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Add to Preferred SourcesFood security and water security go hand-in-hand, education in an age of displacement and how global warming can be limited to 1.5 degrees. Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector:
Food security and water security go hand-in-hand
Food security can only be achieved together with water security, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu said, calling for proactive actions to improve integrated water management while boosting the quality of life and livelihoods.
The Director-General spoke at a high-level launch of the report “2021 State of Climate Services: Water” led by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) featuring inputs from FAO experts.
The new study explores the progress made by countries in using climate services to address water-related challenges. It highlights the gaps in user engagement, forecasting, observing networks, and data collection that still exist.
“Staple food production in many agri-food based countries remains largely rain-fed and fragile against fluctuations from weather and climate variability”, the Director-General said noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed vulnerabilities, especially of rural communities.
Education in an age of displacement
The ongoing flood of refugees from Afghanistan – now some 2.6 million strong – is sadly no isolated tragedy. Indeed, if all of the 82.4 million refugees and forcibly displaced persons were gathered into a single state it would be the world’s twentieth largest country by population. If current trends continue, and climate change adds substantially to the numbers as the World Bank predicts, the number of refugees and displaced persons by mid-century could exceed the population of Brazil, and nearly that of Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and France combined.
With sea levels rising, some forecasters suggest that the world’s displaced population – already the largest recorded in human history – could exceed one billion.
Long before the rising number of refugees was being driven by the pathogens of war and ethnic and religious hatred, and by our collective inability to feel others’ pain. Refugee “camps” have become permanent cities, but most refugees are dispersed in hovels, huts, and rented accommodation, where they have been living for almost 20 years on average, with no end in sight.
Tragically, among the millions suffering from this disruption is a lost generation of young people with little access to education and employment. Think of the talent that would be lost, the ability squandered, and the potential untapped if a country’s entire youth population was denied these opportunities.
How global warming can be limited to 1.5 degrees
Keeping 1.5 Alive: Closing the Gap in the 2020s by the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) sets out the actions which nations and companies could take during the 2020s to deliver the Paris agreement and limit global warming to 1.5°C.
It is now clear that nationally determined contributions (NDCs), made as part of the Paris climate accord, fall far short of those needed to prevent global warming from exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. An additional 17-20 Gt of CO2 reductions and a 40 percent reduction in methane emissions would be needed to achieve that objective.
But the ETC’s new report describes technologically feasible actions which could close that gap to a 1.5°C pathway and which could be catalyzed by agreements at the upcoming COP26 climate summit in November in Glasgow. Many of the actions entail minimal cost and would spur further innovation and support green economic development; and all of them could be given impetus at COP26 via commitments from leading countries and companies, without the need for comprehensive international agreement.
“Several actions proposed in this report are aligned with the UN-Energy Compacts that were presented at last month’s UN High-level Dialogue on Energy. The clean energy funding committed by national governments, the private sector, and catalytic partnerships in these Compacts amounted to more than USD 400 billion for energy access and the energy transition. As the global community meets at COP26, there is an urgent need to build on this momentum to further raise ambition to meet the global climate agenda with decisive energy action.” Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and SRSG for Sustainable Energy for All
Two high-priority actions – ending deforestation and reducing emissions from existing coal plants – will need to be supported by climate finance flows from rich developed countries.
DevelopmentAid Editorials
Climate commitments under threat worldwide over poor progress towards greenhouse gas reduction targets
The climate policies put in place by developed countries do not fully comply with what they committed to when they signed the Paris Agreement and one developing state – Gambia – has applied measures that will enable it to meet the Agreement’s provisions.
French development agency channels 2020 aid to mitigate pandemic impact, step up resilience
France’s public financial institution, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group, committed over 12 billion euros in 2020 to combat poverty and promote sustainable development in emerging countries. Despite the challenges brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, the agency financed 996 new projects, mainly in Africa. The agency’s crisis response package stood at 3 billion euros in 2020, according to the agency’s annual report.
Best steps to recruit and select employees and avoid discrimination
A successful business relies on professional and motivated employees. This is why the successful recruiting of staff who possess the necessary knowledge at affordable costs (salary) adds value to a business. Alternatively, inefficient recruitment and poor selection can cause a number of issues such as decreased productivity, interpersonal issues, disruptions in the work process, customer service problems, and long-term expense. It is therefore crucial that a company carefully selects, manages, and retains talented employees.
UK’s overseas financial support drops significantly in 2020
UK Official Development Assistance (ODA), defined as a resource flow to emerging countries and multilateral organizations, declined by 4.6% in 2020 compared to 2019, reaching £14,479 million says the new summary report published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). According to the publication, in 2020, health was the only sector that recorded a sharp increase as an ODA recipient with Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Somalia being the countries receiving the most funding.
Here’s what else has happened
Afghanistan: UN humanitarian agencies and their partners urged countries to honor their pledges to Afghanistan, as they rush to scale up delivery of lifesaving aid ahead of the coming winter season there.
Global Fund and UNDP: The Global Fund and UNDP signed an agreement to provide interim and emergency funding to sustain the delivery of essential health services to the people of Afghanistan. This agreement seeks to provide the resources needed to bridge the current gap in funding from international donors, prevent the country’s healthcare system from collapsing and protect millions of vulnerable Afghans at risk of losing access to primary health care.
IOM: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and aid partners are appealing for USD 21.1 million to provide new shelters and homes for more than 1.8 million extremely vulnerable Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living in camps in communities and villages across Ethiopia’s Tigray, Somali and Amhara regions.
COVID-19 vaccine: UNCTAD‘s quadrennial conference, UNCTAD15, opened on 4 October in Bridgetown, Barbados, with calls for vaccine equity and greater solidarity to tackle trade protectionism, debt distress, the climate crisis, and other pressing global challenges.
Tanzania: The European Union recently provided €2.5mil. (Approx. to TZS 6.78/- billion) in humanitarian aid to support vulnerable refugees in Tanzania. This brings the EU’s contribution to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Tanzania in 2021 to €3.5mil.
Reports
What does gender equality look like today?
A new global analysis of progress on gender equality and women’s rights shows women and girls remain disproportionately affected by the socioeconomic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, struggling with the disproportionately high job and livelihood losses, education disruptions, and increased burdens of unpaid care work.
Women’s health services, poorly funded even before the pandemic, faced major disruptions, undermining women’s sexual and reproductive health. And despite women’s central role in responding to COVID-19, including as front-line health workers, they are still largely bypassed for leadership positions they deserve.
UN Women’s latest report, together with UN DESA, Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2021 presents the latest data on gender equality across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The report highlights the progress made since 2015 but also the continued alarm over the COVID-19 pandemic, its immediate effect on women’s well-being, and the threat it poses to future generations.
Rising sea surface temperatures driving the loss of 14 percent of corals since 2009
The “Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2020” report, released documents the loss of approximately 14 per cent of the world’s coral since 2009. The report, the sixth edition produced by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), provides the most detailed scientific picture to date of the toll elevated temperatures have taken on the world’s reefs.
Impact of COVID-19 on poor mental health in children and young people ‘tip of the iceberg’
Children and young people could feel the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health and well-being for many years to come, UNICEF warned in its flagship report.
According to The State of the World’s Children 2021; On My Mind: promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health – UNICEF’s most comprehensive look at the mental health of children, adolescents, and caregivers in the 21st century – even before COVID-19, children and young people carried the burden of mental health conditions without significant investment in addressing them.
Events
Doing Business with ADB: Procurement Guidelines and Best Practices | Webinar
📅 14 October 2021 🕒 2 PM (Brussels Time)/ 8 AM (Washington DC Time)
Virtual
DevelopmentAid invites you to attend an exciting webinar on “Doing business with Asian Development Bank: procurement guidelines and best practices”. During the webinar, attendees will learn about ADB’s profile, operations, portfolio, and procurement policy. Moreover, our speaker will share several tips on how to prepare correctly for upcoming bids and win projects funded by ADB.
Speaker:
Stephane Y. Bessadi, Senior Procurement Specialist at ADB
Host:
Ion Ilasco, External Relations and Events at DevelopmentAid.
Fundamental Rights Forum 2021
📅 11 – 12 October 2021
Vienna City Hall and Virtual
Fundamental Rights Forum 2021 will bring together people from very diverse backgrounds – the thought leaders, decision-makers, civil society, artists, businesses, young people, faith and non-confessional communities, and many more.
The World BioEconomy Forum 2021
📅 18 – 20 October
Pará, Brazil
The World BioEconomy Forum is pleased to announce that its Forum 2021 will be held in Belém, in the State of Pará, Brazil from 18 – 20 October 2021. Belém is located in the Amazon region of Brazil and will give the Forum the opportunity to highlight the region as of fundamental importance to the global circular bioeconomy. The event will bring together high-level speakers and experts from around the world highlighting Belém and the Amazon region for essential debate on sustainable development.