SUSTAINABILITY – Page 170 – IDN-InDepthNews

Global Partnerships2016-05-202023-07-10

South Pacific Seeks Action to Solve Climate ‘Terror’ Not of Its Making

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) – Pointing out that three tiny South Pacific nations – Kiribati, Tuvalu and Marshal islands – are “destined to slip below the waves altogether”, feisty Fijian Prime Minister Josaia Bainimarama has appealed to the international community to help Fiji and the other South Pacific island states build resilience to the impact of climatic change, which he described as the “terror of the extreme weather events”.

Addressing the opening of the 72nd UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) sessions (May 17-19) as outgoing chair, Bainimarama said: “History will judge the industrial nations very harshly if they leave small and vulnerable nations to their fate without extending the appropriate helping hand. We have not caused global warming. They have.”

He told ministers and senior officials from over 65 countries in the Asia-Pacific region that the industrial nations “must use a portion of the wealth they have derived from the carbon emissions of their industries to assist those of us who aren’t as wealthy as they are and are bearing the brunt of the crisis they created”.

Health & Well Being2016-05-172023-07-10

Antibiotics Threatening to Become Useless

Viewpoint by Martin Khor *

Antibiotics – also called antibacterials – revolutionized medicine in the 20th century. Their effectiveness and easy access led to overuse, especially in livestock raising, prompting bacteria to develop resistance. This has led to widespread problems with antimicrobial and antibiotic resistance, so much as to prompt the World Health Organization to classify antimicrobial resistance as a “serious threat [that] is no longer a prediction for the future, it is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country”. – Editor

GENEVA (IDN | SOUTHNEWS) – Antibiotic resistance – a process by which antibiotics no longer work because bacteria have become resistant to them – has climbed up the global agenda because of growing awareness of the immense threat this poses to human health and survival.

Global Partnerships2016-05-102023-07-10

Japan Moves Prestigious Africa Conference to Kenya

Analysis by Kingsley Ighobor

NEW YORK (IDN | Africa Renewal) – To many Africans, Japan is a country acclaimed for economic and technological prowess. Johnson Obaluyi in Lagos, Nigeria, says Toyota, the ubiquitous automotive manufacturer, comes to mind whenever Japan is mentioned. For Kwesi Obeng, a Ghanaian living in Nairobi, Kenya, it is technology. Beageorge Cooper, a consultant for the World Bank in Monrovia, Liberia, says she thinks of Japan as “a former world economic power”.

But it’s a different matter when Africans are asked about Japan-Africa relations. “I will have to read up on that,” says Cooper. “I think we are importing their Toyotas,” recollects Obaluyi. “They support research into tropical diseases in Africa,” says Obeng.

Such scant knowledge of the full gamut of Japan-Africa relations hardly reflects the true picture on the ground, considering that it was as recently as 2013 that Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzō Abe announced a whopping $32 billion five-year support for Africa’s development projects.

Global Partnerships2016-05-092023-07-10

Aid Frozen as Mozambique Reels Under ‘Iceberg of Debt’

NEW YORK (IDN | GIN) – Canada has joined the IMF, World Bank and several other countries in cutting aid to Mozambique over concerns about the country’s finances.

CTV News reported on May 9 that Mozambique had more than $1.3 billion in undeclared debts, which raised concerns among donors over its financial management. Fourteen donor agencies and countries, including the U.K., Portugal and Switzerland, are freezing a portion of their development assistance.

Canada’s high commissioner in Mozambique said on Twitter on May 9 that general budget support has been frozen – that’s aid that goes directly to Mozambique’s government. Development assistance provided to NGOs and multilateral organizations like the UN remains in place.

In the midst of freezing aid, banks that saw dollar signs in the developing economies of Africa are being blamed for a looming fiscal crash in Mozambique over so-called “tuna bonds”.

Emblematic of the easy lending by western banks, 24 fishing boats meant to be a modern tuna fleet are gathering rust in the port of Maputo.

Peace & Security2016-05-092023-07-10

Praises Roll in for Re-elected Equatorial Guinea President

NEW YORK (IDN | GIN) – After the disputed re-election of the longest-serving ruler of Equatorial Guinea in April 24 polls, opposition leaders and local organizations decried it as “not credible.”

According to the election results supervised by a minister of his own party, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo swept the polls with nearly 94% of the vote.

But most known members of the opposition were either barred from participating or boycotted the elections in protest. An African news team – Africa24 – was reportedly detained for hours at the airport despite having the proper paperwork from the Information Ministry.

With his victory, the 73-year-old President Obiang – who has already served 37 years – will serve another 7-year term.

Because the country is oil-rich, the government has friends around the world. Critics, however, point to the country’s poverty index – ranking 144 out of 187 countries on the United Nations’ 2014 Human Development Index.

Sustainable Industrialisation2016-05-082023-07-10

Africans Vow to Promote Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization

Analysis by Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – The third Pan African Capacity Development Forum organized by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), in partnership with the organisation’s Pan-African and international partners, has vowed to boost industry together with infrastructure, in order to promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation in line with the ninth goal of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

As such, the organisation says it has invested more than $1 billion, building institutions in 45 countries on the African continent and supporting regional economic communities as well as continental organisations.

The SDGs were built on the eight anti-poverty targets that the world committed to achieving by 2015, dubbed the Millennium Development Goals.

Climate Action2016-05-042023-07-10

Jobs and Climate Asian Development Bank’s Top Priorities as it Turns 50

Analysis by Jaya Ramachandran

FRANKFURT (IDN) – Creating quality jobs, developing the private sector, and combating climate change to ensure a vibrant and sustainable Asia top the agenda of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as it marks its fiftieth anniversary this year.

According to Bank President Takehiko Nakao, over the last decade, Asia has grown about 7% annually, even after the global financial crisis. This has supported global growth, he said in the opening address at the 49th Annual Meeting of ADB’s Board of Governors – for the first time held in Germany – from May 2 to 5.

China is expected to grow 6.5% this year, down from 6.9% last year, reflecting its transformation to a new growth model. The region as a whole is projected to grow by a robust 5.7% in 2016, said Nakao.

India, with projected growth of 7.4%, is now the fastest growing large economy. Indonesia is expected to grow 5.2% in 2016, higher than last year despite the negative impact from lower commodity prices. Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Viet Nam are gaining growth momentum backed by reform efforts.

Sustainable Industrialisation2016-05-032023-07-10

Growing Doubts About ‘Free Trade’ in the United States

Analysis by Martin Khor*

GENEVA (IDN | SOUTHVIEWS) – “Free trade” seems to be in deep trouble in the United States, with serious implications for the rest of the world. Opposition to free trade or trade agreements emerged as a big theme among the leading American presidential candidates.

Donald Trump attacked cheap imports especially from China and threatened to raise tariffs. Hillary Clinton criticised the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) which she once championed, and Bernie Sanders’ opposition to free trade agreements (FTAs) helped him win in many states before the New York primary.

That trade became such a hot topic in the campaigns reflects a strong anti-free trade sentiment on the ground. Almost six million jobs were lost in the U.S. manufacturing sector from 1999 to 2011.

Wages have remained stagnant while the incomes of the top one per cent of Americans have shot up. Rightly or wrongly, many Americans blame these problems on U.S. trade policy and FTAs.

Affordable Clean Energy2016-05-012023-07-10

Art Exhibition Highlights Regional Bank’s Commitment to ‘Lighting Africa’

By Ronald Joshua

JOHANNESBURG | ABIDJAN (IDN) – When Akinwumi Adesina took over as the President of the African Development Bank in September 2015, he made no secret that lighting up and powering Africa would be one of his five priorities – one of the ‘High 5s’.

“Without electricity there is no future, no growth, no progress,” he said opening the exhibition, titled Lumières d’Afriques (‘African Lights’) on April 26 at the Donwahi Foundation for Contemporary Art in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, under the auspices of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Artists for Development (AAD) Fund.

The exhibition, which is the world’s first in several respects, will run through June 6 before going to Dakar, London, Washington, among other places. It comprises 54 works created by 54 world-renowned contemporary African artists, one for each of the 54 countries that make up the continent, united around the same source of inspiration: The illuminated Africa.

Gender Equality2016-04-292023-07-10

Adolescent Girls in Bangladesh Defend Right to Learning

News Feature by Naimul Haq

COX’S BAZAR | Bangladesh (IDN) – Many young girls drop out from schools in Bangladesh largely due to poverty and poverty related causes. But strong motivations for continuing education have changed the scenario over the past few years.

Despite the practices of patriarchy and traditional beliefs against girls’ education and employment in mostly poor families in the rural areas, adolescent girls in many regions of Bangladesh have demonstrated how defying such traditions can actually benefit their lives.

Shonglap – or dialogue that calls for capacity building or developing occupational skills and offers livelihood opportunities for marginalised groups of people in the society – has made a positive impact encouraging them to learn.

Ummey Salma, who quit school in 2011 due to extreme poverty, has joined Shonglap in South Delpara of Khurushkul in coastal Cox’s Bazar district. In a group of 29 adolescent girls, Ummey, who lost her father in 2009, has been playing a leading role among the girls who meet six-days a week in the Shonglap session held at a rented thatched home in suburb Delpara.