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The authors of this opinion article argue that nature’s economic contributions are often overlooked and business success should include stewardship of nature. Credit: Sergei Karakulov/Unsplash

By Stephen Polasky and Matt Jones
BONN, Dec 11 2024 (IPS)

Sustaining nature is not just an environmental goal—it is an essential component of sustainable business—and requires that we redefine business success to include the wise stewardship of nature.

Nature provides the vital infrastructure that underpins the economy. Nature’s contributions to people, through the economy, include the provision of raw materials necessary to produce everything from our food to components of our mobile phones, and the less immediately obvious but supremely important regulation of environmental conditions, which impact everything from climate and ocean conditions to water supplies and soil fertility.

Nature’s economic contributions, though vital, are often overlooked and undervalued. The rapid expansion of economic activity, without adequate attention to its negative side effects, has taken its toll on nature.

Prof. Stephen Polansky

The 2019 Global Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) found that nature is declining globally at rates that are unprecedented in human history. This decline has led to a rapid increase in species extinctions, climate change and—directly relevant to businesses—major declines in nature’s capacity to sustain contributions to the economy.

The sustained decline in nature’s contributions has become increasingly apparent as a risk to business and society. Critical changes to Earth systems, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, natural resource shortages, and extreme weather events have been consistently rated by the World Economic Forum every year since the Global Assessment was published, among the top risks facing business over the next ten years. These risks were the top four risks of any kind in the most recent ranking.

Continuing with business as usual will only increase these risks and threaten the future success of business and long-term prosperity.

Smart businesses know they are facing a major challenge but often do not have clear plans for how to respond. Knowing what to do to halt and reverse the decline of nature requires solid understanding of the dependencies of business on nature, the ways in which nature supports business and economic activity, as well as the impacts of business on nature, both positive and negative. Most businesses currently lack data and robust tools to evaluate their dependencies and the full scale of their impacts on nature.

This gap has led to a rapid influx of not-for-profit initiatives and a burgeoning industry of private providers, all looking to deliver methods and metrics to help businesses measure their relationships with nature. Many of these efforts have been collaborative. But inevitably—as different approaches tackle different issues for different clients—there has been overlap and duplication alongside gaps and often conflicting advice. Businesses now frequently cite their confusion at the “acronym soup” of initiatives and methods as a major impediment to undertaking effective action.

Matt Jones

An authoritative global process, the IPBES Methodological Assessment of the Impact and Dependence of Business on Biodiversity and Nature’s Contributions to People (the “Business and Biodiversity Assessment”), is currently reviewing the state of knowledge on business dependencies and impacts on nature. This first-of-its-kind assessment, informed by scientific research, Indigenous and local knowledge, and industry insights, will deliver a comprehensive review and provide guidance on the best tools and methods to assess business dependencies and impacts on nature. The assessment is expected to be finalized, and its results made public, in 2025.

Guidance will be tailored to fit different business contexts and scales of decision-making. The data and methods useful at the scale of an individual site, taking account of the details of business operations and ecological context at a specific location, differ from those useful for making decisions about value chains or setting corporate strategy. Financial institutions investing in a diverse portfolio of businesses need yet another set of data and analytic tools.

The Business and Biodiversity Assessment will provide recommendations on the appropriate use of data and methods across sites, value chains, corporate, and portfolio levels, helping businesses and financial institutions understand their dependencies and impacts on nature. Doing so will highlight both risks of further declines in nature and the opportunities for business to improve its relationship with nature.

While information is essential, it is not the only necessary element for successfully transforming the relationship between business and nature. Incentives also matter. Current conditions in which businesses operate do not encourage individual businesses to halt destruction or promote the recovery of nature. It is often more profitable for individual firms to continue harmful activities than it is to invest in environmentally beneficial activities.

Governments and the financial sector have a large role to play in reforming policy and investment strategies to better align business interests with larger societal interests of conserving and restoring nature. The Business and Biodiversity Assessment will also provide guidance on the positive roles that governments, the financial sector, and civil society can play in creating actionable pathways for businesses to be positive agents of change in promoting nature recovery.

Engaging with nature is no longer optional for businesses—it is a necessity. Businesses have a critical role in ensuring that global society moves away from continued destruction of nature and moves towards conservation and recovery of nature, which is essential for sustainable development and long-term prosperity.

Note: Prof. Stephen Polasky is Regents Professor and Fesler-Lampert Professor of Ecological and Environmental Economics at the University of Minnesota, specializing in the intersections of biodiversity, economics, and sustainability.

Matt Jones is the Head of Nature Economy at the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), where he focuses on integrating biodiversity into economic and business practices globally.

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Ressembling moon craters, Brazil's micro-dams - barraginhas in Portuguese - have become a successful solution for storing water and preventing soil erosion in rural areas. Credit: Luciano Cordoval

By Mario Osava
SETE LAGOAS, Brazil, Dec 11 2024 (IPS)

They look like attempts to copy the moon’s surface, in some cases, as craters multiply in the grasslands. But they are actually micro-dams, barraginhas in Portuguese, which have spread in Brazil as a successful way to store water and prevent soil erosion in rural areas.

The creator of the project encouraging these holes is Luciano Cordoval, an agronomist who works for the state-owned Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) in Sete Lagoas, a municipality of 227,000 people in the state of Minas Gerais, central Brazil.

He recommends the barraginha should be 16 metres in diameter and deep enough to hold 1.2 metres of water. Its earthen edges rise 80 centimetres above the water level, with a spillway for the excess. In practice, these dimensions vary greatly.

The Barraginhas Project, promoted by Cordoval from Embrapa in Sete Lagoas, which is mostly dedicated to maize and sorghum research as one of the company’s 43 units, was directly involved in the construction of some 300,000 micro-dams, estimates the agronomist.

But the innovator believes that in all they reach two million throughout the country, as many institutions, companies and municipalities have adopted the innovation, recognised as a social technology, and spread it on their own initiative.

Cordoval’s intense training activity contributes to this, calling the disseminators of his barraginhas, who stand out in various regions of Brazil, his “clones”. The agronomist also promotes exchanges among municipalities, in which groups that have already built many micro-dam farms pass on their knowledge.

These micro-dams are suitable for land with a low slope. Embrapa recommends not to build them on slopes steeper than 15%.

For steeper slopes, Cordoval suggests another way of retaining water, which he called “contour lines with cochinhos”, i.e. ditches that follow the contour lines but are interrupted by a succession of water tanks in the form of troughs, which in Brazil are called cochos de agua.

Large landowners and small farmers recognise the benefits of these ways of retaining rainwater. In many cases, water shortages disappeared, springs were revived and with them small watercourses.

Antonio Alvarenga, owner of 400 hectares in Sete Lagoas, is an exemplary case of pioneering. He built his first 28 micro-dams with support from Cordoval in 1995, two years before Embrapa’s Barraginhas Project was formally launched.

He continued to build them and estimates to have added “more than 100” to the initial 28. The farm of degraded and dry land was totally modified. The recovery of the water table has allowed him to have an “artificial” 42,000 square metre lagoon and to quadruple the number of cattle on his property.

The water retained in the micro-dams feeds the water table that makes the lagoons viable and recovers the wells that are the source of drinking water for millions of rural families in Brazil. This is proven by photos that show the water level in the wells rose a little after the construction of the barraginhas.

The success of the micro-dams is especially evident on degraded land, which is estimated to exceed 90 million hectares in Brazil, mainly due to extensive cattle farming.

The aim is to restore moisture in a large part of the country, affected by deforestation, agricultural expansion and other human activities.

Climate change aggravates water scarcity in a wider territory, especially in the Semi-Arid, which covers 100 million hectares in the interior of the Northeast region, and in the Cerrado, Brazil’s savannah-like region, which extends over 200 million hectares.

In addition to micro-dams, contour ditches and other forms of rainwater harvesting reduce the erosion that impoverishes the soil and silts up rivers in Brazil.

A type of barraginhas, generally smaller in size, which also proliferate in Brazil, are built alongside roads as a way of preventing erosion.

A family resides in a displacement shelter in the Gaza Strip with little access to food. War-torn regions such as Gaza are highly susceptible to widespread acute food insecurity. Credit: UNICEF/Abed Zagout

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 11 2024 (IPS)

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched its newest report on the Right to Food Guidelines on December 10, which focuses on that focused on the urgency of food security as well as the measures that will be taken by the organization to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in the coming decade.

At the launch event for the report, titled “Realizing the Right to Food in a Changing World: The Right to Food Guidelines – 20 Years On and Beyond”, the importance of global cooperation in securing universal access to food was emphasized, for access to food is a fundamental human right.

“The right to adequate food stands as a cornerstone, essential for advancing food security, wellbeing and human dignity, leaving no one behind. Every woman, man, and child is entitled to these rights at all times,” said Maximo Torero Cullen, Chief Economist, FAO.

In 2004, FAO adopted the Right to Food Guidelines, a document that laid the groundwork for states to implement the right to food for every citizen. Despite FAO making much progress in the years since, heightened challenges, such as the climate crisis and extended warfare, have made the implementation of these guidelines difficult in many parts of the world.

Todd Howland, the Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia, highlighted the urgency of the current global food situation and how conditions worsened following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Despite our efforts, a global review of agrifood systems today tells us we’re far from realizing the right to food. In 2023, approximately 757 million people experienced hunger, representing 9.1 percent of the global population, compared to 7.5 percent in 2019. Over a quarter of the global population also experienced moderate to severe food insecurity in 2023, accounting for 383 million more people than in 2019. As a result of this undernourishment and food insecurity, last year 148 million children under the age of five had stunted growth,” said Howland.

It is estimated by the Integrated Food Security Classification Phase (IPC) that approximately 1.9 million people are facing catastrophic levels of hunger. Due to escalating violence, frequent climate shocks, and economic downturns, millions of people around the world rely on humanitarian assistance for food.

FAO has stated that the immediate future for these areas is “deeply concerning”, with no indication that conditions will improve anytime soon. Roughly two-thirds of the world relies on agriculture for their livelihoods. Due to agricultural systems facing severe disruptions, humanitarian assistance is needed to supplement economic failures and food insecurity.

“Emergency agriculture assistance is a lifeline and offers a pathway out of hunger, even in the midst of violence and climate shocks. It has life-saving impacts on vulnerable populations enabling them to continue producing food locally to feed themselves, their families and their communities,” says FAO Deputy-Director General Beth Bechdol. However, due to significant gaps in funding, emergency agriculture assistance fails to offer substantial increases in nationwide food security.

During the event, FAO emphasized their upcoming initiatives that aim to ensure universal access to food. Torero Cullen stated that FAO must take systemic issues such as poverty and inequality into account while also scaling up investments in food security and nutrition. Transparency will be crucial moving forward as better access to justice and streamlined monitoring systems are essential in tracking progress and maximizing accountability.

Additionally, FAO confirmed that their agenda moving forward will be to further implement international humanitarian law in their work. In the past two years, the use of starvation as a weapon of war has become prevalent in areas such as Gaza, Sudan, and Haiti.

Sofia Monsalve Suarez, the Secretary-General of FIAN International, a human rights organization that focuses on global food access, stated that it is imperative for human rights organizations, like FIAN and FAO, to condemn such actions.

“The challenge ahead would be to further compliment international humanitarian law with the normative development of the rights to food and nutrition in the past few years,” Monsalve Suarez said. “We could improve the monitoring of food crisis situations using human rights basic principles, connecting the monitoring mechanisms to political or decision-making bodies.”

Another priority for FAO and its partners would be to address the detrimental impacts of corporate concentration when it comes to food production and distribution. Monsalve Suarez remarked that the distribution of land among corporations is currently very unbalanced in terms of concentration. “I don’t think that we will be able to face the challenges of climate change and biodiversity recovery without tackling the inequality of land access,” she said.

For 2025, FAO has launched an appeal for 1.9 billion dollars to provide “life-saving, emergency agriculture assistance” to over 49 million people. If this goal is met, tens of millions of people around the world would be able to produce their own food and make it out of acute food insecurity. With global food insecurity deepening across the globe, FAO urges donor contributions.

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Water woes hit Zimbabwean cities as the country battles to overcome the impact of drought attributed to the El Niño climate pattern. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS

By Jeffrey Moyo
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Dec 11 2024 (IPS)

At a borehole not far from Mpopoma High School in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, 48-year-old Sakhile Mulawuzi balances a white 25-liter bucket of water on her head as she holds another 10-liter blue bucket filled with water. She trudges these back home along a narrow pathway leading to her house in Mpopoma, one of the high-density areas here.

Similarly, in Masvingo, Zimbabwe’s oldest town, 30-year-old Ruramai Chinoda stands at her neighbor’s house in Rujeko high-density suburb, where she fetches water from a tap because her neighbor has a borehole and shares the precious liquid with the community.

Nearly 300 kilometers north of Masvingo, 43-year-old Nevias Chaurura, a pushcart operator in Mabvuku high-density suburb in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, struggles with a load of eight 20-liter buckets. He delivers them from door-to-door for a minimal fee as many city dwellers battle to find water.

These ongoing water shortages are blamed on a lack of planning and the ongoing El Niño drought. If the residents were hoping for a change in weather conditions, a report released today (Wednesday, December 11, 2024) by the World Meteorological Organization suggests that while the cooling La Niña climate pattern may develop in the next three months, it is expected to be relatively weak and short-lived.

Latest forecasts from WMO Global Producing Centres of Long-Range Forecasts indicate a 55 percent likelihood of a transition from the current neutral conditions (neither El Niño nor La Niña) to La Nina conditions during December 2024 to February 2025, the WMO explains.

Infographic credit: WMO

The return of the ENSO-neutral conditions is then favored during February-April 2025, with about a 55 percent chance.

La Niña refers to the large-scale cooling of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, coupled with changes in the tropical atmospheric circulation, such as winds, pressure and rainfall. Generally, La Niña produces the opposite large-scale climate impacts to El Niño, especially in tropical regions.

“However, naturally occurring climate events such as La Nina and El Nino events are taking place in the broader context of human-induced climate change, which is increasing global temperatures, exacerbating extreme weather and climate, and impacting seasonal rainfall and temperature patterns,” the WMO warns.

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said 2024, which started out with El Niño, is on track to be the hottest year on record.

“Even if a La Niña event does emerge, its short-term cooling impact will be insufficient to counterbalance the warming effect of record heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” said Saulo. “Even in the absence of El Niño or La Niña conditions since May, we have witnessed an extraordinary series of extreme weather events, including record-breaking rainfall and flooding, which have unfortunately become the new norm in our changing climate.”

Zimbabwe is one of six countries that declared a state of emergency over the El Niño-induced drought, which resulted in the lowest mid-season rainfall in 40 years. The weather phenomenon also resulted in intense rain in other regions.

“These severe weather shocks have led to the displacement of thousands of people, disease outbreaks, food shortages, water scarcity and significant impacts on agriculture,” according to the organization OCHA.

Zimbabwean residents blame the water shortages on both the weather and bad planning.

Mulawuzi said for nearly two decades, she has lived with the crisis in the country’s second-largest city and as residents, they have only learnt to live with the challenge and ignore the promises from politicians to end the city’s perennial water crisis over the years.

Each election time, politicians from the governing Zimbabwe Africa National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) have pledged to end Bulawayo’s water woes by working on the Zambezi water pipeline project meant to end the city’s water challenges.

However, since the country’s colonial government laid out the plan more than a century ago, the project has not been implemented.

A 450-kilometer pipeline to bring water from the Zambezi River to Bulawayo was first proposed in 1912 by this country’s colonial government.

Then, like now, the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (MZWP) aimed to address the region’s chronic water shortages and to promote socio-economic growth.

Now, water-starved residents of Bulawayo, like Mulawuzi, are forced to endure the accelerated water rationing that has hit the city, lasting at times for nearly a week.

“I have no choice for as long as there is no running water on our taps but to go around some boreholes here in search of the water for my family,” Mulawuzi, a mother of four, told IPS.

When Bulawayo residents, like Mulawuzi, are lucky to have access to water, people in high-density suburbs are now limited to 350 litres of water per day, reduced from 450 liters.

In Bulawayo’s low-density areas, the affluent residents are restricted to 550 liters, down from 650 litres of water when supplied by the council.

In Harare, life has become a gamble for many urbanites like Chaurura, who has now turned the drought into a money-making venture.

“People have no water in their houses and I made a plan to fetch it from boreholes and wells far from the residents and sell it to them. I get a dollar for each 40 liters of water I sell and I make sure I get busy throughout the day,” Chaurura told IPS.

The El Niño drought has resulted in major lakes and dams supplying water in urban areas running low across Zimbabwe, triggering an acute water crisis in towns and cities.

According to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority, most of the dams supplying water to Bulawayo are dangerously low—the Inyakuni is at 9 percent, the Insiza at 36.5 percent, the Lower Ncema at 5.9 percent and the Upper Ncema at 1.7 percent.

The city is currently under a 120-hour water shedding program due to the reduced inflows from the 2023/24 rainy season.

In Harare, where many like Chaurura now thrive making money from the crisis, urban residents commonly move around carrying buckets in search of water. They form long and winding queues at the few water points erected by Good Samaritans.

Some, like 37-year-old Jimson Beta working in the Central Business District, where he fixes mobile phones, now carry empty five-liter containers to work.

“After work, I always fetch water to carry with me back home because there is often no running water where I live with my family. It only comes once a week. We have become used to this problem, which is not normal at all,” Beta told IPS.

For people like Beta, the water situation in the capital Harare has not improved either, even as authorities in government have drilled boreholes to address the crisis.

Just last year, in October, the Zimbabwean government appointed a 19-member technical committee to manage the City of Harare’s water affairs as part of efforts to improve the availability of the precious liquid across the city.

Despite that move, water deficits have continued to pound Harare rather mercilessly and many, like Beta, have had to bear the pain of finding the precious liquid almost every day on their own.

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Excerpt:

“Cooling” La Niña conditions may develop in the next three months but are expected to be relatively weak and short-lived, according to the latest update from the World Meteorological Organization. However, the WMO warns that while La Niña tends to have a short-lived cooling effect, it will not reverse long-term human-induced global warming and 2024 remains on track to be the hottest year on record.

Large numbers of Bangladeshi Hindus protested for recognition and protection amid escalating violence in Bangladesh in July 2024.

By IPS Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 11 2024 (IPS)

Bangladesh has been in the midst of a deepening political crisis and a significant social divide since August 5 when the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country following a mass uprising led by students. Diplomatic relations between India and Bangladesh have since soured and given way to a considerable amount of disinformation, especially surrounding the persecution of the Hindu population.

Hindus make up approximately 8 percent of Bangladesh’s population of 170 million people. The Bangladeshi Hindu community is known to have largely sided with Sheikh Hasina’s deposed Awami League political party, which has generated anger and violence in several parts of the country.

During Sheikh Hasina’s regime, India had been a strong ally of Bangladesh. Following the fall of her government, India has not shown support for Bangladesh’s new interim government. This, coupled with India continuing to host Sheikh Hasina in their country, has led to the deterioration of good relations between India and Bangladesh.

“The angst (between India and Bangladesh) is not restricted to the corridors of power but will and has found its way to the streets. Therefore, the targeting of Hindus may be rooted in religious discrimination but one cannot unlink the common man’s anger at India’s ‘protecting Hasina at all costs’ policy even at the cost of souring the bi-lateral relationship,” says Kumkum Chada, an Indian author and political journalist with Hindustan Times, an Indian-English language daily newspaper based in Delhi.

In the transition from Sheikh Hasina’s FALL to the establishment of the interim government, the ongoing violent student-led protests saw an increase in intensity. This resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties and thousands of arrests. On November 17, Muhammad Yunus, Chief-Advisor of Bangladesh’s interim government, informed reporters that roughly 1500 civilians were killed during the protests.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report that detailed the various human rights concerns that arose in the period of heightened social insecurity. According to the analysis, there were reports of arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, assault, and sexual violence directed toward female protestors.

Additionally, on August 5 and 6, several Hindu houses, temples, and businesses experienced attacks, vandalizations, and lootings in 27 districts of Bangladesh. Internet services and communication channels faced significant disruptions, which has made it difficult for officials to determine the exact number of Hindu casualties. However, officials have stated that Hindu deaths only make up a small portion of the total number of casualties.

Although there has been much disinformation in the media surrounding the frequency of the attacks on Hindus, it should be noted that they still do occur. An IPS correspondent reached out to a member of the Hindu community, the sister of a Hindu attorney in Bangladesh who had been critically injured in a hate crime.

“On November 25, my older brother was attacked by a group of Islamic extremists. He’s currently in a coma at Dhaka Medical Hospital. We feel unsafe and we don’t have the expenses to keep up his treatment. We are afraid of the possibility of hospital neglect. The administration urged that we stay quiet. Extremists are threatening attorneys and the police are destroying CCTV footage,” said the sister, who did not want to be identified by name out of fear of reprisals.

A brother of another Hindu victim also spoke to our correspondent and offered some insight into the social climate of Bangladesh. “The attacks haven’t stopped since August. Although they are not as frequent as the media claims, they definitely still occur. There’s a lot of fear within our communities. We feel afraid to go outside and have received threats of violence. The government and police are not supporting us,” he said.

OHCHR Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani stated that OHCHR does not have a monitoring mandate in Bangladesh beyond August 15. However, the office is currently in discussions with the Bangladeshi government to conduct an independent human rights study. “This would be helpful in providing an objective picture and countering misinformation and incitement,” Shamdasani said.

The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council claimed that the attacks were motivated by a communal hatred for religious minorities. However, the Bangladesh National Hindu Grand Alliance, a coalition of 23 Hindu organizations, conducted a fact-finding mission and found that the attacks were motivated by mob violence and political retribution.

“There may be an element of minorities, particularly Hindus, being targeted due to their faith. But many Hindus had links to the Awami League, because historically it has been the party that protected minorities, so they may have been targeted for their political affiliations,” said Thomas Kean, a senior consultant on Bangladesh and Myanmar at the Crisis Group.

Since August, news coverage of violence against Hindus by Indian mass media has generated significant debate, with Bangladesh claiming disinformation and the use of anti-Islamic sentiments to propel false and sensationalized narratives that illustrate a wide-scale Hindu genocide occurring in Bangladesh.

Disinformation on the persecution of Hindus not only harms the majority of Bangladeshi civilians but also has a detrimental impact on the Hindu minority as well. “We are concerned about the politicization of minorities, particularly Hindus, through misinformation and disinformation that has been spreading, as this exposes them to risks and undermines genuine concerns,” Shamdasani told an IPS correspondent.

According to an investigation conducted by Rumor Scanner, a Bangladeshi fact-checking organization that has been verified by the International Fact Checking Network (IFCN), 49 Indian media outlets have issued at least 13 false reports between August 12 to December 5.

Despite few new reports of violence against Hindus coming from verifiable investigations, Indian mass media continues to report on alleged abuses as if they are still occurring on a large scale in Bangladesh.

On August 7, The Wire, a Indian non-profit news outlet that is independent from India’s government, released an interview with Rashna Imam, an advocate for the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. Imam described the recent reports from the Indian press as “completely unwarranted and baseless”, adding that the lootings and vandalisms occurred “to an extent” for around one month. Imam adds that based on the statistics available, the current social situation is “under control.” Dr. Yunus also described the reports from the Indian press as “exaggerated.”

The investigation from Rumor Scanner debunked a host of reports, images, and videos that have circulated in the press since July. One viral video was broadcasted by multiple Indian media outlets, claiming that a Hindu man was protesting for his son who went missing in the wake of hostilities. Rumor Scanner identified the protestor as Babul Howlader, who is actually a Muslim. Furthermore, his son had not gone missing during the protests, he had been missing since 2013.

Another viral video on X (formerly known as Twitter) claimed to show a violent temple attack in Bangladesh. Rumor Scanner confirmed that this video was actually taken in India during idol immersion.

Additionally, several reports from Indian news agencies referenced an alleged arson attack on a Hindu temple. However, Prothom Alo, the leading Bengali-language daily newspaper in Bangladesh, found that the attack took place at an Awami League office near the temple.

Many Indian and Bangladeshi Hindu news websites have reported the estimated death toll as the number of Hindus attacked or killed in the protests. The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council reported that in the days following Sheikh Hasina’s resignation, there were at least 2,010 incidents of violence against Hindus, such as attacks on Hindu temples, houses, and businesses. These statistics have yet to be corroborated.

Hundreds of India-based X accounts circulated posts using hashtags such as #AllEyesOnBangladeshiHindus and #SaveBangladeshiHindus. Many of these posts included inflammatory language, hate speech directed toward Bangladeshi Muslims, misleading photos and videos, as well as false statistics.

Bangladesh has had a difficult time refuting disinformation spread by Indian mass media due to the sheer strength of India’s press sector. India currently has over 500 million satellite channels and 70,000 newspapers, making it the biggest newspaper market in the world. Bangladesh has a comparatively weaker press sector, having around 3,000 printed media outlets.

This is also partially fueled by the stronger presence of social media in the lives of the Indians than for Bangladeshis. India has the highest number of Facebook, X, and Instagram users in the world. All of these platforms are known for being hubs for misinformation. According to a study conducted by the World Population Review , as of 2024, India boasts approximately 467 million social media users. Bangladesh has roughly 53 million social media users.

Additionally, language barriers have hindered the visibility and reach of Bangladesh’s media. India has many newspapers and magazines printed in both Hindi and English while Bangladesh has far fewer newspapers printed in both Bangla and English.

According to a study by the WPR, India also has around 265 million English-speaking citizens while Bangladesh only has 29 million. This indicates that there are far more English-speaking journalists for India’s press sector. It is for these reasons that Western audiences are far more likely to be impacted by Indian news.

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The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a potential game-changer for promoting Africa’s inclusive growth and sustainable development. Credit: United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa

By Deodat Maharaj
GEBZE, Türkiye, Dec 11 2024 (IPS)

Africa, the world’s youngest continent is brimming with creativity, talent and innovation. With more than 60% of its population under the age of 25, Africa’s youth are fueling entrepreneurship and job creation across the region.

Over the past five years, the number of businesses and start-ups has grown by 20% with 2021 seeing a record US$2.15 billion in tech investments. There are now more than 1,000 tech hubs across Africa catalysing digital, social and economic transformation and rewriting its development narrative. This is the story of Africa’s future, brimming with optimism.

Despite challenges, sub-Saharan Africa has made remarkable progress towards digital transformation. A World Bank report cited a 115% increase in Internet users between 2016 and 2021 while 191 million additional Africans made or received a digital payment between 2014 and 2021. 

Africa’s cities are also the fastest-growing and youngest in the world – and changing rapidly. This urbanisation coupled with The African Continent Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the world’s largest free trade zone in terms of number of countries, create unparalleled opportunities for development and economic integration, according to the African Development Bank.

Harnessing Africa’s demographic dividend for economic growth

Across the continent, young entrepreneurs are tackling deep-rooted development challenges in sectors from healthcare and education to agriculture and finance:

Rwanda has just launched a HealthTech accelerator hub. This accelerator aims to advance health innovations across Africa to solve some of the continent’s health challenges, particularly in low-income and underserved communities. Etudesk, a Côte d’Ivoire-based Ed-Tech company, is an interactive platform designed to make professional training more accessible.

The platform offers a wide range of online courses in Business, IT, Economics, Civil Engineering, and Sciences. In Uganda, a young woman engineer has designed a backpack with solar-powered torches, so that students are able to study at night.

In Botswana, Brastorne Enterprises connects nearly 5 million underserved Africans across four countries to vital information using a suite of products that deliver internet capabilities to feature phones.

Mobile money platforms are flourishing with Africa hosting nearly half of the world’s mobile banking services and accounts. Zambian fintech company eShandi is on a mission to serve millions of unbanked adults in sub-Saharan Africa by leveraging artificial intelligence and mobile technology to break down traditional banking barriers, such as credit history checks.

It’s recently expanded its services to Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe and is a clear example of how technology has enabled communities in developing countries to leapfrog traditional service infrastructure.

As one commentator noted: ‘Banks’ customers don’t need face-to-face contact in Africa because they’ve never had it.’ Money transfer not only benefits individuals – it also benefits business and unlocks new forms of economic growth.

Technology, the enabler

Inclusive technology has the power to transform the lives of Africa’s 1.48 billion citizens and the potential to eradicate poverty. It can help bridge the education divide and expand access to healthcare. It can boost economic growth and foster new employment opportunities. And it can promote greater transparency in governments and improved public sector productivity – all good news for investors.

Yet there are very real barriers to overcome. Less than 40% of Africans have broadband internet access and rural areas are poorly served, while inadequate infrastructure and high data costs restrict connectivity. The global average for internet access stands at 66.2%.

In Least Developed Countries (LDCs) , the average smartphone costs 95 per cent of an average monthly income, making online access inaccessible to most.

The continent also faces a skills gap and gender disparity, with women disproportionately excluded from digital opportunities. The International Finance Centre estimates that some 230 million jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa will need digital skills by 2030. Closing these gaps is not just an opportunity, it’s an imperative for Africa.

Policy and partnerships

If the continent is to capitalize on its youthful entrepreneurship, it needs a policy environment that fosters and quickly delivers digital infrastructure development. It also requires focused investment in education with curricula integrating science, technology, engineering and mathematics and exposure to frontier technologies at an early age.

Partnerships are vital too, including with companies and universities both within the region, and internationally. Centres of excellence, which link academia and business also have an important role in promoting local solutions and creating that vital link between research and industry.

There are excellent best practices in Africa and in the Global South, so it is about time they start connecting and collaborating on a systematic basis. Of course, establishing and deepening partnerships with Centres of Excellence in the developed world will continue to be important.

Achieving these goals call for scaled up financing and collective effort from governments and development partners with business playing a vital role. Support to young entrepreneurs in the tech sector must be accorded a high priority since they have already demonstrated that even with the deck stacked against them, they can deliver innovation, creating jobs and opportunities for the continent.

Looking ahead, policy makers have a clear choice. Either it is business as usual or create the environment with incentives to let youth and innovation deliver on the promise of Rising Africa.

Deodat Maharaj is the Managing Director, United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries and can be reached at: deodat.maharaj@un.org

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Some farmers buy seed at discounted prices during a seed fair in Masvingo, Zimbabwe. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS

By Farai Shawn Matiashe
MAFAURE, Zimbabwe, Dec 11 2024 (IPS)

When Susan Chinyengetere started to focus on farming in her home village in south-eastern Zimbabwe, she wondered if she could earn a living and raise her children.

With climate catastrophes ravaging the country, her hesitation on rain-fed agriculture worsened. But two years later, the 32-year-old mother of two from Mafaure village in Masvingo, about 295 km from the capital Harare, is now a champion in farming.

Armed with early maturity and drought-resistant crop varieties like orange maize, cowpeas and lab-lab for livestock feed, Chinyengetere has a good harvest despite prolonged droughts across Zimbabwe.

“There was a drought last farming season, but I managed to get enough food to feed my family until next season,” she says. “I even sold leftovers to the local market.”

Brutal Drought Ravaging Crops

Zimbabwe, a landlocked country, relies on rain-fed agriculture. But over the years, rain patterns have been erratic, threatening the entire agriculture sector. The Southern African nation has been hit by one climate disaster after another. If there are no violent cyclones, severe floods or devastating droughts are ravaging the country.

From 2023 to 2024, a brutal El Niño drought—the strongest on record—plummeted the entire country.

Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia were also not spared by the same El Niño drought. There was crop failure in more than 80 percent of the country, according to the government.

Some farmers have been left with little or no food, and sources of livelihood in rural areas have been affected. Zimbabwe may be reaching a tipping point for rain-fed agriculture.

Farmers in Masvingo are growing orange maize, which has high vitamins amid climate change. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS

But woman farmers like Chinyengetere have their little secret as to how they are becoming resilient and adapting to the effects of climate change. She is part of Ukama Ustawi, an Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa by CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future dedicated to transforming food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis. The farmers are subdivided into small groups of at most 15.

“I use zero tillage when I plant orange maize on my land spanning 40 m by 90 m. The idea is not to disturb the soil,” says Chinyengetere. “I was used to white maize. When I joined this project, I planted yellow maize for the first time.”

Zero tillage is an agricultural technique where farmers sow seeds directly into the soil without disturbing it. It is part of conservation agriculture that is becoming popular in Zimbabwe after it was upscaled across the country by the government. Chinyengetere prefers the technique because it has less labour than tillage farming.

“Even when I am alone and my children are at school, I can still sow the whole field,” she says.

In Masvingo, men are also providing solutions to climate change through the Ukama Ustawi initiative, though women are the majority.

Anton Mutasa from Zindere village in Masvingo says he has been able to feed his family because of climate-smart agriculture. “I grow orange maize, cowpeas, and lab-lab. To conserve water, prevent soil erosion and allow water to infiltrate, I spread some mulch around the plants,” says the 55-year-old father of six.

“This is vital, particularly during the dry season. I also rotate the crops to improve soil fertility. For instance, if I grew cowpeas on this part of land last season, this season I will make sure I grow oranges.”

Climate change affects women differently

Both men and women are affected by climate change. But for women, it hits harder because of the preexisting inequalities. They suffer because of the entrenched societal roles and limited access to resources.

Women are primarily responsible for cooking for the family and fetching water, particularly in rural areas. This places them on the frontlines of climate change because food and water become scarce during extreme weather events like drought.

Another farmer, Tendai Marange, from Machengere village in Masvingo, says less labour farming techniques allow women to continue their role as women. “I am expected to do house chores, but at the same time I want to go to the farm. This technique saves me time,” says the 47-year-old mother of three.

Farmers networking during a seed fair in Masvingo, Zimbabwe. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS

Chinyengetere says she is inspiring other women. “I feel empowered. I am occupied. The fact that I am bringing income and food for the family brings happiness to my marriage,” she says. “I even doubted myself. I thought, as a woman, I am a child-bearing machine.”

Once Chinyengetere and Marange’s projects are successful, they will share what they learned with others in Zimbabwe and beyond the borders.

“I am contributing solutions to climate change. Women are often at the receiving end of climate change. But my case is different; I am leading from the front,” says Chinyengetere.

Over 1 million farmers have been reached with different agriculture initiatives. At least 140,000 use the technologies that were promoted under Ukama Ustawi in Ethiopia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia, according to Christian Thierfelder, a principal cropping systems agronomist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), one of the research centres working with CGIAR.

About 60 percent of those were women. More than 45 percent were youth.

Thierfelder says as part of Ukama Ustawi in Zimbabwe, they work in 30 communities, where they have trials on drought-resistant crops.

He says Ukama Ustawi’s primary aim is to shift farmers’ behavior and perceptions, moving away from conventional maize-only farming systems towards diversified maize-based systems under conservation agriculture principles. “This involves promoting practices like crop rotation, intercropping, and sustainable soil management, all of which are essential for improving resilience to climate variability and boosting long-term productivity,” Thierfelder says.

Many farmers across the country lost their livestock due to lack of feed after grazing lands were depleted and outbreaks of diseases precipitated by the El Niño drought. Ukama Ustawi is working to change this by fostering livestock feeding systems with green manure cover crops and forage grasses.

“I lost my cattle in the previous droughts before joining Ukama Ustawi. I had no feed and diseases worsened the situation. I am now using lab-lab to make feed for my goats,” says Marange.

Networking

Ukama is a Shona word that translates to relationship. Marange says the groups provide networking opportunities. “We are a family. We share tips and ideas on conservation farming,” she says.

Since 2020, CIMMYT has been organizing seed and mechanization fairs where farmers access high-quality seeds and equipment they would otherwise struggle to access. “It is cheap to buy seeds at the fairs. It is usually cheap. We get discounts,” says Marange.

Thierfelder says Ukama Ustawi recognizes the importance of integrating a variety of crops, such as legumes, cowpeas, groundnuts, and small grains, into maize-dominated systems to achieve both ecological and economic sustainability.

“Seed fairs play a pivotal role in advancing this mission by providing farmers access to a diverse range of seeds, including drought-tolerant maize and other complementary crops that support diversification,” he says.

Thierfelder says plans are underway to upscale the Ukama Ustawi initiative to reach approximately more than 20 million farmers around the world with their technologies. “This is meant to be scaled up because those have reached a scaling readiness level and that is very high,” he says.

For Chinyengetere, the dream is to see more women leading the battle against climate change. “It is tough to convince young women to do farming under this extreme weather. Climate change is pushing them away into other dangerous activities like illegal mining,” she says.

Note: This story was produced with support from CGIAR and MESHA.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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By Kumkum Chadha
NEW DELHI, India, Dec 10 2024 (IPS)

Even as India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri reached Bangladesh amid strain in ties over attacks on Hindu minorities, he carried with him a bag of complaints: it sure was not a good will mission. It was one where India has focused on its discomfort, rather anger, over the persecution of Hindus under the new regime in Bangladesh.

Kumkum Chadha

The last few weeks have witnessed an increasing number of incidents of violence against Hindus. In the Indian Parliament, India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar admitted that India has “taken serious note” of violence against Hindus and other minorities as well as attacks on temples and religious places, across Bangladesh.

The Indian Government has specifically mentioned the attack on a Puja mandap in Tantibazar, Dhaka and theft at the Jeshoreshwari Kali temple at Satkhira during Durga Puja 2024.

Tensions were further heightened after the arrest of a Hindu monk who had recently been expelled from the International Society of Krishna Consciousness, widely known as ISKCON or the Hare Krishnas. He was arrested on charges of sedition.

In turn, thousands of Hindu monks marched to the Bangladesh border in West Bengal; protestors attacked a Bangladeshi consulate in the Indian state of Tripura.

To link these incidents with recent political developments in Bangladesh would be a grave mistake. Behind this upsurge lies a bloody history and a seething anger against India.

The Hindu minority in Bangladesh has historically faced persecution, particularly from more extremist elements. That the common man on the streets of Bangladesh nurses a strong anti-India sentiment is a given. India has been seen as an “overbearing neighbour” particularly by the younger generation in Bangladesh who felt that the now ousted government under Sheikh Hasina was subservient to India: “an unequal relationship” to quote many.

Fast forward to the present and the situation is dismal, to say the least.

As a nation and a neighbour India has done little to assuage feelings or balm wounds. Therefore to say that it is the anti Hasina elements that are fuelling unrest and attacks would be missing the wood for the trees.

One must acknowledge and accept that India went overboard in its support for the government under Sheikh Hasina at the cost of ignoring all others. That is why when she was ousted and an interim government under Dr. Mohammed Yunus took power, India was not viewed as a reliable ally. If anything, the historical ties between the two countries have weakened as never before. Add to this the perceived marginalization of Muslims under a pro Hindu BJP government in India and the alienation is kind of complete.

On this count one cannot fault the current dispensation given that it has facts on its side.

History apart, recent developments too provide enough ammunition to the current regime and the people in Bangladesh to nurse an angst against India.

And on this, one has to begin from the beginning.

For starters, the asylum to Sheikh Hasina. It is no one’s case to even suggest that India should have turned away a former Prime Minister in distress, Sheikh Hasina or any other. Giving her refuge was, as some put it, “an honourable thing” for any neighbour to do. What is under the scanner is her extended stay.

For record, when Hasina landed in India after being driven out from a country she had ruled for 15 long years, it was said to be a temporary refuge. She had sought asylum in the United Kingdom which hit a road bloc due to a technicality.

As of now the “temporary stay” seems to have extended to a permanent one. When India’s Foreign Minister informed the Indian Parliament of her sudden arrival in Delhi in August, he did indicate that the initial request by Hasina was “for the moment only”. That the moment has extended into months with no signs of an immediate resolution is another matter.

The fact that India does not have any policy for refugees allows the government to be flexible in its response. Critics see it using this as a “convenient route” to let Hasina stay for as long as she wants. Fingers are being pointed at the Indian government not moving an inch to engage with stakeholders for Hasina’s extradition. At least visibly. This and for good reasons is enough to upset the Yunus regime in Bangladesh and write off India as “an adversarial neighbour”.

Worse still, Sheikh Hasina’s political statements against the current regime in Bangladesh from Indian soil strengthens the perception that India is adding fuel to fire.

In a virtual address ahead of Misri’s visit to Bangladesh, Hasina accused the Yunus regime of being “fascist” and one that has allowed a free run to terrorists.

In her 37 minute address Hasina made a specific reference to attacks on minorities. By doing this, she not only echoed the concerns of the Indian government but positioned herself as being one which is parroting concerns that India is attempting to tackle diplomatically and bi-laterally.

At this junction one is constrained to ask: Why is the Indian Government not restraining Sheikh Hasina? Why is it allowing her to muddy the political waters? Why is it letting the Indian soil be a convenient platform for political speak ? And why is it letting Hasina hit out at a regime that India has to mend a completely fractured relationship with?

These questions and the angst is not restricted to the corridors of power but will and has found its way to the streets. Therefore the targeting of Hindus may be rooted in religious discrimination but one cannot delink the common man’s anger at India’s “protecting Hasina at all costs” policy even at the cost of souring the bi-lateral relationship.

Therefore, India needs to recalibrate its approach and policy towards Bangladesh before its ties reach an all-time low leading to a confrontational situation.

Kumkum Chadha, an author and senior political journalist with Hindustan Times

IPS UN Bureau

 

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No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Credit: United Nations

By Mandeep S.Tiwana
NEW YORK, Dec 10 2024 (IPS)

Today is International Human Rights Day, Normally, it should be an occasion to celebrate the work of those who strive to create peaceful, just, equal and sustainable societies. But conditions for human rights defenders and their organisations to operate freely are extremely challenging around the world.

Almost three quarters of the world’s people live in states that severely constrain civic freedoms. These are the latest findings from the CIVICUS Monitor, a cross-continental research collaboration between over twenty civil society organisations.

Despite enormous technological and cultural advancements claimed by humankind the overwhelming majority of the world’s population are being actively denied agency to shape the decisions that impact their lives. Major restrictions in law and practice on the fundamental civic freedoms of peaceful assembly, association and expression are putting journalists and civil society activists at serious risk of persecution when they expose high level corruption or critique the actions of powerful decision makers.

Civic space conditions in some 30 countries where over a quarter of the world’s population live are so poor that even the slightest hint of dissent against those who hold power can get one thrown into prison for a long time or even killed. Such countries include Afghanistan, China, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Sudan among others.

This year, Eswatini, Ethiopia and the Occupied Palestinian Territories of Gaza and the West Bank have been downgraded to the worst ‘closed’ rating on the CIVICUS Monitor due to an acceleration in repression there.

As a human rights defender it worries me that countries with proud histories of resisting colonial oppression and with hard won constitutional commitments to democratic principles such as India, Kenya, Mexico and the Philippines have ended up being placed in the second worst ‘repressed’ category on the CIVICUS Monitor.

As a development advocate who campaigned for the adoption of an ambitious set of universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, it concerns me that governments are deliberately limiting the ability of civil society organisations to work with them to create more equal and fairer societies.

Civic space restrictions negatively impact the quest for transparency, accountability and participation in public affairs. The Sustainable Development Goals include guarantees on access to information and fundamental freedoms as well as on responsive, inclusive and participatory decision making, which are essential for public spirited individuals and organisations to push for transformative changes in the political, social and economic spheres.

But CIVICUS Monitor researchers have recorded thousands of restrictions on the freedom of expression in 2024 including physical attacks on journalists and civil society activists merely for doing their work in the public interest.

Atefeh Rangriz, a defender of worker’s and women’s rights in Iran is currently languishing in prison on trumped up national security related charges. Guatemalan journalist Jose Ruben Zamora continues to be persecuted through the courts for exposing deep networks of patronage that exist among political and economic elites in that country.

Their cases are illustrative of the enormous challenge of thousands of journalists and civil society activists unjustly imprisoned around the world in countries as disparate as Belarus, Egypt, Israel and Vietnam.

The most recent CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist, released this September, draws attention to deterioration in civic space conditions in Argentina, Azerbaijan, Thailand and Zimbabwe, all of which are ruled by erratic authoritarian leaders. Because global civic space conditions are so challenging, including in several powerful states, the appetite of the international community to consistently call out flagrant violations of international law standards has been severely hamstrung in recent times.

It’s thus absurd that Azerbaijan, a petrostate with closed civic space, hosted the COP29 climate summit this year in an attempt to greenwash its reputation. The previous two COP summits were held in countries with equally appalling records: United Arab Emirates and Egypt. The election of Donald Trump, an avowed supporter of the fossil fuel industry, as the next president of the United States does not portend well for climate causes or for civic freedoms given his adulation for authoritarian leaders.

Climate justice, environmental and land rights activists are facing persecution in far too many countries for exercising their right to peaceful assembly. Earlier this year, five Just Stop Oil activists received sentences ranging from four to five years in prison in the United Kingdom for planning a non-violent protest action by blocking a motorway in 2022.

In Uganda, protestors were arrested merely for seeking to deliver a petition to the authorities outlining the adverse effects of an oil project including environmental degradation, land loss and violations of community rights. In September, Juan López, Honduran community leader and advocate for the rights of the Guapinol River, was assassinated despite calls for his protection.

Just as anti-apartheid protestors faced pushback in the 1980s, artists, students and academics have been targeted in several western democracies for advocating for the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people. It’s now forbidden to wear a keffiyeh within Canada’s Ontario state’s legislative assembly and there have been attempts to censor pro-Palestinian groups in Germany, the Netherlands and the USA. In Australia, four writers who had publicly opposed Israel’s war on Gaza had their workshops’ contracts terminated with the State Library of Victoria.

Nearly 10% of the total civic space violations documented globally in 2024 by CIVICUS Monitor researchers either took place in the Occupied Palestinian Territories or were perpetrated against those expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people. Despite this, throughout 2024 people continued to pour out onto the streets to express solidarity with beleaguered Palestinians. This in itself is extraordinary.

Even if global civic space conditions were mostly unwelcoming this year, civil society actions led to some remarkable victories for rights and justice. Greece became the first overwhelmingly Christian Orthodox country to legalise same-sex marriage while recognising the rights of same sex couples to adopt children. Thailand broke ground in Southeast Asia by passing a marriage equality bill in May 2024, making it the first country in the region to legalise same-sex marriage.

In the Czech Republic, civil society efforts led to a landmark reform in rape laws, now classifying any non-consensual sexual act as rape, removing the need for proof of force and strengthening protections for victims. In Kazakhstan, in response to a high-profile murder trial, lawmakers swiftly introduced new legislation that re-established criminal penalties for battery and enhanced protections for domestic violence survivors.

In Poland, a bill passed in February 2024 made emergency contraception accessible without a prescription, reversing a restrictive 2017 law and marking a significant win for womens’ rights over their bodies.

Moreover, people continued to exercise their protest rights across the globe this year. In Bangladesh, the longstanding oppressive government led by Sheikh Hasina was forced to step down following persistent public demonstrations against its regressive actions. In Venezuela, people outvoted the incumbent authoritarian government of Nicholas Maduro at the polls but his regime ended up rigging the election results. However, this doesn’t mean the struggle for democracy in Venezuela has been permanently suppressed.

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice,” said Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. As these examples show, despite pervasive repression, the impulse to overcome oppression remains alive. Gains made through sustained civil society resistance through 2024 offer us hope that no matter how powerful autocratic forces may be, there will always be an undercurrent of civil society ready to weather the storm and strive for a better world for all.

Mandeep S. Tiwana is the Interim Co-Secretary General. CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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The ICJ heard that children in Palau stand to inherit a country that no longer reflects the stories and values of their ancestors. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
THE HAGUE & NAIROBI, Dec 10 2024 (IPS)

After many decades of colonial rule, Palau was the last country to emerge from the UN Trusteeship. Palau celebrated 30 years of independence in October 2024 “and takes seriously the rights and responsibilities of independence. Independence should mean that Palau is free to build its own future and be responsible for the security, safety, and well-being of its own people,” said Gustav N. Aitaro, the Minister of State of the Republic of Palau at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“Yet, Palau is learning that with freedom of independence must also come with a basic responsibility towards neighbours. Every independent nation must ensure that the activities they allow within their territory do not cause significant harm to other nations. Man-made climate change is now the biggest threat to the Palauan people’s independence and right to self-determination.”

In 2021, a youth group in Vanuatu collaborated with their Prime Minister to seek an advisory opinion from the ICJ on the obligations of UN member states in respect to climate change and the legal consequences of these actions. Nearly 100 states and 12 organisations have been enjoined in the case and public hearings are currently ongoing at The Hague, the seat of the ICJ, in pursuit of the much-needed advisory opinion. Among those making their submissions today were Palau, Panama and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Realization of Independence At Stake—Palau

Aitaro stressed that in order for Palau to fully realize its independence, “it must ask this Court to recognize that states have the legal responsibility to ensure that they do all they can to prevent emissions from their territory from causing significant harm to other states. In order to understand the threat that climate change poses to Palau, I invite you to walk with me through the lived reality of Palau, a reality deeply marked by the relentless impacts of climate change.”

Koror State is the most populous in Palau. The red areas are flood zones from sea level rise. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

In the 1970s, higher-than-normal tides were rare and only one instance was recorded, but between 2010 and 2019, the number rose to five and there were four incidences in 2021 alone, Aitaro said, showing the court how badly affected Palau is.

Ernestine Rengiil, Palau’s Attorney General, emphasised that while climate change poses tremendously complex practical problems for the world, as a matter of international law, the issue of climate change is straightforward. She said common to the principles of law of all civilized nations is the concept that one’s property may not be used to cause harm to another’s.

That if one uses or allows their property to be used in a manner to cause harm to another, that harm must be stopped and reparations paid in full. In common law systems, this is a law of nuisance.

“In civil law systems, this is a servitude established by law—and in most moral systems, this is simply the golden rule. In international law, this principle is better known as the law of transboundary harm and state responsibility. This principle is foundational to every state’s independence,” she said.

Rengiil invited the court to decline to “create new exceptions to the basic rules of the international order for climate change. The minority argue that because climate change is caused by a diffused set of global emissions sources, it will be too difficult in any future contentious cases to prove causation. But such practical problems exist in all cases and are not sufficient grounds to abandon the basic legal rules altogether.”

ICJ Needs to Reinforce International Obligations—Panama

In what is shaping up to be a David vs. Goliath public hearing, Panama’s size on the map was no barrier to making a compelling case.

“Panama, regardless of its small size and contribution of only 0.03 percent of global emissions, is mindful of the challenges that require that it has become among a handful of states a carbon-negative country. Panama is not turning away from facing the adverse conduct of others as to human-induced global warming,” Fernando Gómez Arbeláez, an expert in international legal affairs, said.

Panama invited the court to consider ongoing advisory proceedings as “a critical opportunity to attend to the inadequacies of the current Conference of the Parties, or COP, of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). By means of an opinion that in itself carries great legal weight and moral authority, the court can offer much-needed legal clarity to reinforce international obligations and inspire a stronger determination to tackle the global climate crisis.”

Human Rights and Due Diligence Work Together—DRC

In her submissions, the Democratic Republic of the Congo said, although in the minority, certain states are keen to invoke the relationship between different sources of international law to require a compartmentalised reading and a selective utilisation of them. Stressing that the different international obligations of states coexist and that compliance with one obligation in no way relieves them of their responsibility with regard to the others.

Speaking on behalf of the DRC, Sandrine Maljean-Dubois, who is a dedicated teacher and researcher in international environmental law, spoke extensively of the obligation of due diligence and human rights. Stressing that these obligations are not in conflict. That the obligations for the UNFCCC framework and the Paris Agreement are reinforced by other international obligations. Emphasising that the international climate regime, specifically the Paris Agreement alone, will not prevent significant harm to the climate system.

“On the one hand, failure to implement all available means to prevent significant harm to the climate system puts the state in breach of general international law. On the other hand, it is clear that each state has to play its part. The obligation of preventing harm is informed and buttressed, in turn, by treaty obligations,” she said.

Maljean-Dubois said the obligation of due diligence requires a maximum level of vigilance. Informed by the climate regime and enlightened by the IPCC reports, “the due diligence obligation requires states to take fair, urgent and ambitious measures to mitigate the effects of climate change and to adapt to them. Far from lessening over time, this obligation has, to the contrary, become more stringent as scientific evidence has mounted.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Excerpt:

Due diligence obligation requires states to take fair, urgent and ambitious measures to mitigate the effects of climate change and to adapt to them. Far from lessening over time, this obligation has, to the contrary, become more stringent as scientific evidence mounts. — Sandrine Maljean-Dubois for the DRC

Representatives of a dozen environmental organisations, united in the Roundtable Against Metal Mining in El Salvador, speak out against Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele’s goal to reopen this industry, banned by law since 2017. Credit: Roundtable Against Metal Mining in El Salvador

By Edgardo Ayala
SAN SALVADOR, Dec 10 2024 (IPS)

Metal mining has a renewed momentum in Central America, encouraged by populist rulers who, in order to soften environmental damage, claim they can develop it in harmony with nature, which is hard to believe

Thus, they seek to win the approval of a majority that seems to follow them blindly, but not environmentalists or other social sectors, activists told IPS.

“The mere popularity of President Bukele is not enough to say that the mine will not contaminate the country,” Rodolfo Calles, an activist with the Association of Salvadoran Community Promoters, told IPS, referring to the interest shown by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in reactivating metal mining, which has been banned for seven years.“The mere popularity of President Bukele is not enough to say that the mine will not contaminate the country”: Rodolfo Calles.

Central America, an isthmus of six nations and 64 million inhabitants, is one of the most environmentally vulnerable regions, where activists and social defenders have been warning for decades about the negative impacts the metal mining industry has had on their ecosystems.

As a result of these struggles, a law banning all forms of metal mining was passed in El Salvador in March 2017, the first measure of its kind in the world and considered a historic milestone.

Costa Rica had done the same in 2010, but only for open-pit mining, and other countries have halted specific projects, such as in Guatemala and Honduras, and Panama last year.

Central America is a region rich in biodiversity and natural resources. It has abundant water and forests as well as mineral resources. With the exception of Belize, the only country without significant mineral deposits, significant quantities of metals such as gold, silver or zinc, as well as nickel, copper and other minerals can be found in all territories.

But several studies indicate that the mining industry’s economic contribution is minimal in the area, and in the case of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, it has not exceeded 1% of their gross domestic product (GDP). GDP per capita in the region is around US$6,000.

Guatemala is the Central American country with the greatest mineral wealth, metallic and non-metallic, while Panama and El Salvador have much lower concentrations of mineral elements of interest, according to a study.

Panama saw its largest protests in three decades, against the largest copper mine in Central America. As a result, in November 2023, a law established an indefinite moratorium on mining. Credit: Luis Mendoza / Mongabay

Going backwards

Now El Salvador and Costa Rica, ruled by leaders labelled as populist, are taking steps backwards.

“Bukele launches the issue because he relies on the credibility he claims to have as president and people’s misinformation,” Calles stressed.

Despite his authoritarian nature, the president continues to enjoy broad popular support, according to all opinion polls.

Meanwhile, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves announced on 27 November that he had submitted a bill to the unicameral National Assembly to reverse the ban on open-pit mining, setting off alarm bells in a country renowned for its efforts to preserve the environment.

The intention is to finally give the green light to a gold mine that had already won a concession but was cancelled when the 2010 ban came into force, based on the constitutional premise that citizens have the right to live in a healthy environment.

The mine is located in the town of Crucitas, in the province of Alajuela, in the north of the country. It is owned by the Canadian consortium Infinito Gold.

But President Chaves wants to reverse the ban.

“Right now we are just seeing how we are going to counteract what is coming,” Erlinda Quesada, a Costa Rican environmentalist with the National Front of Sectors Affected by Pineapple Production, an organisation that, among other things, seeks to protect water sources from intensive monoculture production, told IPS.

In a telephone conversation from the town of Guácimo, in the province of Limón, in the northwest of the country, Quesada added: “It is no secret to anyone that we have a populist government that… is ingratiating itself with these humble sectors, the poorest in the country, and holding them in its hands” when it wants to approve the proposal.

Meanwhile, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega intensified his relationship with China by granting, also on 27 November, the fifth concession to Xinjiang Xinxin Mining Industry.

The new 1,500-hectare mining project is located between the municipalities of Santo Domingo and La Libertad, in central Nicaragua. In all, the consortium’s operations cover 43,000 hectares.

These concessions granted by Ortega’s dictatorial regime would appear to be, in addition to the economic benefit, a move to tighten links with China and annoy the United States, which is seeking to curb the Asian power on the world geopolitical stage.

In September 2022, the people of Asunción Mita in eastern Guatemala voted against the Cerro Blanco mining project owned by Elevar Resources, a subsidiary of Canada’s Bluestone Resources. The ‘no’ won. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

Bukele’s economic hope

Out of the blue, Bukele posted a message on the social network X on 27 November showing his interest in the country’s return to the extractive industry, arousing concern among social sectors that, after a long struggle, had succeeded in getting the Legislative Assembly to ban mining in March 2017.

“We are the only country in the world with a total ban on metallic mining, something that no other country applies. Absurd!” the president wrote.

He added that this wealth can be harnessed responsibly to bring “unprecedented” economic and social development to the Salvadoran people.

That development is what he has promised to deliver in his second five-year presidential term, beginning in June 2024, after winning the elections in February amid sharp criticism that the constitution did not allow him to participate in a second, consecutive election.

Then, on 1 December, in a public act, the president tried to justify his extractivist project stating that the country’s mining potential is enough for an accumulated wealth of three trillion dollars, equivalent to 8,800 % of the current Salvadoran GDP.

There are around 50 million ounces of gold in the subsoil, equivalent to 132 billion dollars at current value. But it’s not just gold and silver, he said.

“According to our initial studies, we have found metals of the fourth industrial revolution, such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, which are used to make batteries for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage,” he claimed.

Rare earth minerals, used for advanced electronics, wind turbines and electric vehicle motors, as well as platinum, palladium and iridium to produce hydrogen and catalytic converters, among others, have also been detected, he added.

Bukele said there will always be environmental impacts in any development project, but they can be minimised. As his New Ideas party controls the Legislative Assembly, it would be very easy for him to revive mining in El Salvador.

An anti-mining banner at a church in El Salvador. Social mobilisation against mining projects has been key in trying to stop the operations of these consortiums and prevent soil and water contamination in the communities. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

Cheerful accounts

“The president is making happy accounts of the supposed economic benefits that would be obtained, but he is not accounting for the real damage that would be done to the ecosystems,” said Calles, a Salvadoran who has been fighting against the mines for years.

He added that when the ban on mining in the country was being discussed, Bukele was already involved in politics, and knew there were studies showing that the industry was unfeasable in El Salvador because of its negative impacts on water, soil and people’s health.

“I don’t know where he gets the idea that the impacts will be less. What we know is that mining extraction techniques have not changed significantly, and cyanide, for example, is still being used,” he said. This is a chemical compound that, if misused or unintentionally leached into bodies of water, can be lethal.

Central America’s experience with the extractive industry is negative and long-standing, as in other regions of the world.

At a forum organised in 2009 in San José, Costa Rica, by the Latin American Water Tribunal, the regional experiences of open-pit mining in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Peru were analysed and testimonies were heard about the adverse effects in these countries.

These included testimonies from representatives of the Honduran Association of Non-Governmental Organisations and the Environmental Committee of the Siria Valley, where the San Martín mining project, run by Minerales Entre Mares de Honduras, was operating at the time. It was shut down in 2008.

In 2022, the international organisation Oxfam stated that the mine left behind “a trail of complaints about human health (…), as well as reports of contamination and destruction of flora, fauna and local ecosystems; economic, social and cultural damage to the communities”.

Meanwhile, in late 2023, Panama ordered the closure of the largest copper mine in Central America, operated by Minera Panama, a subsidiary of Canada’s First Quantum Minerals. This came after the courts ruled that the concession contract was unconstitutional.

The closure was the result of massive social protests, due to allegations of serious environmental contamination, and led the government to promote a law establishing moratorium on mining activity in the country for an indefinite period of time.

In Guatemala, social mobilization led to court rulings that stopped the country’s main mining projects.

“The most emblematic projects have been suspended by the Constitutional Court, whose members, although corrupt, accepted that the companies never complied with two fundamental requirements: providing information to the community and holding citizen consultations,” Julio González, of the Madreselva Collective, told IPS from Guatemala City.

González added that these include the nickel mine owned by the Solway Investment Group, located in the municipality of El Estor, and El Escobal, owned by the Canadian company Pan American Silver, near San Rafael Las Flores, both in the east of the country.

The Progreso VII Derivada mine, known as La Puya, owned by Exploraciones Mineras de Guatemala, in the central-south department of Guatemala, as well as Cerro Blanco, owned by Canadian Bluestone Resources, located in the vicinity of Asunción Mita, in the eastern department of Jutiapa, have also been added to the list.

González questioned the authenticity of the environmental impact studies carried out by the mining consortiums, as they are based on a specific, very restricted geographical area.

“The biggest lie are these environmental impact studies, carried out in the so-called areas of influence, which is the place where the mine is located and the three or four surrounding villages, but the water, which is going to be contaminated, goes far beyond this area of influence,” he said.

On El Salvador’s backtracking on the possible reactivation of mining, he added: “What I see is Bukele’s alignment with the hegemonic economy, which is not exercised by the US government but by US corporations”.

Israel not providing a just and fair peace plan will inevitably lead to future conflicts with more deaths, injuries, displacements and destruction. Credit: UNRWA

By Joseph Chamie
PORTLAND, USA, Dec 10 2024 (IPS)

After the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel retaliated with a war in Gaza involving bombings, shootings and blockades but with no explicit plan for achieving peace with the Palestinians.

It remains unclear what the Israeli government is trying to achieve with its continuing war in Gaza and what its postwar plan is. While Israeli leaders have vowed to maintain security control in Gaza after the war, they have not clearly stated what that control might entail.

A former Israeli defense minister said that Israel’s government with the support of far-right politicians was aiming to occupy, annex and ethnically cleanse Gaza and build Israeli settlements there. He accused the Israeli government of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

It remains unclear what the Israeli government is trying to achieve with its continuing war in Gaza and what its postwar plan is. While Israeli leaders have vowed to maintain security control in Gaza after the war, they have not clearly stated what that control might entail

Some Israeli government ministers and far-right lawmakers also said that their military control over Gaza should pave the way for renewed Jewish settlement. They called for Arab residents to leave Gaza so that Jewish Israelis can populate the coastal strip.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and his former defense chief for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. The ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe that those two Israeli officials were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza.

Furthermore, Amnesty International recently issued a landmark report indicating that it had gathered sufficient evidence to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The report found that during its military offensive following the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, Israel had unleashed “hell and destruction” on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total impunity, and obstructed humanitarian aid reaching the Palestinian population. Amnesty International said that month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity.

Israel’s actions in Gaza, the ICJ’s decisions and Amnesty International’s recent report are contributing to serious political problems and demonstrations worldwide. Protests and progressive activism opposing Israel’s actions, which are viewed as having created a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, have taken place across many countries and regions.

Various peace proposals have been offered to resolve the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Table 1).

 

 

The proposal widely supported by most governments, international agencies and non-governmental organizations is the two-state solution. That proposal recommends establishing an independent state for Palestinians alongside that of Israel with the two states existing peacefully within recognized borders and security ensured for both nations.

The two-state solution has been the goal of the international community for decades, dating back to the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan. Many countries, including China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, believe that the creation of a Palestinian state with guarantees for Israel’s security is the only way to finally bring peace and stability to the Middle East.

In a new resolution passed by a 157-8 vote on 3 December, the UN General Assembly expressed “unwavering support, in accordance with international law, for the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine.” The resolution also called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories and pushed for the creation of a Palestinian state, convening an international conference in June to try to jumpstart a two-state solution.

Although it is not a member state of the United Nations, the State of Palestine has been officially recognized as a sovereign state by 146 countries, or 75 percent of the United Nations member states. Those countries represent nearly 90 percent of the world’s population.

The Israeli government as well as the Knesset, have rejected the two-state solution. However, they have not offered an alternative solution to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians.

The Israeli government has stated that it will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan. In addition, despite the ICJ decision mandating Israel to end its occupation and dismantle its unlawful settlements, Israel is continuing with its expansion of Israeli settlements and apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Some have concluded that the two-state solution is no longer an option primarily due to today’s realities. Approximately 750,000 Israelis, or about 10 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, are currently residing in settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

As a result of those demographic realities, the de facto option to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict appears to be the one-state solution.

The one-state solution with its total population of approximately 15.5 million would provide equal rights for all its citizens, irrespective of their religious affiliation. The one-state would be similar to other democracies where equal rights and opportunities are provided to all citizens of every religious group.

Israel, however, rejects the one-state solution. It sees a single state with equal rights for all its citizens of the various religious groups would undermine the Jewish character of Israel. Whereas the current proportion Jewish of the Israeli population is about 77 percent, the Jewish proportion in the larger one-state would be approximately 50 percent.

Other proposals that have been offered to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict include: a confederation of Israel, Jordan and Palestine; a federation of smaller Palestinian provinces or cantons; autonomy-plus for the Palestinians; and the establishment of a Jewish Greater Israel.

Many Israelis of the religious far right are seeking the establishment of a Jewish Greater Israel. Their desired nation includes the occupied Palestinian territories and its population would have a large Jewish majority. Due to the existing demographics, a Jewish Greater Israel would necessarily involve the departure, expulsion or transfer of very large numbers of the non-Jewish population currently residing in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The serious human consequences of the Israel-Gaza wars continue to rise and are being regularly updated. The current reported levels of mortality, injuries, displacement and destruction provide an intelligible picture of the wars’ consequences on casualties, living conditions and the wellbeing of the populations in Gaza, Israel, Lebanon and elsewhere.

Although the true mortality figure is estimated to be many times larger, the total number of reported deaths of Israelis, Lebanese, Palestinians and others resulting from the Israel-Gaza war during the period from 7 October 2023 to 7 December 2024 is approximately 52,000.

The overwhelming majority of those reported deaths, 88 percent, were to Palestinians. Also, a large majority of those deaths, nearly 70 percent, were women and children. The Palestinian deaths were followed by Lebanese at 8 percent, Israelis at 3 percent and others, such as journalists and media workers, at 1 percent (Figure 1).

 

Source: Israeli Government, Ministries of Health of Gaza and Lebanon and UNOCHA.

 

A similar pattern is observed with respect to the numbers of reported injuries. Although the true figure of injuries will certainly be considerably larger, the total number of reported injuries is approximately 140,000. Again, the large majority of the reported injuries, about 81 percent, were to Palestinians with many being children. The Palestinians were followed by Lebanese at 12 percent, Israelis at 6 percent and others at 1 percent (Figure 2).

 

Source: Israeli Government, Ministries of Health of Gaza and Lebanon and UNOCHA.

 

The Gaza-Israel war was also responsible for the displacement of more than 3 million people. Approximately 60 percent of those displaced were Palestinians, followed by Lebanese at 38 percent and Israel at 3 percent.

Beyond the displacement of people from their homes, Israel’s bombings have damaged or destroyed approximately two-thirds of the buildings in Gaza and about 38 percent of the buildings in villages in southern Lebanon as well scores of buildings in Beirut and Baalbek. In addition, the Hezbollah rocket attacks in northern Israel have damaged or destroyed about 9,000 buildings and 350 agricultural sites.

In sum, it is clear that over the past fourteen months, the conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, Israel and elsewhere have resulted in large numbers of deaths, injuries and displacements as well as extensive destruction of buildings and community infrastructure, notably impacting the Palestinian population in Gaza.

The decisions of ICJ concerning Israel’s crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict and the findings of Amnesty International’s report stating that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza constitute an indisputable indictment of Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Simply rejecting the ICJ’s decisions and denying the findings of Amnesty International will not diminish that momentous indictment.

It is also clear that to achieve a lasting peace with the Palestinians, Israel needs to move beyond rejecting the various peace proposals. The Israeli government needs to put forth an explicit peace proposal indicating how it envisions resolving the decades-old conflict with the Palestinians. Israel not providing a just and fair peace plan will inevitably lead to future conflicts with more deaths, injuries, displacements and destruction.

 

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

 

Global Youth Voices (GYV) delegates at the 10th Conference of Parties (COP10) in Panama, February 2024. Credit: GYV
 
Human Rights Day is commemorated every year on 10 December, the day in 1948 the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

By Yodhim Dela Rosa and Rajika Mahajan
NEW YORK, Dec 10 2024 (IPS)

As the world commemorates UN Human Rights Day December 10, with the theme, “Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now,” it’s time to ask: Are we truly listening to what the youth envision for their present and future?

This year’s theme strikes a chord with young people globally, highlighting a pressing issue that threatens them now and their future – tobacco addiction.

Globally, about 37 million adolescents aged 13-15 years are hooked to tobacco use. They are ensnared through aggressive and deceptive marketing tactics of a powerful, profit-driven and harmful industry – the tobacco and its related industries. Beyond consumption, over a million children are also trapped in producing tobacco under harsh and exploitative conditions.

Protect Our Right, Our Future – Youth’s Call to Action

Today’s youth are a premium market targeted by tobacco and related industries, with manipulative strategies designed to lure them into life-long addiction. From digital media marketing to seemingly innovative products like biodegradable filters or vaping devices, the industry ensures its grip on the next generation.

But young people everywhere are speaking out, demanding an end to these harmful practices. The Global Youth Voices, a movement that represents youth coalitions and organizations around the world, has made their stance clear.

In October 2023, they appealed to governments to shield them from the manipulative practices of tobacco and its related industries. Through a declaration this May, they demanded justice and restitution for the harm inflicted and ongoing threats to their health and future.

Recently, in a powerful open letter to the UN Secretary-General, the youth called on the General Assembly to prioritize the well-being of young people and resist the tobacco industry’s influence. Their call is loud and clear: they want stronger regulation of tobacco promotions on all platforms, including entertainment and social media, accountability for environmental pollution– particularly that caused by tobacco plastic waste– and prevention of new addictive products being marketed as disguised innovation.

Tobacco’s Harms Globally

The tobacco industry’s adverse impact on health, the environment, and the economy is deeply troubling. It harms individuals, communities, and the planet while violating fundamental human rights.

Annually, tobacco claims more than 8 million lives, with 22,000 deaths every single day. Smoking is a leading driver of cardiovascular diseases, respiratory illnesses, and over 20 types of cancer, burdening healthcare systems and families worldwide.

Beyond health, the global economy shoulders a staggering $1.4 trillion annual loss from tobacco-related costs, ranging from medical expenses to lost productivity. Tobacco is also a major environmental offender, polluting ecosystems with 4.5 trillion cigarette butts discarded yearly, making them the most littered plastic item in the world.

These toxic, non-biodegradable wastes infiltrate our waterways and soil, causing annual marine ecosystem losses estimated at $20 billion. The magnitude of these harms highlights the urgent need to hold the tobacco industry accountable—not only to protect the health, economy, and environment of our current generation but also to safeguard the well-being of future generations.

For decades, the tobacco industry has evaded accountability for the extensive harms it causes. While the global treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) offers tools for regulation, implementation remains lacking and inconsistent. Many governments around the world have failed to act cohesively against tobacco industry interference.

Right Now: Making Tobacco Pay

A civil society report surveying 90 countries, the 2023 Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, illustrates the industry’s evasion tactics through its so-called corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

These programs—often framed as philanthropic efforts—are used to repair the industry’s tarnished reputation, foster goodwill, and distract from its role as a driver of death and environmental harm. By presenting itself as a “responsible corporate citizen,” the tobacco industry seeks to escape financial liabilities while influencing policymakers and the public.

This Human Rights Day, let us remember that our rights and our children’s rights to health, a clean environment, and a life free from preventable harm are non-negotiable. The fight against tobacco is a fight for justice, equity, and sustainability.

Upholding and protecting human rights is a collective responsibility. Governments, policymakers, and advocates alike must act decisively and cohesively to hold the industry liable for both human and planetary damages.

A comprehensive solution to curbing the tobacco industry’s undue interference lies in fully implementing the WHO FCTC Article 5.3 recommendations such as, denormalizing and banning tobacco-related charity, requiring greater transparency for increased accountability, removing incentives to the tobacco industry, and providing a firewall between government officials from the industry so they can be freed-up to protect their citizens.

The industry must be held liable for the harm it causes to both human health and the environment. Governments should make the industry pay by adopting the “polluter pays” principle. The industry must bear the financial burden of cleaning up its waste and addressing its environmental damage. Because of the irreconcilable difference between profit and public health, the industry must be excluded from the policy table.

We cannot afford to let the industry dictate the terms of our health, our rights, or our future.

The time to act is now.

Yodhim Dela Rosa is the Global Research Coordinator, and Rajika Mahajan is the Communications Officer at the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC).

GGTC works closely with governments and advocates worldwide to address the most significant challenge in tobacco control implementation: tobacco industry interference.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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A house damaged due to coastal erosion caused by rising sea levels in Tuvalu. Credit Hettie Sem/Pacific Community

By Catherine Wilson
SYDNEY, Dec 10 2024 (IPS)

Advancing development of the new Climate Loss and Damage Fund was a key call by Pacific Island nations at the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in Azerbaijan in November. For Pacific Island Countries and Territories, the fund represents a critical step towards addressing what they consider a gross climate injustice: despite contributing less than 0.03 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, they bear the brunt of climate change’s devastating impacts.

The concept of climate finance as a “polluter pays” issue is grounded in the principle that those who have historically contributed the most to greenhouse gas emissions should be financing the developing world’s ability to deal with its impacts and scale climate action.

Fifteen years after the Paris Agreement’s promises, the Pacific region has only accessed 0.22 percent of global climate funds, severely impeding the region’s ability to adapt to escalating climate impacts.

“Access to funding is very limited to date,” Coral Pasisi, Pacific Community’s Director of Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability, Niue, told IPS. “There are structural impediments to why international funds are not financing adaptation and mitigation in the Pacific at the rate they need. Most global funds do not take account of the special circumstances of SIDS—including their extreme exposure to disasters, remoteness, lack of capacity and small population sizes. And there is a direct correlation between the lack of access to climate finance for resilience and adaptation measures and the mounting costs of loss and damage for the Pacific region.”

Access to climate-related international finance has been and remains a significant challenge for Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The global multilateral climate financing architecture is administratively complex, requiring considerable capacity to access and taking too long—on average three years for project development to approval. Through pooling resources and frontloading, the regional organization, the Pacific Community, is a vital partner in raising the chances of funding success for some of the world’s smallest nations.

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), loss and damage are ‘the negative impacts of climate change that occur after all reasonable adaptation and mitigation measures have been implemented’. These impacts can be economic, such as damage to infrastructure, destruction of homes, reduced agricultural yields, and other financial losses. They can also be non-economic, such as loss of culturally important areas, traditional knowledge, loss of life and grief. It is important to note that most often, loss and damage have both non-economic and economic implications. When communities and nations face overwhelming challenges and lack sufficient financial resources to address these impacts, they become increasingly vulnerable. This exacerbates loss and damage, undermining recovery and resilience efforts.

With the global temperature rise on course to exceed the 1.5-degree Celsius safety threshold in the 2030s, warns the IPCC, losses inflicted by climate extremes are set to escalate and will be beyond the economic resources of Pacific Island states. Even though there are six Pacific Island nations among the 20 most disaster-prone countries in the world. In 2019, disasters were costing the region USD 1.07 billion per year, with 49 percent of losses due to cyclones and 20 percent due to droughts, reports the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). And this century, annual average losses could amount to 20 percent of GDP in Vanuatu and 18.2 percent in Tonga.

Recent disasters include the violent eruption of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano in the Polynesian nation of Tonga in 2022. It affected 85 percent of the population of about 107,000 people, destroyed infrastructure, agriculture and tourism, and left a damage bill of USD 125 million.

Extreme rainfall and floods caused months of agricultural losses in Siai Village, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea, in 2012. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

The following year, Vanuatu was hit by two cyclones, Judy and Kevin, plus a 6.5-magnitude earthquake in March. Again, more than 80 percent of people were affected, crops were lost, tourists fled and the cost of damages amounted to 40 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic |Product (GDP). Meanwhile, in Fiji, villagers on Vanua Levu Island have witnessed higher sea tides accelerate coastal erosion in the past 18 years and communities have been forced to relocate inland due to excessive flooding.

Climate losses in the region are related to the vulnerability of populations. Ninety percent of Pacific Islanders live within 5 kilometres of weather-exposed coastlines and plants in the region that generate 84 percent of total power are exposed to cyclones, reports ESCAP.

“Critical infrastructure, such as schools, roads and hospitals, is one of the areas that has the costliest impacts in terms of economic loss and damage and non-economic implications. This is especially the case where only one main hospital exists, for example; the effects of losing that facility extend well beyond the repair and replacement costs,” said Pasisi.

Non-economic losses are more difficult to quantify. These “are debilitating and often irreversible, including loss of land, cultural sites, burial grounds, traditional knowledge, village displacement, psychological trauma from recurrent disasters, failing human health, coral reef degradation and more,” reports the Vanuatu Government.

Despite their funding needs, Pacific island states face major bureaucratic handicaps in putting together complex international climate funding applications. These include lack of technical expertise, dearth of data and sheer capacity constraints within governments.

Mapping Loss and Damage challenges

In March 2023, the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu was hit by two cyclones, Judy and Kevin, that affected 80 percent of the population and left a loss and damage bill of USD 433 million. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

The new global Loss and Damage Fund was first agreed by world leaders at the COP27 Climate Change Conference in 2022. Its objective is to procure major contributions from industrialized, large carbon-emitting nations and aid vulnerable and developing countries in times of climate-driven crises. It will play a vital role given that a recent study claims that, from 2000-2019, climate extremes cost the world USD 16 million per hour.

Island nations view this initiative as a long-overdue step toward addressing climate injustice. Solomon Islands welcomes the spirit of cooperation and commitment to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund.

“While we welcome the pledges being made in particular from developed country parties, we need to ensure that these pledges are being delivered,” Dr Melchior Mataki, Deputy Head of the Solomon Islands Delegation to COP28, told media in December 2023.

Progress in operationalizing the fund has been slow, even as the climate crisis accelerates. “The biggest challenge is the time it takes to access funding. Time is not on our side,” said Michelle DeFreese, SPC Loss and Damage Project Coordinator. “Countries have urged for the development of the Fund for decades, but the impact of climate-related loss and damage is already taking a tremendous toll on countries in the Pacific.” She explained that “responding to and preparing for sea level rise is one of the greatest funding needs in the region, particularly for low-lying atoll nations, including Kiribati, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu.”

To address this, the Pacific Community has collaborated with the Tuvalu Government to develop advanced physical and computer models demonstrating the impact of a 25–50-centimeter sea level rise on the atoll nation by the end of the century. The information is vital to making the case for the funding needed. From 1993 to 2023, the mean sea level rise in the Pacific was 15 centimetres, far higher than the global mean rise of 9.4 centimetres, reports the UN. And, if the global temperature rises to 1.5–3.0 degrees Celsius, the Pacific Islands could confront a rise of 50–68 centimetres.

Yet, while SIDS are encouraged by the global commitment to the new Loss and Damage Fund, with the secretariat hosted by the World Bank, the details of how it will operate, the criteria for applications and the amount of funds it will offer are still undetermined. Funding promises also fall far short of what is required. At COP28 in December last year, sizeable contributions were committed by nations including Germany, France, Italy and the United Arab Emirates, but the total of USD 700 million stands in contrast to the projected USD 100 billion per annum needed for accelerating climate losses this century.

“The Pacific has championed Loss and Damage since 1991 and will continue to do so. While all countries face climate change impacts, the Pacific and other SIDS have done the least to cause climate change and face disproportionate impacts,” Ronneberg said. “If the world doesn’t reduce emissions to be compatible with the 1.5 degree target, we will face existential threats from climate change loss and damage.”

Recognizing the urgency, the Pacific Community has intensified efforts to help nations develop comprehensive loss and damage strategies. With support from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the organization has launched a project to help Pacific nations develop loss and damage plans and strategies. Denmark has pledged EUR 5 million to support vital research and data collection needed for funding applications.

“The project that the Pacific Community started this year with funding from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs aims to support countries in the development of loss and damage national plans and strategies in parallel with the operationalization of the Fund for responding to loss and damage,” DeFreese explained.

The need for swift and substantial global action has never been greater, as the Pacific continues to face the mounting toll of climate impacts. Without accelerated efforts to operationalize the fund and deliver on pledges, vulnerable nations risk being left unprepared for the challenges ahead.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Khumbu Glacier at the Mt. Everest base camp. Because of rising temperatures, glaciers are melting at a faster rate. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

By Tanka Dhakal
THE HAGUE, Dec 10 2024 (IPS)

At the International Court of Justice (ICJ), no matter if the country had high Himalayas, was a small island nation or was experiencing armed conflict, they all agreed that the due diligence principle and the obligation of states to prevent harm caused by climate change, especially for high greenhouse gas emitters, were non-negotiable.

On Monday, December 9, 2024, countries including Nepal, Pakistan, Nauru, New Zealand and the State of Palestine presented their cases before the highest court within the United Nations.

Countries within the Hindu Kush Himalaya Region, Nepal and Pakistan, included examples of recent years disasters, including flash floods and their impact on livelihoods, while the small island state of Nauru laid out the toll faced by its people because of rising sea level. The State of Palestine connected its plea to ongoing armed conflict and climate-environmental destruction.

At the request of Vanuatu, the UN General Assembly asked the ICJ to issue an advisory opinion on the obligations of UN member states in preventing climate change and ensuring the protection of the environment for present and future generations. While its advisory opinion will not be enforceable, the court will advise on the legal consequences for member states who have caused significant harm, particularly to small island developing states. So far, more than 70 countries have presented their case before the court.

Indigenous Sherpa women in the Khumbu region of Nepal. These mountain communities are already facing the impact of climate change in the form of low snowfall and glacier melting, which causes floods. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

Human Rights and Technology Transfer—Nepal

Nepal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arzu Rana Deuba, stressed climate change-induced disasters were hindering the human rights of people on the front lines and said countries responsible for emissions needed to fulfil their obligations.

“Climate change hinders the realization and enjoyment of human rights, including the right to life, right to food, right to health, right to adequate housing, sanitation and water,” Deuba said. “Moreover, it impacts the rights of women, children and people with disabilities, as well as the cultural rights of minorities and indigenous communities.”

Nepal says many vulnerable states were not able to meet the obligations under international human rights laws, as the actions and emissions arising from beyond their territory also had adverse effects on the human rights of their citizens. The country of mountains, including Mt. Everest, stressed the need for material, technical and financial support from the countries whose historic emissions have caused the crisis of anthropogenic climate change.

“This includes unhindered access to technology and the sharing of meteorological and glacial data,” Deuba said. “Nepal considers that the court’s advisory opinion will contribute to clarifying the law, especially the obligations of the states regarding climate change and the rules governing the consequences of the violation of these obligations.”

Suvanga Parajuli, Under Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal, added that the country was facing a gross injustice. “What countries like Nepal are calling for is not mere handouts of charity but compensation for real climate justice,” Parajuli said.

Court Opinion Could Help Avert Catastrophe—Pakistan

Another HKH region country, Pakistan, which faced devastating floods caused by climate change in 2022, stressed the need for support and knowledge sharing. Mansoor Usman Awan, the Attorney General of Pakistan, urged the court to give an opinion that clarifies the legal obligations of states to prevent, avoid, reduce, or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

“If lives and livelihoods are to be protected, if we want to avoid utter catastrophe, there simply is no time to lose. As has often been said, we are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change, and undoubtedly, we are the last generation that can do something about it.”

Awan continued, “For the human race, ignoring the climate emergency is no longer an option.”

We Are Facing Existential Threat—Nauru

Island country Nauru argues that climate change poses an existential threat to its security and well-being, highlighting the impact of rising sea levels, coastal erosion and drought at the UN court.

The island is a mere 21 km2 (8.1 sq mi), oval-shaped island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.

Representing Nauru Lionel Rouwen Aingimea, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, emphasized the obligations of states in respect of climate change to be the obligations found in the principles of general international law.

“We urge this court to clarify the scope of the existing obligations of states with respect to climate change,” Aingimea said. “No more, but certainly no less, we seek your affirmation that the law protects the vulnerable and that our fundamental rights under general international law—to exist, to thrive, to safeguard our land—are upheld and respected.”

He urged the court to deliver an advisory opinion that reflects “the urgency, the dignity and the right of all peoples to exist in security.”

Island countries’ vulnerability was central to New Zealand’s arguments. Representing Pacific Island countries, Victoria Hallum, Deputy Secretary Multilateral and Legal Affairs Group at New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs and Trade ministry, emphasized the urgent need to address anthropogenic climate change. It said climate change was the single greatest threat to the Pacific Island regions.

Armed Conflict and Climate Change Connected—Palestine

The State of Palestine highlighted the intersection of climate change and international law, particularly the impacts of armed conflict and military activities.

Palestine positioned itself as a key contributor to the proceedings and referred to the ICJ’s advisory opinion on nuclear weapons to support its argument on the relationship between environmental protection and international law in armed conflict.

At the ICJ hearing, Ammar Hijazi, Ambassador of Palestine to International Organizations in The Hague, linked the relationship between climate change and emissions during armed conflict.

“The State of Palestine is responsible for less than 0.001% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet Palestine now grapples with unprecedented severe climate events, mainly due to Israel’s occupation and policies and practices,” Hijazi said. “Israel’s occupation curtails our ability to support climate policy. As a party to the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, Palestine is taking action to reduce 17.5 percent of its GHG by 2040, when our goal could be 26.6 percent if Israel’s occupation ends.”

Palestine argued that the court should not miss the opportunity to address the relation, obligation and rights of the people in the context of armed conflict and climate change in the historic opinion it will issue at the conclusion of these advisory proceedings. “This will fulfill the promise not to leave anyone behind and ensure that law applies to all,” Hijazi said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Excerpt:

If lives and livelihoods are to be protected, if we want to avoid utter catastrophe, there simply is no time to lose. As has often been said, we are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change, and undoubtedly, we are the last generation that can do something about it.—Mansoor Usman Awan, Attorney General of Pakistan

Nobody saw it coming. After years of brutal war in Syria, many believed the battle lines had stabilized, leaving only sporadic skirmishes or even the potential for negotiations. Syria? Was there anything left to report? That question was answered loud and clear on November 27. While the world looked away, a jihadist coalition backed by […]

The Altos de Florida neighbourhood in southwest Bogotá shows the shift from rural to urban landscapes. Credit: UNDP

By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS, Dec 9 2024 (IPS)

Poverty, while declining in Latin America and the Caribbean so far this century, shows a new face, that of the looming vulnerability of the poor as they become less rural and more urban, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says in a new analysis.

“Not only is there more urban poverty, but also a greater percentage of the population is highly vulnerable, that is, they are very close to falling – and any small shock will make them fall – below the poverty line,” Almudena Fernández, chief economist for the region at the UNDP, told IPS.“It is no longer enough to lift people out of poverty; we have to think about the next step, to continue on this path, so that the population can consolidate”: Almudena Fernández.

Thus, “there is a segment of the population that remains above the poverty line, but which is pushed below it by an illness or the loss of household income,” Fernández told IPS from New York.

Rosa Meleán, 47, who was a teacher for 20 years in Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia, in Venezuela’s oil-rich northwest, told IPS that “falling back into poverty is like the slides where children play in the schoolyard: they keep going up, but with the slightest push they slide down again”.

Meleán has experienced this in person several times, supporting her parents, siblings and nephews with her salary, falling into poverty when her working-class father died, improving with a new job, her salary liquefied by hyperinflation (2017-2020), leaving teaching to search for other sources of income.

“You have to see what it’s like to be poor in Maracaibo, walking in 40 degrees (Celsius) to look for transport, without electricity, rationed water and earning US$25”, the last monthly salary she had as a teacher before retiring five years ago.

And then came the covid-19 pandemic, limiting her new occupations as an office worker or home tutor. She has barely recovered from that blow.

“We live in a time when shocks are more common – from extreme weather events, for example – and we see a lot of economic and financial volatility. We are a much more interconnected world. Any shock anywhere in the world produces a very direct contagion, they are the new normal,” says Fernández.

Shoppers jostle for the best prices at the Lo Valledor street market in Santiago, Chile. Urban households that ride the poverty line are particularly sensitive to food inflation. Credit: Max Valencia / FAO

Poverty falling in numbers

Starting in the 1950s, Latin America and the Caribbean experienced a rapid process of urbanisation, becoming one of the most urbanised regions in the world.

Today, 82% of the population lives in urban areas, compared to the world average of 58%, according to the UNDP.

Over the last two decades, the region has made progress in reducing extreme poverty and poverty in general. Even with setbacks since 2014, it recorded its lowest poverty rate in 2022 (26%), with slight decreases estimated for 2023 (25.2%) and 2024 (25%).

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) indicates in its most recent report that poverty in 2023 will affect 27.3% of the region’s population, which it puts at 663 million people this year. This means that “172 million people in the region still do not have sufficient income to cover their basic needs (general poverty)”.

Among them, 66 million cannot afford a basic food basket (extreme poverty). But these figures are up to five percentage points better than in 2020, the worst year of the pandemic, and 80% of the progress is attributed to advances in Brazil, where transfers of resources to the poor were decisive.

ECLAC points out that poverty is higher in rural areas (39.1%) than in urban areas (24.6%), and that it affects more women than men of working age.

Despite the progress, “the speed of poverty reduction is starting to slow down, it is decreasing at a much slower rate. This is a first concern, because the region is growing less,” said Fernández.

She recalled that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts point to an average economic growth in the region of two per cent per year, “well below the world average. Thus, it will be more difficult to continue reducing poverty”.

A hill overcrowded with informal dwellings in the populous Petare neighbourhood in eastern Caracas. Credit: Humberto Márquez / IPS

Changing face

The proportion of poor people living in the region’s urban areas increased from 66% in 2000 to 73% in 2022, and the change is more dramatic among those living in extreme poverty, with the proportion of the urban extreme poor rising from 48% to 68% over the same period.

Tracing this change annually, a UNDP analysis found that urban poverty increased markedly during the commodity crisis of 2014 – and also during the pandemic – “revealing that urban poverty is more likely to increase in times of economic downturn than rural poverty”.

It argues that the post-pandemic rise in the cost of living affected urban households more, pushing households into poverty and worsening the living conditions of those who were already poor.

Urban households are more tied to the market economy than rural households, making them more vulnerable to economic fluctuations and related changes in employment.

In contrast, rural livelihoods allow households to use strategies such as subsistence farming, reallocation of labour, community support or selling assets such as livestock to cope with shocks. These are options that urban residents generally do not possess.

Another salient feature of the new face of urban poverty is that it is often concentrated in informal settlements on the peripheries of cities, where overcrowding and limited access to basic services create additional challenges.

Thus, in the Venezuelan case, “the features of poverty and vulnerability that stand out in urban poverty have to do with the precariousness of public services and the lack of opportunities,” Roberto Patiño, founder of Convive, a community development organisation, and Alimenta la Solidaridad, a welfare organisation, told IPS.

Patiño believes that “the burden of the cost of living and inflation is difficult to bear for people living in poverty in both urban and rural areas, even though in rural areas the food issue may be less serious”.

This is because in rural areas “people have access to smallholdings, to their own crops, and also, being farming areas, food costs tend to be lower than in the city, but health issues and other services such as transport, health and education are very precarious”, the activist pointed out.

Patiño mentioned another mark on the new face of poverty, that of the millions of Venezuelans who migrated to other South American countries in the last decade and who “have not recovered from the pandemic, from an economic point of view, with many of the migrants living in a precarious situation”.

A teenager doing homework in the Delmas 32 slum in Port-au-Prince. Credit: Dominic Chávez / WB

Seeking solutions

The UNDP argues that addressing poverty in urban and rural areas requires differentiated strategies, as policies that work in rural areas, such as promoting agricultural productivity and improving access to assets and markets, do not sit well with the plight of the urban poor.

For them, the cost of housing and food inflation are relevant concerns.

Fernández said that “much of the social policy that was implemented in the region decades ago, which is ongoing, was designed with a very rural poverty in mind, how to help the agricultural sector, how to achieve greater productivity in agriculture, how to meet basic unsatisfied needs in rural areas”.

“Now we must move toward a social policy that focuses a little more on the unsatisfied needs of urban poverty,” she said.

She believes that “urbanisation allows for another series of opportunities. For example, the greater agglomeration of people allows for easier access to services”, although there may also be negative effects such as a more difficult insertion in the labour market or health problems associated with overcrowding.

Among the solutions, Fernández ranked the need for greater economic growth first, “because we are not going to be able to reduce poverty if we do not grow”.

The economist then ranked education, good in quantity (coverage), but which must now focus on quality, in second place, in order to address the digital transition that is underway and the need for more training for workers.

Finally, the need for social protection – and despite slower growth and a tighter fiscal balance across the region, Fernández acknowledges –and investment in protecting people more, with policies and measures that include, for example, care, employability, productivity and insurance.

“It is no longer enough to lift people out of poverty; we have to think about the next step, to continue on this path, so that the population can consolidate, with a stable middle class that has mechanisms so that in times of stress or shock its consumption does not fall sharply,” said Fernández.

In other words, so that those who have their basic needs covered do not have to slide back down the poverty chute with every economic or health shock.

G20 social in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

By Jyotsna Mohan Singh
NEW DELHI, India, Dec 9 2024 (IPS)

South Africa’s G20 Presidency begun in December, with only 12% of SDG targets on track and significant backsliding on more than 30%. As we write this today, there is an urgent need for a paradigm shift and practical solutions for a progressive, people-centred, and development-driven agenda in a fractured global landscape that needs collective healing.

This sense of urgency was pinned down at the recent G20 Summit in Brasil, where South Africa assumed the Presidency amidst calls from global civil society at the Civil20 (C20) Summit to address today’s most pressing challenges: climate change, gender inequality, social inequalities, economic injustice and attacks on civic space.

This year, the Brasilian Association of NGOs (Abong), chaired the C20, amplifying the demands of social movements and civil society for global justice, highlighting the importance of gender in public policies, anti-racist economies, climate justice, the fight against hunger and the urgent need for a reform of international governance.

“Civil society is not merely a participant; it is a driving force for justice, equity, and sustainability. Without our voices at the table, solutions risk being incomplete, inequitable, and disconnected from the realities of the most vulnerable,” says Henrique Frota, Executive Director of Abong.

Yet, while the G20 leaders addressed major global crises, from climate change to economic inequities, the voices of those most affected by these challenges—grassroots movements, communities that have been historically marginalised, and civil society actors—still struggle to resonate within the halls of power. In fact, gaps persist in ambition and action, exposing a troubling disconnect between commitments made in international forums and the lived realities of citizens from across the globe.

Civil Society as Equal Partners: Moving Beyond Symbolism

The G20 Rio de Janeiro Declaration, emphasizes inclusivity and acknowledges civil society’s role , but it omits the issue of shrinking civic space in many member countries. The G20 should adopt concrete measures to protect civic freedoms and support CSOs in challenging environments. Futhermore, while the Declaration noted the inclusion of civil society groups in dialogues like the G20 Social Summit, it stopped short of guaranteeing institutionalised access for CSOs.

Jyotsna Mohan Singh, Forus, C20

Aoi Horiuchi, Senior Advocacy Officer at the Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC) shared that despite opportunities for C20 to meet, decision-makers and submit recommendations, “access is still limited”. The meeting with President Lula happened just days before the Leaders’ Summit. He emphasizes, “civil society as an official stakeholder group, should have access to all preparatory meetings and have space for speaking up. To truly “leave no one behind”, we need to maintain the momentum and push for more progressive policies on taxing and economic justice.”

Meaningful engagement with civil society cannot be an afterthought. Governments must ensure that civil society has the autonomy, resources, and protected spaces necessary to contribute fully to global governance processes. Expanding civic engagement is crucial, especially at the national level. Data shows that 87% of the global population lives in countries where civic freedoms are restricted.

As we approach the first G20 Summit on the African continent in 2025, “breaking silos, shifting power, and amplifying Global South movements must become central priorities for global governance reform,” says Anselmo Lee, Lead from the Asia Civil Society Partnership for Sustainable Development.

“We must move beyond a purely event-driven approach and establish clear, systematic mechanisms for reviewing decisions and ensuring their effective implementation,” adds Harsh Jaitli, Chief Executive Officer of the Voluntary Action Network India (VANI). Over the years, along with other national platforms, VANI has worked towards strengthening the voice of civil society in this space.

Inequality and Systemic Change: Missing the Mark

The Declaration rightly identified inequality as a root cause of global challenges but failed to propose bold measures to dismantle the structures that sustain the giant inequality pyramid. The creation of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty is a step forward. Specifically on access to food, the declaration identifies hunger as a pressing global issue, affecting 733 million people in 2023, and emphasizes the G20’s commitment to eradicating hunger. The vague language and lack of binding commitments undermine these efforts. Specific timelines and accountability frameworks are missing.

We need clear action to address inequalities and extreme wealth concentration, fair financing and reforms of multilateral development banks (MDBs) and public development banks (PDBs) to provide financing that directly benefits marginalised communities and an increase in support to local actions, notably investing in community-driven solutions that prioritise equity and sustainability. In the narratives and the actions, there is insufficient detail on the mobilization of resources for grassroots and community-led initiatives, a critical element of Forus’s advocacy for inclusive and sustainable financing.

Policy Coherence: Balancing the Scales and Building a Holistic Approach to Sustainability

While the G20 Declaration highlighted policy coherence as essential for achieving the SDGs, it leans heavily on private sector-driven solutions. Blended finance and private capital mobilization dominated the agenda, sidelining civil society and community-led initiatives and reinforcing the systemic inequities that perpetuate inequality.

A just and sustainable world cannot be achieved through fragmented efforts. Instead, a holistic approach that leverages the collective expertise and experiences of all stakeholders, public, private, and civil society. From a CSO perspective, a critical gap persists in aligning economic growth objectives with environmental, social, and human rights priorities. Without such alignment, conflicting objectives risk perpetuating systemic inequalities and ecological harm, undermining the promise of the SDGs. Moreover, the recent trend of certain governments, such as Argentina’s proposed withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, highlights a dangerous backslide from climate commitments and a disregard for sustainable development goals.

Gender Equality: From Rhetoric to Reality

The G20 Declaration’s recognition of gender equality and commitments to combating gender-based violence are important steps forward. However, the absence of concrete action plans undermines their potential impact. Women and girls continue to face systemic barriers, including unequal access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities, as well as the pervasive threat of gender-based violence. To achieve meaningful progress, policies must go beyond rhetoric and actively dismantle discriminatory norms while creating leadership opportunities for women across all sectors.

The C20 group, has emphasised the need to address exclusion in all its forms. Expanding spaces for groups that have historically been marginalised and ensuring their full, equal, and meaningful participation in governance processes is not only a matter of justice but also a prerequisite for the type of development that We want. This includes acknowledging the intersecting challenges faced by rural and Indigenous women and those experiencing multiple forms of discrimination.

“Beyond commitments, we need frameworks that address intersectional inequalities and create leadership opportunities for all women, including rural, Indigenous, and LGBTIQ+ communities,” says Alessandra Nilo, C20 Sherpa, Director of Gestos, Brasil.

Reforming Global Governance for a Just Future

The G20 Declaration acknowledges the urgent need to reform global governance systems to address the complex crises of our time—geopolitical tensions, economic inequities, and climate emergencies. Commitments to the UN reform and enhancing transparency in global governance are promising. The emphasis on anti-corruption measures and progressive taxation aligns with civil society’s struggles.

A critical starting point is amplifying the voice of World Majority countries in global decision-making. The inclusion of the African Union as a full G20 member is a welcome development, signaling progress toward inclusivity. However, current power imbalances, where wealthier nations disproportionately influence global policy agendas, must be dismantled to ensure fairness and inclusivity.

As the G20, a premier global forum, assumes increasing responsibility for shaping the global agenda, it is imperative that it takes a strong stance on these issues and “shift powers”.

As the C20 Declaration reminds us, the solutions to today’s challenges lie in inclusive governance that empowers those most affected by global crises. We urge governments and G20 stakeholders to institutionalise civil society participation, prioritise rights-based solutions, and deliver on commitments to equity and sustainability. By weaving together the principles of rights, equity, sustainability, and collaboration, we can begin to build a future where “no one is left behind” not just in theory but also in practice.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Furtuna (5) is getting the early education she deserves, and she loves counting with children at the Mahabre Dego Primary School, Tigray Region, Ethiopia. ECW and strategic partners’ investments in the country provide much-needed support for young crisis-affected girls and boys to have a better start in life through quality early education. Credit: ECW/Tesfaye

By Joyce Chimbi
ADDIS ABABA & NAIROBI, Dec 9 2024 (IPS)

Ethiopia’s education system is buckling under the weight of complex, competing challenges. The aftermath of a deadly war in the north, ongoing violence, climate-induced disasters, and widespread forced displacements have converged to push as many as 9 million children out of school. With close to 18 percent of schools in the country destroyed or damaged and persisting intercommunal conflicts in various regions, there are fears that many might never find their way back to school.

“In the absence of education, both boys and girls may be mobilized into militant groups, and frequently, girls will be subjected to child marriage. The choice is to provide them with an education, as it is the pathway to their future and contribution to their society and also as a protection mechanism,” says Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises in the United Nations. “Being out-of-school puts them in harm’s way and onto the path of abuse, violations, and the destruction of their lives, their communities, and eventually their country. We must ensure that no child is left behind in the education system. Investing in the very real potential of Ethiopia’s young generation is not an option—it is an absolute necessity.”

Sherif traveled to the Tigray region in the first week of December 2024 together with the ECW Global Champion and Finance Minister of Denmark, Nicolai Wammen. ECW’s high-level delegation saw first-hand the devastating effects of the deadly three-year conflict between the Ethiopian central government and the northernmost region of Tigray, Ethiopia.

Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and Nicolai Wammen, ECW Global Champion and Danish Minister of Finance, visit a school in the Tigray Region in Ethiopia. The delegation met with girls and boys whose education was interrupted for over three years due to conflict. Thanks to ECW & strategic partners’ support in the region, students are back in the classroom where they belong.
Credit: ECW/Tesfaye

The aftermath and recovery process are such that, amid limited resources, the country is putting back the pieces of a broken education infrastructure to jumpstart an education system that had come to a complete halt. At the end of their joint visit, the two called for bold donor action to deliver the promise of a quality education to millions of crisis-impacted children.

“We have a multi-year investment and great partners on the ground, including a very supportive government. We work with UN agencies, including UNICEF, and civil society organizations such as Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Image1Day and other local Ethiopian organizations,” Sherif told IPS.

The ECW delegation visited schools benefiting from funding by ECW and strategic partners, met children, parents, and teachers, and saw first-hand the impact of ECW-supported programmes. In one school alone, enrollment increased by an impressive 20 percent last year due to a comprehensive package of interventions funded by ECW.

“It is heartwarming to witness the life-transforming power of quality education in the most complex crisis situations. I met strong and resilient girls and boys who are returning to learning, healing and thriving thanks to ECW’s support. However, conflicts, climate change and other crises continue to push millions of children out of school every year—in Ethiopia and beyond. Business as usual will not meet this challenge. I encourage private sector partners to join ECW’s efforts and invest in new and innovative financing strategies to fill the widening gap,” said Nicolai Wammen, Minister of Finance, Denmark, and ECW Global Champion.

Breiy Nuguse is a teacher at the ECW-supported FreKalsi Primary School in the Tigray Region, Ethiopia, where children are back in classrooms after over three years of missing out on an education due to the conflict that devasted the region. “Teaching makes me happy. I love teaching and when I see children learn, it is so rewarding. I was inspired to become a teacher, as my teachers were so wonderful when I was at school. I realize the gift of learning that they gave me, and I wanted to do the same for the next generation,” Nuguse said. Credit: ECW//Tesfaye

Sherif says the delegation saw significant progress in supported schools, such as “rehabilitated infrastructure and others rebuilt from scratch. We saw learning supplies, teachers who are well trained and sensitized, and professionals offering mental health and psychosocial services. There is a strong academic curriculum. Included in the national curriculum are critical issues of peacebuilding, ethics, and the arts. Education is ongoing in primary and secondary schools but also in pre-primary and early childhood development schools. Children with disabilities also benefit from targeted supports and inclusive education.”

Overall, they witnessed a protective learning environment that included systematic implementation of a referral identification of children in need and distribution of assistive devices, and children in need of assistance integrated with their peers, which promotes their inclusion and improves their social and learning skills.

There were girls’ clubs too for pursuit of shared and common interests. Teachers are trained on gender-sensitive issues, and there is systematic implementation of menstrual hygiene for adolescent girls, designated sanitation areas for girls, and promotion of water and sanitation.

Displaced and host community students who attend the ECW-supported Embandaso Primary School in the Tigray Region, Ethiopia, enjoy drawing so they can express their feelings and their dreams.
Credit: ECW/Tesfaye

“The children are receiving quality, safe, and inclusive holistic education. Having gone through mental health and psychosocial support through ECW investment, they are confident and expressive of their dreams. This is what investment in education can do, and we can do even more through bold donor action to reach every child with quality education and prospects for lifelong learning and earning,” Sherif observes.

But the challenges are still significantly complex and pressing, and resources are scarce.

Ethiopia also hosts the third largest refugee population in Africa, significantly exacerbating the country’s educational challenges. There were over 200,000 new arrivals from Sudan and Somalia in 2023-2024 alone, further increasing pressure on existing resources.

After a visit that revealed the numerous challenges Ethiopian children face and their unwavering determination to learn, ECW announced a USD 5 million First Emergency Response grant, increasing its total investments in the country to USD 93 million since 2017.

Of the new USD 5 million grant, UNICEF will be the implementing partner for USD 4 million. A local organization, Imagine 1Day, will implement the remaining USD 1 million. The organizations will work together with their partners to address urgent needs in the Oromia and Afar regions, where renewed conflict, intercommunal violence, drought and displacement have further disrupted education services in recent months.

These emergency interventions will build on the USD 24 million Multi-Year Resilience Programme announced last month by ECW, targeting needs in the Amhara, Somalia, and Tigray regions.

Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and Nicolai Wammen, ECW Global Champion and Danish Minister of Finance, are welcomed by students at the ECW-supported Chila Primary School in Tigray, Ethiopia. Children here have missed more than three years of education due to COVID and the conflict that devastated the region.
Photo credit: ECW

“Imagine1Day is deeply grateful for this Education Cannot Wait First Emergency Response grant. With this generous support, we will provide over 13,000 out-of-school children in the Afar region—60 percent of whom are girls and 13 percent are children with disabilities—with access to safe learning environments. This project will not only enhance their well-being but also empower them to reach their full potential. Given that education in emergencies in Ethiopia has been severely underfunded, this grant is crucial in ensuring that crisis-affected children receive the education and support they need to build a brighter future,” said Dr. Seid Aman, Country Director of Imagine1Day.

To date, ECW’s combined multi-year and emergency investments in Ethiopia have reached more than 550,000 children and adolescents, providing a comprehensive range of supports—school rehabilitation, teacher training, mental health and psychosocial support, inclusive education, school feeding, gender transformative initiatives, early childhood education, and more. ECW’s support focuses on the most vulnerable, including girls, children from refugee, displaced and host community communities, and children with disabilities.

ECW’s investments are aligned to the Ethiopia Humanitarian Response Plan and the Ethiopia Education Sector Development Programme VI, a detailed planning document that provides a comprehensive outlook of the roadmap that the country’s education sector is taking. The Global Fund urgently calls for additional resources to fill the USD 64 million funding gap to meet the requirements for the acute education needs in the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Ethiopia.

Working in emergency and protracted crisis settings across the globe, ECW supports quality education outcomes for refugee, internally displaced, and other crisis-affected girls and boys, so no one is left behind.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Local people from Watamu, Kenya, work with Local Ocean Conservation to pick up plastic on the beach. Credit: UNEP/Cyril Villemain

By Dharmesh Shah
KERALA, India, Dec 9 2024 (IPS)

As the fifth round of negotiations of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) for a global plastics treaty concluded in Busan, South Korea (25 November-December 1 2024), the meeting underscored both the complexities and the promises of multilateralism. What we saw in Busan was indicative of other environmental treatymaking spaces, including ones on climate and biodiversity.

There is a stark contrast between countries who are willing to show ambition and those who will engage in obstruction at any cost. This exposes the systemic challenges that both plague and demonstrate the enduring potential of multilateral environmental diplomacy to confront global challenges.

The plastics crisis affects every living being on the planet, becoming an undeniable reality rather than just a collection of statistics or headlines. Every day brings new stories of its impact on our health, environment, and livelihoods. Recognizing the scale of this crisis, countries around the world came together almost three years ago to say enough is enough.

The plastics treaty negotiations are the result of this collective realization, marking a critical step toward addressing a problem that touches every corner of our shared existence.

A 30-foot-high monument entitled Turn off the Plastics Tap by Canadian activist and artist Benjamin von Wong was exhibited at the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2022. Credit: UNEP/Cyril Villemain

We were supposed to leave Busan with treaty text that would be ready for adoption. But instead, negotiators left without an agreement on the treaty, the barriers ahead are not only procedural or political; they are also philosophical. They reflect a deeper battle between the outdated paradigms of profit-driven growth and the urgent need for a collective reimagining of progress.

Petro-states are continuing to cling to fossil-fueled profits at the expense of collective well-being. It is not merely an economic strategy—it is a moral failure that will damage generations to come!

A Tale of Two Ambitions

Despite significant challenges, the negotiations also showed critical pathways forward. Panama and the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) emerged as powerful voices advocating for a global cap on plastic production—a bold proposal that garnered substantial support from 100 countries.

In a decisive show of ambition during the closing plenary, Rwanda, speaking on behalf of 95 nations, championed ambitious controls on plastic production, while Mexico, representing 85 countries, pressed for stringent regulations on chemicals of concern. These elements represent the backbone of a treaty that is fit to overcome the scale of the plastics crisis and deliver meaningful and lasting solutions.

The Shadow of Petrochemical Interests

The petrochemical industry’s influence loomed large over INC-5, with industry representatives forming the largest single delegation at the talks — outnumbering delegations of Indigenous Peoples, scientists, and some countries including the European Union and all of its member states.

This outsized presence underscores the strategic interest of fossil fuel giants toward plastics as renewable energy and progressive climate policies shrink traditional markets.

Petrochemicals, used in everyday products like plastics and medical equipment, are now the largest drivers of global oil demand, surpassing cars and planes. They are projected to account for over a third of oil demand growth by 2030 and nearly half by 2050, adding 7 million barrels of oil and 83 billion cubic meters of natural gas consumption daily by mid-century.

This shift represents a calculated gamble to embed plastics deeper into the global economy, ensuring the fossil fuel industry’s continued dominance despite the environmental and health costs. Yet the environmental and health costs of this strategy are catastrophic. Without significant reductions in plastic production, the sector is poised to consume up to 31% of the remaining carbon budget needed to keep global warming below 1.5°C.

But climate impact is only part of the story. Plastics are fundamentally chemical products, often containing a cocktail of toxic additives that threaten human and planetary health. From endocrine disruptors leaching into water supplies to carcinogens linked to manufacturing processes, the chemical footprint of plastics amplifies the crisis far beyond its carbon implications.

Decarbonizing the plastics industry, as some companies now propose, is a false solution. True solutions must address not only the climate footprint of plastics but also their broader toxic legacy.

An Unfinished Fight

While the Busan meeting failed to produce a treaty, it succeeded in highlighting what must change for future negotiations to succeed. Moreover, it remained successful in retaining the obligations that mattered by countering derailing tactics by certain bad-faith actors. The next resumed session (INC-5.2) offers a critical opportunity to address key sticking points:

1. Production Limits: A global cap on plastic production is non-negotiable. Countries must resist attempts to dilute this measure and instead push for clear, enforceable targets.

2. Chemical Regulation: The treaty must include robust mechanisms to phase out harmful chemicals in plastics, coupled with transparency and traceability requirements to ensure that people have a right to know what chemicals go into their products.

3. Financing Mechanisms: Developing nations are disproportionately affected by plastic pollution and they need financial and technical support to implement treaty obligations. The treaty should be funded by developed countries and should also ensure that the private sector, especially polymer producers, pays its share.

4. Inclusivity and Transparency: The exclusion of observers, Indigenous peoples, and civil society from critical stages of the Busan session undermined the treaty’s legitimacy. Future sessions must prioritize meaningful inclusivity and transparency, ensuring that all voices, especially those from Indigenous Peoples and frontline communities, are heard.

Holding Spoilers Accountable

It is imperative to call out countries that continue to obstruct progress in the INC negotiations. Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Iran, among others, self-organized under the so-called “Like-Minded Countries” bloc and have consistently opposed meaningful advances in the treaty process. Their tactics go beyond mere scepticism of the process. They actively undermine the treaty’s ambition and hold back substantive decisions by weaponizing the requirement for consensus in all decisions.

Consensus, while valuable for inclusivity, is being misused as a way to stifle ambition. International precedent, from the Minamata Convention to the Montreal Protocol, demonstrates that incorporating voting as a last resort when countries can otherwise not agree, strengthens negotiation processes and ensures democratic decision-making. Without this safeguard, the plastics treaty risks being shaped by the interests of the few at the expense of the many.

To salvage the treaty’s ambition, the INC must embrace procedural reforms that prioritize efficiency and inclusivity. Voting provisions are essential to overcoming the current impasse and enabling the majority of nations to push forward robust, science-based measures.

A Path Forward

The road to a binding global plastics treaty will not be easy, but the urgency of the crisis leaves no room for complacency. Multilateralism, while imperfect, remains our best hope for tackling global challenges. The successes of past agreements, from the Montreal Protocol to the Minamata Convention, remind us that persistence and ambition can yield transformative results.

We may have left Busan without a treaty — but no treaty was better than a weak one. Civil society, scientists, and progressive nations must rally to maintain pressure, ensuring that the treaty addresses the full lifecycle of plastics—from extraction to disposal—and delivers justice for affected communities. High-ambition country negotiators will have to leave their diplomatic tightropes at home and bring their steel-toed boots to the next session.

In the words of Panama’s lead negotiator, Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, “When we reconvene, the stakes will be higher. This is not a drill, this is a fight for survival. We did not accept a weak treaty here, and we never will.”

Dharmesh Shah is Consulting Senior Campaigner with Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), and coordinator of the Civil Society and Rights Holders Coalition.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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