Tag: Busani Bafana

Invasive Species, a Fast-Riding Horsemen Galloping the Biodiversity Apocalypse — Global Issues

Wild boar female (Susscrofa) walking on mud beside a river with her piglets. The wild boar is an invasive Alien Species in countries such as South Africa, Vanuatu, and Uruguay. Credit: Budimir Jevtic/Shutterstock
  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo and bonn)
  • Inter Press Service

BULAWAYO AND BONN, Sep 04 (IPS) – Mango farmer Eufria Nyadome used to earn USD 60 from selling a 20-litre bucket of fresh mangoes and now can barely make USD 20 even though her mango trees are giving a good yield. She is throwing away buckets of rotten mangoes.

Nyadome, from Mhondiwa Village in Ward 9 Murehwa District of Zimbabwe, has lost her income to an invasive Oriental fruit fly all the way from Asia. The fruit fly is classified as an invasive alien species, flagged by scientists as one of the leading causes of biodiversity loss around the world.  Invasive alien species could be plants, animals or microorganisms that are introduced intentionally or unintentionally into areas where they are not native.

The Oriental fruit fly is one of the 3,500 harmful invasive alien species that a new report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) finds are seriously threatening nature, nature’s contributions to people and good quality of life.

Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control
Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control.

According to the Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control launched by IPBES this week, more than 37,000 alien species have been introduced by many human activities to regions and biomes around the world. The report finds that the global economic cost of invasive alien species exceeded USD 423 billion annually in 2019, with costs having at least quadrupled every decade since 1970.

From the European shore crab (Carcinus maenas), Lantana (Lantana camera), the Fall Army Worm, (Spodoptera frugiperda), Nile Perch (Lates niloticus) to the water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes), alien species invasive species have changed and destroyed global biodiversity and ecosystems, causing harm to global economies, human health and wellbeing as well as impacting on food and nutrition security.

Scientists say the conservative estimate of global economic costs is now rising at unprecedented rates.

“Invasive alien species are a major threat to biodiversity and can cause irreversible damage to nature, including local and global species extinctions, and also threaten human wellbeing,” said Helen Roy, co-chair of the assessment report.

In 2019, the IPBES Global Assessment Report found that invasive alien species are one of the five most important direct drivers of biodiversity loss – alongside changes in land- and sea use, direct exploitation of species, climate change and pollution.

Aliens Are Coming

The report warned of increasing invasive alien species worldwide on the back of a growing global economy, intensified and expanded land- and sea-use change combined with demographic changes.

Even without the introduction of new alien species, already established alien species will continue to expand their ranges and spread to new countries and regions, the report said, noting that climate change will make the situation even worse.

“What we demonstrated in this assessment is that the number of alien species is increasing by a huge margin where 200 invasive alien species a year get into an ecosystem; if nothing is done, these numbers are going to increase dramatically and impact food security and human health,” Sebataolu Rahlao, a Coordinating Lead Author of the report, told IPS in an interview.

Boat crossing a river with water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes). This is an Invasive Alien Species in countries such as Egypt, Kenya, South Korea, and Mexico. Credit: CANVA

“We are also saying there are interactions with global changes, including climate change, pollution which all increase the likelihood of invasive alien species increasing in particular areas, for example, climate change has provided opportunities for invasive alien species to thrive like the river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh) trees in South Africa have increased because their suitable habitat has increased due to climate change.”

While the IPBES experts confirm that there are insufficient measures to tackle these challenges of invasive alien species, with only 17 percent of countries with national laws or regulations specifically addressing invasive alien species, effective management and more integrated approaches were available solutions.

An invasive Oriental fruit fly on an unripe mango. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

“The good news is that, for almost every context and situation, there are management tools, governance options and targeted actions that really work,” co-chair of the Assessment chair Anibal Pauchard said, noting that prevention was the best and most cost-effective option in addition to eradication, containment, and control of invasive alien species.

Commenting on the report, Inger Andersen, Executive Director United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said humanity has been moving species around the world for centuries, but when imported species run rampant and unbalance local ecosystems, indigenous biodiversity suffers.

“As a result, invasive species have become one of the five horsemen of the biodiversity apocalypse that is riding down harder and faster upon the world,” Andersen said in a statement, adding that, “While the other four horsemen – changing land- and sea use, over-exploitation, climate change and pollution – are relatively well understood, knowledge gaps remain around invasive species.

Impacts on society of alien species. Credit: IPBES

Fighting the aliens

In Zimbabwe, farmers have taken the fight to the alien invasive species.

“We learnt about the fruit fly that was attacking our mangoes, and we were trained on how to control it from ruining our fruit,” said Nyadome, who is one of 1200 smallholder farmers in the Murehwa District who was trained in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices four years ago. IPM involves the use of various pest management practices which are friendly to humans, animals, and the environment.

Local people in Chile fight forest fires where a mix of invasive alien species, including shrubs and trees, increase fire intensity and extent. Credit: Guillermo Roberto Salgado Sanchez

The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), based in Nairobi, Kenya, together with various donor agencies and partners, developed an IPM package to manage the invasive fruit fly, which has been promoted under the Alien Invasive Fruit Fly project, a multi-stakeholder initiative under The Cultivate Africa’s Future Fund (CultiAF) by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

ICIPE developed bio-based holistic solutions to address the fly problem in East and Southern Africa, such as the male-annihilation technique, which involves mass trapping the male fruit flies using attractants combined with insecticide and the use of “bait stations” — small plastic containers that hold food bait for fruit flies which has an insecticide that kills the flies.

“There is a 100 percent loss in fruit yields when the fruit fly is not controlled, but we have seen that for those farmers who consistently used the IPM package, the fruit fly damage has been reduced, and farmers in most cases have had mango fruit yields of up to 70 percent,”  said Shepard Ndlela, an Entomologist with ICIPE and Project manager of the Invasive Fruit Fly project.

IPS UN Bureau Report


Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Climate Justice Delayed, Is Justice Denied — Global Issues

A family shelter on the roof of their small house surrounded by floodwater in Jatrapur Union in Kurigram District, Bangladesh. Credit: Muhammad Amdad Hossain/Climate Visuals
  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo, zimbabwe)
  • Inter Press Service

BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE, Aug 31 (IPS) – Climate justice is not just about survival but also about benefit sharing, reducing inequality and enabling a better society that thrives – Yamide Dagnet, Climate Justice Director at Open Society FoundationsThe failure to tackle the climate change crisis is an injustice to the millions who have lost lives and livelihoods through floods, extreme weather, and wildfires, pointing to the urgency of adaptation and mitigation finance, experts say.

It is a race against time to slash carbon emissions to keep global temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold, which gives the world some leeway to adapt to extreme events and prevent the planet from plunging further into crisis.

A global body of scientists assessing the science of climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has warned that “reaching 1.5°C in the near term would cause unavoidable increases in multiple climate hazards and present multiple risks to ecosystems and humans” and advised that limiting limit global warming to close to 1.5°C would substantially reduce projected losses and damages related to climate change in human systems and ecosystems.

Climate Richard Munang, an environment expert and Deputy Regional Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Africa office says there are interrelated overarching priorities for climate action towards combating climate change.

“The first is to narrow down the global emissions gap to keep global temperature rise within the safe 1.5°C warming goal, and the second is to achieve a quantum leap in climate justice that addresses the needs of the communities, peoples, and countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis,” Munang told IPS.

“These are interrelated because the temperature goal of keeping warming to within 1.5°C is the best insurance against an escalation of climate change impacts and their associated costs that lead to the deprivation of many.”

Climate activists demonstrate during the COP27 in Egypt. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

Climate Change an Existential Threat, That’s Why We Need Climate Justice?

Yamide Dagnet, director for Climate Justice at Open Society Foundations, says climate justice is needed more than ever because of the urgency of the impact of global emissions.

From heat waves and wildfires across Europe and Canada to droughts in China, the East, and the Horn of Africa to floods in India and the Himalayas, the impact of climate change-induced weather patterns is unrelenting. Through global temperature analysis, NASA found June 2023 to be the hottest on record.

“At a time when the world is boiling, and there are wide impacts of climate change not only in small developing countries but in developed countries too, which means that there is no justice for any of the vulnerable people anywhere,” Dagnet tells IPS in an interview.

“Communities in all countries are simply struggling to face the future with dignity. Climate justice is not just about subsistence and coping; it’s ensuring communities can thrive in a world transformed by climate impacts that are undeniable everywhere,” Dagnet says. “We need processes to build trust and ensure that those who make commitments fulfill them …The problem is that some of the commitments made years ago to support that transition have not been met, especially by developed countries when it comes to climate finance.”

The ‘Missing’ Climate Money 

As vulnerable countries battle climate change impacts, the provision of finance remains a nagging question ahead of the COP28. According to the IPCC, climate finance for developing countries needs to be increased by up to eight times by 2030.

“Promises made on international climate finance must be kept,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, noting, “Developed countries must honor their commitments to provide $100 billion a year to developing countries for climate support and fully replenish the Green Climate Fund.”

Only two of the G7 countries — Canada and Germany — have contributed to the Green Climate Fund.

Without delay and excuses, Guterres has called on countries to operationalize the loss and damage fund at COP28 this year.

G20 countries need to take more drastic steps to reduce emissions and to invest in ways to adapt to climate change and face the limits to adaptation by supporting their most vulnerable communities and the most vulnerable countries, says Dagnet.

“This is why it is important to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund in COP28 in Dubai. This already took too long — three decades — (to when it was) established at COP27,” she says.

Joab Okanda, Pan Africa Senior Advocacy Advisor, Christian Aid, told IPS that the least responsible for climate emissions are the most vulnerable. Speaking about Africa, he noted the impact is exacerbated “because we have the least resources to build the resilience we need. We are calling on those responsible for the climate crisis to take responsibility, pay for it, and deliver on the much-needed finance, which is delivering climate justice.

“There is a need to deal with the global financial architecture which is not delivering for the people of Africa. It is denying Africa the resources that governments require to invest in health care, education, and social protection and has also put Africa in unsustainable debt,” Okanda says.

Climate Justice Not Just About Survival, But Resilience and Dignity

Aditi Mukherji, Director of CGIAR’s climate impact platform, agreed.

“Contributing as little as four percent of global emissions, Africa faces the unjust dilemma of feeding a rising population with limited resources exactly as climate change is slowing down the rate of growth in food production as well as increases in pests and diseases,” she says.

“Unless GHG emissions decline rapidly, climate impacts will continue to worsen. Here, historical high emitters of the Global North can ratchet up their climate ambition and reduce their emissions while providing financial and technical assistance to put Africa on low emissions pathways that do not compromise future food security.”

Leleti Maluleke, a researcher for the human security and climate change program at Good Governance Africa, says: “When it comes to climate justice, particularly for Africa, Europe, and the West think that Africa wants aid and emergency relief, but what we are looking for is an investment in a climate-resilient future.”

“Africa has a plan to adapt to climate change, but it needs to build the infrastructure, and we need financing from the West … We need investment that will allow us to build resilience to climate change.”

Dagnet believes that “Climate justice is not just about survival but also about benefit sharing, reducing inequality and enabling a better society that thrives … We want to see a Fund that comes to life as soon as possible. With the right capitalization and mechanisms to make it accessible to those who need it the most; not just the vulnerable countries, but local vulnerable communities as well.”

In Germany, wind and solar energy coexist with energy generated by burning fossil fuels in the Western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Climate experts say it’s crucial to narrow down the global emissions gap to keep global temperature rise within the safe 1.5 degree C warming goal. Credit: Emilio Godoy/IPS

Numbing Numbers

The global impact of climate change is sobering, considering financial, social, and cultural losses across all development sectors.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, extreme weather anomalies have caused the deaths of two million people and incurred USD 4.3 trillion in economic damages over the past 50 years.

While the World Health Organization has described climate change as the most significant health threat to humanity, approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress will be witnessed between 2030 and 2050 due to climate change.

An annual average of 21.5 million people were forcibly displaced each year by weather-related events – such as floods, storms, wildfires, and extreme temperatures – between 2008 and 2016, says the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), warning that more people will be displaced as climate change unleashes more shocks.

“There is high agreement among scientists that climate change, in combination with other drivers, is projected to increase the displacement of people in the future,” the UNHCR says, noting that climate change has also been a “threat multiplier” in many of today’s conflicts, from Darfur to Somalia to Iraq and Syria.

In the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, more than 43 million people need humanitarian assistance, 32 million of whom are acutely food insecure due to devastating drought, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Phasing Out Fossil Fuels?

However, the world can still change course and correct the climate crisis. The Global Stocktake taking place for the first time at this year’s COP28 can help accelerate climate action.

The Paris Agreement’s Global Stocktake (GST) is an assessment of the global response to the climate crisis done every five years, and it evaluates the world’s progress on slashing greenhouse gas emissions, building resilience to climate impacts, and securing finance and support to address the climate crisis.

“But this cannot be just another global assessment showing how far off track we are. The Stocktake process should also serve as a global accelerator, driving nations to step up their climate action and pursue the transformational change needed to secure a zero-carbon, climate-resilient, and equitable future,” argues the World Resources Institute (WRI) in a primer by Jamal Srouji, Felipe Borja Díaz, and Deirdre Cogan.

For the world to keep to the 1.5 C, a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels — coal, oil, gas — would be needed, and a similar escalation of investment in green energy such as wind and solar.

Taking a swipe at oil companies that have continued to profit from fossil fuels with no commitment to phase them out, Guterres said: “Trading the future for 30 pieces of silver is immoral.”

IPS UN Bureau Report


Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Political Will and Investment Will Score the Goal for Zero Hunger — Global Issues

IFAD says investing in smallholder farmers is key to tackling food insecurity or severe food and nutritional insecurity. CREDIT: Busani Bafana/IPS
  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo)
  • Inter Press Service

BULAWAYO, Aug 14 (IPS) – A world free from hunger is possible, but it demands political will, investment, and effective policies to transform agriculture and rural development, says Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

More than 800 million people in the world went to bed hungry in 2022, and 3.1 billion others could not afford to eat a healthy diet in 2021, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’s latest State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World report.

IFAD described the startling SOFI report as “a wake-up call for the fight against hunger,” noting that massive investment in rural development and small-scale agriculture will win the war on hunger.

“Every year, the hunger and food insecurity numbers remind us of this dark reality: Not only are we not reaching our targets — we are moving farther away,” Lario told IPS in an interview via email.

Enough Food but Hunger for Decisive Action

According to the SOFI, hunger numbers stalled between 2021 and 2022, but there were 122 million more hungry people in 2022 than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sustainable Development Goal #2 is the zero-hunger goal of the United Nations. It aims to end all forms of hunger and malnutrition by 2030 by ensuring all people — especially children and the more vulnerable — have access to sufficient and nutritious food all year round. But is the zero-hunger goal realistic, given that the number of hungry people globally is rising despite advances in technology to boost food production and productivity?

Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). CREDIT: IFAD

“In a world of plenty, where inequalities are increasing, zero hunger is the only objective to have,” Lario said. “Ending hunger is feasible. It is a matter of political will, adequate investments, and policies.”

Commenting on the SOFI report, Danielle Nierenberg, President of the Food Tank, said world leaders were failing to prioritize the needs of millions of people around the globe in creating better food and nutrition security.

“If we leave people behind because there is something going on in the world, whether there is conflict in Russia against Ukraine or inflation across the globe … If we do not protect and nourish those who are most in need, we are setting ourselves up for disaster,” Nierenberg told IPS in an interview.

“Hungry people tend to be angry people for obvious reasons … What we need is better political will and active policymakers to really solve this with the help of communities, nonprofits and research institutions who have been leading the charge against hunger.”

Reacting to the SOFI report, Oxfam, a global charity focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, said it was unforgivable for governments to watch billions of people going hungry in a world of plenty.

“Solutions to end world hunger exist, but they require bold and united political action,” said Hanna Saarinen, Oxfam International Food Policy Lead, in a statement, calling on governments to support small-scale food producers and promote especially the rights of women farmers, who are key in the fight against global hunger.

Lario said in Africa, conflicts, poverty, lack of infrastructure and access to energy, and poor access to education and vocational training, combined with high population growth, were converging to worsen the challenge of food and nutrition insecurity.

However, this did not mean that hunger cannot be overcome as the African continent had many assets to boost food security, including land, natural resources, and the dynamism of its youth, said Lario.

Invest in Rural Development and Small-Scale Agriculture

Danielle Nierenberg, President of the Food Tank. CREDIT: Food Tank

Asked what needs to be done to win the war against hunger and undernutrition on the back of many countries which put more money into funding war than food security.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia as well as the tension in East Asia, have driven increased global military spending by 3.7 percent in real terms in 2022, to a record high of USD 2 240 billion, according to new data on global military spending published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

“Governments need to understand that hunger and poverty fuel conflicts, migration and ultimately instability,” Lario told IPS, noting that the Ukraine war and the dependency of many countries on food imports has led to the recognition of the importance of food sovereignty and food security for national security.

“To win the war on hunger, we need to massively scale up our investments in rural development and small-scale agriculture,” said Lario.

Lario is convinced that investing in agriculture is three times more effective at reducing poverty than investing in any other sector. Agriculture remains the backbone of many African economies.

Financial support for agriculture has been stagnant at just 4-6 percent of total Overseas Development Aid (ODA) for at least two decades. IFAD notes that agriculture ODA fell to USD 9.9 billion in 2021, far below what is needed.

Very few African governments have invested 10 percent of their budget in agriculture as per the Malabo Declaration of 2014. Besides, small-scale farmers receive less than 2 percent of global climate finance despite being major food providers, Lario said.

IFAD estimates that up to USD 400 billion would be needed annually until 2030 to build sustainable, equitable and resilient food systems.

“We need to tackle the root causes of hunger and rural poverty,” he said, adding that “Inaction will be expensive. Every USD 1 spent on resilience now saves up to USD 10 in emergency aid in the future.”

IPS UN Bureau Report


Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Climate Change Is Making Us Sick, Says WHO Envoy — Global Issues

The World Health Organization says round 7 million people die prematurely each year due to air pollution. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS
  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo)
  • Inter Press Service

BULAWAYO, Aug 02 (IPS) – Climate change is making us sick. It has become urgent to build resilient health systems to secure humanity’s well-being, says the special envoy for climate change and health of the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Climate change is unquestionably affecting our health every day,” says Vanessa Kerry– a renowned global health expert and medical doctor – who was appointed the WHO Director-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health in June.

She has a tall order to amplify WHO’s climate and health messaging and conduct high-level advocacy on tackling climate change to secure global health.

Increasing Disease Burden

“The climate crisis is a health crisis,” Kerry told IPS in an interview, calling for urgent action to mitigate and adapt to the climate challenge, which has increased the burden of disease around the world.

“Climate change poses a fundamental threat to our health. We are  looking at the growing burden of disease, so urgent action is absolutely needed at this  moment not only to address the pipeline of disease that is coming but to ensure that we can mitigate some of the causes of this poor health and  adapt to the complex challenge.”

Vanessa Kerry. Credit: Seed Global Health

According to the WHO, one in four deaths in the world currently is from preventable environmental causes. For example, around 7 million people die prematurely each year due to air pollution, which is more than the deaths during three years of COVID globally, Kerry said.

The  WHO is already estimating an extra 250 000 deaths per year linked to climate change.

Climate change-induced extreme weather has spiked the incidents of infectious and communicable, and non-communicable diseases, while extreme heat has triggered a rise in cardiovascular diseases and mental illnesses.

Malawi and parts of Southern Africa have suffered serious cholera outbreaks. India faced health heat-related illnesses, a  surge of malaria after the flooding in Pakistan last year, and a malaria outbreak in the United States, all linked to climate change.

Vector-borne diseases, including malaria, dengue, schistosomiasis, human African trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease, and yellow fever, are strongly affected by climatic conditions such as temperature, rainfall, and humidity. While water-borne and sanitation-related diseases, such as cholera, typhoid, and dysentery, are a major contributor to global disease burden and mortality, according to the WHO.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) forecasts a 90 percent probability of the El Niño event in the second half of 2023, which is set to trigger a rise in global temperatures and more extreme heat in many parts of the world and in the ocean, said WMO Secretary-General, Petteri Taalas.

“The declaration of an El Niño by WMO is the signal to governments around the world to mobilize preparations to limit the impacts on our health, our ecosystems, and our economies,” Taalas said.

El Niño – a naturally occurring climate pattern associated with warming of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean – occurs on average every two to seven years, and episodes typically last nine to 12 months.

The IPCC finds that there is a more than 50 percent chance that global temperature rise will reach or surpass 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) between 2021 and 2040 across studied scenarios, and under a high-emissions pathway, specifically, the world may hit this threshold even sooner — between 2018 and 2037.

According to the IPCC Assessment Report, climate change has adversely affected the physical health of people globally. Furthermore, extreme heat events have resulted in human mortality and morbidity, while climate-related food-borne, water-borne diseases, and vector-borne diseases have also increased.

Health at COP28

2023 is a crucial year for the intersection of climate change and health as the 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), more commonly referred to as COP28, will hold a  first-ever day dedicated to health at the climate change conference in the United Arab Emirates in December. This will serve as a critical opportunity to emphasize the profound significance of addressing climate change in relation to human health, Kerry said.

“My goal is to ensure our response to the climate crisis could be health-centered and try to mainstream it at COP negotiations, “ said Kerry, who believes in promoting public understanding of the climate crisis as a health crisis that must be managed now.

“I think people tend to associate climate change with just one aspect of health, like infectious diseases. But the truth is we see climate change impacting pretty much every aspect of health, communicable diseases to non-communicable diseases,” she said.

The Paris Agreement of 2015 is seen as a public health agreement with the WHO highlighting that health considerations are critical to the advancement of climate action, and meeting the Paris Agreement could save about a million lives a year worldwide by 2050 through reductions in air pollution alone.

Kerry said, for instance, investment in reducing air pollution would save lives and prevent a future loss of almost $50 trillion spent since 2010 in addressing this challenge.

“We also have an opportunity to reframe how we think about what being healthy means and how that impacts both our environment and how we live, ” said Kerry, stressing the importance of meaningful investment in stronger health systems and a workforce capable of meeting some of the climate burdens.

Investing in Health Systems

Kerry said building resilient health systems through training health workers and investing in infrastructure is key to responding to climate change. Many health systems around the world are already under-resourced and understaffed. They cannot deal with the current burden of disease and what will come as the impacts of climate change grow.

“We also have an opportunity to reframe how we think about what being healthy means and how that impacts both our environment and how we live, ” said Kerry, stressing the need for absolute dollars going into health and a health-centered climate smart response.

IPS UN Bureau Report


Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Civil Society Space in Southern Africa Shrinking as Government Repression Rises — Global Issues

  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo)
  • Inter Press Service

BULAWAYO, Jul 31 (IPS) – Freedom of expression is under threat as governments in Southern Africa have enacted laws restricting civil society organizations, says global rights advocacy organisation, CIVICUS, warning that human rights violations are on the increase globally.

“The state of civil society is unfortunately not improving; civil restrictions continue across the world,” said David Kobe, the advocacy Lead at CIVICUS.

“More than 2 billion people live in countries that are rated as closed, which is the worst rating any country can have – this means that 28 percent of the world’s population are not able to speak out when there is corruption or human rights violations restrictions or cannot write articles as journalists without facing appraisals,” Kobe told IPS in an interview, noting that the organization’s human rights tool is indicating growing suppression of civil space across the world.

The CIVICUS Monitor, a tool accessing the state of civic space in more than 190 countries, provides evidence of restrictions on human rights by governments. The CIVICUS Monitor rates the state of civil space ‘open, ‘repressed’, and ‘closed’ according to each country.

Kobe notes that human rights violations are increasing globally with more restrictions on civil society in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The picture is not different in the Southern Africa region where restrictions on civil space have been continuing, and these have included censorship, violent response to protests and restrictive laws as seen in Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe

Closing Civil Society Space

Zimbabwe remains on the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist as attacks on civic space continue ahead of the scheduled 2023 national elections.

Last November, Zimbabwe approved the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Bill, 2022, known as the Patriotic Act. The law seeks to create the offence of “wilfully damaging the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe” and will essentially criminalise the lobbying of foreign governments to extend or implement sanctions against Zimbabwe or its officials.

Furthermore, the Zimbabwe government gazetted the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill in November 2021, amending the Private Voluntary Organisations Act, which governs non-profit organizations. The main aim of the Bill is to comply with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations to strengthen the country’s legal framework to combat money laundering, financing terrorism and proliferation.

Civil society organizations warn that the Bill could hinder their activities and financing with potential adverse impacts on economic development. Besides, NGOs argue that they are a low-risk sector with no precedence of financing terrorism and money laundering.

Musa Kika, Executive Director of Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, says the PVO will affect the operations of NGOs, including deterring donors from funding PVOs, fearing the money could end up under the grip of the government. Besides, the Bill has a provision giving the Minister of Justice unfettered powers to place under supervision or surveillance, using subjective discretion, those PVOs the Minister deems to be high risk.

“Continued hostility and harassment on the part of the government towards the work of CSOs in the country will thus only result in a hugely detrimental effect on their efforts in advancing the protection of and respect for the basic human rights and freedoms of ordinary Zimbabwean civilians as espoused under Zimbabwe’s Constitution,” Kika said. He noted that civil society organisations were operating in a tough environment in Zimbabwe where the government does not trust them, especially those working in the fields of governance and human rights.

“We have a government that does not want to account,” said Kika. “We have had many human rights activists who have been arrested on flimsy charges…Terrorism finance is being used as a cover, but the motive is to close the democratic space because the government and accountability in human rights and governance are sworn enemies.”

In Zimbabwe, NGOs have, in partnership with the government, supported development, providing a range of services in health, education, social protection, humanitarian assistance, environmental management, emergency response and democracy building.  A research report commissioned by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum in collaboration with the Southern Defenders and Accountability Lab has warned of huge job and financial losses if the Bill is passed into law.

United Nations experts have urged Zimbabwe’s President Emerson Mnangagwa to reject enacting a bill that would severely restrict civic space and the right to freedom of association in the country.

However, President Mnangagwa has defended the passage of the PVO Bill, vowing to speedily “sign it into law once it reaches my desk”. In a commentary in his weekly column published by the government-owned Sunday Mail, Mnangagwa said signing the bill into law will usher Zimbabwe into a “new era of genuine philanthropic and advocacy work, unsullied by ulterior political or financial motives.”

Mnangagwa said the law was meant to defend the country from foreign infiltration.

Engendering Patriotism but Endangering Democracy

Zimbabwe has also recently approved another repressive law known as the ‘Patriot Act’.

“The Patriotic Act is an extremely repressive and unconstitutional piece of legislation that has serious ramifications for citizens’ rights, particularly the rights of freedom of expression in the lead up to the elections,” human rights lawyer, Dough Coltart, tells IPS in an interview.

“There is a very real need to educate the citizens on what the ramifications of this Act are for people’s lives because the Act has far-reaching consequences for the entire country and will essentially stifle any public dialogue around the challenges we are facing as a country.”

“The Patriot law is a bad piece of legislation which is an affront to the practice of ethical journalism in Zimbabwe,” Njabulo Ncube, Coordinator of the Zimbabwe National Editors’ Forum (ZINEF), told IPS. “It stinks to the highest skies as it criminalizes the practice of good journalism. It is anti-media freedom and free expression…civil society organisations have also been caught in the mix; they cannot effectively make government account for its actions.”

Democracy Dimming

The situation in Zimbabwe is echoed in some countries across Southern Africa, where governments are cracking down on CSOs in the name of protecting national sovereignty and the threats of money laundering and terrorism financing.

In Angola, the country’s National Assembly, on May 25 2023, passed a draft NGO Statute, which CSOs have criticized for limiting freedom of association by giving the state excessive powers to interfere with civil society activities.

According to the Movimento de Defensores de Direitos Humanos de Angola (Movement of Human Rights Defenders of Angola, KUTAKESA), the government has targeted civil society with legislation that is meant for terrorists and money launderers, though it has never been proven in any court that a CSO has committed an act of terrorism in Angola.

On the contrary, the rationale of this legislation constitutes institutional terrorism, the target of which are CSOs, said Godinho Cristóvão, a jurist, human rights defender and executive director of KUTEKA in an interview with the CIVICUS Monitor.

“The Angolan authorities should have aligned themselves with the democratic rule of law and respected the work of CSOs and HRDs,” Cristóvão is quoted as saying.

“Instead, there has been an increase in threats, harassment and illegal arrests of human rights defenders who denounce or hold peaceful demonstrations against acts of bad governance and violations of citizens’ rights and freedoms. There have been clear setbacks with regard to the guarantee of fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the constitution, as well as the rights set out in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other human rights treaties Angola has ratified.”

In Mozambique, a new NGO on Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act, which overregulates CSOs, is seen as the death knell for the civic movement in the country. The Act was approved in October 2022 under the pretext of fighting terrorism. It has further curtailed freedoms of expression, information, press, assembly and public participation.

Paula Monjane, Executive Director of the Civil Society Learning and Capacity Building Centre (CESC), a Mozambican non-profit civil society organisation, said currently, the legislation was being proposed to silence dissenting voices and people fighting for better governance of public affairs and the protection of human rights in the country.

The draft Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Act law establishes a legal regime for the creation, organisation and functioning of CSOs, and Monjane highlighted that it contains several norms that violate freedom of association despite this right being safeguarded by the constitution and international human rights treaties.

“It gives the government absolute and discretionary powers to ‘create’, control the functioning of, suspend and extinguish CSOs,” said Monjane, adding, “If the bill is approved, it will legitimise already existing practices restricting civic space, allowing the persecution of dissenting voices and organisations critical of the government, up to banning them from continuing to operate.”

Monjane said if the bill is passed into law CSOs in Mozambique will push for it to be declared unconstitutional and will ask the African Union, through the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the United Nations, through the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association to urgently condemn it.

On actions to foster human rights and human rights defenders, Kobe said civil society organisations must be supported to hold governments accountable for upholding national and international human rights conventions that they have subscribed to.

The Universal Periodic Review, an assessment of the state of civic and human rights of a country over a four-year period, provides recommendations to governments enabling them to open civic space and remove restrictive laws.

“Governments need to implement the recommendations of the UPR and not treat them as a formality for them to be seen by the international community as respecting human rights when they are not,” said Kobe, adding that encouraging governments to implement the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development was also a way of getting them to see development alongside human rights.

IPS UN Bureau Report


Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

A Disease of the Poor Begs For Rich Funding — Global Issues

A public awareness banner about tuberculosis on a fence in the Hope Fountain area, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS
  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo)
  • Inter Press Service

BULAWAYO, Jul 03 (IPS) – The United Nations General Assembly is convening a high-level meeting on Tuberculosis (TB) to get a political commitment for increased funding for programmes and research to end an old disease that today kills more people than AIDS and COVID.

TB, an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, kills 1.5 million people annually, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Despite being curable at a relatively low cost, TB has remained a health burden, especially in developing countries, because of a combination of poor diagnosis and treatment and inadequate funding for research in developing new vaccines.

A coalition of TB organizations is calling on political leaders to raise their commitments to funding and ending TB. They call for a TB research and development funding boost to USD5 billion annually and ensure all national TB responses are equitable, inclusive, gender-sensitive, rights-based and people-centred.

In 2018, at the UN high-level meeting on TB, nations pledged to invest USD2 billion for TB research and USD13 billion annually for TB diagnostics, treatment and care by 2022. However, these commitments have not been met five years on.

Stronger political commitment to end TB is key, says Mel Spigelman, CEO of the TB Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding faster-acting and affordable drug regimens to fight TB.

Excerpts:

IPS: While the world has swiftly responded to global crises such as AIDS and, recently, the COVID pandemic, TB has remained sidelined. Shouldn’t it trigger political action?

Mel SpigeIman: One of the major issues with TB is it is very heavily a disease of the poor, and that is just the reality in terms of political will. Governments have become complacent about TB, which has been around for so long and kills more people than any other infectious disease.

IPS: What needs to be done to bring TB to global attention? Should we have a TB pandemic in America and Europe to take action?

MS: We need to continue what we have been doing in terms of raising awareness at the United Nations, for instance, with the preparations for a high-level meeting on TB. We need to ensure we bring TB to the front and centre of attention of the political forces and powers.

IPS: The issue of a stronger commitment to ending TB, where do we start?

MS: We need to start obviously on a global level raising the prominence and feasibility of ending TB and highlighting the difficulties that exist around the world with TB. We need to engage with high-income countries in what they can do in terms of financial resources and with low- and middle-income countries in terms of access to care in the healthcare system and participation in research and trials. Clinical trials are all done in relatively poor countries where we need to ensure that we are not only getting the commitment from a small number of countries around the world, which is really the situation now but from all the countries around the world. TB affects every single country in the world.

IPS: When we talk about high-level commitment, there is a question of putting money into programmes and research. Is this happening?

MS: Commitment means bringing in the money but also the issue of the status of the programmes within countries. We at TB Alliance, for example, have introduced a new regimen for Drug Resistance TB. It is a three-drug regimen called BPaL. This treatment has brought down the time it takes to cure drug-resistant TB from 18 months to 6 months while, at the same time, it has increased the cure rate up to 90 percent on all oral drugs. The treatment was first approved in the U.S. back in 2019 and in Europe in 2020. It is only this year that we are beginning to see significantly more uptake in the countries that have a problem.

IPS: Why has it taken so long for global uptake of the lifesaving drugs for TB?

MS: It is because we live in a world where innovations like this are uncommon and in countries where there are really a lot of intermediary steps which could be shortened considerably with the proper attention. This is where even the poorest countries could also play a major role by looking at the regulatory systems and health care structure on adopting new innovative treatments. It is the same with diagnostics. There are new diagnostics brought into the field that have not been taken up.

IPS: What kind of financial gap are we talking about for TB programmes and research?

MS: If we work at numbers that are coming out of the STOP TB Partnership and the World Health Organization and others, we are looking at a USD2.5 to USD3 billion a year shortfall.

IPS: The high-level Meeting on TB is coming up in September. Will you garner the political will and greater commitment towards funding for TB at this meeting?

MS: Am I convinced? No. Is it worth it? Yes, because it is certainly possible that it brings about what we are hoping for. Watching the number of people working tirelessly to increase the chances of this meeting raising the commitments (needed) indicates it will be successful.

IPS: Many developing countries are also high TB burden spots where costs for diagnosis and treatment are high. Will the high-level meeting unlock funds, especially for Africa?

MS: The Global Fund plays a major role in ensuring that countries do not need to pay, and so there are other commitments to the Global Fund that are made by the wealthier countries, and that commitment then pays for LMIC countries’ adoption and use of drugs. Clearly, any innovation has to be affordable, and that is of great importance to us.

The new treatment we developed for DR-TB is cheaper than the old one. The new treatment and diagnostics do not necessarily have to be more expensive; they can actually save money. That is the reason why we need – on a global level – to invest in innovation because innovation, in the end, actually saves money.
IPS UN Bureau Report


Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Negotiations Must Accelerate Climate Action and Save Vulnerable Countries — Global Issues

Woman and child walk through flood waters in east Jakarta, Indonesia. Climate change impacts are becoming more severe, and there is concern that vulnerable developing countries will not receive the assistance required to mitigate risks. Credit: Kompas/Hendra A Setyawan / World Meteorological Organization
  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo)
  • Inter Press Service

BULAWAYO, Jun 19 (IPS) – Vulnerable countries, banking on robust climate negotiations, want an inclusive funding package to help them with the devastating impacts of climate change.

The poor progress at the 2023 Bonn Climate Change Conference, known as the 58th session of the Subsidiary Bodies of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has dampened hopes for successful climate negotiations at COP 28.

SB58, which closed in Bonn, Germany, last week, was marked by wide disagreements, including the adoption of the agenda. The session ended without concrete outcomes on an array of key issues, such as the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, the mitigation work programme, the global stock take (GST), and the global goal on adaptation (GGA).

Yamide Dagnet, Director for Climate Justice at Open Society Foundations. Credit: TJ Kirkpatrick, Open Society Foundations

“Even when we do not like the pace that the negotiations have gone, we have to find a way to a solution sooner than later; human existence is at stake,” Yamide Dagnet, Climate Justice Director at Open Society Foundations (OSF), told IPS.

The foundation has been supporting the climate change community in pushing for solutions.

“We need to see more efforts to make the whole society more resilient.”

She said having a financial package for investment and development aligned with the Paris Agreement was crucial.

Dagnet said there was an urgent need to support building resilient communities because climate change impacts are becoming more frequent and severe, destroying lives and livelihoods, particularly in vulnerable countries. Furthermore, the extreme weather events have also destroyed communities and cultures and damaged property.

“We need to work hard, sweat, and speed the pace of negotiations on our ability to find common ground and avoid a zero-sum game,” said Dagnet, a former climate change negotiator. She underscored that the Bonn meetings matter because they are laying the ground for discussions at COP28 and highlighting areas of cooperation and division.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its recent report, has called for accelerated action to adapt to climate change while cutting greenhouse gas emissions, warning of a huge gap in actions currently underway and what is needed to deal with the increasing risks.

Developed countries have called for the inclusion of adaptation in the GST.

Ephraim Mwepya Shitima, Chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) developing countries’ commitment to mitigating climate change, should be recognized. He called for an additional message in the GST to acknowledge this “strong demonstration of commitment by vulnerable countries in the face of inadequate international support.”

Vulnerable countries want mitigation and adaptation to be included in a negotiated package at COP28, Dagnet said, noting that the G7 should fulfill their promise to provide adaptation finance.

“The financing of the Loss and Damage is part of the financing package that is needed. But we need to focus on everything, including mitigation and adaptation for vulnerable countries; otherwise, COP 28 will not achieve anything,” she said, highlighting that countries must develop more ambitious climate plans.

The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, agreed to keep the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2° C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

However, scientists have warned that the world is off target in emission reduction, and the influential UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has indicated that going beyond the 1.5°C threshold risks unleashing severe climate change impacts, including more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves and rainfall.

The agreement also recognized that developed countries should take the lead in providing financial assistance to poor and vulnerable countries while encouraging voluntary contributions by other Parties.

“Climate justice is to be fought for. This is a process, and if we are to make progress in the operationalization of a fund created at COP 27, we need to get clarity on how we can bring in money to that fund, and such money should not be increasing debt for vulnerable countries,” she noted.

Climate finance is a nagging issue for vulnerable countries already suffering the impacts of climate change. They need to adapt and mitigate against climate change by shifting to cleaner energy and making food systems resilient to the impacts of droughts, high temperatures, and floods.

Developed countries, wary of liability, have not delivered the finance they pledged to help vulnerable countries reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. The $100 billion a year financing pledged 20 years ago has not been delivered, and prospects are dim that it will. The envisaged Loss and Damage Fund—if COP28 operationalizes it—will help vulnerable countries cope with climate-induced disasters.

Dagnet says there is a need for innovative financing for loss and damage, such as tapping blended finance, philanthropy, taxes, and levies on some economic sectors, such as fossil fuels and aviation.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently proposed that rich governments tax fossil fuel companies’ windfall profits. The Marshall Islands have also proposed levies on shipping through the International Maritime Organization. At the same time, other ideas for funding adaptation have included levying a small fee on international flights—which contribute to climate-heating emissions—and a global tax on financial market transactions, which the new fund could distribute.

While COP 27 prioritized the establishment of the Loss and Damage Fund, COP 28 is not about cherry-picking an issue to progress on, Dagnet argues, suggesting that the state of the Paris Agreement is key in climate negotiations.

“We need to deliver on all pillars of the Paris Agreement and demonstrate progress,” she said. “We are far from the Paris Agreement goals. The push for energy efficiency targets is really good, but at the same time, we cannot have the message that we will continue business as usual with fossil fuels.”

IPS UN Bureau Report


Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Nothing Beats Bushmeat, Not Even the Risk of Disease — Global Issues

A man with poached kudu in Kenya. Credit: Richard Moller/Tsavo Trust
  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo)
  • Inter Press Service

BULAWAYO, May 18 (IPS) – Meat from wild animals is relished across Africa and widely traded, but scientists are warning that eating bush meat is a potential health risk, especially in the wake of pandemics like COVID-19.

A study at the border settlements of Kenya and Tanzania has found that while people have been aware of the risks associated with eating bushmeat, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak, they don’t worry about hunting and eating wild animals that could transmit diseases.

On the contrary, the demand for bushmeat has increased, the 2023 study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and TRAFFIC and other partners found.

No Beef With Bushmeat

Bushmeat is a collective term for meat derived from wild mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds that live in the jungle, savannah, or wetlands. Bushmeat comes from a variety of wild animals, including monkeys, pangolins, snakes, porcupines, antelopes, elephants, and giraffes.

The study — the first ever to look at disease risk perceptions of wild meat activities in rural communities in East Africa — was conducted in December 2021, and 299 people were interviewed in communities on the Kenya-Tanzania border.

Key findings of the study revealed that levels of education played a critical role in understanding zoonotic disease transmission; a majority of the people interviewed who had higher levels of education were more aware of the risks of disease transmission.

Nearly 80 percent of the respondents had learned about COVID-19 from mass media sources, but this did not impact their levels of wild meat consumption. Some even reported increased consumption. Hoofed animals, such as antelopes, gazelles and deer, were found to be the most consumed species, followed by birds, rodents and shrews.

Scientist and lead study author at ILRI, Ekta Patel, commented that it was important to commence the study in Kenya given the limited information on both rural and urban demand for wild meat and the potential risks associated with zoonotic diseases. The Kenya-Tanzania border is a known hotspot for wild meat consumption.

Zoonotic diseases are those that originate in animals — be they tamed or wild — that then mutate and ‘spill over’ into human populations.  Two-thirds of infectious diseases, from HIV/AIDS, which are believed to have originated in chimpanzee populations in early 20th century Central Africa, to COVID-19, believed to have originated from an as-yet undetermined animal in 2019, come from animals.

Confirming that there is no COVID health risk of consuming wild meat, Patel said that given the COVID-19 pandemic, which is thought to originate from wildlife, the study was investigating if the general public was aware of health risks associated with frequent interactions with wildlife.

Patel said some of these risks of eating bush meat include coming into contact with zoonotic pathogens, which can make the handler unwell. Other concerns are linked to not cooking meats well, resulting in foodborne illnesses.

“The big worry is in zoonotic disease risks associated with wild meat activities such as hunting, skinning and consuming,” Patel told IPS.

Africa is facing a growing risk of outbreaks caused by zoonotic pathogens, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The global health body reported a 63% increase in zoonotic outbreaks in the region from 2012-2022 compared to 2001-2011.

Control or Ban?

Scientists estimate that 70 percent of emerging infectious diseases originated from animals, and 60 percent of the existing infectious disease are zoonotic. For example, Ebola outbreaks in the Congo basin have been traced back to hunters exposed to ape carcasses.  She called for governments to implement policies to control zoonotic disease transmission risks through community engagements to change behaviour.

The study, while representative of the small sample, offered valuable insights about bushmeat consumption trends happening across Africa, where bushmeat is many times on the menu, says Martin Andimile, co-author of the study and Research Manager at the global wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.

Pointing to the need to improve hygiene and standards of informal markets while at the same time providing communities with alternative protein sources, Andimile believes bushmeat consumption should be paused, citing the difficulty of regulating this source of meat.

“I think people in Africa have other options to get meat besides wild meat although some advocate that they get meat from the wild because of cultural reasons and that it is a delicacy, government systems cannot control the legal exploitation of wildlife,” Andimile told IPS. “I think bushmeat consumption should be stopped until there is a proper way of regulating it.”

Andimile said while some regulation could be enforced where the population of species are healthy enough for commercial culling to give communities bushmeat, growing human populations will impact the offtake of species from the wild.

“Bushmeat consumption is impacting species as some households consume bushmeat on a daily basis, and it is broadly obtained illegally (and is) cheaper than domestic meat,” Andimile told IPS.

Maybe regulation could keep bushmeat on the menu for communities instead of banning it, independent experts argue.

“Wild meat harvesting and consumption should not be banned as this goes against the role of sustainable use in area-based conservation as made clear by recent CBD COP15 decisions,” Francis Vorhies, a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (SULi), says.  He called for an enabling environment for sustainable and inclusive wild meat harvesting, which means better regulations and voluntary standards such as developing a FairWild-like standard for harvesting wild animals.

Another expert, Rogers Lubilo, also a member of the IUCN SULi, concurs that bushmeat consumption should not be banned because it is a major source of protein. He argued that local communities who live side-by-side with wildlife would like to access bushmeat like they used to before, but the current policies across many sites incriminate bushmeat when acquired from illegal sources.

“There is a need to invest in opportunities that will encourage access to legal bushmeat,” Lubilo said. “The trade is big and lucrative, and if harnessed properly with good policies and the ability to monitor, would be part of the broadened wildlife economy.”

Eating Species to Extinction

There is some evidence that the consumption of bushmeat is impacting the species’ population, raising fears that without corrective action, people will eat wildlife to extinction.

The IUCN has warned that bushmeat consumption and trade have driven many species closer to extinction, calling for its regulation. Hunting and trapping are listed as a threat to 4,658 terrestrial species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, including 1,194 species in Africa.

At least 5 million tons of bushmeat are trafficked every year in Central Africa. Africa is expected to lose 50 percent of its bird and mammal species by the turn of the century, says  Eric Nana, a member of the IUCN SULi.

Nana notes that bushmeat trafficking from Africa into European countries like France, Switzerland, Belgium and the UK remains a largely understudied channel. He said estimates show that more than 1,000 tons are trafficked yearly.

“Much of the reptile-based bushmeat trade in Africa is technically illegal, poorly regulated, and little understood,” Patrick Aust, also a member of IUCN SULi, said, adding that reptiles form an important part of the bushmeat trade in Africa and further research is urgently needed to better understand conservation impacts and socioeconomic importance.

IPS UN Bureau Report


Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Biodiversity Rich-Palau Launches Ambitious Marine Spatial Planning Initiative — Global Issues

Palau’s Marine Spatial Plan will provide a framework for managing ocean and coastal resources. Credit: SPC
  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo)
  • Inter Press Service

BULAWAYO, Apr 28 (IPS) – Growing up in Palau in the western Pacific Ocean, Surangel Whipps Jr. played on the reefs and spearfished on an island teeming with birds, giant clams, fish, and turtles.

Today that has all changed as a result of growing sea level rise. Half of the turtle eggs nesting on beaches are not surviving because they are laid in the tidal zone and swallowed by the sea.

During the United Nations Ocean Conference in Portugal in June 2022, Whipps Jr., the President of Palau, emphasized the interconnectedness of the fate of the turtles, their homes, culture, and people, drawing global attention to the dire impact of climate change on this island nation that relies heavily on the ocean for its livelihood.

Protecting Palau’s Marine Treasures

The Pacific Ocean is the lifeblood of Palau, supporting its social, cultural, and economic development. Palau is an archipelago of over 576 islands in the western tropical Pacific Ocean. Its rich marine biota includes approximately 400 species of hard corals, 300 species of soft corals, 1400 species of reef fishes, and the world’s most isolated colony of dugongs and Micronesia’s only saltwater crocodiles.

Worried that the island would have no future under the sea, Palau has launched an ambitious Marine Spatial Plan (MSP) initiative for its marine ecosystems that are vulnerable to climate change and impacted by human activities such as tourism, fishing, aquaculture, and shipping. It will provide a framework for managing ocean and coastal resources in a way that balances economic, social, and environmental objectives. It also aims to minimize conflicts between different users of the ocean and coastal areas and promotes their sustainable use.

Marino-O-Te-Au Wichman, a fisheries scientist with the Pacific Community (SPC) and a member of the Palau MSP Steering Committee, explains that the initiative is particularly important for Palau due to the country’s dependence on the marine ecosystem for food security, livelihoods, and cultural identity.

“We recognize the critical role that MSP plays in the development of maritime sectors with high potential for sustaining jobs and economic growth,” Wichman said, emphasizing that SPC was committed to supporting country-driven MSP processes with the best scientific advice and capacity development support.

“The MSP can help balance ecological and economic considerations in the management of marine resources, ensuring that these resources are used in a sustainable way.  Some of the key ecological considerations that MSP can help address include the conservation of biodiversity, restoration of habitats, and the management of invasive species. While on the economic front, MSP can help promote the sustainable use of marine resources: and promote low-impact economic activities such as ecotourism,” Wichman observed.

Climate Informed Decision Making

As climate change continues to impact ocean conditions, the redistribution of marine ecosystem services and benefits will affect maritime activities and societal value chains. Mainstreaming climate change into MSP can improve preparedness and response while also reducing the vulnerability of marine ecosystems.

Palau’s rich marine biota includes approximately 400 species of hard corals, 300 species of soft corals, 1400 species of reef fishes, and the world’s most isolated colony of dugongs and Micronesia’s only saltwater crocodiles. Credit: SPC

“MSP can inform policy making in Pacific Island countries in several ways to support sustainable development, particularly in the face of climate change impacts. The MSP initiative launched by Palau encompasses a Climate Resilient Marine Spatial Planning project that is grounded in the most reliable scientific data, including climate change scenarios and climate risk models,” said Wichman, noting that the plan can help identify areas that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as sea level rise, ocean acidification, movement of key tuna stocks and increased storm intensity.

Increasing the knowledge base on the impacts of a changing climate is necessary for policymakers to ensure the protection of ecologically important areas and the implementation of sustainable development strategies. This includes building strong evidence that takes into account the potential spatial relocation of uses in MSP, the knowledge of conservation priority species and keystone ecosystem components, and their inclusion in sectoral analyses to promote sustainability and resilience.

Although progress has been made in understanding the impacts of climate change and its effects on marine ecosystems, there is still a need for thorough scientific research to guide management decisions.

“At SPC, we are dedicated to supporting countries in advancing their knowledge of ocean science. Our joint efforts have paid off, as Palau has made significant strides in improving their understanding of the ocean and safeguarding its well-being. Through the Pacific Community Centre for Ocean Science (PCCOS), Palau and other Pacific countries are given support to continue promoting predictive and sustainable ocean practices in the region,” explained Pierre-Yves Charpentier, Project Management Advisor for the Pacific Community Centre for Ocean Science.

A Long-Term Commitment To Protect the Ocean  

In 2015, Palau voted to establish the Palau National Marine Sanctuary, one of the world’s largest marine protected areas, with a planned five-year phase-in. On January 1, 2020, Palau fully protected 80% of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), prohibiting all forms of extractive activities, including mining and all types of fishing.

A Palauan legend is told of a fisherman from the village of Ngerchemai. One day the fisherman went out fishing in his canoe and came upon a large turtle and hastily jumped into the water after it. Surfacing for a breath, the fisherman realized his canoe wasn’t anchored and was drifting away. He then looked at the turtle, and it was swimming away. He could not decide which one he should pursue. In doing so, he lost both the canoe and the turtle.

Unlike the fisherman, Palau cannot afford to be indecisive about protecting its marine treasures, Whipps Jr. said: “Ensuring the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development is our collective responsibility.”

IPS UN Bureau Report


Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Vulnerable Countries Need Action on Loss and Damage Today and Not at COPs To Come — Global Issues

There is an urgency for the loss and damage fund to become a reality as many developing countries are impacted due to climate change. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS
  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo)
  • Inter Press Service

BULAWAYO, Apr 14 (IPS) – In March 2023, more than 600 people died in Malawi after Tropical Cyclone Freddy dumped heavy rain, flooding the southern part of the country, displacing over half a million people, and damaging property and livelihoods.

The Malawi calamity is a stark example of “loss and damage” – the negative impacts of human-caused climate change that is affecting many parts of Africa.

Last November, COP 27 achieved a historic agreement to establish a dedicated Fund for damage, and the growing negative impacts of climate change highlight the urgency of financial support to address loss and damage for vulnerable countries.

Climate finance now

Malawi, like many developing countries, neither has the capability nor the capacity to defend itself against climate change events such as floods and droughts that are increasingly experienced across the African continent.

The need for climate action in tackling loss and damage is articulated in Article 8 of the Paris Agreement, which recognizes the “importance of averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage” associated with the adverse effects of climate change.

Loss and damage have taken centre stage in all UN climate discussions for more than 30 years, championed by the Pacific island state of Vanuatu, itself threatened by climate change. Recently Vanuatu led a global campaign for the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion on states’ legal obligation for climate action and making them liable for climate failures.

Nearly 200 countries meeting at the annual Conference of the Parties to the IPCC in Sharm El Sheikh last November agreed to establish a “loss and damage” fund to help poor countries, many suffering adverse weather events.  The establishment of the Fund comes after spirited resistance by developed countries on taking responsibility for causing climate change through their historic carbon emissions.

Africa has suffered the brunt of climate change impacts even though it contributes a minuscule amount to global carbon emissions. From tropical cyclones in Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar, flooding in Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa to devastating drought in the Horn of Africa.

Pakistan’s climate minister Sherry Rehman, whose country was hit by heavy floods that killed more than 1,000 people and damaged property worth billions of dollars, described the decision to establish the Loss and Damage fund as a “down payment on climate justice”.

However, climate justice may be denied than delayed for many vulnerable countries like Pakistan and Malawi, given divisions on the operationalization of the new funding arrangements for Loss and Damage and the associated fund – key issues that formed the agenda of the first meeting of the Transitional Committee.

The Transitional Committee established at COP27 comprises 10 members from developed countries and 14 members from developing countries. It met in Luxor, Egypt from  26-29 March 2023 to ‘present recommendations on the institutional arrangements, modalities, structure, governance, and terms of reference for the Loss and Damage fund’.

Furthermore, the Committee discussed the elements of the new funding arrangements; and identified and expanded sources of funding. In addition, the coordination and complementarity with existing funding arrangements on climate change formed the agenda of the meeting.

While the initial meeting has been described as successful, there were no agreements on the key questions as to who will finance the fund and who qualifies for the funding under the fund.  However, Mohamed Nasr, Egypt’s lead climate negotiator, told an online media briefing that there was agreement on a road map to establish the fund, at least by COP28, to be held in the United Arab Emirates in November 2023. Nasr was optimistic, stating:

“Will it be created? I hope so and assume so, and this is what we are working towards.”

Nasr further explained that there was a movement forward in the understanding of how to deal with these contentious issues by the next Meeting of the Transitional Committee. Not much to go with but Nasr noted that:

“By the next meeting, there will be another stocktake of what we agreed to do … I hope it will deliver in UAE”

The Transitional Committee should tackle three issues on Loss and Damage funding key before COP28, which include what type of fund, the boundaries of the fund and where the money will come from, experts from the World Resources Institute (WRI) argue in a commentary.

“The fund and funding arrangements need to ensure their ability to help vulnerable countries which are experiencing the brunt of climate impacts,”  Preety Bhandari and five other authors in an insight paper on finance.

“They must consider the continuum between loss and damage and adaptation and how funding can also enhance future adaptive capacity,” the experts said, noting that loss and damage was intrinsically linked to adaptation, with increased adaptation leading to less loss and damage.

Asked if the meeting had a clear understanding and achieved what it had set to do, Nasr said:

“I would say it partially happened because the meeting has a lot of different topics for decision. What we want to achieve is already agreed upon among the parties, be it on funding arrangement, be it on complementarity, be it on the resources of the Fund … we moved forward on the understanding of how we are going to deal with them  between now and the next Transitional Committee meeting.”

Counting loss and damage

Loss and Damage, according to the climate talks, refers to costs being incurred from climate-fuelled impacts such as droughts, floods, extreme heat, rising sea levels and cyclones.

UN chief António Guterres described loss and damage as a “fundamental question of climate justice, international solidarity and trust” during the 2022 UN General Assembly, stating that “polluters must pay” because “vulnerable countries need meaningful action”.

Scientist and director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), Saleemul Huq, says the agreement to set up the Loss And Damage Fund was a major breakthrough for the vulnerable developing countries who had been demanding it for many years highlighting that Parties to the UNFCCC have now agreed to find ways to provide funding to the victims of human-induced climate change who are suffering losses and damages.

Huq is confident that if all countries proceed in good faith, the Fund – which is based on shared responsibility and voluntary contributions –  could become formalized and operational at COP28 in Dubai in November 2023.

“We will need to find innovative sources of funding for Loss and Damage such as making the polluting companies (not countries) pay from the exorbitant profits they are making from their pollution,” Huq said to IPS.

Research by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) shows a big financial gap for adaptation. The 2022 Adaptation Gap Report indicates that international adaptation finance flows to developing countries are five to ten times below estimated needs and will need over USD 300 billion per year by 2030.

“It is important that a Loss and Damage Fund tackles the gaps that current climate finance institutions such as the Green Climate Fund do not fill,” the UNEP notes, highlighting that combined adaptation and mitigation finance flows in 2020 fell at least USD 17 billion short of the US$100 billion pledged to developing countries at COP19 in Copenhagen,

UNEP said for the fund to be effective, the root cause of climate change must be tackled – and that involves reducing emissions and finding more resources for mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage.

While the deliberations continue on the arrangement of loss and damage and, more critically, the financing of a deliberate Fund, communities in vulnerable countries like Malawi do not have tomorrow; they have lost today, and the damage they have suffered is not undoable.

IPS UN Bureau Report


Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Exit mobile version