Weekly roundup: Top international development headlines

International Year of Plant Health, refugees and local communities in Jordan and Lebanon and latest updates on climate actions at COP25. Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector:

FAO launches 2020 as the UN’s International Year of Plant Health

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched the United Nations’ International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) for 2020, which aims to raise global awareness on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development.

Plants make up 80 percent of the food we eat and produce 98 percent of the oxygen we breathe. Yet, they are under constant and increasing threat from pests and diseases.

Every year, up to 40 percent of global food crops are lost to plant pests and diseases. This leads to annual agricultural trade losses of over $220 billion, leaves millions of people facing hunger, and severely damages agriculture – the primary income source for poor rural communities.

This is why policies and actions to promote plant health are fundamental for reaching the Sustainable Development Goals.

Greenhouse gas concentrations in atmosphere reach yet another high

Levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached another new record high, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

This continuing long-term trend means that future generations will be confronted with increasingly severe impacts of climate change, including rising temperatures, more extreme weather, water stress, sea-level rise and disruption to marine and land ecosystems.

The WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin showed that globally averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) reached 407.8 parts per million in 2018, up from 405.5 parts per million (ppm) in 2017.

The increase in CO2 from 2017 to 2018 was very close to that observed from 2016 to 2017 and just above the average over the last decade. Global levels of CO2 crossed the symbolic and significant 400 parts per million benchmark in 2015.

The EU adopted €297 million in concrete actions for refugees and local communities in Jordan and Lebanon

The European Union adopted a new €297 million assistance package to support refugees and host communities in Jordan and Lebanon via the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis. The EU has also decided to extend the mandate of the Trust Fund which will allow the Trust Fund’s projects to run until the end of 2023.

“Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi commented: “The newly adopted assistance package will provide further support to refugees and host communities when it comes to livelihood, social protection, affordable quality healthcare, water and wastewater infrastructures. The work of the EU Trust Fund has been instrumental in providing vital assistance to refugees fleeing from the Syrian war and to countries hosting refugees. The extension of the EU Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian Crisis allows us to continue our support to people in need and to the whole region.”

The assistance package consists of the following actions in support of refugees and host communities

• €45 million in support of economic development and social stability in Lebanon to foster economic growth and local development;
• €48 million to improve public water and wastewater services for local host communities and Syrian refugee populations in Lebanon;
• €70 million for better access to quality, equitable and affordable health services for vulnerable populations in Lebanon;
• €59 million to strengthen the self-reliance of refugees and host communities in Jordan, work towards an inclusive national social protection system and the creation of decent job opportunities for Syrians;
• €39 million for the establishment of an integrated solid waste management system in Syrian refugee camps and neighbouring communities in Jordan to improve health, environmental conditions and create job opportunities;
• €36 million to support the needs of Palestine refugees from Syria in Jordan and Lebanon.

Fifteen countries to present latest updates on their climate actions at COP25

During the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid in December, fifteen countries will share updated information on their climate actions.

This comes as part of the processes set up in 2010 to enhance transparency in addressing climate change. The so-called Multilateral Assessment (MA) for developed countries and Facilitative Sharing of Views (FSV) for developing countries provide multilateral fora for countries to showcase their achievements in climate action and engage in a constructive exchange of views.

Both the MA and FSV processes serve as foundations of the enhanced transparency framework (ETF) under the Paris Agreement, which represents an important component of increasing ambition to tackle climate change by building trust and confidence that countries are taking actions.

In the FSV workshop, five developing countries – Chile, Ghana, India, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia – will present updates on climate actions and what is needed to strengthen their capacities. They will also share further information through questions and answers during the workshop.

An increasing number of developing countries, including the least developed countries and small island developing states, have been stepping up their efforts to strengthen climate transparency by providing updated information every two years and participating in the international process to have them analyzed.v

Here’s what else has happened

EIB and Iberdrola: At the Climate Change Conference (COP25) being held in Madrid, the EIB and Iberdrola announced two new agreements to promote climate action by investing in renewable energy projects and electricity distribution networks. To do so, the Vice-President of the EU bank Emma Navarro and the President of Iberdrola Ignacio Galán agreed two loans for a total of EUR 690m.

Agriculture to slow climate change: Through multiple agricultural practices, it is possible to store vast amounts of atmospheric carbon in the soil, while at the same time regenerating soil fertility, plant health and whole ecosystems.

Industrial farming systems succeed in producing large volumes of food for the global market. However, they cause significant soil erosion, biodiversity (including pollinator) losses and pollution of freshwater bodies. They promote a high dependency on the agro-industry and its products and require huge amounts of freshwater and fertilizer. Agriculture contributes about 23 percent of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, with the livestock sector representing 14.5 percent of such emissions.

430,000 children: Despite recent developments intending to protect the rights of children affected by eastern Ukraine’s more than five-year-long conflict, nearly half a million girls and boys continue to face grave risks to their physical health and psychological well-being, said UNICEF.

“It is unconscionable that children in eastern Ukraine continue to go to schools with bullet holes and bomb shelters and live in neighbourhoods that are intermittently shelled and littered with landmines,” said UNICEF’s Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, Afshan Khan, who recently returned from meeting children and families in eastern Ukraine. “A political solution is long overdue. We call on all parties to the conflict to end the fighting in eastern Ukraine.”

Reports

IFAD’s Climate Action Report 2019

This year is a key moment in the international debate on climate. It also represents an important year for mainstreaming climate change in IFAD’s operations, with significant changes made in key aspects of its business model to achieve corporate-level commitments on climate change-related factors.

The 2019 Climate Action Report documents the progress and achievements made in IFAD’s business model, largely through its Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP).

Read and download the IFAD’s Climate Action Report 2019.

More pregnant women and children protected from malaria, but accelerated efforts and funding needed to reinvigorate global response, WHO report shows

The number of pregnant women and children in sub-Saharan Africa sleeping under insecticide-treated bed nets and benefiting from preventive medicine for malaria has increased significantly in recent years, according to the World Health Organization’s World malaria report 2019.

However, accelerated efforts are needed to reduce infections and deaths in the hardest-hit countries, as progress stalls. Last year, malaria afflicted 228 million people and killed an estimated 405 000, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Read and download the WHO’s World malaria report 2019.

Events

2020 Agricultural Outlook Forum

Virginia, USA
20-21 February 2020

The 2020 Forum is themed The Innovation Imperative: Shaping the Future of Agriculture. The Forum’s plenary panel and several breakout sessions will focus on the central role science and innovation play in driving future growth and addressing challenges facing farmers.

Cambodia Urban Forum 2019

Phnom Penh, Cambodia
27 November 2019

The Forum will be co-hosted by the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction (MLMUPC) and the United Nations system in Cambodia. It will offer a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue to discuss and agree on coherent policy, strategic, and programmatic priorities towards a better urban future in Cambodia.

2020 Commonwealth Women’s Forum

Kigali, Rwanda
22 – 23 June 2020

The women’s forum, one of four meetings to be held on the margins of the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), will take place in Rwanda. It will attract 500 participants from governments, civil society, not-for-profits, women’s rights organisations and human rights groups from 53 Commonwealth member countries and the rest of the world.