Yohei Sasakawa chronicles his campaign to rid the world of leprosy in his biography Making the Impossible Possible. Credit: Hurst Publishers
by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
Inter Press Service
NAIROBI, Jun 19 (IPS) – In 1974, Yohei Sasakawa accompanied his father to a leprosy hospital he had funded. He saw leprosy patients inside the hospital still and expressionless. The smell of leprosy filled the air, the smell of pus from open sores.
His father sat with the patients, touched their hands and faces, and encouraged them to be hopeful. Treatment was within reach, and they would live. At that moment, Sasakawa wondered about the life that awaited these patients outside the hospital – a difficult life of discrimination and alienation, with many ostracized from society. He silently vowed to dedicate his life to ending leprosy.
Yohei Sasakawa chronicles his campaign to rid the world of leprosy in his biography Making the Impossible Possible. Credit: Hurst Publishers
In his newly published book, Making the Impossible Possible, he chronicles face-to-face encounters with an ancient disease shrouded in many myths and misconceptions. His travels to leprosy-endemic countries as WHO’s Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination started in 2001 and has involved over 200 trips to nearly seventy countries.
“Nearly all of my destinations have been remote locations where people live in quite desperate conditions. It has always been my belief that the place where the problems are happening is also precisely where the solutions will be found,” he says.
“I am also a firm proponent of the Neo-Confucian idea that knowledge is inseparable from practice. I want to be a man of deeds. I became involved in my international humanitarian work out of a passionate desire to be involved on the front lines until my last breath, and I am the first to admit that my work is done, in that sense, for my own personal satisfaction.”
The conference is a nod to February 28, 1873, when Norwegian doctor Gerhard Armauer Hansen discovered Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy. To commemorate the historic anniversary, the conference seeks to highlight that 150 years later, leprosy is not a disease of the past.
Leprosy still exists as a neglected tropical disease in more than 120 countries worldwide, with at least 200,000 new cases reported annually. Nevertheless, progress over the last half-century has brought the world closer to the goal of a world without leprosy.
The Bergen conference is an opportunity to draw on the knowledge, experience, and wisdom of many people at the place where Mycobacterium leprae was first observed, and to build momentum to complete the last mile in leprosy, the hardest part of the journey.
Sasakawa’s book is a treasure trove of challenges, triumphs, best practices, lessons learned, and insights into what it will take to finish the last mile in the decades-long marathon to eliminate the ancient disease.
The book is the most detailed account of Sasakawa’s quest to work for a world without leprosy and the discrimination it causes.
It is an account of his travels to remote communities around the world to hear directly from those affected by the disease, as well as his meetings with policy-makers, government leaders, and heads of state to advocate for a renewed commitment to the fight against leprosy, including measures to protect the human rights of those it affects.
“For as long as I can remember, I have made a point of repeating three messages in every meeting, conference, or press conference that I attend. The first message is that leprosy is curable. The second is that free treatment is available everywhere around the world. And the third message is that discrimination against people affected by leprosy has no place,” Sasakawa affirms.
“These messages are very easy to understand. But the third one, the message that discrimination has no place, is extremely difficult to put into practice. The habits of a lifetime and ingrained unconscious attitudes are not easily dispelled.”
Similarly, these messages will reverberate throughout the two-day conference to spread the message that today, leprosy is treatable with multidrug therapy (MDT), but if treatment is delayed, leprosy can cause progressive impairment and result in lifelong disability.
Delayed treatment and consequent disability have largely contributed to the persistent stigma surrounding the disease and the discrimination that persons affected by leprosy and their families continue to face. Discrimination is also a barrier to new case detection, discouraging people from seeking treatment.
Through sustained concerted efforts, many countries and international organizations, led by the WHO, are now aiming for zero leprosy—zero disease, zero disability, and zero discrimination.
Achieving this goal will require stakeholders to cooperate closely. To this end, the conference will bring together key leprosy stakeholders from around the world for two days of discussions focused on three pillars: medical, social, and historical.
Notable dignitaries scheduled to deliver messages at the event include Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Ingvild Kjerkol, Minister of Health and Care Services, Norway.
Keynote speakers include Professor Paul Fine of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Dr Alice Cruz, the UN Special Rapporteur on the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members.
The conference is part of the “Don’t Forget Leprosy/Don’t Forget Hansen’s Disease” campaign launched by the Sasakawa Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) Initiative in 2021. It follows the 2022 Global Forum of People’s Organizations on Hansen’s Disease held in Hyderabad, India, the 2023 International Symposium at the Vatican on Hansen’s Disease incorporating the Global Appeal 2023 to End Stigma and Discrimination against Persons Affected by Leprosy, and 150-anniversary events.
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jun 16 (IPS) – If you’ve never heard of the Cybercrime Convention, you’re not alone. And if you’re wondering whether an international treaty to tackle cybercrime is a good idea, you’re in good company too.
Negotiations have been underway for more than three years: the latest negotiating session was held in April, and a multi-stakeholder consultation has just concluded. A sixth session is scheduled to take place in August, with a draft text expected to be approved by February 2024, to be put to a vote at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) later next year. But civil society sees some big pitfalls ahead.
Controversial beginnings
In December 2019, the UNGA voted to start negotiating a cybercrime treaty. The resolution was sponsored by Russia and co-sponsored by several of the world’s most repressive regimes, which already had national cybercrime laws they use to stifle legitimate dissent under the pretence of combatting a variety of vaguely defined online crimes such as insulting the authorities, spreading ‘fake news’ and extremism.
Tackling cybercrime certainly requires some kind of international cooperation. But this doesn’t necessarily need a new treaty. Experts have pointed out that the real problem may be the lack of enforcement of current international agreements, particularly the 2001 Council of Europe’s Budapest Convention.
When Russia’s resolution was put to a vote, the European Union, many states and human rights organisations urged the UNGA to reject it. But once the resolution passed, they engaged with the process, trying to prevent the worst possible outcome – a treaty lacking human rights safeguards that could be used as a repressive tool.
The December 2019 resolution set up an ad hoc committee (AHC), open to the participation of all UN member states plus observers, including civil society. At its first meeting to set procedural rules in mid-2021, Brazil’s proposal that a two-thirds majority vote be needed for decision-making – when consensus can’t be achieved – was accepted, instead of the simple majority favoured by Russia. A list of stakeholders was approved, including civil society organisations (CSOs), academic institutions and private sector representatives.
Another key procedural decision was made in February 2022: intersessional consultations were to be held between negotiating sessions to solicit input from stakeholders, including human rights CSOs. These consultations have given CSOs the chance to make presentations and participate in discussions with states.
Human rights concerns
Several CSOs are trying to use the space to influence the treaty process, including as part of broader coalitions. Given what’s at stake, in advance of the first negotiating session, around 130 CSOs and experts urged the AHC to embed human rights safeguards in the treaty.
One of the challenges it that, as early as the first negotiating session, it became apparent there wasn’t a clear definition of what constitutes a cybercrime and which cybercrimes should be regulated by the treaty. There’s still no clarity.
The UN identifies two main types of cybercrimes: cyber-dependent crimes such as network intrusion and malware distribution, which can only be committed through the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs), and cyber-enabled crimes, which can be facilitated by ICTs but can be committed without them, such as drug trafficking and the illegal distribution of counterfeit goods.
Throughout the negotiation process there’s been disagreement about whether the treaty should focus on a limited set of cyber-dependent crimes, or address a variety of cyber-enabled crimes. These, human rights groups warn, include various content-related offences that could be invoked to repress freedom of expression.
These concerns have been highlighted by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which has emphasised that the treaty shouldn’t include offences related to the content of online expression and should clearly and explicitly reference binding international human rights agreements to ensure it’s applied in line with universal human rights principles.
A second major disagreement concerns the scope and conditions for international cooperation. If not clearly defined, cooperation arrangements could result in violations of privacy and data protection provisions. In the absence of the principle of dual criminality – where extradition can only apply to an action that constitutes a crime in both the country making an extradition request and the one receiving it – state authorities could be made to investigate activities that aren’t crimes in their own countries. They could effectively become enforcers of repression.
Civil society has pushed for recognition of a set of principles on the application of human rights to communications surveillance. According to these, dual criminality should prevail, and where laws differ, the one with the higher level of rights protections should be applied. It must be ensured that states don’t use mutual assistance agreements and foreign cooperation requests to circumvent domestic legal restrictions.
An uncertain future
Following the third multistakeholder consultation held in November 2022, the AHC released a negotiating draft. In the fourth negotiating session in January 2023, civil society’s major concerns focused on the long and growing number of criminal offences listed in the draft, many of them content-related.
It’s unclear how the AHC intends to bridge current deep divides to produce the ‘zero draft’ it’s expected to share in the next few weeks. If it complies with the deadline by leaving contentious issues undecided, the next session, scheduled for August, may bring a shift from consensus-building to voting – unless states decide to give themselves some extra time.
As of today, the process could still conclude on time, or with a limited extension, following a forced vote on a harmful treaty that lacks consensus and therefore fails to enter into effect, or does so for a limited number of states. Or it could be repeatedly postponed and fade away. Civil society engaged in the process may well think such a development wouldn’t be so bad: better no agreement than one that gives repressive states stronger tools to stifle dissent.
Kenya is dealing with a serious solid waste management crisis. An estimated 22,000 tonnes of waste is generated in Kenya per day, and at least 20 percent of it is plastic. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
Inter Press Service
NAIROBI, Jun 16 (IPS) – Plastic bags were a part and parcel of life in Kenya. More than 100 million plastic bags were used annually in Kenyan supermarkets alone, with at least 24 million plastic bags discarded every month. Kenya was choking under the weight of plastic bags.
“Every food market, big or small, used plastic bags to wrap raw or cooked food items for their customers. We could not imagine a life without plastic bags. There was even a time people used plastic bags as flying toilets. People around here would poo in them and throw them away for lack of toilets,” Jane Wanjeri, a food vendor in Kibra, an informal settlement in Nairobi County, tells IPS.
Worse still, in 2017, a government study raised the alarm that plastic waste was entering the food chain as at least 50 percent of livestock in peri-urban areas had ingested plastics. The use of plastic bags was creating an irreversible catastrophe.
It takes more than 100 years for plastic bags to degrade, says Patrick Mureithi, an independent environmental researcher and activist.
In a groundbreaking move in 2017, the government banned single-use plastic bags. The ban includes severe penalties of fines between USD 20,000 and USD 40,000 and or one to four years in prison for noncompliance. More than six years later, the ban is one of the world’s strictest and most efficient.
When the UN Member States agreed to start negotiating a new global treaty in 2022 to end plastic pollution in a historic move to protect wildlife, the environment, and humans from the severe, harmful effects of plastic pollution, Kenya was already well on the way.
“The single-use plastic bag ban was one of three approaches that the country is using to tackle plastic pollution. Other strategies are improvements to solid waste management as well as administrative and budgetary responses that include giving businesses incentives for recycling plastic,” says Omondi Otieno, a government official in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
But recent studies show Kenya has not made significant inroads in improvements of solid waste management. A recent report titled Making Policy Work for Africa’s Circular Plastics Economy found that despite the ban, in Kenya, “there has not been a noticeable reduction in the overall amount of plastic waste.”
According to the Kenya Plastics Pact (KPP), an ambitious, multisectoral collaborative initiative to address plastic waste and eliminate plastic pollution, an estimated 22,000 tonnes of waste is generated in Kenya per day, and at least 20 percent of it is plastic.
Kenya’s daily plastic consumption through items such as single-use straws, plastic bottles, and containers is averaged at a high of 0.03 kilograms per person.
Estimates show the amount of plastic that becomes waste across the country is 0.5 to 1.3 million tonnes per year, of which only eight percent is recycled. The rest is landfilled, incinerated, or released back into the environment.
According to KPP, approximately 80 percent of plastic packaging materials used locally are made of imported virgin polymers processed into packaging domestically. And, to a lesser extent, domestically recycled materials, with only around 20 percent of packaging, are being imported in the form of packed or made products.
Additionally, of the total plastics produced in the country, an estimated 36 percent are used in packaging. Of the 36 percent, at least 85 percent end up in landfills and unregulated dumpsites. The Sustainable Waste Management Act of 2022 does not provide a clear definition of recyclable.
Despite a most efficient ban on single-use plastic bags, studies show there has not been a noticeable reduction in the overall amount of plastic waste. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
In this regard, KPP recently released the Design Guidelines for Recyclability in Kenya to ensure that 100 percent of plastic packaging is reusable or recyclable by 2030. The guidelines were signed and endorsed by key stakeholders such as plastic packaging manufacturers and prominent fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands.
They were also endorsed by committed small and medium businesses, informal waste pickers’ associations and recyclers, influential industry associations, environmental NGOs, advocacy groups and civil society, and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
First, of their kind, the guidelines are centered on addressing plastic waste and pollution at the source. Rethinking how plastic packaging can be designed, used, and reused in a more circular manner, as opposed to the linear business-as-usual system of take-make-waste plastic.
“A plastic circular economy is a sustainable economic model where plastics remain in circulation for a much longer period and out of the environment. In a circular system, plastics are reused and recycled at the end of their lifespan,” Omondi explains.
He says creating a plastic circular economy will have significant positive implications for species, ecosystems, and overall socio-economic systems, including Kenya’s extensive Indian Ocean coastline, estimated at 1,420 kilometers.
Government estimates show that in the coastline County of Mombasa alone, at least 3.7 kilograms of per capita plastic waste ends up in the ocean. Unmitigated, experts such as Mureithi warn that there could be more plastics than fish in the Indian Ocean by 2025, where more than 1,300 billion pieces of plastic find their way annually.
These guidelines are a step in the right direction, providing recommendations to decision-makers on how to design plastic packaging to be compatible with current and future projections of mechanical recycling infrastructure. To keep up with a dynamic world, the guidelines will be updated and amended in response to changes in the collection, sorting, recycling technologies, and infrastructure within the country.
LONDON, Jun 16 (IPS) – Regulation of a technology typically emerges sometime after it has been used in a product or service, or, worse, the risks become apparent. This responsive approach is regrettable when real harm is already being done, as now with AI. With existential risk, the approach would risk the end of human existence.
In the past few months, generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as ChatGPT and GPT4 became available with no (official) regulatory control at all. This is in complete contrast to new plastic duck toys which need to meet numerous regulations and safety standards. The fact is that the AI hare has been streaking ahead whilst the regulation tortoise is moving but is way behind. This has to change – now.
What has shocked AI experts around the world has been the recent progress from GPT 3.5 to GPT 4. Within a few months, GPT’s capability progressed hugely in multiple tests, for example from performing in the American Bar exams in the 10th percentile range to reaching the 90th percentile with GPT-4.
Why does it matter, you may ask. If the rate of progress were projected forward at the same rate for the next 3, 6 or 12 months this would rapidly lead to a very powerful AI. If uncontrolled, this AI might have the power not only to do much good but also to do much harm – and with the fatal risk that it may no longer be possible to control once unleashed.
There is a wide range of aspects of AI that needs or will need regulation and control. Quite apart from the new Large Language Models (LLMs), there are many examples already today such as attention centred social media models, deep fakes, the existence of bias and the abusive use of AI controlled surveillance.
These may lead to a radical change in our relationship with work and to the obsolescence of certain jobs, including office jobs, hitherto largely immune from automation. Expert artificial influencers seeking to persuade you to buy something or think or vote in a certain way are also anticipated soon – a process that some say has already started.
Credit: NicoElNino / Shutterstock.com
Without control, the progress towards more and more intelligent AI will lead to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI – equivalent to the capability of a human in a wide range of fields) and to Superintelligence (vastly superior intelligence). The world would enter an era that would signal the decline and likely demise of humanity as we lose our position as the apex intelligence on the planet.
This very recent rate of progress has caused Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton, so called “godfathers of AI / Deep Learning” to completely reassess their anticipated time frame for developing AGI. Recently, they have both radically brought forward their estimates and they now assess AGI being reached in 5 to 50 and 5 to 20 years respectively.
Humanity must not knowingly run the risk of extinction, meaning that humanity needs to put controls in place before Advanced AI is developed. Solutions for controlling Advanced AI have been proposed, such as Stuart Russell’s Beneficial AI, where the AI is given a goal of implementing human preferences. It would need to observe these preferences and since it would appreciate that it might not have interpreted them precisely, it would be humble and be prepared to be switched off.
The development of such a system is very challenging to realise in practice. Whether such a solution would be available in time was questionable even before the latest leap forward by the hare. Whether one will be available in time is now critical – which is why Geoffrey Hinton has recommended that 50% of all AI research spend should be on AI Safety.
Quite apart from these comprehensive but challenging solutions, there are several pragmatic ideas that have recently been proposed to reduce the risk, ranging from a limit on the access to computational power for a Large Language Model to the creation of an AI agency equivalent to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. In practice, what is needed is a combination of technical solutions such as Beneficial AI, pragmatic solutions relating to AI development and a suitable Governance Framework.
As AI systems, like many of today’s software services in computer clouds, can act across borders. Interoperability will be a key challenge and a global approach to governance is clearly needed. To have global legitimacy, such initiatives should be a part of a coordinated plan of action administered by an appropriate global body. This should be the United Nations, with the formation of a UN Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence (UNFCAI).
The binding agreements that are currently expected to emerge within the next twelve months or so are the EU AI Act from the European Union and a Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence from the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe’s work is focused on the impact of AI on human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Whilst participation in Council of Europe Treaties is much wider than the European Union with other countries being welcomed as signatories, it is not truly global in scope.
The key advantage of the UN is that it would seek to include all countries, including Russia and China, which have different value sets from the west. China has one of the two strongest AI sectors in the world. Many consider that a UN regime will ultimately be required – but that term “ultimately” has been completely turned upside down by recent events. The possibility of AGI emerging in 5-years’ time suggests that a regime should be fully functioning by then. A more nimble institutional home could be found in the G7, but this would lack global legitimacy, inclusivity and the input of civil society.
Some people are concerned that by engaging with China, Russia and other authoritarian countries in a constructive manner, you are thereby validating their approach to human rights and democracy. It is clear that there are major differences in policy on such issues, but effective governance of something as serious as Artificial Intelligence should not be jeopardised by such concerns.
In recent years the UN has made limited progress on AI. Back in 2020, the Secretary General called for the establishment of a multistakeholder advisory body on global artificial intelligence cooperation. He is still proposing a similar advisory board three years on. This delay is highly regrettable and needs to be remedied urgently. It is particularly heartening therefore to witness the Secretary General’s robust recent proposals in the past few days regarding AI governance including an Accord on the global governance of AI.
The EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager has called for a three-step process, namely national, then like-minded states and then the UN. The question is whether there is sufficient time for all three. The recent endorsement by the UN Secretary General of the proposed UK initiative to hold a Summit on AI Safety in the UK this autumn is a positive development
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was established in 2005 and serves to bring people together from various stakeholder groups as equals, to discuss issues relating to the Internet. In the case of AI, policy making could benefit from such a forum, a Multistakeholder AI Governance Forum (AIGF).
This would provide an initial forum within which stakeholders from around the world could exchange views in relation to the principles to be pursued, the aspects of AI requiring urgent AI Global Governance and ways to resolve each issue. Critically, what is needed is a clear Roadmap to the Global Governance of AI with a firm timeline.
An AIGF could underpin the work of the new high-level advisory body for AI and both would be tasked with the development of the roadmap, leading to the establishment of a UN Framework Convention on AI.
In recent months the AI hare has shown its ability to go a long way in a short period of time. The regulation tortoise has left the starting line but has a lot to catch up. The length of the race has just been shortened so the recent sprint by the hare is of serious concern. In the Aesop’s Fable, the tortoise ultimately wins the race because the over-confident hare has taken a roadside siesta. Humanity should not assume that AI is going to do likewise.
A concerted effort is needed to complete the EU AI Act and the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on AI. Meanwhile at the UN, stakeholders need to be brought together urgently to share their views and work with states to establish an effective, timely and global AI governance structure.
The UN Accord on the governance of AI needs to be articulated and the prospect of effective and timely global governance ushering in an era of AI Safety needs to be given the highest global priority. The proposed summit on AI Safety in the UK this autumn should provide the first checkpoint.
Robert Whitfield is Chair of the One World Trust and Chair of the World Federalist Movement / Institute for Government Policy’s Transnational Working Group on AI.
Martina Santa Cruz, a peasant farmer from the village of Sacllo in the southern Peruvian Andes highlands department of Cuzco, is pleased with her remodeled kitchen where a skylight was created to let in sunlight and a chimney has been installed to extract smoke from the stove where she cooks most of the family meals. She is disappointed because a wall was stained black when she recently left something on the fire for too long. But her husband is about to paint it, because they like to keep everything clean and tidy. CREDIT: Janet Nina/IPS
by Mariela Jara (cuzco, peru)
Inter Press Service
CUZCO, Peru, Jun 15 (IPS) – Adopting a “healthy housing” approach is improving the living conditions of rural Peruvian women like Martina Santa Cruz, a 34-year-old farmer who lives with her husband and two children in the village of Sacllo, 2,959 meters above sea level in the Andes highlands municipality of Calca.
“I used to have a wood-burning stove without a chimney, and the smoke filled the house. We coughed a lot and our eyes stung and it bothered us a lot,” she told IPS during a long telephone conversation from her village.
Santa Cruz, her husband, their 13-year-old daughter and their four-year-old son are among the 100 families who live in Sacllo, part of the Calca district and province, one of the 13 provinces that make up the southern Andes department of Cuzco, whose capital of the same name is known worldwide for the cultural and archaeological heritage of the Inca empire.
With an estimated population of more than 1,380,000 inhabitants, according to 2022 data from the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics, four percent of the national population of 33 million, Cuzco faces numerous challenges to fostering human development, especially in rural areas where social inequality is at its height.
According to official figures from May, 41 percent of Peru’s rural population currently lives in poverty, and in Calca, where 55 percent of families are rural, there are high rates of childhood malnutrition and anemia.
One way Santa Cruz found to improve her family’s health and carve out new opportunities to boost their income was to get involved in the project for healthy housing.
In 2019, she took part in a contest organized by the municipality of Calca, which enabled her to start remodeling their house, making it healthier and more comfortable.
Her husband, Manuel Figueroa, is a civil construction worker in the city of Cuzco, about 50 kilometers away by road. She stays home all day in charge of the household, their children, the chores, and productive activities such as tending the crops in their garden and feeding the animals.
“When I only cooked on the woodstove, I also had to get an arroba (11.5 kg) of firewood a day to be able to keep the fire lit all day long to cook the corn and beans, and the meals in general,” she said.
In addition to cooking food, the stove provided them with heat, especially in the wintertime when temperatures usually drop to below zero and have become colder due to climate change.
In the small village of Sacllo, in the Peruvian municipality of Calca, Martina Santa Cruz (L) poses with her two children, proud of having a healthy home that has improved the family’s living conditions. The house has been plastered with clay and has two stoves and a wooden balcony on the second floor where the bedrooms are located. CREDIT: Janet Nina/IPS
Healthy rural homes and communities
Jhabel Guzmán, an agronomist with extensive experience in healthy housing projects in different areas of Calca province, told IPS that the sustainability of the initiative lies in the fact that it incorporates the aspect of generating income.
“It is not enough to propose changing or upgrading stoves, improving order in the home or providing hygiene services; rural families need means to combat poverty,” he said.
Of the projects he has been involved in, the ones that have proven to be sustainable in time are those in which, together with improvements in relation to health, the transformation of the homes contributed to generating income through activities such as gardens, coops and sheds for small livestock, and experiential tourism, expanding the impact to the broader community.
The case of Santa Cruz and her family is heading in that direction. Their original home was built by her husband in 2013 with the support of a master builder and some neighbors, a total of eight people, who finished it in a month. They used local materials such as stones, earth, adobe and wooden poles.
But the two-story home was not plastered, which made it colder. In addition, it was not well-designed: the small livestock were in cramped pens, the bedrooms were crowded together on the ground floor, the stove had no chimney and the house was very dark.
Their participation in the healthy homes initiative marked the start of many changes.
Peruvian peasant farmer Martina Santa Cruz (R) sits with her mother (2nd-L) and her two children in the brightly lit kitchen-dining room where she cooks with gas. CREDIT: Courtesy of Martina Santa Cruz
“We plastered the house with clay, it turned out smooth and nice, and we painted a sun and a hummingbird (on the wall outside). In the kitchen I installed a wooden cabinet, we made a skylight in the roof and covered it with transparent roofing sheets to let the sunlight in, and we made a chimney for the smoke from the stove and fireplace,” said Santa Cruz.
“It feels good. There is no smoke anymore, I can keep things tidier, there is more light, the clay makes the house warmer, and my small animals, who live next door, are growing in number,” she said..
She also created a space for a gas cylinder stove and a dining room that she uses when there are guests and she needs more cooking power than just the woodstove, to prepare the food in less time.
Due to traditional gender roles, Peruvian women are still responsible for caretaking and housework, which take more time in rural areas due to precarious housing conditions and less access to water, among other factors, reducing their chances for studying, recreation, or community organization activities, for example.
Building large coops with small covered sheds with divisions for her guinea pigs and chickens made it easier for Santa Cruz to clean and feed them, therefore saving her time, which she aims to use for future gastronomic activities: cooking food for a small restaurant that she plans to build on her property.
She explained that she has 150 guinea pigs, rodents that are highly prized in the Andes highlands diet, which provide her family with nutritious meat as well as a source of extra income that she uses to buy fruit and other food.
A typical, unhealthy house in rural Peru where cooking is done using firewood in a closed room without a chimney, which causes smoke to spread throughout the house and damages the health of the families. CREDIT: Mariela Jara/IPS
Improving quality of life
Agronomist Berta Tito, from the Cuzco-based non-governmental organization Center for the Development of the Ayllu Peoples (Cedep Ayllu, which means community in the Quechua language), highlighted the importance of healthy housing in rural areas, such as Sacllo and others in the province of Calca, in a conversation with IPS.
She said they prevent lung diseases among family members, particularly women who inhale carbon dioxide by being in direct contact with the woodstove, while reducing pollution and improving mental health, especially of children.
“Rural families have the right to decent housing that provides them with quality of life and guarantees their health, safety, recreation and the means to feed themselves,” Tito said.
Berta Tito (C) stands in a greenhouse garden during a work day with peasant farmers from highland areas of Cuzco in Peru’s southern Andes. The agronomist from Cuzco stressed the importance of rural families accessing healthy homes as part of their rights. CREDIT: Mariela Jara/IPS
She said the project requires property planning, in which families commit to a vision of what they want to achieve in the future and in what timeframe. “And viewed holistically, this includes access to renewable energy,” she added.
In Santa Cruz’s house, the different areas are now well-organized: the ground floor is for cooking and other activities and the four bedrooms, one for each member of the family, are located on the second floor and are all lined with a beautiful wooden veranda.
At the moment she is frustrated that she left something on the woodstove too long, which stained the nearest wall black. But she and her husband have plans to paint it again soon, because the family enjoys having clean walls.
In addition to her two cooking areas, with the woodstove and the gas cylinder, she has a garden on the land next to her house, where she grows vegetables like onions, carrots, peas and zucchini, which she uses in their daily diet. And she is pleased because she can be certain of their quality, since the family fertilizes the land with the manure from their guinea pigs and chickens “which eat a completely natural diet.”
Future plans include fencing the yard and expanding an area to build a small restaurant. “That is my future project, to dedicate myself to gastronomy, cooking dishes based on the livestock I raise. I have the kitchen and the woodstove and oven and I can serve more people. But I will get there little by little,” she said confidently.
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 15 (IPS) – As artificial intelligence (AI) turns into a global phenomenon, it has triggered widespread speculation on both its positive and negative consequences.
Is AI technology threatening to go wild? the sceptics question. Will AI be a curse or a divine gift to humanity? ask others.
Still, one thing is certain: as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates predicts, AI “will change the way people work, learn, travel, get health-care and communicate with each other”.
But will AI also make a difference to an international organization like the UN—and perhaps influence its working methods, its mandate, and its broader missions overseas.?
With a proposed AI summit of world leaders looming on the horizon– on a yet-to-be-decided date– we posed several questions to ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot developed by OpenAI based on the company’s Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) series.
Excerpts from the Q&A follow:
Q: The UN plans to draft a Code of Conduct to monitor AI and prevent abuses. Will this work and is it practicable?
ChatGPT: The concept of developing a code of conduct to monitor AI and prevent abuses is a step in the right direction, given the potential impact of artificial intelligence on various aspects of society.
Establishing guidelines and ethical frameworks for the development and use of AI can help address concerns related to privacy, bias, accountability, and potential harmful consequences.
However, the effectiveness and practicability of such a code of conduct would depend on various factors, including:
International Cooperation:
The adoption and enforcement of a code of conduct would require broad international cooperation among different countries and stakeholders. Achieving consensus and addressing diverse perspectives can be challenging, as interests, cultural values, and technological capabilities vary across nations.
Enforceability:
The code of conduct would need mechanisms to ensure compliance and enforcement. Establishing clear accountability frameworks and regulatory mechanisms would be crucial to prevent abuses and incentivize adherence to the guidelines. It would require cooperation between governments, organizations, and technological actors.
Technological Pace:
The field of AI is rapidly evolving, with new technologies, applications, and challenges emerging regularly. Ensuring that the code of conduct remains up to date and adaptable to technological advancements would be essential. Regular reviews and updates would be necessary to keep pace with the evolving landscape of AI.
Balance between Innovation and Regulation:
While it is important to prevent AI abuses, it is equally important not to stifle innovation and the potential benefits that AI can bring to society. Striking the right balance between regulation and fostering innovation would be critical to ensure that the code of conduct does not unduly hinder progress.
Global Consensus:
Achieving a global consensus on the specifics of the code of conduct might be challenging, as different countries and stakeholders may have differing views on AI development, applications, and regulation. Balancing diverse perspectives and interests while working towards a common framework could be a complex task.
It’s worth noting that developments may have occurred since my knowledge cutoff date that could provide more information about the UN’s code of conduct or similar initiatives. To assess the current status and practicability of such efforts, it would be best to refer to the latest news, reports, and official statements from relevant organizations involved in shaping AI policies and guidelines.
Q: Is there a UN role for artificial intelligence?
ChatGPT: Yes, AI chatbots can be of great assistance to international organizations like the United Nations. Here are some ways in which AI chatbots can help:
Multilingual Support:
The United Nations deals with a diverse range of languages from all over the world. AI chatbots can be programmed to understand and respond in multiple languages, making them valuable tools for providing multilingual support to UN staff, delegates, and the general public.
Information and Resource Accessibility:
AI chatbots can be designed to provide quick and accurate access to information and resources. They can assist in retrieving data, documents, reports, and other relevant information from vast UN databases, making it easier for staff and users to find the information they need efficiently.
Real-time Communication:
Chatbots can handle a large volume of inquiries simultaneously, providing real-time communication and support. They can assist in answering frequently asked questions, offering guidance on procedures, and addressing common concerns, freeing up human resources for more complex tasks.
Public Engagement and Outreach:
AI chatbots can be integrated into the UN’s website or social media platforms to engage with the public, answer their queries, and provide information about the organization’s activities, initiatives, and campaigns. This can enhance public outreach and promote transparency and accessibility.
Data Analysis and Insights:
AI chatbots can gather and analyze data from conversations and interactions, providing valuable insights and trends. This can help the United Nations identify patterns, understand public sentiment, and make informed decisions based on data-driven analysis.
Crisis Management:
During times of crisis or emergencies, AI chatbots can help disseminate critical information, provide updates, and answer urgent queries. They can offer a channel for people to seek assistance and access relevant resources, contributing to effective crisis management.
It’s important to note that while AI chatbots can offer significant benefits, they are not intended to replace human interactions entirely. Rather, they serve as valuable tools to enhance efficiency, accessibility, and engagement within the organization.
Q: There is a proposal to set up a special UN body to monitor and regulate AI Chatbot? Will this work?
ChatGPT: As an AI language model, I can provide an analysis of the proposal to set up a special United Nations (UN) body to monitor and regulate AI chatbots. Please note that my response is based on information available up until September 2021, and developments after that date may have occurred.
Establishing a dedicated UN body to monitor and regulate AI chatbots could have both advantages and challenges. Here are some key points to consider:
Advantages:
AI chatbots transcend national boundaries, and having an international body to oversee them could facilitate global coordination and harmonization of standards and regulations. It could provide a platform for countries to share best practices and collaborate on addressing common challenges.
Addressing ethical concerns:
AI chatbots raise ethical considerations such as privacy, bias, transparency, and accountability. A specialized UN body could help develop guidelines and regulations to address these concerns, ensuring that AI chatbots are developed and deployed responsibly.
Consistency and standards:
A central regulatory body could help establish consistent standards and guidelines for the development and deployment of AI chatbots. This could enhance trust among users and promote responsible and ethical use of AI technologies.
Challenges:
Technological advancements: AI technology is rapidly evolving, and chatbots are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Regulating such technology can be challenging, as the regulatory framework may struggle to keep pace with the rapid development of AI chatbots. Balancing innovation and regulation are crucial.
Jurisdictional issues:
AI chatbots operate globally, and it can be difficult to determine jurisdiction and enforce regulations across different countries. Cooperation and agreement among nations would be necessary to ensure effective regulation.
Potential stifling of innovation:
Overregulation could impede innovation and limit the potential benefits of AI chatbots. Striking the right balance between regulation and fostering innovation would be essential to avoid hindering technological advancements.
Overall, the establishment of a special UN body to monitor and regulate AI chatbots could provide a platform for global coordination, ethical considerations, and standardization. However, it would require careful consideration of the challenges involved to ensure that the regulatory framework remains flexible, promotes innovation, and adapts to the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
Q Can AI CHATBOT help UN resolve some of the world’s ongoing military conflicts?
ChatGPT: As an AI language model, I can provide information and potential insights on various topics, including military conflicts. However, it is important to note that resolving complex geopolitical issues and ongoing military conflicts requires a multifaceted approach involving political negotiations, diplomacy, and cooperation among nations. While AI technology can support decision-making processes and provide analysis, it cannot independently resolve conflicts.
The United Nations (UN) plays a crucial role in facilitating dialogue and negotiations between conflicting parties. It utilizes a range of resources, including human expertise, diplomatic channels, and specialized agencies, to address conflicts. AI technology can be employed within these frameworks to enhance data analysis, aid in conflict resolution strategies, and support decision-makers with information.
AI-powered chatbots like AICHATBOT can provide insights and information to policymakers, diplomats, and negotiators. They can help gather and analyze data, identify patterns, and offer recommendations based on historical data or simulations. This can assist in understanding the complexities of conflicts, exploring potential resolutions, and predicting the outcomes of different scenarios.
However, it’s important to recognize that resolving military conflicts requires human judgment, empathy, and political will. AI can provide valuable assistance, but ultimately, sustainable resolutions require the collective efforts and collaboration of nations, international organizations, and stakeholders involved in the conflicts.
Q: How credible are the responses provided by AI CHATBOT? Is there a mix of fact with fiction?
ChatGPT: As an AI language model, I strive to provide accurate and helpful responses based on the information available to me up until September 2021. However, it’s important to note that I do not have real-time access to current events or ongoing developments beyond that date. Therefore, any information I provide about events, news, or specific details related to the period after September 2021 may be outdated or incorrect.
While I attempt to provide reliable and factual information, there is still a possibility of errors or inaccuracies in my responses. Additionally, as an AI, I do not possess personal opinions or beliefs. I generate responses based on patterns and information in the training data I was provided with, which includes a mixture of factual information from reputable sources as well as some fictional or hypothetical examples.
It’s always a good idea to verify information from multiple sources and consult authoritative references or experts when dealing with critical matters or seeking the most up-to-date information.
Is AI ChatGPT capable of producing UN press releases, transcripts of press briefings and the annual report of the Secretary-General?
ChatGPT: As an AI language model, I can certainly generate text in the style of UN press releases, transcripts of press briefings, and reports. However, please note that the accuracy and reliability of such generated content may vary, and it is always important to verify information from official sources.
While I strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, it’s crucial to consult official UN channels and publications for official press releases, transcripts, and reports.
GENEVA, Jun 15 (IPS) – After years of failing to meet climate finance commitments, the new climate finance goal under discussion this week in Bonn is critical, but without supporting reforms of the global financial architecture we risk repeating past mistakes.
As cities across North America are covered with clouds of smoke caused by wildfires in Canada, negotiations on the New Collective Quantified Goal for climate finance continue in Bonn.
This goal will replace the climate finance commitment set in 2009, which aimed to mobilize $100 billion per year for developing countries by 2020. The $100 billion commitment, which in any case has not been met, will expire in 2025.
$100 billion is a fraction of what is needed
It’s commonly understood that the $100 billion goal is a fraction of what is needed to support developing countries to achieve climate goals in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
In the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) recent analysis of financing needs, developing countries require at least $6 trillion by 2030 to meet less than half of their existing Nationally Determined Contributions.
By comparison, official data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) assessed total climate finance flows from developed to developing countries at $83.3 billion in 2020, and Oxfam estimates that the real value is about one third of that, around $21 billion to $24.5 billion.
Furthermore, climate finance continues to be predominantly delivered as loans, including a large share of non-concessional financing, exacerbating sovereign debt issues that have been growing across regions and income groups.
New goal must respond to demonstrated needs
Instead of being based on arbitrary targets, the new goal must rigorously quantify and respond to countries’ demonstrated needs and be tracked based on an agreed methodology that can prevent the double-counting and significant overestimations of the past.
Developing countries face the double challenge of simultaneously investing in development and in climate mitigation and adaptation, while addressing the costs of loss and damage.
The scale of this challenge is staggering when close to 900 million people in the world don’t have access to electricity, and more than 4 billion people don’t have a social safety net they can rely on.
But advancing green industrialization and diversification, raising public investment and social protection, and preparing and responding to multiplying climate disasters all depend on increasing access to finance.
UNCTAD’s estimate in 2019 was that delivering both climate and development goals demanded $2.5 trillion of annual financing for developing countries, a number that will have risen since then due to the pandemic and ongoing economic and financial shocks.
Financing options that are fair, sufficient and politically feasible are achievable and UNCTAD has recommended reforms to the global financial architecture that would help deliver climate and development finance at the appropriate scale.
Four priorities for climate finance
UNCTAD outlined four priorities at an event entitled “Options for Scaling Climate Finance” co-hosted with the German development agency GIZ and The Energy and Resources Institute at the Bonn Conference on 6 June.
The first and most urgent priority is debt distress: 60% of low-income countries are in, or on the edge of, debt distress and are spending an estimated five times more on debt servicing than on climate adaptation every year, undermining future resilience and growth prospects.
Debt-creating instruments are not a sustainable climate finance option in the current context. Instead, these countries need urgent debt relief. A longer-term goal should be to establish a multilateral debt workout process that can help countries break the vicious debt and climate cycle.
This also implies increasing grant-based sources of financing, however both Official Development Assistance and climate finance flows have been decreasing in real terms. As well as reversing these trends, multilateral sources of financing must be scaled up.
A second priority should be to consider innovative ways to deploy the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to maximize their climate and development impact while retaining their benefits as a conditionality-free, debt-free source of liquidity.
This could include rechanneling SDRs to multilateral development banks (MDBs), addressing allocation issues to ensure SDRs go to where they are needed most, or considering more ambitious approaches such as new SDR asset classes with specific purposes such as climate resilience.
Another source of additional financing is the global network of hundreds of government-backed development banks at all levels – multilateral, regional and national – as the most direct way to increase the availability of development finance.
These banks have a long-term horizon and counter the pro-cyclical tendencies of private finance, as well as local knowledge and expertise to forge solutions across countries and regions. Climate finance from MDBs cannot only target the technical part of transitions, but also support communities with managing the social and economic costs of a green transition.
Developed countries can use their shareholder power to increase the capitalization of their MDBs, while MDBs and regional development banks could seek new members to get additional capital, following the example of the New Development Bank (NDB), to support more green investments.
The fourth consideration is how to mobilize private finance towards climate goals. As well as using incentives, there needs to be discipline in the form of regulatory measures to drive productive investment and alignment of private finance flows with the Paris Agreement.
While new climate-related instruments such as environmental, social and governance financing, green bonds and climate-debt-swaps may signal recognition of climate change, they continue to be far smaller in scale than required.
Also, there is a clear and evidenced risk of greenwashing that necessitates increased regulatory oversight, otherwise these tools will become distractions that exacerbate financing challenges.
As UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in response to the North American wildfires, “we’re running out of time to make peace with nature, but we cannot give up.”
The financing options outlined here offer a starting point to ensure that a new goal for climate finance can meet the challenge of the moment, supporting all developing countries to achieve their climate goals.
Richard Kozul-Wright is Director of the Globalization and Development Strategies Division, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva.
A photo of journalists dedicated to covering the agendas of nearby communities, like these ones in a town in Colombia, is uncommon in poor areas of Latin American countries, where millions of people have no access to information of local interest. CREDIT: Chasquis Foundation
by Humberto Marquez (caracas)
Inter Press Service
CARACAS, Jun 14 (IPS) – Without the means to receive information about what is happening around them, millions of Latin Americans who live in poor remote rural or impoverished urban areas inhabit veritable news deserts, according to an increasing number of studies conducted by journalistic organizations in the region.
There are, for example, 29 million people in Brazil, 10 million in Colombia, seven million in Venezuela and up to three-quarters of the Argentine territory without access to journalism due to the absence of media outlets, or because the few existing local outlets are dedicated to entertainment, rather than news.
“When we talk about information deserts, we are also talking about what a robust media ecosystem implies: that there are not only enough media outlets, but also pluralism,” said Jonathan Bock, director of the Colombian Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP).
This plurality must encompass “the topics that are covered, diversity of formats, media that address different audiences. A healthy ecosystem,” Bock added in a conversation with IPS from the Colombian capital.
A Jun. 7 forum organized by the Venezuelan branch of the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) displayed atlases and maps on news deserts in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, based on research by organizations of journalists and academics from those countries.
Even without extrapolating from the results of these assessments, it is possible to estimate that news deserts affect a good part of the region, judging by the structural deficiencies of the population, and by conflictive situations in the media and journalism in nations such as those of Central America and the Andes.
“The social and geographical marginalization found in parts of our countries means that important segments of the population are in these news deserts. For example, indigenous populations lacking media outlets in their languages,” Andrés Cañizález, founder and director of the Venezuelan observatory Medianálisis, told IPS.
Journalistic organizations from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela show maps or atlases that indicate, using colors, the most and least deserted areas in terms of access to news in their respective countries. CREDIT: IPS
Atlases and statistics
A study by the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA), coordinated by Irene Benito, took a census of 560 areas in that country and considered 47.9 percent of them news deserts, 25.2 percent in “semi-desert” conditions, 17.1 percent as “semi-forests”, and 9.8 percent as “forests”, or areas with an abundance of media outlets and news.
“As in other Latin American nations, in many areas there are media outlets and journalists, but there is no quality coverage. They deal with other things, not the interests of their communities, while the propaganda apparatus of the powers-that-be is in overly robust health,” Benito said in the IPYS forum.
In Brazil, the most recent News Atlas, released in March, recorded the existence of 13,734 media outlets in that country of 208 million inhabitants, but not a single one in 312 of its 5,568 municipalities. These 312 municipalities are home to 29.3 million people with no access to local news.
Although hundreds of online media outlets emerge every year “and now more municipalities have at least one or two media outlets, many are not independent or are biased, because they depend on the city government or religious movements,” said Cristina Zahar, from the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (ARAJI).
In a third of Colombia, where 10 of the country’s 50 million inhabitants live – many areas far from the big cities – there are no mass media, and in another third, home to 16 million people, the existing media outlets are dedicated to entertainment, according to FLIP’s Cartography of Information.
In Venezuela, seven million people live in municipalities where there are no media outlets, and that figure rises to 15 million – in a country of 28 million people – if municipalities with only one or two media outlets, considered “semi-deserts”, are included, according to IPYS.
Unlike other countries, “the situation has worsened, with the massive closure of radio stations ordered by the government – at least 81 in 2022 alone, and 285 since 2003 – with radio being the medium that has the greatest penetration in remote areas,” Daniela Alvarado, head of freedom of information at IPYS, told IPS.
Remote rural areas far from the main cities and often in border regions are among the most affected by deficient infrastructure and lack of media outlets that enable local residents access to general information about their local environment and possibilities of participation in decisions that concern them. CREDIT: ECLAC
Exclusion, once again
In the case of Colombia, one cause for the breadth of news deserts is violence, “war, one of whose strategic aims is to pressure or close down news, journalism that can reveal, report, warn and monitor what happens in areas of conflict,” said Bock.
In 45 years of armed conflict in Colombia, 165 journalists were murdered, “strategic killings, because they reported on things, and became symbols,” Bock stressed.
“But it also has to do with a different kind of exclusion, of weak economies and little interest on the part of politics and government institutions in promoting independent and plural journalism, seen in some contexts as the enemy, and with society getting used to it and not demanding” independent reporting, the Colombian analyst said.
Another thing that has happened in countries in the region is that “traditional media, and many new digital outlets, emerged and are concentrated where there was already an audience and sources of advertising, which is combined with pre-existing inequalities to create an abyss between big cities and small towns and the countryside,” said Cañizález.
In news deserts, infrastructure failures abound and there are absences or deficiencies in internet services, with providers that do not access these territories, aggravating the situation of local inhabitants who often only have simple mobile phones and cannot obtain news and information through digital or social networks.
However, news deserts are not exclusive to rural, remote or border areas; in cities themselves there is a dearth of local media outlets, or the outlets have their own agendas on issues in poor urban communities, which are also impacted by the crises that face journalism in general.
This is the case of Venezuela, which “is caught up in a complex and continuous economic, political and social crisis that has led to the deterioration of its media ecosystem,” Alvarado said, adding that it also faces “a communicational hegemony (on the part of the State) that is manifested in censorship and self-censorship.”
Newspapers and television stations were driven to shut down, by government decision or suffocated due to lack of paper and advertising, or their sale paved the way for their closure; or, as in the case of many radio stations, closure is a constant looming threat. Online media suffer from internet cuts and harassment of their journalists.
Even in urban areas, such as this one in Caracas, the adverse climate of news deserts has an impact, for example with the closure of print media outlets caused by political decisions or economic crises, which forces traditional kiosks to subsist by replacing newspapers, which are no longer available, with candy and snacks. CREDIT: Public domain
What can be done?
“The challenge seems immeasurable, but we are not sitting quietly by, we must not give up on what is our right as a community public service,” said Benito.
The State “should promote, at least in the area of ??its competence, which is radio, television and internet, inclusive policies throughout the nation’s territory, guaranteeing basic rights, including the right to communication and information for all citizens,” stated Cañizález.
Zahar said that “sustainability is the challenge,” due to the difficulties many new media outlets, local or not, face in supporting themselves, and the advantages of digital media “that have fewer barriers to entry, can experiment with formats and financing mechanisms, and make quick changes.”
Bock said “we must think about the financing of journalism where there are fragile economies, see it as a public service but an independent one, to address the training of people practicing journalism in those places.”
Together with the support of the government and the international community, “models could be developed in which the big media sponsor local media in very small places or where there is clearly a news desert,” Cañizález said.
“But that’s still not even discussed in a number of our countries,” he said. “It is an issue that concerns journalism but has not drawn public attention. The debate is still very much confined to reporters.”
Thousands of dead fish in Dal Lake, Kashmir, are of concern to fishers, who make a living off the lake. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS
by Umar Manzoor Shah (srinagar, indian kashmir)
Inter Press Service
SRINAGAR, Indian Kashmir, Jun 14 (IPS) – Abdul Lateef Dar, a 45-year-old man living on the outskirts of Kashmir’s renowned Dal Lake, relies on the lake’s fish for food and income.
On the morning of May 26, 2023, Dar followed his usual routine, preparing his fishing tools and heading toward the lake. Initially, he noticed a few lifeless fish floating on the lake’s surface, which he considered a common sight. However, as the morning haze lifted, Dar looked at the lake with horror. The lake was filled with thousands of dead fish, resembling dry and withered branches. Dar urgently called out to fellow fishers and showed them the distressing scene.
Soon, hundreds of fishermen and their families gathered along the lake’s shore, witnessing the devastating scale of the fish mortality.
Dar recounted how he began fishing with his father at 14, relying on the lake for his livelihood. He expressed deep anguish at the devastation. Overnight, thousands of fish had perished, dealing a severe blow to his livelihood and that of countless others who depend on fishing and selling fish in the market.
“But I have never ever seen such devastation – it’s like a doomsday. Not hundreds but thousands of fish are dead overnight. This is the heaviest blow to my livelihood, and there are thousands like me whose livelihood is directly dependent upon catching fish and selling them in the market. What will we sell now, and what is there to catch?” Dar lamented.
The Hanjis community has lived around Dal Lake for centuries, and its main occupation is fishing. They are considered the poorest community in the valley – and they only own a few belongings and live a simple life. Because of their reliance on fishing since ancient times, the community, estimated at about 40 000 people, is more vulnerable than the others in Kashmir’s local populace.
In Srinagar, Jammu, and Kashmir, Dal Lake is a famous and iconic body of water with enormous cultural and ecological value. It is frequently referred to as Kashmir’s “jewel.”
The formation of Dal Lake is believed to have been caused as a result of tectonic action and glacial processes. It is surrounded by magnificent mountains and has a surface area of around 18 square kilometers.
The mass fish deaths widespread panic among the locals and particularly those families whose livelihood is directly dependent on the lake.
The region’s government said its scientific wing had made an initial examination to ascertain the cause of fish mortality and said the deaths were caused due to “thermal stratification”– a change in the temperature at different depths of the lake.
Bashir Ahmad Bhat, the most senior officer of Kashmir’s Lakes and Conservation Management Authority, told IPS that the samples had been collected more analysis is ongoing.
“Although we have collected samples for a thorough analysis, the fish (seemed to have) died as a result of heat stratification, a common occurrence. There is no need to be alarmed; fish as little as two to three inches have perished. We have collected samples of the dead fish in the research lab of our department to find out the precise reason why the fish in the lake died; we are awaiting the official results,” Bhat said.
However, for experts and research scholars, fish mortality in the water body could be a prelude to more troubled times ahead.
Zahid Ahmad Qazi, a research scholar, told IPS that the spike in pollution level is severely affecting the lake’s biodiversity and is causing huge stress to the lake’s fish fauna. He says the unchecked construction around the lake and liquid and solid wastes going into the lake’s water has begun to show drastic impacts.
“Over the years, the water quality of Dal Lake has deteriorated, causing adverse impacts on its fish fauna. The endemic Schizothorax fish populations have declined considerably owing to the pollution and introduction of exotics. At the same time, the total fish production of the lake has not increased much over the last few decades. The lack of proper governance, policy regulations, and coordination between government agencies and fishers adds more negative impact to this,” the research paper concluded.
The Department of Lakes and Waterways Development Authority, tasked with the protection of the lakes in Kashmir, indicated there were various plans underway to save the Dal Lake and its biodiversity. The department, according to its officials, is uprooting water lilies with traditional methods and weeding the lake using the latest machinery so that the surface is freed from weeds and its fish production increases.
However, in 2018 research done by Humaira Qadri and A. R. Yousuf from the Department of Environmental Science, University of Kashmir, the government, despite spending USD 3 million on the conservation of the lake so far, there has been no visible improvement in its condition. “A lack of proper management and restoration plan and the incidence of engineered but ecologically unsound management practices have led to a failure in the conservation efforts,” reveals the research.
It concluded that conservation efforts have proved to be a failure. It adds that the apathy of the managing authorities has resulted in the deterioration of the lake.
“There is a need to formulate a proper ecologically sound management plan for the lake encompassing all the environmental components of the lake ecosystem and thus help to conserve the lake in a real ecological sense,” the research stated.
DENVER, Colorado, USA, Jun 14 (IPS) – June 16 marks the International Day of the African Child, a day commemorating student uprisings in Soweto Township, South Africa, in 1976. The day is meant to honor the brave students who stood against a system of violence and oppression, raising their voices for equality as human beings and for the right to learn in their native languages at school.
They were met with brutality – at least 176 students lost their lives and many thousands more were injured. The fight for equity in education on the African continent continues. Systems created by colonial powers persist, and students continue to struggle to gain access to education opportunities that meet their needs and reflect their identities.
According to UNICEF, Africa’s population of children under 18 is currently at an estimated 600 million and projected to expand by 40% by the year 2050. The need for new educational opportunities that honor the diverse needs of communities across the continent is critical.
In Uganda, a community is creating a model for African students to reach their full potential. The Tat Sat Community Academy in rural Kasasa, Uganda, opened in February 2023. The school and the institutions that support it were conceived, built, and are managed by the community itself.
In the case of The Tat Sat Community Academy, several unique characteristics set the school and project apart from others. To help pay the necessary school fees, families can process and sell their maize at the project’s local, community-owned, maize mill.
In its first harvest season, the maize mill processed 14,000 Kgs of grain from Kasasa and nearby communities, and invested in a 10-acre maize growing project within Kasasa for the next harvest season in July 2023.
Program leaders expect to process no less than 50,000 Kgs of grain within the next season. The maize mill will have purchased its own truck by the end of the year to collect maize grain from community growers, as well as deliver maize flour for sale at market in the region as well as in the capital where prices are more advantageous, providing access to better returns for farmers and their families.
Besides the school, the project has two other pillars to it: The Institute of Indigenous Cultures and Performing Arts, or ICPA, and a Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization, or SACCO.
The ICPA will allow students and community members to keep traditional knowledge alive through music, dance and other forms of knowledge to be shared by community elders and integrated into the standard school curriculum.
At the ICPA, community members, students, and community artists will also be able to exchange knowledge and share cultural experiences with visitors from across the region and world.
Program leaders also foresee the establishment of a guest house that will allow for immersive, long-term exchanges with students within and beyond Kyotera and Uganda, as well as artists from across the world who want to engage through experiences of dance, music and other art forms and community cultures. The center will also provide income for the school and wider project through rentals, performance, and programming.
The SACCO, meanwhile, provides economic education for students and their families and allows families to use business practices to enhance their earnings and help pay the necessary school fees, which were set by the community so that everyone may attend the school who wants to.
The community partnered with The InteRoots Initiative to develop the project. InteRoots is a Denver, Colorado-based nonprofit working both domestically and internationally on projects that are sustainable to local communities.
InteRoots employs a “roots-up” model that puts project goals, methodologies, management, and assessment exclusively in the hands of community members.
As one of the co-founders of The InteRoots Initiative, I am proud to see the work and capabilities being achieved in Kasasa.
The community is coming together to educate children, and has created a model of community engagement and support which will allow for self-sustainability once initial start-up costs are met.
The ICPA, meanwhile, will allow the children to honor and learn from the languages, art and culture core to their identities. The ICPA will be a place for elders and youth to come together and exchange knowledge among themselves and others to honor the rich culture that has passed down through generations, and in appropriate circumstances, share this with others wanting to gain a better understanding of the cultural context of East Africa.
We must continue to nurture the extraordinary talent, ingenuity and excitement that is felt in communities like Kasasa. Though the school opened only a few months ago, students, families and community members are excited about the prospects of the project, and the investments they can make in their community. It brings me great joy to see the excitement building around Kasasa’s “communitarian” model.
As International Day of the African Child nears, we want to remind people around the world that change is happening, through community-driven approaches like what is taking place in Kasasa. Bringing community-minded interactions and ideas to the forefront improves the likelihood of success, leaving a lasting impact for communities that are making sustainable, life-changing investments in their livelihoods.
Children are at the heart of this movement, because they are the next generation who will set the stage for so many issue-driven approaches to come: from climate change solutions to financing to sustainable farming practices, the children in communities like Kasasa will be at the forefront of those adaptations.
It is our job, as partners and world citizens, to prepare them for what lies ahead and equip them with the tools and skills that will lead them into the future. Communities know best what they need to make lasting change, we just need to come to their table.
We ask that you come along and join us as we work toward this mission.
M. Scott Frank is the co-founder and executive director of The InteRoots Initiative, a Colorado, U.S.-based nonprofit working with communities on sustainable projects created by local communities. To learn more, visit interoots.org.
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This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
