Weekending Sunday, 1 June 2008

JAPAN GIVES AID TO FIGHT DISEASE IN AFRICA

26 May 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Japan is giving $560 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, of which about 60 percent will go to Africa. The Japanese Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, explained the reason for Japan’s financial contribution to the fund, saying, “This contribution will enable the Global Fund to continue and expand its activities, resulting in a great many lives being saved.” Japan’s pledge puts the country’s overall contribution to the fund at $1.5 billion, with Japan now the third largest donor to the Global Fund. Rajat Gupta, Chair of the Global Fund Board, highlighted the importance of Japan’s contribution, saying, “We have a global responsibility to stem the spread of the three diseases which still claim the lives of six million people annually, leaving many others in poverty. Japan is showing the world that it is taking this responsibility seriously.” Japan’s pledge will go to fight all three diseases, Rosie Vanek, a spokesperson for the Global Fund, told MediaGlobal. “Pledges are not earmarked for a particular disease and this applies to the Japan pledge. The funds go into the general pool on all three diseases,” she said. The Global Fund claims that it has prevented the deaths of 2 million people, as treatment for AIDS has been provided for 1.4 billion people, tuberculosis treatment for 3.3 million people, and 46 million insecticide-treated bed nets for malaria prevention have been distributed.

BIOMIMICRY OF NAMIB DESERT BEETLE AIDS WATER SUPPLY RESEARCH

28 May 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: As the United Nations projects that two-thirds of the global population will be living under conditions of water scarcity by 2025, new nature-inspired technologies, collectively called biomimicry, are being used to create solutions. One of these technologies, included in the Nature’s 100 Best List at the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, is beetle-based water harvesting. This method of water harvesting is inspired by the Namib Desert Beetle of Namibia, which lives in a region that receives only half an inch of rainfall a year. It’s survival technique hinges on its ability to gather water from the fogs that roll across the desert a few mornings every month. Research by a team from the University of Oxford and the United Kingdom Defense Research firm QinetiQ has yielded a design for a surface that consists of tiny glass spheres in a layer of warm wax that mimic the water-grabbing bumps and water-shedding valleys on the beetles back. The technology “could be of great benefit [to least developed countries] if adapted, especially in water stressed environments” UNEP Head of Media, Nick Nuttal, told MediaGlobal. The Nature’s 100 Best List, the result of a partnership of the Biomimicry Guild and the Zero Emission Research and Initiative (ZERI) with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), brings together innovative technologies using nature as inspiration, and is due to be completed by October 2008 and presented at the IUCN Congress in Spain.

EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVE PROMOTES ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMONG ARAB YOUTH

28 May 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: More than 25 percent of young people are unemployed in the Middle East and North Africa, higher rates of joblessness than anywhere else in the world. Silatech, a new initiative supported by major regional donors and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, is confronting the problem head-on, working to combine practical tools with policy changes in an effort to create thousands of jobs for Arab youths. The project, which will hold a summit on employment in the Arab world June 1 and 2 in Doha, Qatar, brings governments, corporations and NGOs together to foster entrepreneurship among the region’s youth. A network of contact centers will allow young people access to information on training, employment and microfinance opportunities, and the World Bank will create a trust fund to promote youth employment projects and “youth-friendly” policies among local financial institutions, Shamil Idriss, Acting Director of the Alliance for Civilizations, told reporters Wednesday. “Together the partners of this extraordinary coalition of corporations, civil society, major philanthropic foundations and media will help foster a new spirit of entrepreneurship among young Arabs, and jumpstart the process of job creation in the region,” Idriss said. Young women, particularly in Qatar, are leading the resurgence of an “entrepreneurial culture” in the Arab world, Idriss told MediaGlobal. “The young people I’ve met so far that have been profiled and have been encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity, when it comes about, have all been young women,” he said.

MEDIA DEVELOPMENT IS KEY ASPECT OF UN PEACEKEEPING

29 May 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: United Nations peacekeeping missions are best known for their deployment of blue-helmeted peacekeepers to war-ravaged regions around the world. But in several post-conflict areas, UN peacekeeping missions have helped fund and develop vibrant local media outlets, considered by many to be an important and lasting contribution to peace. The international community marked the sixtieth anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping on Thursday, including a wreath-laying ceremony honoring the 2,400 peacekeepers who have lost their lives since the first UN peacekeeping mission was launched in 1948 to monitor an Arab-Israeli ceasefire. While the success of many missions since has been considered mixed, in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan, UN peacekeeping missions have helped create nationwide radio stations with the goal of rigorously reporting on issues of human rights, governance, public health and conflict resolution, while also keeping citizens informed of UN activities. Even more focus needs to be put on the development of local media, Susana Malcorra, UN Peacekeeping’s new Head of Department of Field Support told MediaGlobal. “What I see as one of our most important challenges is how to reach out to communities. It’s clear that we have a problem linking with the communities, particularly with some of these very, very difficult cases that we are facing,” she said, adding that open channels of communication between peacekeeping missions and the people they serve is critical to building trust and working toward peace. “In my own country [Argentina], in many moments, that was what made the difference,” she said.

INDONESIA ANNOUNCES PLANS TO CUT GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS BY 17 PERCENT

30 May 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Environment ministers from the Group of Eight leading industrialized countries as well as emerging economies such as China and India gathered in Kobe, Japan, last week to begin talks on climate change. The talks will be continued in July at the G8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan. In Kobe, Indonesia pledged push for progress toward reaching carbon reduction targets by outlining a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2025. Before the meeting, the Indonesian Environment Minister, Rachmat Witoelar, said, “I’d like to voice my concerns that if the issue is not carefully managed, it will threaten the existence of people in Asia and the world in general. Indonesia realizes the importance of this issue and has committed itself to play an active role in climate change negotiations.” But Doug Boucher, the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Director of the Tropical Forest and Climate Initiative, told MediaGlobal, “Their energy sector emissions are only about 15-20 percent of their total – the rest is deforestation. Indonesia’s plan is a realistic goal if they were talking about cutting their deforestation emissions – they probably could even do more, and sooner.” Witoelar said that Indonesia can reach this goal by lowering the use of oil and reducing forest burning. But as Indonesia also plans to increase the amount of coal for energy purposes by the same date, the recent plan could mean little.

WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME BOOSTS FOOD AID TO IRAQ

30 May 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The World Food Programme (WFP) announced that its operation in Iraq is now 85 percent funded, after the national government committed $40 million to assist internally displaced Iraqis. “This contribution came at a crucial time and will allow us to maintain a regular and continuous food supply and distribution to up to 750,000 people over the next six months,” said Stefano Porretti, WFP Iraq Country Director. The operation goes beyond Iraq: “It’s regional because we are dealing with refugees out of Syria,” Jennifer Parmelee, a spokesperson for WFP told MediaGlobal. Although the WFP has been present in the country since the conflict started in 2003, the current operation is considered fairly new. During 1993 and 1994, the organization was providing food for nearly every Iraqi. Today that number is significantly less. Thus far, only 390,000 of the targeted beneficiaries have received food aid. “The donation shows the government’s commitment to support all Iraqis, particularly those not covered by the government-run food distribution system,” said Porretti. In fact, the Iraqi government has now become the largest contributor to the operation, out-spending the United States, which has provided $37.4 million. However, WFP reports that the movement of aid continues to be restricted by massive security concerns inside the country.

JAPAN AT THE FOREFRONT OF GLOBAL FOOD AID

30 May 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: As more nations begin to feel the direct effects of global food shortages, monetary aid is increasing. This week the Japanese government donated an aid package equaling $47.8 million. “WFP is deeply grateful for this generous aid package. This contribution is proof of Japan’s strong leadership in addressing the global food crisis,” said the Director of WFP’s Japan Relations Office, Mihoko Tamamura. Bettina Luescher, a spokesperson for WFP, told MediaGlobal that WFP’s aid goal has been readjusted to $3.4 billion dollars, owing to the rapid rise in food prices. And it is those who are suffering most from the rise in prices that will benefit from Japan’s package. In Burundi people are buying moldy cassava –a starchy root – despite its price tripling over the past several months. Japanese aid will specifically benefit vulnerable people in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. However, nearly 85 percent of that aid will be spread across 10 African nations – the largest portion will be $9.6 million allotted to Sudan. “As WFP’s food purchase cost has gone up by 55 percent since last June, this large aid package will enable us to continue assisting the most vulnerable people around the world,” said Tamamura.

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES NOT EQUIPPED TO ADDRESS BIOSAFETY THREATS

30 May 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Biotechnology is said to offer solutions to many of the problems developing countries face, but a report by the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) warns against the international threat of mismanaged biotechnology. The report, released at the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, was written to help developing countries create adequate biosaftey measures for their modern biotechnologies. The benefits of these new technologies assure an increase in their use in agriculture and other development areas, so proper regulatory policies and enforcement capacities are necessary to control the risk of bioterrorism. “The most important action to ensure global biosafety is to develop the capacity of developing countries to implement their National Biosafety Frameworks. At the moment as many as 100 developing countries lack the basic capacities to do this,” the author of the report and Senior Research Fellow at the United Nations University, Sam Johnston, told MediaGlobal. The report presents suggestions for creating policies while highlighting the importance of regulations beginning at a local level. Since “the international regime is built on effective national regimes, this means that it is unlikely that there is an effective national regime,” Johnston said. The potential for bioterrorism, primarily in the form of releasing human-modified bacteria, toxins or viruses, will continue to be a threat to all countries “if the international biosafety regime is not effective,” he said.

CLIMATE CHANGE FORCES PEOPLE FROM THEIR HOMES

31 May 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Concluding its 61st session last week, the World Health Assembly cited climate change as a matter of grave implications for global health and trends in migration. In an address to the assembly Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said, “The international community will have to cope with a growing number of environmental refugees. If land is parched or salinated, if coastal and low-lying areas are permanently under water, these people cannot simply go home. Environmental refugees thus become a new wave of settlers.” Migration is a more potent force today than at any other point in history, with more than 190 million people living outside their place of birth. “Migrants are particularly vulnerable to poverty, marginality, stress from displacement, and limited access to social and health services,” Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization told MediaGlobal. In the wake of the global rise in droughts, flooding and natural disasters, experts are increasingly citing climate change as a crucial factor in determining the health and livelihoods of the world’s most vulnerable populations. According to the World Disasters Report by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 98 percent of natural disaster casualties occur in developing countries. For people whose livelihoods depend on climate-sensitive resources such as agricultural land and local water supplies, shifts in rainfall and temperature can be fatal. For these people, migration often becomes a survival strategy. Climate change experts predict that by the year 2050, up to 200 million people worldwide will be forced to migrate due to climate change and environmental degradation. “We need to look at the health consequences of migration due to the destruction of livelihoods from natural disasters,” Garwood said.

CELL PHONES IMPROVE LIVES OF AFRICAN FARMERS

31 May 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Half the world’s population now owns a cell phone, according to a new report by the International Telecommunication Union. The most dramatic rise in cell phone use has been in Africa, where cell phone users currently exceed 250 million. The trend is providing new opportunities for shared innovation and cooperation between small-scale farmers. “In the last two years or so, we’ve really seen a change in how radio works because of the rapidly growing access to cell phones,” Kevin Perkins, Director of Farm Radio International said in an interview with MediaGlobal, shortly after returning from Ghana. “It’s changing the face of rural community radio.” As climate change becomes an increasingly influential force on agricultural, rural community radio stations allow small-scale farmers to share strategies for adjusting to problems such as water shortages and seasonal changes. “These farmers are on the front lines of climate change, experiencing the effects right now,” said Perkins. “Radio can reach them where they live with the information they need.” Cell phones are further opening the lines of communication. “Call-in, text-in and call-out
shows are becoming much more common, and give farmers more opportunity to have
their views, needs and success stories aired,” Perkins said. In countries without dependable telephone infrastructure, the prevalence of cell phones carries particular resonance. In Africa, cell phone use has far surpassed that of landlines, accounting for 90 percent of all phone use. New initiatives are creatively employing mobile technologies to improve the lives of rural Africans. In a partnership with Vodafone, the United Nations Foundation provides mobile communication networks to African communities impacted by natural disasters, such as recent flooding in Mozambique. Partnership spokesperson Adele Waugaman told MediaGlobal, “We see mobile technology as a key tool for development in vulnerable and climate-impacted areas.”

GLOBAL HAPPENINGS

International Youth Crime Prevention and Cities Summit
Durban, South Africa (17-21 June 2008): Hosted by the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal and UN-HABITAT. The objective is to prevent and reduce crime and violence in our cities, towns and villages. Designed for young people and local authorities who work with them, this four-day event will enable all participants to mobilize, to learn, to experience, to speak, and to act.
Website: www.unhsp.org

Nollywood Foundation Convention
Los Angeles, USA (20-22 June 2008): The yearly convention and conference to promote Nollywood. With speakers and workshops.
Website: http:// www.nollywoodfoundation.org/home.php

Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning
London, UK (13-17 July 2008): Applications are invited for participation in the Forum. It has grown to become one of the world’s leading conferences on learning and global development. This year, it will explore how open and distance learning can help achieve international development goals and education for all.
Website: http:// www.pcf5.london.ac.uk

Making Markets Work – a Two-Week Training Programme
Glasgow, UK (13-26 July 2008): This unique programme focuses directly on a key challenge facing governments and development agencies: how to make markets function more effectively for business and for poor people? The programme builds on the Springfield Centre’s successful record in offering training on the market development approach to more than 700 people over the last nine years.
Website: www.springfieldcentre.com

2nd General Assembly and Conference of African Council for Distance Education
Lagos, Nigeria (8-11 July 2008): Sponsored by the African Council for Distance Education and the National Open University of Nigeria.
Website: http:// www. nou.du.ng

SOURCE: South-South Solutions http://tcdc1.undp.org/enews/index.html