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Add to Preferred SourcesTravel and tourism jobs could be recovered in 2021, ‘catastrophic moral failure’ in COVID-19 vaccine access and COVID deaths pass two million worldwide. Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector:
Over 100 million global Travel and Tourism jobs could be recovered in 2021
More than 100 million jobs could return to the global Travel & Tourism sector during 2021, as the world recovers from the crippling COVID-19 pandemic, says the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).
A strong summer of travel is expected as the sector begins its road to recovery from late March onwards, with many major travel companies reporting a significant rise in forward bookings.
The sector’s revival is backed by WTTC’s latest economic forecast, which gives further hope for the year ahead to businesses and millions of people employed in the sector worldwide.
Last year, during the height of the pandemic, WTTC warned 174 million global Travel & Tourism jobs were at risk. However, in its latest analysis, WTTC’s most optimistic scenario predicts as many as 111 million jobs could be revived – but this would still be 17% below 2019 figures, accounting for 54 million fewer jobs.
WHO chief warns against ‘catastrophic moral failure’ in COVID-19 vaccine access
A “me-first approach” to COVID-19 vaccines on the part of some countries and manufacturers is putting equitable access to these lifesaving treatments at risk, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned.
Addressing the agency’s Executive Board, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed fear that “even as vaccines bring hope to some, they become another brick in the wall of inequality between the world’s haves and have-nots.”
Describing the rapid development of vaccines as a literal and figurative “shot in the arm” during the pandemic, Tedros reported that while 39 million doses have been administered in nearly 50 richer countries, only 25 have been given in one lowest income nation.
“I need to be blunt: the world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure – and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries”, he said, speaking from WHO headquarters in Geneva.
Ensuring all countries will have access to any COVID-19 vaccines is the promise of a global mechanism established last April, known as the COVAX Facility. It has secured two billion doses so far, with a billion more in the pipeline, and deliveries should begin next month.
As COVID deaths pass two million worldwide, Guterres warns against self-defeating ‘vaccinationalism’
With more than two million lives now lost worldwide to COVID-19, the UN Secretary-General appealed for countries to work together and help each other to end the pandemic and save lives. Secretary-General António Guterres noted that the absence of a global coordinated effort has worsened the pandemic’s deadly impact.
“Behind this staggering number are names and faces: the smile now only a memory, the seat forever empty at the dinner table, the room that echoes with the silence of a loved one”, Mr. Guterres said.
“In the memory of those two million souls, the world must act with far greater solidarity,” he added.
Since its discovery at the end of December 2019, COVID-19 has now spread to all corners of the world, with cases in 191 countries and regions. Deaths due to the disease reached the grim milestone of one million only in September.
In addition, the socio-economic impact of the pandemic has been massive, with countless jobs and livelihoods lost globally, and millions pushed into poverty and hunger.
Mr. Guterres went on to note that though safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines are being rolled out, disparity continue between nations.
DevelopmentAid Editorials
Can agriculture digitalization replace prayers for the rain in developing countries?
“God, send us rain!”, exclaimed Ion wiping the sweat from his sunburned face. Along with 197,000 people working in the agricultural sector of Moldova, a small landlocked country on the outskirts of Europe, he hoped that 2020 would be a favorable year with a high yield. However, neither his hopes nor his business strategy held up well as the sun burned his crops, the wind dried the land, the pests affected his yield and COVID-19 kept the input suppliers away. Agriculture experts insist that had the state and the farmer implemented a more digitalized approach to agri-management, the situation would have changed radically.
UN, EU mobilize additional funds to tackle deepening humanitarian crisis in Tigray
With the worsening military conflict in the Ethiopian Tigray region costing many lives and having left civilians with no access to basic services, the United Nations has released US$36.6 million from the UN pooled funds for urgent assistance in dealing with this regional crisis.
Extreme violence and criminal gangs force thousands of people from northern Central America to leave their homes
UNHCR and UNICEF have recently revealed the results of a survey according to which the number of people leaving northern Central America has dramatically increased due to gang violence amid a terrible wave of violence and extortion.
Here’s what else has happened
World Bank: The World Bank approved a re-allocation of US$34 million under the existing Lebanon Health Resilience Project to support vaccines for Lebanon as it faces an unprecedented surge in COVID-19, with record-breaking numbers of around 5,500 daily confirmed cases since the beginning of the year. This is the first World Bank-financed operation to fund the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines. The financing will provide vaccines for over 2 million individuals. The vaccines are expected to arrive in Lebanon by early February 2021.
EBRD: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) responded to the coronavirus pandemic with a record investment of €11 billion in 2020 through 411 projects, addressing the urgent needs of the 38 economies where it invests. This represents a 10 percent increase in annual business investment relative to 2019 when the Bank provided €10.1 billion to finance 452 projects.
UK: More than 4 million people in the UK have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as part of the largest vaccination programme in British history.
UN: The UN Secretary-General welcomed the “positive steps” announced by the new US administration towards migrants and refugees, while the head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) congratulated the new President and Vice President on taking office, pledging to work with them to strengthen global support for refugees.
EIB Group: In the year of the worst global health and economic crisis for generations, the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group rapidly redirected its business to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences on all fronts.
EU: A combined total of €7.6 million in funding from the European Union (EU) is helping the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) address the growing food needs in Mozambique driven by climate change, insecurity, displacement, and the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, while also strengthening national capacity to respond to natural disasters.
Reports
Digitalizing the maritime sector set to boost the competitiveness and resilience of global trade
A new report launched by the World Bank and the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) shows that better digital collaboration between private and public entities across the maritime supply chain will result in significant efficiency gains, safer and more resilient supply chains, and lower emissions.
Accelerating Digitalization: Critical Actions to Strengthen the Resilience of the Maritime Supply Chain describes how collaborative use of digital technology can help streamline all aspects of maritime transport, from cross-border processes and documentation to communications between ship and shore, with a special focus on ports.
Independent panel finds critical early failings in COVID-19 response
The global system for pandemic alert and response is “not fit for purpose”, highlighting the need for a new framework in the wake of COVID-19, experts appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) said in an interim report.
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response found critical elements to be “slow, cumbersome and indecisive” in an era when information about new disease outbreaks is being transmitted faster than countries can formally report on them.
Draft UN biodiversity plan risks another lost decade for nature
Without major step changes in urgency and ambition, governments negotiating a global ten-year biodiversity plan are risking another ‘lost decade for nature’, according to WWF, the global conservation organization.
WWF published its proposals for a transformative, comprehensive, and measurable post-2020 global biodiversity framework. Titled The Kunming Plan for Nature and People, the discussion paper identifies the key actions needed to achieve a nature-positive world by 2030.
Events
Climate Adaptation Summit 2021 (CAS 2021) | Virtual
? 25- 26 January 2021
Virtual
Our planet is getting warmer, which has a growing impact on our societies and economies. We need to adapt to a new, more extreme climate.
The online international Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS) 2021 on 25 and 26 January, hosted by the Netherlands, convenes global leaders and local stakeholders. It will see the launch of a comprehensive Adaptation Action Agenda that sets out clear commitments to deliver concrete new endeavours and partnerships to make our world more resilient to the effects of climate change.
At CAS 2021, over the course of 24 hours a range of events streamed from time zones across the globe will inspire change and support tangible solutions to the problems of a warming world, showing how we can achieve a climate-resilient future.
7th Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Week | Virtual
? 25-29 January 2021
Virtual
Senior government officials and key stakeholders will convene from 25 to 29 January to deliberate issues of importance to trade and investment policymaking in the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Week, hosted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), features several engaging virtual events on trade facilitation, trade and investment agreements, science, technology, and innovation policies, and responsible business practices.
The Norad Conference 2021: A new start – together or every state for itself? | Virtual
? 26-27 January 2021 ? 10.00-13.00 (CET)
Virtual
At the Norad Conference 2021, we ask: Are we heading towards a future with more cooperation or more ‘going solo’? How can we achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and are we really on the right track? Will this be the decade of joint solutions to global challenges, or are there more likely to be growing tensions and more nationalism?