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News and Views from the Global South

Updated: 20 hours 16 min ago

International Court of Justice Set to Deliver Order in Genocide Case

Fri, 01/26/2024 - 08:44

The International Court of Justice in the Hague heard the South Africa versus Israel case earlier this month. Credit: ICJ

By Cecilia Russell
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 26 2024 (IPS)

The International Court of Justice will deliver it’s order for provisional measures submitted by South Africa in the case of South Africa versus Israel today.

South Africa argued that the scale of destruction resulting from the bombardment of Gaza and the deliberate restriction of food, water, medicines, and electricity demonstrated that the government of Israel and its military were intent on destroying Palestinians as a group, which was in violation of the UN Genocide Convention.

The case was argued on January 10 and 11, 2024, and today’s decision is only likely to deal with jurisdiction and the provisional measures that South Africa asked the court to impose.

The provisional measures include:

that military operations are immediately ceased;
that the State of Israel take reasonable measures within its power to prevent genocide, including desisting from actions that could bring about physical destruction;
rescind orders of restrictions and prohibitions to prevent forced displacement and ensure access to humanitarian assistance, including access to adequate fuel, shelter, clothes, hygiene, sanitation and medical supplies;
avoid public incitement;
ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts and
submit a report to the court on all measures taken to give effect to the order.

Israel disputed this, saying that the country had a right to defend itself in the face of the October 7 massacre in Israel. It was argued that South Africa brought a fundamentally flawed case.

IPS will update the outcome later today.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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Categories: Africa

Under the Scorching Sun Kenyan Farmers Find New Ways to Beat Climate Change

Fri, 01/26/2024 - 07:51

Rural Kenyans are forging a path toward a more sustainable future and protecting their lives and livelihoods from climate change through regenerative agriculture, nurturing hope for their communities and the environment.

Categories: Africa

Ban or Restrict? Quandary Facing Governments as Vaping Entices Teens Worldwide

Fri, 01/26/2024 - 05:51

By Ulysses Dorotheo
BANGKOK, Thailand, Jan 26 2024 (IPS)

A hot debate on electronic smoking devices is expected to engage governments, scheduled to meet in Panama from 5-10 February for the tenth session of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).

The WHO FCTC, the first health treaty, was developed to address the global tobacco epidemic and to ensure that governments are supported in implementing comprehensive and effective tobacco control strategies.

Earlier in 2016, the governments during COP8 made a decision to either prohibit or restrict the manufacture, importation, distribution, presentation, sale and use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (e-cigarettes). Since then, more than 45 countries and jurisdictions have banned e-cigarettes as a precautionary principle (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Countries that have banned e-cigarettes

Electronic smoking devices (ESDs), which include e-cigarettes (or vape products) and heated tobacco products (HTPs), has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry estimated to be worth about USD 18 billion in 2022 to about USD 46 billion by 2030.

While the tobacco and vape industries claim these devices are safer than traditional cigarettes and can be used by smokers to quit, no country has approved them as cessation tools. ESDs cannot help smoking cessation as studies show the nicotine in ESDs keeps its users addicted to tobacco products, and most smokers who took up ESDs to quit smoking ended up using both ESDs and traditional cigarettes (dual use).

ESDs are not harmless. Current research indicates that ESD pose health risks, as aerosols from these devices contain nicotine as well as toxic chemicals, volatile organic compounds, and heavy metals that may damage the lung and heart.

WHO warning to act urgently on e-cigarettes

Last month, the WHO issued an urgent call to control e-cigarettes to protect children and the general population. According to WHO’s statement, “E-cigarettes with nicotine are highly addictive and alarming evidence has emerged of adverse population health effects.”

According to WHO, 88 countries have no minimum age at which e-cigarettes can be bought and 74 countries have no regulations for these harmful products.

A number of high-income countries with declining smoking prevalence but who legalized e-cigarettes are now grappling with increasing youth vaping, such as Canada, New Zealand, U.K. and USA. Low-and-middle-income countries who are already struggling to overcome the burden of the tobacco epidemic now face a double burden with nicotine addiction.

But despite the growing evidence that ESDs are dangerous and highly addictive, the tobacco and nicotine industry aggressively market these devices, particularly to youth.

The industry and its lobbyists pressure governments to approve sales of these new products with routine arguments about loss of taxes and smuggling, while simultaneously exaggerating their virtues.

Youth targeted in new nicotine products

The ASEAN region’s 213 million youths are an easy target for the tobacco industry which employs a host of marketing tactics to lure these young people. In 2019, about 14% of Filipino adolescents aged 13 to 15 years reported using ESDs, alongside nearly 15% (2022) of Malaysian and 11% (2018) of Indonesian teens.

ESDs come with a variety of flavors, most of which are made to attract young people, such as fruity, candy-based, and dessert-like flavors. Over 16,000 e-liquid flavors are sold in the market currently, and there is clear evidence these flavors harm the body.

Food flavors are meant to be used in foodstuff to be digested, not inhaled into the lungs which harms the respiratory system. This harm is seen in cases where young vapers have suffered collapsed lungs and have been admitted to intensive care.

Promoted as cool, lifestyle must-haves, the tobacco industry also entices the youth to use ESDs through social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, and through sponsorships of events and concerts.

To ban or restrict electronic smoking devices

In the ASEAN region Singapore imposed a ban on these devices in 2011 to prevent unchecked use of ESDs. They also consider ESDs as starter products which may cause nicotine addiction and lead consumers to use both ESDs and cigarettes later in life.

Hong Kong, like Singapore, banned ESDs in 2022 as a response to the growing youth uptake for these products. Other countries who have banned ESD in the ASEAN include Thailand, Laos and Brunei. Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines legalized e-cigarettes and face a big youth vaping problem.

Australia adopted a prescription only approach to e-cigarettes, while HTPs are banned. The United States, through its Food and Drug Administration regulates ESDs on the basis of age restrictions, health warning labels, ingredients disclosure, and marketing restrictions.

Some governments have implemented stringent regulations on the basis of price or tax measures, product standards control, health warning labels and restrictions on marketing and advertisements. Policies however should also cover age restrictions, flavor bans, and smoke-free regulations.

Eight million deaths due to tobacco are eight million deaths too many. With ESDs, history cannot repeat itself. At COP10, governments will be presented with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to ensure that the tobacco industry cannot deceive anymore. Governments must perform their mandate to protect the people’s right to good health and well-being and to work towards a healthy, tobacco-free world.

Dr Ulysses Dorotheo is the executive director of the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance. He is also a member of the World Health Organization’s Civil Society Working Group on Non-Communicable Diseases and the World Heart Federation Tobacco Experts Group.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Why Land Matters with Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez

Thu, 01/25/2024 - 19:39

By External Source
Jan 25 2024 (IPS-Partners)

Land rights are fundamental for three things.

One: economic development. No country in the world has gone from low income to Middle income to high income without clear land and property rights and markets. It is a core part of the economy.

Second, poverty elimination, the most important asset of most poor families around the world is their land is their house if that is not secure then the most important asset that they have the most important opportunity to escape poverty and to build for the next generation is going to be lost.

And third: for the environment. Without clear property rights those that take care of the land and those that protect the forest will not have the energy and the desire to invest in that protection because at any point they will lose them. So it’s important for the economy, for poverty, for the environment.

Cadasta Foundation
https://cadasta.org/

Categories: Africa

Jailed in Limbo: The Armenian Prisoners in Azerbaijan

Thu, 01/25/2024 - 16:24

Posters conmemorating two Armenian prisoners on the streets of Yerevan. The total number of detainees remains unknown. Credit: Edgar Kamalyan

By Anush Ghavalyan
YEREVAN, Armenia, Jan 25 2024 (IPS)

On July 29, 2023, Vagif Khachatryan, a 68-year-old Armenian retiree, woke up early in Nagorno Karabakh —a self-proclaimed republic in the Caucasus region—to travel to Armenia. He needed to undergo delicate heart surgery.

Despite the pressing medical emergency, it was not an easy decision. The only road that connected Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia and the rest of the world had been cut off for seven months by the Azerbaijani army. Even if he was travelling in an International Committee of the Red Cross car, Khachatryan knew he could face trouble.

He was arrested that day by the Azerbaijani border guard service. Four months later, a military court in Baku handed him a 15-year sentence for crimes allegedly committed during a war fought more than 30 years ago.

Vagif Khachatryan is yet another victim of a conflict that has its roots in the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Armenians remained the majority in Nagorno-Karabakh, but the enclave was officially on the territory of the newborn Republic of Azerbaijan.

A war was already unravelling in Karabakh. The Armenian victory also led to the forcible displacement of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis. In September 2020, the latter launched an offensive through which they took over two-thirds of the territory under Armenian control.

But there were still more than 100,000 Armenians left.

In December 2022, Baku blocked the only road connecting Artsakh with Armenia and the rest of the world, depriving its inhabitants of the most basic supplies including food and medicines. It was that lack of medical assistance that pushed Vagif Khachatryan to his fate seven months later.

With Khachatryan already in prison, the blockade on Nagorno Karabakh was lifted in September 2023 in the wake of a new Azeri attack. The road was opened so that the Armenians remaining in the enclave fled en masse to Armenia.

Senior international bodies like the European Union Parliament accused Azerbaijan of carrying out “ethnic cleansing” against the Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh. Today, Karabakhis are restarting from scratch in Armenia, the Khachatryans among those.

“The fact that my father has a heart disease gives me hope that he will not be tortured in Azerbaijani custody,” Vera Khachatryan told IPS by telephone from Jermuk, 170 kilometres southeast of Yerevan.

Her father’s arrest, she said, has also had an impact on her mother. “She suffers from new health and psychological problems which only add to those derived from forced displacement,” explained the displaced woman.

On September 28, Karabaj authorities issued a decree dissolving the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh Republic as of January 1, 2024.

Political leaders of Nagorno Karabakh during one of the last masses celebrated in the enclave. Eight of them are today in Azerbaijani prisons. Credit: Edgar Kamalyan / IPS

Secrecy

On December 13, 2023, a prisoner exchange took place: Azerbaijan released 32 Armenian soldiers in exchange for the last two Azerbaijani soldiers under Armenian custody. Armenia’s support for Azerbaijan to host the United Nations Climate Summit in Baku was also part of the deal.

Both sides described it as “a sign of goodwill.”

“Azerbaijan uses the prisoners´ issue as a political tool to put pressure on Armenia or to obtain something in return,” Siranush Sahakyan, representative of the Armenian prisoners’ interests at the European Court of Human Rights told IPS by phone.

“No repatriation conducted by Baku other than the prisoner swap was held under an amnesty or any other legal procedure,” stressed Sahakyan.

Armenia claims that more than 100 prisoners of war and civilians remain in Azerbaijan, including three former presidents of Nagorno-Karabakh, the speaker of parliament and members of the cabinet. Baku says the total number of Armenian prisoners in its custody is 23.

Other than the contradicting figures, their state also poses a major source of concern. In a March 2021 report, Human Rights Watch denounced that the Armenian prisoners of war suffered abuse in Azerbaijani custody and called on Baku to release “all remaining prisoners of war and civilians.”

Faced with Baku’s inaction, Yerevan appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Protest in Stepanakert (the capital of Nagorno Karabakh) after the closure of the road that connected the enclave with Armenia, in December 2022. After nine months of blockade and an Azerbaijani attack, all Karabakh residents fled to Armenia. Credit: Edgar Kamalyan / IPS

“Azerbaijan is obliged to submit a report on arbitrarily detained senior officials to the ECHR before the end of January 2024,” Hasmik Samvelyan, spokesperson for the Armenian Representation for International Legal Affairs, reminded IPS in a telephone conversation.

For the time being, the International Committee of the Red Cross is the only independent body that has access to Armenian prisoners.

“Our representatives have visited all the captives detained in Baku and checked the conditions in which they are held,” Zara Amatuni, ICRC communications officer in Armenia, told IPS by telephone.

Several of the prisoners’ relatives confirmed to IPS that they had the opportunity to speak with them. The ICRC mediates to facilitate communication by telephone every 30 to 40 days. The organisation avoided giving more details after appealing to the importance of confidentiality.

“We present our observations only to the competent authorities,” the ICRC press officer stressed to IPS.

Repatriated prisoners have also consistently refused to talk to journalists about the conditions of their imprisonment, and that´s also the Armenian state´s policy. Many see it as a way to avoid triggering a reaction from Azerbaijan that could worsen the imprisonment conditions.

Families fleeing Nagorno Karabakh after the Azerbaijani attack in September 2023. Several political organisations and human rights defenders accused Azerbaijan of launching “a campaign of ethnic cleansing” against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. Credit: Siranush Sargsyan / IPS

Waiting for justice

During an international forum on the future of Nagorno Karabakh held on December 6 in Baku, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev declared that the Armenian prisoners “are waiting for Azerbaijani justice to rule.”

The recent wave of repression against the media and any voice critical of the Government does not invite hope. Last December, Amnesty International denounced the arrests of at least six independent Azerbaijani journalists in just one month on “fabricated” charges.

In its latest world freedom report, the Freedom House claimed Azerbaijan is one of the 57 countries classified as “not free” out of the 159 studied. The Washington-based NGO denounced “numerous arbitrary arrests and detentions”. It also described Azerbaijan’s judiciary as “corrupt and subordinate to the executive.”

Another of those waiting for Azerbaijani justice to rule is Vicken Euljeckjian. This Lebanese who also has Armenian nationality was captured along with Maral Najarian —another Lebanese Armenian— by Azerbaijani soldiers while driving from Yerevan to Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10, 2020, a day after the Russian-brokered ceasefire was announced.

Four months after their arrest, Beirut secured Najarian´s release, but not Euljeckjian´s. The latter was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2021. His name, however, appeared on the list of prisoners to be swapped on December 13, 2023, but a last-minute surprise prevented it.

“After three years of separation, pain and despair, we were very excited to hear that he would finally be released. Suddenly, his name was replaced with that of another prisoner three hours before the exchange,” Vicken´s wife Linda Euljeckjian recalled to IPS by phone from Beirut.

Hoping to ease the process, Linda and her daughter travelled to Yerevan to meet with Armenian officials. But the latter could do little, so the family also approached senior Lebanese officials.

“After pressure from the local media, the Lebanese government appears to be interested in discussing the issue of my husband’s repatriation with Azerbaijani officials,” said Linda.

While she waits for the release of her husband, the issue of Armenian prisoners of war and civilians in Azerbaijan remains among those to be settled in a conflict inherited from the 20th century.

Categories: Africa

Addressing the Dual Challenge of Food Waste and Food Insecurity: Here’s Some Ideas

Thu, 01/25/2024 - 15:20

Food insecurity and food waste create a paradox that necessitates us to creatively address these two interlinked issues. Credit: Claudia Ciobanu / IPS

By Ifeanyi Nsofor and Esther Ngumbi
SILVER SPRING, Maryland / URBANA, Illinois, USA, Jan 25 2024 (IPS)

Ten percent of Americans live in food-insecure households. At the same time, the average U.S. family of four spends $1,500 each year on food that ends up uneaten. Food is the single most common material found in landfills; and food waste is responsible for 58% of landfill methane emissions released to the atmosphere. Food insecurity and food waste create a paradox that necessitates us to creatively address these two interlinked issues.

Both these issues are not just American problems, they are global. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, up to one third of all food produced goes to waste. And in a cruel twist, even as so much food goes to waste, more than one billion people are food insecure globally.

On the issue of food insecurity, countries have taken several approaches to address it, including policy level interventions. The White House, for example, created a task force to investigate the issue of hunger and food insecurity. It included it as a social determinant of health.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, up to one third of all food produced goes to waste. And in a cruel twist, even as so much food goes to waste, more than one billion people are food insecure globally

In Kenya, the government in collaboration with the World Bank through initiatives such as the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture and the National Agriculture Rural Inclusive Growth Project project is addressing food insecurity by deploying multiple strategies including providing farmers with inputs, offering them extension and climate advisory services, and facilitating market access.

It is important for governments to address these issues, but we must all do more. Here are five more ideas for tackling food insecurity and food waste.

First, tackle food waste at the production level. A recent study showed that inefficiencies in agricultural supply chains contribute 1.3 billion tons of food waste as it moves along to stores, restaurants and homes.

The U.S. government can promote a range of technological advancements to address this, including utilizing drones and cell phones and other technologies to accurately map what is being produced where and when including the expected yields, and timeframes.

Doing so would facilitate ensuring that all produced food can be marketed. Start-ups focused on ensuring all food that is produced is sold to consumers including through gleaning are at the forefront, championing these kinds of initiatives of urban gleaning programs in the US.

For example, there is a national map of gleaning, that rescues foods that would otherwise go to waste. These gleaning innovations serve a dual purpose – tackling hunger and food waste. Such innovations deserve to be promoted and invested in.

Second, farmers must develop innovative new crops that are resilient to climate change, easy to cultivate and packed with nutrients. An example is the biofortified orange-fleshed sweet potato developed at the International Potato Center and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

This species of potato grows with less water, can withstand disease and contains nutrients necessary for growth and development. For example, it is fortified with vitamin A to protect children from vitamin A deficiency, which typically causes blindness, diarrhea, and immune disorders.

Research published in the International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research shows that orange-fleshed sweet potato improves vitamin A status, increases the availability of different micronutrients and reduces vitamin A deficiency, and therefore reduces child mortality rates.

Third, introduce marketing innovations that encourage consumers to not only focus on buying better looking products, but also ensure that consumers can still buy not so perfect foods.

For instance, Asda recently introduced the UK’s first supermarket ‘wonky vegetable’ box. It contains enough ugly potatoes and knobbly carrots to feed a family of four for an entire week for just £3.50. The ‘wonky vegetable’ box contains in-season winter vegetables and salad ingredients at a price that is 30% cheaper than standard lines. Customers love wonky fruit and veg and sales have steadily increased.

Fourth, integrate artificial intelligence and big data analytics and support these recent innovations. To date, artificial intelligence has been utilized in the modern day to help tackle several challenges and it could be utilized to facilitate tackling this dual challenge.

These technologies can be used to forecast disruptions in the supply chain by using historical data that’s combined with real time data. In so doing, companies involved in food distribution can proactively anticipate and prepare for any logistical and weather-related challenges that may disrupt scheduled food supply and distribution channels.

Lastly, celebrate the use of innovative ways to address food waste in order to inspire others.

In Ghana, Elijah Amoo Adoo, founder of Food for all Africa – West Africa’s largest food bank found that 46% of the food produced on farms in the country goes to waste because of poor logistics and inefficient marketing.

Consequently, Food for all Africa collects leftover food close to its expiry date from local restaurants, supermarkets, food distribution companies, and rural small-hold farmers, and redistributes to disadvantaged children in orphanages, hospitals and lower-income schools. This is significant in a country where 28% of all children aged five years and below are stunted.

Of course, it will be important to consider barriers to innovations that address the dual challenge of food waste and food insecurity. These barriers range from availability of incentives to consumer willingness to accept and pay for these innovations as well as the relevance of these innovations to specific regions and cultures. But the tradeoff is worth the work – reduced hunger and reduced waste, and millions of lives improved.

Dr. Ifeanyi M. Nsofor, MBBS, MCommH (Liverpool) is Senior New Voices Fellow at the Aspen Institute, Senior Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity at George Washington University, 2006 Ford Foundation International Fellow.

Esther Ngumbi, PhD is Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, African American Studies Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Categories: Africa

Rights Coalition Calls for Israel Arms Embargo to End Gaza Carnage

Thu, 01/25/2024 - 11:56

Airstrikes destroy buildings in the Gaza Strip. Credit: UNRWA/Ashraf Amra

By Jake Johnson
NEW YORK, Jan 25 2024 (IPS)

A coalition of 16 leading human rights organizations issued a joint statement Wednesday calling on all nations to immediately stop sending weapons to both Israel and and Palestinian militants, warning that continued arms transfers risk exacerbating what’s already one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history.

The groups—including Save the Children International, Doctors of the World, Oxfam International, and Amnesty International—said arms transfers must stop as long as it’s possible they will be “used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.”

“Israel’s bombardment and siege are depriving the civilian population of the basics to survive and rendering Gaza uninhabitable,” reads the groups’ statement. “Today, the civilian population in Gaza faces a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented severity and scale.”

“Furthermore, Palestinian armed group-led attacks killed around 1,200 people and took hundreds of Israeli and foreign hostages, including children, and continue to hold more than 130 hostages captive inside Gaza,” the statement continues.

“Armed groups in Gaza have continued to indiscriminately fire rockets toward population centers in Israel, disrupting school for children, displacing and threatening the lives and well-being of civilians. Hostage-taking and indiscriminate attacks are violations of international humanitarian law and must end immediately.”

Individual groups such as Human Rights Watch have previously called for an arms embargo on Israel and Palestinian militants, but Wednesday’s call represents the first coordinated appeal from top humanitarian groups for an immediate end to weapons transfers since Israel began its latest assault on Gaza in October.

The groups urged the United Nations Security Council—which has been stifled by the U.S., Israel’s top arms supplier—to adopt a resolution imposing a weapons embargo on the Israeli government and armed Palestinian groups in Gaza, where most of the population is displaced and at risk of starvation after three and a half months of incessant Israeli bombing.

“American taxpayers should not be subsidizing war crimes,” Martin Butcher, policy adviser on arms and conflict at Oxfam International, said during a press call on Wednesday, stressing that most of Israel’s arms come from just a handful of powerful nations—the U.S., Germany, and the United Kingdom.

The U.S. alone has provided Israel with more than 10,000 tons of weaponry since October 7, including 2,000-pound bombs, tank ammunition, and drones. Hamas, meanwhile, “fights with a patchwork of weapons built by Iran, China, Russia, and North Korea,” The Associated Press reported last week.

The humanitarian coalition noted in its statement that Israel has used its vast military arsenal to destroy a large portion of “Gaza’s homes, schools, hospitals, water infrastructure, shelters, and refugee camps.”

“The indiscriminate nature of these bombings and, a pattern of apparently disproportionate civilian harm they routinely cause, is unacceptable,” the groups said.

“All states have the obligation to prevent atrocity crimes and promote adherence to norms that protect civilians.”

The global appeal for an arms embargo comes as conditions on the ground in Gaza are deteriorating by the hour as Israeli forces assail the enclave, imperiling its remaining hospitals and adding to the grisly death toll.

Israel, which is facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice, claims it is targeting Hamas militants—but in reality no one has been safe from its wide-ranging attack on the territory. A majority of those killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since October have been women and children, and an estimated 90% have been civilians.

As the humanitarian coalition said in its statement, “Gaza today is the most dangerous place to be a child, a journalist, and an aid worker.”

Alexandra Saieh, head of humanitarian policy and advocacy at Save the Children, said during Wednesday’s press call that arms transfers to Israel are “directly fueling the death and destruction in Gaza.”

Israel’s relentless bombing and siege, Saieh added, are “choking the humanitarian response as levels of starvation and children are forced to have limbs amputated without anesthetics.”

The only way to stop the bloodshed and allow aid to reach desperate Gazans, the humanitarian groups argued, is an immediate arms embargo and a lasting cease-fire—proposals that the U.S. has actively opposed.

Twice since October 7, the U.S. State Department has bypassed Congress to expedite arms sales to the Israeli government, which has used American-made weaponry to massacre civilians in the Gaza Strip.

“All states have the obligation to prevent atrocity crimes and promote adherence to norms that protect civilians,” the groups said. “The international community is long overdue to live up to these commitments.”

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.

Source: Common Dreams

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Beyond the Farm: How Empowering Women Farmers Drives Change in Jordan and Beyond

Thu, 01/25/2024 - 09:18

A woman worker on a farm in Jordan. Credit : Abdel Hameed Al Nasier/ILO

By Hisham Allam
CAIRO, Jan 25 2024 (IPS)

Dr. Zeinab Al-Momany, a prominent social entrepreneur, sheds light on the journey of empowering women farmers in Jordan and the Arab world, where women often work long hours for low pay and lack labour recognition.

As the visionary behind the Sakhrah Women’s Society Cooperative and the Specific Union for Productive Farmer Women in Jordan (SUFWJ), Al-Momany shares her perspectives with IPS on the challenges faced by women farmers, the impact of organizations like SUFWJ on rural economic growth and women’s rights, and the profound implications of climate change for women in agriculture.

A Pioneering Journey

Al-Momany, boasting a diverse background in business management and holding a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Management, laid the foundation for the Sakhrah Women’s Society Cooperative in 2007. This cooperative, a pioneering endeavor in Jordan and the Arab world, focuses on enhancing the capacities of small agricultural organizations. Her commitment to empowering female farmers and advocating for their rights has transcended borders, uniting 22 women’s organizations, and now the SUFWJ has 5000 members. Her leadership extends globally, serving as the President of the Arab Farmer Network (Arrinina) and as a member of prestigious organizations such as the World Farmer Organization (WFO) and Climate Change and Food Security (CCFS). In 2008, she was honored with the Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Dr. Zeinab Al-Momany has been working to empower women farmers in Jordan and beyond. Credit: SUFWJ

SUFWJ’s Impact on Women Farmers

Established in 2007, SUFWJ has significantly shaped the landscape for women farmers in Jordan. SUFWJ has successfully increased the number of women who own land, championed wage equality, and enabled free health and social insurance thanks to its effective programs. The union’s initiatives have empowered 120 women farmers in leadership roles, offered health insurance to 578 families, trained 7,000 women and girls, and provided micro-finance loans to 800 women and girls.

“The union has been able to increase the percentage of land ownership through a project that began with its implementation in 2007, pointing out that the percentage was 2.7, and according to statistics, it has increased to 5.5 percent,” she says.

“The union launched the health insurance project in 2014 and is still working with the support of USAID FHI to provide free health insurance to female farmers through the Ministry of Social Development. The insurance covered 558 families in the northern and central Ghor areas (in Jordan) and is seeking to reach the southern Ghor.”

Addressing Challenges and Inequality

Al-Momany draws attention to the unequal laws affecting female farmworkers, emphasizing the disparities in comparison to their foreign counterparts. SUFWJ, through its robust advocacy program, channels efforts toward changing laws and regulations concerning female farmers. The focus is on advocating for their rights to health insurance, social security, equal wages, and improved working conditions.

She pointed out that the union has amended the internal system of the General Farmers Union, where the law used to require female farmers to own 10 dunums (about 1 hectare) of land to join the union, but after the amendment, female farmers were allowed to join by renting land. She mentioned that the union is currently working on the labor and workers’ law so that they are eligible for social security and health insurance to protect their rights.

Economic Empowerment Initiatives

Al-Momany shed light on the union’s economic empowerment program, which identifies the needs of female farmers and formulates action plans every two to five years based on these needs. The goal is to address the specific challenges women farmers face, set clear objectives, and implement targeted programs to achieve sustainable progress.

Al-Momany referred to the law as “unequal” and explained that despite doing the same arduous work as foreign workers, female farm workers receive low wages, have no leave rights, and do not have organized contracts to protect their rights.

Climate Change and Future Initiatives

Through the union, efforts have been directed at raising awareness of climate change issues, increasing green areas, and aiding women farmers in transitioning to clean and renewable energy. The initiatives include providing loans for installing solar panels instead of electricity, digging wells for rainwater collection, and installing solar heaters. The union also supports organic farming, extracting organic fertilizers, and spearheading projects on environmental diversity and the conservation of forests and animals.

The most affected by climate change are farmers and women farmers, especially with the rise in temperature. Working in agriculture at this high temperature affects their health due to their exposure to the sun for long periods, as it affects crops, the work of women farmers, and the national product. Jordan also suffers from water scarcity, and with the effects of climate change, the salinity rate increases, leading to a problem in the quality of soil, crops, and water availability.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Learning for a Lasting Peace

Wed, 01/24/2024 - 14:09

By Yasmine Sherif
NEW YORK, Jan 24 2024 (IPS-Partners)

Education is the bedrock of peace, the foundation of strong societies, and the building block for a better world. This year, as we celebrate the Sixth International Day of Education under the theme of ‘learning for a lasting peace’, we call on world leaders to end wars and armed conflicts and focus on our common humanity to embrace the vast potential learning offers in uniting our world.

Our world is being torn apart by injustice, oppression, racism, xenophobia, fear, greed and violent conflict. School-aged children bear the brunt. No child in Gaza – over 600,000 girls and boys – has access to education. In Afghanistan, 80% of school-aged Afghan girls and women – 2.5 million girls and women – are out of school and are systematically denied their human right to an education due to their gender. In Ukraine, 300,000 children are at risk of learning losses over this school year. In Sudan, 19 million children are out of school today amidst the ongoing brutal conflict. In Ethiopia, 7.6 million children are not in the classroom due to compounding challenges – including armed conflicts, the impact of climate change and forced displacement.

Around the world, over 224 million crisis-affected children are denied education, often occupied with seeking protection and survival, girls are being forced into child marriage, and both boys and girls are being forcibly recruited as child soldiers. The safety, protection and hope of the school and their teachers is long gone.

224 million children impacted by the compounding impacts of armed conflicts, climate change and forced displacement are in dire, urgent need of quality education.

The world made a promise to future generations to ensure education for all through Sustainable Development Goal 4. UN Member States made a legal commitment to the right to an education in binding human rights conventions. This promise and legal commitment must be realized in order to end extreme poverty, aid-dependency, and the vicious circle of violations of children’s rights and dignity. “No peace which is not peace for all,” as the late UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld said.

As global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises within the UN, Education Cannot Wait has a proven, innovative model of bringing together governments, UN agencies, civil society, private sector and, above all, local communities, to rapidly deliver quality education for the world’s most vulnerable girls and boys. Working across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, joint programming allows for a holistic education approach to achieve an inclusive, continued quality education in emergencies and protracted crises. Together with all our partners, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) has reached over 9 million crisis-affected girls and boys with a quality education in just a few years.

Whether we jointly deliver a First Emergency Response or a Multi-Year Resilience Investment, we are together investing in transformative pathways towards sustainable development. This means that refugee and forcibly displaced girls and boys like Mariam* in Burkina Faso and Leonardo* in Colombia now access a child-centred and holistic education.

This includes early childhood education, accelerated learning, mental health and psychosocial support, school feeding, school supplies and equipment, gender-sensitive water and sanitation facilities, cash-transfers to incentivize school attendance, vocational training to enter the workforce, risk management to stay safe, and trained teachers that foster young talents and nurture the ideals of compassion, community and the common good.

To deliver on our promises outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals, legal commitments in the UN Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international accords, we urgently need more financial resources to deliver the hope and opportunity of an education for girls and boys living on the frontlines of these conflicts and crises. ECW calls on our strategic donors, philanthropic foundations and the private sector to reach our target of US$1.5 billion so that ECW and our partners worldwide can reach 20 million crisis-affected girls and boys with quality education by 2026.

By giving all children and adolescents the opportunity to realize their right to an education, by not leaving any one of them behind through affirmative action for girls, children with disabilities and refugees, and by empowering them to sustain hope, feel that their lives have a meaning despite all they have experienced, and keep pursuing their dreams, we are indeed investing in humanity and peaceful co-existence on the globe. Instead of investing in more wars, leading to more human suffering, injustices and extreme poverty, let us heed the words of Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

* Names changed to protect identity.

Yasmine Sherif is Executive Director Education Cannot Wait (ECW)

Excerpt:

International Day of Education Statement: Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif

Categories: Africa

Zimbabweans Gambling for a Living Amid Escalating Hardships

Wed, 01/24/2024 - 10:39

Many unemployed youth in Zimbabwe are taking to gambling to support themselves. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS

By Jeffrey Moyo
HARARE, Jan 24 2024 (IPS)

Twenty years after completing high school in Zimbabwe, 38-year-old Tinago Mukono still has not found employment, and in order to survive, he has switched to betting, turning it into a form of employment.

Every day throughout the week, Mukono leaves his home to join many others like him in betting clubs strewn across Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, with the hope of making it.

With Zimbabwe’s economy underperforming over the past two decades since the government seized white-owned commercial farms, unemployment has stood out as the country’s worst burden.

According to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), over 90 percent of Zimbabweans are jobless.

Such are many, like Mukono, who has desperately found betting to be the panacea.

“I wake up every day to come bet here in town. I do soccer betting, and sometimes I win, but sometimes I also lose, but I keep trying,” Mukono told IPS.

He (Mukono) spoke recently from inside a soccer shop, typically a local betting hall, where other men like him sat with their eyes glued to television and computer screens displaying soccer games, horse races, and dog races.

Littering the floor with betting receipts, many, such as Mukono, closely studied television and computer screens displaying payout dividends and other information gamblers like him hoped would help them bet victoriously.

Yet in the past, betting never used to be popular in this southern African nation, but as economic hardships grew, affecting many like Mukono, betting has become the way to go.

In the past, where it occurred in Zimbabwe, betting was often limited to the state lottery, horse betting, and casinos.

Now, whether they win or lose as they bet, with no survival options, many, like Mukono, find themselves hooked on the vice, which local police have gone on record moving in to quell, with claims that some of the betting clubs are illegal and behind a spate of robberies and money laundering in the country.

Of late, betting clubs have seen a rise in the number of patrons who frequent these places each day from morning until late as people try out their luck, battling for redemption from mounting economic hardships.

Mukono, like many other people involved in betting, said that without a job for years on end, betting for him has turned into a profession.

“I might not be reporting to someone, but for me, this is some form of job because at times I earn money, which feeds my family,” said Mukono.

Rashweat Mukundu, researcher with the International Media Support (IMS), said, “I think there are significantly reduced means or ways upon which young people, especially the youth and young male adults, can survive in Zimbabwe because of the high rate of unemployment and lack of economic opportunities, and so betting and gambling have become a way of survival.”

“So, you see the increasing number of betting houses; you see the increasing numbers of young people who go out to bet. This is a clear indication that the economic fundamentals are off the rails and many people are having to look for ways to survive outside of what you would normally expect such people to be doing,” Mukundu told IPS.

However, economists like Prosper Chitambara see otherwise.

Chitambara, who is the chief economist with the Labor and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe (LEDRIZ), said: “There are some people who are more predisposed to risk-taking through gambling or betting activities, but mental health conditions and even substance abuse are key drivers of gambling, and of course mental health is also a function of the state of the economy.”

With countrywide economic hardships coupled with unemployment, many, like Mukono, have taken to sports betting in order to raise money for survival.

In fact, across Zimbabwe, local authority halls that used to team with recreational activities have now been converted into betting clubs where gambling thrives, with many, like Mukono, frequenting them in their desperate quest to earn a living.

Meanwhile, there are no stringent rules governing Zimbabwe’s gambling sector, with betting still viewed as a pastime rather than an economic activity.

But with many Zimbabweans like Mukono now taking up betting as employment, betting club employees have a word of advice.

“Honestly, one cannot substitute betting with employment. Surely, it should not be something individuals should opt for to rely on for their economic needs,” Derick Maungwe, one of the staffers at a local betting club in central Harare, told IPS.

But owing to joblessness, said Maungwe, it has become some form of employment for many Zimbabweans.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

IPS Offers Climate Change Justice Fellowship

Wed, 01/24/2024 - 09:35

Climate Justice Fellowship. Graphic: Wilson Mgobhozi

By IPS Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 24 2024 (IPS)

IPS Noram and its UN Bureau is offering an exceptional opportunity for two journalists to develop their understanding of climate change justice.

The fellowship will run from April to September 2024 and will include a six-module capacity-building course on understanding climate finance, using data and visuals for storytelling, using artificial intelligence (AI) for reporting, researching, and telling compelling complex stories for a broad audience.

Candidates will be expected to produce six features during the fellowship that use the lessons learned during capacity building.

Fellows who complete the course and their features will have the opportunity to attend a major climate conference, where they will be able to hone their skills and build their knowledge and contacts.

Each fellow will receive a stipend for the duration of the programme.

Preference will be given to candidates who report on rural communities and geographic areas seldom covered by the mainstream. We are also looking for candidates who haven’t had the opportunity to attend a major climate conference. Candidates should have at least two years’ experience and be proficient in English (although English doesn’t have to be their mother tongue).

Please send your CV, two samples of your work, and motivation to this email address:
ipsfellowship60@gmail.com

Categories: Africa

African Women on the Frontline of Peacekeeping

Wed, 01/24/2024 - 07:46

African women on the frontline of peacekeeping.

By Devi Palanivelu
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 24 2024 (IPS)

For over a year, a group of United Nations peacekeepers from Ghana led by Captain Esinam Baah regularly patrolled the “blue line” or the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel, and visited neighbourhoods in the area, checking in with local families and making sure they were safe.

In 2022, Baah was one of the 173 Ghanaian women peacekeepers who served in the UN Interim Mission in Lebanon. She was also one of the 6,200 uniformed women peacekeepers – military and police personnel – serving in the world’s 12 peacekeeping missions which are mostly in Africa (6) and the Middle East (3).

These women are seen as a beacon of hope and protection for millions of civilians, many of them women and girls, who are struggling to keep safe while helping to rebuild their lives and communities after wars.

Captain Baah (right) visits a Lebanese family in Southern Lebanon. Credit: UNIFIL

“There are some in the town who are not very comfortable with an unknown man talking to their females so, because I am a woman, I am able to approach any female, in any town, because they see me as a woman and I am not a threat,” says Baah.

Gender parity in peacekeeping, especially among its leaders and uniformed personnel, has long been a priority for the United Nations. The organization, which depends on its member countries to provide military and police contingents, has launched several initiatives over the years, including urging and incentivizing troop-and-police-contributing countries to deploy more women peacekeepers.

“The world will be a better place with gender equality. We should, therefore, continue to challenge gender stereotypes, call out discrimination, draw attention to biases and seek out inclusion,” says Ghanian Commodore Faustina Anokye, the Deputy Force Commander of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, on critical ways to overcome the gender barriers.

Over the years, some progress has been made. Between 1957 and 1989, there were only 20 uniformed women in peacekeeping. As of September 2023, there were 6,200. But progress has been slow and particularly low among the military contingents. Out of the more than 70,000 uniformed peacekeepers, including over 62,000 troops, less than 10 percent are women.

More than half of these women are from Africa. Among the over 120 countries that contribute both troops and police, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia are some of Africa’s largest contributors of uniformed women peacekeepers today.

Pioneers and trailblazers

“Together, with all the other women pioneers, we have a responsibility to carry the torch and break down the gender stereotypes, prejudices and barriers against women in the field of corrections and security,” says Téné Maïmouna Zoungrana, a corrections officer from Burkina Faso who served in the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

Zoungrana was awarded the first-ever UN Trailblazer Award for Women Justice and Corrections Officers in 2022. Working under MINUSCA’s mandate to help build-up the national capacity to maintain law and order, she was instrumental in creating an all-women rapid intervention team, and recruiting and training local prison officers at the Ngaragba Central Prison – considered the largest and the most notorious prison in Bangui.

Téné Maimouna Zoungrana is a corrections officer from Burkina Faso who served with MINUSCA. Credit: MINUSCA/ Hervé Serefio

“In my professional environment, the field of security, women are often placed second or even ignored, because of stereotypical perceptions that men are better suited for the job. I had the courage and strength, and vocation, to break down barriers and assert myself confidently in this field,” adds Zoungrana.

Restrictive and biased deployment opportunities, gendered perceptions of the role of women, lack of family-friendly policies, and insufficient women in national militaries and police forces are some of the reasons for the lack of gender parity, according to the UN Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy, which was launched in 2018.

Female peacekeepers like Zoungrana act as role models for many women and girls. Her work helps to break down traditional gender barriers, and motivates and empowers local women to take on non-traditional roles monopolized by men in the security sector – improving their access to meaningful jobs and contribution to society, and helping to build their confidence.

Peacekeepers also play a critical role in putting in place gender-sensitive outreach programmes designed specifically to cater to the unique needs of women and girls. Military Gender Advisor Steplyne Nyaboga from Kenya, who won the UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year award in 2020, was one such peacekeeper.

She trained a military contingent of more than 15,000 troops, who served in the UN Mission in Darfur (now closed), on gender dynamics and strengthened the mission’s engagement with Darfuri women.

“Peacekeeping is a human enterprise: placing women and girls at the center of our efforts and concerns will help us better protect civilians and build a more sustainable peace,” says Nyaboga.

Over the decades, international norms and conventions have been adopted to include women in peace processes – to make sure women are represented in peace negotiations, support women civil society organizations and address the gender imbalance among decision-makers that continues to exist today.

In 1995, the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, formalized the urgent need to address women’s empowerment and inclusion in conflict resolution among other priorities, paving the way for the adoption of the landmark UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in 2000 – which acknowledged and highlighted the importance of women’s contributions to conflict prevention and resolution, peacekeeping and peacebuilding.

More recently in 2019, the Elise Initiative Fund, hosted by UN Women, was established to provide countries with financial incentives and support to increase the number of uniformed women peacekeepers. By 2022, it had invested $17 million to support 21 national security institutions, including in Uganda, Senegal and Ghana, and two peacekeeping operations such as the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali.

Senegalese and Nigerian UN police officers attend an Elise Initiative Fund-sponsored training with the Malian Police Officers at a police academy in Bamako, Mali. Credit: MINUSMA/Marco Dormino

“It is now time to live up to those commitments and walk the talk. We need to bring the voices of women to the negotiation table in political and peace processes. We must empower them through capacity-building and provide the support they need to be heard. This is a must for sustaining peace,” says the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee.

On the ground, the indispensable work of women peacekeepers continues to make a major impact especially in the lives of local women and girls. Jackline Urujeni, who commanded a force of 160 Rwandan police officers, half of whom were women, in the UN Mission in South Sudan, faces many questions about her work in a traditionally patriarchal security structure.

“Women here (in South Sudan) have asked me a lot of questions, especially when they understand that I’m the commanding officer of a big group of police officers. They ask me: “How can you be a commander? Don’t you have men in your country?” says Urujeni, who believes that women peacekeepers “play a big role in inspiring girls and women.”

“I noticed that girls and women here are gradually becoming aware of their rights to become who they want to be. They understood that girls don’t exist just to get married and have babies. We are opening their eyes to new possibilities, to new choices that they should be allowed to make.”

Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

PPPs’ Private Gain at Public Expense

Wed, 01/24/2024 - 06:08

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan 24 2024 (IPS)

At high cost and with dubious efficiency, public-private partnerships (PPPs) have increased private profits at the public expense. PPPs have proved costly in financing public projects.

PPPs’ high costs
Eurodad has shown high PPP costs mainly due to private partners’ high-profit expectations. Complex PPP contracts typically involve high transaction costs. Worse, contracts are often renegotiated to favour the private partners.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

They also take advantage of lower government borrowing costs compared to private borrowers. Most PPP debt costs are ultimately borne by host governments but are often obscured by the secrecy of contracts.

PPPs are often not on official government books or accountable to legislatures. PPPs thus often avoid transparency and accountability, invoking the excuse of private commercial confidentiality.

Such ‘off-budget’ government-guaranteed liabilities often make a mockery of supposed government debt limits. Investors generally expect much higher returns from developing countries than developed economies, supposedly due to the greater risks involved.

These ‘fiscal illusions’ obscure transparency and undermine government accountability, generating huge, but little-known public liabilities. High and rising interest rates threaten new government debt crises as economic stagnation spreads.

High fiscal risks
The high costs and fiscal risks of PPPs drain government resources, resulting in public spending and fiscal resource cuts. With growing demands for fiscal austerity, from the IMF and markets, PPPs’ high costs threaten government spending, especially for social services.

A 2018 IMF Staff Note warned PPPs reduce fiscal policy space: “while spending on traditional public investments can be scaled back if needed, spending on PPPs cannot. PPPs thus make it harder for governments to absorb fiscal shocks, in much the same way that government debt does.”

But such warnings have not deterred the Fund and World Bank from promoting PPPs. Worse, austerity measures rarely significantly increase budgetary resources, forcing governments to rely even more on PPP financing.

PPPs the problem, not solution
Growing reliance on PPP financing to address climate change is new, but no less problematic. This purported PPP solution has worsened financial vulnerabilities in developing countries, also undermining sustainable development and climate justice.

The 27th UN climate Conference of Parties’ outcome statement urged multilateral development banks to “define a new vision and commensurate operational model, channels and instruments that are fit for the purpose of adequately addressing the global climate emergency”.

But historical experience and recent trends show PPPs cannot be the solution. Advocates claim PPPs deliver better “value for money”, but evidence of efficiency gains is inconclusive at best.

An African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (Afrodad) study found Ghana’s Sankofa gas project failing. Much touted efficiency gains were all very context-specific, relying on project design, scale, regulation and governance.

Efficiency gains were typically very costly, mainly due to insufficient private investments and other such cost savings. Profits were also increased by cutting jobs and hiring cheaper, insufficiently trained and qualified staff.

Human costs
The public should be wary and sceptical of growing reliance on PPPs to provide infrastructure and public services. Unsurprisingly, such PPPs prioritise commercial profitability, not the public interest.

Corporations are accountable to shareholders, not citizens. Worse, regulating and monitoring private partners are difficult for fiscally constrained governments with modest capacities, vulnerable to political and corporate capture.

Unsurprisingly, PPPs have typically imposed higher costs on citizens. Public services provided by PPPs usually charge user fees, or payments for services. This means access to services and infrastructure depends on capacity to pay.

Thus, PPPs maximise private profits, not the public interest, undermining public welfare and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), worsening inequalities. PPPs’ high fiscal costs worsen fiscal austerity measures, reducing other public services, often needed by the most vulnerable.

Inevitably, PPPs prioritise more profitable services and those easier-to-serve. Public healthcare is especially vulnerable as profit and insurance imperatives compromise service delivery. There is no evidence PPPs can better address the health challenges most developing countries face.

Health PPPs worsen public access to essential services, subverting progress towards ‘health for all’ and ‘universal health care’. Private provisioning, including PPPs, has never ensured equitable access to decent healthcare for everyone. Pretending or insisting otherwise is simply wishful thinking.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries relying more on private healthcare provision generally fared worse. Those without means cannot afford private charges, especially by providers who face few constraints to raising their charges.

U-Turn?
After a critical report by its Independent Evaluation Group, the World Bank – long a leading promoter of private financing of education – had to change its earlier approach to financing public education.

The International Finance Corporation, the Bank’s private sector lending arm, has also worsened educational access, quality and equity. It had to stop investing in pre-tertiary (kindergarten to grade 12) private schools from mid-2022.

Despite overwhelming evidence that the Bank should stop abusing public funds to promote PPPs, the new Bank leadership has still not abandoned this financing strategy thus far. Instead, the SDGs and the urgent need for more effective climate action have been invoked to give it a new lease of life.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Rwanda’s Biodiversity Conservation Gains Momentum With Bird Sounds Recording

Tue, 01/23/2024 - 10:02

Young Rwandan citizen scientists record bird sounds in the forests in a project that plays a pivotal role in the country's bird protection. Credit: Planet Birdsong Foundation

By Aimable Twahirwa
NYAMASHEKE, RWANDA, Jan 23 2024 (IPS)

Claver Ntoyinkima wakes up early in the morning, at least three times a week, and goes into the Nyungwe rainforest to record bird vocalizations.

Ntoyinkima is one of several community members in a remote village in rural southwestern Rwanda who volunteer with a group of scientists to help boost wildlife conservation.

Relying on a voice application installed on his mobile phone, which is connected to a parabolic reflector with a dedicated cable, the 50-year-old tour guide and his team walk long distances every week to collect sounds from various birding hotspots in this area.

“Love for birds is critical when it comes to engaging many young people in this career,” Ntoyinkima told IPS while referring to his second profession of bird sound recording.

To better protect the birds, the veteran tour guide has been able to launch the Nyungwe Birding Club, bringing together about 86 members of local communities living in Gisakura, a remote village located on the outskirts of the Nyungwe rainforest in southwestern Rwanda. Thanks to this mobilization, members of the club, which also consists of 26 young students from primary and secondary schools, were equipped with skills on how to record bird sounds.

The initiative is part of joint efforts by the Planet Birdsong Foundation, an international UK-based charity organization, and the Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management at University of Rwanda seeking to connect people with nature through bird sound listening, recording, and audio processing.

Conservation experts believe that birds are important indicators for the biodiversity and health of a habitat where they are sometimes visible but more widely audible. Researchers are now convinced that audio recognition skills are vital for effective monitoring and guiding, especially in forests and wetlands.

“We are engaging youth from rural communities through local bird clubs, site guides, schools, and colleges,” Hilary MacBean, trustee of the Foundation, told IPS.

It is a major task to collect mass data covering the sounds of various species across various birding hotspots in this East African country.

Nyungwe natural reserve is known to be home to 278 species of birds—26 of those are found only in the few forests of the Albertine Rift. The latest scientific estimates show that there are seven other important birding areas in Rwanda, including three wetland areas at Akanyaru (south), Nyabarongo river system (south), and Rugezi swamp (north), where there are efforts to recover the biodiversity from human activities that led to the degradation of these hotspots. The urban wetland in Kigali city has also received massive investment and is radically improving.

“This task requires much practice for people so that they are able to decode all those different bird songs and calls,” Ntoyinkima said.

At present, the first ever Rwandan citizen science initiative, which has been running since 2021, focuses on equipping young students, many from rural communities, with the skills to observe, audio record, and scientifically label birds by their sounds, songs, and calls.

By using affordable sound recording equipment aimed at entry-level citizen scientists, participants are trained in audio-data collection, verification, preparation, and storage for both higher-level scientists and other citizen scientists. Currently, different existing teams deployed across birding hotspots in Rwanda are divided into categories, including recordists and verifiers.

Experts also point out that using the available dataset with multiple records of the songs and calls of the bird population has been crucial to ensuring the protection of species that are forest-dependent.

Through the “Bioacoustics Recording” initiative, which the foundation and other stakeholders jointly run, MacBean has been involved in mentoring and training young bird guides from Rwanda for international tourism while also educating local guides and students about bird sounds.

Hilary MacBean of the Planet Birdsong Foundation has been involved in mentoring and training Rwandan young bird guides for international tourism while bringing awareness and knowledge of bird sounds to local guides and students. Credit: Planet Birdsong Foundation

“Key focus has been on equipping communities with skills on how to work with bioacoustics data collected in the field as a means to identify bird species in the recordings with confidence,” she said in an exclusive interview.

During the implementation phase, data collection is done by using a smart phone with downloadable free apps and a ParaChirp, an acoustic parabolic reflector designed for educational use to promote learning about birds and product design. The technology focuses mainly on individual bird songs and calls collected in their natural or semi-natural habitat.

The latest official estimates by the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) show that Rwanda boasts more than 703 bird species, making it one of the countries with the highest concentration of bird populations in Africa.

However, Protais Niyigaba, the Nyungwe Forest National Park’s manager, told IPS that much effort has been put into providing migratory birds with safe habitats and breeding sites.

“These solutions with available recording data are currently helping to understand the routes of these migratory birds and make sure visitors are able to locate them easily by sound,” Niyigaba said.

The project had uploaded 226 recordings as of the time of the Foundation’s 2023 audit report, with 37 of those being in national parks. The number of recordings is constantly growing, with multiple records of the songs and calls of about 120 bird species across Rwanda.

By December 2024, the Foundation has set a goal of generating 275 recordings, including 75 bird sounds, from existing national parks across Rwanda. The target set for 2025 is 300 species, according to official projections.

“We create music from bird sound and, in the Rwandan context, focus on the community benefits of citizen science, bird sound collection for scientific monitoring, and building the identification skills of tourist guides,” MacBean said.

With this integration of bird sound recordings to protect and preserve these species and their habitats, stakeholders focus on labeling the collected data so that their identification, locational and time data, behavioral data, and habitat data are all recorded. The sounds are then validated by assigned verifiers, processed, and stored for use in science.

Recordings generated by Planet Birdsong’s citizen scientists are stored globally with e-bird, and researchers are collaborating with the Macaulay Library at Cornell University to ensure access to locally recorded bird sounds for both citizen scientists and specialists.

For the specific case of Rwanda, data collected in Rwanda is also supplied to the Rwanda Biodiversity Information System developed by the Centre of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management at University of Rwanda for use in local natural science. Yet these innovations are playing pivotal roles in Rwanda’s bird protection, and some researchers believe that maintaining data availability is essential for effective bird biodiversity conservation.

Professor Beth Kaplin, a prominent conservation scientist based in Rwanda, told IPS that getting local researchers, students, and youth involved in data collection and management is important to developing a sense of ownership and stewardship of the data recording for bird sounds.

Despite current efforts, conservation experts point out that limited funding to support people and pay their fieldwork expenses is another major challenge affecting project implementation since the majority of local residents work mainly on a volunteer basis. Some individuals engaged in the project also have problems with equipment such as phones and PCs, plus the cost of the internet.

Dr Marie Laure Rurangwa, a Rwandan female conservation scientist, told IPS that one of the challenges facing people engaged in this activity is much about processing time with much editing [of recordings] and the skillsets needed in terms of sound recognition for different bird species.

Rurangwa is a co-author of the latest peer review study showing how land use change (modification from primary forest to other land use types) has affected bird communities within Nyungwe forest in Rwanda

“Access to some of these remote birding hotspots has been another challenge for recordists because of limited resources and a lack of appropriate equipment to reach these remote areas,” Rurangwa points out.

But in Gisakura, a remote village nestled on the outskirts of Nyungwe Forest, Ntoyinkima and his team are trying to use affordable means in their field recording by splitting into small groups of five people each.

Before their deployment to various sites inside and outside the forest, each group has to travel several kilometers to reach the selected birding hotspots.

As they walk quietly along a narrow trail and water flows beneath their feet, the team has to stop sometimes to better identify birds through their vocalizations.

Yet most trained people are able to capture data and generate robust, sound recognition results. Expert verifiers are sometimes asked to provide support when some recordists are stuck for identification or to confirm when in doubt.

“These young people are still volunteering here, but in most cases, the majority of them end up being hired as tour guides because they are well trained in bird vocalizations,” Ntoyinkima said.

Credit: Visuals for video are by Aimable Twahirwa and Planet Birdsong Foundation

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Matchmaking for Green Cities? Accelerating Climate Finance in Urban Areas

Tue, 01/23/2024 - 09:10

Credit: ESCAP

By Liam O Connor, Francisco Martes Porto Macedo and Omar Siddique
BANGKOK, Thailand, Jan 23 2024 (IPS)

Asia and the Pacific is home to 54 per cent of the world’s urban population, who are disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change (ESCAP, 2023; IPCC, 2022). Why then, do climate action projects in cities commonly face delays in implementation?

Crucial new developments in mitigation and adaptation including: renewable energy, public transport, and nature-based solutions, are needed to safeguard the lives of billions, yet many struggle to secure sufficient funding. In fact, studies estimate that, globally, there is a $6-$12 trillion gap in annual funding for climate and resilience investment (Buchner and others, 2023).

Of the funding that does come in, only 10 per cent goes to adaptation projects (Negreiros and others, 2021), highlighting a real need to address human vulnerability in cities. So how can cities draw from greater sources of private and public investments for climate action?

Perhaps one solution is matchmaking – but not the kind you’re thinking of.

Urban-Act is an international project funded by the Government of Germany’s International Climate Initiative (IKI) with ESCAP as an implementing partner that seeks to accelerate access to urban climate finance. Urban-Act facilitates project preparation for cities, helping move their projects along the urban climate finance value chain so they can attract public or private finance.

This is followed by city climate finance matchmaking, where cities are connected with potential investors through in-person events or online platforms. This process is explored in detail in ESCAP’s 2023 working paper, Enabling Innovative Investments.

The paper highlights how project preparation and matchmaking can unlock the potential of public-private partnerships (PPPs) to bridge the climate finance gap and accelerate climate action in cities. However, several challenges must be addressed.

These challenges include:

The same paper highlights some potential solutions for providing cities with more effective support. As investors often avoid climate projects due to large upfront costs and higher perceived risks, cities can seek blended finance between private and public investors, using public grant money to prepare well-developed projects, making them attractive to private investors due to smaller ticket sizes (the amount of capital for each share) who can then fund later stage implementation (see figure 1 to visualize project value chain).

Another solution involves financial aggregation. Here matchmaking programmes can consider working with multiple cities with similar projects to better replicate interventions, and/or they could compile many small projects from one city into one portfolio, increasing funding as they leverage of economies of scale and reduced transaction costs.

Enabling Innovative Investments (2023) lists a series of recommendations for successfully employing these solutions and ultimately enabling effective city matchmaking. They range from encouraging impact assessments for learning from mistakes to engaging in investor consultation early to align projects with investor criteria.

• To achieve blended financing:

• While financial institutions should support cities by:

o Providing lists of project-types they are interested in funding over the next 12-18 months.

• To valorize financial aggregation:

• To improve the effectiveness of matchmaking efforts in the long term:

Despite the uneven split of finances that goes towards mitigation projects, current trends show we are straying away from the 1.5°C warming target globally agreed upon at the Paris Agreement in 2015, emphasizing just how important it is that we accelerate climate finance in cities, particularly for adapting to the adverse effects of climate change that are expected to increase with time.

Projects such as Urban-Act that make use of project preparation support and city matchmaking, along with the recommendations developed in the Enabling Innovative Investments (2023) paper, can help bridge the significant investment gap for climate action, making way for more sustainable and climate resilient cities.

Liam O Connor, is Intern, Environment and Development Division, ESCAP; Francisco Martes Porto Macedo is Senior Program Associate, Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance, Climate Policy Initiative; Omar Siddique is Economic Affairs Officer, ESCAP.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Settling the Middle East Vs West Asia Debate

Mon, 01/22/2024 - 20:23

By Ehtesham Shahid
ABU DHABI, Jan 22 2024 (IPS)

“Middle East” or “West Asia?” This somewhat divided nomenclature adds another layer to the region’s already “complicated” label. Is it the “Middle East” because it is in the “middle” of the East? Is it “West Asia” because it is in the western part of Asia? So, why is the region mostly called the Middle East? It is “geographically ambiguous” to some, as it is “East” only from the “West’s” perspective. The term West Asia has fewer challengers, but it isn’t used as much.

Ehtesham Shahid

According to Principles of Nomenclature and Classification, a fundamental problem for nomenclature is the existence of two or more names for the same taxon, for only one name can be considered correct or valid. Taxon is not so much of a contention in this case; a lack of unison exists. The names of geographical regions have had historical, cultural, and sometimes even linguistic significance.

Some region’s names are based on events that took place there. For instance, the “Balkans” in South-eastern Europe is named after the Balkan Mountains, which have played a significant role in the region’s history. Geographical features often influence names, too. North America’s “Rocky Mountains” are named for their rugged terrain, while the Amazon rainforest is named after the Amazon River.

Some regions have been named after prominent geographic features or valuable resources. For instance, the Sahara Desert is named after the Arabic word for “desert,” and Sierra Nevada means “snowy range” in Spanish. More importantly, political factors have played a role in naming regions with borders and administrative divisions, leading to new names, often for practical or administrative purposes.

The widespread perception behind the term “Middle East” is that it originated in the 1850s in the British India Office. It is also documented that the name was more widely used after American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to “designate the area between Arabia and India.” However, the term was used mainly in a Eurocentric context to refer to the countries and territories of the Ottoman Empire and the surrounding regions.

The Middle East is geographically situated on the western edge of Asia, bordered by Asia to the east and northeast. This geographical proximity and the interconnected history, culture, and trade between the Middle East and other Asian regions have contributed to its classification as part of Asia. Fortunately or otherwise, these terms have no strict, universally accepted definition, and their usage can vary depending on context and perspective.

“West Asia” is a more modern term that has gained popularity, especially in academic and geopolitical contexts, and is often seen as a more neutral and geographically accurate descriptor for the region. It is often used as an alternative to “Middle East,” avoiding some historical and cultural connotations associated with the region. Whichever way one looks at it, a nomenclature clash goes against the ethos of constructivism in international relations, which emphasizes the role of ideas, norms, and identities in shaping state behavior and global politics.

Another school of thought maintains that the term Middle East has been associated with the broader region’s cultural and historical ties to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Arab world and often implies a broader cultural and historical context. The exact boundaries of the Middle East or West Asia can vary depending on these perspectives. Moreover, both the terms have evolved and have historical, geopolitical, and cultural significance.

Some definitions may include specific countries, while others may exclude them. For example, Egypt and Turkey are sometimes included in the Middle East but are more accurately described as transcontinental countries. These terms are primarily geopolitical and do not necessarily reflect cultural, historical, or linguistic differences. Political considerations and regional sensitivities may also often influence the choice of terminology.

Both terms are widely used in practice, and their boundaries can be somewhat fluid. The choice between “Middle East” and “West Asia” often depends on the context, the specific focus of the discussion, and regional preferences. It only shows that naming countries and regions has often been a source of incongruities and anomalies due to historical, political, cultural, and linguistic factors.

Some examples from outside the region illustrate this argument. Geographic names can sometimes lead to anomalies when they do not accurately reflect the territory they encompass. For instance, the Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) was named after its principal export, but it does not cover the entire country.

The legacies of imperialist powers have been the most potent factor behind incongruous names. These examples illustrate how a complex interplay of historical events, political power dynamics, linguistic diversity, and cultural identities has shaped naming conventions. Seen in its entirety, incongruities in nomenclature can persist and often reflect colonial legacy, territorial disputes, or changing political circumstances.

Ehtesham Shahid is an Indian editor and researcher based in the UAE. X: @e2sham

“The article first appeared in Khaleej Times.” (https://www.khaleejtimes.com/opinion/settling-the-middle-east-vs-west-asia-debate)

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Is Bangladesh Sleep Walking to Dictatorship ?

Mon, 01/22/2024 - 19:26

By Saifullah Syed
ROME, Jan 22 2024 (IPS)

The parliamentary elections held in Bangladesh on 7 January, 2024, has created much controversy in the country, terming it an “election of the Awami League (AL) government, for the AL government and by the AL government”, by many. Internationally, China and India have congratulated the government for victory and organization of a fair election. But, several western countries have termed it as unsatisfactory. However, irrespective of the diverse views, everyone agrees that it was not participatory elections. Voter turn out was significantly low and it was boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP).

Saifullah Syed

Prior to the election, the USA and several western countries indicated that failure to hold fair and free election will have consequences. As a result, Bangladesh’s policy analysts are concerned and discussing the likely implications of the election on the economy and in particular the garment industry.

While international push back are legitimate concerns, what is more worrisome is that Bangladesh may be unwittingly sleep walking to dictatorship under one party rule. Several commentators are suggesting that Sheikh Hasina is becoming an authoritarian ruler from being a champion of democracy and the AL is projecting itself as the sole guarantor of independence, sovereignty and secularism. Everyone else is out there to turn it into a hot bed of Islamic extremism. Such rationales alluding to moral right to rule are perfect ingredients for sleepwalking into dictatorship.

The one-party dictatorships are generally more stable and perverse and the elections legitimizes one party dictatorship by presenting an image of democracy.

History teaches us that one party rule or dictatorship goes against the basic foundation of Bengali values. However, successful moves to stop it can only be launched by understanding why and how it is emerging.

Democracy in Bangladesh

Bangladesh initiated non-party caretaker government (CGT) system for running elections as per demand of the AL in 1991. By all accounts the 1991 election was fair and the CGT worked satisfactorily to hold general elections also in 1996 and 2001. Interestingly, in 1991 the BNP won and in 1996 the AL won and in 2001 the BNP won again.

What went wrong thereafter ? The system ran into difficulties in 2006 due to BNP’s refusal to follow the rules governing the CTG . This led to political crisis of 2006-2008 and brought the military into power. However, a fair election was finally held in 2008 and the AL achieved overwhelming victory. Since then, the AL started getting emboldened and in 2011 it abolished the CTG system. Consequently, BNP launched movement to restore the CTG and started refusing to participate in elections unless it is done. The AL is adamantly refusing to reintroduce CTG, saying it is unconstitutional.

Therefore, it would seem that the core challenge facing our democratic system is two-fold: how to convince AL to introduce the CTG? or how to convince BNP to participate in elections under the ruling government? These challenges may appear easily resolvable through dialogue. Unfortunately, the two parties are mired in deep animosity. For AL, the founder of BNP is linked to the cruel murder of the founder of Bangladesh and his family and the current leader of BNP is accused of master minding the grenade attack on a AL rally on 21 August 2004, killing 24 people and injuring about 200. For the BNP, it has zero trust in AL and considers ditching of the current party leader, Begum Khaleda Zia – with the name Zia, as its existential threat.

Can the civil society or the international community mediate a solution ? Unfortunately, civil society is fragmented along party lines and partly lost its neutrality during the 2006-2008 crisis, when some components stepped into politics. The international community is also divided between the East and the West and a vast majority in the country believes that their call for democracy is motivated by geo-political interests.

Who will blink first ?

Judging from the past, neither is likely to give in under the present leadership. Hence, to save democracy in Bangladesh, everyone concerned needs to come out of hybernation and build a national consensus. BNP leadership must answer for the accusations and face the consequences. Its stalwart leaders should ensure that, instead of slavish subordination. The civil society should shade political color and influence of the ‘funders’, and the international community should accept local dynamics and realities. If all concerned fail to put the country first it will not bode well for democracy in Bangladesh.

The Bengali people will surely rise against one party rule. Success of rebellion will be shaped by the leadership it fosters. Any leadership tainted by criminal accusations and historical misdeeds will fail to obtain broad-based support. People may give the ‘benefit of doubt’ to civil crimes, but may not for criminal crimes, even if portrayed as ‘politically motivated’. Partisan support alone cannot bring down a one party dictatorship. A broad-based national movement is essential. It cannot happen under leadership tainted by criminal accusations. For a democratic Bangladesh, the country needs an opposition led by people who are not and cannot be tainted by criminal accusations and offer AL the moral high ground by default.

The author is a former UN official who was Chief of Policy Assistance Branch for Asia and the Pacific of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

Scared of Sharps? This MAP Shows the Way to Delivering Painless Vaccines

Mon, 01/22/2024 - 17:28

A micro-needle patch (MAP) is an innovative method to deliver drugs and vaccines. Credit: QuadMedicine

By Busani Bafana
SEOUL, Jan 22 2024 (IPS)

If the fear of sharps makes a visit to the doctor dreadful, you need not dread it anymore.

A South Korean company’s invention of an innovative micro-needle patch could make you look forward to your next doctor’s visit.

The micro-needle patch (MAP) is a painless, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly way to administer vaccines and drugs in place of solid injections, its developers say.

The MAP system has the combined advantages of conventional patches and syringes. It has tiny needles whose tips are less invasive and almost painless when administering drugs, Chi Yong Kim, Research Coordinator at QuadMedicine, tells IPS.

“The feeling of the micro-needle is like a cat’s tongue. It’s like a scratch that does not cause pain,” Kim says of the MAP, which also delivers active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in the correct amounts.

QuadMedicine has patented the form of micro-needle patches that are separable MAPs, where the tips of the needle themselves are active APIs. In delivering the API, the tips of the micro-needle are inserted into the skin and break off, reducing delivery time and increasing delivery efficiency by almost 100 percent, said Kim.

Kim notes that the MAPS also offer the advantage of portability, and they are stable at room temperature, making them easy to carry, store, and transport before they are administered. Besides, the MAP can be recycled safely without generating much waste.

According to the World Health Organization, annually, an estimated 16 billion injections are administered worldwide, but not all of the needles and syringes are properly disposed of, making it necessary to ensure safe and environmentally sound management of health care waste.

Chi Yong Kim, Research Coordinator, QuadMedicine. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

“Alternatively, we can also freeze dry forms of vaccines that use the same powder form of API,” he said, adding that lyophilized powder can be attached to the MAP.

The company is now investigating comparable vaccines and drugs, for instance, the messenger mRNA vaccines that can be used in the microneedle or patch platform. Plans are afoot to submit an IND filing for a clinical trial soon, and prototypes of the coated MAP and the separable MAP will be tested through Phase I to III clinical trials.

Kim said low- and middle-income countries as well as the premium market were targeted for innovation, which means vaccine-loaded MAPs will be affordable for global health. For example, certain vaccines, such as the influenza vaccine, have a dosage-saving effect when applied with a micro-needle. The same amount of antigen used for the intramuscular route with a syringe is no longer used, so the API amount can be reduced when loaded on the micro-needles.

While professionals like medical staff or doctors must currently inject vaccines, the goal with the micro needles or patches is that volunteers can give them to patients who need vaccinations.

“I have a fear of the sharps,” Kim said, explaining that each time he visited the hospital, nurses asked him to relax so that his muscles could not be punched.

“I took my kids to the family doctor, and there was one option, the solid micro needle,” he said, explaining that a personal experience with the fear of needles was a coincidental decision for him to specialize at QuadMedicine, which has been involved in the development of the MAPS and patches.

“We have been developing new platforms to deliver vaccines and drugs through coated MAP or dissolvable MAP, which is a possible alternative to solid needles and a better solution to deliver the correct amount of the drugs and vaccines for our body to make good immune responses.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

IPS UN Bureau, IPS UN Bureau Report, South Korea

Categories: Africa

The Birthrate Blues

Mon, 01/22/2024 - 17:11

In 2022, more than one hundred countries and territories, representing two-thirds of world’s population, experienced fertility rates below the replacement level with many governments bemoaning the birthrate blues. Credit: Shutterstock.

By Joseph Chamie
PORTLAND, USA, Jan 22 2024 (IPS)

Increasing numbers of countries are experiencing a spreading demographic condition, below replacement fertility, with many governments bemoaning the birthrate blues.

Without compensating international migration, a fertility rate below the replacement level, which in most instances is approximately 2.1 births per woman, leads to population decline, a near universal fear among nations that have become addicted to population growth.

Fertility rates below the replacement level were relatively uncommon in the distant past with few if any countries experiencing the birthrate blues. Today, in contrast, many of the countries with sustained rates of fertility below the replacement level are facing demographic decline accompanied by population aging and as a result are suffering from the birthrate blues.

Largely as a result of sustained levels of below replacement fertility and the absence of compensating international migration, more than forty countries are expected to experience population decline over the coming decades of the 21st century

The fertility rate in Italy, for example, which fell below the replacement level in the late 1970s, continued to remain well below replacement and is now at 1.2 births per woman. During the 21st century, Italy’s fertility rate has been no less than a half child below the replacement level.

Expressing her nation’s concerns about its low birthrate at a population summit in September 2023, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni remarked in her keynote speech, “In our view, demography is not just another of the main issues of our nation. It is the issue on which our nation’s future depends.”

Similarly, the fertility rate in China has remained below the replacement level since the early 1990s and is now nearly one child below that level. China’s population, which declined last year for the second year in a row, is experiencing the birthrate blues with fears about the impact of demographic decline and population aging.

Remarking about the country’s low fertility rate, Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged women to have more children and has said that it’s necessary to “actively cultivate a new culture of marriage and childbearing and strengthen guidance on young people’s view on marriage, childbirth and family.”

Even lower than the fertility rates of China and Italy, South Korea currently has the world’s lowest fertility rate at 0.8 births per woman, or nearly a third of replacement level fertility. Suffering from the birthrate blues, the Korean government has spent more than $200 billion over the past 16 years aimed at encouraging more people to have children. Despite those pro-natalist efforts, the country’s fertility rate is expected to decline even further to 0.7 births per woman in the near future.

Among those countries with below replacement fertility are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States (Figure 1).

Source: United Nations.

The expected percent declines in population size by 2050 are 5 percent for Germany, 8 percent for China and Russia, 12 percent for Italy, Hungary and South Korea, 12 percent for Poland and 16 percent for Japan. The projected percent declines in population size are considerably greater by the close the century, with declines of no less than 40 percent in China, Japan, Poland and South Korea (Figure 2).

Source: United Nations.

A number of other countries with fertility levels below the replacement level are not expected to experience population decline any time soon. They are projected to continue growing over the coming decades due to international migration.

Without international migration, however, countries with fertility rates remaining below the replacement level, such as Canada, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, would also experience population decline in the coming decades. For example, whereas Canada’s current population is expected to increase by nearly 20 percent by mid-century, without international migration the Canadian population is projected to be 4 percent smaller by 2050 (Figure 3).

Source: United Nations.

In response to the birthrate blues, some 55 countries, including China, France, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain and Thailand, have adopted policies and established programs to raise fertility, which are aimed at addressing demographic decline and population aging.

Most countries with low fertility, including those with no official policies to raise fertility rates, have adopted pro-natalist policies and programs promoting childbearing and child rearing. Among governmental efforts aimed at incentivizing childbearing are paid parental leave with job security, flexible work hours, subsidized child care, tax credits, baby bonuses, cash incentives and child/family allowances.

The birthrate blues have also led some governments to advance a “birth-friendly culture”. In addition to promoting childbearing and steps aimed at reducing the costs of raising children, the birth-friendly culture includes government-organized matchmaking events, public information campaigns emphasizing marriage and family building, and programs encouraging couples to have more babies.

Various economic, social and personal factors are believed to contribute to low fertility rates, which often result in the birthrate blues. Those factors include urbanization, reduction in child labor, higher education, women’s employment, difficulties in finding a suitable marriage partner, reluctance to get married, female subordination and discrimination, lifestyle choices, changing gender norms, economic concerns, financial stress, modern contraceptives, delayed childbearing, employment hindrance, career penalty, lack of affordable childcare, high costs of child rearing as well as concerns about climate change and the environment.

Attempts to counter those influential factors with pro-natalist government policies and programs have largely been unsuccessful in raising fertility rates back to the replacement level. Consequently, many countries are suffering the birthrate blues as they confront demographic decline and population aging.

In 1950 zero percent of the world’s population resided in countries with below replacement fertility and the world’s fertility rate was close to five births per woman. By 2000, that proportion increased to 41 percent and the global fertility rate fell by nearly half to 2.7 births per woman. Today the proportion of the world’s population living in countries with below replacement fertility stands at 67 percent and the fertility rate for the world is 2.3 births per woman.

United Nations population projections assume that the proportion of the world’s population residing in countries with fertility below the replacement level will continue to increase over the coming decades. By the close of the 21st century, 85 percent of the world’s population is expected to be living in countries with fertility below the replacement level and the world’s fertility rate is projected to fall to 1.8 births per woman (Figure 4).

Source: United Nations.

Also by the end of the 21st century, approximately 18 countries, representing 15 percent of the world’s population and located primarily in Africa, will maintain a fertility rate at or slightly above the replacement level. Among those countries are Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Sudan and Tanzania.

With their current fertility rates ranging from four to six births per woman, those African countries are expected to continue experiencing rapid population growth throughout the 21st century. For example, the population of the Democratic Republic of the Congo currently at 102 million and with a fertility rate of 6.1 births per woman is expected to more than quadruple by 2100, increasing to 432 million.

Based on fertility trends observed over the recent past as well as population projection assumptions about fertility levels in the future, several conclusions are warranted.

First, since the middle of the 20th century below replacement fertility has spread across countries worldwide and ushered in the birthrate blues. An important result of that demographic trend is that the world’s total fertility rate fell from 4.9 births per woman in 1950 to 2.3 births per woman in 2022.

Second, below replacement fertility rates are expected to continue spreading across the globe throughout the 21st century with additional countries suffering the birthrate blues. As a result of its spreading, the total fertility rate for the world is expected to decline to the replacement level by 2060 and further decline to 1.8 births per woman by 2100.

Third, once a country’s fertility rate falls below the replacement level, it tends to remain there. Few countries have experienced a reversal of that dominant fertility decline pattern.

Finally, while governments and others may wish to continue with pro-natalist policies and programs, countries are not likely to succeed in their efforts to raise fertility rates back to or above the replacement level any time soon. Accordingly, countries experiencing sustained levels of below replacement fertility and bemoaning the birthrate blues would be prudent to recognize demographic realities and prepare for and adapt to demographic decline and population aging.

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

Categories: Africa

Turning Protracted African Conflicts into Sustainable Peace

Mon, 01/22/2024 - 09:44

By Patrick Devine
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 22 2024 (IPS)

Among East Africa’s dozens of pastoral tribes, major conflicts have erupted repeatedly, largely over land and water disputes.

Generational trauma and anger have built to create tensions and grievances that carry emotional weight even hundreds of years later.

Among some African tribes, warriors returning home from fighting are frequently greeted by women singing. And it is reported that some tribes have no name for an enemy tribe in their language; they simply substitute the word enemy.

These same people could tell you how many of their tribe had been killed by the other tribe, how much capital was stolen, and the exact day each event happened dating back as many as 60 years.

Such cultural and linguistic practices continually reinforce and perpetuate a lingering notion of otherness and violence. And they underline a key point: Each person involved and affected by conflict can contribute to its resolution and peacebuilding.

Founded in 2009 in the aftermath of Kenya’s disputed elections of 2007-2008, Shalom-SCCRR is a non-governmental organization created to help mitigate conflicts in eastern Africa. To date, the organization has initiated about 1,000 interventions in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda, among other countries.

Today, we confront religious ideological radicalization, extremism and conflict in both urban and rural environments and along the entire Kenyan coast. And the only answer to it is to truly empower local people.

SCCRR is committed to transforming conflict into social development and reconciliation, reflecting a belief that violence is fundamentally based on inadequately met human needs.

The aim of our team goes beyond the absence of physical violence to a deep-rooted positive peace where all parties are committed to each other’s well-being, uprooting the causes – not just addressing the symptoms – of conflict by creating transformative grassroot networks.

Trust in SCCRR is fostered in large part by our long term – 5 to 10 year – commitments to building local capacity for negotiation, mediation, and joint problem solving, and by involving community members who can then themselves build their own architectures of peace.

Our staff have, at minimum, masters level university qualifications. These highly-educated peacebuilding practitioners train local politicians and other key thought leaders – chiefs, elders, religious, education, women’s groups, youth and other community influencers.

SCCRR’s approach to reconciliation is based on four pillars:

Ending violence

We also advocate on behalf of communities with governments to develop and upgrade institutions to meet, for example, medical, legal or education needs (particularly interethnic or interfaith schools, and education equality).

Over the years, SCCRR has successfully trained over 28,000 community leaders in conflict transformation skills, leading to over 600 local community development projects, to the benefit of over 200,000 school aged children and many others.

While SCCRR can provide bricks and mortar, communities must provide the site, water, and labor, for example. And it is essential to success that a community owns a project themselves.

In recent times, women have made up 60% of the main beneficiaries of SCCRR interventions.

Extreme, systemic, inter-ethnic conflict has left countless people killed, injured or displaced, and debilitated many communities in eastern Africa.

And it is impossible to promote sustained development in places where humanitarian institutions are periodically destroyed or incapacitated. That is why conflict transformation is fundamental to social development and reconciliation.

Rather than seeking new places to live, communities need practical tools for self-sustainability that empower them to thrive where they are.

And as the world grapples with a global migration crisis, the success of SCCRR’s work takes on heightened significance, offering helpful insights and a template for action.

*Rev. Dr. Patrick Devine is International Chairman and Founder of the Shalom Center for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation (Shalom-SCCRR). In 2013, he received the International Caring Award, whose previous recipients include the Dalai Lama, Bill Clinton, and Mother Teresa.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

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