The Republic of Korea (Korea), Vietnam and Bangladesh are on three different rungs of the development ladder. While Korea is a member of the rich nations’ club, i.e., the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Bangladesh is still a least developed country (LDC); and Vietnam is in the middle.

Anis Chowdhury

But relative policy independence vis-à-vis donors, among other factors, played a crucial role in separating their development trajectory. Development succeeded in countries that maintained policy independence despite their heavy aid dependence.

Aid dependence and policy independence

Being among the world’s poorest countries, all three had to depend heavily on foreign aid. For example, foreign aid financed around 74% of Korea’s imports on average during 1953-1960, and proceeds from the sales of aid goods (e.g., food aid under the PL480 programme of the US, packaged as “Food for Peace”) constituted on average 38.4% of government revenue.

US aid to Korea was “huge”, contributing about 80% of foreign aid during 1945-1975. Korea received nearly as much economic aid from the US as ALL of Africa during 1946-1978. Excluding military aid, the US economic at its peak was 21% of Korea’s GDP, and financed about 50% of government expenditure.

Source: The World Bank

Yet, the Korean government maintained considerable policy independence regarding the use of aid funds. While the US aid agency insisted on providing non-project assistance for macroeconomic stabilisation rather than growth, the Korean government used non-project aid to rebuild the manufacturing sector for accelerating growth, and demanded more project assistance. The policy conflict was negotiated and coordinated by the Combined Economic Board (CEB, established in 1952). Although CEB was jointly chaired by the representatives of the US aid mission in Korea and the Korean government, Korea prevailed.

The Korean government also maintained its policy independence from the World Bank (WB). For example, when in 1967 the WB rejected Korea’s funding request for the Seoul-Busan expressway, connecting the nation’s capital to its main sea-port, Korea completed the 428km expressway with domestic finance and resources in 1970 as other multilateral and bilateral donors also refused to finance it following the WB’s rejection.

The WB and donors believed the expressway was an excessively grandiose project for a country so poor. Proving them wrong, the expressway not only spurred economic activities along the corridor of two major population centres, its construction was a critical learning opportunity for the Koreans. With the gained capacity, Korean construction companies were able to win major infrastructure projects in the Middle-East, which was a critical source of foreign exchange. Korea is now regarded as a leader in infrastructure construction.

The WB also was very critical of Korea’s Heavy and Chemical Industry (HCI) drive (1973-1979). Ignoring the WB, Korea pushed ahead, and proved the WB and other critics wrong. By the early 1980s, HCI became the nation’s leading export industries. The HCI drive was greatly successful in boosting investment, leading to the rapid growth of the manufacturing sector and its structure change. The manufacturing sector grew 16.2% per annum from 1971 to 1980, much higher than the GDP growth of 9.1% during the same period, while the share of HCIs in manufacturing value added rose to 58.3% in 1980.

No wonder, Korea broke away from the poverty trap in the early 1970s, leaving its “poor cousins” – Bangladesh and Vietnam – behind to become a full member of the OECD in little over two decades in 1996.

Vietnam’s story is not so different from that of Korea. Since initiating reforms in 1986, Vietnam quickly became WB’s one of the top loan recipient countries. But the WB’s influence over Vietnam’s development path has been limited, as the government has always refused to adopt policies imposed by foreign organisations. With strong enough institutions Vietnam achieved “ownership” of public policies.

Here is an interesting story of Vietnam’s determination to pursue its own development strategies. When in 1997, the WB approached Vietnam with an offer of US$300 million in credit in exchange for structural adjustment, à la the Washington Consensus model, including faster privatisation and financial liberalisation, the Vietnamese government declined. The WB returned with a higher offer in 1998, and Vietnam declined again. When the WB came again in 1999 with an even higher offer, the government issued a stern rebuke. The minister of planning and investment, Tran Xua Gia, told WB representatives, “You cannot buy reforms with money . . . no one is going to bombard Vietnam into acting.”

By then the Vietnamese government knew from the experience of Indonesia the risks of yielding too much sovereignty to international markets and institutions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had to wind up its last programme in 2004 as Vietnam refused the IMF’s demand for an independent audit of its central bank and disagreed over privatisations of state-owned enterprises.

Vietnam charted its own path of reforms – Đổi Mới, learning from successes and failures of neighbouring East Asian countries, including China as well as its former patron and role model, former Soviet Union.

Vietnam posted remarkable macroeconomic performances following the launch of Đổi Mới, with GDP growing at close to 8% per annum. Since the beginning of the 2000s, it also recorded Asia’s highest rate of growth in exports, half of which were made up of manufactured products, prompting The Economist to hail Vietnam as “Asia’s other miracle”.

Starting in 1975 with a per capita GDP of about US$85 after successfully defeating the US that waged a devastating war on Vietnam for more than two decades, Vietnam became a lower middle-income country in 2009. “Desperately seeking model countries”, unsurprisingly the first country Robert Zoellick visited after becoming President of the WB in 2009 was Vietnam, a country governed by its Communist Party, constructing a ‘socialist-oriented market economy’. One could almost say, “Vietnam is more important for the WB than the WB is for Vietnam”!

Poor Bangladesh lacks self confidence

Bangladesh, in search of development, joined the club of LDCs in 1975 when its GDP per capita was US$230, and still remains a LDC after more than five decades maximising LDC related facilities. Bangladesh is scheduled to graduate out of the LDC category in November this year; but it is asking for a deferment, lacking self-confidence.

On the other hand, self-confident Vietnam with its per capita GDP of only US$82 in 1975 decided not to join the LDC club, despite having to face the challenges of reconstruction and reunification in the most difficult global economic situation – stagflation. It received aid (mostly from the former Soviet Union); but did not blindly follow either its former patron USSR’s reform package or that of the WB/IMF. Its former enemy, the US, which pressured the WB to halt all funding, made a U-turn in the early 1990s, and signed the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement in 2000.

Korea could have also joined the LDC club in 1971 when the UN created the LDC category for the world’s poorest countries; but it did not. Heavily dependent on US foreign aid for food, fuel and other raw materials, Korea was not seen as a promising place for major investments until the late 1960s. So, the State took the lead to break the vicious circle of low income and low investment.

Of course, Bangladesh is no longer a “basket case”; it is now a lower middle-income country. It also showed some courage to stand on its own feet when the WB declined to finance the Padma Bridge project, citing corruption.

However, Bangladesh could have done better had it not surrendered its policy independence to the donors, as the experiences of RoK and Vietnam demonstrate. Like successful marriages, there are many factors for successful development. Failure in any one of those essential elements can be damning according to Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina principle, even if it has all the other ingredients of success.

Anis Chowdhury, Emeritus Professor, Western Sydney University (Australia). He held senior UN positions in Bangkok and New York and served as Special Assistant to the Chief Advisor for Finance (with the status and rank of State Minister) in the Professor Yunus-led Interim Government. Anis has written extensively on East and Southeast Asian economies, including The Newly Industrialising Economies of East Asia (Routledge) and The Political Economy of East Asia (Oxford University Press). E-mail: anis.z.chowdhury@gmail.com

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Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime. Source: World Population Prospects 2022 report from the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

By Nandita Bajaj
ST. PAUL, Minnesota, USA, Mar 12 2026 (IPS)

As birthrates continue to decline in many industrialized countries, anxious governments are running out of schemes to keep women procreating.

In the US, millionaires and billionaires are lining up to donate to Trump’s “baby bonus” savings accounts. Trump accounts give parents $1,000 for all babies born between now and 2028, plus whatever private donors add.

Late last year tech billionaires Michael and Susan Dell donated $6.25 billion to them. The accounts are part of Trump’s far-Right pronatalist agenda, and also part of the broader trend of governments using heavy-handed pronatalist policies, ranging from bribes to outright coercion, to convince women to have more babies and shore up the supply of future workers, taxpayers, and soldiers.

These interventions are notoriously ineffective. A recent Heritage Foundation report recommended using economic incentives to convince American women to have more babies, “with preferences for larger-than-average [families],” while shaming those who choose to have fewer or no children.

A family in South Korea, which has the lowest Total Fertility Rate in the world (0.8).

But it also admitted, “Other nations have tried to reverse declining birthrates through financially generous family policies, none has succeeded. Government spending alone does not ensure demographic success.”

Nor can such policies achieve what Heritage calls “success.” Trying to raise birthrates by incentivizing women to have babies not only undermines hard-won reproductive rights, it’s a waste of money.

Such spending is not a priority for U.S. taxpayers, as most Americans do not see falling birth rates as a crisis. Instead, they overwhelmingly want the government to address untenably high child care costs. But a one-time Trump account infusion makes no dent in high costs of raising children and other barriers to motherhood.

Just as recent cuts to SNAP and Medicaid disproportionately affect marginalized women and children, Trump accounts benefit least those who need help most. By the Administration’s own calculations, the accounts will benefit wealthy parents disproportionately.

This shouldn’t be surprising. Trump accounts and other pronatalist policies aren’t really about empowerment or saving families or supporting children. They are a bid to make more white Americans, part of a larger nativist program which includes cracking down on immigration from African and Muslim countries, detaining and deporting non-white people in huge numbers, and even abandoning former U.S. efforts to fight child exploitation and trafficking.

These policies overtly stoke panic about falling birthrates, and tacitly uphold the white supremacist “great replacement” conspiracy theory.

That makes support for pronatalism from some progressives especially disturbing. Even if their intent is not nativist, advocating policies that push women to have more children is anti-feminist and fundamentally at odds with reproductive agency.

And even when such policies intend to serve feminist goals–for example Finland’s generous parental leave and child and health care—they fail to raise birthrates. That’s because the biggest factor in childbearing decisions isn’t affordability; it’s empowerment.

Nobel prizewinning economic historian Claudia Goldin has shown high birthrates are no longer tied to economic prosperity, as women increasingly choose education and careers over traditional family roles. In fact, she found an inverse relationship between per capita income and fertility. “Wherever you get increased agency,” she said, “you get reduction in the birth rate.”

Another study across 136 countries confirms this: whenever women achieve reproductive agency, birthrates decline, whether the economy is growing or shrinking.

But hundreds of millions of women and girls are denied this agency. Over 640 million alive today were child brides (including in the US). Over 220 million have an unmet need for contraception. More than half of pregnancies are unintended—121 million annually. Cuts in USAID and other aid programs make the situation more dire.

Despite birthrates declining in many countries, global population is going up, projected to swell by 2 billion to 10.4 billion by the 2080s, with vast ecological and social consequences. Extreme climate events are expected to kill more than a billion people and displace up to 3 billion this century, most in countries where women and girls are disempowered and fertility rates remain high. Pronatalism will only make ecological and social crises worse.

We need new policy thinking that recognizes this and embraces the many advantages of declining fertility and less growth. As fertility rates fall, female labor participation will increase and gender pay gaps will narrow.

As median age rises, changing demographics could enable policy shifts that improve wages and conditions for workers and extend job opportunity to billions on the sidelines who want work but don’t have it.

There is no lack of good ideas, from economic models that center wellbeing and rethink growth to radical ecological democracy. Exploring them requires getting off the endless growth treadmill that enriches elites at the expense of the rest of us. We must stop treating women like reproductive vessels for making more people to serve the economy, and start reshaping our economies to serve more people and the planet.

Nandita Bajaj is executive director of the NGO Population Balance, senior lecturer at Antioch University, and producer and host of the podcasts OVERSHOOT and Beyond Pronatalism. Her research and advocacy work focuses on addressing the combined impacts of pronatalism and human expansionism on reproductive and ecological justice.

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In Japan, the youth group donated the proceeds from their recycling to single-mother families with hospitalized children through the NPO Keep Mama Smiling. Credit: Karuta Yamamoto.

By Karuta Yamamoto
TOKYO, Japan, Mar 6 2026 (IPS)

From the beginning, this project was a collaboration between student teams in Japan and Korea. Although we live in different countries, we shared one common question: How can young people reduce waste while supporting families facing food insecurities?
Our journey began with a problem we could see clearly in our communities.

In Japan, food insecurity often hides behind quiet dignity. According to a recent survey by Save the Children Japan, over 90 percent of low-income households with children reported struggling to afford enough food, with many families forced to cut back on even basic staples such as rice due to rising prices.

The Japan and Korean team of all 11 students presented ‘The Co-creation of Youth from Waste to Hope’ at the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) Thematic Event. Credit: Ticad 9

The Japanese team leader, Karuta Yamamoto, and the Korean team presented ‘What we want in Africa for the future’ at the Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, during TICAD 9.

Japan and Korea Team Leader, Karuta Yamamoto and Emma Shin, in an interview with UNFPA Seoul. Credit: Karuta Yamamoto

The Korean team set up a shop at a bazaar at Arumjigi, Seoul, Korea. Credit: Karuta Yamamoto

Single-parent households—most led by mothers—face especially high levels of food hardship and are often compelled to make painful decisions about how limited budgets are spent. For some families, this means choosing between symbolic moments of celebration and everyday nutrition. A ¥3,000 Christmas cake may represent joy for one household, but for another, that same amount must stretch to five kilograms of rice—enough to feed a family for several days.

At the same time, vast amounts of edible food are wasted in Japan. Official statistics show that millions of tons of food are discarded annually in Japan, much of it still edible. Seasonal items such as Christmas cakes, which cannot be sold after December 25, are frequently thrown away. This contrast—waste on one side and hunger on the other—reflects the global challenge addressed by SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.

As students in Japan and Korea, we asked ourselves, “What role can we play in closing this gap?”

We knew that awareness alone would not change habits. enough. Instead of telling people to feel guilty about food waste, we decided to take action together.

We began locally, but with shared purpose.

In Japan, students at Dalton Tokyo Senior High School noticed that mandarin oranges—one of the country’s most common fruits—often go uneaten, with peels and seeds discarded. In Korea, students identified a different issue: more than 150,000 tons of used coffee grounds are discarded each year, contributing to landfill emissions and greenhouse gas emissions.

Different materials.

One shared goal.

Rather than seeing waste as the end of a product’s life, we saw it as a beginning.

Research shows that citrus peels contain essential oils that can be used in soaps and cleaning products. Studies in Korea also demonstrate that spent coffee grounds can be processed into sustainable biomaterials suitable for eco-friendly design and 3D printing. Plantable seed paper—made from recycled paper embedded with seeds—is another example of how waste can be transformed into something regenerative.

Inspired by these ideas, our student teams turned theory into action.

Japanese students created handmade soaps using discarded citrus peels.

Handmade soaps using discarded citrus peels. Credit: Karuta Yamamoto

The soaps ready for sale. Credit: Karuta Yamamoto

Korean students developed 3D-printed clip-on vases incorporating recycled coffee grounds, encouraging people to reuse empty bottles and cups instead of discarding them.

The Korean students developed 3D-printed clip-on vases incorporating recycled coffee grounds. Credit: Karuta Yamamoto

They also produced plantable seed paper from recycled materials, allowing waste to literally grow into flowers and herbs.

Korean students produced plantable seed paper from recycled materials. Credit: Karuta Yamamoto.

These products were not sold as charity goods. Instead, they were shared as examples of responsible consumption—showing that waste can have a second life through our design. Through this work, we directly supported SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, which calls for reducing waste through recycling and reuse, and SDG 13: Climate Action, by lowering emissions through upcycling.

At the same time, the funds raised had a clear purpose.

The profits were used to support families facing food insecurity. In Japan, we donated to single-mother families with hospitalized children through the NPO Keep Mama Smiling (see main photo for the opinion piece).

They also provided essential cooking ingredients to the Karuizawa Food Bank. By connecting environmental action with helping families in need, our project also supported SDG 2: Zero Hunger.

The group provided cooking ingredients to the Karuizawa Food Bank. Credit: Karuta Yamamoto

Through this experience, we learned that caring for the planet and caring for people are not separate goals. Waste reduction and hunger relief became connected in one youth-led effort—turning environmental responsibility into community solidarity.

But our collaboration did not stop in Japan and Korea.

Through a partnership with the OneSmile Foundation—an organization that transforms digital smiles into donations—we connected our local initiatives to a global challenge. During workshops, we learned that school meal donations in Lesotho had stopped the previous year. Without reliable meals, many students were struggling to focus in class.

Together, our Japanese and Korean teams raised over 300,000 Japanese yen.

The Japanese and Korean teams celebrate their fundraising efforts. Credit: Karuta Yamamoto

Working with local partners in Lesotho, we organized a community-based food support initiative at Rasetimela High School, which serves 863 students. School feeding programs play a critical role in Lesotho, and recent disruptions have left many students more vulnerable to hunger.

Students at Rasetimela High School in Lesotho receive donations of food. Courtesy: Rasetimela High School

Ninety-one of the most vulnerable students were selected through transparent criteria, including those supported by social welfare programs and those who had previously relied on international assistance. Each selected family received staple foods such as rice and corn flour to make a local staple called pap. Distribution was organized near the school to ensure safety and allow parents to collect the supplies securely.

This cross-border effort—connecting students, NGOs, local leaders, and communities—reflects the spirit of SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals.

Although we live in different countries, climates, and cultures, this experience reshaped how we understand global cooperation. The students in Lesotho were not distant beneficiaries. We became peers in a shared world.

They became peers in a shared world. Courtesy: Rasetimela High School

As young people, we often believe our impact is limited because we do not control large resources. This project challenged that belief. We learned that we can create change by designing solutions, raising awareness, and working together.

We even tried to measure what we called a “Happiness Index” by counting the smiles of students who received support. Those smiles reminded us that sustainability is not only environmental or economic—it is human.

Our experience shows that youth are not just future leaders. We are active contributors today. When creativity meets collaboration, waste can become opportunity, and local action can grow into global solidarity.

Turning waste into hope is not an abstract idea.
It is a choice—and young people are already making it.

Edited by Dr Hanna Yoon

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Mamadou Ba, president and founder of Maison des Talibés, speaks to talibés in Saint-Louis, Senegal, at the opening ceremony of the organisation's centre on Jan. 1, 2026. Courtesy: Ramata Haidara

By Megan Fahrney
SAINT-LOUIS, Senegal, Feb 27 2026 (IPS)

When you walk through the streets of Senegal’s cities, you notice them almost immediately: young boys in worn clothes, clutching plastic cans or tin bowls, weaving between cars and pedestrians to ask for spare change or food. They are often barefoot, alone and hungry. These children are known as talibés.

Boys aged approximately 5-15, known as talibé children, reside in daaras, schools run by marabouts.

Human Rights Watch says many marabouts, “who serve as de facto guardians, conscientiously carry out the important tradition of providing young boys with a religious and moral education.”

However, many of the schools are unregulated.

“However, thousands of so-called teachers use religious education as a cover for economic exploitation of the children in their charge, with no fear of being investigated or prosecuted,” the report says. The talibés from these ‘schools’ spend much of their days begging for food on the streets and suffering a range of human rights abuses. They regularly experience beatings, inadequate food and medical care, and neglect.

Mamadou Ba, president and founder of Maison des Talibés, is striving to change the narrative. Ba created the organisation Maison des Talibés (“House of Talibés”) three years ago in Saint-Louis, Senegal, with the goal of empowering talibés, improving their living conditions, and teaching them skills to help them succeed in young adulthood.

“I want to improve talibés’ lives,” Ba said. “I’m trying to help them in the future when they grow up [to be] self-sufficient.”

Ba himself was a talibé as a child. A Senegal native, Ba was sent away to Daara at the age of seven in a city called Sokone. He said he remained there for eight years, enduring very tough conditions and was not fed by his marabout.

Once Ba aged out of the daara, he moved to Dakar and later Saint-Louis to be a marabout.

While in Saint-Louis, Ba began to devote his time to French and English study. He got involved with an international organisation that supported talibés but found their approach of simply donating food to the talibés was not going to cut it. Ba knew he needed to equip the children with skills to succeed in young adulthood after leaving the daara.

“They have one way out, which is becoming a marabout,” Ba said. “I don’t want them basically to have one choice, which is a Quranic teacher. I want them to have different choices, different options, [to become] whatever they want.”

Maison des Talibés began as a true grassroots effort. Ba formed relationships with local marabouts, gaining their trust and allowing him to enter the daaras to provide the talibés services. He reached out to his friend, Abib Fall, a doctor in the area, who agreed to provide medical care to talibés in his free time. Ba himself began teaching the children English, providing food and rehabilitating the daaras.

“It’s very fundamental to have a connection with the marabouts; otherwise, you cannot do this work,” Ba said. “I speak the language that they speak, so they listen to me more … I’m a former talibé, so I know them very well.”

Equipped with English language skills, Ba expanded the organisation by speaking with international visitors and businesses in Saint-Louis to request financial support and recruit volunteers.

“The objective is education and handcraft,” Ba said. “I know that if they have the education and the handcraft, they will be like me or better.”

“I know how you get them there, because I went through that and I experienced it,” Ba said.

A 2019 report by Human Rights Watch documented 16 talibé deaths from abuse and neglect and dozens of cases of beatings, neglect, sexual abuse and the chaining and imprisonment in daaras. An estimated 50,000 young boys live as talibés across Senegal, as of 2017.

Though families often send their children to live in daaras voluntarily, the system is widely considered to be trafficking. Many talibés in Senegal come from impoverished communities in Guinea-Bissau and other neighbouring countries.

Over the years, the daara system has evolved from what it once was. Historically, talibés resided predominantly in rural environments, where they worked on farms in exchange for food or received donations from villagers. With urbanisation, the system has transformed into exploitation and begging.

Ramata Haidara, an American Fulbright fellow in Saint-Louis, met Ba outside of a museum in the city. After learning about Maison des Talibés, Haidara immediately got involved as a volunteer English teacher.

Haidara said she has witnessed her students’ confidence grow over time.

“[We] show them that you deserve to have resources and an education and people who are kind to you,” Haidara said.

On January 1, 2026, Maison des Talibés unveiled its first physical building to support talibés by giving them a safe space outside of the daara to learn skills, attend classes, eat, shower and receive medical care.

The centre’s opening ceremony drew over 100 talibés. Ba said the organisation serves many more than that in total, and that he hopes to expand its reach in the future.

Cheikh Tidiane Diallo, a perfume and soap maker living in Morocco, was one of Maison des Talibés’ first students. Diallo said he credits Ba and the organisation with giving him the skills and connections to move to Morocco and pursue his career.

“He has a good heart,” Diallo said of Ba. “He has never given up. I really appreciate that passion from him.”

Ba said he sees his younger self in the talibés he serves and is inspired by them just as they are inspired by him.

“This is a place where they can laugh, a place where they can eat, a place where they can feel okay,” Ba said. “This is our home.”

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By the SDG Report
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 9 2026 (IPS)

Eradicating extreme poverty for all people everywhere by 2030 is a pivotal aim of the Sustainable Development Goals. Extreme poverty, defined as surviving on less than US$3.00 per person per day at 2021 purchasing power parity, has witnessed remarkable declines over recent decades.

However, in 2025, 808 million people – or 1 in 10 people worldwide – were living in extreme poverty, an upward revision from earlier estimates because of the updated poverty line. If current trends continue, 8.9 per cent of the world’s population will still live in extreme poverty by 2030.

A shocking revelation is the resurgence of hunger levels to those last observed in 2005. Equally concerning is the persistent increase in food prices across a larger number of countries compared to the period from 2015 to 2019. This dual challenge of poverty and food security poses a critical global concern.

Credit: UN

Why is there so much poverty

Poverty has many dimensions, but its causes include unemployment, social exclusion, and high vulnerability of certain populations to disasters, diseases and other phenomena which prevent them from being productive.

Why should I care about other people’s economic situation?

There are many reasons, but in short, because as human beings, our well- being is linked to each other. Growing inequality is detrimental to economic growth and undermines social cohesion, increasing political and social tensions and, in some circumstances, driving instability and conflicts.

Why is social protection so important?

Strong social protection systems are essential for mitigating the effects and preventing many people from falling into poverty. The COVID-19 pandemic had both immediate and long-term economic consequences for people across the globe – and despite the expansion of social protection during the COVID-19 crisis, 47.6 per cent of the world’s population – about 3.8 billion people – are entirely unprotected, including 1.4 billion children in 2023.

In response to the cost-of-living crisis, 105 countries and territories announced almost 350 social protection measures between February 2022 and February 2023. Yet 80 per cent of these were short-term in nature, and to achieve the Goals, countries will need to implement nationally appropriate universal and sustainable social protection systems for all.

What can I do about it?

Your active engagement in policymaking can make a difference in addressing poverty. It ensures that your rights are promoted and that your voice is heard, that inter-generational knowledge is shared, and that innovation and critical thinking are encouraged at all ages to support transformational change in people’s lives and communities.

Governments can help create an enabling environment to generate pro- productive employment and job opportunities for the poor and the marginalized.

The private sector has a major role to play in determining whether the growth it creates is inclusive and contributes to poverty reduction. It can promote economic opportunities for the poor.

The contribution of science to end poverty has been significant. For example, it has enabled access to safe drinking water, reduced deaths caused by water-borne diseases, and improved hygiene to reduce health risks related to unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation.

The updated international poverty line of $3.00 resulted in a revision in the number of people living in extreme poverty from 713 to 838 million in 2022. (World Bank)

• If current trends continue, 8.9 per cent of the world’s population may still be living in extreme poverty by 2030 and only one in five countries will have halved their national poverty levels.
• For the first time on record, over half of the world’s population now receives at least one form of social protection benefit. Despite this milestone, 3.8 billion people remain uncovered.
• The share of government spending on essential services, such as education, health and social protection, is significantly higher in advanced economies than in emerging and developing economies.
• Guaranteeing basic social security floors in low- and middle-income countries requires an additional $1.4 trillion annually, or 3.3 per cent of their aggregate GDP in 2024.
• A surge in action and investment to enhance economic opportunities, improve education and extend social protection to all, particularly the most excluded, is crucial to delivering on the central commitment to end poverty and leave no one behind.

Source: The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025

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Despite impressive global declines in mortality rates, life expectancies at birth vary significantly among countries. Credit: Shutterstock

By Joseph Chamie
PORTLAND, USA, Jan 7 2026 (IPS)

While death is inevitable for everyone, the timing of “The Appointment in Samarra” varies significantly among and within populations. Fortunately, mortality levels of human populations have declined significantly worldwide in recent years, leading to increased survival rates and delayed appointments in Samarra.

For example, in the mid-20th century, life expectancies at birth for males and females were 45 and 48 years, respectively. Today, males and females have life expectancies at birth of 71 and 76 years, respectively, which is an increase of more than 25 years. Additionally, females generally have higher life expectancies than males across countries (Figure 1).

Source: United Nations.

Despite impressive global declines in mortality rates, life expectancies at birth vary significantly among countries. Currently, life expectancies at birth for males and females range from highs of about 82 and 87 years, respectively, in Japan and Italy, to lows of approximately 55 and 57 years, respectively, in Nigeria and the Central African Republic.

Inequities in life expectancies at birth persist across different age groups. For example, by the age of 65, country differences in life expectancy remain substantial. In Japan and Italy, life expectancies for males and females at age 65 are approximately 20 and 24 years, respectively. In contrast, the life expectancies for males and females at age 65 in Nigeria and the Central African Republic are about 12 and 13 years, respectively.

Similarly, infant mortality rates vary greatly among countries around the world. The mortality rates of infants range from lows of approximately 2 deaths per 1,000 births in Japan and Italy to highs over 30 times greater, with about 68 deaths per 1,000 births in Nigeria and the Central African Republic.

Longer life expectancies for the world’s population have also led to an increase in the number of centenarians.

In 1950, there were nearly 15,000 centenarians worldwide, making up 0.001% of the global population. Today, there are approximately 630,000 centenarians, accounting for close to 0.01% of the world’s population. By 2050, the number of centenarians is projected to reach 2.6 million, representing around 0.03% of the world’s population (Figure 2).

Source: United Nations.

There are many important factors that influence when and how the appointment in Samarra will occur. These factors include place of birth, residence, sex, socio-economic status, housing, healthcare, nutrition, diet, education, friends, exercise, genetics, disease prevalence, economic stability, public health, injuries, mental health, environmental conditions, political stability, human rights, social support, sanitation, substance use, lifestyle choices, parenting, personal habits, poverty, and violence (Table 1).

Declines in fertility rates have followed mortality rate declines, commonly described as the demographic transition. The fertility rate of the world’s population has fallen from a high of about 5.3 births per woman in the early 1960s to 2.2 births per woman today.

More than half of all countries and areas worldwide have a fertility rate below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman. In many of these countries, deaths outnumber births, resulting in negative rates of population growth.

For example, in China, deaths began outnumbering births about five years ago. This trend is expected to continue for the rest of the 21st century, leading to population decline and the demographic ageing of the Chinese population.

The timing and circumstances of appointments in Samarra differ among the populations of more developed and less developed countries. People in the latter group are more likely to die from communicable diseases than from noncommunicable diseases, which are chronic conditions typically associated with older, aging populations and lifestyle factors.

Among more developed countries, major causes of death include heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. Other leading causes are Alzheimer’s and other dementia, tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases, HIV/AIDS, and external causes and injuries.

Currently, life expectancies at birth for males and females range from highs of about 82 and 87 years, respectively, in Japan and Italy, to lows of approximately 55 and 57 years, respectively, in Nigeria and the Central African Republic

Additionally, in many countries, cancer has replaced heart disease as the leading cause of death. The most common cancers are breast, lung, colon, rectum, and prostate cancer.

Approximately a third of cancer deaths are due to tobacco use, high body mass index, alcohol consumption, low fruit and vegetable intake, and lack of physical activity. Air pollution is also an important risk factor for lung cancer. Many cancers can be cured if detected early and treated effectively.

In many less developed countries, major causes of death include lower respiratory diseases, stroke, heart disease, malaria, and pre-term birth conditions. Other important causes include diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis, birth trauma, and HIV/AIDS.

Another major cause of death in recent years has been the coronavirus or COVID-19. The World Health Organization declared it a global pandemic on 11 March 2020, and it ended in May 2023, but remains an ongoing health threat. The pandemic resulted in over 7 million officially reported deaths worldwide, but the estimated excess morality is significantly higher, ranging between 18 and 35 million.

A crucial factor influencing the timing of appointments in Samarra is the availability of universal health coverage. According to the World Health Organization, universal health coverage ensures that every individual in a country has access to a wide range of health services, from emergency treatments to palliative care, without facing financial difficulties.

As of 2024, 73 out of the 195 countries worldwide were reported to offer some form of universal health coverage, which covers around two-thirds of the global population of 8.2 billion.

Among more developed nations, the United States stands out as a notable exception for not providing universal health care to all its citizens. In 2024, private health insurance coverage remained more prevalent than public coverage, with 66% of the U.S. population being covered. Additionally, the U.S. was noted for having the highest healthcare spending figure per capita in the world.

A significant debate surrounding the appointments in Samarra revolves around the right to die or medically assisted suicide. The differing perspectives about assisted suicide focus on the balance between individual autonomy and the sanctity of life.

Some believe that individuals experiencing unbearable suffering, often due to a terminal illness or incurable condition, should have the legal right and control to decide on medically assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia. In contrast, others argue that assisted suicide devalues human life and opens the door to potential abuse. They also emphasize the importance of palliative care for those facing illness or personal struggles.

Medically assisted suicide is legal under specific circumstances in a limited number of countries. Those places include Australia, Austria. Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and twelve states in the United States.

In order to be eligible for medical assistance in dying, an individual typically must meet certain criteria. These criteria may include having a terminal illness or disability, being of sound mind, expressing a voluntary desire to die, and being capable of self-administering the lethal dose.

While the appointment in Samarra is inevitable for every human being, the timing of when this appointment will occur remains a topic of debate among the scientific community.

Some believe that there is a fixed limit to human life span, largely attributed to the gradual processes of biological ageing. They stress the implausibility of radical life extension for humans in the 21st century.

On the other hand, some argue that there is no conclusive evidence that the limit of human life span has been reached. The oldest supercentenarian on record, Jeanne Calment of France, lived to be 122 years and 164 days. Some experts predict that this current record of 122 years will be surpassed by the end of the 21st century, possibly even reaching 130 years.

In conclusion, the mortality rates of human populations have decreased globally in recent years, leading to improved chances of survival, longer life expectancies, and a growing number of centenarians. However, the timing and circumstances of the inevitable appointment in Samarra vary, with populations in more developed countries continuing to experience lower death rates and longer life expectancies compared to populations in less developed countries.

Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division, and author of many publications on population matters.

The rainwater harvesting cistern is everywhere in Brazil's semi-arid region, a social technology that reduced water scarcity for its inhabitants. Elizabete Sousa Soares wanted to leave Jatobá when her daughter Maria was born 11 years ago, but decided to stay in her small rural town thanks to the cistern and other social technologies that have improved her life. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

By Mario Osava
USERRA DAS ALMAS, Brazil, Dec 29 2025 (IPS)

“The work of collecting seeds saved me from depression,” caused by her daughter’s suicide at the age of 29, said Maria do Desterro Soares, 64, who lives in the poor rural community of Jatobá in northeastern Brazil.

She drew her younger sister, Maria de Jesus Soares, 45, who lost her husband in a car accident and also struggles to avoid falling into depression, into the activity. The two walk together for nearly two hours to reach the forests where seeds abound.“The reserve is a great water reservoir. A study we conducted on avoided runoff showed this 6,285-hectare area can retain an astonishing 4.78 billion liters per year” - Gilson Miranda.

They only earn some 1,000 reais (US$185) in a “good year,” but “it’s my work, my pleasure, it’s what I want and I like doing it,” claimed Maria do Desterro, who also makes ice cream and medicines for flu and other illnesses with locally sourced juices, teas, peels, and honey.

She is one of the 121 people trained by the Caatinga Association (AC) through 2023 for the collection and management of seeds from native plants of this biome exclusive to Brazil, as a way to generate income and restore forests.

The association, founded in 1998 to protect the caatinga, the biome of the semi-arid region in the Brazilian northeast, manages the Serra das Almas Natural Reserve (RNSA) and disseminates social technologies for coexistence with the semi-arid ecoregion in surrounding communities.

The caatinga occupies 10% of Brazil’s vast territory and is home to 27 million people. Its vegetation is generally low, with twisted branches and trunks, appearing dead in the dry season and turning green just days after rain. It also features large trees that reach heights of tens of meters.

Maria de Jesus Soares and her older sister, Maria do Desterro Soares, extract seeds from the buriti coconut, a palm tree also known as moriche, found in several parts of Brazil, including its exclusive caatinga biome. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Coexistence, instead of fighting against nature

To coexist, rather than fighting droughts, is a guiding principle of the actions that are improving life in Brazil’s poorest region, the Northeast, offering a climate lesson for the country and the world.

This slogan, set in motion by civil society organizations, spurred several social technologies as solutions for water scarcity. Best known is the rainwater harvesting cistern for domestic use, with over 1.2 million units built since 2003.

Cisterns, bio-water (a system that cleans household water for reuse in planting), green septic tanks (a concrete tank with soil, filters, and a banana plant base), solar ovens, and eco-efficient stoves are the five tecghnologies being disseminated.

The AC website reports that 1,481 of these “technologies” have been implemented.

The AC has the RNSA for environmental education and as a source of income through eco-tourism. It works in 40 communities nearby where some 4,000 families live, implementing social technologies and supporting the conservation of the reserve and the entire caatinga.

Headquartered in Fortaleza, the capital of the northeastern state of Ceará, and in Crateús, in the west of that same state near the RNSA, the association stands out from other non-governmental organizations by having this conservation unit of 6,285 hectares of dense forests and four streams.

The green septic tank, also called a biosepitic bed, treats wastewater from toilets with microorganisms that process the waste, leaving the water ready to irrigate crops in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

The caatinga mitigates climate change

“The reserve is an open-air laboratory, where research on fauna, flora, carbon, and water takes place, so we can understand the importance of this area, and of the entire caatinga,” explained Gilson Miranda, a biologist and manager of the RNSA for the Caatinga Association.

In 2015 – 2022, the caatinga was responsible for nearly 40% of the carbon removed from the atmosphere in Brazil, he said, based on a study by São Paulo State University on greenhouse gas capture.

This is because the rapid regreening of the vegetation, an indicator of intense photosynthetic activity when it rains, makes the caatinga a major greenhouse gas sink, different from the Amazon, which is an immense carbon reservoir.

“That is why preserving and conserving the caatinga is strategic in a climate adaptation scenario,” said Miranda in an interview with IPS.

This biome, exclusive to Brazil, covers an area of 844,453 square kilometers.

Water is another wealth of Serra das Almas, which was designated a Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN) in the year 2000.

“The reserve is a great water reservoir. A study we conducted on avoided runoff showed this 6,285-hectare area can retain an astonishing 4.78 billion liters per year,” said Miranda.

Around the springs, there are very tall, green trees that differ from the usual biome. The gameleira (Ficus gomelleira), can reach up to 40 or 50 meters, according to Jair Martins, the tourist guide on hikes along the six trails of Serra das Almas.

This water, retained in the soil by the forests, actually drains slowly. The four springs preserved in the reserve do not dry up, but are unable to sustain year-round the streams that feed the Poti River, whose course passes to the east and north of Serra das Almas.

Nor is this moisture enough to keep the caatinga vegetation green, which is very dry in December, with the green of some shrubs or trees more resistant to water stress.

Maria Clemente da Silva was only able to cultivate her garden when she gained access to bio-water, because the public water supply is limited to three hours a day in Jatobá, a poor community in the Brazilian caatinga. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Mitigated drought

In the surroundings of the RNSA, the drought is harsher.

Maria Clemente da Silva, 59, relies on bio-water to supplement the water she uses to irrigate her small garden. The public water supply only operates for two to three hours per day, which is not enough for cultivating vegetables, such as lettuce and onions, or fruit trees like papaya, banana, acerola, orange, and cashew.

About 100 meters behind her house, a forest of tall, very green trees reveals that, with water, the caatinga vegetation gains exuberance. It is the moisture that remained in a low-lying area of a river that practically dried up due to deforestation and fires set to “clear” the land, explained Elisabete de Souza Soares.

Water is the most keenly felt shortage, according to Souza and other women who spoke to IPS and a group of journalism students visiting the Jatobá community, in the municipality of Buriti dos Montes, in the state of Piauí, where the AC’s socio-environmental actions benefit the population and the protection of the RNSA.

All of them received cisterns, the small three-burner ecological stove, and other “technologies” that reduced difficulties in their lives. “Before the cistern, we would fetch water from a public fountain about a kilometer away, carrying cans on our heads,” recalled Souza.

When she was pregnant with her daughter Maria, 11 years ago, she thought about moving away from the community where she had always lived in search of water. “Now I won’t leave here, where I was born,” she said.

The dry vegetation in December, the peak of the annual dry season, displays some resistant shrubs and trees that maintain green patches in the caatinga forests of Brazil’s Northeast region. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

The Caatinga Association adopted a comprehensive conservation model with broad participation from the local population, including in the economic benefits of work within the RNSA, such as guiding ecotourists and providing other services.

The AC’s approach is always socio-environmental, a main component in protecting the reserve and the caatinga in general, stated Miranda.

Inside the reserve, there is a modest hotel that can accommodate up to 36 people. Local tourism tends to expand due to promotion by the governments of the states of Ceará and Piauí, which share the Serra das Almas Natural Reserve.

The nearby Poti River flows through a 140-kilometer-long canyon and has become a major tourist attraction.

The reserve is a legacy of the US Johnson family, owners of the SC Johnson company, which, because it uses vegetable wax for its furniture cleaning and conservation products, imported carnauba wax, a palm abundant in Ceará, Piauí, and Rio Grande do Norte, another Northeastern state.

In 1998, the leader of the family’s fourth generation, Samuel Johnson, repeated an expedition to Ceará that his father had made in 1935 and decided to establish a Caatinga Conservation Fund, using part of his fortune. This led to the RNSA and the Caatinga Association, composed of environmental specialists in the biome.

An elderly man reads a newspaper while working on a street in Bangkok. Social protection is a safety net for vulnerable groups to ensure quality living. Credit: Unsplash/Jacky Watt

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
BANGKOK, Thailand, Nov 10 2025 (IPS)

The Second World Summit for Social Development, held in Qatar earlier this month, marked an important moment for global efforts to advance inclusive, equitable and sustainable development. Throughout the Summit, contributions from the Asia-Pacific region demonstrated that diversity is not a barrier but a strength in crafting people-centred solutions.

Countries showcased innovative and scalable approaches to social protection, intergenerational solidarity, care economy transformation and poverty reduction. These efforts, rooted in local realities and scaled through regional cooperation supported by ESCAP, offer valuable lessons for the world.

Climate resilient and inclusive social protection

Social protection is a powerful tool for reducing poverty and inequality. With the right investments and reforms, it has even greater potential to drive inclusive and equitable development in the future as countries face added risks due to climate change.

Indonesia’s large household cash transfer programme, Program Keluarga Harapan, has helped improve households’ livelihood capital and coping capacities in the face of climate change events, especially those relying on climate-sensitive sectors such as food systems or other natural resource-dependent activities.

Public work programmes, such as the Fiji for Jobs 2.0 or Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, help rural households adapt to climate shocks and improve livelihoods while creating climate resilient community infrastructure. For many countries in the region, top-ups to non-contributory cash transfers are often used to swiftly extend emergency relief to large numbers of households.

In Nepal, forecast-based financing allows the release of funding for pre-defined early actions, including social protection transfers, before a disaster occurs. This reduces the impact on vulnerable communities.

Intergenerational solidarity

Demographic shifts are reshaping societies across Asia and the Pacific. Ageing populations, youth, migration and changing family structures demand new approaches to social cohesion and equity.

The Maldives, in partnership with ESCAP, marked a major milestone in addressing population ageing by launching its National Policy in September 2025, presenting a comprehensive framework to promote active and healthy ageing.

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic also recently adopted a decree and a policy on ageing and is now working to put them into practice. These recent developments demonstrate the commitment of countries in Asia and the Pacific in recognizing that today’s youth are tomorrow’s older persons, that ageing should be viewed over the life course and that intergenerational solidarity benefits all. The ESCAP repository of policies on ageing and related database of good practice support countries in sharing experiences, and contribute to more effective regional cooperation.

Transforming the care economy

Valuing unpaid care and domestic work and investing in the care economy are central to building inclusive, resilient economies and achieving sustainable development. Malaysia’s Selangor state became the country’s first state to adopt a comprehensive care economy policy in November 2024, addressing the entire care ecosystem.

From training home-based caregivers to childcare subsidies, the policy demonstrates how subnational governments can transform care through integrated multi-stakeholder action. The Philippines offers a strong example of embedding care into local budgets to reach the most vulnerable women at the community level.

Municipalities have pioneered local care ordinances that mandate an annual allocation for care programmes, mainstreamed into social welfare and gender initiatives. This approach is now being replicated by thirty local government units.

The Republic of Korea expanded its parental leave system in 2024 with the “6+6 scheme,” providing enhanced wage compensation for the first six months when both parents take leave within the child’s first year of life, encouraging fathers’ participation and shared caregiving responsibility.

Regional collaboration: scaling solutions across borders

One of the most powerful messages from the Summit was the importance of regional cooperation. As the examples show, the Asia-Pacific region’s diversity has not hindered progress, rather, it has enriched it. Frameworks such as the Action Plan to Strengthen Regional Collaboration on Social Protection have facilitated resource mobilization and knowledge exchange.

The Doha Political Declaration proposes a regional mechanism to monitor commitments made at the Summit, ensuring accountability and continuous learning. The region’s emphasis on multilateralism and solidarity offers a model for global cooperation in tackling shared challenges.

ESCAP is fully committed to supporting the regional follow-up of the Declaration. Building on its established platforms, including the Committee on Social Development and the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development, ESCAP will continue to provide inclusive spaces for dialogue, review and policy coherence aligned with the 2030 Agenda and reflecting regional priorities, including on leaving no one behind, gender equality, decent work, social protection and intergenerational solidarity.

ESCAP will also continue to strengthen regional capacity to collect disaggregated social development data and support national statistical systems to monitor progress and inform policy, helping ensure that progress toward the 2030 Agenda is accurately tracked and gaps are identified.

The Asia-Pacific region leading the way on social development

This region has shown that sustainable and inclusive social development is not a distant goal. Rather, it is achievable through inclusive, locally grounded, regionally coordinated and forward-looking action. From care to climate, from youth to ageing, the region’s solutions are shaping a future where no one is left behind.

As the world reflects on the outcomes of the Second World Summit for Social Development, Asian and Pacific contributions stand out not only for their innovation but for their deep commitment to equity, resilience and human dignity. The journey continues, led by a region that understands that development must be for all, by all.

IPS UN Bureau

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Excerpt:

Merlyn Sandoval next to the rainwater collection tank built on the small plot where she lives, in the village of San Jose Las Pilas, in eastern Guatemala. She and her family participate in a program to alleviate the effects of the drought in the Central American Dry Corridor. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

By Edgardo Ayala
SAN LUIS JILOTEPEQUE, Guatemala, Oct 30 2025 (IPS)

Water scarcity that relentlessly hits the rural communities in eastern Guatemala, located in the so-called Central American Dry Corridor, is a constant threat due to the challenges in producing food, year after year. But it is also an incentive to strive to overcome adversities.

The peasant families living in this region struggle to counter hopelessness and, with the help of international cooperation, manage to confront water scarcity. With great effort, they produce food, aware of the importance of caring for and protecting the area’s micro-watersheds."Unfortunately, last year the rainy season also ended in September and we harvested almost nothing, there was no rainy season, there was no water. So it's difficult for us here, that's why they call it the Dry Corridor, because we don't have water" –Ricardo Ramirez.

“We are in the Dry Corridor, and it’s hard to produce the plants here, even if you’ve tried to produce them, because due to the lack of water (the fruits) don’t reach their proper weight,” Merlyn Sandoval, head of one of the families benefiting from a project that seeks to provide the necessary tools and knowledge for people to overcome water insecurity and produce their own food, told IPS.

Sandoval is a native of the village of San Jose Las Pilas, in the municipality of San Luis Jilotepeque, in the department of Jalapa, in eastern Guatemala. Her community has been included in the program, funded by Sweden and implemented by several organizations, such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), together with the Guatemalan government.

The initiative, which began in 2022 and ends this December, reaches 7,000 families living around the micro-watersheds of seven municipalities in the departments of Chiquimula and Jalapa, in eastern Guatemala. These towns are Jocotan, Camotan, Olopa, San Juan Ermita, Chiquimula, San Luis Jilotepeque, and San Pedro Pinula.

The project focuses on creating the conditions to promote food and nutritional security and the resilience of the population, prioritizing water security that allows for food production.

“The strength of the (project’s) goals lies in the training and the action of the micro-watershed concept… people were trained depending on whether they were upstream, downstream, or in the middle of the watershed,” Rafael Zavala, FAO representative in Guatemala, told IPS.

He added: “The area is highly expulsive of labor due to migration, and this causes women to be the heads of households.”

The San Jose River basin is one of the watersheds being targeted for protection and preservation due to its importance for the water security of the towns in San Luis Jilotepeque, in eastern Guatemala. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

Drought and poverty

A report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) indicates that the area included in the program shows a significant deterioration of livelihoods and a scarcity of economic opportunities.

It adds that in the department of Chiquimula, 70.6% of the population lives in poverty, while in Jalapa, the figure reaches 67.2%.

The Central American Dry Corridor, which is 1,600 kilometers long, covers 35% of Central America and is home to more than 10.5 million people.

In this belt, over 73% of the rural population lives in poverty and 7.1 million people suffer from severe food insecurity, according to FAO data.

Central America is a region of seven nations, with 50 million inhabitants, of which 18.5 million live in Guatemala, the most populous country, with high inequality and where a large part of poor families are indigenous.

In the home of Merlyn Sandoval’s family in San Jose Las Pilas, the granary for storing the corn and beans, which are so difficult to produce due to the lack of water in the area of eastern Guatemala, is never missing. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

Learning to Harvest Rainwater

As part of the project, the young Sandoval has learned the key points about micro-watershed management and has developed actions to harvest rainwater on her plot, in the backyard of her house. There, she has set up a circular tank, whose base is lined with an impermeable polyethylene geo-membrane, with a capacity of 16 cubic meters.

When it rains, water runs down from the roof and, through a PVC pipe, reaches the tank they call a “harvester,” which collects the resource to water the small garden and the fruit trees, and to provide water during the dry season, from November to May.

In the garden, Sandoval and her family of 10, harvest celery, cucumber, cilantro, chives, tomatoes, and green chili. In fruits, they harvest bananas, mangoes, and jocotes, among others.

Next to the rainwater harvester is the fish pond where 500 tilapia fingerlings are growing. The structure, also with a polyethylene geo-membrane at its base, is eight meters long, six meters wide, and one meter deep.

When the fish reach a weight of half a kilo, they can be sold in the community.

“The harvesters fill up with what is collected from the rains, and that helps to give a water change for the tilapia and also to give water to the fruit trees,” said Sandoval, 27.

The young woman also produces corn and beans, on another nearby plot, of approximately half a hectare. These plantings, more extensive than the garden and fruit trees in the backyard, cannot be covered by irrigation from the tank.

Ricardo Ramirez shows the inside of the macro-tunnel (a small greenhouse) where he has managed to harvest cucumbers, tomatoes, and green chilies, and where the plants of the new tomato planting can already be seen, on his small farm in eastern Guatemala. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

As a result, these crops, in this region of the Dry Corridor, are always vulnerable to climatic fluctuations: they can be ruined both by lack of rain and by excess rain during the same rainy season, from May to November.

Sandoval has already lost 50% of her harvest due to excess rain, she stated, with a hint of sadness.

This has also happened to Ricardo Ramirez, another resident of San Jose Las Pilas, who has experienced these fluctuations of lack and excess of water in his crop of corn and beans, staples in the Central American diet.

“Unfortunately, last year the rainy season also ended in September and we harvested almost nothing, there was no rainy season, there was no water. So it’s difficult for us here, that’s why they call it the Dry Corridor, because we don’t have water,” said Ramirez, 59, referring to his bean crop, planted on two plots totaling half a hectare, of which he has lost roughly half.

From the rainwater collection tank, Ricardo Ramirez manages to drip-irrigate the crops in the macro-tunnel, as this type of greenhouse is called. The system has allowed him to harvest produce despite water insecurity in eastern Guatemala. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

Green Hope

However, the support from the program driven with Swedish cooperation funds has been vital for Ramirez, not only to stay afloat economically as a farmer, but also to bet, with hope and enthusiasm, on the land where he was born.

Through this international initiative, Ramirez was also able to set up a rainwater collection tank with a capacity of 16 cubic meters, as well as an agricultural macro-tunnel: a kind of small greenhouse, with a modular structure covered by a mesh that protects the crops from pests and other bugs.

Inside the macro-tunnel, he planted cucumbers, tomatoes, and green chili, among others, and watered them by drip irrigation through a hose that carried water from the tank, just three meters away.

“From one row I got 950 cucumbers, and 450 pounds (204 kilos) of tomatoes, and the chili, it just keeps producing. But it was because there was water in the harvester and I just opened the little valve, gave it just half an hour, by drip, and the soil got wet,” Ramirez told IPS, while checking a bunch of bananas or guineos, as they are known in Central America.

All of that generated sufficient income for him to save 2,000 quetzales (about 160 dollars), with which he was able to install electricity on his plot and also buy an electric generator to pump water from a spring within the property, for when the collection tank runs out in about two months.

In this way, Ramirez will be able to maintain irrigation and production.

San José Las Pilas has a community water system, supplied by a spring located nearby. The tank is installed in the high area of the village so that water flows down by gravity, but the resource is rationed to just a few hours a day, given the scarcity.

Nicolas Gomez still has to walk two hours, like many others, to get water from a river when his collection tank runs out during the dry season in eastern Guatemala. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

Long Walks to Obtain Water

However, not everyone is as lucky as Ramirez, to have a water spring on their property and to irrigate gardens when the collection tank runs out.

When that happens, Nicolas Gomez has to walk almost two hours to reach the San Jose River, the closest one, and carry water from there, loading it on his shoulder in containers, to meet basic hygiene and cooking needs.

“So now, in the rainy season, we have water stored in this tank. But for the dry season we have nothing, we go to the river to fetch water, to a spring that is quite far, about a two-hour walk, that’s how hard it is for us to obtain it,” said Gomez, a 66-year-old farmer who has also suffered the climate onslaughts of drought and excess water on his corn crops.

Gomez lives in Los Magueyes, a rural settlement, also within San Luis Jilotepeque. Poverty here is more acute and visible than in San Jose Las Pilas. There is no community water system or electricity, and families have to light themselves with candles at night.

“Life here is hard,” stated Gomez, amidst the smoke produced by the wood-fired stove he was using to cook a meal when IPS visited on October 21.

Mwavita Rohomoya sits with her four children in front of her drink stall in Minova, Kalehe territory, South Kivu province, DR Congo, on 23 April 2025. Minova is one of the first areas in South Kivu to be affected by the resurgence of violence, one of the immediate consequences was the rise in prices of staple foods and essential goods. UNICEF’s cash transfer programme helped families meet their urgent needs—buying food, finding shelter, and accessing healthcare—while also enabling some, like Mwavita, to invest in small-scale income-generating activities. Credit: UNICEF/Christian Mirindi Johnson

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 20 2025 (IPS)

In 2025, unprecedented cuts to foreign aid and humanitarian funding have exacerbated global hunger crises, leaving millions without access to food or basic services. Funding shortfalls have forced aid agencies to scale back or suspend lifesaving programs in some of the world’s most food-insecure regions, particularly across the Global South—exacerbating already dire conditions caused by conflict, displacement, economic instability, and climate shocks.

On October 15, the World Food Programme (WFP) released a report, A Lifeline At Risk: Food Assistance At A Breaking Point, which illustrated the impact of funding shortfalls to their programs in the context of six countries: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan,and Sudan. In these nations, funding cuts have had devastating consequences, with entire communities being pushed to the brink of starvation.

“We see significant reductions in our operations and the operations of our partners,” said Ross Smith, WFP’s Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response. “That goes from cutting people completely off of assistance, reducing rations, and reducing the duration of assistance. Many vulnerable people are completely without a safety net or a landing pad at this point in time.”

The report highlighted that the number of people in urgent need of food and livelihood assistance has surged to a record high of 295 million in 2025—coinciding with major reductions in foreign aid and humanitarian funding from key donors, including the United States. As a result, WFP has been forced to drastically scale back its operations, grappling with an estimated 40 percent cut in funding that has severely limited its ability to deliver lifesaving support to the world’s hungriest populations.

WFP warns that recent funding cuts could “severely undermine global food security”. It is estimated that roughly 13.7 million people who are dependent on food assistance from WFP could be pushed into emergency levels of hunger, with children, women, refugees, and internally displaced people being disproportionately affected.

“These cuts are triggering additional food insecurity that in itself could have impacts at both national and regional levels,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of WFP’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Service.

WFP notes that the full extent of the impact of these funding cuts to food assistance will not be immediate, but will unfold in the coming months. “This is why we call it a ‘slow burn’ in the report,” said Bauer. “Because the cuts haven’t fully fed through the system yet to all countries and communities.”

Bauer warned that escalating hunger amid dwindling aid could have far-reaching implications that could exacerbate existing crises, citing rising rates of child marriage, increased school dropouts, heightened social instability, increased displacement, and growing economic and political turmoil. Furthermore, WFP has recorded increased rates of malnutrition among children in refugee communities, with many of these children experiencing lifelong health challenges as a result.

One of WFP’s most pressing challenges has been the reduction of disaster preparedness programs for some of the world’s most crisis-prone countries, as resources are redirected to sustain emergency food assistance for the most affected populations. In Haiti, WFP has been forced to suspend its hot meals program for displaced families and cut monthly rations in half, as the nation continues to struggle with record levels of hunger.

Bauer noted that Haiti’s contingency stock of humanitarian aid has been fully depleted and, for the first time since Hurricane Matthew in 2016, WFP has been unable to replenish it. The agency continues to closely monitor Haiti’s food security situation.

Similarly, Smith reported that conditions in Afghanistan have worsened considerably over the course of the year, with fewer than 10 percent of the country’s 10 million food-insecure people now receiving humanitarian aid. “We expect pipeline breaks as early as November and can currently only provide (limited) winter assistance,” said Smith, noting that less than 8 percent of those in need of winterization support will receive it.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), WFP has been forced to cut its operations from targeting 2.3 million people to just 600,000 and warns that its resources could be entirely depleted by February of next year without additional funding. In Somalia, WFP’s reach has also been drastically reduced, with the agency now able to assist less than 25 percent of the people it supported last year.

In Sudan, WFP has managed to assist roughly 4 million people in August—half of them in hard-to-reach areas such as Darfur and South Kordofan. “We are shifting away from what used to be a very large program, in the absence of significant government support for many people, to one now that is famine prevention that is moving from hotspot to hotspot,” said Smith. In neighboring South Sudan, WFP has redirected its limited resources to prioritize civilians experiencing the most extreme levels of hunger.

According to the report, WFP has recalibrated its food assistance priorities in the face of dwindling aid budgets and shrinking staff, choosing to focus on famine prevention efforts and distributing food rations that reach fewer people but cover basic needs. Bauer added that it is imperative for humanitarian aid groups to align with local actors and continue to closely monitor levels of hunger. “The data and analytics – they’re the humanitarian community’s GPS,” Bauer said. “We’re taking the risk of losing our way without the data. So the data must flow.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

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By External Source
Oct 15 2025 (IPS)

 
Poverty is not just scarcity. It is exclusion, stigma, and invisibility.

Poverty is not a personal failure. It is a systemic failure. A denial of dignity and human rights.

Families in poverty often endure intrusive surveillance, burdensome eligibility checks and systems that judge, not
support.

Single mothers, Indigenous households, marginalized groups face increased scrutiny, suspicion and separation.

Over 690 million people live in extreme poverty.

Nearly half the world lives on less than USD$6.85 per day.

Around 1.1 billion people suffer multidimensional poverty.

Two-thirds of people in extreme poverty are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Progress has slowed and the path to 2030 is fragile.

Social and institutional maltreatment is structural.

It lives in rules, routines and default practices.

When people avoid help because of fear, the system has already failed them.

This year’s “International Day for the Eradication of Poverty” calls for three fundamental shifts:

From control to care:
– Designing systems based on trust, not suspicion.
– Reducing punitive conditions and simplify documentation.

From surveillance to support:
– Prioritizing family-strengthening: income support, childcare, housing, mental health and justice

From top-down to co-created solutions:
– Including families in design, budgeting, delivery and evaluation.

Supporting families strengthens many goals:
– Poverty Reduction
– Health & Wellbeing
– Quality Education
– Gender Equality
– Decent Work and Social Protection
– Reduced Inequalities
– Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

“Too often, people living in poverty are blamed, stigmatized, and pushed into the shadows.” – UN Secretary
General, António Guterres.

2030 is looming. We must act now.

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Kathmandu’s Singha Durbar in flames

By Jan Lundius
ROME, Oct 2 2025 (IPS)

In the Global South, where people under the age of 18 comprise more than 50 percent of the population, youth activism is increasing rapidly. Youngsters are more agile and volatile than older people, less restrained by family, prestige and work. However, many suffer from marginalisation, lack of employment, and poverty. Furthermore, insecurity and limited life experience make young people an easy target for manipulating and unscrupulous politicians, criminal networks, and religious fanatics.

Students and young citizens come together by using social media to make their presence felt and mount protests in public spaces. The role of new media technologies as an organising tool has led besieged authorities to ban online platforms, though imposed restrictions have rather than contain protests accelerated them.

Rebellious youth generally belong to the Gen Z, which refers to “digital native”, the first generation fully immersed in a digital world, with constant access to internet and social media. An upbringing that has shaped their world view, making them independent, pragmatic and focused on social impact.

South Asia has recently experienced massive protest movements involving crowds of young people. In July 2022, after an economic collapse in Sri Lanka, a rebellion forced its president to flee the country. In July 2024, upheavals ended the long rule of Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh, and in September this year, violent protests in Nepal forced Prime Minister Khadga Oli’s government to resign.

Even though specific incidents triggered these upheavals, they were all due to long-term, shared grievances evolving from stark wealth gaps, rampant nepotism, and unlimited corruption. Above all, youngsters protested against members of powerful dynasties, favouring a wealthy and discredited political elite.

Sri Lankans were in 2022 faced with a galloping inflation, daily blackouts, as well as shortages of fuel, domestic gas, food, medicines, and essential imports. Amid massive desperation, huge crowds of mostly young people did on 25 March take to the streets under the slogan Aragalya, Struggle.

Political power had by then become embedded within the Rajapaksa dynasty. From 2005 to 2022, two brothers – Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had alternately shared the presidency and prime minister post, while another brother headed their political party; a fourth was speaker of the parliament, and other relatives occupied influential political positions.

While Gotabaya Rajapaksa served as defence minister, he was credited with ending the twenty-six-year-long civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. After churches and luxury hotels in April 2019 had been targeted by ISIS-related suicide bombers, killing 270 people, Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who at the time were in opposition, accused the current government of leniency. When Gotabaya ran for the presidency the same year, he based his campaign on his record as a militant leader, embracing a Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalism inspired by his brother Mahinda’s ethno-nationalist rhetoric, favouring the Buddhist establishment. Gotabaya was elected with an overwhelming majority and six ministries were then headed by members of the Rajapaksa clan.

Most Aragalaya protesters considered their personal hardships to be a result of the mismanagement and corruption of the Rajapaksa-led government. They demanded that the president be deposed and a thorough “system change” brought about. After appointing an astute insider, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as acting president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to Singapore. Wickremesinghe’s government refused to hold elections and persistently portrayed Aragalaya as a chaotic movement, captured by militants, fascists, and terrorists.

Several Aragalaya supporters were wary of being used by partisan or militant groups, particularly those with leftist ideologies which had a long history of organizing protests and strikes. One exception could have been the leftist National People’s Power (NPP), established in 2019. The 2024 elections, which Wickremesinghe had been forced to accept, was won by a NPP coalition lead by Anura Dissanayake.

So far, Dissanayake and his NPP coalition have not introduced any radical political or economic changes. They have largely continued the Wickremesinghe government’s economic and foreign policies, raising questions about the extent to which the NPP coalition is willing, or able, to depart from established governance patterns and deliver the systemic change that has been promised. Deep set divisions and ethnic-religious tensions continue to harass the nation and NPP is apparently trying to tread lightly to avoid stirring up any violent disaccord.

The same could be said about Bangladesh, where an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus seems to be cautious not to cause any antagonistic violence. Yunus’ group of personal supporters and experts presides over a nation with a chilling rise in mob violence and political discord; women are often being targeted, as well as there are reports of attacks on religious minorities.

The formerly dictatorial, but secular and highly corrupt political party, the Awami League, has been banned and democratic elections are promised by the interim government in February 2026. Some are optimistic about democratic elections, described by Yunus as becoming the most “beautiful elections ever”. However, others are unsure if elections will actually be held within a political scenario where violence is a common-day affair.

In Bangladesh, it was a quota system for jobs that forced youngsters into the streets. It was mainly students who led the protests. Student politics had for several years been ferocious, especially since religious and political fractions used them as a mobilising force. Violent feuds within educational institutes had killed many and seriously hampered the academic atmosphere.

Student anger became unified through a common resentment of reserved positions in the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS), a cherished field of government service. The reserved positions were destined to “freedom fighters, i.e. veterans from the 1971 liberation war, as well as their children and grandchildren. Protests erupted in full force on 1 July after the Supreme Court in June 2024 had reinstated a 30 percent quota reserved for veteran descendants, generally interpreted as an intent by the governing party to favour its traditional supporters.

Bangladesh became a sovereign nation in December 1971, after a war against Pakistan, which was supported by India. Sheik Mujibur Rahman was until his assassination in 1975 president and prime minister. Following further turmoil with counter coups, General Ziaur Rahman eventually took over as president; he was in May 1981 assassinated in yet another coup. Ziaur Rahman’s widow, Begum Khaleda Zia, served from 1991 to 1996 as the second female prime minster in the Muslim world (after the Pakistani Benazir Bhutto) and again between 2001 and 2006, when Bangladesh, according to the Corruption Perceptions Index was listed as the most corrupt country in the world. Following the end of her government’s term, a military-backed caretaker government charged Khaleda Zia and her two sons with corruption and in 2018 she was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Sheikh Hasinah, daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was prime minister between 1996 and 2001, and again from 2009 to 2024, following several controversial elections. Her tenure as prime minister was marked by economic mismanagement, rampant corruption, leading to a rising foreign debt, increased inflation, youth unemployment, banking irregularities and an enormous wealth gap. The Financial Times reported that more than an estimated USD 200 billion was allegedly plundered from Bangladesh during Sheikh Hasinah’s time as prime minister, with a lot of these money ending up in countries such as the UK.

As the case had been in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, several members of the Nepalese political elite considered themselves as privileged and not accountable, while favouring family members and supporters to syphon wealth from overprized building endeavours.

Khadga Prassad Oli, a communist who began his political career as “spokesman for the oppressed”, seemed to be unaware of the anger accumulating around him within a nation where some two thousand men and women daily left to look for livelihoods in other countries (remittances from Nepalis working abroad constitute a third of the country’s GDP). Of those who stayed behind, more than 80 percent work in the informal sector, while youth unemployment in the formal sector is more than 20 percent.

On 4 September this year, the government ordered authorities to block 26 social media platforms, including Facebook, X, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit, Signal and Snapchat, for not complying with a deadline to register with the country’s ministry of communication. The measure was explained as a means to tackle fake news, hate speech, and online fraud.

By then, youngsters had with increasing anger accessed platforms where politicians’ children posted photos of their opulent existence, awash with designer clothes, luxury holidays, and lavish parties. The close down of all media platforms, except the Chinese TikTok, further inflamed the resentment of Nepalese youth.

Soon Kathmandu was burning – Singha Durbar, i.e. Nepal’s administrative headquarters; the health ministry; the parliament building; the Supreme Court; the presidential palace; the prime minister’s residence, offices of the governing communist party, and the Kathmandu Hilton, were all set ablaze.

Nepal, the oldest sovereign, and until 2008 only Hindu state in South Asia, was for 250 years, under a strict caste system, ruled by the Shah dynasty. After internal power struggles and murders within the “Royal House of Gorkha” the monarchy was abolished and it was only in 1990 that it had ceded partial power to political parties. After that, a series of failing civilian governments gave in 1996 rise to a “Maoist” insurgency, which took sixteen thousand lives.

The leader of that rebellion, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, was in 2008 elected prime minister. However, he and his erstwhile revolutionaries proved incapable of improving Nepalese living standards and soon indulged themselves in corruption. After the September Gen Z-led upheaval a caretaker Prime Minister has been appointed. Sushila Karki, has a good record after being Nepal’s first female Chief Justice, between 2016 and 2017.

While new leaders seem to have emerged in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, the general public is now asking itself if these recently arrived politicians will be more prudent, corruption free and restrained in controversial actions, than their predecessors.

Much of the outcome depends on the “big brother” in the area – The Republic of India, where millions of migrant workers from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka reside and work. Indian democracy has, with all its shortcomings, been characterized by a collective political discourse in which concerns of a diversity of all Indians could find a space. However, under prime minister Modi we now witness the rise of Hindu nationalism, rooted in homogeneity and exclusion, questioning who really belongs in the Hindutva community, while marginalizing those who don’t, among them migrants, Muslims, and many others. A dangerous polarization that could worsen the situation in neighbouring countries, particularly considering the huge number of their emigrants being present in a country prone to discriminate against them, as well as forcing them back to a tumultuous situation in their countries of origin.

This is part 1 of an analysis of the connection between youth movements and political change, part 2 will analyse how youth-led revolutions have changed political scenarios globally.

IPS UN Bureau

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Zunaira, a UNICEF Youth Advocate, speaks at an event in UNICEF House at the sideline of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. Credit: Tadej Znidarcic/UNICEF

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 26 2025 (IPS)

The UN General Assembly High-Level Week (22-30 September) has been an opportunity for the world to convene on the most pressing issues of the day, from multilateralism, global financing, gender equality, non-communicable diseases, and AI governance.

Climate change is also a key issue this year as countries present their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) ahead of COP30 in November. At this year’s Climate Summit, held on September 24, over 114 countries spoke at the General Assembly to present their NDCs before the UN Secretary-General and leaders from Brazil, the hosts of COP30.

While these climate action plans are an indication of their commitment to climate change, countries must go further demonstrate their commitment through action.

For some young people, like 15 year-old Zunaira, there is a disconnect between the statements made by leaders and the actions they actually take. Even in climate forums like COP29, “there [were] only policies made… only declarations made, but there [was] no real action.”

“In every country it’s like this, you know; they only speak empty words, and empty promises are made with us as young people and children,” she told IPS.

UNICEF‘s Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI) measures the climate risk to children, focusing on both their exposure to climate and environmental hazards and their underlying vulnerability. The index evaluates 56 variables across 163 countries to determine which nations place children at the highest risk from climate impacts. It estimates that about 1 billion children currently reside in these high-risk countries. 

Zunaira believes that world governments and leaders need to include children’s voices and perspectives when planning effective climate policies. She observed that perhaps only three percent of the member states that attended COP29 actually included and listened to children’s voices in their policy discussions.

This is not a new demand either, as she remarked that other youth climate advocates have called for increased child engagement in previous conferences, but this was hardly reflected in negotiations.

Zunaira is in New York to participate in UNGA through UNICEF’s Youth Advocates Mobilization Lab, an initiative which recognizes the achievements of UNICEF’s youth advocates, providing child advocates the opportunity to network and share ideas and experiences.

UNICEF’S climate advocate, 15-year-old Zunaira, is with others during high-level discussions at UNGA80 in New York. Credit: UNICEF/Instagram

The 15 year-old climate advocate from the Balochistan province of Pakistan shared her research into the impacts of flooding on girls’ education, based on her experiences in 2022.

The 2022 Pakistan floods, which affected over 33 million people and killed 647 children, devastated communities that were not built to adapt to the extreme changes brought on by climate change. The link between extreme weather and climate change is apparent to Zunaira and other young people like her, even if some members in the community don’t recognize it right away and write it off as just a natural phenomenon.

Through a policy research programme hosted by UNICEF Pakistan, Zunaira investigated the impact of the floods on girls’ education when she was only 12 years old. She visited Sakran, one of the flood-prone areas in the state, where she interviewed people at a nearby village in the Hub district of Balochistan. Here she spoke to 15 secondary school-aged girls. She described how the devastation of the floods literally washed away the huts that used to be their schools.

According to UNICEF, her findings “highlighted that floods had exacerbated educational inequalities” and “[forced] girls into temporary shelters and disrupting their education.”

“The study also highlighted some promising interventions and called for better disaster preparedness in schools and flood-resistant infrastructure to safeguard girls’ education. The research underscored the urgent need for integrated strategies that combine climate resilience with gender equity.”

Zunaira remarked that with the devastation brought on by the floods, for many children there was no school to return to. She and many other students lost out on schooling because of the disruptions. In some cases, the next closest school would be up to 25 miles away from where some students lived, so there is seemingly little justification for sending them back to school.

There is also the need to invest in building up climate-resilient infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather conditions like flooding. Local communities need both the investments and resources to fulfill this, otherwise there may be little reason to build up a new school again only to see it get washed away again.The need for climate adaptation is something the international community must support, as seen with the Fund for for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD).

Zunaira’s message to world leaders is that they must encourage and include children and youth in climate discussions. They also should not reduce the lived experiences to statistics and should be conscientious of the lives forever changed or lost because of a climate disaster.

“You should think of this… it is not just a statistic. It’s something that life has lost, and thousands of homes and thousands of people, you know, have been displaced and lost their lives. So this is something that the world leaders must know: that they are not only statistics; they are real lives.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

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Excerpt:

Produce trucks arrive at Lo Valledor, Chile’s largest wholesale market, where edible surplus is recovered for vulnerable communities; Latin America and the Caribbean lead hunger reduction, yet inequalities and malnutrition persist. Credit: Max Valencia / FAO

By Máximo Torero
SANTIAGO, Sep 3 2025 (IPS)

In perspective, good news: world hunger is beginning to decline. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025 (SOFI 2025) reported a drop in the proportion of people suffering from hunger, from 8.5% in 2023 to 8.2% in 2024. Latin America and the Caribbean has played a pivotal role in this progress.

In 2024, undernourishment in the region affected 5.1% of the population, down from 6.1% in 2020–2021. Moderate or severe food insecurity fell significantly, from 33.7% in 2020 to 25.2% in 2024, the largest reduction recorded worldwide.

Even after crises such as the pandemic, rising inflation, and extreme climate events, progress is possible through sustained public policies, cooperation, investment, and strengthening the resilience of agrifood systems

Five countries in the region—Chile, Costa Rica, Guyana, Uruguay and now Brazil— no longer appear on the hunger map, thanks to coordinated policies in the areas of economy, health, education, agriculture, and social protection, a viable formula to tackle the structural determinants of hunger.

These figures demonstrate that, even after crises such as the pandemic, rising inflation, and extreme climate events, progress is possible through sustained public policies, cooperation, investment, and strengthening the resilience of agrifood systems.

This positive development should not hide an uncomfortable truth: these advances are not reaching everyone equally. SOFI 2025 points out that while some countries are reducing hunger, others face challenges such as increasing child stunting, overweight, and obesity. In the region, 141 million adults are obese, and 4 million children under the age of five are overweight.

The analysis of specific cases highlights contrasts: Colombia reduced hunger to 3.9% with territorial policies and support for family farming, while the Dominican Republic cut the indicator by more than 17 percentage points in two decades with a multisectoral approach.

However, progress is not always uniform. Panama and Guatemala, although reducing hunger, continue to struggle with the challenge of malnutrition. Ecuador and El Salvador face a similar paradox: while hunger is decreasing, moderate and severe food insecurity is on the rise.

In Venezuela, hunger fell to 5.9%, but the pressure of food inflation persists. Mexico has reduced its figures to 2.7%, although adult overweight reached 36% in 2022, above the regional average. In Argentina, while hunger remains at low levels (3.4%), there has been an increase in child overweight and adult obesity.

Unfortunately, the Caribbean remains the greatest challenge. Some 17.5% of the population is undernourished, and the cost of a healthy diet reaches 5.48 PPP dollars per person per day. Haiti is facing one of the world’s most severe crises: 54.2% of its population suffers from hunger. This is not only an alarming statistic; it is an urgent call to strengthen greater cooperation and investment in the region’s most fragile context.

SOFI 2025 concludes that the countries that have reduced hunger under adverse circumstances in Latin America and the Caribbean share common approaches. These include strong and well-targeted social protection systems capable of cushioning crises; and integrated policies that strengthen local production, inclusive value chains, and market access, support family farming, and promote environmental sustainability.

Added to this are productive diversification, climate resilience measures to withstand extreme events, and open and stable trade to ensure supply and moderate price volatility; as well as coordination among institutions and levels of government to align investments, and data and monitoring systems that anticipate and respond quickly to crises.

These experiences show that a combination of political will, strategic investment, and evidence-based management can reverse hunger—even in an uncertain global environment.

Excerpt:

Credit: Food production in Guatemala - Salmonnegro Stock/shutterstock.com

By Janani Vivekananda
Aug 15 2025 (IPS)

Peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and crime prevention are no longer niche security concerns—they are global imperatives for sustainable climate action. From the migration crisis in Venezuela to the deforestation-driven conflicts in the Amazon, to organised crime in Central America, the ripple effects of instability and environmental degradation are felt far beyond national borders. In 2025, nearly 80% of countries experiencing risks to peace remain off-track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Addressing these challenges isn’t just about safeguarding peace, stability and development. It’s also about ensuring sustainable climate action.

The climate crisis, meanwhile, is no longer a distant threat—it has arrived, and communities facing risks to peace are bearing the brunt. From catastrophic droughts in northeastern Brazil to devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean, states grappling with weak institutions, social tensions, and organised crime are disproportionately vulnerable to climate shocks. Yet, despite their heightened exposure, these regions receive only a fraction of global climate financing.

Aligning climate action with peacebuilding and conflict prevention isn’t just a moral imperative; it’s a smarter, more strategic approach. These regions are where climate risks and human vulnerabilities collide, threatening not just local stability but regional and global security. Without targeted interventions, we risk losing the opportunity to the fight against both climate change and instability.

Climate Change and Peace: A Dangerous Feedback Loop

Climate change and peace are deeply intertwined. Climate shocks affect the roots of peace—for example, straining efforts to advance governance, social equality, and tackle crime. In Colombia, for example, shifting rainfall patterns have disrupted agriculture, fuelling tensions over land use and exacerbating long-standing conflicts. Meanwhile, in Central America’s Dry Corridor, prolonged droughts have displaced farming communities, amplifying poverty and creating fertile ground for organised crime and migration.

The OECD’s multidimensional framework on instability highlights how economic, environmental, political, security, and societal risks intersect in these contexts. Climate impacts compound these risks, creating a dangerous feedback loop. Climate shocks can weaken peace and deepen instability, leaving affected communities least equipped to adapt to or mitigate these shocks. This dynamic not only undermines local peacebuilding efforts but also fuels transnational challenges such as migration, trafficking, and cross-border violence.

A Smarter Approach to Climate Financing

Despite their vulnerability, communities facing instability remain underfunded in global climate action. In 2024, less than 10% of international climate finance reached these contexts. Instead, the majority of funding flows to middle-income countries with stronger institutions and lower risks.

This imbalance is shortsighted. Communities where climate action is most urgently needed—and where it can have the greatest impact are often those facing risks to their human security and stability. For example, investments in climate-resilient agriculture in Guatemala have reduced food insecurity and strengthened community resilience, helping to break cycles of conflict and displacement. Similarly, renewable energy projects in rural Brazil not only reduce emissions but also create jobs, foster stability, and reduce reliance on illicit economies.

Smarter climate financing doesn’t just mean more money—it means better-targeted investments. Funding must be long-term, adaptive, and aligned with local priorities. It must thus address the structural drivers of instability, from weak governance to social exclusion. For example, promoting inclusive decision-making in water management or land-use planning can reduce resource-based conflicts and strengthen trust between communities and governments.

The missing peace at COP30: Bridging Climate and Peacebuilding

As the world gears up for COP30 in Brazil this December, there is a unique opportunity to bring peacebuilding and conflict prevention to the forefront of global climate discussions. Including peacebuilding and peace in the thematic days at COP30 would be important, not only as a space to highlight the intersection of climate action, equitable development, and peace, but also to ensure that climate action does no harm to inadvertently worsen conflict dynamics in contexts affected by conflict. This focus would not only raise awareness but also drive actionable commitments to address the challenges faced by unstable regions.

By framing peace as a central theme, COP30 could catalyse international support for targeted interventions in unstable contexts, ensuring they receive the attention and resources they urgently need.

Four Principles for Climate Action in Regions Affected by Instability

1. Pivot to Prevention: Early action saves lives and money. For example, investments in flood early warning systems in Brazil have reduced the need for costly humanitarian interventions during extreme weather events.
2. Operationalise the Nexus: Climate action must cross all sectors of government, e.g. development, peacebuilding, and environmental crime prevention efforts. This calls for climate security risk analyses to become standard operating practices for all initiatives. For example, integration of climate into the role of law enforcement agencies in promoting climate resilience and responding to environmental threats.
3. Flexible, Localised, Inclusive Responses: In the Andes, for instance, partnerships with indigenous communities have strengthened the role of law enforcement agencies in the fight against environmental crime and climate-related insecurity while fostering trust and collaboration.
4. Regional Cooperation: Instability and climate risks transcend borders. Regional cooperation, innovation and capacity building in the face of climate security challenges for example through initiatives like the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization show how collective action can address shared challenges.

A Call to Action

Peacebuilding is the missing piece in global climate action. Without targeted – and conflict sensitive- interventions in unstable regions, the world risks failing its climate goals—and leaving millions behind. Yet the solutions are within reach.

The international community must act with urgency and foresight. By aligning climate financing with peacebuilding strategies, integrating foreign policy into climate action, and adopting smarter, multidimensional approaches, we can turn instability from a barrier into an opportunity for progress.

Integrating peacebuilding into climate action is not just a moral imperative but a strategic necessity. As the host of COP30, Brazil has a unique opportunity to demonstrate leadership by championing policies that link climate resilience with conflict and crime prevention and peacebuilding. This means prioritising investments in vulnerable regions, fostering regional cooperation, and ensuring that climate financing reaches those most at risk. The cost of inaction is calculable, and it is far greater than the price of bold, coordinated action today. It’s time to stop treating peace as a side issue and start addressing it as the cornerstone of smarter, more effective climate solutions. It’s time to stop fighting fires and build a sustainable climate for peace.

Related articles:

Building Resilience Through Climate Action: Gender, Peace, and Security in Sri Lanka
Left Behind: Why Afghanistan Cannot Tackle Climate Change Alone
Flooding in the Sahara, Amazon Tributaries Drying and Warming Tipping Over 1.5°C – 2024 Broke All the Wrong Records
COP29: Keeping Climate Security Human-Centric

Janani Vivekananda is the Senior Research Fellow on Climate, Peace and Security at the Toda Peace Institute. She is also the Head of Programme for Climate Diplomacy and Security at adelphi, a leading independent think tank on climate, environment, and development, and holds a senior fellowship with the UN University. With extensive experience in climate security risk assessments and gender-responsive approaches, she has worked globally to integrate peacebuilding into climate action. Janani co-led the Gender-Responsive Climate Security Assessment for Sri Lanka and is passionate about fostering inclusive and sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from the original with their permission.

The first harvest of Amazonian fish from one of the ponds contributing to the food security of indigenous families, using solar energy. The initiative is expected to be replicated in a second phase, reaching more indigenous communities in two provinces of the Peruvian Amazon. Credit: Corpi-SL

By Mariela Jara
LIMA, Aug 8 2025 (IPS)

“Our organization is showing that it is indeed possible to move toward energy transition and not depend on oil,” said Elaina Shajian, president of the Regional Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples of San Lorenzo (Corpi-SL), in the Peruvian Amazon.

Shajian is an Awajún leader, one of the 51 indigenous peoples of the Amazon in Peru, a South American country known for its multicultural and multiethnic diversity. With an estimated population of 34 million, nearly 17% speak a native language as their mother tongue."Due to oil spills, our people have nothing to eat because fish in the rivers are dwindling, and those that remain are contaminated. Now we have two ponds with over two thousand fish, which we manage using solar energy," -Elaina Shajian.

Despite stable macroeconomic indicators, poverty affects nearly a third of Peru’s inhabitants, with indigenous populations bearing the brunt. This includes the eight indigenous groups represented by Corpi-SL in the provinces of Datem del Marañón and Alto Amazonas.

These provinces are part of the eight that make up the Amazonian department of Loreto, the country’s largest region, covering 28% of its territory. Of its population of just over one million, 43% live in poverty, according to official data. In the two provinces where Corpi-SL operates, the poverty rates reach 52% and 56%.

Food insecurity in the area is worsened by water source contamination from spills in the Norperuano oil pipeline, which has crossed their territory for 50 years. This reality inspired an initiative to provide food for the population, generate income for the organization, and utilize solar energy.

“The idea of the fish farm arose from a need, in dialogue with the organization Mocicc. Because of the oil spills, our people have nothing to eat—fish in the rivers are disappearing, and those left are polluted. Now we have two ponds with over two thousand fish, managed through solar energy,” Shajian told IPS from San Lorenzo, the capital of Datem del Marañón.

Elaina Shajian, an Awajún indigenous leader and president of the Regional Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples of San Lorenzo in Peru’s Loreto region. Her organization leads a sustainable fish production initiative supported by solar energy. Credit: Corpi-SL

The effects of climate change and extractive industries are harming the well-being of indigenous communities in the area. Finding food is a challenge—fish, a staple of their diet, is increasingly scarce and expensive. It is harder to catch in rivers, and its market price is unaffordable, sometimes exceeding US$12 per kilogram, explained the president of Corpi-SL.

The impact on children’s health and well-being is direct. Official figures report that in 2024, anemia among children aged six to 35 months living in rural areas of the country, such as the two provinces mentioned, reached around 52%, exceeding the national average of 43%.

Beyond being an alternative to improve their nutrition through autonomous decisions tailored to their communities’ needs, the fish farming initiative is local proof that other energy sources beyond fossil fuels—which cause environmental damage and harm human health, as evidenced in the area—can be utilized.

“Corpi-SL is like the father of indigenous peoples, encompassing 579 communities that can now see that energy transition is possible. It’s not just talk—they can see real solutions to ensure our food security today and in the future, without depending on oil for the energy needed to develop and replicate our initiatives,” emphasized Shajian.

Solar panels installed by the technical team of the Regional Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples of San Lorenzo, in Peru’s Amazonian Loreto region, in partnership with the Citizens’ Movement Against Climate Change, to promote sustainable fish farming in their communities. Credit: Corpi-SL

Solar Energy as an Ally 

At the Yachaykuna farm (meaning “school of knowledge” in Kichwa, one of the Amazonian languages), a 51-hectare property owned by Corpi-SL near San Lorenzo, two fish farming ponds operate with solar energy as a key ally.

The initiative is supported by the Citizens’ Movement Against Climate Change (Mocicc), a Peruvian civil society platform with 16 years of experience promoting responses to the climate crisis and community development.

Augusto Durán, coordinator of its energy transition area, told IPS at the institution’s headquarters in Lima that it is crucial to link public policy proposals with on-the-ground work in areas affected by extractive industries like oil.

This is how the proposal with Corpi-SL came together to implement a pilot project that would make use of a space where fish farming had been attempted before but failed, partly because the farm lacked electricity.

“We agreed to install a small solar panel system to provide electricity to the fish farming center in its first phase. And to complete the energy transition experience, this renewable energy would serve as an alternative to oil,” Durán explained.

He explained that with the center energized and the first pond operational, they purchased 3,000 fingerlings of two Amazonian species: paco (Piaractus brachypomus) and gamitana (Colossoma macropomum). With the second pond, the fish were distributed in a larger space and fed balanced feed, allowing them to grow up to 600 grams.

After six months of stocking the fish in their two ponds, members of the eight indigenous peoples that make up a corporation in the Peruvian Amazon shared a lunch on June 14 at a collective farm, featuring the two harvested species: paco and gamitana. Credit: Corpi-SL

Their delicious flavor was enjoyed during the first harvest on June 14, at a communal lunch following the assembly of the expanded council of the 31 federations that form Corpi-SL. Six months had passed since the first fish were stocked.

Durán highlighted the system’s performance: six solar panels with 900 kilowatts were installed on a four-legged structure, while the farm’s security hut housed the batteries that store solar energy during the day and redistribute it at night.

“The system is automatic—as soon as the sun rises, it generates electricity, which is gradually stored in three large batteries that can power appliances, a freezer, TV, radio, lighting for the area, and maintain the two oxygenation units and other pond equipment,” he added.

He also explained that the lithium batteries have a lifespan of 10 years, extendable to 20 with proper care, while the panels can last over a decade.

“The kit of panels, batteries, converter, and cables cost around 6,000 soles (about US$1,675). It’s a significant investment because it provides low-cost energy to develop productive initiatives and replicate them,” Durán noted.

The farm previously had no electricity, and if they had to pay for the service, the cost would average US$28 per month—meaning they would recoup their investment in six years.

Augusto Durán, energy transition coordinator of the Citizens’ Movement Against Climate Change, believes it is a priority to advance toward an energy transition that considers the unique conditions of Peru’s territories, particularly its Amazonian indigenous communities. Credit: Mariela Jara / IPS

Round-the-clock Energy 

To make the initiative sustainable, Corpi-SL developed a plan that includes selling paco and gamitana in local restaurants and markets. The income will be used to purchase another 3,000 fingerlings to replenish and expand the harvest while strengthening the organization.

“A second phase of the project includes a fingerling breeding center that will also operate on solar panels,” Durán revealed.

The proposal also involves training the federations under the Coordinator so they can eventually establish their own fish farming centers, multiplying the initiative’s impact.

Alan Ruiz, a Corpi-SL technician, oversees fish production, pond preparation, stocking, monitoring, and harvesting, as well as training communities for technology transfer.

From San Lorenzo, he explained to IPS that the key is having 24-hour photovoltaic energy through the solar panels.

Regarding the organization’s plans, he stated that the goal is to establish an Amazonian fish reproduction center—not just for fattening—which will require upgrading the panels and batteries to meet new demands.

“Solar energy is an ally in aquaculture. The indigenous movement manages Amazonian fish, and it helps us improve processes at different stages of cultivation and production,” he emphasized.

One of the water sources where fingerlings of two Amazonian fish species were stocked for fattening and later harvest, in an initiative led by an indigenous peoples’ coordinator with solar energy support, in Datem del Marañón province, Loreto region, Peru. Credit: Corpi-SL

A Fair and Popular Energy Transition 

Moving away from fossil fuels and embracing renewable energy is part of Mocicc’s agenda, aligned with two priorities: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and halting ecosystem loss in the Amazon, which is harming residents’ quality of life.

Micaela Guillén, the institution’s national coordinator, explained this in an interview with IPS.

“A fair energy transition, driven by the people, is urgent. That’s why we call it a fair and popular energy transition. It’s a process to ensure communities have energy while also addressing remediation, reparation, and improving living conditions in impacted areas,” she said.

She explained that this is how the idea emerged, developed together with Corpi-SL, that the political demand for energy transition cannot be separated from economic issues.

“We’re talking about communities that have historically depended on oil extraction due to the economies built around it, and the state’s position that the only way to continue supporting them is by maintaining the current extractive model,” she stated.

Guillén emphasized that, like the fish farming center, other alternative economic initiatives exist in the Amazon to counter the precarious conditions faced by communities due to extractivism.

Given this reality, “it is shocking that the state denies the potential of these local economies and the revitalization of alternatives—even for something as basic as food security,” she said.

She criticized the government’s lack of political will, reiterated in the latest presidential address by Peru’s widely unpopular leader, Dina Boluarte.

“She spoke of further expanding extractive activities, even linking them to the Global North’s energy transition—where they’re changing their energy mix but not their consumption patterns,” Guillén noted.

She condemned how “they’re pursuing renewables, but to meet the energy demands of big corporations and cities, they need massive quantities of solar panels and wind turbines.”

The withdrawal or scaling down of funding by agencies like USAID, FCDO, the Dutch MFA, and Germany’s BMZ raises critical questions about the future of development finance and the feasibility of locally-led development. Credit: WFP/Desire Joseph Ouedraogo

By Tafadzwa Munyaka
HARARE, Jul 24 2025 (IPS)

In recent years, major international donors such as the European Union (EU), the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), USAID, and other bilaterals (such as BMZ, Sida, the Netherlands among others) have significantly reduced development funding to global majority countries.

These shifts are occurring in the midst of rhetorical commitments to localization and ‘shifting the power’ to local civil society organizations. This article looks at the paradox of decreasing official development assistance (ODA) alongside the growing emphasis on localization.

It explores the rise of remittances as an alternative flow of capital, asking whether this signals a structural transformation in global development finance or reinforces already existing inequalities.

The Grand Bargain committed donors and aid organizations to channel 25% of funding to local actors by 2020, a target that remains unmet five years past the initial deadline. In practice, only 1.2% of total humanitarian funding went directly to local organizations in 2022

Drawing on academic literature, donor trend analyses, and policy discourse, this article argues that while localization remains a compelling imperative, the reduction in traditional aid risks hollowing out the resourcing base necessary to realise it meaningfully.

The international development sector is witnessing a contradictory moment. On one hand, the calls for localization – the transfer of resources, decision-making power, and leadership to local actors – have grown louder, particularly after the Grand Bargain of 2016 and more recently through decolonizing aid discourses.

On the other hand, bilateral and multilateral donors that once underwrote the bulk of development financing are retrenching, citing domestic fiscal constraints, geopolitical realignments, and prioritization of emergency spending.

The withdrawal or scaling down of funding by agencies like USAID (in certain regions), FCDO, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Germany’s BMZ raises critical questions about the future of development finance and the feasibility of locally-led development.

Here, I look at these shifts through a power-sensitive lens, exploring whether the decrease in ODA and the increase in remittances and private flows mark a reordering of global development relations.

1. The decline in traditional donor funding

Traditional donors, particularly from the OECD (DAC), have been reducing long-term development assistance. FCDO has slashed aid to many African countries since 2020, citing Brexit-related restructuring and domestic budget pressures.

The Netherlands announced in 2023 it would refocus its development cooperation on fewer thematic and geographic areas, withdrawing from several African partnerships. USAID has signalled a shift toward more geopolitical objectives under the Indo-Pacific strategy, with programs in Sub-Saharan Africa quietly closing or transitioning to local ownership with fewer resources.

Data from the OECD (2024) indicates that while ODA rose nominally in 2023 (USD 223.7 billion), the increase was largely due to in-donor refugee costs and Ukraine-related support – not sustainable investments in development programming. Long-term, country-programmed ODA has either stagnated or declined in many contexts.

2. Localization: rhetoric vs. resourcing

The localization agenda broadly defined as empowering local actors to lead humanitarian and development efforts remains a policy priority in theory. The Grand Bargain committed donors and aid organizations to channel 25% of funding to local actors by 2020, a target that remains unmet five years past the initial deadline. In practice, only 1.2% of total humanitarian funding went directly to local organizations in 2022.

This discrepancy between rhetoric and resourcing reveals the structural inertia of the international aid system. Large INGOs and UN agencies continue to dominate funding channels due to perceived capacities, fiduciary standards, and donor risk aversion. The result is what Featherstone (2021) calls “localization without power” – where local actors are asked to lead without the corresponding control over financial or strategic resources.

Yet the rhetoric of localization often conceals the lack of structural commitment to resource redistribution. Donors have increasingly placed the burden of localization on intermediaries or local partners without adjusting funding mechanisms to support this transition.

Many local organizations remain trapped in subcontracting arrangements, where they are implementers of externally designed projects, with little influence over priorities, timelines, or metrics of success. This reflects what some scholars have termed the “isomorphic mimicry” of localization – adopting the language of power shift without ceding actual power.

In the absence of core, flexible and multi-year financing, localization becomes performative. Donors must move beyond tokenistic inclusion of local actors in funding chains and instead dismantle the bureaucratic and compliance-heavy models that prevent equitable access to funding. Without financial restructuring, localization risks becoming a vehicle for austerity – a means of exiting aid rather than transforming it.

3. Remittances: a parallel flow?

Remittances to low- and middle-income countries reached an estimated USD669 billion in 2023, up from USD 647 billion in 2022. In countries like Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Nepal, remittances exceed the value of total ODA, becoming critical for household consumption, healthcare, and education. While remittances are typically private, unprogrammed funds, their increasing scale raises questions about their developmental potential.

Some scholars (Kapur, 2005; Clemens & McKenzie, 2018) argue that remittances offer a more direct, accountable, and less bureaucratic form of development finance. Others warn that remittances reinforce neoliberal withdrawal of the state, transferring responsibility for public services to the diaspora.

Unlike ODA, remittances do not fund systemic change, advocacy, or civic engagement – areas where donor aid is often essential. Thus, the rise of remittances, while cushioning households, does not replace the strategic role of public development financing in promoting rights-based, transformative change.

4. Implications for local organizations and civic space

The contraction of traditional donor funding, especially in civic space, women’s rights, and environmental justice programming, for example, is creating funding vacuums for local organizations.

Simultaneously, the ante is being upped on questions relating to the value-add of intermediary organizations, most of them INGOs on the efficacy of their role when funding can be directed to local NGOs bypassing them. This creates a burden and pressure on local CSOs who must professionalize rapidly while absorbing risk without the necessary core or multi-year funding.

However, it goes without saying that without predictable funding flows, local partners are unable to invest in staff development, financial systems, or advocacy infrastructure. This creates a paradox – localization is promoted without reconfiguring the upstream political economy of aid.

5. Conclusion: toward a just transition in aid

The current moment demands a rethinking of both funding modalities and power structures. Localization, if it is to be transformative, requires more than shifting delivery – it must entail shifting money, mandate, and decision-making authority. The decline in traditional aid funding risks undercutting this agenda unless alternative financing such as pooled funds, solidarity philanthropy, and diaspora engagement among others are explicitly aligned with local ownership.

Development actors must resist the tendency to frame localization as a cost-saving exit strategy. Instead, a just transition in aid must foreground equity, reparative justice, and co-governance between donors and recipients.

Tafadzwa Munyaka is a nonprofit/social change professional with crosscutting expertise in fundraising, business development, grants and compliance management, program management, and child rights advocacy. He is committed to contributing to the African narrative on philanthropy and giving, driving impactful change across the continent. 

Sixth-grade students perform harvesting work in the Pedagogical school garden of the Mixed Rural Official School, located in El Horizonte, a small village in the municipality of Tejutla, San Marcos department, in southwestern Guatemala. Credit: Pep Bonet / FAO

By Máximo Torero
SANTIAGO, Jul 17 2025 (IPS)

In a region where hunger has cast a persistent shadow for generations, from the debt crises of the 1980s through the volatility of the 1990s to the recent shock of COVID-19, an unexpected and powerful development is now emerging: Latin America and the Caribbean is making significant progress in the global fight against hunger.

After years of fragile and uneven progress, the region is now showing, for the first time in over a decade, a clear and sustained trend: undernourishment has declined from 7% in 2021 to 6.2% in 2023, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 report by FAO and its partner agencies.

This outcome is no accident. It is the result of bold decisions, innovative public policies, and strong regional cooperation. The region is showing that with political will, social investment, and a forward-looking vision, hunger is not inevitable. It is a choice

This means that 4.3 million people are no longer suffering from hunger, and more than 37 million have overcome moderate or severe food insecurity. For the first time, Latin America and the Caribbean are below the global average on this key indicator.

This outcome is no accident. It is the result of bold decisions, innovative public policies, and strong regional cooperation. The region is showing that with political will, social investment, and a forward-looking vision, hunger is not inevitable. It is a choice.

During the pandemic, Latin American countries put their capacities to the test: over 460 social protection measures were activated to cushion the impact of economic collapse. Around 60% of the regional population received some form of assistance, from cash transfers to direct food distribution.

And when inflation severely impacted basic food prices, many governments reactivated these safety nets. Latin America did not merely endure—it learned, adapted, and protected.

One emblematic example of this transformation is the School Feeding Programs. More than 80 million children receive meals at school thanks to a policy that integrates nutrition, education, and rural development.

Through the Sustainable School Feeding Network (RAES), promoted by FAO and Brazil, more than 23,000 schools have been transformed into spaces of food security. Over 9,000 family farmers have been integrated into public procurement systems, strengthening local economies. This is not just social policy—it’s smart economic policy.

Initiatives like Hand-in-Hand also reflect a new way of thinking about development: identifying territories with agricultural potential that are trapped in poverty and building public-private investments to unlock that potential. It’s a commitment to ensure that no one, and no territory, is left behind.

Of course, challenges remain. The Caribbean continues to show high levels of undernourishment. Women and rural populations still face persistent inequalities. But this time, the region is not merely reacting—it is anticipating, planning, and executing. It is taking the lead.

And it is not alone. The G20 Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, led by Brazil with technical support from FAO, offers a platform to bring these regional solutions to the world. Latin America is no longer just a recipient of aid—it is a source of global solutions.

In a world with enough resources to feed everyone, hunger is a tragedy that has been created. Latin America and the Caribbean are proving that it can be dismantled.

Today, the most unequal region in the world is delivering one of the most powerful lessons: with determination, innovation, and cooperation, Zero Hunger by 2030 is not a utopia. It is an achievable commitment. It is a future that has already begun.

Excerpt:

In 2024, the World Food Programme delivered emergency assistance to at least 90 million people globally. Credit: Unsplash/Imdadul Hussain

By Maximilian Malawista
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 1 2025 (IPS)

Serious-to-severe food insecurity has been widely felt among those living through the worst, protracted humanitarian crises. For organizations like the World Food Programme (WFP), they must work under the “relentless demand” for humanitarian aid, including food.

In their 2024 annual review, Staying and delivering amid multiple crises, the WFP noted that there was “no slowdown in the relentless demand for humanitarian support as new and protracted conflicts, more frequent disasters, economic volatility and persistent inflation fueled surging rates of hunger”.

Despite these challenges, the WFP made significant strides in their efforts to deliver aid in 2024. They supported 124.4 million people, including 90 million people receiving emergency assistance. Through their nutrition treatment and prevention programs, they reached 27.6 million people. Over the course of the year, WFP delivered 16.1 billion daily rations, and overall distributed 2.5 million metric tons of food.

The WFP received USD 9.8 billion in funding, the second-highest level of funding on recorded, yet that only covered 54 percent of their requirement for its total needs. With operational costs in 2024 amounting to 18.2 billion, the WFP was forced to make critical and difficult cost-cutting calculations for their decisions. These included “severe trade-offs”, which came in the form of ration reductions and scaling back programs in key areas of operations.

Executive Director for WFP Cindy McCain said: “Like every other humanitarian organization, WFP is facing deep budget shortfalls which have forced drastic cuts to our food assistance programs. Millions of hungry people have lost, or will soon lose, the critical lifeline we provide. We have tried and tested solutions to hunger and food insecurity. But we need the support of our donors and partners to implement them.”

A focus on nutrition

Aligned with UNICEF’s plan for acceleration of nutrition action, WFP maintained a “laser focus” on young children and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, groups with the highest nutritional needs. Through 2024, they provided malnutrition treatment and prevention to 21.4 million women and children in twenty crisis-affected countries.

To reach and distribute aid to these populations, WFP heavily relied on school meals and social protection programs as a channel to reach its most vulnerable targets. In these efforts, the WFP provided twenty million children with school meals, take-home rations and cash-based transfers across sixty-one countries.

In addition, through their partnership with the School Meals Coalition, with the WFP as secretariat, together they were able to mobilize domestic investments from governments, unlock partnerships, and amplify global advocacy for school meals.

During the 2024 G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fourteen governments and eleven partners vowed to double the number of children reached in low to lower-middle income countries, aiming to support 150 million more children by 2030.

As a result of these campaigns, the WFP indirectly reached 119 million children, a twelve million increase from 2023, by supporting governments in establishing national school meal programs.

The aid of technology

Innovation was paramount between 2022 and 2024, with more than 4.8 million families being uploaded to the WFP’s Building Blocks (BB). BB is the world’s largest humanitarian blockchain technology, connecting various humanitarian organizations providing assistance, allowing a family access to cash, food, education, and health from one account, thus creating a simplified and convenient way to receive aid. BB supports four million people each month, and to date has processed USD 555 million in cash-based transfer and saved 3.5 million in bank fees.

Thirty organizations are now using BB in Ukraine, which can flag potential unintended assistance overlap, saving USD 337 million. Another tool like SCOUT, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) for global food sourcing and delivery planning, has saved an additional USD 3 million, with estimates to generate over USD 50 million in savings over the coming years.

Despite “diminishing resources,” the WFP achieved major logistical milestones. Through their strategy, they managed on-demand supply chain services to 145 clients, managing 456,583 metric tons of cargo, aiding in support of governments and fellow humanitarian organizations, as its lead. To improve efficiency the WFP made a switch from air to land delivery in locations such as Chad and Gaza, which increased access, coverage, and cut costs, allowing more aid to be delivered.

Strengthening its grassroot network, The WFP partnered with 927 NGOs, 85 percent which were national organizations, allocating 707$ million to them. In total 62 percent of WFP aid was delivered via these partners. Additional funding of $947 million came through agreements with international finance institutions and country agreements.

Looking towards the future

Amid intense conflicts and access restrictions, WFP has reached 2.1 million people in Palestine, reaching 1.9 million people in Gaza alone. Credit: Unsplash/Emad El Byed

The outlook for 2025 is ever difficult, creating struggles for supply chains, and target areas facing deteriorating conditions. Seventy percent of people classified as “acutely food insecure” live in fragile or conflict-affected situations, placing both recipients and aid workers at major risks.

Conflict has displaced over 123 million people, with forty-three million fleeing in search of necessities, like shelter and food. To continue meeting these urgent needs, delivering the most aid possible, the WFP requires an additional USD 5.7 billion to reach “the most vulnerable people with emergency food, nutrition, and resilience support”. With current funding estimates the WFP plans to reach ninety-eight million people in 2025, underscoring millions who are in dire need of humanitarian aid.

Rania Dagash-Kamara, WFP Assistant Executive Director for Partnerships and Innovation warns: “WFP is prioritizing the worst-affected regions and stretching food rations to maximize impact. But make no mistake, we are approaching a funding cliff with life-threatening consequences.”

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OHRLLS Office Banner. Credit: OHRLLS

By Rabab Fatima
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 1 2025 (IPS)

Five years from the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we face a development emergency. The promise to eradicate poverty, combat climate change, and build a sustainable future for all is slipping away. The SDG financing gap has ballooned to over $4 trillion annually—a crisis compounded by declining aid, rising trade barriers, and a fragile global economy.

At the heart of this crisis is a systemic failure: the world’s most vulnerable nations—Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), and Small Island Developing States (SIDS)—are being left behind. The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) in Seville is a historic chance to correct course.

We must seize it.

LDCs: Progress Stalled, Financing Denied

Three years into the Doha Programme of Action, LDCs are lagging precariously. Growth averages just 4.1%, far below the 7% target. FDI remains stagnant at a meager 2.5% of global flows, while ODA to LDCs fell by 3% in 2024. Worse, 29 LDCs now spend more on debt than health, and eight spend more on debt than education.

USG Rabab Fatima

LLDCs: Trapped by Geography, Strangled by Finances

Six months after adopting the ambitious Awaza Programme of Action, LLDCs remain hamstrung by structural barriers. Despite hosting 7% of the world’s people, they account for just 1.2% of global trade, with export costs 74% higher than coastal nations. FDI has plummeted from $36 billion in 2011 to $23 billion in 2024, while ODA continues its downward spiral. Official Development Assistance (ODA) has also declined significantly from $38.1 billion in 2020 to $32 billion in 2023, with projections indicating continued downward trends.

The Awaza Programme outlines solutions—trade facilitation, infrastructure, and resilience—but these will remain empty promises without financing. FFD4 must align with its priorities, ensuring LLDCs get the investment they need to transform their economies.

I seize the opportunity to warmly invite all of you to continue these critical discussions at the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC3), to be held in Awaza, Turkmenistan, from 5 to 8 August 2025 under the theme “Driving Progress through Partnerships”.

SIDS: Debt, Disasters, and a Broken System

For SIDS, the crisis is existential. Over 40% are in or near debt distress; 70% exceed sustainable debt thresholds. Between 2016 and 2020, they paid 18 times more in debt servicing than they received in climate finance. This is unconscionable. Countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis should not be left on the margins of global finance. Nations drowning in rising sea level – which they did not contribute to – should not be drowning in debt.

We can continue patching over cracks in a broken system. Or we can build a more equitable foundation for sustainable development, and for that addressing debt sustainability is not only an economic necessity, but also a development imperative. No country should be forced to choose between servicing debt and protecting its future.

The Way Forward: Solidarity in Action

FFD4 must deliver:

1. Debt relief and restructuring for LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS to free up resources for development.
2. Scaling up concessional finance and honoring ODA commitments.
3. Mobilizing private capital through de-risking instruments and blended finance.
4. Climate finance justice, ensuring SIDS and LDCs receive grants and concessional finance, not loans, to build resilience.

The moral case is clear, but so is the strategic one: A world where billions are left in poverty and instability, should be a world of shared risks and responsibilities. FFD4 must be the moment we choose a different path—one of equity, urgency, and action. The time for excuses is over. The agreement on the Compromiso de Sevilla is the start – the real test will be its implementation.

As we move forward on those important responsibilities s and necessary actions, my Office, UN-OHRLLS, is with you every step of the way.

Rabab Fatima, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States

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Wars, economic shocks, planetary heating and aid cuts have worsened food crises in recent years, with almost 300 million people now threatened by starvation.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Clearly, inadequate food due to population growth cannot explain persistent hunger. Yet, the number of hungry people has been rising for more than a decade. So, why are so many hungry if there is more than enough food for all?

The multi-stakeholder 2025 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) notes 2024 was the sixth consecutive year of high and growing acute food insecurity, with 295.3 million people starving!

In 2023, 733 million people experienced chronic hunger. Over a fifth (22.6%) of the 53 countries/territories assessed in this year’s GRFC were especially vulnerable.

Food output in 2024 continued to rise. In 2022, the world produced 11 billion metric tonnes of food, including 9.6 billion tonnes of cereal crops, such as maize, rice and wheat.

Most hungry people are poor. The poverty line is supposed to reflect the poor’s ability to afford basic needs, mainly food. But the discrepancy between poverty and hunger trends implies inconsistent data and definitions.

Nadia Malyanah Azman

Over 700 million worldwide survive on less than $2.15 daily without enough food. Presumably, the 3.4 billion with less than $5.50 daily can barely afford enough nutrition.

New World Bank data estimates 838 million, 10.5% of the world’s population, were in extreme poverty in 2022, 125 million more than previously estimated. It expects one in ten (9.9%) to be in extreme poverty in 2025, with about 750 million hungry.

The extreme poverty line is now $3/day instead of $2.15/day. The poor comprised almost half (48%) the world’s population in 2022. With bleak medium-term growth prospects and inequality still growing, their prospects look especially dismal.

While dietary or caloric energy is essential for human activity, adequate dietary diversity is crucial for human nutrition. Hence, the poor typically cannot afford to eat enough, let alone healthily.

Women and girls are generally more likely to go hungry than men, with hunger rates in women-headed households usually higher. UN-recognized ‘indigenous peoples’ are under 5% of the world’s population but account for 15% of the extreme poor, suffering more hunger than others.

Why food crises?
The multi-stakeholder 2025 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) notes 2024 was the sixth consecutive year of high and growing acute food insecurity, with 295.3 million people starving!

Worsening conflicts, economic crises, deep funding cuts and less humanitarian assistance all threaten food security. As planetary heating worsens, those experiencing acute food insecurity will likely increase again this year.

Food insecurity has worsened in 19 countries/territories, mainly due to internal conflicts, as in Myanmar, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Even before the aid cuts, half the countries/territories featured in GRFC 2025 faced food crises. Despite La Niña rains, droughts in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan are expected to worsen.

USAID and other recent aid cuts have defunded food programmes for over 14 million children in Sudan, Yemen and Haiti alone. G7 countries are expected to cut aid by 28% in 2026 from 2024. Meanwhile, the GRFC 2025 reported humanitarian food assistance “declined by 30 percent in 2023, and again in 2024”!

In 2024, 65.9 million in Asia were food insecure, the worst in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Food crises threatened 33.5 million, or 44% of those in the eight MENA territories assessed in GRFC 2025.

Starvation as weapon
The number of starving people more than doubled in 2024! Over 95% of this increase was in the Gaza Strip or Sudan. Wars destroy and disrupt food production and distribution. A famine was declared in Sudan in December 2024, with more than 24 million starving due to the civil war.

Sudan has the largest land area for farming in Africa. Two-thirds of Sudan’s population relies on agriculture, but the ongoing conflict has caused the destruction and abandonment of much farmland and infrastructure.

Despite the Sudanese military’s devastating factional war, the country remains the world’s largest exporter of oily seeds (groundnuts, safflower, sesame, soybean, and sunflower), reflecting its agronomic potential.

Many more are starving in Haiti, Mali, and South Sudan. The UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) deems such starvation, death, destitution and severe acute malnutrition “catastrophic”.

Food deprivation has become the primary Israeli weapon against the people of Gaza. Gaza’s 2.1 million Palestinians have been at “critical risk” of famine due to the Israeli blockade on food and humanitarian aid since October 2023!

Despite official Israeli denial of mass starvation, growing international outrage, including from some of its staunchest allies, has forced the Netanyahu government to gloss over its actions. In May, it set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to “calibrate” calorie rations to continue starvation but not to death.

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By Isabel Ortiz, Odile Frank and Gabriele Koehler
GENEVA / NEW YORK, May 29 2025 (IPS)

Rumors circulating at UN Headquarters suggest there is little appetite for ambition at the Second World Summit for Social Development, set to take place in Doha on 4-6 November 2025. Diplomats and insiders whisper of “summit fatigue” after a packed calendar of global gatherings—the 2023 SDG Summit, the 2024 Summit of the Future, and the upcoming June 2025 Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development. Compounding this fatigue is the chilling rise of anti-rights rhetoric and political resistance from some governments, casting a shadow over multilateral efforts. For some, just getting any multilateral agreement is good enough. As a result, the Zero Draft of the Social Summit Political Declaration lacks the ambition required to confront the multiple social crises our world faces.

Isabel Ortiz

The Summit is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for governments and the UN to remedy the grievous social malaise and lead a global recommitment to social justice and equity. For this, the Social Summit Declaration must offer more than aspirational language; it must define binding action with explicit commitments to build societies that work for everyone and bring prosperity for all, in areas such as:

• Reducing income and wealth inequalities, which deeply erode social cohesion, democratic governance, and sustainable development;



Odile Frank

• Making gender justice a pillar of the Declaration: a Social Summit that fails to prioritize gender equality will fail half of the world population and fail in its mission to deliver on human rights, dignity, and sustainable development;
• Delivering universal, quality public services by committing to publicly funded and delivered systems, with a clear focus on protecting public sector workers and eliminating barriers to quality services, in the context of robust public investment, grounded in fairer financing, reversing austerity cuts and aid cuts;
• Ringfencing social development from budget cuts, privatization and blended finance, reversing the harmful impacts of austerity cuts, privatization/PPPs and commodification of public services, particularly their negative impact on affordability, accessibility, quality and equity of public services;
• Addressing rising income precarity by investing in decent work with labor rights/standards and universal social protection systems and floors;
• Regulating and taxing technology equitably. While AI is generating unprecedented private wealth, it is estimated that 40% of jobs could be lost to AI by 2030, with administrative roles (predominantly held by women) facing nearly triple the risk of displacement; governments need to redress the negative social impacts of IA such as job displacement and wealth concentration, providing adequate social protection measures for those affected by job losses and taxation of AI-driven profits to redistribute benefits back to societies;



Gabriele Koehler

• Promoting a care economy supportive of women that prioritizes well-being over GDP growth;
• Moving beyond GDP growth, recognizing the limitations of growth-centric paradigms and committing to policies that promote ecological sustainability and equitable development;
• Systematically assessing the social impacts and distributional effects of economic policies, including disaggregated data by, at least, gender and income group; if analysis reveals that the majority of people are not the primary beneficiaries or that social outcomes and human rights are undermined, policies must be revised to ensure equitable development;
• Ensuring fair and sustainable resource mobilization, committing to progressive taxation, eliminating/reducing illegitimate debt, fighting illicit financial flows, collecting adequate social security contributions from corporations, and other feasible financing options;
• Pushing back against anti-rights and anti-gender movements, reaffirming global commitments to human rights and democracy.

Us make this summit the moment we choose dignity and social justice over apathy and mediocrity. We know we must strive for more ambitious commitments. The 2025 World Social Summit must not be a missed opportunity.

Isabel Ortiz, Director, Global Social Justice, was Director at the International Labor Organization (ILO) and UNICEF, and a senior official at the UN and the Asian Development Bank.

Gabriele Koehler, Board Member of Global Social Justice and of Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF), was a senior official at UN-ESCAP, UNCTAD, UNDP and UNICEF.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) for this year’s World No Tobacco Day (May 31) has chosen the theme, “Unmasking the Appeal”, to reveal the tactics employed by the tobacco and nicotine industries to make their harmful products enticing, particularly to young people.

Global Youth Voices at the 10th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). Credit: Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control

The same tactics used decades ago to manipulate young people into smoking are now being rehashed to push these new products—often marketed under the guise of innovation or “safer” alternatives—to countries around the world. While the packaging and products may look new, the playbook remains the same: addict youth, expand markets, and shift the blame. And now, they’re calling it “harm reduction.”

The Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC) estimates the tobacco industry costs the global economy a net loss of USD 1.4 trillion annually and kills more than 8 million people. Over 37 million teenagers aged 13-15 years use some form of tobacco.

The tobacco industry’s promotion of novel and emerging tobacco products as “harm reduction” has been firmly challenged by the Global Youth Voices (GYV), a global coalition of over 40 youth organizations advocating for a ban on these new recreational products. The youths also want the industry to be held financially accountable for harms caused to both current and future generations.

The GYV, in their 2024 Declaration, refused to accept compromised solutions that prioritize corporate profit over youth health. They have rejected the tobacco industry’s new so called “smoke-free products” and instead called for a ban on any new recreational and youth-appealing addictive products.

“The industry’s ‘harm reduction’ narrative is a smokescreen. These so-called alternatives are gateways to addiction, not exits. We must act before another generation is lost to nicotine dependence.”

Against this backdrop, Swedish member of GYV, A Non Smoking Generation, are warning global public health community not to follow the Swedish experience of embracing oral nicotine pouches, snus, as a safer alternative to cigarettes.

Snus and new nicotine products in Sweden have been touted by the tobacco industry as safer alternative to smoking. In reality, it is fueling a surge in nicotine addiction among Swedish youth. Tobacco and nicotine use among young people is higher than ever, alongside their exposure to aggressive marketing of and easy access to nicotine products.

A Nicotine Pouch. Credit: A Non Smoking Generation

According to Sweden´s public health agency, 11 percent of the population still smokes, while the use of e-cigarettes, snus and nicotine pouches is increasing dramatically – particularly among youth.

A staggering 65 percent of high school students have tried at least one nicotine product, and smoking prevalence in this age group has increased from 17 to 21 percent in just three years. Swedish tobacco regulations have failed to protect children and youth from harmful nicotine addiction.

When nicotine pouches and vapes entered the market, Sweden’s critical misstep was allowing them to bypass their tobacco legislation. As a logical step, these products should have been regulated as tobacco, since all commercial nicotine products, despite being labeled “tobacco-free,” still contain tobacco-derived nicotine.

This regulatory gap allowed the tobacco companies to circumvent current regulations, and lure youth through misleading social media promotions, including candy flavored, youth-appealing products.

Seven in ten Swedish youth state the fact that new nicotine products “seem less harmful” than traditional tobacco can be a reason to try these out.

Nicotine is a poison and is addictive. Extensive use of nicotine involves a large number of scientifically proven and serious health risks such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and birth defects. It can also quickly impair cognitive functions and increase the risk of mental illness.

The false narrative from Sweden — portrayal of vapes and pouches as harm reducing alternatives to cigarettes—is unfortunately spreading globally. The public awareness of all severe health risks associated with nicotine is alarmingly low, and risks having devastating consequences for public health.

The Swedish government recently lowered the excise tax on snus, thereby increasing the risk of more young people initiating a harmful nicotine addiction. Nicotine pouches evade the excise tax on tobacco completely and can presently be sold at a price cheaper than ice cream.

This completely ignores WHO’s recommendation that taxation as the most effective way to reduce youth access to tobacco and a cost-effective tool to prevent subsequent substance abuse.

Since the problem is created by an industry, the youth urge the Swedish government—and others watching Sweden’s model—to hold the tobacco industry financially liable for the harm it causes. This includes implementing taxes, levies, compensation mechanisms, sanctions, and other legislative tools to mitigate the damage.

Countries that have legalized new tobacco and nicotine products are now grappling with a significant rise in youth vaping. But there is hope—over 40 countries have banned these products, including, most recently, Vietnam and Papua New Guinea, which have banned e-cigarettes.

Contrary to the tobacco industry´s claims about snus, vapes and pouches as products for smoking cessation, independent research show that these products more often work as a gateway to smoking and higher intake of alcohol and drugs.

To reduce and prevent all forms of nicotine addiction, including smoking, the scientific evidence supports strong, coherent national regulations of tobacco and nicotine products. Not because each product carries identical risks, but because every child and young person is entitled to the highest standard of health and a sustainable future.

A Non-Smoking Generation, together with GYV youths call on government officials and policymakers to not repeat the Swedish misstep but to unmask and reject the tobacco industry’s tactics and false narratives.

Helen Stjerna is Secretary-General, A Non Smoking Generation, Sweden; Rajika Mahajan is Communication Officer, Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control & Convenor of the Global Youth Voices, Bangkok

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African giving practices are an integral part of the continent’s rich cultural tapestry. They reflect a profound understanding of the importance of community, shared responsibility, and mutual aid. Credit: Shutterstock

By Tafadzwa Munyaka
HARARE, Apr 25 2025 (IPS)

Across Africa, giving is not just an act of charity; it’s a deep-rooted tradition embedded in culture, community, and mutual care. The concept of giving has evolved through generations, often taking on forms that are as diverse as the continent itself.

African giving practices emphasize collective well-being over individual gain, creating a web of support that binds communities together in times of need. One dimension has remained constant in African giving practices and that is the fact that the giving does not come from excess but rather, on the prevailing need.

The Spirit of Ubuntu: community before self

At the heart of many African cultures lies the philosophy of Ubuntu, a term that translates roughly to “I am because we are.” It emphasizes interconnectedness and mutual respect, where the welfare of one is seen as the welfare of all.

Ubuntu is often practiced through giving, both in material and emotional forms. Whether it’s offering food to a neighbour, providing shelter for the homeless, or sharing wisdom with younger generations, Ubuntu encourages individuals to look beyond themselves and work for the common good.

In many African societies, this sense of communal responsibility extends beyond close family ties. Giving to the broader community — the village, the extended family, or even strangers — is seen as a deeply moral duty.

African giving practices emphasize collective well-being over individual gain, creating a web of support that binds communities together in times of need. One dimension has remained constant in African giving practices and that is the fact that the giving does not come from excess but rather, on the prevailing need

The underlying belief is simple yet profound anchored on the idea that when one person prospers, they have a responsibility to share their success with others. This strengthens the social fabric and ensures that no one is left behind, even in times of hardship.

For example, I remember vividly from my childhood how, during times of bereavement, the entire neighbourhood would mobilize around the grieving family. Relatives of the deceased would go from household to household, collecting whatever anyone could offer — be it a few coins, a bag of mealie-meal, cooking oil, or even just a bunch of vegetables.

These small yet meaningful contributions would be pooled together to feed mourners, assist with funeral arrangements, or purchase essentials for the burial.

The act of giving, no matter how modest, was never questioned — it was expected, because in that moment, the burden of loss was shared by all. Another common example is that of supporting children’s education whereby the extended family chips in to ensure the child does not drop out of school – some even sell their prized livestock to cover that gap.

Informal and formal forms of giving

1. Social networks and informal giving

In many African countries, informal giving practices play a significant role. This often occurs through social networks that span family, friends, and neighbours. These networks create a system of reciprocity, where individuals help each other with the understanding that the favour will be returned when needed.

These exchanges can range from lending money to providing emotional support during difficult times. This is in direct contrast to the ever-expanding compliance regime imposed by donors.

One widely practiced form of informal giving is the susu (in West Africa) or stokvel (in Southern Africa), which is a form of communal savings. A group of people agree to contribute a set amount of money regularly, and each member takes turns receiving the lump sum of contributions.

It is common cause that the informal financial institutions have long served as essential vehicles for collective economic empowerment, particularly in contexts where access to formal banking and credit systems is limited or exclusionary.

These informal savings schemes are not only practical for financing projects but also serve as a tool to strengthen bonds of trust and solidarity within communities.

There is no attendant expectation of demonstrating results, impact or accounting for how the money received was utilised. This relieves pressure and gives greater autonomy to the individuals to attend to their most pressing needs in ways they deem fit.

This autonomy is particularly empowering in African contexts where formal giving models — often shaped by donor-driven paradigms — can be rigid and administratively burdensome.

By contrast, as an example, susu and stokvel systems recognize the dignity and agency of individuals, allowing them to respond flexibly and swiftly to their most pressing concerns.

They also demonstrate the collective ethic of support and solidarity that underpins many African cultures — where giving is not a matter of surplus charity, but a deliberate investment in mutual upliftment.

The enduring popularity of such models speaks not only to their practicality but also to their cultural resonance. In many ways, they are emblematic of an African philanthropy that is people-centred, trust-based, and deeply rooted in lived realities.

2. Giving through faith and religion

Religion plays a central role in African societies, and giving is often a key practice in religious communities. Tithing, or the practice of giving a portion of one’s earnings/farm produce to the church or mosque, is common across the continent. However, it’s not just about financial contributions. Giving to others in need, whether through offering time and skills is seen as a way to fulfil religious duties.

In many African communities, faith-based organizations are instrumental in mobilizing resources for community development. These organizations often run programs focused on education, health, and poverty alleviation, with support from both local and international donors.

3. Giving for special occasions

Life events such as births, weddings, funerals, and other significant milestones often prompt collective giving. In some cultures, it’s customary to give in the form of cash or material gifts, while in others, the giving may take on a more symbolic form, such as providing labour or sharing knowledge.

These practices not only help support those undergoing major life events but also reinforce the sense of community and solidarity.

For instance, in Zimbabwe, the practice of contribution is often used to gather support for funerals or weddings, and this tradition reflects the notion that it is important to help one another during times of joy or sorrow.

The role of African philanthropy today

In contemporary Africa, traditional giving practices continue to flourish, albeit in new forms. Many African billionaires and business leaders have embraced philanthropy, using their wealth to address issues such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure development.

Figures like Aliko Dangote, Strive Masiyiwa, and Mo Ibrahim have made significant contributions to various causes, showcasing a modern extension of the African spirit of giving.

However, giving in Africa is not limited to the wealthy. Everyday people continue to donate time, skills, and resources to causes that matter to them. Whether it’s through crowd-funding platforms or local charity events, African communities continue to demonstrate resilience and ingenuity in finding ways to support one another.

Challenges and the Future of African Giving

While the practice of giving remains strong, there are challenges facing African philanthropy. The continent’s vast wealth inequality, economic instability, and the pressure of large-scale development needs can sometimes hinder the full potential of giving practices.

Additionally, there are concerns about the role of international aid, which, though well-meaning, can sometimes undermine local giving traditions by creating dependency rather than empowering local solutions.

That said, the future of African giving seems to be one of empowerment and sustainability. Increasingly, there is a push to support initiatives that build local capacity, empower communities, and create lasting impact. This means focusing on education, health, and business development — areas where giving can help transform lives for generations to come, for example.

A tradition that endures

African giving practices are an integral part of the continent’s rich cultural tapestry. They reflect a profound understanding of the importance of community, shared responsibility, and mutual aid.

Whether through informal social networks, religious tithes, or large-scale philanthropy, giving remains a cornerstone of African life, serving as a reminder that true wealth is found not in the accumulation of possessions but in the well-being of the collective.

As the world continues to evolve, the spirit of African generosity will undoubtedly remain a force for positive change — a testament to the enduring power of human connection and compassion.

Dr Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director of CGIAR. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Cecilia Russell and Busani Bafana
NAIROBI, Apr 11 2025 (IPS)

This week presented a beacon of hope for young people so that the “girl from the South and the boy, of course” could stay in the developing world, Dr Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director of CGIAR, said during a press conference on the final day of the CGIAR Science Week.

Science and innovation could whet their appetites, especially as research and innovation can change the perception that it is a drudgery-filled occupation to one where there is room for ambition – and it made business sense.

“In the face of slow productivity and rising risks, the case is clear. Investing in agricultural research is one of the smartest and most future-proof decisions that anyone can make,” she said.

Elouafi, along with the other panellists Dr Eliud Kiplimo Kireger, the Director General of KALRO and Eluid Rugut, a youth agri-champion at the Ban Ki-moon Centre, alluded to the broad value chain of agriculture, which will make it attractive to young people.

Dr Eliud Kiplimo Kireger, the Director General of KALRO. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

Kireger commented that people say, “Agriculture is not sexy, and so we need to make it sexy,” and encourage young people into science. Apart from encouraging young kids into science, there was a space in it for young people who don’t want to see returns on their investments in years but in months.

Rugut’s personal experience backs the claim up; he told the press conference that he first had to convince his father to give him a little land – and this wasn’t an easy task. Rugut, who represents both the youth and a smallholder, said it was only once his father saw the benefits of the new technologies that he was prepared to give his son the benefit of the doubt.

“It was very hard to convince my dad to give us land, but over time, these technologies that I was trying to bring to the farm – like drip irrigation, water pumps and drought-tolerant seeds,” Rugut said, but in the end, “I was able to convince him. Also, my mom was able to convince him.”

Kireger said the week-long conference had shown the power of collaboration, especially because research was expensive and the need was great. However, digitisation had meant that a lot of the research was no longer stuck in the labs and was now in the hands of farmers.

Eluid Rugut, a youth agri-champion at the Ban Ki-Moon Centre. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

He encouraged farmers (and the journalists at the conference) to take a look at the Google Play store, where there are KALRO apps.

“So, if you go to Google Play Store, you will find many KALRO apps which you can download onto your phone. So, if you’re a coffee farmer, for example, you can download a guide on your phone.”

This digitisation is key to scaling research and making it accessible.

Elouafi, too, said investment in agribusiness was crucial to transforming the sector There was a need for public-private partnerships so farmers were no longer only involved in production but down the value chain too.

“So strategic investment in agricultural research isn’t just necessary; it is economically smart. We have seen a USD 10 return on every dollar spent on research and development in the agriculture sector.”

She provided several examples. Participating in the value chain could transform USD 300 of wheat into USD 3000 through pasta production. Likewise with quinoa, millet and sorghum, which cost USD 4 in the market, with production, can fetch USD 50 to USD 100 per kilogram in the market.

This opportunity is where policies and subsidies come in, to put this potential into the hands of the farmers. “This is a gap we need to bridge,” Elouafi said.

Elouafi reported significant progress this week, particularly in addressing food insecurity. The achievements included the launch of the CGIAR research portfolio, the International Potato Centre (CIP) and KALRO biotech agreement, the IWMI water security strategy for East Africa, and the publication of CGIAR’s flagship report, Insight to Impact: A decision-maker’s guide to navigating food system science.

“Science week  has demonstrated the strength of partnerships. How together we can generate powerful tools, innovation, technologies, knowledge, institutions, policies – all of it – to deliver real-world impact for the communities that we serve.

“In the era of fake news and misinformation, our work, our impact, our partnership, and our commitment to the communities we serve are real, and our impact is real, and we need to have a much louder voice. We cannot let it up because the gap will be filled by misinformation.”

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Ismahane Elouafi Executive Managing Director, CGIAR and Nairobi Chef Kiran Jethwa in discussion during the Good Food for All lunch at CGIAR Science Week 2025. Credit: CGIAR

By Cecilia Russell
NAIROBI, Apr 8 2025 (IPS)

Good Food for All is the motto of The Chef’s Manifesto, a project that brings together more than 1,500 chefs from around the world to explore how to ensure the food they prepare is planet-friendly and sustainable.

It was Nairobi Chef Kiran Jethwa who prepared a menu filled with locally sourced food for the thousands of  delegates on the first day at the GCIAR Science Week in Nairobi.

The menu included High Iron Red Kidney Bean and Biofortified Sweet Potato,  Swahili Curry with Toasted Ginger and Dhania, Tilapia Pilau with Omena (Native Small Fish), Slow Braised Kenyan Kinyeji Chicken Stew with Cassava, Arrow Root with Seared Terere (Amaranth and Millet and Jaegerry Halwa with Raisins and Roasted Cashews.

Delegates snaked towards the tent under beautiful trees on this most exotic United Nations campus situated near Kienyeji forest in Nairobi.

At the Chef’s Manifesto lunch on the first day of CGIAR science week. Credit: IPS

Food is central to the debates here, where delegates debate how science can make a difference in the world where hunger is rampant (according to the United Nations, 3.1 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet) and climate change and conflict, among other issues, complicate food production.

As Prof. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, who chaired the Council of the Wise session in the opening plenary, told the audience, the crisis we are in calls for bold action.

“We’re in a crisis because of climate change. We’re in a crisis because of environmental and health degradation… We are in crisis because of gender inequality, no jobs for our youth, and nutrition insecurity,” she said, and during this week “we are looking for solutions” to this in science.

Summing up the argument of former Prime Minister Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki as AU Special Envoy for Food Systems, Sibanda coined a quote for social media.

“We are in a crisis and Dr. Mayaki says… We need more leaders who are scientists, because scientists solve problems.”

To applause, he agreed.

A healthy plate of sustainably sourced food. Credit: IPS

Former President of Mauritius, Dr. Ameenah Firdaus Gurib-Fakim, asked where the empowerment of women in agriculture was. “Food is produced mostly by women.”

And, she asked, how is it possible to get youth into agriculture?

Agriculture needs to break the stereotype of agriculture as a woman with a hoe breaking hard earth.

“We need the youth to realize that agriculture is a 1 trillion dollar business,” Gurib-Fakim said, emphasizing that it was time to change the narrative.

Sibanda agreed. “Can we have an education that is fit for purpose? Can we have women empowerment and youth as drivers of the food systems, research, and innovation?”

Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Guinea and expert in agricultural finance, Mohamed Beavogui, said it was time for “bold, practical, and inclusive solutions” for ensuring that what was produced on the land ended up on the plate.

Looking for a quotable quote, Sibanda summed it up as “LLP from the lab to the land to the plate, that’s a systems approach,” elaborating that CGIAR aims to reform the food, land, and water systems for food security globally.

“Please Tweet that,” she asked the audience, referring to X by its pre-Elon Musk name.

Finally, Sibanda asked former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan why we are still hungry, poor, and not preserving our biodiversity.

He didn’t believe that it was necessary to elect presidents that are scientists; he commented that in Africa leaders probably spend more time thinking about how to “hold onto leadership than thinking about their people.”

But getting the right mix into the cabinet was crucial—it was more about finding the right people and putting them in roles where they can make a difference.

Sibanda sums it up: “The president has to surround himself with the right people… to be game changers in the country.

Sibanda noted the session produced lots of “tweetable tweets.”

Summing up the panel’s view on policymaking, she said it was as messy and inexact—like “sausage making”—but needed to be “contextualized, evidence-based,” and those affected need to be consulted.

The “billboard” message, however, was that youth are the future and science should be at the forefront of agriculture.

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CGIAR and the Kenyan Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) have convened the very first CGIAR Science Week, April 7 to 12, 2025. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
NAIROBI, Apr 7 2025 (IPS)

The world’s leading scientists and decision-makers in agriculture, climate, and health are meeting in Nairobi this week to promote innovation and partnerships towards a food, nutrition, and climate-secure future. As current agrifood systems buckle under multiple challenges, nearly one in 11 people globally and one in five people in Africa go hungry every day.

Recognizing the urgency of these challenges, CGIAR and the Kenyan Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) have convened the very first CGIAR Science Week, April 7 to 12, 2025, at the UN Complex. In this regard, a high-level opening plenary session today underscored an unwavering commitment to international agricultural research.

During the opening plenary, CGIAR’s Executive Managing Director Ismahane Elouafi told the audience that the food crisis was depressing. “We are faced with one of the food shortage crises in history… We have seen emerging conflicts in so many parts of the world. We have also seen climate change that is accelerating and showing us how bad it is in different parts of the world.

“And this is bad for all of us, but imagine how bad it is for a woman that doesn’t have food for her kids.”

However, this is where science comes to the fore.

“This week marks a pivotal moment in our shared journey towards transforming global agriculture and food systems. CGIAR is unwavering in our commitment to advancing groundbreaking agricultural science that is sustainable, inclusive, and rooted in the belief that research, innovation, and collaboration are the keys to overcoming the complex challenges facing agri-food systems today,” Elouafi said.

There was a lot of emphasis on the role of youth and ensuring they were part of the solution, especially in the global South.

Elouafi welcomed students to the Science Week and said she hoped they would remain committed to the South.

“Go to agriculture, because we all need food, and you could be the solution in the future,” she said.

“And in all honesty, I used to introduce myself as a girl from the South that made it to the North… and it was a success… I want, really,  the kids in the south to go out saying, ‘I’m a girl from the South and I am staying in the South.'”

While officially opening the science conference, Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said it was a privilege to represent the President, who is “himself a scientist. In fact, the first scientist president that Kenya has had. The theme of this year’s assembly is timely, considering the unprecedented environmental and food security challenges that the world faces today.”

“The only way forward is through scientific research and on the stakeholders of our country. I am proud to be a member of the National Coalition of Colonists, providing employment for over 60 percent of our population, significantly contributing to national armament and ensuring food security for millions of people.”

“The sector faces immense challenges, from climate change and extreme weather conditions, land deprivation, soil infertility, food insecurity and malnutrition, post-harvest losses, unlimited access to technology, financing, and investments, and of course, confidence. This Science Week is a defining moment. It gives us an opportunity to engage in how to mitigate these challenges.”

As major and connected global challenges threaten the sustainability of food, land, and water systems, global and regional leaders in research, policy, and development say tackling these disruptions requires continued strengthening of collaborative efforts and strategic partnerships towards agri-food systems that are sustainable, resilient, inclusive, and can nourish both people and planet.

A Council of the Wise, a panel session graced by distinguished personalities in Africa, spoke about issues such as politics, policy, and science, and the place of women and youth in transforming agrifood systems. Ameenah Gurib–Fakim, Former President of Mauritius, asked, “Where are the women in Africa in agriculture? What I’m going to say next is not a political statement; it is a fact. Women feed Africa. Where is the technology? Where is the empowerment for our African girls and women?”

“How do we empower them with the technologies? How do we empower them with the capacity to go and open their bank account? How do we empower them to access land? These are issues we have to tackle. Because after all, African food is produced mostly by smallholder farmers, and many of them are women. So, looking at the challenges across Africa, we really have to look at it through the gender lens.”

Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Former Prime Minister of Nigeria and African Union Special Envoy for Food Systems, spoke about population growth and the challenges facing agrifood systems. “In the 60s, the total population of the African continent was about 300 million and we had relative subsistence. Today, we are 1.5 billion people. And in between, between the 60s and today, a lot of things have happened. Progresses and improvements have been made. We have seen food and agriculture strategically implemented, continentally, regionally, and nationally.”

“We have seen our networks of research, science, and innovation really get a significant momentum. But the demographics have beaten the games that we are playing. So, the conclusion that needs to be drawn from that picture is that we need to accelerate. And… we need to do more with less. We know the challenges in terms of productivity, production, land, immigration, and climate. We have the technical answers. The question now is how do we add political solutions to these technical solutions, the scientific solutions, and the innovative solutions? We need political solutions.”

Towards this end, experts and participants from around the globe will explore transformative solutions to the complex challenges facing agri-food systems, such as water scarcity, biodiversity loss, and extreme weather events. Recognizing their intersection while also reflecting on past successes and lessons learned in embracing solutions centered on inclusivity, partnership, and innovation.

There is an emphasis on sustained global investment in innovation, technology, and science as the most effective tools to deliver food, nutrition, and climate security for all, and more so, the most vulnerable people and communities who are increasingly burdened by heightened food insecurity, poverty, and social inequality as unprecedented multiple, complex challenges converge.

Mohamed Beavogui, former Prime Minister, the Republic of Guinea, said that responses to the food and nutrition challenges have not been adequate. Lands are degrading fast. “To date, we are still using about 20 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare while others are using more than 137 kilograms per hectare. Yet, climate change is giving us chaotic rains, droughts, and floods.”

“We do not have, on the ground at least, the right resources. And then, our farmers lack finance, access to technology, etc. And moreover, those who are living between agriculture and the ground, women, are excluded. But there is good news, and a lot of good news; there is a lot of innovation everywhere you look and we need to move it from the lab to the land to the plate.”

Importantly, agricultural research and science is a means to economic stability and gender equality. Given the enormity of the task at hand, the CGIAR is positioning the week as a platform to enhance regional and global partnerships with an aim to scale scientific innovations and solutions but also to reinforce local community-bred practices that work.

Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, Former President of Nigeria who holds a doctorate degree in hydrobiology, spoke of the critical need to have leaders who are aware of the usefulness of science. Stressing that science is a mindset that focuses on problem-solving and that this mindset is a key issue towards solving the challenges facing humanity today.

“In Africa, our leaders spend more time thinking about how to get to leadership and hold on to leadership than thinking about the people. We have to spend more time thinking about the people. Even when the President is not a scientist, they can put the right people, experts and competent people, in the right places. It is about the President having the political will and commitment to move the country forward and adopt science and technology to solve agricultural problems.”

Overall, the Science Week is an opportunity to use the best science, innovation, research, and existing knowledge within communities to draw the most effective roadmap into a future where agrifood systems and interconnected issues of climate change, environment, biodiversity, and water can harmoniously converge to produce the best possible outcomes for both planet and humanity.
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The World Bank set its US ‘dollar-a-day’ poverty line using its 1990 data. Despite many doubts and criticisms, its poverty numbers fell until the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Poverty has long been seen in terms of inequality, as people generally feel poorer compared to others. Meanwhile, explanations of poverty differ considerably, with many calling for better policy measures.

For decades, the Bank refused to address inequality, focusing instead on poverty. Efforts to improve poverty measurement have long been driven by the belief that policy cannot be improved without better estimating it.

Measuring or estimating cash incomes has inevitably been prioritised. But the focus on money incomes poses problems. Money measures of poverty can be helpful but also deceptive. For instance, many children from urban households with incomes above the poverty line remain undernourished.

However, incomes above any arbitrarily set poverty line do not necessarily ensure well-being. This has generated interest in poverty indicators other than money incomes.

Such criticisms reflect a money fetish and the widespread practice of measuring welfare, well-being and poverty in cash terms. Recognising the value of other poverty indicators is now uncontroversial.

Dimensions of poverty
Yet many still want a single composite multidimensional poverty index despite its well-known problems. A dashboard of several key dimensions of poverty, rather than a single composite index, offers much more relevant information to improve policymaking.

Aware of such problems and limitations, OECD and UN Member States have not approved of composite indices. Neither adopted the pioneering work on composite indices by the most influential statistician of both bodies.

Composite indices, such as the human development index, have only been adopted and used by UN funds and programmes, which do not require Member State approval or review.

Meanwhile, lower infant and maternal mortality have accounted for over 80% of improved life expectancy in many developing countries. Low-cost reforms for safer pregnancies and births have significantly extended average life spans at low cost.

Food security
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has long defined food-secure households as those with enough income to afford enough carbohydrates or dietary energy (typically measured in calories or joules) for a sedentary lifestyle.

Despite this low bar and its methodological problems and limitations, undernourished or ‘food-insecure’ households have increased worldwide since 2014, growing for years while the World Bank’s estimate of poor households continued to decline!

According to the Bank, the number of poor worldwide only increased for the first time since the 1990s during the pandemic, both absolutely and relatively. This discrepancy between multilateral poverty and undernourishment trends has triggered debates over the significance of different well-being and deprivation measures.

Various controversies and doubts about Bank poverty numbers have prompted many to regard undernourishment as a better indicator of deprivation and lack of well-being than the poverty measure.

Although income inequality trends are moot and the subject of much dispute and controversy, disparities worldwide have risen again in recent years.

Meanwhile, dollar billionaires have proliferated worldwide as inequality has worsened. As income and wealth inequalities worsen, some convergences have also occurred, causing both trends to be mixed and uneven.

With rural impoverishment spreading worldwide, urbanisation has grown while reducing rural food production for household subsistence consumption. Rural households typically produced food for own consumption by breeding animals, harvesting fruits and vegetables, or even gathering food available nearby.

However, urban areas offer far fewer subsistence production and consumption opportunities. Cash incomes and spending increasingly determine food consumption, including personal nourishment.

Nutrition matters
As man does not live by bread (‘carbs’, i.e., dietary energy from carbohydrates) alone, a more holistic approach requires a more comprehensive approach to human nutrition.

Comparisons of the physical development of children of food producers and cash croppers suggest that household money incomes have not always determined the nutritional status of many.

Food producers’ children are generally better off than those of cash croppers. Why? Probably, food producers are far more likely to provide adequate nourishment to their families regardless of cash incomes.

Thus, children of food producers meet many of their food needs without buying them on the market. Hence, the common presumption that higher cash incomes ensure well-being, including nutrition, is doubtful.

Malnutrition challenges our understanding of well-being and its complex determinants. Many now suffer malnutrition, not only due to both macro and micro-nutrient deprivation but also due to the growing significance of diet-related non-communicable diseases.

As with obesity and overweight, diabetes incidence has risen with new consumer preferences. Incomes, the media, and other influences increasingly shape lifestyles with significant consequences for nutrition and health, many of which are perverse.

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Credit: Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC)
 
On February 27, policymakers worldwide will mark the 20th anniversary of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the first legally binding global health treaty of its kind. A Treaty That Saved Lives— But the Merchant of Death Still Walks Free

By Deborah Sy and Reina Roa Rodríguez
MANILA, Philippines / PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb 27 2025 (IPS)

The world took a historic step in the fight against tobacco when the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) came into force—the first legally binding global health treaty of its kind.

Two decades later, it stands as one of the most widely ratified international agreements, with 183 Parties bound by law to safeguard public health from the grip of the tobacco epidemic. The FCTC’s impact has been transformative. Seventy-five percent of its members have implemented at least some of its provisions, saving millions of lives.

Governments have raised tobacco taxes and are able to point to a benchmark rate, introduced graphic health warnings and can refer to a global database of warnings, banned all forms of cigarette advertising to the extent that major social media platforms have algorithms to avoid tobacco advertisements, and treated the FCTC as the minimum standard it was meant to be—for example, by passing laws that require cigarette packs to be simple and free of branding (plain packaging).

Once feared as a trigger for international trade wars, tobacco control measures have been upheld in the World Trade Organization (WTO). With the power of the FCTC, the tobacco transnational’s rights to its brand name and right to sue governments as foreign investors have been trumped in favor of public health.

Despite the FCTC’s near-universal adoption, less than half of the Parties have implemented Article 5.3 measures to prevent industry interference. Yet, where enforced, these safeguards have proven effective, blocking tobacco-funded COVID-19 vaccines from being promoted as corporate social responsibility(CSR).

The treaty also set a global precedent for rejecting tobacco industry partnerships, with the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) barring tobacco companies, the International Labor Organization (ILO) cutting industry funding, and UN agencies prohibiting tobacco-linked Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) collaborations.

FCTC governance has also shaped anti-smuggling efforts. The treaty and its Illicit Trade Protocol have reinforced a key principle: the tobacco industry must not be part of the solution. Governments rejected the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)’s application for Observer status due to tobacco funding, while the industry-backed track-and-trace system ‘Codentify’ was discredited due to conflicts of interest.

Rebranded Industry in the Age of ESG and Sustainability

The treaty helped delay the projection of 1 billion tobacco deaths in the 21st century—but new tobacco products are creating a fresh crisis.

Despite all these victories in public health, the tobacco industry has been persistently a cog in the machine and has been allowed to not just survive but even evolve. Tobacco giants have pivoted to a new strategy that allows them to hide behind environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives.

They invested in vaping, heated tobacco products (HTPs), and so-called “wellness” ventures, allowing them to create a “harm reduction” narrative while their products hook a whole new generation of youths, marketing themselves as public health allies while their products make people more vulnerable to chronic diseases.

Their CSR programs claim to support environmental sustainability—while they continue to sell the world’s largest source of plastic pollution: cigarette filters. Despite the fact that the UN Agency that shaped ESG trends has shunned tobacco as an ESG-compliant investment, national policies on ESG or CSR reporting are at risk of condoning this.

The COP and the “Dirty Ashtray” Delegations

With the introduction of novel products, tobacco companies gained a newfound sense of credibility and legitimacy, enabling them to influence national policies to exempt vaping from smoke-free laws and advertising ban, ultimately increasing youth exposure to and dependence on recreational addictive products.

The combination of the novel product with new narrative, CSR, direct lobbying, and revolving door appointments of senior government officials has allowed the industry’s influence to grow, even reaching the FCTC’s governing body, the Conference of the Parties (COP) — where tobacco industry arguments have successfully been used to weaken policy language and delay decision-making.

As a result, the FCTC COP failed to take a stronger stance on fully protecting the youth from recreational addictive devices, despite global youth-led coalitions demanding the same.

A Financial Solution: Making Big Tobacco Pay

To those gathering to mark the treaty’s 20th anniversary, a pressing question looms: Will the FCTC’s third decade be the one where Big Tobacco will stop causing harm?

The United States (U.S.) Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) forced the industry to pay $206 billion to U.S. states for healthcare costs. However, such rare legal victories have not succeeded in deterring misconduct. Even the recent Canadian lawsuit demonstrated how Big Tobacco can evade accountability through insolvency proceedings.

Governments need to go beyond litigation and adopt new financial mechanisms to hold the tobacco industry financially accountable: Tobacco companies should be forced to cover health and environmental costs through a polluter pays principle. Specialized tribunals could be designated to process claims without lengthy court battles.

A coordinated effort to harmonize sanctions and costs for harms can prevent Big Tobacco from exploiting regulatory loopholes across countries. Parties can consider establishing a Global Tobacco Control Fund modeled after vaccine injury or environmental compensation funds financed through mandatory industry contributions.

Towards Health Through Justice and Denormalization of the Tobacco Industry

The past decade has seen over 40 countries ban e-cigarettes and many exploring endgame strategies for a cigarette-free world. Belgium proposed a European Union (EU) – wide cigarette butt ban, and an immediate ban was backed by WHO in plastics treaty talks.

This decade also saw machine learning revolutionize real-time monitoring of tobacco industry interference and CSR strategies, curbing digital marketing, and tracking illicit trade. Meanwhile, youths are demanding financial accountability for generational harms.

In the coming decade, the $1.4 trillion annual global cost of smoking will grow to include lost opportunities, rehabilitation expenses for a generation of addicted youth, and the devastating environmental impact of the tobacco industry.

Governments must fully enforce the treaty—particularly Article 18 on environmental protection and Article 19 on liability—to hold tobacco companies financially accountable for the harm they cause, ensuring penalties that deter future misconduct. To stay relevant, the FCTC must continue expanding its influence beyond health, addressing policies on ESG, taxation, finance, and plastics regulation.

The world came together in 2005 to declare that tobacco must be controlled and reduced. In 2025, it must declare that Big Tobacco must be held accountable for 8 million lives lost each year. The merchants of death must not walk.

Atty. Deborah Sy, Head of Global Public Policy and Strategy at the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC), is a legal expert in global health and tobacco control. She has played a key role in strengthening global policies on tobacco taxation, industry interference, liability, and environmental protection from tobacco.

Dr Reina Roa Rodríguez currently sits as the President of the Bureau of the FCTC COP and is a globally recognized leader in tobacco control. A technical-political expert at the Panamanian Ministry of Health and a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, she has played a pivotal role in advancing FCTC implementation at national, regional, and global levels.

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The Brazilian government has adopted public policies that aim to guarantee food and the nutritional security of the population, especially schoolchildren. Children are served a meal in September 2024 at a public school. Credit: Lúcio Bernardo Jr./Agência Brasília/Flickr

By Jennifer Clapp
WATERLOO, Ontario, Canada, Feb 18 2025 (IPS)

History has shown us again and again that, so long as inequality goes unchecked, no amount of technology can ensure people are well fed.

Today, the world produces more food per person than ever before. Yet hunger and malnutrition persist in every corner of the globe — even, and increasingly, in some of its wealthiest countries.

The major drivers of food insecurity are well known: conflict, poverty, inequality, economic shocks and escalating climate change. In other words, the causes of hunger are fundamentally political and economic.

The urgency of the hunger crisis has prompted 150 Nobel and World Food Prize laureates to call for “moonshot” technological and agricultural innovations to boost food production, meaning monumental and lofty efforts. However, they largely ignored hunger’s root causes — and the need to confront powerful entities and make courageous political choices.

Jennifer Clapp

To focus almost exclusively on promoting agricultural technologies to ramp up food production would be to repeat the mistakes of the past.

The Green Revolution of the 1960s-70s brought impressive advances in crop yields, though at considerable environmental cost. It failed to eliminate hunger, because it didn’t address inequality. Take Iowa, for example — home to some of the most industrialized food production on the planet. Amid its high-tech corn and soy farms, 11 per cent of the state’s population, and one in six of its children, struggle to access food.

Even though the world already produces more than enough food to feed everyone, it’s woefully misallocated. Selling food to poor people at affordable prices simply isn’t as profitable for giant food corporations.

They make far more by exporting it for animal feed, blending it into biofuels for cars or turning it into industrial products and ultra-processed foods. To make matters worse, a third of all food is simply wasted.

Meanwhile, as the laureates remind us, more than 700 million people — nine per cent of the world’s population — remain chronically undernourished. A staggering 2.3 billion people — more than one in four — cannot access an adequate diet.

Women queue up to receive food distributed by local volunteers at a camp in Somalia in May 2019. Conflicts hinder the effective delivery of humanitarian aid during food security crisis. Credit: AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh

Confronting inequity

Measures to address world hunger must start with its known causes and proven policies. Brazil’s Without Hunger program, for example, has seen dramatic 85 per cent reduction in severe hunger in just 18 months through financial assistance, school food programs and minimum wage policies.

Our politicians must confront and reverse gross inequities in wealth, power and access to land. Hunger disproportionately affects the poorest and most marginalized people, not because food is scarce, but because people can’t afford it or lack the resources to produce it for themselves. Redistribution policies aren’t optional, they’re essential.

Governments must put a stop to the use of hunger as a weapon of war. The worst hunger hotspots are conflict zones, as seen in Gaza and Sudan, where violence drives famine. Too many governments have looked the other way on starvation tactics — promoting emergency aid to pick up the pieces instead of taking action to end the conflicts driving hunger.

Palestinians line up for food distribution in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, in October 2024. Credit: AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana

Stronger antitrust and competition policies are vital to curb extreme corporate concentration in global food chains — from seeds and agrochemicals to grain trading, meat packing and retail — that allow firms to fix prices and wield outsized political influence.

Dependency trap

Governments must also break the stranglehold of inequitable trade rules and export patterns that trap the poorest regions in dependency on food imports, leaving them vulnerable to shocks.

Instead, supporting local and territorial markets is critical in helping build resilience to economic and supply chain disruptions. These markets provide livelihoods and help ensure diverse, nutritious foods reach those who need them.

Mitigating and adapting to climate change requires massive investments in transformative approaches that promote resilience and sustainability in food systems.

Agroecology — a farming system that applies ecological principles to ensure sustainability and promotes social equity in food systems — is a key solution, proven to sequester carbon, build resilience to climate shocks and reduce dependence on expensive and environmentally damaging synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

A demonstrator holds a sign that reads ‘give agroecology a chance’ at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit in Egypt in November 2022. Credit: AP Photo/Peter Dejong

More research should explore agroecology’s full potential. And we must adopt plant-rich, local and seasonal diets, ramp up measures to tackle food waste and reconsider using food crops for biofuels.

This means pushing back against Big Meat and biofuel lobbies, while investing in climate-resilient food systems.

Bold political action needed

This is not to say that technology has no role — all hands need to be on deck. But the innovations most worth pursuing are those that genuinely support more equitable and sustainable food systems, and not corporate profits. Unless scientific efforts are matched by policies that confront power and prioritize equity over profit, then hunger is likely to here to stay.

The solutions to hunger are neither new nor beyond reach. What’s missing is the political will to address its root causes.

This message is shared by my colleagues with the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, IPES-Food, whose work covers a range of expertise and experience. Hunger persists because we allow injustice to endure. If we are serious about ending it, we need bold political action, not just scientific breakthroughs.

Jennifer Clapp is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability, and Member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, University of Waterloo.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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