07 November 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Amid further biodiversity loss and concerns about a failure to meet the international target of 2010 to reduce such loss, preparations continue for the 2010 “Year of Biological Diversity.” Three high-level summits are planned to address biodiversity loss. First, world leaders will meet in New York in September to discuss ways to tackle the situation. While in New York, leaders will also prepare for the 2010 Biodiversity Summit in Nagoya, Japan, where new targets will be established to weaken the threat to species across the planet. The year will culminate in Kanazawa, Japan, in December, with a ceremony to end a year of anticipated success. At the United Nations this week, Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary for the Convention on Biological Diversity, unveiled the logo for the Year and discussed plans and activities to address biodiversity loss. He emphasized the importance of 2010 to MediaGlobal, stating “While we are discovering with the science, and the bar-coding, and the new technologies, the species and the health of ecosystems, we are losing them at unprecedented rates. So, to such an extent, some experts are talking about the sixth global mass extinction—the first global extinction generated by you and me.” It will be up to humans to use 2010 as a chance to fix the biodiversity loss they are primarily responsible for. The Convention will publish an outlook on species in 2010; but Djoglaf pointed out that every indication in its preparation signal a sorry state of affairs. He also described how biodiversity is a major tool for those living in the developing world, with 1.6 million people obtaining their livelihood from forests. The summit in Nagoya will feature many heads of state, and could be the best opportunity for those in the developing world to hold onto biodiversity, before it is irreversibly damaged. Ryan Dicovitsky

37-year odyssey for last of ’1972 Burundians’ ends

06 November 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: After 37 years in Tanzania, the final 400 “1972 Burundians“—victims of their former country’s 1972 mass-killings—choosing repatriation arrived in Burundi last Friday. Since its emergence from Belgian rule, Burundi has endured a complex cycle of deadly conflict that forced several hundred thousand refugees to seek safety abroad. More recently however, the hard-won peace process in Burundi has produced an increasingly stable security situation. Noting this overall progress since 2002, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been working to facilitate the repatriation of all Burundian refuges hoping to return to their now more peaceful country. This work is largely done from neighboring Tanzania, a “haven of peace” which has been one of the largest refugee-receiving countries in Africa and has hosted the vast majority of Burundi’s refugees over the decades. UNHCR’s Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba though explained to MediaGlobal that while Tanzania has been consistently willing to host such asylum-seekers from regional conflicts, it also seeks “relief from the burden of hosting massive numbers of refugees whose countries have been pacified.” The “1972 Burundians” are however a special case as many have decided to remain in Tanzania. Due to the long time spent away from Burundi in self-sufficient settlements, a significant number of the “refugees” of 1972 have become accustomed to life in Tanzania, with many having children and raising families there, enjoying steady relations with Tanzanian society. The Tanzanian government has been particularly accommodating to this group in accepting those who opt to remain, working closely with UNHCR to integrate them, naturalizing 29,000 of the 162,000 seeking Tanzanian citizenship with the rest expected to be naturalized by the end of the year. Of the “1972 Burundians” choosing to leave Tanzania, 53,500 total have been assisted by UNHCR to do so. Overall, since 2002 UNHCR has partnered to help over 500,000 Burundian refugees voluntarily return home as well as conducted programs in Burundi to assist IDPs and returnees with reconciliation, land and property issues. According to UNHCR, only 57,500 Burundian refugees across the region remain to be repatriated. Henoch Derbew

Displaced Zimbabwean children receive educational support

06 November 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is working with Save the Children UK and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to enhance school environment in Zimbabwe for 25,000 displaced children in six urban school districts. Forty marginalized and neglected schools that serve the country’s displaced children will receive emergency assistance in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, as well as the Hwange, Makoni, Mutare, and Chpinge districts. As far as the determination of the targeted schools, mobile and vulnerable communities were assessed on their needs. According to a 2008 Save the Children UK study, the schools to receive aid had a 55 percent drop in enrollment, a 70 percent drop in teacher presence and an upsurge in school-based violence. School infrastructure, including water and sanitation, was degraded, negatively impacting the education and health of the students. Judith Chinamaringa, IOM information assistant for Zimbabwe, told MediaGlobal, “IOM is leading the overall coordination of the project through liaising with mobile and vulnerable communities and the emergency refurbishment of the schools. IRC will focus on water and sanitation provision in the schools, while Save the Children will concentrate on child-focused activities in the schools, such as essential life saving trainings in a range of areas including child protection.” Safer, improved educational facilities are the goal of the project. On top of the aforementioned tasks being carried out by the three groups, teacher accommodation, classrooms and playgrounds will also be aided, improved and built, respectively. Teachers will also be trained on the protection of children in emergencies, the prevention of family separation, and how to teach life skills, including HIV/AIDS risk and sexual/gender-based violence. While the project is still in its beginning stages, plans are already in the works “to expand this program to three other provinces in Zimbabwe (Mashonaland East, Mashonaland Central, and Masvingo) that are equally affected by displacements,” Chinamaringa said. The US$740,000 program will be funded by the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund from October 2009 through June 2010. Alison Walkley

Panama and Global Housing Foundation sign agreement to create 2,000 homes

05 November 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: A new private-public partnership between the Global Housing Foundation and the Municipality of Panama will create 2,000 homes for selected low-income government employees of the Central American nation. It’s all a part of the Global Housing Foundation’s micro-mortgage program for the working poor, designed to operate with little or no subsidy. The Global Housing Foundation—a philanthropic nonprofit organization in partnership with UN-HABITAT—established its commitment to extend the program to Panama on 30 October, when it signed an agreement with representatives of the Panamanian government at the United Nations. “There is presently a housing deficit of 148,000 homes in Panama and collaborations like this one offer us a very tangible way to reduce that,” Carlos Duboy Sierra, Minister of Housing of Panama, told MediaGlobal. “This will help people who are living in settlements, often several families living in just one home, without running water, electricity or proper sanitation.” Panama is only the latest country with which the Global Housing Foundation has collaborated. Working also in different countries in Central America, South America, Eastern Europe and South Asia, the GHF generally works to build 600 square foot environmentally friendly homes, complete with water, electricity, septic tanks, bathrooms and kitchen areas. Around 70 percent of the resident families go on to build additions to the houses, while 20 percent of them start businesses within them. “The key thing is for our foundation to work with the municipalities of federal and state governments, and local governments, and UN-HABITAT, and to utilize their expertise,” Tim Wilkens, world president of the Global Housing Foundations, said to MediaGlobal. “This [public-private collaboration] is a new concept, relatively, but I think there is certainly a need for it. There are more than 1 billion people worldwide who are homeless and it’s a matter of trying to redirect resources so they are as efficiently used as possible.” Amy Lieberman

Editor: Nosh Nalavala

Assistant Editor: Christina L. Madden

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