Day: November 12, 2021

Africa is on the front line of climate change. Nowhere is this more evident than the Lake Chad Basin, which covers almost 8% of the continent and supports tens of millions of people. The United Nations says it has shrunk by 90% since the 1960s because of drought.

The resulting competition for resources has caused poverty and conflict. Over 10 million people are dependent on humanitarian assistance.

Oladosu Adenike, 27, has witnessed Lake Chad’s tragic transformation firsthand. She is a prominent campaigner on climate change in Africa and started the Nigerian “Fridays for Future” campaign, joining the global movement after meeting Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.

Adenike is one of several young African delegates who traveled thousands of miles to Glasgow, Scotland, to be part of the COP26 climate summit and to convey their sense of urgency to world leaders.

“The peace and stability in this region – in the Lake Chad region, the Sahel – it depends on when we are able to restore the lake and able to say that people can get sustainable livelihoods, for them not to be able to be vulnerable to join armed groups of people. And this will likewise improve democracy in the region,” she told VOA.

Adenike is an official Nigerian youth delegate at the COP26 summit and has addressed senior delegates on the need to act fast. But she says she is frustrated by slow progress.

“We are still in the talking phase. We have not yet transited into the action phase, which is needed right now this moment, and not postponing it into the future. Because that is the most dangerous thing you can do right now. Delay now is a denial of the climate change crisis,” Adenike said.

Kaluki Paul Mutuku is a youth delegate for Kenya. Like Adenike, he’s a prominent young voice in the fight against climate change in Africa.

“We are constantly in the fear of losing our family members, losing our communities because the climate is dry – it is worsening by the day – there are droughts, there is extreme rainfall, and communities cannot bear it,” he told VOA.

“Just in 2019, we had a huge locust invasion that took over our crop plantations. We had huge floods in Nairobi, which killed so many people, and just this year, we are having so many people lives being lost due to starvation and famines,” he said.

Mutuku said that delivering on climate finance – the money rich countries have agreed to pay poorer nations to adapt to climate change and decarbonize their economies – is the most vital outcome of COP26. The 2009 pledge to pay $100 billion a year still has not been met.

“How do we finance to avoid emissions in Africa? How do we equip communities with resources and money to really be able to adapt to climate change, and how do we ensure that we give climate proofing for them?” he said.

“We cannot afford to lose hope. And as long as young people, grassroots, and our front-line communities are leading the decade of change, then we are in the right trajectory. For me, any delayed financing is a shame on (world) leaders,” Mutuku told VOA.

For young activists from around the world, it has been a long journey to COP26 in every sense. They say they will continue to fight for climate justice long after they return home.

Source: Voice of America

Luanda – Angola is attending the Paris Forum on Peace dedicated this year to reducing inequalities on the planet, with a delegation led by the Minister of State for the Social Sector, Carolina Cerqueira, who is representing President João Lourenço.

The forum created in 2018 focuses, in this edition, on approaches to reducing world fractures and the issues of the digital age, regulation in cyberspace, cybersecurity, the fight against terrorism, extremism and fake-news and the protection of minors and the negative effects of Covid-19 on world development.

Minister Carolina Cerqueira told ANGOP that the Forum is an important global platform for reflection on the most burning issues that affect the social and human development of millions of people, in a context of global health crisis caused by Covid-19, increasing food crisis resulting from climate change and armed conflict.

The minister also highlighted the fact that it promotes approaches to social networks and cybernetics as permeable means to violence and sexual crimes against children and the fundamental rights of people and institutions, as well as the need to strengthen multilateralism to encourage global cooperation in defence of peace and sustainable development.

With the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the minister, 11 million girls in African countries were deprived of going to school, which represents an obstacle to their social inclusion and autonomy as adults.

As for the role of social networks, in a comprehensive discussion on the role of artificial intelligence in the 21st century, Carolina Cerqueira said that its pernicious role in encouraging cyber crimes of pornography and sexual violence against children is being debated in a very special way. She is of the view that vigorous measures must be taken against these practices that undermine the rights of children, the stability of families and social disruption.

In relation to emigration and population mobility, she said that this phenomenon is a global problem that affects, above all, the least developed countries and that more funding is needed to balance the demographic problem that should be included in the priorities of sustainable development and investment.

The minister referred that a large part of population mobility is due to climate change, drought, desertification, calamities and also other structural conditions, such as poverty, increased unemployment in less developed countries and armed conflicts that tend to proliferate on the African continent.

Carolina Cerqueira said that Angola will present, in the work panels, its experience in the various domains, in particular on the efforts of the Executive in the areas of human and sustainable development and initiatives for social inclusion, inclusion of minorities, and on education for peace at the institutional and associative level that grows substantially in the country.

The minister reaffirmed, on the other hand, that on the Angolan government’s agenda, the defence of children’s rights, gender equality and the promotion and empowerment of women have a great impact and will continue to be a priority for the country to move with the contribution, knowledge and potential of more than half of the population, made up of women and, on the other hand, guarantee a safe and prosperous future for the youngest.

The government official highlighted that the themes highlighted at the Paris Forum linked to the fight for men’s rights, values, democracy, women’s equality, freedom of worship, universal values that are more evident in the 21st century will allow for a wide discussion and exchange of views and experiences among participants in person and virtually.

The minister also highlighted the need for funding to defend women’s rights, educate girls, fight violence, support refugees, displaced people, populations affected by the pandemic, deprived of their rights and freedom.

The event gathers around 30 heads of state and government.

The programme also included the presentation of the International Observatory on Information and Democracy, an entity whose objective is to become, in terms of democratic deregulation, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for global warming.

The organisation intends, with the meetings, to reach “joint commitments” on how to make the Internet safer for children.

The Angolan delegation is also made up of the ambassador to France, João Miranda, and the director of the President’s Staff Office, Edson Barreto.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

More than 22 million infants missed their first measles vaccine in 2020, according to a report by the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WHO said in a statement the 22 million tally was “the largest increase in two decades” and sets the stage for “creating dangerous conditions for outbreaks to occur.”

While reports of measles decreased by 80% in 2020, WHO says that figure is misleading because measles surveillance deteriorated with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Evidence suggests we are likely seeing the calm before the storm as the risk of outbreaks continues to grow around the world,” Dr. Kate O’Brien, director of WHO’s Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals said in a statement.

“It’s critical that countries vaccinate as quickly as possible against COVID-19, but this requires new resources so that it does not come at the cost of essential immunization programs. Routine immunization must be protected and strengthened; otherwise, we risk trading one deadly disease for another,” she said.

WHO said there were “major measles outbreaks” in 26 countries, representing 84% of all reported cases in 2020.

“We must act now to strengthen disease surveillance systems and close immunity gaps, before travel and trade return to pre-pandemic levels, to prevent¬¬ deadly measles outbreaks and mitigate the risk of other vaccine-preventable diseases,” said Dr. Kevin Cain, CDC’s global immunization director.

Measles is one of the world’s most contagious human viruses although it is almost entirely preventable through vaccination.

Source: Voice of America