Angola News Wire

The idea was striking in its ambition: African countries aimed to plant trees in a more than 8,000 kilometer-line spanning the entire continent, creating a natural barrier to hold back the Sahara Desert as climate change swept the sands south.

The project called the Great Green Wall began in 2007 with a vision for the trees to extend like a belt across the vast Sahel region, from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east, by 2030. But as temperatures rose and rainfall diminished, millions of the planted trees died.

Efforts to rein in the desert continue in Senegal on a smaller scale. On the western end of the planned wall, Ibrahima Fall walks under the cool shade of dozens of lime trees, watering them with a hose as yellow chicks scurry around his feet. Just beyond the green orchard and a village is a desolate, arid landscape.

The citrus crop provides a haven from the heat and sand that surround it. Outside the low village walls, winds whip sand into the air, inviting desertification, a process that wrings the life out of fertile soil and changes it into desert, often because of drought or deforestation.

Only 4% of the Great Green Wall’s original goal has been met, and an estimated $43 billion would be needed to achieve the rest. With prospects for completing the barrier on time dim, organizers have shifted their focus from planting a wall of trees to trying a mosaic of smaller, more durable projects to stop desertification, including community-based efforts designed to improve lives and help the most vulnerable agriculture.

“The project that doesn’t involve the community is doomed to failure,” says Diegane Ndiaye, who is part of a group known as SOS Sahel, which has helped with planting programs in Senegal and other countries across the Sahel, a broad geographic zone between the Sahara in the north and the more temperate African savanna to the south.

The programs focus on restoring the environment and reviving economic activity in Sahel villages, Ndiaye said.

With the loss of rainfall and the advance of the desert, “this strip of the Sahel is a very vulnerable area to climate change,” he said. “So we should have projects that are likely to rebuild the environment … fix the dunes and also help protect the vegetable-growing area.”

On Senegal’s Atlantic Coast, filao trees stretch in a band from Dakar up to the northern city of St. Louis, forming a curtain that protects the beginning of Green Wall region, which also grows more than 80% of Senegal’s vegetables. The sky-reaching branches tame the winds tearing in from the ocean.

This reforestation project started in the 1970s, but many trees were cut down for wood, and work to replant them has been more recent. More trees are also planted in front of dunes near the water in an effort to protect the dunes and keep them from moving.

“We have had a lot of reforestation programs that today have not yielded much because it is often done with great fanfare” and not with good planning, Ndiaye said.

Fall, the 75-year-old chief of his village, planted the citrus orchard in 2016, putting the trees near a water source on his land. His is one of 800 small orchards in six communes of a town called Kebemer.

“We once planted peanuts and that wasn’t enough,” he said in the local Wolof language. “This orchard brings income that allows me to take care of my family.” He said he can produce 20 to 40 kilos of limes per week during peak season.

Enriched by the trees, the soil has also grown tomatoes and onions.

The village has used profits from the orchard to replace straw homes with cement brick structures and to buy more sheep, goats and chickens. It also added a solar panel to help pump water from a communal well, sparing villagers from having to pay more for water in the desert.

African Development Bank President Akinwumi A. Adesina spoke about the importance of stopping desertification in the Sahel during the United Nations’ COP26 global climate conference. He announced a commitment from the bank to mobilize $6.5 billion toward the Great Green Wall by 2025.

The newest projects in Senegal are circular gardens known in the Wolof language as “tolou keur.” They feature a variety of trees that are planted strategically so that the larger ones protect the more vulnerable.

The gardens’ curving rows hold moringa, sage, papaya and mango trees that are resistant to dry climates. They are planted so their roots grow inward to improve water retention in the plot.

Senegal has 20 total circular gardens, each one adapted to the soil, culture and needs of individual communities so they can grow much of what they need. Early indications are that they are thriving in the Great Green Wall region. Solar energy helps provide electricity for irrigation.

Jonathan Pershing, deputy special envoy for climate at the U.S. State Department, visited Senegal as part of an Africa trip last month, saying the U.S. wants to partner with African nations to fight climate change.

“The desert is encroaching. You see it really moving south,” Pershing said.

In terms of the Great Green Wall project, he said, “I don’t think that very many people thought it was going to go very far,” including himself. But there are indications of progress, as seen in the community projects.

“It has a global benefit, and people are prepared to make those kinds of long-term investments through their children and their families, which I think is a hallmark of what we need to do in other climate arenas.”

Source: Voice of America

Luanda – The new airport of Mbanza Congo, capital of Zaire province, will soon start to be built in the commune of Nkiende II, following the public tender launched in 2019, in light of Presidential Decree 139/19 of July, Sociedade Gestora de Aeroportos (SGA) said today.

The contract, awarded to Sinohydro Corporation Limitada – Surcusal Angola, includes modern infrastructure, services and high-level equipment, resulting in an airport unit with capacity to receive 600 passengers, from the departure and arrival terminals.

According to the president of the Executive Committee (ECC) of SGA, Nataniel Domingos, the new airport will have international characteristics, with parking for two Boeing 737 aircraft, as well as for two light aircraft at the same time.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Malawi has begun a mass distribution of mosquito nets, aiming to reach almost half the country’s population of 18 million people. Health authorities say the campaign is aimed at reducing the spread of malaria, which in Malawi currently accounts for 36% of all hospital outpatients and 15% of hospital admissions.

The Global Fund-supported campaign was announced during the commemoration of Southern Africa Development Community Malaria Day November 6 and is expected to be rolled out nationally November 15.

Khumbize Kandodo-Chiponda, Malawi’s minister of health, says the intervention is a response to the health threat malaria is posing in Malawi.

“So, one of the interventions is the distribution of the nets as vector control. As a country, we are going to distribute 9 million nets. Out target is that at least two Malawians should share a net. Our population we are targeting we are about 18 million, that why we reached the figure of 9 million,” Kandodo-Chiponda said.

She said during the campaign all expectant mothers will be given anti-malaria drugs to prevent them from suffering from malaria while pregnant.

Statistics show that malaria is the No. 1 deadly disease in Malawi. Last year alone, malaria killed 2,500 people in Malawi, more than any other disease, including COVID-19.

However, Kandodo-Chiponda said the campaign is strewn with challenges.

“And one of the challenges is that when you distribute the nets, you will find that, especially along the lake, these nets are used for fishing and sorts of things,” she said.

To reduce the changes of such misuse of the nets, the campaign also involves teaching the recipients about the importance of sleeping under the net.

The mosquito net distribution is part of the Zero Malaria Starts With Me campaign, launched by Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera in June as part of global campaign to end malaria by 2030.

Elias Mpedi Magosi, executive secretary of the Southern Africa Development Community, commended Malawi’s efforts to eradicate malaria and said the bloc is working to adopt a regional malaria strategy.

“Primarily because if one country, one member state removes or clears malaria, these mosquitos known no boundaries, they just relocate to another country. So, it requires a pooled regional effort, resources, attributes and behaviors so that it is eliminated,” Magosi said.

Janet Kayita, the World Health Organization country representative in Malawi, said the campaign is among major steps Malawi has successfully taken against malaria.

“Malawi has been exceptional in taking forward WHO recommendations on what to do, how to prevent malaria, how to treat malaria. But the most historic groundbreaking event in the last month actually, that Malawi is at the front of, is the information that is coming out about the new malaria vaccine for infants and children,” Kayita said.

Last month, the WHO endorsed the world’s first malaria vaccine for children across Africa following a successful three-year trial in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.

Although it is only 30% effective, scientists say the vaccine, known as Mosquirix, will have major impact against malaria in Africa, which records 200 million cases and 400,000 deaths per year.

Source: Voice of America

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

The European Commission lowered its forecast for Spanish growth this year as the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic lagged behind other European nations.

The commission said Thursday it estimates that the rise of Spanish gross domestic product will be 4.6% this year and 5.5% next year, almost two points less than earlier forecasts of 6.5% this year and 7% in 2022.

Spain was the European economy hit hardest by COVID-19, and its recovery has been slower than those of its continental neighbors.

At the end of the third quarter, Italy’s GDP was 1.4% below its level at the end of 2019.

Germany has narrowed the gap to 1.1% compared with pre-pandemic levels, and France has reduced the difference to just 0.1%.

However, in Spain — the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy — GDP is 6.6% below 2019 levels.

Unemployment remains stubbornly high at 14.9%, while youth joblessness, for those under age 24, is the worst in Europe at 30.6%.

Inflation has soared to 5.5% compared to October 2020, the highest figure since 1992 when the peseta was paired with the German deutschmark. Soaring energy costs, as well as the rising cost of summer holidays, pushed up inflation, analysts said. Core inflation stood at 1.4%.

The nation’s budget deficit is expected to hit 8.4% by the end of the year, way above the European Union target of 3%, which has been relaxed until 2022.

Spain’s coalition government is staking its hopes on the arrival of EU recovery funds to revive the economy.

Under the 2022 budget, Spain plans to spend a record $46 billion of state funds on investments that analysts say will boost growth and lower the deficit to a projected 5% in 2022 and 4% in 2023.

Nadia Calviño, Spain’s economy minister, told a meeting of European finance ministers Tuesday the nation was on course to cut its deficit.

“We have adopted a prudent attitude when preparing the budgets for 2021 and also for 2022 so that, in fact, tax revenues allow us, even in a not-so-positive macroeconomic situation, to reduce the public deficit in 2022,” she said.

Macroeconomics aside, on the streets, some are still waiting for the recovery from the pandemic.

Oscar Díaz, managing director of Mundopalet, a company that makes pallets to transport goods, is a worried man. He told VOA on Thursday he had to stop half of his production lines at his company’s factory in Toledo, 55 miles south of Madrid.

The company, which employs 100 people, is struggling to find enough wood to make its products, as countries such as Brazil, China and Lithuania have raised prices from $1,382 per truckload earlier this year to $10,362.

Major economies such as the United States, China and Germany have also raised their demand for timber as their economies start to recover from the pandemic, further pushing up the prices.

“Yes, I am concerned. Some of our clients’ companies have stopped working. We have halted work on 10 of our 20 production lines. We are in danger,” Díaz told VOA from his factory.

Mundopalet is by far not alone, as Spanish companies grapple with supply chain problems, typical of other sectors, from winemakers to farmers.

To make things worse, Spain’s truck drivers plan to strike for three days the week before Christmas, the National Road Transportation Committee in Spain said Wednesday.

In the run-up to one of the busiest periods of the year, the drivers are threatening to disrupt supply chains if the Spanish government does not meet its demands, which include safer rest areas and a ban on requiring truckers to load and unload goods.

However, analysts say the health of Spain’s labor market shows the effects of the pandemic are fading.

The number of employed workers rose in the third quarter of 2021 by 359,300 workers, according to the National Statistics Institute, bringing the total to over 20 million, the first time this figure has been reached since 2008, when the global financial crisis began.

During the same summer period, the ranks of the jobless decreased by 3.59%, according to data from the institute.

Javier Díaz, an economist at IESE business school in Madrid, said Spain has suffered more from the pandemic than other European countries because of its reliance on tourism and the automotive sector, which is struggling because of a global chip shortage and lower consumer demand.

“What is important to look at is not the unemployment level but the employment. That shows the economy is not in such a bad way,” he told VOA.

Spanish inflation has gone up because of the global rise in fuel and energy prices, and a lack of demand in key sectors such as tourism and the car industry, which are still recovering from the shock of COVID-19, he said.

“Spain is not really struggling. Growth of between 6% and 4% this year is actually better than it was before the pandemic,” Díaz said.

Source: Voice of America

A SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts pulled up Thursday at the International Space Station, their new home until spring.

It took 21 hours for the flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to the glittering outpost.

The one German and three U.S. astronauts said it was an emotional moment when they first spotted the space station 30 kilometers (20 miles) distant — “a pretty glorious sight,” according to Raja Chari, commander of the Dragon capsule.

“Floating in space and shining like a diamond,” noted German astronaut Matthias Maurer. “We’re all very thrilled, very excited.”

The Dragon’s entire flight was automated, with Chari and pilot Tom Marshburn monitoring the capsule systems, ready to take control if necessary. At one point, they reported what looked like a “gnarled knob” or possibly a small mechanical nut floating past their camera’s field of view, but SpaceX Mission Control said it posed no concern. The docking occurred 423 kilometers (263 miles) above the eastern Caribbean.

The station’s welcoming committee consisted of three astronauts instead of the originally planned seven. That’s because SpaceX returned four of the station residents on Monday, after the new arrivals’ launch kept getting delayed.

While Chari, Marshburn, Maurer and NASA astronaut Kayla Barron were adapting to weightlessness — all but Marshburn are space rookies — the previous crew was adjusting to life back on Earth.

“Gravity sucks, but getting used to it slowly,” Japanese astronaut Akihoki Hoshide tweeted.

The new crew will spend the next six months at the space station and, during that time, host two groups of visiting tourists. Russia will launch the first bunch in December and SpaceX the second in February.

Source: Voice of America