets go back 30 plus years. But with no way to validate its veracity, it offers very little to aid us as we work to clearly map and plan for various climate scenarios.

Our failure to accurately capture and analyze climate and weather data is putting lives at risk and derailing development gains.

Reina Otsuka

According to the WMO, “around 108 million people required help from the international humanitarian system as a result of storms, floods, droughts and wildfires in 2018. By 2030, it is estimated that this number could increase by almost 50 percent at a cost of around US$20 billion a year. The situation is particularly acute in small island developing states (SIDs) and least developed countries (LDCs). Since 1970, SIDS have lost US$153 billion due to weather, climate and water related hazards – a significant amount given that the average GDP for SIDS is US$13.7 billion. Meanwhile, 1.4 million people (70 percent of the total deaths) in LDCs lost their lives due to weather, climate and water related hazards in that time period.”

Bridging the digital divide

Progress is underway. In Malawi, data sets dating back decades are now being digitized, hydromet stations are sending live actionable data via the cloud, and public-private partnerships are allowing for increased analysis of climate data. This means poor rural farmers can improve profits and change their practices to adapt to new climate scenarios. It means the government can futureproof large infrastructure investments.

In Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zambia and other sub-Saharan African nations, low-cost automatic weather stations are being deployed to improve the collection of localized data, private-sector partnerships are improving the capture and analysis information, and vulnerable communities are benefiting from actionable early warnings and climate information.

Governments in Asia and the Pacific are making important steps in integrating data analysis into ecosystem-based adaptation approaches to proactively respond to and plan for multiple vulnerabilities. In the Philippines combined mangrove and coastal ecosystem impact is being assessed to protect vulnerable cities. In Viet Nam, geospatial assessment of flood impact is protecting rural infrastructure. In Tuvalu, new data is being collected via state-of-the-art LIDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, technology, to better understand the topography a unique weather patterns of the country’s atoll islands.

And while large gaps still exist, and more funding is needed, there are ways to apply low-tech solutions with high-tech know-how to leap-frog technologies and apply a new vision for weather and climate services.

The same way Africa skipped providing landlines and now can rely on mobile phones, so too can they use mobile networks to collect and share information, satellite and lightning data can improve cross-border information sharing, rainfade technology can be applied to improve weather forecasts, automated weather stations can be installed on cell-phone towers to ensure energy, security and transmission of information. With far reaching mobile connection, we can now reach the most remote farmers with important climate information and agricultural advisories.

By bringing together resources and know-how from the private sector, new technologies and new ways of working, there is a chance to bridge the digital divide and pave the way for a climate-resilient future.

Benjamin Larroquette is a Regional Technical Advisor for UNDP’s Nature, Climate and Energy team, with a focus on climate information, early warning systems and climate change adaptation.

Reina Otsuka, a Digital Innovation Specialist for UNDP’s Nature Climate and Energy team, is passionate about facilitating innovation processes and the application of digital technologies for sustainable development.

 

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Colombia was one of the first countries in the Americas to receive the COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX Facility. Credit: PAHO/Karen González

By Riccardo Petrella and Roberto Savio
BRUSSELS / ROME, May 10 2021 (IPS)

The news of the Biden Administration’s willingness to lift intellectual property rights protections in the case of the Covid-19 pandemic has sent the world into turmoil, even though in recent days this willingness had become increasingly airy.

Big step forward? Victory for the “South” and the movements that have been fighting for this (including, for more than a year, the Agora of the Earth’s Inhabitants – agora-humanite.org – even though from the beginning we considered that the provisional suspension was a “par défaut” solution)?

Are we experiencing humanitarian compassion and confirmed dominance of the rich over the poor?

Interesting aspects

The position taken by Biden constitutes the change expected by the world. The media pressure on Biden and on the Democratic representatives in Congress was so strong that a negative or uncertain response would have cost Biden a great deal in terms of his global image. The language and form were also good, in total contrast to the previous administration. Biden did not disappoint.

Second point. He has given a breath of hope and credibility back to the ‘international community’ in a dramatic phase for the entire world population. We are still a long way from the “All Brothers” of Pope Francis, but the Catholic Biden has not failed to wink at his Pope’s public incitement

Finally, he forced the EU to follow suit. Yesterday, for the first time in many years of rejection, the EU also declared itself willing to discuss it.

Crucial aspects

The fact is that on the substance the change is not so evident.

Why? Let us examine carefully the statement of Katherine Tai, the US Trade Representative at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)

1. The statement begins with yet another statement of faith on the protection of intellectual property rights. “This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures. The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in services of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for Covid-19 vaccines”.

No dissociation from the founding principles of the dominant economy, nor a clear and open contrast with the world of business and the pharmaceutical industry, especially American. Moreover, the support given is rather restrictive, limited only to anti-Covid-19 vaccines. By introducing such a restriction in a very complex scientific and technological field (the production of basic materials indispensable to vaccine production, for example, is excluded), the effective possibilities of suspending protection are considerably reduced.

2. Article 31 of the WTO-TRIPS treaties provides for the possibility of waiving the protection of intellectual property in the event of serious needs and for public intervention. We mention in particular the “compulsory licence”, which authorises a State to allow the “local” production of all therapeutic tools (tests/diagnoses, medicines, vaccines…) without the consent of the companies holding the patents. In fact, this is the first time that the United States has not been generous but has shown that it accepts the respect of those WTO-Trips rules that it had always, since 1995, fought against because they were considered contrary to its interests.

In other words, the important ‘political’ change is that the United States, from being disrespectful of international treaties that do not suit them, has become a state that is willing, in the case of Covid-19 vaccines, to discuss how to apply the existing rules. The treaties, moreover, already specify the conditions under which exceptions to the protection of intellectual property can be applied. If one adds the above-mentioned restriction, one has to admit that the US position is rather tortuous and bizarre. But why do they do it?

3. A possible answer is given in the official statement. The US does not commit itself to anything specific. They say “We will actively participate in text-based negotiations at the WTO need to make that happen”, and correctly state that “These negotiations will take time given the consensus-based nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved”. That is, the US does not say, “well, as of tomorrow we will apply the rules of provisional suspension according to the conditions mentioned in the Treaties”. No, the statement insists that the negotiations will take a long time. How long? Three months, a year, three years? According to experts in the field, it will take, if all goes well, almost a year to rewrite the rules. And in the meantime?

4. It is clear from this that the real strategy of the US is to prioritise logistical and financial solutions concerning essentially the production of vaccines, their distribution and marketing at affordable prices, especially for the 92 low-income countries and other middle-income countries in increasing economic difficulty. The statement says “The Administration’s aim is to get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many people as fast as possible.

As our vaccines supply for the American people is secured, the Administration will continue to rump up its efforts – working with the private sector and all possible partners – to expand a vaccine manufacturing and distribution. It will also work to increase the raw materials needed to produce these vaccines”.

Considering the problem and solutions of the health crisis as a problem of production, supply and purchase, market prices and consumer solvency is typically an American/capitalist approach.

As is the appeal that since the security of supply of vaccines for the American people has been guaranteed, the US will increase its efforts to increase the production and distribution of vaccines at affordable prices paid for by the public authorities. Well, we have some difficulty in assessing this as a major step forward.

A mainly public health policy and solutions to the dramatic pandemic go beyond the processes of vaccine production and consumption. No opening is made for a public vision of the pharmaceutical industry and the world health system.

Vaccines, and first and foremost knowledge/science/, remain private under patent ownership. The market remains the principle and the fundamental regulatory mechanism. The financial imperatives of the market dictate the choices of the public authorities.

Hence the absence of any mention of the fact that the central axis of world health policy must shift from the rules on trade (WTO) to the rules on universal rights to health and the health system under the responsibility of public international bodies such as WHO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO…).

According to the American government, states are there to ensure the proper functioning of health markets, and to defend the security of their citizens in the context of a ‘world economic governance’ dominated by the rules of the WTO and the World Bank. The richer states have the task of helping the poorer ones. See the role of Covax and its probable financial strengthening.

We remain in the midst of the structural dualism of “rich and poor” and the logic of the inevitability of aid and the domination of the “North” over the future of the peoples of the “South” and the planet.

The oxygen crisis in India is a major example of the consequence of the inadmissible commodification and privatisation of oxygen for therapeutic purposes that has been going on for several decades.

Forget health as a universal human right, a common good, a public good! Forget ‘public health policy’.

In conclusion

The US position is new, but in some ways, it goes in a direction that is not necessarily better. It is also important that the US forced the EU, however recalcitrant, to state yesterday that Europe is also willing to negotiate.

No one can say what the outcome of the negotiations will be. In the meantime, putting the emphasis on increased vaccine production (“now that the American people are safe….”) means that the fundamental, structural premises unfortunately remain unchanged.

Of course, the fact that the ‘good’ emperor has finally listened to the cry of the people is not to be dismissed. But is this enough to sing victory? Whose victory?

Why should the peoples of the Earth thank the USA for the step taken?

In order to hope that the symbolic value of the change made by Biden will be transformed into an effective process in favour of the right to health and life of all the inhabitants of the Earth, other changes are objectively necessary.

The compassion of the powerful is only an illusory remedy.

*Riccardo Petrella is Professor Emeritus of the Catholic University of Louvain (B) and Roberto Savio is President of Other News; co-founders of the Agora of Earth’s Inhabitants.

 

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By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, May 10 2021 (IPS)

Producers and consumers seem helpless as food all over the world comes under fast growing corporate control. Such changes have also been worsening environmental collapse, social dislocation and the human condition.

Longer term perspective
The recent joint report – by the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) and the ETC Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration – is ominous, to say the least.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

A Long Food Movement, principally authored by Pat Mooney with a team including IPES-Food Director Nick Jacobs, analyses how food systems are likely to evolve over the next quarter century with technological and other changes.

The report notes that ‘hi-tech’, data processing and asset management corporations have joined established agribusinesses in reshaping world food supply chains.

If current trends continue, the food system will be increasingly controlled by large transnational corporations (TNCs) at the expense of billions of farmers and consumers.

Big Ag weds Big Data
The Davos World Economic Forum’s (WEF) much touted ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ (IR4.0), promoting digitisation, is transforming food systems, accelerating concentration in corporate hands.

New apps enable better tracking across supply chains, while ‘precision farming’ now includes using drones to spray pesticides on targeted crops, reducing inputs and, potentially, farming costs. Agriculture is now second only to the military in drone use.

Digital giants are working with other TNCs to extend enabling ‘cloud computing’ infrastructure. Spreading as quickly as the infrastructure allows, new ‘digital ag’ technologies have been displacing farm labour.

Meanwhile, food data have become more commercially valuable, e.g., to meet consumer demand, Big Ag profits have also grown by creating ‘new needs’. Big data are already being used to manipulate consumer preferences.

With the pandemic, e-retail and food delivery services have grown even faster. Thus, e-commerce platforms have quickly become the world’s top retailers.

New ‘digital ag’ technologies are also undermining diverse, ecologically more appropriate food agriculture in favour of unsustainable monocropping. The threat is great as family farms still feed more than two-thirds of the world’s population.

IR4.0 not benign
Meanwhile, hi-tech and asset management firms have acquired significant shareholdings in food giants. Powerful conglomerates are integrating different business lines, increasing concentration while invoking competition and ‘creative disruption’.

The IPES-ETC study highlights new threats to farming and food security as IR4.0 proponents exert increasing influence. The report warns that giving Big Ag the ‘keys of the food system’ worsens food insecurity and other existential threats.

Powerful corporations will increase control of most world food supplies. Big Ag controlled supply chains will also be more vulnerable as great power rivalry and competition continue to displace multilateral cooperation.

There is no alternative?
But the report also presents a more optimistic vision for the next quarter century. In this alternative scenario, collaborative efforts, from the grassroots to the global level, empower social movements and civil society to resist.

New technologies are part of this vision, from small-scale drones for field monitoring to consumer apps for food safety and nutrient verification. But they would be cooperatively owned, open access and well regulated.

The report includes pragmatic strategies to cut three quarters of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions and shift US$4 trillion from Big Ag to agroecology and food sovereignty. These include “$720 billion in subsidies” and “$1.6 trillion in healthcare savings” due to malnutrition.

IPES-ETC also recommends taxing junk food, toxins, carbon emissions and TNC profits. It also urges criminal prosecution of those responsible for famine, malnutrition and environmental degradation.

Food security protocols are needed to supercede trade and intellectual property law, and not only for emergencies. But with food systems under growing stress, Big Ag solutions have proved attractive to worried policymakers who see no other way out.

Last chance to change course
Historically, natural resources were commonly or publicly shared. Water and land have long been sustainably used by farmers, fisherfolk and pastoralists. But market value has grown with ‘property rights’, especially with corporate acquisition.

Touted as the best means to achieve food security, corporate investments in recent decades have instead undermined remaining ‘traditional’ agrarian ecosystems.

Big Ag claims that the food, ecological and climate crises has to be addressed with its superior new technologies harnessing the finance, entrepreneurship and innovation only they can offer.

But in fact, they have failed, instead triggering more problems in their pursuit of profit. As the new food system and corporate trends consolidate, it will become increasingly difficult to change course. Very timely, A Long Food Movement is an urgent call to action for the long haul.

Food systems summit
According to Marchmont Communications, “writing on behalf of the UN Food Systems Summit secretariat”, the “Summit was originally announced on 16 October 2019 by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and was conceived following conversations with the joint leadership of the three Rome-based United Nations agencies…at the High-level Political Forum in July 2019”.

On 12 June 2019, ‘Inspiration Speaker’ David Nabarro announced to the annual EAT Stockholm conference that a World Food Systems Summit (WFSS) would be held in 2021. The following day, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Office of the UN Secretary-General.

It stirred up so much controversy that the MOU was later removed from the website of the WEF, hardly reputed for its modesty. Unsurprisingly, many believe that the WEF “pressed the Summit onto a reluctant UN Secretary-General”, and can be traced to its Food Systems Initiative.

Apparently, initial arrangements had bypassed the Rome-based UN food agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme. Their heads were then consulted and brought on board in July 2019.

With so much at stake, representatives of food producers and consumers need to act urgently to prevent governments from allowing a UN sanctioned corporate takeover of global governance of food systems.

 

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The 193-member General Assembly, the highest policy making body at the UN, is described as a political non-entity playing only a subservient role to the Security Council in the election of Secretaries-Generals over the last 76 years. “If I am a Member of the General Assembly, the biggest UN organ that prides itself on one-country, one-vote policy, I will be insulted,” says the head of a coalition of NGOs. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, May 10 2021 (IPS)

As negotiations for the upcoming election—or re-election– of a UN Secretary-General gather momentum, one undeniable fact looms heavily over the final decision: the choice of a UN chief is the intellectual birthright of the five big permanent members (P5) of the Security Council, namely, the US, UK, France, China and Russia.

All others, including the General Assembly (GA) and civil society organizations (CSOs), remain bit players in the political drama currently unfolding in a world body which has remained locked down, since March 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 193-member GA, the UN’s highest policy making body, remains and will continue to remain a political non-entity playing only a subservient role to the Security Council.

The rules are cast in stone: the secretary-general shall be appointed by the GA upon the recommendation of the Security Council

Perhaps the GA’s only task is to rubber-stamp the decision made by the big powers—as it has sheepishly done over the last 76 years—even though it has the right, and the overwhelming votes, to reject any of the candidates nominated by the Security Council.

But so far it has not.

Meanwhile, how effective or ineffective is the campaign, mostly by CSOs and women’s rights activists, for the UN’s first woman Secretary-General?

With no public support from any of the P5 countries, the gender-empowered demand for a female UN chief may eventually be a good try in a lost cause.

Despite the UN’s campaign for gender empowerment, both globally, and also inside the world body, the UN has so far elected only four women -– in contrast to 71 men–- as Presidents of the General Assembly in the last 76 years, while it has never had a female secretary-general in the history of the Organization.

Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP), a coalition of over 100 women’s rights organizations from more than 40 countries worldwide, told IPS a true UN reform should address the continued dominance of the P5 in selecting the Secretary-General.

“This is the 21st century. I thought colonialism is over. If I am a member of the General Assembly, the biggest UN organ that prides itself on one-country, one-vote policy, I will be insulted,” she said.

Meanwhile, the authors of a 1996 landmark study on UN Reforms – Brian Urquhart and Erskine Childers, both senior UN officials – said the selection of the Secretary-General is quite literally part of a male-oriented “old-boy network.”

Titled “A World in Need of Leadership: Tomorrow’s United Nations”, the report, co-sponsored by the Ford Foundation and the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, called for “a standard policy of non-renewable terms of office, and a single seven-year term” both for the Secretary-General and for all executive heads throughout the UN system.

But that never got off the ground.

As things stand, the current incumbent Antonio Guterres is heading for a second term—unless he antagonizes either one of the P5, even if it is at the 59th minute of the eleventh hour.

In a distant past, the UN chief who had a running battle with the US – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt – was the only secretary-general who was denied a second term even though he garnered 14 of the 15 votes in the Security Council, with the US exercising its veto against him.

Arora Akanksha, a UNDP staffer and a self-nominated candidate challenging Guterres, says: “The UN preaches democracy to the world but can’t organise a competitive election in its own backyard. It’s a hypocritical sham”.

“The absence of any women, people of colour, or young people from the race should set alarm bells ringing for anyone who cares about democracy, justice, or equality.”

But hers may be a voice in the wilderness because not a single P5 country has indicated its willingness to support her candidature—at least as of now.

She also does not have the sponsorship of either India or Canada, her motherland and her country of adoption respectively.

Asked about her current status in relation to the upcoming elections, Akanksha said, “I have reached out to all 193 member states. I have met with five countries so far. Countries are fearful of nominating me because of retaliation from members of the Security Council and the European Union.”

The other candidate apparently is Rosalia Arteaga, a former President of Ecuador, who is being officially supported by her home country, but prefers to be a candidate of CSOs, according to a report in PassBlue, a nonprofit, independent, women-led media site popular within the UN community.

Anwarul K. Chowdhury, former UN Under-Secretary-General and one-time Ambassador of Bangladesh to the UN, told IPS it is interesting to find that this year’s election for the Secretary-General is getting all the attention for the candidacy of individuals who are showing interest in the post.

Among them, the media – both social and traditional – outreach of Ms. Arora Akanksha seems quite wide ranging. “I am in full support of her campaign focus on a woman to be the next Secretary-General, as I have been advocating for years”.

But the point about the absence of “people of colour” is not factual as we know that out of nine SGs, five were non-white, said Ambassador Chowdhury, who was President of the UN Security Council in June 2001, and who led the process for a second term for Secretary-General Kofi Annan of Ghana (1997-2006)

“Also, I am sure Ms. Akanksha understands that when she says “The UN preaches democracy to the world …”, the functioning of the Organization is not democratic as the UN’s founders included in the Charter of the UN creation of the five permanent members of the Security Council whose positions finally decides the election of the Secretary-General.”

The basic point that she makes in her recent press release is that her “…candidacy is legally valid under the rules established by the UN in 2015” according to UN General Assembly resolution 61/321.

“The main focus and assertion of that resolution is that only Member States of the UN are invited to nominate candidates. I believe amongst Ms. Akanksha’s 200 policy experts, there would be people to know that and would have advised her correctly”.

To attain some credibility for her candidature, Ms. Akanksha should make efforts to obtain the agreement of a Member State to submit her name as a candidate. She had reportedly said earlier that “It was a positive discussion … I’m still waiting to hear what Canada’s position would be,” he noted.

“That would give her candidacy a much-needed credibility and elevate it to a formal one in accordance with the existing decision of the General Assembly. Without that, her pronouncements in her vision statement would remain hollow and merely a listing of areas and issues of concern which have been raised by many over the years”, declared Ambassador Chowdhury.

Saber Azam, former UN official and author of two books on Afghanistan and Liberia https://www.saberazam.com.told IPS the UN is at a very critical moment in its history. There is a need for profound reform.

“The President of the General Assembly cannot and should not ignore the candidacy of Ms. Arora Akanksha or anyone else who comes forward.”

Times have changed since the inception of the United Nations 76 years ago, he said, and the world has new realities. Decision-making powers must ensure that the process is transparent, inclusive, gender-balanced, and geographically fair. “The UN welcomes female candidates for all positions; why not the SG’s?”, he asked.

Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini, founder and CEO of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) told IPS this is one of the most difficult and important jobs in the world.

“It requires wisdom, political savvy, experience and a depth of humanity – a quality that is often undervalued.”

Given the UN is 76 years old as an institution, having difficulty to pull itself into the 21st century, there has been an urgent need for an SG that has vision, imagination, empathy for the marginalized and the energy needed to shift course and renovate the culture and practices of the system, she argued.

“At the very least, it would be good to see a job description setting out the criteria for eligibility. It would also be good to see the institution’s power brokers -– notably the member states – uphold the existing rules”.

For example, she pointed out, if the retirement age for UN staff is 65, shouldn’t the same rule apply to its senior leadership and special envoys? Instead, it seems that a different set of rules come into play above the 37th floor.

If the UN advocates principles of good governance, including transparency, should it not practice these principles in its own home? she asked.

“If the system is serious about gender equality and equal opportunity, should it not give female candidates a genuinely fair shot, and finally, if the UN is our chance of shaping a better future for future generations, why not consider having a younger person at the helm – one who has a genuine stake in the future, and who is at least among the world’s 87% of the population that is below the age of 65?” she added.

But none of these factors are being considered. Instead, there will be a little flurry from NGOs and women’s organizations, and a handful of brave alternative candidates, but in reality, the die is cast. Business as usual will prevail to the detriment of the original values and vision that led to the creation of the UN 76 years ago, she declared.

Explaining the process, Ambassador Chowdhury said: the position of Secretary-General is one of great importance that requires the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, and a firm commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

“The President of the General Assembly and of the Security Council invite candidates to be presented with proven leadership and managerial abilities, extensive experience in international relations, and strong diplomatic, communication and multilingual skills. Member States are invited to present candidates in a letter to the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council,” he added.

Cabrera-Balleza said “I also find it problematic that civil society continues to remain on the sidelines in this selection process. How many General Assembly and Security Council resolutions have sung praises to the critical role of civil society in implementing the mandates of the UN?”, she asked.

“That’s why I commend and strongly support various efforts of fellow civil society actors to demand transparency and inclusion in the selection of the Secretary-General, such as the “Campaign to Elect a Woman Secretary-General” (WomanSG campaign) 1 for 7 Billion, and #Forward”.

Thalif Deen, Senior Editor at the UN Bureau of Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency, is the author of a newly-released book on the United Nations titled “No Comment and Don’t Quote Me on That” available on Amazon. The link to Amazon via the author’s website follows: https://www.rodericgrigson.com/no-comment-by-thalif-deen/

 

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The XXX La Jolla Energy Conference, organized by the Institute of the Americas, began Friday, May 7 and will conclude on May 28 is being held virtually, due to the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic..

By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY, May 8 2021 (IPS)

Several Latin American countries are stepping up the pace to generate hydrogen for various uses in transportation and industry, but they must first resolve several questions.

The analysis of this environment marked the beginning of discussions at the XXX La Jolla Energy Conference, which began Friday, May 7 and will conclude on May 28 and is being held virtually, due to the limitations imposed by the covid-19 pandemic.

The XXX La Jolla Energy Conference will be held on Wednesdays and Fridays of every week in May and is organized by the Institute of the Americas (IA), which has its headquarters in the coastal city of La Jolla, in the state of California, in the United States.

Jorge Rivera, Panama’s national secretary (minister) of energy, said his country is building a market and the technology, with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to make hydrogen available.

“Panama is ready for that. We are working to develop the preliminary rules to participate in that market. In the short term, we see ourselves as a hydrogen hub for Latin America. We think we can play a role in building that hub,” he explained during his telematics participation.

In the short term, Rivera pointed out, the Central American country’s plan “more than producing, is to be a hub for storing and distributing hydrogen,” based on the existing logistics for storing hydrocarbons and the operation of the Panama Canal.

The “gray” hydrogen comes from gas and depends on the adaptation of gas pipelines for its transportation. In comparison, “blue” has the same origin, but plants capture the carbon dioxide (CO2) generated.

Production is based on steam methane reforming, which involves mixing the first gas with the second and heating it to obtain synthesis gas, but it yields CO2.

The production of “green” hydrogen uses electrolysis, whereby hydrogen is separated from oxygen using electrical energy as a separator. The gas reacts with air, generates electricity and releases steam. Electrolysis also makes it possible to recombine the two elements to form water and thus conceive fluid.

Green hydrogen has been added to the pool of clean sources to drive the energy transition away from fossil fuels and thus develop a low-carbon economy. Some countries also see it as a tool to generate foreign exchange and support recovery from the covid-19 pandemic.

In addition to hydrogen, the conference will also address topics such as the future of transportation, including its electrification; the outlook for gas in South America; energy cooperation between the United States and Mexico; as well as the future of hydrocarbons and the financing of the post-covid economic recovery.

For his part, Gabriel Prudencio, director of the Sustainable Energy Division of Chile’s Ministry of Mines and Energy, said that his country is in the early stages of seeking growth in a few years.

“Hydrogen is going to be important in the future, because it is already in use in several industries. We see that hydrogen will be used in transportation, as a gas to produce heat in industrial processes or domestic use,” he described.

Prudencio explained that “considering all this, Chile has a great potential to be an important player because of the renewable potential. We could produce the cheapest hydrogen in the world and use it in local development and export it to international markets”.

Chile already has a national hydrogen strategy, which aims to produce the cheapest green hydrogen on the planet by 2030, be among the top three exporters by 2040 and have five gigawatts of electrolysis capacity under development by 2025.

In addition, it has already drawn up an agenda of legal changes to promote this alternative.

In addition, the country has a US$15 million fund to support three pilot projects and a cooperation agreement with Singapore.

Uruguay is also interested in developing this resource to decarbonize its activities.

The Uruguayan Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining, Omar Paganini, said at the La Jolla Conference that “we are working to create conditions for the development of the market. We prepared the roadmap for hydrogen and developed a national strategy”.

The South American nation is executing a pilot project to replace diesel with hydrogen in heavy transport. In addition, the IDB is financing the analysis of gas use in other activities such as the production of green fertilizers.

Argentina also wants its slice of the hydrogen pie in the energy transition.

Santiago Sacerdote, general manager of YPF Tecnología, a subsidiary of state-owned oil company YPF, said the country has “extraordinary resources to develop those resources, such as ammonium, hydrogen and in other forms.”

“We can export low-carbon energy. We are going to see significant progress in the coming months,” said the executive director of Argentina’s H2Ar Consortium.

In that nation there is already a consortium of 40 companies and a public-private roundtable. It is also designing a new regulatory framework.

Argentina is focused on building an export platform, the collaborative partnership, a plan to execute pilot projects in several applications, create a domestic market and build the local supply chain.

Historically, Brazil was one of the pioneers in hydrogen analysis, but focused on biofuels and renewables. Now the country wants to catch up.

“We discussed energy transition strategies, including hydrogen. Brazil can be an exporter of green hydrogen. We thought about how to design that approach. We see export potential, but it is not the most competitive technology yet,” explained Agnes da Costa, director of the Special Advisory Committee on Regulatory Affairs at Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy.

Hydrogen appears in Brazil’s National Energy Plan 2050. Last April, the National Energy Policy Council proposed the development of guidelines for the National Hydrogen Program, which should be ready in 60 days.

The Hydrogen Council, a global alliance of 13 major energy, industrial and transportation companies, sponsored the study “The Road to Hydrogen Competitiveness. A Cost Perspective,” launched in January 2020, which reviews 40 technologies used in 35 applications, such as commercial vehicles, trains, heaters and industrial conditioning.

In 22 of these, the costs incurred by a user over the lifetime of the application of one of these technologies will be comparable with other low-carbon alternatives by 2030.

One of the looming challenges is the infrastructure needed for gas storage and transportation.

Panama’s Rivera acknowledged that the big issue is the cost of electrolysis infrastructure and electricity generation, but predicted that “we can take advantage of falling prices in the future”.

In turn, the Chilean Prudencio indicated that infrastructure is needed locally and for export. “Many projects will be built at the consumption site, such as mining companies”, he exemplified.

The Uruguayan Paganini minimized the distances to be covered. “Long-term contracts are necessary and for that we need production and export schemes,” he suggested.

For the Argentine Sacerdote, the existing gas network can be a support for the market to take off. “We have to consolidate this market and create incentives, and establish strategic relationships with important buyers, such as Japan,” he said.

Finally, the Brazilian da Costa foreshadowed that when there are rules and market, investment will flow. ”

“But we are not there yet. It’s time to see if the new rules for the electric and gas sectors can include hydrogen. One of the pillars is technology neutrality, so that the market is all-inclusive,” he said.

Related Articles

• Capture of CO2 and hydrogen as part of Latin America’s energy future
• Crisis Hits Oil Industry and Energy Transition Alike

Credit: SHE Investments Cambodia

By Kaveh Zahedi
BANGKOK, Thailand, May 7 2021 (IPS)

We are living through a decisive moment. The COVID-19 pandemic’s devasting impact is reaching every corner of the world. As we look back at this period, we will see history divided into a pre-COVID and a post-COVID world.

And a defining feature of the post-COVID world will be the digital transformation that has permeated every aspect of our lives. Chief Technology Officers can say that the pandemic has done their job for them, accelerating the digitalization of economies and societies at an unimaginable pace.

The digital transformation has gone hand in hand with the rise of digital technologies. These technologies have supported governments to implement social protection schemes at pace and scale. They have enabled e-health and online education, and they are helping businesses continue to operate and trade through digital finance and e-commerce.

However, ensuring that the digital transformation happening all around us does not become another facet of the deep inequalities of the countries in Asia and the Pacific is probably one of the greatest challenges we face as countries start to rebuild.

That is why inclusion must be at the heart of digital transformation if the promise to “leave no one behind” is to be met. In particular, we need to embed inclusive objectives in the four core foundations of the digital economy: Internet access, digital skills, digital financing and e-commerce.

Chances are you are reading this on your laptop or mobile phone, giving you access to the digital world. It is hard for most of us to imagine what life would be like during the pandemic if we didn’t. Sadly, this is a reality for over 2 billion people in the Asia-Pacific region. And among those two billion are some of the most vulnerable groups. For example, some 20 per cent of students in East Asia and the Pacific and almost 40 per cent of students in South and West Asia could not access remote learning this past year. This will have lasting effects that perpetuate inter-generational inequality and poverty.

To address the digital divide, our Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway initiative focuses on four interrelated pillars: infrastructure connectivity, efficient Internet traffic and network management, e-resilience, and affordable broadband access for all.

However, Internet access alone is not enough. There is a persistent and still expanding digital skills gap in the Asia-Pacific region. Among the top ten most digitally advanced economies in Asia and the Pacific, around 90 per cent of their populations use the Internet. At the beginning of the century, this share stood at around 25 per cent. By contrast, for the bottom ten economies, Internet users have grown from around 1 per cent in 2000 to only 20 per cent today.

In response, our Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development is equipping policymakers and women and youth with digital skills by conducting demand-driven training programmes.

On digital finance, while the percentage of digital payment users has increased over recent years, the gap between men and women users persists. Additionally, in East Asia and the Pacific, there is a US$1.3 trillion formal financing gap for women-led enterprises.

And while the Asia-Pacific region is emerging as a leading force in the global e-commerce market – with more than 40 per cent of the global e-commerce transactions – these gains have been led by just a few markets.

As a response, our Catalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship project addresses the challenges women-owned enterprises face by developing innovative digital financing and e-commerce solutions to support women entrepreneurs, who have been hit harder than most during the pandemic. We have supported a range of digital finance and e-commerce solutions through this initiative – such as a digital bookkeeping app and an agritech solution – providing more inclusive options for women entrepreneurs to thrive. To date, the project has supported over 7,000 women to access financing and leveraged over US$50 million in private capital for women entrepreneurs.

Inclusion is undoubtedly central to the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific’s (ESCAP) technology and innovation work that focuses on addressing the core foundations of an inclusive digital economy.

The recent ESCAP, ADB and UNDP report on “Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Leaving No country Behind” underlined the key role digital technologies played during the pandemic and how they can also play a critical role in building back better. However, the report shows that digitalization can also widen gaps in economic and social development within and between countries, unless countries can provide affordable and reliable Internet for all and make access to the core foundations of the digital economy central to building back better.

While digital transformation is certain, its direction is not. Governments, civil society and the private sector must work together to ensure that digital technologies benefit not only the economy but society and the environment, and have inclusion at their heart. Only then do we stand a chance of realizing the transformative potential of digital technologies to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Kaveh Zahedi is the Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

 

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The post The Illusion of Digital Inclusion in the Post-COVID World appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Viral Facts Africa, a first of its kind African initiative to combat health misinformation online, was launched recently by the World Health Organization (WHO) and a network of fact-checking organizations and leading public health bodies.

By Cristina Duarte
UNITED NATIONS, May 7 2021 (IPS)

In rebuilding after COVID-19, policymakers must invest in innovative technology to leapfrog obstacles to inclusive development. Africa has enjoyed strong economic growth for most of the 21st century, mainly because of robust global demand for primary commodities.

But the “Africa Rising” narrative that accompanied this growth is mostly a story of rising GDP, which is overly one-dimensional. In fact, Africa’s economic growth has failed to generate many good jobs—postponing, once again, the benefits of the demographic dividend of a large working-age population.

Because there are fewer old and young people that require support than people of working age, the dividend is supposed to free up resources that can be devoted to inclusive development.

Instead, African policymaking continued its now nearly half-century belief that achieving “development” is limited to managing poverty—in other words, equating the business of development to poverty reduction.

The shift from the industrialization agenda of the early post-independence period to one of poverty reduction is a major reason for the continent’s economic malaise. As the African Innovation Summit (2018) put it, the development agenda shifted from socioeconomic transformation to the lowest common denominator, managing poverty.

To generate economic growth that leads to sustainable development, Africa must shift its focus to retaining and creating wealth, better managing its resources, fostering inclusiveness, moving up on global value chains, diversifying its economies, optimizing the energy mix, and placing human capital at the center of policymaking.

Cristina Duarte

For this to happen, African policy must foster investment in research, development, and innovation (R&D&I) to reboot the continent’s economic structures and catch up technologically with the rest of the world. Innovation, and the digital information technology that accompanies it, has become a necessary component of any effort to address such challenges as food security, education, health, energy, and competitiveness.

The world is driven by innovation: unless African policymakers reap the potential benefits of R&D&I, the global divide will keep growing. The problem is that innovation is talked about and debated, but not strategized.

It is here, paradoxically, that the COVID-19 pandemic, despite all the economic and social devastation it has caused, provides an opportunity for African countries to innovate and go digital. African countries will have to rebuild their economies. They should not merely repair them; they should remake them, with digitalization leading the way.

So far, civil societies seem to be more ready than policymakers to embrace digital technology. With no help from government, the digital technology industry has grown in Africa—through incubators and start-ups, tech hubs and data centers.

Information and communication technology (ICT) activities are spreading across the continent, and young Africans are responding with digital technology to the challenges posed by COVID-19.

For example, at an ICT hub in Kenya, FabLab created Msafari, a people-tracking application that can trace the spread of infections. A similar application, Wiqaytna6, was developed in Morocco. In Rwanda, the government is demonstrating what enlightened policies can achieve.

The country has invested heavily in digital infrastructure—90 percent of the country has access to broadband internet, and 75 percent of the population has cell phones. Early in the pandemic Rwanda parlayed that technological prowess into developing real-time digital mapping to track the spread of COVID-19, expanded telemedicine to reduce visits to clinics, and created chatbots to update people on the disease.

These are promising endeavors, but digitalization is not widespread in Africa. Rwanda is the exception. Only 28 percent of Africans use the internet, a digital divide that prevents the continent from taking full advantage of digital technology’s ability to mitigate some of the worst effects of the pandemic.

That slow spread of internet technology also makes it difficult for the continent to leapfrog obstacles to sustainable development. To generate transformative growth, digitalization cannot be left mainly to civil society and the private sector.

The socioeconomic divide in Africa feeds the digital divide, and vice versa. Digitalization needs to be scaled up forcefully by policymakers to unlock structural transformation.

Digital divide

When assessing the digital divide, it is important to remember that the issue is about more than access to the internet. How internet usage benefits the user is also a factor. The goal of digitalization should not just be greater consumption; it should enhance civil societies’ resilience, which demands a clear regulatory framework and an educated population.

In Africa, it’s not just internet connectivity that’s missing. So are other basics—including electricity, literacy, financial inclusion, and regulations. The result is that people are unable to use the digital solutions that are available.

Furthermore, a good share of African populations still struggles with such life-threatening problems as conflict and food insecurity, which make daily survival their only goal.

Millions of Africans are not only on the wrong side of the digital divide, they are on the wrong side of many divides—lacking basic health and public necessities such as electricity, clean water, education, and health care. COVID-19 has exacerbated their plight because lockdowns and social distancing have made many public services accessible only online.

The terrible truth is that these hundreds of millions of people have been left behind, and unless African policymakers realize that access to digital technologies is a critical tool for socioeconomic inclusion, progress will be confined to those with electricity and telecom services—further isolating the vast majority without such access. The divide will widen.

The deep disruptions generated by the pandemic have opened up opportunities to remake society that are subtle. These are times that test policymakers’ vision and leadership.

As McKinsey & Company (2020) noted, the “COVID-19 crisis contains the seeds of a large-scale reimagination of Africa’s economic structure, service delivery systems and social contract.

The crisis is accelerating trends such as digitalization, market consolidation and regional cooperation, and is creating important new opportunities—for example, the promotion of local industry, the formalization of small businesses and the upgrading of urban infrastructure.”

As Africa rebuilds from COVID-19 disruptions it must not return to a pre-pandemic reality. The moment is now.

As Africa rebuilds from COVID-19 disruptions it must not return to a pre-pandemic reality; it must build a better reality that recognizes the need for innovation, particularly digital technologies.

This is the prerequisite for victory over its myriad development challenges—such as poverty, health, productivity, competitiveness, economic diversification, food security, climate change, and governance.

Receptive to change

Over the past five years, change has occurred in Africa, suggesting that the continent may be receptive to building better rather than merely rebuilding. Liu (2019) identified three major African initiatives that signal such receptivity to change:

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which aims to create a single market with a combined GDP that exceeds $3.4 trillion and includes more than 1 billion people;

The South African government’s new Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution of the World Economic Forum (WEF), for dialog and cooperation on the challenges and opportunities presented by advanced technologies;

The WEF’s Africa Growth Platform, which aims to help companies grow and compete internationally, leveraging Africa’s entrepreneurial activity—13 percent higher in its initial stage than the global average.

These ongoing initiatives could become game changers, breathing life into the top-down dimension of going digital. So far, the change has been almost only from the bottom up. More than 600 technology hubs—places designed to help start-up companies—have emerged across the continent.

Three have achieved international recognition: Lagos in Nigeria, Nairobi in Kenya, and Cape Town in South Africa. These tech hubs host thousands of start-ups, incubators, technology parks, and innovation centers driven by the private sector and young people who, despite adversity, are aware of how self-employment is linked to innovation.

Public policy lacking

Things are less promising from the top down. According to a 2018 WEF report, 22 of 25 countries analyzed had no public policies focused on an ecosystem for innovation.

Investing in broad-based digitalization, from a geographic and sectoral point of view, is crucial not only to address socioeconomic problems but also to deal with peace and security challenges.

And it boosts economic growth. A study by the International Telecommunication Union found that 10 percent greater mobile broadband penetration would generate a 2.5 percent rise in Africa’s GDP per capita.

But digital solutions cannot be achieved in a vacuum. Policymakers must make implementation of digital technologies an element of an ecosystem of innovation, and there’s no time to lose. Well-calibrated regulatory frameworks, investment in infrastructure, digital skills, and financial inclusion must take priority.

Most research shows that digital technologies are essential to addressing socioeconomic challenges. They are often described as the single ingredient Africa needs to leapfrog to sustainable and inclusive economic development.

From an economic standpoint, better information and communication technology democratizes information crucial to production and market agents, which makes for more efficient value chains and more affordable products and services. And the most vulnerable people will benefit.

However, the massive adoption of digital technologies also means that policymakers must be aware of and address the complex legal and ethical impact of technology in society, including privacy, data, and tax evasion.

This is especially true in Africa, where weak institutions might not be strong enough to uphold the rights and interests of their people against those of the market.

Source: Finance and Development, International Monetary fund (IMF), Washington DC

 

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Excerpt:

The writer is special adviser on Africa to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and former finance minister of Cabo Verde.

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Credit: Twitter @Dr_Aqsa_Shaikh

By Mariya Salim
NEW DELHI, India, May 7 2021 (IPS)

When Dr Aqsa Sheikh Tweeted and asked if she was the only transgender person to head a vaccination centre, it seemed extraordinary that in a country with 1.3 billion people, that this could be true.

“Can I lay claim to be the only #Transgender person to head a #Covid #Vaccination Centre in India? Will be very happy to have company of other Trans Folks in this spot,” she wrote on March 3, 2021.

India had turned countless hospitals into COVID-19 vaccination centres – and Sheikh was, and still is, the only transwoman heading one.

Born and raised in Mumbai, Dr Aqsa Sheikh is a proud Muslim transwoman. She is presently living in Delhi and working as the Associate Professor of Community Medicine at Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research. She is the nodal officer of a COVID-19 Vaccination Center, involved in COVID-19 surveillance, and engaged in vaccine and transmission research. Despite her qualifications even in a pandemic, the idea of a trans-Muslim woman as a doctor defies stereotypes.

“I haven’t faced any active face-to-face discrimination. However, a lot of name-calling on social media is common. In my videos, I get comments of people asking whether I am a man or a woman or why is my voice so masculine,” Sheikh told Inter Press Service (IPS) in an exclusive interview.

“People call us ‘Madarsa chhaap’ (derogatorily referring to being from an Islamic School), ‘Hijras’ (a term sometimes used to refer to trans people in a derogatory manner) and so on.”

When asked how her gender identity affects her daily professional interactions, especially during the pandemic, Sheikh says that often “our stories and our identity travel to people before us”, so people look at her through many lenses.

The intersections of her identity are many, Muslim, transgender, woman, leader, health activist.

She credits two aspects of her life for saving her from stigmatisation often experienced in the trans community. Firstly, a lot of time has passed since she transitioned, and secondly, she is in a position of privilege where she is a provider rather than someone who is seeking the service. Both these make her less of a target for discrimination.

Coming out as a trans woman, however, has not been an easy task for Dr Sheikh.

When she broke the news to her family that she was a transwoman, there was anger, denial, and rebuttal.

She says she understands that for a family which has never had exposure to a transgender person, to accept that someone they have raised as a boy for 20 years now says and affirms that they are a woman was difficult to accept. The transition, which involved surgical and legal transitions, met with increased resistance because she came from a conservative Muslim background.

“While my mother stays with me, the rest of the family is not very comfortable affirming these familial bonds, but then you can’t get everything in life,” Sheikh says. “I am happy that I have been able to do what I wanted to do despite all the opposition from society, and that’s what matters at the end of the day.”

Sheikh also emphasises there is a lot of homophobia within the Muslim community, like most communities. Still, she believes that acceptance of trans and intersex people is a little better, especially for those who transition.

The most important thing, according to Sheikh, is to be comfortable with oneself and be secure in the knowledge that she is not doing anything wrong.

“When I was confident that I was right, what I am doing is not wrong or anti-religion, then I was able to talk more about it, I was able to convince more people about it, I was able to break down more walls,” she says.

According to Sheikh, the intersectionality of identities at play and understanding them is also imperative.

“You are not just a Muslim person, or just a queer person, just a doctor. You are not just a woman or just an Indian. You are all of them together,” she says. “So, I, for example, do not only speak on the transgender issues, but I also speak on the different issues of the Muslim community. I speak on the issues faced by the Kashmiri Muslims, those faced by the patients while receiving healthcare irrespective of whether they are cis (assigned and identify with a gender given at birth) or trans.”

She feels once people see you as someone who understands intersectionality (the interconnectedness of aspects of race, class, gender, and religion), acceptance increases.

The transgender community is highly vulnerable, says Sheikh and accessing general, COVID-19, or transition-specific healthcare is challenging.

“With COVID-19 and then the subsequent national lockdowns, the number of service providers available for providing services to the trans persons saw a decrease,” Sheikh says. “During such times, the stigmatisation also always increases because one is looking for scapegoats.”

She says the blame for transmission is often placed on minority groups, like the Tablighi Jamaat or trans persons.

Mental health services, which are a privilege for any person in India to afford, became difficult to access during the pandemic.

“Especially (difficult) when it came to queer-affirmative mental healthcare and counselling. The pandemic has been a tough and challenging time for the trans community with so many losing their traditional livelihood measures,” Sheikh says.

With all the challenges that the present pandemic brings with it, she continues with her activism.

Apart from her professional medical engagements, she runs an NGO called Human Solidarity Foundation.

“We started a charitable clinic in Zakir Nagar this year. With the second wave of COVID-19, apart from distributing food kits and other work, we are doing a teleconsultation and also helping out people with COVID-19 resources,” she says.

Sheikh’s education was funded by Zakaat Funds (money to be compulsorily given by Muslims for charitable causes), and it’s her dream that the potential of children is not lost because of lack of resources. Eradication of hunger, health and education for all, sensitisation and awareness are her goals.

“I am not sure whether we can achieve these in my lifetime, but that’s what I really look forward to.”

Mariya Salim is a fellow at IPS UN Bureau

 

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A new report categorized people in Burkina Faso, South Sudan and Yemen as being in ‘Catastrophe,’ meaning that they need immediate action to prevent widespread death and collapse of livelihoods. This year’s report on Food Crises presents the grimmest snapshot to date of global food insecurity. Thousands of displaced people camping under trees in Minkaman, northeastern South Sudan.(file photo). Credit: Andrew Green/IPS

By Alison Kentish
UNITED NATIONS, May 6 2021 (IPS)

The COVID-19 pandemic, protracted conflicts and climate change have created an untenable situation for the most vulnerable, with 155 million people across 55 territories suffering from severe food insecurity, sending acute hunger figures to a 5-year high.

That’s according to the Global Network Against Food Crises, an alliance of humanitarian partners working to prevent hunger and respond to food crises. The Network, which was founded by the European Union, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP), released the findings of its 2021 Global Report on Food Crises on Wednesday, May 6.

The partners have issued an annual report on food crises since 2017, but this year’s publication presents the grimmest snapshot to date of global food insecurity. It reported that 20 million more people faced acute hunger in 2020 than the previous year.

Stating that by the end of 2020, the zero hunger by 2030 goal seemed “increasingly out of reach”, the report categorised 133,000 people in Burkina Faso, South Sudan and Yemen as being in “catastrophe”, meaning that they need immediate action to prevent widespread death and collapse of livelihoods.

Additionally, it stated that children living in food-crisis countries are especially vulnerable to malnutrition. In the 55 food-crisis countries under review, almost 16 million children under 5 years were acutely malnourished, while 75.2 million children under five years experienced stunted growth.

The Network Partners say it is possible to reverse the rising trend of food insecurity, but this requires urgent commitment, finance and action.

“Humankind can now pilot a helicopter drone and even split molecules to generate oxygen on the far-off planet of Mars, yet here on Earth, 155 million of our human family are suffering acute hunger and their lives and livelihoods are at risk because they lack the most basic of foods. The contrast is shocking and not acceptable,” said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu.

The FAO Chief says as the international and humanitarian community prepares for the United Nations Food Systems Summit in September, the information in reports like this one should serve as a guide for solutions to the world’s hunger crises.

“This requires a bold transformation of agri-food systems to be more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable. This includes the development of early warning systems linked to anticipatory actions to protect livelihoods and food security before a shock or the threat emerges,” he said.

UN Children’s Fund Executive Director Henrietta Fore told the launch that the situation was worrying. She said COVID-19, with its lockdowns, economic and social shocks, has worsened a fragile nutrition situation.

“In virtually every single one of the crises described in this year’s report, the most vulnerable are young children and marginalised, hard-to-reach populations,” she said. “These children and their communities must be our priority. We need to invest in data and information systems that help us identify hot spots of vulnerability and risk at the sub-national levels in key countries. This information is critical in targeting resources efficiently to reach children, their families and their communities who are most in need.”

While the partners lament the staggering acute food insecurity statistics, the outlook is just as dire. They say threat of famine persists in some of the world’s worst food crises.

“Tragically, this report is just the tip of the iceberg that we’re facing all around the world,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley. 

“The global picture is even more bleak when we consider all countries significantly impacted by hunger. For example, chronic hunger, which was 690 million, is now up an additional 130 million people.”

According to the report’s forecast, while conflict will remain the main driver of food crises in 2021, the economic fallout of COVID-19 will worsen acute food insecurity in fragile economies. 142 million people are projected to be in a food crisis, emergency or famine, in 40 territories for which forecasts are available.

“High levels of acute food insecurity will persist in countries with protracted conflicts by limiting access to livelihoods and agricultural fields, uprooting people from their homes, and increasing displaced populations’ reliance on humanitarian aid for their basic needs,” the report stated.

The Global Network Against Food Crises says while humanitarian assistance is urgently needed, on its own, it is insufficient to deal with the scale of the present crises. The Network says the answer also lies in peace and a transformation of global food systems.

“A system that has the most vulnerable people continuing to bear the greatest burden of global crises is broken. We must take this opportunity to transform food systems, reduce the number of people in need of humanitarian food assistance and contribute meaningfully to sustainable development and peaceful and prosperous societies,” it said.

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