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Add to Preferred SourcesEuropean Commission raises climate ambition, EU channels further aid for refugees on Lesbos and COVID-19 vaccination. Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector:
European Commission raises climate ambition and proposes 55% cut in emissions by 2030
The European Commission presented its plan to reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. This level of ambition for the next decade will put the EU on a balanced pathway to reaching climate neutrality by 2050.
The new target is based on a comprehensive Impact Assessment of the social, economic, and environmental impacts. The Assessment demonstrates that this course of action is realistic and feasible. This raised ambition also underlines the EU’s continued global leadership, ahead of the next UN climate conference (COP26).
COVID-19 vaccine must be affordable and available to all, UN chief
The continuing COVID-19 pandemic continues to top a long list of global concerns, the UN chief told journalists noting that “the grimmest of milestones” is upon us.
“The outbreak remains out of control”, Secretary-General António Guterres declared in his press conference ahead of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Week, noting that soon one million lives will be “lost to the virus”.
Recognizing that many pin their hopes on a vaccine, he said, “let’s be clear: there is no panacea in a pandemic”.
“A vaccine alone cannot solve this crisis, certainly not in the near term”, stressed the world’s top diplomat. “We need to massively expand new and existing tools that can respond to new cases and provide vital treatment to suppress transmission and save lives, especially over the next 12 months”.
He emphasized that because the virus “respects no borders”, a vaccine must be seen as “a global public good”, affordable and available to all, but it requires “a quantum leap in funding”.
Moreover, people must be willing to be vaccinated, but a proliferation of misinformation on vaccines is fueling vaccine-hesitancy, and igniting wild conspiracy theories, noted the UN chief.
EU channels further aid for refugees on Lesbos
Following a large fire that destroyed the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece has now requested further assistance through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
In an immediate response, Denmark, Austria, Finland, Sweden, and Germany have offered hundreds of tents, blankets, winterisation kits, and sleeping bags.
Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said: “The EU will do all it can to assist Greece and the refugees affected. I thank all countries sending help and putting EU solidarity into action.”
The new support comes on top of assistance sent by Poland, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Netherlands, and France since April which includes housing units, sleeping bags, mattresses, blankets, sheets, toiletries items, four medical containers, and one medical station.
Moreover, responding to a previous request for EU assistance in the beginning of March, 17 Member and participating states offered over 90,000 items to Greece through the Mechanism.
The European Union’s 24/7 Emergency Response Coordination Centre is in regular contact with the Greek authorities to closely monitor the situation and facilitate the delivery of the EU assistance.
DevelopmentAid Editorials
U.S. may halt nearly US$130 million of foreign assistance for Ethiopia
The U.S. administration has decided on a plan that entails the suspension of financial assistance for Ethiopia due to the country’s dispute with Egypt and Sudan over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project which has been under construction since 2011. Located on the Blue Nile River, this huge endeavor was first proposed by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie in the 1960s and it is now a subject of national pride.
Japan will provide a development assistance loan of up to US$472 million to India
The aim of the loan is to help India to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and represents the largest financial aid to India announced by any country so far, to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. The loan has an interest rate of 0.01% per annum and a repayment period of 15 years, including a four-year grace period.
Experts’ Opinions| Face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic between health and human rights
During the COVID-19 pandemic, face masks have been employed as a public and personal health control measure against the spread of SARS-CoV-2. As more and more countries register an uptick in reported cases of COVID-19, governments around the world make mask-wearing mandatory in public spaces. does this act contravene human rights? Check some opinions below.
Here’s what else has happened
World Bank: The World Bank released the Next Generation Africa Climate Business Plan (NG-ACBP), which sets out a blueprint to help Sub-Saharan African economies achieve low carbon and climate-resilient outcomes.
Switzerland: Following the fire in the Moria refugee camp, Swiss Humanitarian Aid has dispatched a plane to Greece. On board around one tonne of humanitarian aid supplies urgently needed by the refugees on the island of Lesbos.
Polio: The recent vaccine-derived polio outbreaks confirmed in Yemen and Sudan are consequences of increasingly low levels of immunity among children. Each outbreak has paralysed children in areas that have been extremely difficult if not impossible to reach with routine or supplementary polio vaccination for extended periods of time.
World Bank: The World Bank has reallocated $56 million from ongoing projects in Sri Lanka to protect the most vulnerable in the agriculture sector, improve COVID-19 protection measures on public transport, facilitate tele-education for school children, and provide digital solutions to improve the delivery of public services. This new financing complements the $128.6 million Sri Lanka COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Project, which was approved on April 2.
Reports
Top UN economists warn of crises of our own making if global “megatrends” left unchecked
Five humanmade “megatrends” will continue to dominate and frustrate global efforts to put the world on a more sustainable and prosperous path unless urgent policy interventions to influence them are taken now, the UN Economist Network warned in a new report.
The chief economists in the United Nations system jointly identified climate change and nature degradation, inequalities, urbanization, rapid population changes, and technological revolution as the five “megatrends” that will shape our world over the course of this century. Whether their impact is positive or negative overall will depend on the policies implemented today, the report authors say.
Read the report: Shaping the Trends of Our Time.
150 million additional children plunged into poverty due to COVID-19, UNICEF, Save the Children say
The number of children living in multidimensional poverty has soared to approximately 1.2 billion due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new UNICEF and Save the Children analysis.
Read the analysis: Impact of COVID-19 on multidimensional child poverty.
Nearly 80% of Afghanistan’s peace tables exclude women
Nearly eighty percent of Afghanistan’s past peace meetings since 2005 have left women completely out, a new joint report by Oxfam, Cordaid, and InclusivePeace. As intra-Afghan peace talks with the Taliban kick off in Doha this week, without the meaningful participation of women, any sustainable peace efforts are at risk of failure.
Read the report: Because She Matters.
Events
Webinar | GWA’s 2020 Conference on Water and Peace
? 24 September 2020 ? 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM (EDT)
Webinar
This conference will convene local, national, and international water professionals and researchers/students to discuss “water, sanitation, and hygiene” (WASH) strategies and governance for security, sustainability, and resiliency with an eye to peace norms and ethics. This will include identifying the key elements of a modern water management toolkit and preparing for the 2021 World Water Forum in Senegal with guest speakers and panelists from all over the world.
Webinar | Thoughts on Food and Nutrition Insecurity in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic
? September 21, 2020 ? 2 PM (Jamaica time)
Webinar
Through this webinar, the World Food Programme (WFP) and CAF seek to promote the discussion and raise awareness about the potential effects of the pandemic on food security and nutrition for the most vulnerable groups, and to improve decision-making for action.
Webinar | The Fifth International Debarment Colloquium
? September 22-October 13, 2020 ? 10 AM – 11.15 AM (EST)
Webinar
The Office of Suspension and Debarment is excited to announce a virtual version of the Fifth International Debarment Colloquium in late September and early October 2020.
Join representatives from multilateral organizations, government, private sector, non-governmental organizations, and academia for four virtual webinars over four consecutive weeks.