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More than 50 million construction workers in India build our homes and cities. | Picture courtesy: Godrej Industries Limited

By Gayatri Divecha and Pooja Lapasia
MUMBAI, Aug 14 2020 (IPS)

Basant Lal Chaudhary migrated from his village of 1,200 people in Madhya Pradesh, to a city of 90,000 people in Jammu and Kashmir in 2016. He last worked as a construction worker, before the COVID-19 lockdown forced him out of employment.“I used to earn a daily wage of INR 350. That was my only source of income,” he shares. During the lockdown, he along with others who worked with him, are finding it difficult to make the ends meet.”I don’t know whether I will be able to find work here anytime soon.”

More than 50 million construction workers in India build our homes and cities. Like Basant Lal Chaudhary, an average construction worker earns just over INR 350 a day (US$ 4,70) with almost no perks or benefits. Many workers are their families’ primary earners. For the high risk of the jobs they are involved in, they are seldom provided a safety net.

Approximately 87.4 percent of workers in the construction industry are categorised as casual labour, and they make up a majority of the informal workforce in our country. In 1996, the Indian parliament enacted two laws which had the potential of providing protection and dignity to this workforce:

• The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, (BOCW Act or BOCWA).
• The Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act (Cess Act).

 

Understanding these laws and what they mean

These laws mandate that construction companies pay a minimum of one percent cess on the construction cost. This money is then directed to the welfare of construction workers registered under the BOCW Act. The act ensures the safety and welfare of these workers and their families. Benefits include pension, education and maternity assistance, loans for purchase of tools, and accident and medical expenses.

We don’t have to wait for a pandemic to highlight the gaps in our present system. A well-planned structure will ensure workers get the benefits they are entitled to, no matter the external circumstances


Despite this, data released by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in early February 2019 showed that only about 35 million of the 50 million construction workers were registered under the BOCW Act. Even here, up-to-date information is unavailable on the number of active registrations. For example, Delhi has 5,39,421 workers registered totally, but only 1,28,394 are active as per the state website. It is not clear how many of these registered workers are local and how many are migrants, because none of the systems we have come across captures this.

Since the inception of the Cess Act, states and union territories have collected an estimated INR 52,000 crores from construction companies. However, until 2019, less than 40 percent of the corpus was spent on welfare of the construction workers. Here, there are sizeable differences among states:

• As many as 21 of the 37 states and union territories have spent less than 30 percent of their collected funds.
• On the other hand, Kerala was the only state to have spent more than the collected funds (121 percent).
• Importantly, some states, which collected the highest amount of cess, have spent the least on the welfare of construction workers. For instance, Maharashtra spent only five percent of the INR 7,400 crore that it had collected. Similarly, Delhi collected INR 2,190 crore, but spent only nine percent of it.

With COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown, the government asked states to use their unspent funds to provide immediate relief to construction workers. This was a welcome move, not only because it would ease distress amongst labourers, but also because it marked what will probably be the first time in 24 years that we will see an uptake in spending from this fund.

However, to avail these benefits, the workers needs to be registered under the BOCW Act. Low registrations, especially among the significant migrant population, has led to exclusion of a large section of the construction workforce. “I am not registered anywhere. I don’t have much knowledge about it. I just do my labour work,” shares Basant Lal. Like him, millions of workers (often the most vulnerable) not only miss out the relief package benefits, but also on other welfare benefits they and their families are entitled to.

COVID-19 or not, registering under the BOCW Act is crucial as it is the first step in availing any support from the government. But why are the registrations so low and what can be done to change this? Let us break it down.

 

Increasing BOCWA registrations: What needs to be done

 

1. Adoption of a single window system

The current system allows for registration and support in one state without any portability option. This is incompatible with the reality of migrant labourers who are often working in multiple states in a given year. For example, Delhi has seen 87 percent fall in registered workers since 2015—largely because people dropped off the system when they migrated elsewhere for work.

Consider Govind and his family. They moved from Jhansi to Jodhpur to make a living as construction labourers. They are registered under BOCW Act in Jhansi; however, because of the move, their registration has most likely shifted to an ‘inactive’ status, leaving them unable to avail any benefits. They share, “We have not got any benefits of that registration yet. We are not aware as to what the benefits are, and how to avail them.”

Given this reality, states need to have mechanisms that ensure seamless portability of the informal workforce. A Model Welfare Scheme has been outlined by the Ministry of Labour and Employment following the Supreme Court directive, where each worker will be allotted a unique identification code that can be used across the country. As Jan Sahas recommends in their report, states should expedite the implementation of the new model that will help streamline the registrations and benefits in a single window.

 

2. Easy registration

Currently, workers are required to fill out a detailed form to register under BOCW Act. For instance, in Delhi the four page form was turned into a 12 page form. Filling out the form with all necessary details is usually a big task for workers as they have low literacy levels and little access to digital systems.

Additionally, the onus of registration is currently on the workers. It would be fruitful to shift this onto contractors or developers. In the short-term, employers will be able to easily register workers. They have the resources to do so, and they already collect details such as PAN, Aadhaar, and bank account details. In the long-term, employers could then formalise these employment relationships through official contracts and registration to authorities.

 

3. Relaxation in proof of employment certification

Under this act, workers need to submit 90 days certification of proof of employment in the last 12 months. In reality, the industry has a high rate of worker turnover. For example, at our Godrej Properties Limited construction sites, workers typically stay with us for about 45 days. This number is far lower at smaller construction sites. As workers keep moving, they find it difficult to have a 90 day documented proof of employability, especially from contractors that employ them for short projects. This rule should therefore consider relaxing the certification of work to 90 non-continuous work days annually.

 

4. Partnering to increase registrations

A large number of construction workers work at the nakas as daily wage earners. It is important to reach out to this segment and get them registered. To this end, a number of steps can be taken.

Firstly, state BOCW Act boards can partner with nonprofit organisations that work with migrant workers to effectively register daily wage workers at worker facilitation centres. Additionally, information counters can be set up at state transport bus stands, railway stations, and nakas for workers to easily access information. Even a central worker helpline number will be useful. For example, the Delhi government is holding a registration drive during the lockdown to get more workers in the system. Maharashtra is also replicating this idea, and it can be quickly taken up by other states. However, support from developers and the construction industry is crucial to boost this drive.

In addition, corporates can widen the social protection net by proactively engaging with suppliers, vendors, and partners to formalise registration and licensing, set standards for employee protection, and socialise linkages to public schemes. Stakeholders can be incentivised or penalised and progress can be monitored.

Lastly, it would be worthwhile for the BOCW Act boards to explore a public-private partnership to monitor registrations through different mediums (online, through civil society organisations, developers, builders, contractors, and so on).

We don’t have to wait for a pandemic to highlight the gaps in our present system. A well-planned structure will ensure workers get the benefits they are entitled to, no matter the external circumstances.

This article was written with inputs from Jan Sahas and Dimpy Dave.

Gayatri Divecha heads Corporate Social Responsibility for Godrej Industries and Associate Companies

Pooja Lapasia leads communications for the Corporate Social Responsibility function at Godrej Industries and Associate Companies

This story was originally published by India Development Review (IDR)

The post Getting India’s Construction Workers Their Entitlements appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Kalpana Nagari and Kalawati Auji from Godavari Municipality who face double discrimination from society for being Dalit and because their relatives tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from India. Credit: UNNATI CHAUDHARY

By Unnati Chaudhary
KAILALI, Nepal, Aug 14 2020 (IPS)

Across Nepal, it is the already under-served and vulnerable who have been affected by the prolonged lockdowns. But it is the Dalit returnees from India who have tested positive and their families who face double discrimination.

The Ministry of Health issues a daily tally of COVID-19 cases, but no one is counting the poorest of the poor who are dying of hunger or pre-existing diseases, or have been have been driven deeper into destitution.

Kalpana Nagari, 30, works as a day labourer by the roadside in Godavari Municipality to earn enough to feed her two children. This time of year there are plenty of jobs planting or weeding paddy fields, but she is unemployed because of social stigma after her husband, Tika Narayan, tested positive for COVID-19 last month.

Tika Narayan Nagari had returned from India after he lost his job there on 15 May. He tested positive was quarantined altogether for 50 days first at the border, and later because of delays in getting his test result. But even after he got out, the Dalit family has been shunned by neighbours and society.

The non-Dalits in the quarantine used to get hot water, lunch, and more food than us. If we asked for more food, they would ignore us

Her family used to face discrimination even before because they were Dalit, but COVID-19 has added another layer of prejudice. Even that is not what worries Kalpana the most – it is not earning enough to feed her family.

“Without work, how are we going to feed our children that is what I am most anxious about,” says Kalpana, who does not have a house of her own and lives with her sister-in-law. Her husband had to go to India to find work to repay a loan he took for his mother’s funeral.

“During every meal, I worry about where the next one will come from, and I feel faint,” says Kalpana. “The landlords did not give me any work in the rice fields because they said ‘your husband has corona, you might also be infected’.’”

Kalawati Auji, 40, is also from Godavari and raised her three sons all by herself after her husband died nine years ago. Her eldest son died last year, and her youngest has heart disease. Her middle child, Dipak is 22 and worked in Bareilly in India. It was the money Dipak sent home that allowed Kalawati to pay for food and medicines for her daughter-in-law, son and grandson.

But Dipak lost his job and returned to Nepal on 30 June. He tested positive for COVID-19 and was confined in a quarantine for 34 days where he was ostracised both for being infected, and for being a Dalit. After coming home, he quarantined himself in a cowshed for a week.

But even after he recovered, the family has been harassed and humiliated by neighbours. Neither Dipak not Kalwati can find a job, and they owe a neighbourhood provision store Rs50,000.

Says Kalawati: “This pandemic has come to kill the poor like us.”

Fifty-year-old Harish B K also returned from Bareilly in the first week of May. Among the 234 people whose swab samples were taken, Harish was among 70 who tested positive – only two of them were non-Dalits.

“The non-Dalits in the quarantine used to get hot water, lunch, and more food than us. If we asked for more food, they would ignore us,” he recalls. Now out of quarantine, but jobless, deep in debt, and facing double discrimination and humiliation, Harish says he often has suicidal thoughts.

Godavari Municipality says it has plans to provide farm subsidies to the most vulnerable during the pandemic and lockdown. Deputy Mayor Ratna Kadayat says the plan will give priority to Dalits, women, and marginalised communities under the ‘Prime Minister’s Employment Program’.

But these future plans are a mirage for most Dalit families like the Nagaris, Aujis and BKs here. Their needs are urgent and immediate, and they have heard these promises before.

Rights activist Savitra Ghimire at the Dalit Women’s Rights Forum (DWRF) says the relief may be too little too late for most Dalit families. Godavari and the Attaria highway intersection are hotspots for a surge in coronavirus cases. In the past month alone, the area got 4,000 returnees from India, and of them 349 tested positive and 294 have recovered and gone home.

However, being virus-free is just the beginning of the struggle for Dalit families here in western Nepal. As more and more districts re-impose lockdown, business is not expected to pick up soon, and this means fewer options for employment. And even if jobs open up, Dalit returnees and their families here will be the last to get them.­­­

This story was originally published by The Nepali Times

The post COVID-19 Sharpens Caste Discrimination in Nepal appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Search and rescue team combs rubble in Beirut after a blast on 4 August 2020. Credit: UNOCHA

By External Source
Aug 13 2020 (IPS)

The catastrophic explosion in Beirut’s port is a manifestation of the Lebanese political elite’s predation and dysfunction. Among the country’s long-suffering citizens, shock is quickly yielding to fury. It may be the last chance for those in power to effect long-overdue structural reforms.

From all we know, the blast that destroyed much of the port in the Lebanese capital Beirut in the early evening of 4 August was an accident – but if so, it was an accident only in name. Storing, against repeated warnings, more than 2,750 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate for nearly seven years under unsuitable conditions near a densely populated area amounted to asking for a catastrophe to happen.

Blatant, perhaps criminal, negligence and bureaucratic ineptitude were the immediate causes of the explosion that killed over 150, injured more than 5,000, displaced up to 300,000 and caused an estimated $2 billion in damage to the city – and counting

Blatant, perhaps criminal, negligence and bureaucratic ineptitude were the immediate causes of the explosion that killed over 150, injured more than 5,000, displaced up to 300,000 and caused an estimated $2 billion in damage to the city – and counting.

In that sense, the disaster is only the latest, if most dramatic and devastating, manifestation of the dysfunction that has marked the Lebanese state for three decades. It is the product of a predatory political elite that has held state institutions in its grip and sucked them dry while allowing public services for ordinary citizens to break down to the point of non-existence.

The networks of political influence, patronage and corruption they have built have compromised accountability, due process and professional conduct on all levels. Their behaviour has pushed Lebanon over the brink of bankruptcy and beggared much of the population.

The headline in The Daily Star, a local newspaper, captured the bottom line particularly well: “Lebanon’s officials are its worst enemies”. Unless these political elites finally accede to the demands for fundamental reform, Lebanon will slide further into economic abyss, and public outrage may well lead to unrest and violence.

The blast will accelerate the Lebanese economy’s tailspin, immiserating a larger and larger part of the 6.8 million-strong population, one in five of whom are Syrian refugees. The Lebanese lira has lost more than 80 percent of its value since October, impoverishing citizens who now struggle to afford basic goods, which are mostly imported.

Banks have largely refused to dispense their customers’ savings, as they grapple with their own apparent insolvency. On 6 August, the Lebanese Central Bank announced support for businesses and individuals seeking to repair damage, yet experts remain sceptical that the institution can squeeze enough dollars out of its shrinking foreign reserves to make a real difference.

The liquidity crisis, loss of credit and resulting collapse of local demand, which was then deepened by the COVID-19 pandemic, has forced businesses to scale back operations or shut down entirely, shedding or furloughing tens of thousands of employees. State-provided electricity has dwindled to just a few hours per day, as fuel has become scarce.

Lebanese politicians have responded to the country’s political-economic crisis with characteristic lack of seriousness, arguing among themselves over the scale of losses at Lebanon’s politically connected banks, and who should make them whole. Negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over an economic rescue package have deadlocked as a result.

Now Lebanon’s national crisis has been made much worse. With Beirut’s port incapacitated, and smaller facilities along the Lebanese coast likely unable to take much of the load, bringing in sufficient supplies of food and medicine will be a challenge.

The blast also destroyed the main grain storage silos and stocks of medical equipment. Enterprises that have weathered the crisis thus far will find it even more difficult to import equipment and materials to keep business going or to export their products. State tax and customs revenue will plummet further, forcing the government to fund its budget through the printing press and thus initiating a new round of hyperinflation.

Even before the latest disaster Lebanon was in need of humanitarian assistance. Now the need has become acute, and the volume of required aid, in particular medical staff and supplies, food to replenish destroyed stocks and building material to fix damaged shelters, has only grown.

Thankfully, a number of countries across the Middle East and in Europe are already pitching in. They will have to do more, as the effects of the Beirut port’s destruction and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese set in, compounding the country’s misery. They should provide assistance directly to the affected population and through local and international non-governmental organisations present on the ground.

Lebanon’s political leadership may still have a chance to do the right thing and institute long-overdue reforms, as the Lebanese people have demanded, and on which international donors have conditioned an economic rescue. The corrupt political arrangements that have bankrupted the country and that led ultimately to the 4 August disaster cannot be allowed to continue; they have reached their end. They will not be revived by some miraculous injection of foreign money.

Two months ago, Crisis Group published a report on how to pull Lebanon out of the pit. We emphasised that the political elite that has ruled Lebanon for the past 30 years must carry out structural reforms that prevent corrupt and self-serving cliques from appropriating state resources and public goods in order to win the substantial international support the country needs to emerge from the economic crisis.

Now those elites are again facing the wrath of the country’s citizens, as they did in October 2019, when hundreds of thousands rallied against the politicians in charge. Those protests followed another humiliating episode in which the government was helpless to control wildfires after neglecting for years to pay for maintenance of donated firefighting helicopters.

The latest disaster is a similar failure, but on a monumental, much deadlier scale. It seems likely to unleash a new wave of popular fury. Lebanese are seething on social media.

Activist groups that played a prominent role in the October protest movement are starting to mobilise again, raising their popular slogan demanding the removal of the country’s entrenched elites: “‘All of them’ means ‘all of them’”. Already in April and May, sporadic protests against deteriorating living conditions had sparked violent confrontations with the security forces, causing casualties. New demonstrations could spin out of control completely. A major protest has been called for 8 August.

If the Lebanese elites do have a chance to fix what they have broken, it may well be their last. They, along with the politicians whom they elevated and the officials whom they helped appoint, will have to face up to a Lebanese public that, after so many years of abuse and neglect, has now been terrorised by its own government with an entirely preventable explosion of world-historical size and destructive power. The public is justifiably enraged, and it has less and less to lose.

 

This statement was originally published by the Crisis Group

The post The Beirut Blast: An Accident in Name Only appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Students learn with tablets in a school in South Africa. Credit: AMO/Jackie Clausen.

By External Source
Aug 13 2020 (IPS)

Most young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in South Africa continue to be denied access to information and communications technology because of poor infrastructure and the digital divide.

The cost of mobile data is part of the problem. For example, compared with its fellow members of the BRICS group of nations, South Africa has the highest average price for 1GB of mobile data.

One gigabyte of mobile data costs an average of US$1.01 in Brazil, $0.61 in China, $0.52 in Russia and $0.09 in India. It costs an average of $4.30 in South Africa. As a result, many young people in low-income communities don’t have instant access to the internet.

One gigabyte of mobile data costs an average of US$1.01 in Brazil, $0.61 in China, $0.52 in Russia and $0.09 in India. It costs an average of $4.30 in South Africa. As a result, many young people in low-income communities don’t have instant access to the internet

This situation is compounded by the lack of uneven technology infrastructure and adequate skills on how to use digital platforms. Though network operators continue to invest in infrastructure to provide quality network coverage, the cost of accessing the internet remains too costly for most citizens.

People know the importance of having information and communications technology skills and these are critical to their daily lives. As a result, most families have some level of digital skills and technology in their households. Young people gain much of their digital literacy outside the classroom in an informal context.

But we found in our research that most job seekers don’t have the skills required to effectively search for employment information on digital platforms.

The number of South Africans aged between 15 and 24 years who were not in education, employment or training was recorded at 34.1% of this age group (3.5 million) in the first quarter of 2020. When the age cohort was expanded from 15 to 34 years, the number of people in this category increased to 41.7% (20.4 million people) during the same period.

Information and communications technology skills are becoming essential in an environment that’s shifting from industry and manufacturing to a knowledge and digital economy. Information and communications technology literacy skills are therefore critical in making young people more employable in the economy.

Failure to address the implications of digital illiteracy may negatively affect young people who aren’t in education, employment or training. It keeps them from earning a living and contributing to the country’s economic growth.

The research

Our study sought to explore how digital literacy skills can advance the lives of people looking for employment. The first phase of the study was carried out in the Gauteng province of South Africa using interviews for primary data collection. The participants comprised of young people who weren’t engaged in any education, employment or any sort of training.

We found that there are many challenges which prevent people from efficiently using information technology for this purpose. These include the high cost of internet connections and the lack of knowledge about how to use digital platforms.

We found that looking for employment comes at a cost, so accessing online services was a challenge. Some of the respondents said they couldn’t search for employment by using the internet because they didn’t have access to internet or because they were digitally illiterate.

We also found that not all young people who aren’t in education, employment or training have sufficient digital skills. Only 56% of the participants had attended some sort of digital literacy skills programme at some stage, while 44% indicated they had not attended any such initiative. Most of people from poor families have no means to unblock the barrier that prevents them from getting training and accessing digital platforms – and this is often because of the financial cost attached to it.

What was interesting from the results was that there were young people who hadn’t received any training but had taught themselves to navigate and search for information on jobs, educational and other developmental opportunities on digital platforms. This was because they had access to digital resources. What’s interesting about it is that some of the young people are willing to learn on their own (trial and error) on how to use various online services.

The results also showed that those who have no access to smart computing devices and internet connection subsequently lacked the skills to search for information on work and development in virtual spaces.

 

Going forward

In a developing country like South Africa, the government must provide supportive structures and policies that prepare young people and enable them to actively participate in the economy. In the South African context, it’s worth highlighting that because of persistent historical inequalities, not everyone has had the same opportunities to access information and communications technology, so solutions need to be tailored.

Young people need an enabling environment to continuously refine their skills through either formal or informal programmes. The government must provide services for them so they can use skills centres and quality internet connection points. This will assist young people in keeping their skills set relevant to market needs.

 

Walter Matli, Researcher and senior lecturer, Vaal University of Technology

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The post Young South Africans are Shut Out From Work: They Need a Chance to Get Digital Skills appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Globally 75 million children who cannot access education as a result of crises. A dated photo of a Syrian child in a refugee camp in Jordan. Credit: Robert Stefanicki/IPS.

By Mantoe Phakathi
MBABANE, Aug 13 2020 (IPS)

“Not being able to go to school is not something I’d wish on any child in this world,” said 21-year-old Nujeen Mustafa, a young advocate for refugees who fled the Syrian war with her sister. Mustafa, who now lives in Germany, is also the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) high profile supporter.

Speaking at a virtual seminar hosted by Education Cannot Wait (ECW) a day after the organisation launched its 2019 Annual Results Report, Mustafa said growing up in Syria was not easy. Even before the war, she said, she had to educate herself at home via TV, with the assistance of her older siblings, because government buildings were not accessible to someone who had to use a wheelchair like herself. Mustafa was born with cerebral palsy.

“As the conflict started, the situation deteriorated even further,” Mustafa told over 700 participants of the webinar held on International Youth Day, Aug. 12. “I had to flee because my safety was jeopardised.”

The high-level webinar was also addressed by former United Kingdom prime minister Gordon Brown, Norwegian Refugee Council secretary-general Jan Egeland,  Afghanistan minister of education H.E. Rangina Hamidi, Theirworld president Justin Van Fleet, Norway minister of international development Dag-Inge Ulster and Canada’s parliamentary secretary Kamal Khera, among others.

Mustafa said the 75 million children who cannot access education as a result of crises was a demonstration of a failure on everyone’s part and that it was “unacceptable and inexcusable”. Her story resonates with many of the children in countries experiencing emergencies or conflict as highlighted in the ECW annual report titled Stronger Together in Crises.

Speaking at the same event, former United Kingdom prime minister Brown said the world has a lost generation of 30 million refugees, 40 million displaced and 75 million in conflict and emergency zones.

“We now have the COVID generation deprived of school,” said Brown who is chair of the ECW high-level steering group and also the U.N. special envoy for global education. “Some people think 30 million children will never return to school even though they have been there before the pandemic.”

Brown said it was necessary to send a message of hope based on three pillars. Firstly, faith that education can bridge the gap between what people are and what they have in themselves to become. Secondly, the message should be based on the belief that every child who is in a conflict or emergency zone can be brought to school. Finally, he said the message should be based on confidence that the $310 million needed by ECW to do its work can be raised.

“Hope doesn’t just die when a refugee ship is lost at a sea,” said Brown. “Hope dies when young people cannot plan and prepare for the future because there’s no school, no education within their grasp.”

Although there is still a long way to go in supporting children and youth in conflict countries, the Stronger Together in Crises Report shows significant progress. From 2017 to 2019, the primary enrolment rate for refugee children improved from 53 percent to 75 percent in Uganda and from 62 percent to 67 percent in Ethiopia. ECW disbursed $131 million across 29 countries in 2019, more than its 2017 and 2018 investments combined.

“Globally, the share of education in all humanitarian funding increased from 4.3 percent in 2018 to 5.1 percent in 2019, representing a record amount of over $700 million,” reads the report.

ECW director, Yasmine Sherif, attributes the progress made to three reasons. Firstly, breaking down silos and having all stakeholders working together to mobilise resources.   

“Remove this whole issue of trying to raise money for oneself, one’s own siloed area but we’re bringing it to the sector, bringing it to the children and the youth out there and that’s what the fund does,” said Sherif.

Secondly, Sherif said, removing bureaucracy has resulted in moving with record speed in response to COVID-19.  She said just a few weeks after the World Health Organisation declared it a pandemic, ECW was able to deliver in 27 countries and exhaust its entire emergency funding that was available and attracted more funding for a second round.

“Thirdly, ECW is part of a multilateral system that has been questioned over the years but if we’re going to be stronger together we have to be multilateralist,” she said. “We have to believe in the multilateral system that was created precisely for this.”

Sherif said 3.6 million children have been reached through a holistic approach that caters the needs of a child and youth from mental health and psychosocial services to school feeding where WFP plays an important role. Considering that teachers are mentors and role models to young people during their formative years, ECW involves their training.

ECW also provides cash assistance that allows most families of the 75 million children who are living in extreme poverty to send their children to school because they may not be able to do so even if the school itself is free. It also creates infrastructure that is conducive to children with disabilities and provides protection especially in countries where there is violence and conflict. It also empowers governments to build their own coordination units and sustain the investments made   

The U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is hosting the ECW secretariat. UNICEF executive director, Henrietta Fore, said there is not enough advocacy to support children in conflict and emergency zones with learning, yet education is part of the humanitarian and development agenda.

“It is needed in the first day of the crises as you can see from Nujeen and it is needed five years later,” said Fore. “So, we have to think differently, it is a continuum of assistance we’re giving.”

She said the best thing that has been discovered is giving the world a great idea. One great idea that is considered is, if everyone could join with connecting every young person to learning everywhere, it would make a big difference.

“If we could do this in the next couple of years, it would change the world and it would make people realise that education is the foundation of all humanitarian and development response,” she said.

Ensuring that the education needs of children in crises zones needs resources and ECW is appealing for more support.

Related Articles

• The World Needs You. Now.
• The Foundation to Build Back Better: Education
• We Cannot Let the Education Gap Widen at the Start of the Decade of Action

The post Keeping Education within the Grasp of Refugee Children appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By External Source
Aug 13 2020 (IPS-Partners)

Coral reefs are iconic, but we have all seen the images of bleached areas that were previously teeming with life and colour. These ecosystems, and more broadly coastlines, are a vital part of the efforts to protect biodiversity. So how are coral reefs doing? Are we too late? Can we still secure a better future for reefs and people? In this week’s episode, Brit talks to Dr. David Obura. David has studied coral reef resilience and adaptation his whole life. He founded CORDIO, a non-profit organisation specialising in finding solutions that benefit marine ecosystems and people. To find out more about IPBES, head to www.ipbes.net or follow us on social media @IPBES.

The post Dr. David Obura: The New Natural appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 2020 (IPS)

Developing country debt has continued to grow rapidly since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis (GFC). Warnings against debt have been reiterated by familiar prophets of debt doom such as new World Bank chief economist, Carmen Reinhart, once dubbed the ‘godmother of austerity’.

Anis Chowdhury

Growing debt burden
Falling commodity prices, dwindling foreign reserves, slower global growth and weakening currencies have made it harder for developing countries to meet external debt payments.

This has involved economies of all income categories, reaching historical highs even before the pandemic. By early May, more than 100 countries had asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help.

Developing countries’ government debt is likely to worsen with the pandemic induced recessions, triggering appeals for urgent debt standstills, cancellations and restructuring. While accumulated debt is undoubtedly problematic, debt phobia is now limiting fiscal options for coping with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

In March, the United Nations called for a US$2.5 trillion package for developing countries to cope. By May, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned that the need is far greater.

While the Trump administration blocked the latest IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)
initiative, other debt relief initiatives, e.g., by the G20 and the IMF, are quite inadequate. Even David Malpass, the Trump nominated World Bank president, has criticised the G20 for falling short on debt relief, insisting “more needs to be done”.

Debt buybacks hardly novel
Surprisingly, rather than seeking to finance stronger fiscal responses to Covid-19 recessions, Joseph Stiglitz and Hamid Rashid have joined the chorus to address “catastrophic debt crises”, offering no evidence they are “impending”.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

They discuss various options for debt relief and restructuring, and offer guidelines for bond buybacks, without mentioning April proposals by the UN, UNCTAD, the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

While recognizing some limitations, the duo insist “bond buy-backs present a highly attractive solution, offering substantial debt relief at a relatively low cost”, which “has not received sufficient attention”.

They urge the IMF to use its New Arrangements to Borrow to buy debt at a discount, supplemented by funds from donors and multilateral institutions, but offer no convincing evidence why debt buybacks should now be prioritised over fiscal resources for recovery.

Brady debt buybacks
Under a US-led debt buyback initiative, named after then Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady, indebted developing countries purchased US Treasury bonds to collateralize more than US$160 billion in replacement ‘Brady bonds’ from 1989.

The scheme restructured the debt of 18 developing countries long after sovereign debt crises began in 1981, following the US Fed’s sharp increase of interest rates to kill inflation. Thus, governments helped banks take defaulted loans, trading for small fractions of their face value on illiquid secondary markets, off their books.

Some banks took ‘haircuts’, but still got much more than what was available in secondary markets. Unlike in the current era, US interest rates were high, and thus, countries bought the Treasury zero-coupon bonds at an attractive discount.

Bloomberg’s Sydney Maki argued on 5 May that a second Brady plan is unlikely to work. The Brady plan transformed commercial bank loans, many in default, into collateralized bonds, but government debt today is owed to more diverse creditors including New York hedge funds, Gulf sovereign wealth funds and Asian pension funds.

Maki doubts that fund managers’ fiduciary duties would allow them to be lenient, even if so inclined. Terms of many deals cannot be legally changed without approval from most bondholders.

Debt buybacks for whom?
As some have noted, the plan undoubtedly relieved “pressure on Wall Street”, saving large US commercial banks which had pushed loans to developing countries in the 1970s. Stock prices of US commercial banks with significant developing country loan exposure rose 35% by US$13 billion after countries accepted the deal.

Jeremy Bulow and Kenneth Rogoff noted that “when highly indebted countries retire their deeply discounted debt, either through buy-backs or ‘debt-equity’ swaps, they may simply be using their scarce resources to subsidize their creditors”.

For them, buybacks and debt-equity swaps “are by themselves a boondoggle benefiting … creditors”. Stiglitz and Rashid dismiss this as just a “possibility”, citing the 1988 Bolivian debt buyback and the 2012 Greek bond buyback as two “good examples” of success stories.

In fact, when Bolivia bought back US$308 million in debt at face value in 1988, the price rose to 11 cents from 6 cents on the dollar, lowering the market value of the remaining debt (US$362 million at face value) to US$39.8 million.

As the earlier market value of its total bonds (US$670 million at face value) was US$40.2 million, the buyback only reduced its debt by US$400,000. This miniscule reduction cost donors US$34 million, which Bolivia would have been better off investing otherwise.

Furthermore, debtor countries participating in the Brady plan were required to deregulate, liberalize and privatize, i.e., implement structural adjustment, to qualify for Fund-Bank money to supplement their own foreign currency reserves for buybacks.

Greek tragedy
Financed by European taxpayers, the Greek buyback experience was no better. The price of 10-year benchmark Greek bonds also rose, as yield fell 147 basis points following announcement of the buyback.

Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis observed, “rumours of a debt buyback have pushed these bond prices to above 43%”; “its effect will be a net debt reduction 40% less than the Eurogroup’s stated target”, constituting “a reward to hedge funds and a ruthless,… massive involuntary haircut for Greece’s embattled banks”.

The New York Times agreed that the “bigger winners were hedge funds, which pocketed higher profits than many had expected”, while Moody’s Analytics correctly predicted that the “bond buyback will not end Greece’s debt woes”.

Greece was forced into excruciating austerity, plunging it into economic depression. As the economy contracted by 24%, unemployment hit 26%, the highest in the euro zone, by September 2009, less than a year later. Thus, debt buybacks may well help financial markets, litigious funds and global finance, rather than indebted countries.

Bond buybacks no panacea
Undoubtedly, debt buybacks may sometimes work in favourable circumstances when well planned as part of a broader financing strategy. Ecuador’s 2008-2009 bond buybacks were part of its external debt restructuring to secure relief from illegitimate ‘odious debt’.

With no pressure from acute financial stress, Ecuador repurchased over 90% through financial intermediaries, at 35 cents on the dollar, as its bond prices fell during the GFC.

Jeffrey Sachs agreed with Bulow and Rogoff that debt buybacks are “not necessarily a panacea for heavily indebted countries” unless “part of a comprehensive arrangement” for reduction of all debt with the full participation of all creditors involved.

Writing before Brady, he doubted the feasibility of such debt reduction as the US had previously blocked such arrangements in the interest of US banks. The political influence of US financial lobbies has only grown in recent decades. And, as Maki notes, a comprehensive arrangement involving all creditors is an even taller order now as they are more heterogenous.

Furthermore, it was reasonable then to assume that debtors only had a certain amount to repay, with other prices adjusting accordingly. However, bond market prices today easily ‘overshoot’, while debt restructurings are rarely sufficient, often delayed and very costly.

Promoting buybacks, backed by institutions like the IMF, also runs the risk of encouraging holdouts in future debt restructurings.

Instead of using scarce financial resources to buy back bonds, multilateral institutions and donors should help developing countries retrieve fiscal space to urgently prevent Covid-19 recessions becoming depressions.

 

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South Korea’s current Nationally Determined Contributions - which set how much a country intends to reduce its emissions by - fall far short of what we need to uphold the Paris Agreement. Credit: Miriet Abrego/IPS.

By Yujin Kim
SEOUL, Aug 12 2020 (IPS)

On 23 February 2020, the South Korean government raised the national Crisis Alert Level to the highest tier in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, we have witnessed what our society is capable of when faced with a crisis.

The government mobilised trillions of Korean Won for economic and social recovery, politicians continue to debate methods of aid for those who have been affected the most, and businesses have rushed to express solidarity for frontline workers. Seeing this makes me wonder why the same thing hasn’t happened with the climate crisis.

 

Securing young people’s future

Ever since I was six years old, I’ve dreamed of becoming an ecologist. I wanted to study rich ecosystems within the Korean Demilitarised Zone – the stretch of land that has divided North and South Korea for the past 70 years.

Us young people are the largest stakeholders in this issue, and young people’s participation is vital in helping to develop any equitable recovery and development policy

But climate change has put my dream at risk. Evergreen firs and pines are dying as a result of droughts and higher temperatures. Corals and shellfish are melting away. Birds are changing migratory patterns that have existed for centuries. Entire ecosystems are changing, and some are collapsing at the speed of the change.

My dream is not the only thing in danger. Climate change threatens my generation’s food security, peace, health, social justice and physical safety. At this rate, we will surpass the “1.5ºC temperature increase above pre-industrial levels” threshold by 2030.

The damage to our planet could be irreversible by then, and today’s young people will have to face the brunt of its catastrophic effects. Unsurprisingly, young people have been rising all around the world to demand climate action to protect our futures, and Korea is no exception.

Youth 4 Climate Action Korea is a youth-led organisation which aims to bring the Korean government to make a just climate transition in line with the 1.5ºC warming scenario. Last year, we held three School Strikes 4 Climate in coordination with youth climate groups all around the world.

We met with government officials, including the Minister for Environment, and delivered our demands for stronger climate policies and greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. However, there was little action from the government, and time was ticking. We decided to look for another way that would force the government to respond directly to our calls and possibly legally bind it to strengthen climate goals.

 

Taking matters into our own hands

In March 2020, myself and 18 other plaintiffs from Youth 4 Climate Action Korea filed a constitutional complaint on the grounds that the government’s insufficient and outdated climate policies were directly violating our constitutional rights – such as the right to a healthy environment, the right to equality and the right to pursue a happy life.

The lawsuit passed the Constitutional Court’s preliminary review ten days after we submitted the case. If successful, the government would be bound by law to strengthen South Korea’s greenhouse gas emission reduction goals in line with the 1.5ºC warming scenario.

Although we’ve seen meaningful adoptions of our demands into policies, the major changes we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions – such as halting the construction of seven new coal power plants and committing to 100% renewable energy before 2050 – are still barely on the table.

South Korea’s current Nationally Determined Contributions – which set how much a country intends to reduce its emissions by – fall far short of what we need to uphold the Paris Agreement. In fact, if every country on the planet were to follow South Korea’s greenhouse gas emission reduction trend, global temperatures would increase by 3-4ºC.

As the 8th largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world (as of 2018) and one of the biggest funders of overseas coal projects, we must do better. South Korea recently announced a Green New Deal as part of its recovery plan from the Covid-19 pandemic. However, many parts of the plan are redundant or don’t signify meaningful cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

We are in a position where we have to build back from the economic and social damage brought by the pandemic. In doing so, we must make sure that it’s in a way that facilitates a transition to a low-carbon economy with social justice at its heart, with youth actively involved in each step. If we fail to alter the course of the climate crisis now, my generation will lose the world as we know it.

The transition required of us calls for unprecedented changes across all aspects of society, but it’s something that must be done if we are to have a habitable planet. And it is possible.

An increasing number of studies show that acting on the climate crisis now will have a much smaller cost than adapting to its disastrous effects in decades to come, such as irreversible changes in climate patterns and ecosystem collapses.

Moreover, researchers have already found that South Korea has the full infrastructural, economic, and geographic capacity to begin the transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050.

 

Involving the largest stakeholders

Us young people are the largest stakeholders in this issue, and young people’s participation is vital in helping to develop any equitable recovery and development policy. One way to do this is extending the right to vote to more young people so they can influence who is elected and whose interests politicians defend.

South Korea lowered its voting age from 19 to 18 in April 2020, but citizens who are under-18 are still legally and socially excluded from political participation. What’s more, over half of Korean high schools have internal policies that limit students from participating in ‘political’ rallies, and underage citizens cannot join political parties or even volunteer at one.

While the enfranchisement of more young citizens is definitely a welcome change, true political and civic empowerment must go one step further. The discussion about politics and civic engagement should begin not when someone turns 18, but from a much earlier age.

Avenues for direct political and civic participation should also be much more open so that young people can be better represented. In Korea, what’s even more alarming than the lack of political will to strengthen climate policies is the lack of representation for young people. Considering that only 13 out of the 300 members of the National Assembly are in their twenties or thirties, perhaps it doesn’t come as a surprise that the climate crisis is not at the top of the political agenda.

The decisions made today will define what kind of world that we, today’s youth, will inherit. So it is only fair that our voices are heard and our demands taken into account in the making of those decisions. What we want is simple: a healthy, habitable planet, just like the one our parents’ generation enjoyed. It is our fundamental right.

 

This story was originally published by Child Rights International Network CRIN

The post Crisis Management 101: Treating the Climate Crisis Like a Pandemic appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Yujin Kim is a member of Youth 4 Climate Action Korea, a movement of youth activists fighting for a safe future for all

The post Crisis Management 101: Treating the Climate Crisis Like a Pandemic appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The rural-urban migration of youth household members is leading to loss of labour for agricultural production which was not compensated by hired labour. Courtesy: Charles Mpaka

By Charles Mpaka
CHIRADZULU DISTRICT/BLANTYRE, Malawi, Aug 12 2020 (IPS)

As households in Chiradzulu District in Southern Malawi start preparing their farms for the next maize growing season, Frederick Yohane, 24, is a busy young man.

Every morning, he works with his two brothers in their family field where they grow maize and pigeon peas. In the afternoon, he tills other people’s farms to raise money for his needs and to support his family.

Twice a week he cycles to nearby markets to sell the chickens that he buys from surrounding villages.

This has been his life since he was 16 when his father suffered a stroke, which paralysed his left leg and arm. Yohane finished secondary school in 2014, two years after his father fell ill. But he did not pass the final examinations.

Without a school-leaving certificate, he followed the route of many youths in this rural district who trek to Blantyre, Malawi’s commercial capital, to look for menial jobs, mainly as assistants in Asian shops or as street vendors.

“Through a friend, I found work in a hardware shop owned by an Indian. But the money was not good compared with what I was getting in the village. So, I just worked for two months and I returned to the village,” he tells IPS.

Yohane is not planning to return to town again to look for a job. He believes he can make more money in the village if he works harder.

“Besides, I am the eldest child. My father can no longer work. My mother spends much of her time looking after our father. It’s the three of us working in the field,” he says.

Yohane’s family is one of the millions in Malawi which relies on family labour for their farms.  The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) says in its Small Family Farms Country Factsheet for Malawi that farmers account for 80 percent of the total population of 17.5 million in Malawi. Out of that population of farmers, around 75 percent are small family farms that depend on family labour.

However, like the rest of Africa, Malawi suffers a high rate of rural-urban migration, mostly by youths seeking a better life in towns.

When youths, who make up the majority of Malawi’s population, migrate to urban centres, the productivity of family labour farms declines, according to findings of a study commissioned by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Malawi in 2018 under its Enhancing Capacity to Apply Research Evidence (CARE) in Policy for Youth Engagement in Agribusiness and Rural Economic Activities in Africa.

Under the CARE programme, IITA is working with young researchers across Africa to promote understanding of the impact of poverty reduction and employment and factors that influence youth engagement in agribusiness and rural farm and non-farm economy, Timilehin Osunde, communications officer for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-CARE Project at the IITA in Nigeria, tells IPS.

In the Malawi CARE study, researcher Emmanuel Tolani interviewed households in two districts of Zomba and Lilongwe. Both districts are known for their high production of maize, Malawi’s staple crop.

The CARE study focused on households where youth had migrated to urban centres in comparison with those where youths had not moved.                  

In a resulting Policy Brief titled “Youth on the Move: Welfare effects on originating households”, the research found that households, which have youths migrating to urban centres, were each producing 13 50-kilogramme bags less than they could harvest if the youth did not move out.

“This can be [attributed] to the fact that migration of youth household members was leading to loss of labour for agricultural production which was not compensated by hired labour using the remittances received,” reads the brief.

In the brief, Tolani recommends the introduction of income-generating activities among rural households to reduce the need for households to look for other means of diversifying their incomes, such as encouraging the migration of youths.

IITA’s Osunde adds that the lack of an environment suitable for agribusiness, the search for educational opportunities and access to services and resources are among the factors for the trend of rural youths leaving their homes for urban centres in Africa.

Over the years, Malawi has designed and implemented programmes aimed at improving social and economic conditions of rural areas, which could reduce rural-urban migration in Malawi.

However, rural-urban migration has not abated. Malawi’s National Planning Commission attributes this to what it says are “policy implementation inconsistencies across political regimes”.

This argument has featured highly in development discourse in Malawi such that it motivated the establishment of the National Planning Commission. Established through an Act of Parliament in 2017, the Commission’s mandate is to ensure continuity of development policies across political administrations.

On the other hand, Osunde observes that a lot of rural development programmes in Africa have failed because they are designed by policy makers without the input of the rural youth.

“These are often implemented with an up-bottom approach instead of using a bottom-up approach,” Osunde tells IPS.

To support African governments in stemming the tide of youth rural-urban migration, IITA is implementing a number of agriculture-specific programmes, besides CARE.

For instance, the Start Them Early Programme (STEP) aims at changing the mindset of young people in primary and secondary schools by providing them with basic understanding in agriculture to direct them toward agriculture-related careers, says Osunde.

IITA is also implementing Enable Youth project. This provides opportunities for underemployed young people, motivating them to establish agricultural enterprises and improve their agribusiness skills.

“[The programme] helps to create a conducive business environment by advancing youth-led policies and provides a communication network that delivers much-needed agricultural information to other youths involved in agribusiness,” Osunde says. 

In addition, the IITA Youth Agripreneurs aims to change perceptions of youths in Africa about agriculture and see that agriculture can be exciting and economically rewarding.

“With agriculture in Africa largely suffering from negative perceptions amongst youths due to the drudgery involved, insufficient financial gains and a dearth in basic infrastructure, the youth programme being implemented by IITA is aimed at changing the perception among youths in Africa while creating resources that can enable them start out as agripreneurs on the continent. These are agriculture-specific programmes that Malawi can adopt to attract youths into agribusiness,” Osunde tells IPS.

Director General for the National Planning Commission, Dr Thomas Munthali, says they are currently mapping the country into potential investment zones with bankable investment projects which, among others, could lead to the reduction of youth migration.

“The idea is to create secondary cities in such zones based on their arable land, mining and tourism potential. These will be created into industrial hubs offering sustainable decent jobs and socio-economic amenities just like in cities,” says Munthali.

As rural youths in Malawi wait for such programmes, Yohane has already decided to stay in the village. And he is dreaming big.

“We harvest enough maize for our food. But we need to make money. So we are planning to rent another piece of land this year where we can grow more maize for sale. We won’t need hired labour. In future, we want to see if we can buy more land on which we can do serious commercial farming,” he says. 

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A man and a woman in front of the Beirut Port, Lebanon, following the blast. Courtesy: UN Women Arab States/Dar Al Mussawir

By Samira Sadeque
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 12 2020 (IPS)

Migrant workers and refugees in Lebanon will “inevitably” suffer the most as food insecurity threatens the nation following last week’s blast.

“People already living in poverty – including destitute migrants and refugees – will inevitably suffer the most,” Angela Wells, public information officer at the department of operations and emergencies at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), told IPS.

This is because, prior to the blast, they were already among those most affected by food insecurity, with about 62 percent reporting inadequate access to food in July, Wells said.

Wells spoke to IPS after Najat Rochdi, United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon, warned at a U.N. press briefing on Monday that Lebanon is facing a potentially dire food shortage.

“We are left with only four weeks of wheat and grain,” she said, adding that there will be a “very serious food insecurity situation” in the country unless Lebanon receives assistance immediately.

The Aug. 4 blast left an estimated 200,000 people homeless or living in homes without windows or doors, according to the BBC. An estimated 200 people were killed and some 5,000 injured.

The World Food Programme has since announced they will send 50,000 tonnes of wheat flour to Lebanon, “to stabilise the national supply and ensure there is no food shortage in the country”.

This week the country’s government resigned as protestors took to the streets to express their mounting anger about the explosion and the government’s corruption.

Rochdi, who had felt the effects of the blast, spoke of her personal experience and said she was still reeling from the trauma. Rochdi said that the explosion was yet another blow to Lebanon. This past year has seen poverty and unemployment rates soar, and Lebanon has been immersed in an “unprecedented economic and financial crisis”.

Wells confirmed that a large percentage of the migrant workers in Beirut live within the “damage radius” of the explosion.

The number of migrant workers stranded in Lebanon due to COVID-19 travel restrictions will also likely increase given that the international and in-country movement will continue for a prolonged period, she added.

Refugee and migrant workers from the Horn of Africa and Asia were among the worst affected by the financial crisis in Lebanon. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated this, and many migrant workers were left on the streets with no money from their employers.

For many in the community, it was also difficult to maintain social distancing, which only adds to the problem.

“Many migrant workers live or work in crowded or unsanitary conditions with limited access to clean water, sanitation or hygiene supplies,” Wells told IPS. “In these places, COVID-19 can easily spread. Their access to health care is often compromised, particularly for those who are undocumented.” 

This doesn’t help a community that was already vulnerable before both the blast and the pandemic. Refugee and migrant workers often don’t have access to social safety nets that citizens benefit from during times of crisis like this, Wells said.

For many, being undocumented means they are more vulnerable to abuse, while their access to services such as healthcare remain limited.

“The needs of migrants and refugees deserve immediate attention,” Wells said. “As a matter of priority, these include food; a safe roof over their heads or cash that helps them to pay rent; as well as health care for those whose physical or mental health has been compromised.”

At Monday’s talk, Rochdi highlighted key areas that need to be addressed immediately. This includes: assistance to help sustain emergency intensive and specialised healthcare; shelter and expansion of protection of assistance, including counselling and psychological support; support to basic water and sanitation; assistance to enable educational activities to resume; and support to ease the growing food insecurity among the most vulnerable.

“We want the Lebanese people to go back on their feet,” Rochdi said. “I encourage and urge donors to continue to be generous to ensure that no one is left behind and that the Lebanese and Beirut people know they are not alone.”

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Juvenile desert locust hoppers. Photo: FAO/G.Tortoli

By Esther Ngumbi
ILLINOIS, United States, Aug 12 2020 (IPS)

Recently, the UK contributed £17 million to support the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to continue their efforts to combat the desert locust surge in East Africa and improve early warning and forecasting systems.

Because of contributions like this and other contributions that have been made by countries including Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United States of America and other funders such as the African Development Bank, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, substantial gains have been made in containing the desert locust.

Given that desert locust outbreaks and other insect related invasions are to be expected in the future, in part because of climate change, there is need for countries affected to use the funds to work with organizations such as FAO and other stakeholders that are in the frontlines in addressing insect-related challenges such as the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology and the Entomological Society of America.

In dealing with insect-related challenges, it is clear that many African countries continue to take a reactive rather than a proactive approach and that needs to change

They must craft both short-term and long-term approaches to manage insect pests that affect food crops, causing significant crop losses to farmers while threatening food security and agriculture.

Over and over, in dealing with insect-related challenges, it is clear that many African countries continue to take a reactive rather than a proactive approach and that needs to change.

For example, in dealing with the fall armyworm, an invasive pest that appeared in Africa in 2016 and spread rapidly, causing losses worth millions of dollars, several countries including Malawi, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria rolled out measures to contain the pest only after it had spread.

Instead, strategically, it would benefit countries if they would use available resources and tools such as satellite data, big data, intelligence generated by predictive modelling and other tools such as the Horizon Scanning Tool, to anticipate and prepare for insect and pest related challenges.

FAO continues to rely on data to produce forecasts and early warning alerts for the desert locust and other invasive pests such as the fall armyworm.  Time is ripe to use intelligence derived from data and predictive modelling to anticipate future insect outbreaks. Doing so will allow African countries to stay ahead.

 

A man beating a bush with a stick to show desert locusts swarming near Fada, Chad. FAO toolbox shows how prevention, early warning and preparedness can help control desert locust and other trans-boundary threats. Photo: FAO

 

Accompanying data-based intelligence is the need for African countries to strengthen in country pest surveillance programs. Agriculture is a source of livelihood for over 70 percent of Africa’s population. As such, countries must safeguard agriculture by having national pest surveillance programs that are tasked with carrying out routine pest surveys and identifying and detecting new insect pests including those deemed to be invasive.

It is key for national governments to have functional agricultural pest detection systems. The good news is that there are many guiding documents that countries can tap into as they formulate their pest surveillance programs, such as the guidelines provided by the International Plant Protection Convention.

Importantly, countries must also invest in ways to share information about detected insects and the appropriate sustainable solutions to manage them. The use of mobile phones and radio are one approach that can be utilized to widely disseminate information about impending insect pest outbreaks. Moreover, keeping citizens and other stakeholders that are keen on tackling insect pest challenges can also benefit from organized meetings, workshops and conferences.

Finally, there is need to invest in long term actions, including investing in research and the training and capacity building, to ensure that African countries have the expertise and capacity to combat insect pests, now and into the future.

Insect-pest related challenges will continue to challenge African agriculture. African countries must use the available tools to anticipate, prepare and stay ahead of the next pest-related challenge. Ensuring food security for all, especially in Africa, will depend on how we harness data and available intelligence to stay ahead of insect pests including staying ahead of the next desert locust outbreak.

 

Dr. Esther Ngumbi is an Assistant Professor at the Entomology Department and African American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. She is a Senior Food security fellow with the Aspen Institute.

The post To Stay Ahead of the Next Insect Outbreak, Harness Available Data Intelligence appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By External Source
Aug 12 2020 (IPS-Partners)

Is it weird for fishers to release fish? Not at all. It’s actually smart to let some fish go back to the ocean: fish that are under the minimum size limit or are protected during their spawning season. Fishers who catch them and release them alive give them a chance to reproduce and become bigger. Also, fish that are poisonous or not edible should go back to the ocean because they help keep the reefs alive and healthy.

This training video gives tips to build and use descending gear to allow fishers to send a live fish back down to the bottom. Ready? Let them go!

Join us to promote sustainable fishing practices by sharing this video. This video was produced by the Pacific Community thanks to the New-Zealand funded Effective Coastal Fisheries Management project and the Pacific-European Union Marine Partnership #PEUMP Programme. #sustainablefisheries #PacificFisheries #FishBetter #fishforever #releasefish New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade #EuropeanUnion #Sweden

Source: Pacific Community SPC

 

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Youth at the Grand Médine town hall in Dakar, Senegal. Senegal has a large youth population, half of which is under the age of 18. By 2025, 376,000 youth are expected to enter the job market that offers only 30,000 jobs. And this number will rise to 411,000 in 2030, according to the Wilson Centre. Credit: Samuelle Paul Banga/IPS

By Steven Rebello
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 11 2020 (IPS)

As the world marks International Youth Day on August 12, it is difficult to ignore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people – particularly on efforts towards youth economic inclusion in Africa. Meaningful and swift action is needed from African states to ensure the damage is not long-lasting.

Recent United Nations data forecast that the number of youth in Africa could double from 226 million by 2055. Furthermore, 19 of the 20 countries with the youngest populations are all from Africa.

The potential and challenges posed by this growing number and representation of youth, in countries across Africa, was strongly noted in the World Bank’s 2007 report entitled, Development and the Next Generation.

Steven Rebello

This report suggested that with the right policies focusing on education, further training and employment creation, a larger percentage of economically active individuals could contribute to greater local through to regional economic growth. However, a failure to tap in to this potential could exclude greater numbers of youth, potentially contributing to their increased risk and frustration and ultimately, greater economic and political instability.

Some strides have been noted since 2007. This included the African Union’s development of the African Youth Charter, ratified by 38 member states as at 2016, which in turn contributed to the development of national youth policies and increased spending on large-scale youth programmes, such as the Kenya Youth Employment Opportunities Project.

However, there are still many challenges. In South Africa, for example, we have high youth unemployment rates with less than half – only 43% of people between the ages of 15 and 35 – being employed.

Furthermore, while World Bank data has suggested that countries such as Uganda and Rwanda have youth unemployment levels lower than 20%, statistics from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) suggest that such figures belie the fact that more than 75% of African youth work in the informal sector, either self-employed or employed in family microenterprises, with many being employed but continuing to live in extreme poverty (less than 2US$ a day).

While painting a grim picture, COVID-19 and efforts to curb the pandemic have contributed to both short and possibly long-term social, economic and political consequences for African youth. This has included mass job losses and unemployment, with conservative estimates (based on the South African National Treasury predictions) suggesting that many countries could expect a 5 to 10% increase in their national unemployment rates.

A failure to tap in to this potential could exclude greater numbers of youth, potentially contributing to their increased risk and frustration and ultimately, greater economic and political instability

COVID-19 restrictions also mean that many others were unable to work, losing their source of income, potentially having to exhaust any financial savings or forced to borrow money. Furthermore, the economies or gross domestic products of many countries have also been greatly reduced, with major national and global recessions being likely.

So what are some of the potential means of mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on youth unemployment or structural economic exclusion?

Firstly, states and policy makers should recognise that superficial or patronising forms of youth consultation or participation are only likely to increase young people’s frustration and sense of exclusion.

Youth violence is, in itself, indicative of their sense of exclusion. Many answers can be found by bringing youth to the table and learning from their lived experiences.

Secondly, while hoping that states will proactively include youth, youth should continue to formally organise themselves in ways that are likely to ensure that their needs are better represented. Youth should continue to recognise the power of the youth vote, and regional or continental bodies, such as SADC and the AU, should change existing policies to ensure that state or political violence is not allowed to continue as a means of maintaining the status quo.

Thirdly, given its prominence, policy makers should take the informal sector more seriously. This would include making it easier for micro and small business owners to register their businesses, find credit or financing, find approved spaces for trade in urban and peri-urban areas, as well as creating more formalised or recognised conditions of employment, especially given the often precarious nature of employment in this sector.

A fourth recommendation would be for states to move away from simple social support grants towards public employment programmes (PEPs) or employment guarantee schemes.

The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation’s (CSVR) research on PEPs across Africa has highlighted both the tangible (infrastructure development, wages and skills) as well as intangible benefits (increased social cohesion or social capital) of such programmes, which in turn, can increase young people’s prospects of gaining employment or self-employment skills.

In this regard, it is important that PEP budgets are geared towards skills development and training rather than part-time employment as a means of keeping youth busy.

A fifth point would be recognising the contradictions in the entrepreneurship panacea. While multiple organisations (such as the OECD previously mentioned) have highlighted the reality of many young Africans being self-employed or employed in the informal economy, many are reluctant entrepreneurs. This reluctance partly signifies a failure of the state to create an environment that is conducive to job creation.

Finally, African states should learn from what they and other stakeholders have already been doing well. CSVR’s draft regional review of youth policies and programmes has highlighted how far too many policies and programmes are based on good intentions rather than best practices. States should work with youth and other stakeholders to find both international and local examples of what has worked well and dedicate far greater resources to monitoring and evaluating policy and programme outcomes.

As can be noted by these recommendations, addressing issues of youth exclusion and particularly youth economic exclusion is no small task. Be this as it may, the challenges posed by COVID-19 are likely to make it even more important for states and other stakeholders to meaningful engage around the challenges and potential of greater youth economic inclusion.

Steven Rebello is a senior researcher at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) and a counselling psychologist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. His areas of focus include youth and community-based research.

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Amid the worst education crisis of our time caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, ECW’s new Results Report provides evidence on progress made in delivering inclusive, equitable quality education in emergencies and protracted crises.

By PRESS RELEASE
GENEVA / NEW YORK, Aug 11 2020 (IPS-Partners)

Education Cannot Wait launched its ‘Stronger Together in Crises – Annual Results Report 2019’ today, reaffirming itself as the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. Since the Fund’s inception in 2016, its investments have reached nearly 3.5 million children and youth in many of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

“Education Cannot Wait works to serve the 75 million children and youth – 39 million of whom are girls – whose education has been disrupted by armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate-change induced disasters and protracted crises. This new Annual Results Report shows ECW advancing from strength to strength, just three years into its operations,” said the Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of the ECW High-Level Steering Group. “The report comes at an unprecedented time when the global education crisis is exacerbated by COVID-19. The pandemic has swept across the world, threatening decades of hard-won development gains: 90 per cent of the world’s school-age children and youth have had their education disrupted. As an innovative fund, Education Cannot Wait is breaking new ground, but more needs to be done. Financing is absolutely essential.”

The report provides evidence that ECW’s partnership model is spurring progress in delivering inclusive, equitable quality education for children and youth caught in emergencies and protracted crises. It shows growing political commitment for the emergency education sector and increased prioritization of education in humanitarian appeals: humanitarian funding for education grew five-fold from 2015 to 2019, with more than US$700 million committed in 2019. The share of funding dedicated to the education sector as part of the total sector-specific humanitarian aid globally also continued to rise, reaching 5.1 per cent in 2019.

To date, ECW has mobilized $662.3 million, including $252.8 million from both public and private donors in 2019. The Fund substantially increased its operations in 2019, disbursing $130.7 million to 75 grantees to support education in emergencies and protracted crises responses in 29 countries. The report shows that ECW is providing the impetus for quicker education responses in the face of sudden-onset crises, and is strengthening coherence between humanitarian and development aid interventions. It also captures encouraging trends in terms of strengthening national and local capacities to respond, as well as improving data, evidence and accountability for the sector.

ECW-financed education in emergency activities reached 2.6 million crisis-affected children and youth in 2019 alone. The Fund’s focus on the most vulnerable and marginalized children and youth is translating into real results: while girls often face additional barriers to access education in crises settings, nearly half of ECW’s beneficiaries (48 per cent) are girls. In all, 30 per cent of the Fund’s beneficiaries are refugees, 15 per cent are internally displaced children and youth, and 55 per cent are other crises-affected children and youth, including those from host communities.

“ECW champions the inherent human right to an education for children and youth left furthest behind in humanitarian emergencies and protracted crises,” said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait. “Our undivided focus is on the realities on the ground and the more than 75 million children and youth whose education is disrupted by crises. They demand our attention and action. Where there is commitment, progress has been made. The primary enrolment ratio for refugee children improved from 53 per cent to 75 per cent in Uganda in just two years; and, in Afghanistan, where 60 percent in our investments are girls, out-of-school girls now have the opportunity to return to the safety and protection of an education thanks to the government’s community-based education approaches and the partnership with civil society and UN agencies. Yet, to further scale up what works requires significant, urgent funding.”

Indeed, more remains to be done. Funding appeals for education in emergencies and protracted crises remained significantly underfunded in 2019, with only 43.5 per cent of the required funding secured; and, the gap risks widening further with the compounding effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the stress it is exercising onto education and aid budgets worldwide.

“To answer the UN Secretary General’s recent call to avoid a generational catastrophe that could waste untold human potential, undermine decades of progress, and exacerbate entrenched inequalities, ECW and its partners are working to urgently mobilize an additional US$310 million to support the emergency education response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other ongoing crises. Together with in-country resource mobilization, this will allow us to reach close to 9 million children annually,” Sherif said.

In just the past four months of 2020, ECW’s total First Emergency Response investments span 33 countries and crisis-affected contexts, with a record amount of US$60.1 million rapidly allocated by ECW for vulnerable children and youth, who are now doubly impacted by COVID-19.

Highlights of Key ECW 2019 Results by Country:
• Afghanistan: A successful model of community-based education has reached 57 per cent of girls amongst its beneficiaries. An ECW grant to Save the Children and the Afghanistan Consortium for Community-based Education and Learning achieved substantial results in literacy and numeracy. At the beginning of the intervention, only 2 per cent of students were able to read a story and answer related questions correctly; after the intervention, 48 per cent of students were able to read and understand a basic story.

• Central African Republic: ECW partner, Norwegian Refugee Council, delivered an 8-month accelerated learning programme for 720 conflict-affected children (45 per cent girls). 85 per cent of children who completed the programme were able to re-enter the formal system after receiving the required certification.

• Democratic Republic of the Congo: ECW investments delivered through AVSI, NRC and UNICEF supported reintegration of formerly out-of-school children into formal education, protection for children at school and at home, the provision of psychosocial support, and upgraded school infrastructure and the distribution of learning materials. About 10,000 children attended catch-up courses and took the end-of-cycle exam for primary school, enabling them to re-join the formal education system. Exceeding targets, over 46,000 children have been reached in all, 49 per cent of whom are girls.

• Ethiopia: Following a US$15 million initial investment grant implemented through by UNICEF, the primary gross enrolment ratio for refugee children rose to 67 per cent, up from 62 per cent in 2018.

• Nigeria: ECW partner Street Child successfully increased learning levels in reading and mathematics in areas affected by the Boko Haram insurgency. The grant provided non-formal education for 5,206 children between the ages of 4 and 14 who were either out-of-school or had fallen behind in the formal education system. As a result of the intervention, the percentage of children who were able to recognize letters rose from 1 per cent to 50 per cent. The percentage of students able to read words increased from 9 per cent to 43 per cent.

• Uganda: Following ECW’s support to the Education Response Plan for Refugees and Host Communities (ERP) through the Fund’s multi-year resilience programme, the primary gross enrolment ratio for refugee children improved by 22 per cent – from 53 per cent in 2017 to 75 per cent in 2019 (reaching 71.4 per cent for girls).

• Yemen: 1.8 million students in war-torn Yemen were able to sit for their exams with support from Education Cannot Wait and its partners. Through an initiative implemented by UNCEF, 128,000 teachers received cash incentives.

 

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The post STRONGER TOGETHER IN CRISES’ – EDUCATION CANNOT WAIT REACHES 3.5 MILLION CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN HUMANITARIAN CRISES WORLDWIDE appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Amid the worst education crisis of our time caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, ECW’s new Results Report provides evidence on progress made in delivering inclusive, equitable quality education in emergencies and protracted crises.

The post STRONGER TOGETHER IN CRISES’ – EDUCATION CANNOT WAIT REACHES 3.5 MILLION CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN HUMANITARIAN CRISES WORLDWIDE appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: RAP

By Steve Rushton
LONDON, Aug 11 2020 (IPS)

“With advertisements removed in Grenoble you can see the city’s beauty and the mountains beyond. Adverts create obstacles. Without them you can breathe,” explains Khaled Gaiji, national mobilisation coordinator of the French anti-advertising organisation Résistance à l’Agression Publicitaire (Resistance to Advertising Aggression, or RAP). “Advertising is like an iceberg: the largest impact is below the surface. Adverts colonise our imagination.”

In 2014 Grenoble’s then newly-appointed Green mayor Éric Piolle cancelled a contract for 326 outdoor advertisements, including 64 large billboards. Trees and community noticeboards replaced them – or nothing at all. The lost revenue was recouped by reducing allowances, including official vehicles. Despite Piolle’s attempts to make Grenoble Europe’s first ad-free city, bus and tram stops still have adverts, as the contract is controlled by the regional authority.

But that hasn’t stopped the ad-free fervour from spreading across France. There are 29 RAP groups across the country, up from five in 2016. They work autonomously with tactics including pressuring politicians like the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who paused plans for new digital advertising boards on the city’s streets. To halt this RAP encouraged people to participate in a public consultation.

Ninety-five per cent of over 2000 participants were against the new digital ads. Their reasons speak to why people are resisting outdoor advertising the world over: their negative ecological impact, including the way they drive consumption, as well as the fact that they are invasive, obtrusive and omnipresent.

Outdoor adverts are not consensual: “I can avoid ads in magazines or online. But if I’m walking my baby to the park or if I just want some quiet time outside, I don’t want to be told to buy fast food, fast fashion or cars. However, I can’t avoid these ads on billboards.”

Nationally, RAP co-organised a petition, with other organisations, which collected 60,000 signatures that pressured then finance minister Emmanuel Macron, in 2016, to stop plans to spread advertisements across France’s small towns and villages. In Lyon, 150 activists from RAP protested in March 2018 and 2019 in support of global anti-advertising action, while in October 2019 200 activists marched there in solidarity with ‘Alex’, a RAP participant who went to court for his part in covering advertising spaces in posters. His case is adjourned until June 2020.

Gaiji, who is also president of Friends of the Earth France, says: “Grenoble stopping the advance of advertisements shows that we have a choice. It is like when people ask what has 50 years of environmental activism achieved? But imagine how bad thing would be if [we hadn’t done anything]. We say: ‘Action is life, silence is death’”.

The anti-advertising movement is loud in France, but it has roots further afield. In 2006, São Paulo became the first place in the world to ban outdoor advertising. Then mayor Gilberto Kassab described it as ‘visual pollution’. Within a year, 15,000 billboards were down, along with 300,000 large store signs, in south America’s largest megacity. Cities in India including New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai have all restricted outdoor advertising. For ten days in 2015, Tehran replaced all advertising with art.

 

Britain’s anti-advertising clamour rises

The south-west English city of Bristol hosted the UK’s first national anti-advertising conference on 26 October 2019. Organised by Adblock Bristol, it attracted people from across the British Isles, including members of Adblock Cardiff, which was set up in Wales last year. Attendees from the UK’s second largest city of Birmingham set up their own group after the conference.

“Our big focus is challenging new planning applications for digital billboards, where the industry is expanding. Working with local communities we have stopped 18 new digital screens in Bristol and have successfully lobbied to have some old static billboards removed,” explains Nicola Round from Adblock Bristol.

Round explains that outdoor adverts are not consensual: “I can avoid ads in magazines or online. But if I’m walking my baby to the park or if I just want some quiet time outside, I don’t want to be told to buy fast food, fast fashion or cars. However, I can’t avoid these ads on billboards.”

The conference showcased other successes: lobbying against Bristol council’s plans to extend advertising into green spaces; working with local communities and art projects to showcase alternatives and covering adverts with paper for a day to let people express themselves.

One workshop explored how advertising drives sexism. “Advertising featuring sexualised images of perfect bodies not only encourages us to objectify and dehumanise the women pictured, it trains us to objectify all women,” Sophie Pritchard who co-ran the workshop explains. She is from TIGER (Teaching Individuals Gender Equality and Respect), a local grassroots co-operative working with young people.

“Advertising often presents women as submissive, as possessions to fulfil the needs of men, and men are shown as strong and dominant. These are the core beliefs underpinning domestic abuse,” Pritchard explains, citing numerous studies that have shown that way in which sexualised advertising drives body shaming, mental health problems and misogyny.

 

Selling unhappiness

The public relations industry stands accused of driving other prejudice. One advert in Thailand linking success with lighter skin was withdrawn after public backlash against racism. Similar public condemnation forced German cosmetic giant Nivea to stop a campaign selling skin lightening products in west Africa.

Overall, swathes of studies link advertising with selling unhappiness, making us want things we do not need. Fighting against this, different campaigns worldwide focus on limiting specific adverts. Singapore has banned unhealthy food and drinks promotion, including on billboards, going further than similar moves in Mexico, the United Kingdom and Canada. Paris in March 2017 followed Geneva and London to ban sexist and homophobic adverts. In 2005, World Health Organization rules banned all tobacco advertising for its 168 signatories; but investigative research by the Guardian shows that big tobacco still targets children in at least 23 countries of the Global South.

The climate emergency also amplifies another argument against advertising.

“Bristol was the first UK council to declare a climate emergency, so it makes no sense to then install new digital advert screens,” Round explains. “We know from planning applications that a double-sided digital bus advertisement uses the same annual energy as four households. So imagine the big ones, let alone the environmental impact of the over-consumption encouraged by these advertising boards.”

Adblock Bristol has mapped how advertisers target the city’s major roads, noting that areas with the most billboards suffer the highest air pollution. Anti-advert campaigners also want to raise broader questions about environmental justice: why should impoverished areas suffering the worst air pollution – largely due to traffic – host adverts for cars out of the price range of many local people? In the end, selling more cars to motorists stuck in traffic jams only worsens air quality and the climate disaster.

 

Reclaiming the public visual realm

The Bristol conference featured a ‘subvertising’ workshop – a term that refers to replacing or altering billboard images with art. Early subvertising campaigns started as early as 1973 in Australia, focusing on tobacco. More recently, carbon intense industries have been targeted, including adding cigarette-style warnings to car adverts.

“We set out to subvert the dominant narrative forced onto us by corporate advertising. It is important to reclaim the public visual realm – especially when we are being straight up lied to, as is the case with widely used greenwashing,” explains Michelle Tylicki, an artist who has collaborated with subvertisers.

Her work has included making a spoof film poster about the UK fracking firm Cuadrilla – in the style of the horror movie Godzilla. Fracking in the UK has now been suspended following years of pressure from campaigners.

Tylicki also made a poster series that was displayed during 2018’s climate negotiations in Poland. “[It was] to challenge the greenwashing and ‘business as usual’. At this summit it was decided that they will ignore the key 1.5 degrees IPCC report. This shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the ‘climate summit’ was sponsored by Polish coal companies.”

During the summit, the right to protest was severely restricted. One of her billboards (in Polish) read: “Belchatow power station emits more CO2 than is absorbed by all Polish forests. Poland, business as usual. High time for climate justice.”

She tells Equal Times: “Coal still provides 1/3 of electric power in the world. Current CO2 emissions cause 45,000 premature deaths in Poland each year. It is a beastly industry that will continue to walk over dead bodies for profit – unless we challenge it.”

The subvertising movement aims to end the monopoly corporations increasingly have over public space. It organises skill-shares so that more people can democratise their cities and towns.

One reported impact of removing billboards in São Paulo was that it revealed vistas of the impoverished areas that existed behind them. Anti-advertising projects around the world tend to focus on valuing these areas rather than dismissing them as mere ‘slums’. These projects also help us imagine how all cities could be without adverts.

In Mumbai, the NGO Chal Rang De (Let’s Go Paint) has painted houses made from corrugated iron in bright colours. Similarly, the council in Medellín, Columbia’s second city, has transformed severely impoverished neighbourhoods, suffering violence from the drugs trade, by daubing the walls with murals and providing amenities, services and hope. Likewise, in Ghanaian capital city of Accra, artist Mohammed Awudu is guiding young people to turn the informal settlement of Nima into an art city.

Round chaired the conference’s closing session on what should replace corporate advertisements. This, she says, should be up to the local communities. “In Bristol some say more art, like the Burg Arts Project, a rolling series of art by local artists and the local community. Primarily we would like to see advertising gone, perhaps to reveal beautiful buildings. Other communities might want to plant and rewild, or paint murals. There are many ways communities could take this.”

 

This story was originally published by Equal Times

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Credit: United Nations

By Saber Azam
GENEVA, Aug 11 2020 (IPS)

The US detains essential keys to the political and economic stability of the planet. The last four years have been challenging for Americans, their allies, and the rest of the world.

The forthcoming US elections would be a game-changer and UN-related affairs high on the winner’s agenda. If Mr. Trump is re-elected, he may continue his mistrust toward the world body, paving the way for its eventual demise. Should Mr. Biden win, he would be confronted with diverse views from the day one of his administration.

The UN is an inefficient bureaucracy. Political nepotism, waste of resources, outdated mandates, incoherent modus operandi, and fractured image characterize it. However, there is no alternative to the UN.

The winner of the presidential race should not rush to dismantle the body or re-establish “business as usual.” After 75 years of questionable “service to humanity,” it is time to mend the deficiencies, making the organization once again relevant. The following could constitute the basis of food for thought:

The Charter of the UN defines its primary purposes as follows:

(i) “maintain international peace and security” to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,”
(ii) “develop friendly relations among nations” to “establish conditions under which justice and respect for obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained,” and
(iii) “achieve international cooperation …. and respect for human rights” to safeguard “freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion” and “dignity … of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.”

The UN received the necessary support to achieve its goals. It created scores of bodies and received trillions or quadrillions of US dollars. However, a glance at the performance of the organization would imply that:

(a) Wars could not be prevented; their number increased. Terrorism and proxy clashes through unlawful armed groups emerged as new threats to world peace and stability. The UN failed in its prime objective of “maintain[ing] international peace and security.” Worst, peacekeepers have been accused of inaction during the genocide in Rwanda and sexual abuse of local populations in numerous countries. Questions are raised regarding their “complicity” in the massacre of Srebrenica.

(b) Antagonism among Member States continued to prevail, preventing the world from “develop[ing] friendly relations among nations.” Agreement on, accession, and ratification of international instruments by Member States, particularly during the UN’s prime ages, constitute its most significant achievement. However, their implementation has proven challenging. Dignity of the human person, fundamentals of human rights, and respect for diversity remain imaginary notions in most parts of the world. Often, Member States violate their commitments without being subject to “penalty.” Secretaries-General have often been tamed to the desire of the most powerful countries.

____________________
[1] The term UN applies to all United Nations Headquarters components and affiliated organs around the world.

(c) International cooperation through multi-lateral approaches had timid or quasi no effects. Serious questions have been raised on the impact of trillions of US dollars allocated to develop the socio-economic infrastructures of least developed countries. A simple examination of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) demonstrates that practically no country achieved them.

Therefore, the UN proved to be an inadequate machinery. Mistrust regarding multilateralism has well-founded reasons. The organization cannot address its current and future pressing challenges without a complete overhaul of the system. It is only then that it can become once more relevant.

Political Reform:
The possibility of reforming the essence of bodies that affect the UN Charter would be quasi-impossible. It is vital to aim at improving their structure and functionality as much as possible. The need for political reform is focused on the membership of the Security Council.

The Charter gives the extra-ordinary veto power to only 5 Member States. Given the context and realities, an increase in the number of permanent members and a profound political reform would not be feasible. Efforts should focus on areas that can effectively be improved.

Reducing the Secretary-General and senior political appointees’ service to only one term of five years would increase the organization’s efficiency. Most often, the concern surrounding re-election or re-appointment diminishes significantly the ability of incumbents to fulfill their noble tasks. Some individuals are rotating in senior positions for decades, causing apathy and sclerosis to the organization.

Mandates of Bodies and Agencies:
Countless organs have been created, and few abolished, leading to an endless proliferation of entities. A significant part of UN inefficiency also stems from the confusion of respective bodies’ mandates. The overcast lines between department and/or agency mandates engender not only misunderstanding, but also needless competition for relevance and resources.

Such a streamlining exercise would also allow evaluating the efficiency of a particular organ. UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, WHO, and IOM have been efficient, and credentials are there to prove it. Others have less than satisfactory effects, particularly UNDP, considered a money-wasting institution. It makes sense to dismantle completely similar bodies, strengthening focused development agencies such as UNFPA, FAO, UNWOMEM, etc.

It is also high time to terminate endless Headquarters pseudo reforms to accommodate most senior officials. This practice has so far reduced the efficiency of the UN system considerably.

Structure:
The UN Headquarters are transformed into heavily staffed and expensive centers of bureaucracy. Political (Headquarters) and operational (field) dimensions of the body must be clearly defined. The Headquarters component should be at its strictly minimum, while the field components need-based.

Each organization has a Branch Office in as many countries as possible, regardless of actual need—leading to thousands of staff and perhaps billions of US dollars expenditure without a justifying added value. This practice should be revised and made unequivocally need-based and flexible.

Management:
Manifold sets of rules and procedures have been elaborated in the fields of human resources, financial management, and supply. There is no reason that the UN system should not obey the same rules. However, humanitarian emergency response supply procedures should preferably be field/operations-based to increase efficiency.

Culture/Ethics of the Organization:
Since its creation, the UN has developed a multi-dimensional culture that negatively affects its performance. National/political nepotism, safeguarding the image of the organization at all costs, lack of accountability, dubious promotion and appointment processes, exhaustive meetings, expensive travels and missions, careerism at the expense of efficiency, efforts to please the Member States at the detriment of respect for/defense of principles are a few examples.

Vacancy announcements for crucial positions are “bogus” to show that “process is respected” while, in fact, incumbents are already “selected” beforehand. The same unwritten rules apply for assignments and promotions. In some entities, senior appointments and promotions are at the supreme manager’s discretion, making the fear of favoritism, nepotism, or abuse real.

The image of a perfect organization, not making any mistake, seems more important than standing by the principles the organization was founded upon. The sexual abuse by peacekeepers of the population they are supposed to protect is no longer “taboo.” Often, states that violate human rights get a pass by the UN leaders.

Fear of accountability has led to a lack of innovative initiatives within the organization. It is perceived to be “safer” to do business as usual, than to take a risk in the name of innovation or principle. Hardly someone has faced justice for grave mistakes that have either cost lives or financial losses. A more in-depth look reveals a lack of accountability at multiple layers.

Extensive mission costs and long meetings have become a trademark and synonym for efficiency. The culture of senior staff making every effort to remain at Headquarters and circulate endlessly from one position to another, leads to apathy.

The problem of top leadership competence in the UN system is chronic. The second SG had to resign. Another proved to be a Nazi officer. It is high time to revise the culture of the organization.

Delivering as One (DaO) and UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF):
The UN leadership introduced the philosophy of DaO to ensure the success of MDGs. Their assumption was completely wrong. The world faced more instability, insecurity, and humanitarian challenges.

DaO has been interpreted as all UN entities in a given country should be involved in solving a challenge, irrespective of their relevant expertise and capacity. As a result, bodies are fighting for relevance and resources.

Often, efforts are not well-coordinated, and donors fund whom they want. The notion of “one leader, one program, one budgetary framework, and one resource mobilization mechanism” is unrealistic. The role of the Resident Coordinator is superficial.

Without taking stock of MDGs’ failure, the UN leadership proposed the even more formidable Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At a glance, some would realize that under the current status of world affairs, they are doomed to fail too.

One meaningful reform would be to rotate the role of Resident Coordinator among the few critical agencies in a given country. This will ensure objectivity and focused action. It will also prevent bureaucratic approaches, meaningless leadership, and waste of resources. UNDAF should change into a more realistic mechanism in a given country, such as UN Action Framework (UNAF).

The Way Forward:
External experts of some ten world-class personalities with critical views about the organization could compose a UN Reform Team. It will elaborate a strategy, timeline, and budgetary requirements.

The Team would rely on the advice of renowned researchers, politicians, diplomats, and experts for in-depth studies of the challenges posed, including a cost/result analysis and propose the way forward. Such reforms should be initiated and supervised by the Security Council through a Resolution as any internal endeavor would prove biased and inefficient.

 

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Excerpt:

Saber Azam is a former official of the United Nations and author of the recently-released book, “SORAYA: The Other Princess”, a historical fiction that overflies the recent seven decades of Afghan history.

The post Reform of the United Nations Organization appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug 11 2020 (IPS)

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement should be dead and buried after President Trump announced US withdrawal immediately after his inauguration in January 2017. After all, most major US presidential candidates in the last election, including Hillary Clinton, had opposed the TPP.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Encircling China with trade pact
However, the Japanese, Australian and Singaporean governments have kept the TPP alive, first by mooting TPP11, i.e., minus the USA, later pretentiously relabelled the Comprehensive and Progressive TPP (CPTPP), with the hope that the US will rejoin later.

Other governments have remained ‘on board’ for various reasons, mainly foreign policy considerations, rather than with serious expectations of economic benefits, while ignoring the dangers and risks.

Last week, yet another ministerial meeting reiterated pious claims of steady progress as CPTPP boosters try to remain relevant despite the fast declining appetite for regional trade deals.

The CPTPP did not even get rid of the most onerous TPP provisions, but only suspended some intellectual property (IP) and other provisions, mainly of interest to the USA. These can easily be reincluded to bring the USA back in after the November election.

However, other onerous aspects, such as investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions, remain. In the wake of Covid-19, lawyers are already advising foreign investors how to use extraordinary coping measures to sue governments, which will cost them even if they win.

If re-elected, the Trump administration’s opposition to ISDS can easily be accommodated to bring the US back on board as it seeks new measures to isolate and weaken China. Biden will also revive a TPP avatar, having supported it before as Obama’s loyal Vice-President.

But reselling the TPP in the USA will not be easy. Already, many US manufacturing jobs have been lost due to corporations automating and relocating abroad. Trump has changed US public discourse so much that most Americans now blame globalization, immigration, China and foreigners for the problems they face.

False claims for trade deal
Various studies have shown that supposed trade gains from the TPP claimed by its advocates were greatly exaggerated and misleading. This should come as no surprise.

The US already has free trade agreements with six of the other 11 TPP countries. Trade barriers with the other five were already low in most cases, so there was little scope for further trade liberalization, except for US post-Vietnam war legislation.

All twelve also belong to the World Trade Organization (WTO) which concluded the ‘single largest trade agreement ever’ over a quarter century ago. For trade liberalization guru Jagdish Bhagwati, both bilateral and plurilateral FTAs undermine trade liberalisation welfare arguments.

For the Peterson Institute of International Economics (PIIE), the principal TPP advocate, gains mainly come from additional foreign direct investment (FDI), due to more investor rights, implying greater concessions from, and less gains for host economies.

But the official US International Trade Commission doubted PIIE claims of significant growth benefits in mid-2016, well before Trump was elected. Supposed gains were either dubious or paltry over the long-term time horizon involved.

Investor friendly rules?
Rather than promoting trade, the TPP really sought more transnational corporation (TNC)-friendly rules. After all, the 6350-page deal had been negotiated by various working groups including hundreds of major US corporate representatives. But by involving lobbyists, US negotiators may well have locked themselves into a deal of little interest to most other businesses.

Doubts also remain over whether most TNCs really value the CPTPP’s enhanced investor rights. The World Bank has found that investment treaties rank far below other considerations such as infrastructure, natural resource endowments, market size and growth potential.

Also, rules favouring foreign investors do not necessarily improve investment flows to host countries, let alone ensure development benefits without good national industrial policies in place.

Enriching rentiers
There is no evidence that stronger IP rights increase innovation, research and development. Strengthening IP monopolies for powerful TNCs, such as pharmaceutical firms, would raise the value of trade through higher prices, not more goods and services.

Extending IP protection would raise the prices of pharmaceutical drugs, including ‘biologics’, significantly increasing health costs. For Medecins Sans Frontieres, the TPP would go down in history as the worst “cause of needless suffering and death” in developing countries.

US laws cannot protect consumers anywhere. Martin Shkreli infamously raised the price of a drug whose patent he had bought by 6000%, from USD12.50 to USD750! As ‘price-gouging’ is not unlawful in the US, he was convicted for unrelated financial fraud.

Meanwhile, powerful pharmaceutical TNCs have made clear their intention to charge high prices for new vaccines despite enjoying government subsidies. Whereas vaccines for smallpox, polio, tuberculosis and other communicable diseases were available at cost, higher costs, due to enhanced IPRs, will impose heavy human and economic tolls.

Enabling foreign corporate bullying
FDI was expected to go up, thanks to enhanced TPP investor protection. Foreign companies could then sue TPP governments for ostensible loss of profits due to policy changes, even if in the national or public interest, e.g., to contain Covid-19 contagion.

ISDS is arbitered by private tribunals. This extrajudicial system supersedes national laws and judiciaries, with secret rulings not bound by precedent or subject to appeal.

All who have seriously studied TPP impacts concede that it offers little additional growth. Even the modest trade growth claims are premised on US market access, no longer on offer with the CPTPP, which incredibly, now claims even more growth benefits.

Without the USA, the CPTPP will mainly strengthen Japanese TNCs. With greater rights for foreign investors, domestic investments may even relocate abroad, e.g., to CPTPP tax havens. Declining foreign investment in recent years could thus accelerate with the CPTPP.

From the frying pan into the fire
The Covid-19 pandemic has precipitated severe recessions, which threaten to become depressions, as many governments had to impose nationwide ‘stay in shelter’ lockdowns with physical distancing and other preventive requirements disrupting economic life.

It is now clear that the CPTPP has not slowed growing trade protectionism. Instead, transborder supply chains have been disrupted, sometimes deliberately, with the US and Japan demanding ‘onshoring’, urging TNCs to withdraw investments and outsourcing from China, also hurting suppliers, many from Southeast Asia.

 

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The post CPTPP Trade Liberalization Charade Continues appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury
SINGAPORE, Aug 10 2020 (IPS-Partners)

President Jimmy Carter of the United States had once paid Iran glowing tributes, which was received quite normally in American policy circles and raised no eyebrows: He had said: “(Iran was) an island of stability in one of the most troubled areas of the world”. In one of the weirdest ironies of history, within months in 1979, with the Iranian Revolution, the perception of Iran in American eyes underwent a most radical transformation. It was followed by the hostage-taking of American diplomats, and a nose-diving of bilateral relations. Since 1980 there have been no diplomatic connections. However, over the years a kind of modus vivendi had evolved, a grudging tolerance of each other accompanied by some functional interactions. Eventually, in 2015, the US along with key European States entered into what was called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), virtually capping Iran’s nuclear capabilities, and largely stabilizing the relationship.

Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury

When President Donald Trump assumed office in 2016, several factors combined to raise his ire vis-a -vis Iran to high pitch. One was his believe that Iran was fomenting destabilization in the Middle East, fed by his closest allies in the region, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. A second was the burgeoning influence of the rabidly anti-Iran hawks in the White House, in the persons of his principal Advisor on the region, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and National Security, Advisor John Bolton someone he violently fell out with in a remarkably short period, but not before the harm was done. A third was that Iran itself did not appear to show any interest in mending fences with Washington or to try curry Trump’s favour in any way. Consequently, Trump tightened the sanctions against Iran, withdrew from the JCPOA to the chagrin of his European allies, and finally in January 2020 ordered a military strike that killed a senior Iranian officer, Major General Qasim Suleimani. US-Iran relations had reached their nadir, the lowest point in decades.

In the meantime, China under Xi Jinping was rapidly racing to reach the status of a global peer of the US. It had won over dozens of nations by funding their critical infrastructures through its mega-project entitled Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI), both on the land (Belt) and sea (Road). The strategy was to achieve its aspiration of Zhongguo Meng or ‘China Dream’, aided by its deep pockets, abundant resources, and swiftly growing technology. The US was chary of letting another power rise to the level of an equal as it felt it would erode its power and security. Also, Trump needed a rallying point for his support- base, comprising white, red-neck, non-College educated, and overly-patriotic zealous Americans. This he did by taking issue with China, held in suspicion not just by this group but also some other American interests, on a host of subjects. He, therefore, adopted many anti-China policies on trade and in other areas. So, a most logical consequence occurred.

Mutual concerns and interests drew Iran and China together. It found fruition in a deal, about to be formalized, involving approximately US $ 400 billion of Chinese investments in Iran over the next 25 years.

Some important details of that understanding have now come to light, though these are subject now to formal approval by both parties. The projects, which number over 100, cover a very diverse field. These include oil trade, infrastructural development, airports, high speed railways, and extend to the field of military cooperation. China will be setting up three free trade zones spread across the country. Obviously, these would be significant components of the BRI.

These arrangements were being negotiated steadily over the last four years or so. When President Xi jinping visited Iran in 2016, the two countries agreed to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the highest pecking order of China’s relationship with any other country. At that point in time both sides agreed to commence negotiations to provide more meat to the broad framework through further negotiations. This gradually gathered momentum as the US relations with both China and Iran continued to deteriorate. It was now clear that both China and Iran seemed ideal scape-goats to be targeted by Trump , as be began to badly needed a cause that might unite a sizeable segment of the electorate behind him in order to lift his perilously low level of support among voters, as indicated by almost every pre-election prediction polls.

As stated, formal approval from both sides are still awaited. It is being debated more in Iran than in China. Since the dependence of Iran on the West during the period of Reza Shah Pahlavi in the Cold war era, Iran has never relied so much on a foreign partner. There are some apprehensions in Tehran on the possibilities of indebtedness to China and associated problems. The Iranian Foreign minister Javad Zareef has had to provide detailed explanations to queries raised in the Parliament. Important personalities like former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appear to be requiring some convincing. At the end, given that the US pressure on Iran is unrelenting, the appropriate authorities in Iran are most likely to accord their approval. In China no such deliberations appear to have taken place. The deal , therefore, is most likely to go through.

This possible united front of the two oldest Asian civilizations, the Persian and the Chinese, will have huge ramifications for contemporary global politics. This partnership is also certain to have the blessings of Russia and its President Vladimir Putin. This would add to the solidification of an eastern front vis-à-vis the West, particularly the US. Some Asian powers, however, would be worried. India, for instance, given its poor relations with China , would have cause for concern, particularly as the construction of Charbahar port, once its responsibility which was being poorly executed , partly due to the fear of US opprobrium, and partly due to sheer inefficiency, would now, most likely, pass on to its rival China. So if Cold War 2.0 should come to pass on the global scene, a new line-up in the east, with China and Iran, and Russia in tow, is likely to emerge on the international political matrix ranged against the US and its allies.

Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury is Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asia Studies, National University of Singapore. He is a former Foreign Advisor (Foreign Minister) of Bangladesh and President of Cosmos Foundation Bangladesh. The views addressed in the article are his own. He can be reached at: isasiac @nus.edu.sg

This story was originally published by Dhaka Courier.

The post US-IRAN-CHINA: Travails of a Trilateral Triangle, and the Emergence of an Eastern Front appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Padmini Murthy
NEW YORK, Aug 10 2020 (IPS)

Even during the best of times, unfortunately members of the global community who have special needs are marginalized and often treated as social outcasts. The COVID crisis which has been raging for over the better part of the year 2020 has posed additional barriers and challenges for these already disenfranchised individuals.

Padmini Murthy

These people are at a higher risk for contracting COVID -19 with reduced access to health care services, personal protective equipment such as masks, basic hygiene facilities and sanitation .Many of these people with physical and mental disabilities may not be able to wash their hands not only because of a lack of running water and soap , inaccessibility to clean water but because they are not able to turn on a faucet and wash their hands due to their physical deformities. This is more so when people are wheelchair bound and are victims of Polio and Hansen’s disease which may leave them crippled and unable to perform simple tasks without assistance. In addition, people with special needs may not be able to social distance as they are unable to go about their daily activities without support from their attendants and care givers. This may heighten their risk of contracting COVID especially if their caregivers may be asymptomatic carriers.

In response to this heightened risk faced by this sect of the global community , the World Health Organization (WHO) issued guidelines to continue integrating people with disabilities into the mainstream of society while minimize their risk to contracting COVID-19. These included ensuring that caregivers use the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) when attending to their needs, disinfecting any aids used and ensuring access to essential items including cleaning supplies.

Discrimination

In a recent survey conducted in the United States by the National Disability Institute in 2020 indicated that that 60% of the disabled adult population surveyed , report being concerned that they may face medical discrimination due to their special needs and being labelled high risk and resulting lack of access to services during the current COVID crisis.

According to a report released by the United Nations in May 2020, at present globally there are one billion people living with disabilities and 80% live in developing countries. As the released UN report ‘Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity’ on the socio-economic impact of the pandemic showcases, COVID-19 is not simply a health crisis but is shaking the core of the foundation of global societies. Unfortunately, the response often linked to and is influenced by the preexisting -social determinants and prevailing inequalities associated with disability and threatens to place an additional burden on people with special needs.

In some countries, health care rationing decisions, including triage protocols and being bypassed from receiving the necessary medical interventions such as ventilators, medication and the reasons for this discrimination can be attributed to their being considered high risk and assumptions being made about the quality of life post COVID for these people and a contributing factor to this may be the overburdening of the health care systems during the crisis.

Globally the current economic crisis resulting from COVID has exacerbated the
unemployment rates for the people with disability and may face challenges finding employment post COVID. In most countries disabled people and their families are vulnerable as they do not have support from the social protection systems prevalent in their countries. According to a report released by the International Labor Organization only 28%of the global population with special needs have access to disability benefits and even more alarming that only 1% of the above mentioned in low income countries have any kind of social support .

Challenges

Unfortunately, women and girls with disabilities face increased risk of gender-based violence and especially those affected by Hansen’s disease as they do not have access to social protective mechanisms and are often destitute and need to resort to begging for survival. These women seldom have access to feminine hygiene products, contraceptive services and are at an increased risk for sexual harassment.

Recommendations

It is of paramount importance that special attention is given to those living in humanitarian settings, including those living in situations of forced displacement as a result of armed conflict in refugee or migrant camps, informal settlements, urban slums, mental health facilities, old age homes and prisons is of paramount importance to contain outbreaks which have the tendency to become wide spread.

In addition, forging partnerships between stakeholders including advocacy bodies, foundations NGOs, government agencies, law and order and public health agencies is crucial to work together to provide the necessary support needed. It is vital that the needs of people with various types of disability , including the victims of Hansen’s disease are included in response operations for the COVID-19 outbreak and are rehabilitation so that they can be integrated into main steam of the societies they live in .

Padmini Murthy, MD, MPH, MS, MPhil, CHES, FRSPH, is a professor and director of the Global Health Department of Public Health at New York Medical College. Murthy is the NGO representative of MWIA to the United Nations and the chair of the Advisory Committee of The Nation’s Health, the newspaper of the American Public Health Association.

 

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Sibonisiwe Hlanze is one of 600 women who are allowed to harvest reeds from the Lawuba Wetland in Lawuba, Eswatini. She generates a seasonal income from this which allows her to purchase farming inputs. Credit: Mantoe Phakathi/IPS

By Mantoe Phakathi
LAWUBA, Eswatini, Aug 10 2020 (IPS)

Sibonisiwe Hlanze, from Lawuba in Eswatini’s Shiselweni Region, lights up as she shows off her sleeping mat which she made from what she described as “the highest quality indigenous fibre”.

Hlanze boasts that she did not pay a cent for the likhwane (Cyperus latifolius) used to make mats that she sells to vendors from Eswatini’s commercial capital of Manzini. Instead, she simply walks a few metres to the nearby Lawuba Wetland where she collects the fibre during the harvesting season.

About 600 beneficiary women under the Methula Inkhundla (constituency centre) harvest fibre from the wetland in June from 7 am to noon.

Hlanze charges E100 ($5) for a sleeping mat. On a good season, she would make between 15 to 20 mats generating between E1 500 ($85) and E2 000 ($114).

“But now I prefer to only harvest and sell the raw fibre because I no longer have much time to make the mats,” Hlanze told IPS. She makes E200 ($11) from a bundle which is used to make handicraft items such as mats and baskets. Last season, she harvested about 10 bundles.

“Some women prefer to buy the fibre instead of going to the wetland to harvest for themselves because they find it tedious,” Hlanze told IPS. “The wetland has provided me and other women with a source of income because we’re unemployed.”

Considering that this is seasonal income, Hlanze said she uses this to make money to buy farming inputs.

Nkhositsini Dlamini, the secretary for Lawuba Wetland, concurs with Hlanze adding that in one season she generated E23,000 ($ 1,310) from sleeping mats whose fibre she harvested from the wetland. She sells her handicraft in Johannesburg at a higher price compared to when selling in Eswatini. Sleeping mats go for E300 ($ 17) in South Africa. 

“My child was admitted at the university but didn’t get a scholarship,” Dlamini told IPS. “I used that money to pay for the fees.”

Besides the fibre plants such as likhwane, inchoboza (Cyperus articulates) and umtsala (Miscanthus capensis), which are used for handicraft products, she said, there are indigenous medicinal plants at the 21-hectare natural wetland which help to heal various ailments such as scabies. The community also established a livestock drinking trough and a vegetable garden which draws water from the wetland.

Dlamini, however, states that the community was on the verge of losing this asset because it had become degraded over the years. For many years, she said, livestock used to graze from the wetland while local women were over harvesting the fibre. As a result, it was losing its spongy effect of storing water.

“The amount of fibre available at the wetland was significantly reduced, not to mention the number of cattle that used die after getting stuck in the mud,” said Dlamini.

The state of the wetland concerned Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku, who approached Eswatini Environment Authority (EEA) to support the community to protect it. Masuku, who is also a resident of the area, said he decided to act after noticing that the wetland had lost some of its indigenous plants such as reeds and experienced other biodiversity loss of animal species such as birds and snakes. It was also drying up.

“This wetland feeds the Mhlathuze River,” said Masuku in an interview with IPS. “It is also a source for a downstream dipping tank.”

Through the National Environment Fund, the EEA provided fencing material to prevent livestock from grazing and drinking from the wetland. The EEA partnered with World Vision who provided food aid for residents who constructed the fence under the Food for Work Programme. This was after the EEA had educated the community about the benefits of the wetland to their lives. The construction of the protection fence took place between 2010/11. EEA has protected 12 wetlands in the country using this fund.

“Once people know and see the benefits of conserving the environment, their attitudes and their behaviour change,” said EEA ecologist, Nana Matsebula. This was corroborated by a study done a University of Pretoria student, Linda Siphiwo Mahlalela, titled Economic valuation and natural resource rent as tools for wetland conservation in Swaziland: the case of Lawuba wetland.

The study found that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that households at Lawuba have high levels of knowledge about the benefits of conserving the wetland and the threats that endanger it. It also found that households have positive attitudes towards its conservation with income seemingly having influence towards this behaviour.

Matsebula said the community realised that the wetland also had a cultural value to the Swati nation.

“A sleeping mat comes from a wetland,” said Matsebula. “Besides using it for sleeping and sitting, no one in our culture gets buried without a sleeping mat.”

The mat is also one of the significant items at traditional weddings.

Besides the economic value of the wetland, Matsebula told IPS, the community was also educated on the ecological benefits. These include acting as a flood control by absorbing water during rain, replenishing the water table and acting as a reservoir for a diverse biodiversity.

“Wetlands are also important for climate change mitigation because they trap carbon up to 50 times more compared to forests,” he said, adding: “Wetlands take up to only 3 percent of the world total land area yet they hold up to a third of the world’s total carbon.”

Matsebula said environmentalists have over the years shifted from talking about preservation to conservation. The latter emphasises sustainable use of natural resources while the former discourages use altogether.

“It has been proven that when people realise benefits from the environment, they are most likely to protect it,” he said. 

But the wetland faces a threat from poor regulation. Criminals have also started to steal parts of the fence. Masuku said for this wetland, and others to be adequately protected, the government needs to take over its administration so that it is declared a national asset. While the community will continue to have the primary responsibility to protect it, the government should support with its monitoring and regulation.

“We need political commitment in the regulation of harvesting fibre and drawing water from the wetland,” said Masuku. “We also need stiff laws that will ensure criminals who steal the fence protecting wetlands are punished.”

For now, there are no permits and the users of the natural resources from the wetland regulate themselves. 

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