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Saturday, December 9, 2023
News and Views from the Global South
Food and Agriculture
Emerging Climate Finance Infrastructure to Match Africa’s Green Bankable Solutions
Although long profiled as the face of climate change, a high-risk continent with a pipeline of unbankable green projects, there are areas where Africa is leading the world. The 1987 accidental discovery of the first deposit of natural hydrogen during a water drilling campaign in Bourakebougou village, Mali, is today proving that Africa can export viable green solutions.
Electrifying Cooking: Decarbonizing Africa’s Electricity Grid Towards Net Zero
Across the African continent, many first-born children in poor and vulnerable households do not go to school as they spend their school days collecting biomass fuel. The regional average of the amount of time spent collecting firewood is 2.1 hours, robbing women and girls in particular of hundreds of hours in a year and crippling their capacities to engage in learning and productive activities.
Why the UN COP28 Climate Talks Must Serve Farmers to Achieve a “Just Transition”
Food and agriculture is a top agenda item at UNFCCC COP28, as the world considers how to tackle the climate impacts of what we eat and how we produce it. The stage has been set for COP28 to be a “food COP”, but for commitments to translate to action, it must also be a “farmers’ COP”.
Ten African Countries to Benefit From USD 100 Million Released by Green Climate Fund
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has announced the release of USD 100 million at the ongoing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 28th Conference of Parties (COP 28) in Dubai, UAE, to support 10 African countries in adapting food loss reduction solutions.
Pacific Leaders Announce Largest Conservation Effort in History
Pacific people live at the nexus of oceans, climate, and food systems, and the interaction of climate and ocean is raising sea temperatures and threatening habitats and resources vital to the region’s sustenance, Palau’s President Surangel Whipps, Jr., said at the launch of an effort to protect and rejuvenate the region's ecosystems and empower communities through to the year 2050—in what is considered to be the biggest single conservation effort in history—Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity.
Why Agroecology Should Be Considered as Key for Climate Negotiations
Students of St Denis Libolina Primary have used agroecology farming techniques to transform the entire school garden and any free space into food forests and gardens for different vegetable varieties, legumes, and herbs. Now the students, who are physically challenged, have challenged their parents, villagers, and farmers in the outskirts of Myanga Township, in Kenya’s Bungoma County, in the Western region, to do the same.
Salvadoran Rural Communities Face Climate Injustice
For decades, poor fishing and farming communities in southern El Salvador have paid the price for the electricity generated by one of the country's five dams, as constant and sometimes extreme rains cause the reservoir to release water that ends up flooding the low-lying area where the families live.
Tackling Agrifood Inequality Can Boost the Bottom Line
Objections to progressive policies are often based on cost. It would be great to have a fairer, more sustainable world, the argument goes, but where will the money come from to pay for it?
Call for Rural Agriculture Investment, Less Food Wastage to Address Global Hunger
The politics of global food consumption remain contentious, with the upcoming COP28 taking place against the backdrop of worsening food deficits in the Global South.
Indigenous Voices and Food Systems Lead the Way at COP28
In a groundbreaking development, indigenous farmer communities are poised to bring the spotlight onto food systems at the upcoming UN Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai.
Improving Livestock Health Is a Net Positive Move Towards Net Zero
The recent downturn in sales of alternative meat products is only the latest evidence that the world is unlikely to give up animal protein completely in the long run.
Smallholder Farmers Gain Least from International Climate Funding
Smallholder farmers from the Global South benefit from a grossly disproportionate 0.3% of international climate finance despite producing a third of the world's food and despite holding the key to climate-proofing food systems.
Time to Convert Climate Change Rhetoric into Action, Says WFP’s Gernot Laganda
It is crucial to narrow the gaps and ensure that climate finance goes to where people are most vulnerable, says Gernot Laganda, Director of Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)—especially as the most fragile states only receive USD 2.1 per capita while non-fragile states receive USD 161.
Shared Responsibility: Eradicating Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean
The figures published by the latest Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2023 are cause for great concern. The document is clear: hunger continues to significantly affect Latin America and the Caribbean.
Recognizing Food & Land-Use Systems as Contributors to Climate Change
For a long time, the agriculture sector has been heralded as a success story for India. Spurred by the Green Revolution, it provided a path-breaking solution to feed the country's burgeoning population starting in the 1960s.
Fighting Malnutrition and Changing Mindsets in Rwanda
Of the many things one might associate with a modern teenager, passion for wholegrain food is probably not the first that comes to mind. An innovative school-meals project in Rwanda, however, has young people singing its praises.
Kashmir’s Apple Industry Faces Dire Threats as Climate Change Takes its Toll
Of Kashmir’s seven million inhabitants, a staggering one million rely directly on apple farming. The region is pivotal in India’s apple and horticulture production, contributing to over 70 percent of the country’s apple supply. This not only provides income to farmers but also sustains a vast network of laborers, traders, and transporters within the fruit economy.
Women Correct Historical Injustices, Build Climate Resilience Through Cash Pooling
Although women account for more than three-quarters of the agricultural labour force and manage 40 percent of small-scale farms, historically, they neither owned nor controlled the land because land rights were passed down to male relatives. It is a historic gender injustice whereby women could only access land through close male relatives.
Innovative Financial Services Transform Agricultural Entrepreneurship in Africa
Smallholder agricultural enterprises in Africa face a lot of challenges getting loans from financial institutions like banks due to the stringent requirements they can hardly fulfil. Investor confidence is usually lacking, given the risks involved in this sector of the economy.
Back to Nature to Avoid Water Collapse in the Capital of Chile
A return to nature is the main solution being promoted by communities and municipalities to avoid the water shortage that threatens to leave Santiago, the capital of Chile, home to more than 40 percent of the 19.5 million inhabitants of this South American country, without water.
What is Happening in Gaza is “Inhumane, illegal, and Unacceptable”
Last August, 91 UN member states, “in a demonstration of solidarity and commitment”, signed a U.S.-Led Joint Communiqué condemning the Use of Food as a Weapon of War. Roughly 345 million people – in 79 countries – face acute food insecurity, often caused or exacerbated by armed conflicts, the US said, pointing out that the joint communiqué was born out of the United States’ resolve to once again use its UN Security Council presidency to draw attention to conflict-induced food insecurity.Next Page »
People, Planet and Prosperity, are at the heart of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As countries affirmed their commitments to transforming food systems at the UN Food Summit, it was clear the goals of nourishing everyone in a sustainable, climate-friendly and equitable matter were far off track.
The COVID-19 put worrying trends of food insecurity into “overdrive”, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. He noted that 3 billion people – almost half of humanity could not afford a healthy diet. COVID-19 meant that up to 811 million people worldwide faced hunger in 2020 — a 20 per cent increase in just one year. Over 41 million are on the doorstep of starvation.
When food systems fail, health, education, economy, environment, peace, and security could be threatened – but world leaders agree that transformative action could play an essential role in driving global recovery.
Inter Press Service (IPS) newswire has been at the forefront of writing about these challenges – from intense reporting in the field with the most vulnerable communities to ensuring the key messages of how to feed people and preserve the planet are disseminated. Working on crucial information from agencies like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition (BCFN) IPS has been a forum for debate about what’s needed to fix food systems. This collection brings together the best of these stories written by journalists working in Africa, Asia and elsewhere in the Global South to experts from these organizations.
The Week with IPS
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Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
