Day: November 8, 2021

Former U.S. President Barack Obama told the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday that world leaders at the summit “have not done nearly enough” to address the climate crisis.

Speaking during the second full week of the talks, known as COP26, Obama said that most nations failed to meet the commitments made in the 2015 Paris climate conference agreement and that the world is nowhere near where it needs to be in confronting climate change.

He said it was “particularly discouraging” that the leaders of China and Russia — two of the largest emitters — declined to attend the Glasgow conference, saying both nations have demonstrated what “appears to be a dangerous lack of urgency” on climate change.

China is the world’s biggest carbon emitter. In a statement to the conference last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on other nations to “step up cooperation” and act on climate targets. Xi, however, offered no new commitments.

Obama said advanced economies such as the United States and Europe need to lead on this issue, but so do China, Russia and India. “We can’t afford anybody on the sidelines,” he said.

He also argued it was essential to listen to people who objected to swift action on climate change.

“We actually have to listen to their objections and understand the reluctance of some ordinary people to see their countries move too fast on climate change. We have to understand their realities and work with them so that serious action on climate change doesn’t adversely impact them,” he said.

He added, “We’ve got to persuade the guy who has got to drive to his factory job every day, can’t afford a Tesla, and might not be able to pay the rent or feed his family if gas prices go up.”

The United States is the second-biggest greenhouse gas emitter after China.

Call to protest

More than 100,000 climate-action activists from across the world took to the streets of Glasgow on Saturday to express their frustration at what’s been agreed to so far at the COP26 climate talks.

As far as they’re concerned, the new pledges made during the summit — to cut carbon and methane emissions, end deforestation, phase out coal, and provide more financing for poorer countries most vulnerable to extreme weather — are just “eye candy,” falling far short of what’s needed to curb global warming.

Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was among the protesters, has described the two-week summit as more “blah blah blah” and called it a “failure.” She told clamorous youth protesters outside the venue that the conference has turned into “a global north greenwash festival.”

Others worry, though, that in the rush to make climate action pledges, Western governments may be going too fast with decarbonizing and risk losing the support of their own populations by failing to take into account the economic impact of the monumental shifts envisaged.

Opinion polls suggest that across the globe, overwhelming majorities of people see climate change as an emergency requiring dramatic action. But some polls in recent weeks have also suggested that when people are told what the costs to them may be to curb global warming, they are reluctant to shoulder the financial burden.

A survey in Britain published Sunday suggested that less than half of the British people were willing to pay thousands of pounds to make their homes greener to help meet net-zero emission goals outlined by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Those polled were asked their opinions on green policies to slash emissions both before and after hearing about the estimated upfront costs of insulating their homes and switching from natural gas boilers for heating to heat pumps. In the survey conducted for British think tank Onward by pollster JL Partners, 50% backed the idea of better insulation for homes, double glazing and switching to heat pumps. But when they were provided with the estimated cost of $11,000 per household, support trailed away, with just 26% agreeing.

“Millions of voters, broadly supportive of the ‘cleaner earth’ agenda, are wondering how much of the burden of transitioning to a low-carbon, low-emission economy will fall on them, when they’re already struggling to make ends meet,” economist and newspaper columnist Liam Halligan wrote Monday in The Telegraph.

Financing the switch

Key themes at the summit have included how to fund the transition away from fossil fuel dependency to renewable, sustainable energy and how to finance projects to make countries more resilient to extreme weather. The discussion about costs and how to share them between governments (via taxation), consumers, households and the private sector has also been featured.

Last week, major banks, investors and insurers pledged trillions in green funding in a coordinated commitment to incorporate carbon emissions into their investment and lending decisions.

The United Nations’ Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, made up of more than 450 financial institutions across 45 countries and managing assets valued at $130 trillion, has committed to its program to cut carbon emissions and fund investments needed for new greener technologies.

Unveiled last week by U.N. climate envoy Mark Carney, the funding can take the form of bank loans and investments by venture capitalists, private-equity firms, mutual funds, endowments, and other big investors that buy stocks and bonds. They would still earn profits while shifting funds toward investments that help reduce carbon emissions.

“These seemingly arcane but essential changes to the plumbing of finance can move and are moving climate changes from the fringes to the forefront and transforming the financial system in the process,” said Carney, a former head of the central banks of England and Canada. “The architecture of the global financial system has been transformed to deliver net zero,” Carney said.

“The gap between what governments have and what the world needs is large” to finance a global energy transition and reach the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in Glasgow after the announcement of the finance measures. “And the private sector needs to play a bigger role.”

Climate activists have decried the pledge, saying it is just another big promise that won’t be observed.

“Global leaders can no longer trust financial institutions to regulate themselves,” Veronica Oakeshott of Global Witness, an international nongovernmental organization, said in a statement.

Some industry analysts and economists say that the private sector plans are far from concrete, and that significant problems remain on how to measure the carbon footprint of investment portfolios and align those measurements across international financial markets. Of particular concern is how to verify the accuracy of what banks and investors report.

Others worry that financial firms are there to maximize profits for clients and shareholders and that they risk losing customers or breaching their fiduciary obligations if they fail to maintain good returns. It remains unclear at this stage how profitable green investments will be.

There are also worries that the fossil fuel sector will see further divestments by lenders and investors eager to reduce their carbon footprint, which will boost energy costs for consumers as global demand for natural gas and oil continues to rise. Fossil fuel investments are already insufficient to meet future energy demands.

That, in turn, has contributed to the current global energy crunch and record-high energy prices for households and businesses, say industry commentators.

 

 

 

Source: Voice of America

 

 

Former U.S. President Barack Obama told the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow on Monday that most nations failed to meet their commitments made in the 2015 Paris Climate Conference agreement and the world is nowhere near where it needs to be in confronting climate change.

Speaking during the second full week of the talks — known as COP26 — Obama said that while the Paris conference and subsequent agreement showed what is possible and created a framework from which to address the challenges of the climate crisis, most nations failed to be as ambitious as they needed to be.

“The escalation, the ratcheting up of ambition that we anticipated in Paris six years ago has not been uniformly realized,” Obama said. He called it “particularly discouraging” that the leaders of China and Russia — two of the largest emitters — declined to even attend the conference, and both nations have demonstrated what he said “appears to be a dangerous lack of urgency” on climate change.

China is the world’s biggest carbon emitter. Its president, Xi Jinping, last week called on other nations to “step up cooperation” and act on climate targets. Xi, however, offered no new commitments. The comments came in a statement to the conference.

Obama said advanced economies like the United States and Europe need to be leading on this issue, but so do China, Russia and India. He said, “We can’t afford anybody on the sidelines.”

Addressing young people, Obama encouraged them to “vote like your life depends on it, because it does.” Obama said he understood their cynicism about politics, but that governments around the world will not act unless they feel pressure from voters.

The 26th U.N. climate conference — or Conference of the Parties, or COP — is Obama’s first since he helped deliver the 2015 Paris climate accord, when nations committed to cutting fossil fuel and agricultural emissions fast enough to keep the Earth’s warming below catastrophic levels.

Climate summits since then have been less conclusive, especially as the U.S. under President Donald Trump dropped out of the Paris accord. President Joe Biden has since rejoined. Last week, Biden announced ambitious change commitments as he attended the Glasgow conference. The U.S. is the second biggest greenhouse gas emitter after China.

 

Source: Voice of America

 

 

The U.N.’s food agency said Monday the number of people on the edge of famine in 43 countries had risen to 45 million, as acute hunger spikes around the world.

The jump from 42 million people earlier in the year was largely down to a food security assessment that found another 3 million people facing famine in Afghanistan, the World Food Program (WFP) said.

“Tens of millions of people are staring into an abyss. We’ve got conflict, climate change and COVID-19 driving up the numbers of the acutely hungry,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley was quoted as saying.

“And the latest data show there are now more than 45 million people marching towards the brink of starvation,” he said after a trip to Afghanistan, where WFP is upping support for almost 23 million people.

“Fuel costs are up, food prices are soaring, fertilizer is more expensive, and all of this feeds into new crises like the one unfolding now in Afghanistan, as well as long-standing emergencies like Yemen and Syria,” he added.

WFP said the cost of averting famine globally now stands at $7 billion, up from $6.6 billion earlier in the year, but warned that traditional funding streams were overstretched.

Families facing acute food insecurity are being “forced to make devastating choices,” marrying off children early, pulling them out of school or feeding them locusts, wild leaves or cactus.

“Meanwhile, media reports from Afghanistan point to families reportedly being forced to sell their children in a desperate attempt to survive,” it said.

Multiple droughts in Afghanistan were combining with an economic meltdown to push families to the edge, while some 12.4 million people in Syria do not know where their next meal will come from — more than any time during the decade-long conflict, it said.

Increases in acute hunger are also being seen in Ethiopia, Haiti, Somalia, Angola, Kenya and Burundi, the Rome-based agency said.

 

 

Source: Voice of America

 

At the end of September, UNHCR had submitted 163 cases comprising 624 refugees for resettlement consideration. Most of the cases were submitted to the Nordic countries.

A total of 5,231 people of concern (PoCs) have had access to COVID19 testing in Zambia.

Some 254 refugee business holders benefited from Cashbased Intervention (CBI) for livelihoods amounting to over US$ 58,000 in September.

Operational Context

The Government of the Republic of Zambia leads and coordinates the refugee response in line with its commitments under the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF). Under the 2017 Refugee Act, the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees (COR), within the Ministry of Home Affairs, is mandated to deal with refugee matters. UNHCR supports the Government in the protection and assistance of refugees. The response to the arrival of refugees from DRC is coordinated by a committee composed of key line ministries, the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office and UNHCR. The Ministry of Home Affairs chairs the Committee.

• Zambia was hosting 102,328 PoC’s including 72,075 refugees, 5,479 asylum-seekers and 24,774 others of concern as of 30 September 2021. A total of 626 new arrivals, 238 new births and 344 In-Situ were registered in the database.
• The PoCs comprise 33,930 households, 47% women, 47% children and 4% elderly.
  UNHCR has four offices in Zambia: Representation office in Lusaka, field offices in Solwezi and Kawambwa, and a field unit in Kaoma. UNHCR Zambia had 106 staff throughout the country including 54 national, 24 international and 28 affiliate staff.

 

 

Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

 

 

On 4 November 2021, the Ministry of Health, Eritrea, organized a Consensus building workshop for the National Health Research Agenda document which the country has developed. The objective of the priority health agenda consensus workshop was to give all the technical expertise an opportunity to review and further enrich the document before final printing and dissemination. The priority health research agenda is one of the key tools which can help the health sector to identify and implement research based on the need of the country. Eritrea, as a continuation of commitment towards efforts and achievements of SDG and UHC targets has been making different approaches and initiatives to accelerate evidence-based policy directions. The country has drafted a National Health Research Agenda 2022-2026 whose objective is to give guidance for policymakers, researchers, funding agencies and other relevant parties on the top areas of research priority for health. The National Health Research Agenda was developed in collaboration with WHO and other stakeholders including health training institutions. Thus, resources can be equitably allocated, and knowledge and evidence can be produced so as to be used by planners, decision makers and policy makers. The last priority health agenda for Eritrea covered the year 2013 to 2017.

The MOH first established advisory committee and core-team to undertake planning, situation analysis, information gathering and synthesis as well as stakeholders’ consultations. The consultative process was conducted with different stakeholders such as the MOH at HQ as well as at the Zoba (Zonal) level, Academia, relevant line ministries and the UN Agencies working in the health sector. The thematic focus areas that have been prioritized include:

1. Research to enhance and extend healthy lives
2. Research on Health systems
3. Research on Social, educational and behavioral health determinants and
4. Research on healthcare innovations.

During the opening remarks of the workshop, Dr Berhane Debru, Director General of Policy, Planning and Human Resources Development welcomed participants and elaborated the timely importance of health research priority agenda. Dr. Berhane further explained that due to the transformation of health care delivery system and the dynamics of diseases and health conditions it is important that that research priorities for the country should be determined for short and longer terms. He further emphasized that it is key to streamline and coordinate top health research priorities. He explained that during the process of priority setting for health research agenda the following facts were taken into consideration 1. Research must be demand driven which can respond to a broader group of stakeholders 2. Magnitude of burdens, urgency of subject matter and also responding to social justice and equity 3. Research must be accepted ethically, socially and politically 4. Feasibility for undertaking is also very critical 5. Research should complement and avoid duplication of already existing knowledge.

Dr Martins Ovberedjo, WHO Representative on his remarks congratulated the Ministry of Health under the leadership of the Honourable, Minister of Health, Amina Nurhussien and thanked all who contributed their valuable expertise to the production of priority health agenda. Dr Martins emphasized on the importance of the research priority agenda as it will accelerate towards the achievements of UHC and SDG targets for Eritrea. He elaborated that research is a constant process of searching knowledge and information, thus it is part of our day today life. He also stated that our research should not focus only on academic objectives, but rather to bring practical improvement to health of our children, mothers and general population living in all places of Eritrea. He also reminded participants that research results must be used to guide policy directions and reforms.

During the workshop participants were divided themselves into four groups and reviewed the document. Each of the four groups presented comments and plenary discussion was conducted. Finally, all comments and points were considered, and the key ones incorporated into the final draft of the document. The priority health agenda 2021-2026 will be widely disseminated and put in public domain.

 

Source: World Health Organization. Africa