By Marty Logan
KATHMANDU, Aug 31 2021 (IPS)

Do you know if midwife services are available at the Saupia Health Centre in Paunangisu, on the island of Efate in Vanuatu, in the Pacific Islands? I do, and I’ve never been within 1,000 kilometres of the facility — I found the information online within seconds thanks to a data platform called Tupaia.

Developed in 2017 as a system for tracking items on the extremely lengthy supply chains of health materials in the Pacific Islands, today Tupaia is aggregating data about health, education and the environment from a number of unrelated sources, analysing it, and presenting it in an interactive online map.

“You can look at the national level and see how many people have accessed health services within a specified time frame or you can zoom into a province or a district and see more specifically details about where there are maybe gaps to people accessing the health system, or where people are doing really well, and that allows a country to set up different responses”

“If you want to see how many people a country has had in respect to a Covid outbreak, or a dengue outbreak, that sort of information will be displayed in Tupaia,” says Erin Nunan, director of Beyond Essential Services, the company that created the platform.

“You can look at the national level and see how many people have accessed health services within a specified time frame or you can zoom into a province or a district and see more specifically details about where there are maybe gaps to people accessing the health system, or where people are doing really well, and that allows a country to set up different responses,” adds Nunan in a video interview ahead of the Small Islands States (SIDS) Solutions Forum taking place online and in person 30-31 August 2021.

Tupaia is one of the innovations being featured at the event, which aims to kickstart SIDS’ efforts to reach the global development goals by 2030. Organised by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in partnership with the UN International Telecommunications Union and co-hosted by the Government of Fiji, the forum gathers representatives of the 38 SIDS worldwide, UN agencies and civil society.

The economies of many SIDS have been battered by COVID-19 restrictions, which have smothered the key tourist trade. Many were also already struggling with monumental challenges like rising sea levels and growing numbers of extreme weather events as a result of climate change. The forum, which ends Tuesday, is meant to “incubate, promote and scale-up home-grown and imported solutions to accelerate the achievement of the agriculture, food and nutrition related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” says the website.

The makers of Tupaia believe that the platform has moved countries closer to the targets for SDG3 (health and well-being), SDG6 (water and sanitation for all) and SDG 17 (strengthen implementation and partnership for sustainable development). Their company, Beyond Essential Systems, has also released Tamanu, a medical records system.

Today, Tupaia operates in six Pacific Island countries, and beyond, collecting data in real time from nearly 800 facilities using a variety of sources including its own app, MediTrak, and creating visualizations that health systems, workers and even patients can use for decision-making. In Fiji, it is helping to track Covid-19 swab samples.

Open source and free, thanks to funding from the Government of Australia and others, Tupaia’s data collection, management, and visualization tools can also be used to collect environmental data to manage resources such as water stations and for disaster response. In Papua New Guinea, the platform is used to track the incidence of malaria.

“It might be a nurse in a clinic, it might be an administrator in a single province, those are the people that we really consider to be the customers of the software, the actual end users,” says Michael Nunan, CEO of Beyond Essential Systems, in another video interview for the SIDS Solutions Forum.

For example, in 2018 an order for cold chain medicines for the island of Kiribati was delayed. As a result, a busy facility ran out of several items, including insulin and Hepatitis B vaccine. But the facility nurse was able to log on to Tupaia and instantly see which nearby facilities had a functioning fridge and stock of the needed medicines. She contacted one of them and was able to organise a quick delivery of stock so there was little interruption to patient care.

Named after a Polynesian navigator who joined the crew of Captain James Cook in 1769, Tupaia takes data that is often siloed in specialised software designed for specific purposes and integrates it in dashboards that are customisable for a variety of user groups.

Tupaia’s data sources, supply chain software for vaccines and other medicines, health information software, and data collection applications, deliver information about health infrastructure including cold-chain, critical medical equipment, staff, and service provision.

“Whatever it is you want to do with data, whether it’s data collection, data aggregation, analysis, visualization, or dissemination, we want you to be able to do that with Tupaia,” says Michael Nunan in the video interview.

Cattle farming in Jamica. Credit: Zadie Neufville/IPS

By Zadie Neufville
KINGSTON, Aug 30 2021 (IPS)

Even as COVID-19 walloped Jamaica’s economy last year, the government overhauled its energy emissions milestones to create what many described as a post-pandemic recovery package, based on stronger carbon targets for the farming and forestry sectors.

According to the plan, the country would reduce emissions from both sectors by almost a third over the next decade, by optimising water and energy use and diversifying food production.

Released at a time when most countries around the globe struggled to manage their economies during the pandemic using measures that were expected to set back their sustainability goals, experts hailed the plan as a game changer for a country in a steep economic decline resulting from COVID-19.

With tens of thousands of jobs lost, the government turned to the island’s fast-expanding business process outsourcing (BPO) sector as a much-needed source of jobs, providing a level of diversification from the agrarian society of old. Initially focused on call centres, the sector has expanded to include to more specialised areas including accounting, human resources management, digital marketing, animation and software development.

Climate change expert Carlos Fuller said the new measures “will create new economic opportunities and generate employment for Jamaicans.”

Changes in land use, for development and increased agricultural activities, and reducing deforestation will cut emissions up to 28.5 per cent by 2030, according to the plan, which satisfies both local and international targets. Agriculture currently contributes about six per cent to Jamaica’s total emissions, while land use change and forestry account for 7.8 per cent.

Jamaica is one of the Caribbean’s small island developing states (SIDS). On Monday and Tuesday, representatives of the 38 SIDS worldwide, UN agencies and civil society will gather in person and online to discuss how they can kickstart their economies post-COVID-19 in order to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

The SIDS Solution Forum is organised by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in partnership with the UN International Telecommunications Union and co-hosted by the Government of Fiji.

Other current investments in Jamaica have made climate data collection, modelling and analysis priorities. Projects like the Climate Data and Information Management Project should help to improve the collection and analysis of climate data while strengthening early warning systems. The Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project is expected to enhance physical resilience to disasters.

Co-heads of the Climate Studies Group at the University of the West Indies, Dr Michael Taylor and Dr Tannecia Stephenson, recently deciphered the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in terms of what it could mean for the region.

“The intensity and frequency of heat extremes in the Caribbean are increasing and will continue to do so. It will impact energy use, demands for water, agricultural production among other things,” Dr Taylor said.

Jamaica’s emissions and development goals are tied together in the country’s Vision 2030 Development plan, an ambitious guide for this highly indebted nation’s development. Launched in 2014, the document aims to make “Jamaica the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business.”

There have been tweaks, updates and a Road Map, but Vision 2030 remains grounded in four interrelated national goals: Jamaicans are empowered to achieve their fullest potential, society is secure, cohesive and just, the economy is prosperous, and the country has a healthy, natural environment.

In pursuit of the Vision 2030 aims the results have been mixed, said Wayne Henry, Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), the agency tasked with tracking the implementation of the SDGs.

In his September 2020 overview of SDG implementation, Henry noted that Jamaica has recorded positives in the social sector, accountability and governance. For example, there is continued focus on gender equality and the empowerment of women. According to the International Labour Organization, 59.3 percent of managers in the country are women.

But Jamaica has struggled, Henry said, in the areas of security and safety, environmental sustainability and the rate of non-communicable diseases. The murder rate has hovered between 47 and 47.7 per 100,000 in recent years, diabetes and hypertension rates have climbed alarmingly in the 15-and-over age-group, and overall environmental performance has fallen.

Even as the systems for SDG implementation are woven into the national development strategies, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of economies like Jamaica’s. According to Henry, the pandemic shows “how quickly a development path can be challenged.”

COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill and in its wake upended the lives and livelihoods of thousands in the Caribbean, shuttering entire sectors that depend on tourism and according to the PIOJ, contracting the Jamaican economy by 10 percent.

With tens of thousands of jobs lost, the government turned to the island’s fast-expanding business process outsourcing (BPO) sector as a much-needed source of jobs, providing a level of diversification from the agrarian society of old. Initially focused on call centres, the sector has expanded to include to more specialised areas including accounting, human resources management, digital marketing, animation and software development.

But the sector’s employers are prone to COVID-19 outbreaks, and its dependence on the existing fossil fuel-based energy sector is a negative factor for a country keen on cutting emissions.

Still, Jamaica may well have captured the essence of the SDGs by balancing the temporary growth from the BPO sector with its commitment to reduce energy costs and diversify the fuel mix. It plans, for example, to increase the share of electricity generation from renewables from 9 percent in 2016 to 30 percent by 2030. And in 2019, the government commissioned a 36-megawatt wind farm, which is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 66,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year, equal to taking roughly 13,000 cars off the road.

Farming and agricultural production on Mangaia Island, Cook Islands. Photo credit: Ministry of Agriculture, Cook Islands

By Catherine Wilson
CANBERRA, Australia, Aug 29 2021 (IPS)

Finding ways to be smarter producers of food was a priority in small island developing states (SIDS) before the outbreak of Covid-19. Now the ideas of farmers and entrepreneurs, such as Piri Maao in the Cook Islands, are being avidly sought by governments and development bodies, which are keen to drive resilience and recovery as the pandemic moves into its second year.

Similar to other SIDS, the Cook Islands has limited arable land and finite water resources, while agricultural production has declined in recent decades and food imports increased.

In April this year, Maao was awarded a SMART AgriTech funding grant by the government of the Polynesian nation to establish a solar-powered hydroponics greenhouse to grow vegetables year round.

Considering the force and isolation of COVID-19, strengthening food production and distribution systems is key to fighting hunger and tackling the double burden of malnutrition. The development of aqua and hydroponics embraces all dimensions of food security

“Growing in a greenhouse eliminates any environmental issues, such as rain and wind, which I currently face in a soil-based system. There is a reduced use of pesticides; insect screens will help eliminate a lot of the larger insects, such as moths and beetles. Solar power to run the system ensures sustainability and low running costs,” Maao, an agricultural entrepreneur on the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, told IPS.

The SMART AgriTech Scheme, which was launched in July 2020, is one way the Cook Islands government has responded to the pandemic with a long-term vision.

“Through the AgriTech grants, successful applicants were given the opportunity to pursue new ideas: ideas that can transform a business or the agriculture industry through innovation and productivity improvements, respond to opportunities that are driven by new ideas or meeting new market needs, facilitate better connections between producers, processors and marketers, and reduce farming’s environmental footprint through new technology and more efficient processes, mitigating the impacts of climate change,” Hon. Mark Brown, the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, told IPS.

Rarotonga is one of 15 islands that make up the Pacific Islands nation, which is located in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, south of Hawaii and southeast of Samoa. Its economy and population of about 17,500 people were, until last year, hugely dependent on the tourism industry, which contributed about 67 percent of GDP.

Today the closing of national borders and rapid decline of tourism in the wake of Covid-19 has triggered a decline in local incomes and livelihoods, and highlighted the country’s need to rely less on food imports and grow more locally. The average value of food production in the Cook Islands declined from 231 US dollars per person in 2002 to 43 dollars per person in 2018, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Meanwhile, food is the second largest expense for islanders, amounting to 22.5 percent of household spending in 2016.

Recently, “production has remained consistent, but, when our borders closed, sales of local products plummeted due to the reduction in our tourism sector. Food security and nutrition remains a priority for us, so we advocate to ensure we have sufficient food to feed our population before seeking export opportunities,” Mrs Temarama Anguna-Kamana, Head of the Cook Islands’ Ministry of Agriculture told IPS.

Maao began working on his concept for a greenhouse several years ago and undertook market research to prove there was significant local demand for his produce before going ahead with the business project.

Hydroponics is a form of horticulture where crops are grown in an indoor environment with their roots immersed in a nutrient-rich aqueous solution. Some benefits of this technique are that it doesn’t use soil and minimises the use of land and water. On Rarotonga, agriculture accounts for a major 40 percent of all water usage. Standalone hydroponic systems, which can also be developed at the household level, provide the consistent growing conditions to support uninterrupted production.

“Considering the force and isolation of COVID-19, strengthening food production and distribution systems is key to fighting hunger and tackling the double burden of malnutrition. The development of aqua and hydroponics embraces all dimensions of food security,” advocates the FAO.

Maao is developing a ‘drip fertigation hydroponics’ system, in which irrigation of plants inside the greenhouse from a tank containing a nutrient solution is automatically triggered at the most optimum times of the day. Initially he will be growing red, yellow and orange capsicum, although the entrepreneur plans to diversify with other crops in the near future. Maao’s greenhouse is currently in the construction phase. “We anticipate to have it completed and, weather dependent, fully operational by the end of next month,” he said.

Maao said his project is responding to the country’s food security needs by “increasing local production, the availability of healthy vegetables, locally and consistently, and reducing their importation.” And, with his partner and son working alongside him, he said he was also supporting wider youth and gender participation.

Promoting innovation in all aspects of the agricultural industry, from cultivation to processing, value adding and marketing stages, will be further discussed among the region’s leaders and growers at the SIDS Solutions Forum. The virtual international conference, which is co-hosted by the FAO and Fiji Government, convenes on 30-31 August. Participating countries include Antigua and Barbuda, Seychelles, Madagascar, Barbados, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

The event will bring together national leaders, development organizations, experts, the private sector and farmers from SIDS around the world to discuss ‘digitalization and innovation for sustainable agriculture, food, nutrition, environment and health.’

“In this, the year of the UN Food Systems Summit, the forum will demonstrate that diverse types of digital and non-digital solutions, many of them home grown and local, are available for the unique challenges of agri-food systems in the SIDS. Strategies for scaling up efficiently with targeted investments in infrastructure and by providing an enabling environment for women and youth entrepreneurs will be outlined,” Sridhar Dharmapuri, Senior Food Safety and Nutrition Officer at the FAO Regional Office for Asia Pacific in Bangkok, told IPS.

It is hoped that knowledge sharing at the forum about better outcomes in food production and nutrition in SIDS will help them to ‘leap frog’ their progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.

Zaman-Allah Mainassara Abdou, a maize scientist with CIMMYT demonstrating an UAV used in data collection at the CIMMYT Chiredzi research station, Zimbabwe. Credit, Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Aug 27 2021 (IPS)

Investing in digital technologies can help African small island developing states (SIDS), vulnerable to extreme weather events, cope with growing impacts of climate change, says the United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

Cape Verde, Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritius, Sao Tome and Principe and the Seychelles are the African members of the SIDS, a grouping of 38 countries located in the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea.

The increased risk of natural disasters, coupled with sea level rise, which accompanies climate change makes African SIDS particularly vulnerable because their economies are anchored on tourism and fisheries, according to Jean-Paul Adam, Director of Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resource Management at the ECA.

While African countries risk losing up to 15% of their GDP to climate change by 2030, a major climate disaster could completely wipe out the economies of African SIDS
Jean-Paul Adam, ECA

In an interview, Adam added that opportunities for economic diversification are limited for African SIDS due to their distance from markets and lack of economies of scale. Besides, access to development finance in the form of grants and loans from institutions like the World Bank and bilateral donors is challenging. This type of finance is determined by the GDP per capita — the amount of income generated by an average person in a given area in a specific year.

Owing to their small populations, Adam noted, SIDS are disadvantaged from accessing this funding because they are more likely to have a higher GDP per capita. One high net worth individual in such a small population can skew the overall result much more than in a large one.

While African countries risk losing up to 15 percent of their GDP to climate change by 2030, according to an analysis by the ECA’s African Climate Policy Centre, a major climate disaster could completely wipe out the economies of African SIDS, Adam said. “In the same way that in the face of Covid-19 no one is safe until all are safe, the same applies to the climate crisis. As such, SIDS illustrate the extreme vulnerability of all African countries to climate change.”

The UN, which recognised SIDS as a special case for environment and development at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, describes these countries as facing unique social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities. With a total population of just over 4 million, African SIDS are located in remote, low lying areas that are vulnerable to sea level rise and cyclones.

Climate change impacts and unmanageable high population growth means that African SIDS may not meet several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, according to the UN’s report on World Population Prospects 2019.

While climate change affects the development of all nations regardless of location or economy size, SIDS – which contribute only one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions — are the most vulnerable to its devastating impacts, the UN Development Programme warned.

“Digital strategies are part of the means by which SDGs implementation can be accelerated,” said Adam.

“Digital strategies can facilitate efficiencies in terms of investing in resilience as well as efficiencies in terms of economic returns,” added Adam. He noted that artificial intelligence (AI) used in digital technologies for analysis of climate change data can help African SIDS better understand the impact of climate on key industries like fisheries, and to measure environmental impacts.

The ECA is supporting African countries, including SIDS, to improve their climate information services by tapping into potential digital technologies like remote-sensing AI to measure environmental impacts. This could be done through remotely deployed cameras and drones, according to Adam.

“Digitisation strategies can also improve the monitoring of environmental risks through the use of remote sensing equipment, and these strategies can also be deployed to improve investment in key sectors such as tourism, allowing more cost effective and targeted marketing, for example,” he added.

Adam said the ECA is supporting the establishment of a regional centre on AI in Brazzaville, Congo, to explore opportunities for the use of the technology to address environmental impacts.

Tourism is a key economic sector for Seychelles, a small island developing state vulnerable to climate change. Credit, Busani Bafana/IPS

Digital technologies are already being used extensively by countries like Seychelles and Mauritius to target their main tourism markets more effectively, he added.

African countries have a unique opportunity to use digital technologies to drive large scale transformation and competitiveness, according to the US policy research think tank, Brookings Institution. Brookings said that AI, which is projected to add 15.7 trillion dollars to global GDP by 2030, presents avenues for the public and private sectors to optimise solutions to the most crucial problems facing Africa today.

Beyond digital technologies, Adam said that by adapting economic strategies that prioritise climate resilience, African SIDS can be better placed to respond to climate change, and also create more jobs and value addition.

“Focusing on the blue economy approach, for example, can build long term economic multipliers in terms of improved yields from fisheries resources, and also build more inclusive value chains that bring more benefits to local populations,” he said.

A blue economy approach uses the principles of a green economy, the sustainable use of resources based on the ability to regenerate them, in an environment where the main resources are aquatic. For example, fisheries are managed based on the status of fish stocks, and measures are taken to protect areas critical for fish reproduction such as mangroves and coral reefs.

African SIDS have access to very limited land space but large ocean area, and the proper management of this space can yield numerous benefits,” Adam observed, including as sources of financing.

“Seychelles successfully raised a 30-million-dollar blue bond from the international market on the basis of sustainable management of its fisheries sector,” said Adam, adding “the sustainable management of oceanic spaces can also lead to opportunities for potential carbon pricing transactions although this is something at the early stages of exploration.”

Other possible financial innovations to mobilise funding, he added, include SDG-linked green or blue bonds and proposals for debt swaps — refinancing debt on better terms and investing the savings in climate resilience.

Local residents stand in the water on a street flooded by the sea in the Centro Habana municipality in the Cuban capital in September 2017 in the wake of Hurricane Irma, one of the most intense storms in recent decades in this Caribbean island nation. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, Aug 25 2021 (IPS)

Cuba, already beset by hurricanes, floods, droughts that deplete its main water sources, among other natural disasters, has seen its socioeconomic difficulties, similar to those faced by other Caribbean island nations, aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the complexity of its domestic situation, Cuba has offered its best health resources to small island nations in the region and more than a dozen of them have received Cuban medical brigades to help them face the emergency created by the pandemic.

With differences and similarities, the Caribbean region shares the fate of other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which are particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change but are responsible for only 0.2 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that cause global warming."For Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean island nations the greatest challenges in relation to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda involve the indispensable creation of measures for adaptation to climate change." -- Marcelo Resende

The SIDS will hold a Solutions Forum on Aug. 30-31, promoted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and sponsored by Fiji, to exchange experiences on how to move forward in the midst of the climate and health crisis towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in just a few more years.

The virtual conference is based on the premise that the 38 SIDS that are members of the United Nations and the other 20 associated territories, beyond their differences in size and development, share common challenges as island nations and can also share successful sustainable management initiatives that can be replicated in the other members scattered throughout the developing regions of the South.

“SIDS are characterised by unique development needs and extreme vulnerability. Frequent exposure to hazards and natural disasters intensified by climate change” negatively impacts Cuba, as well as the rest of the countries, FAO representative in Cuba Marcelo Resende told IPS.

He said this Caribbean country “has a lot of expertise and know-how in the integration of environmental sustainability, disaster risk management and climate change adaptation, so this exchange and transfer of knowledge will be positive.”

The SIDS Forum aims precisely to promote and exchange innovation and digitalisation solutions for sustainable agriculture, food, nutrition, environment and health.

Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean, faces increased frequency and intensity of extreme hydrometeorological events – not only tropical cyclones, but also drought, major floods, rising temperatures and sea level rise, which scientists currently project to reach 29.3 centimetres by 2050 and 95 centimetres by 2100.

A man rides his bicycle along a flooded street in the town of Batabanó, in southern Mayabeque province in western Cuba, an area of low-lying, often swampy coastal areas prone to frequent flooding during hurricanes and heavy rains. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

Of the country’s 262 coastal settlements, an estimated 121 are at risk from the climate crisis. Of these, 54 are located on the south coast and 67 on the north coast, almost totally impacted in September 2017 by Hurricane Irma, which reached winds of 295 kilometres/hour and became one of the most intense storms in recent decades.

Irma devastated several Caribbean islands and in Cuba alone caused losses officially estimated at 13.18 billion dollars.

A prevention system that involves everyone from the government to urban and rural communities makes Cuba one of the best prepared Caribbean nations when it comes to prevention and mitigation of risks in case of disasters, despite the generally substantial economic damages.

In addition to legal measures to prevent human activities that accelerate the natural erosion of areas bordering the sea and the relocation of vulnerable settlements, this year the project “Increasing the climate resilience of rural households and communities through the rehabilitation of productive landscapes in selected localities of the Republic of Cuba” (Ires) began to be implemented.

The “Coastal resilience to climate change in Cuba through ecosystem based adaptation – MI COSTA” project was also created. Both initiatives are supported by the Green Climate Fund, an instrument of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In addition to boosting the resilience of rural communities and protecting coastal communities, both projects are aimed at generating information that will facilitate the scaling up of the use of ecosystem-based adaptation practices at the national level, and the model can be used in other island nations with similar conditions.

“The impacts that are already being felt today associated with climate variability and the country’s vulnerability imply a large economic burden, which is becoming even more critical given the limitations and difficulties in accessing international financing,” said Resende.

The FAO representative noted that according to the executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, Caribbean SIDS will not achieve the sustainable development committed to in the 2030 Agenda if they fail to find effective ways to adapt to climate change.

“This means that for Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean island nations the greatest challenges in relation to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda involve the indispensable creation of measures for adaptation to climate change,” Resende stressed.

A row of solar panels on La Finca Vista Hermosa farm in Guanabacoa, one of Havana’s 15 municipalities, represents one of the small energy innovations that are part of the responses by some farms in Cuba aimed at making their production more sustainable. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

Food security, also a priority

Improving sustainability, resilience and nutrition-based approaches to food systems, strengthening enabling environments for food security, as well as empowering people and communities for these strategies are also important challenges.

In this regard, Resende said that “Cuba is impacted by the steady degradation of its natural resources for food production (soil, water and biodiversity), and faces difficulties in the current context for the production, transformation and conservation of food,” which has repercussions on the instability of the physical availability of products in the markets.

For this island nation, which imports most of the food it consumes, these impacts are a challenge, “so the authorities are promoting an agenda of transformations and improvements in terms of supply and inclusive, sovereign and sustainable food systems, in compliance with the 2030 Agenda and as a priority that the country will face in the immediate future and beyond,” he said.

In July 2020 the Cuban government approved a National Plan for Food Sovereignty and Nutritional Education, which identifies as fundamental pillars the reduction of dependence on food and input imports, various intersectoral actions to bolster local food systems, and the mobilisation of educational, cultural and communication systems to strengthen food and nutritional education.

According to the objectives of the Global Action Programme on Food Security and Nutrition in Small Island Developing States, food systems should support local and family production, while providing a sufficient quantity of varied and nutritious quality food for their population, at a reasonable cost.

This transformation can help curb SIDS dependence on imports, as well as promote healthy eating and reduce obesity.

A patient receives the third dose of the Abdala anti-COVID vaccine at a hospital in Havana. Cuba has developed three vaccines against the coronavirus that could be used in other Caribbean island countries once all the steps for their international use have been completed. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

The resurgence of COVID

The resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic since late 2020 exacerbated the tension in Cuba’s weakened economy, which had to devote more resources to its hospital system, overwhelmed by the higher number of infections. However, Cuba already has three vaccines of its own: Abdala, Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus.

Authorities on the island have reaffirmed that the national biotechnology industry is in a position to produce by the end of 2021 at least 100 million doses of the vaccines, with which it intends to immunise the entire Cuban population before the end of the year as well as offer them to neighbouring countries, such as other Caribbean SIDS.

As of August 20, 27.8 percent of the island’s 11.2 million inhabitants had received the required three doses of one of the three locally produced vaccines.

On Aug. 11, the director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Carissa F. Etienne, said that in the Caribbean, COVID cases have been on the rise in the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico and Dominica – all members of the SIDS with the exception of Puerto Rico.

“In the last month, infections increased 30-fold in Martinique and there was a significant increase in hospitalisations,” she said.

Etienne announced that PAHO would use its Revolving Fund to help countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region acquire sufficient vaccines to curb the spread of COVID-19, on top of the assistance offered by Covax, a global mechanism to support the development, manufacture and distribution of vaccines.

The pandemic has severely impacted tourism, which many Caribbean economies and SIDS in general depend on. According to official figures Cuba’s tourism revenues fell in 2020 to 1.15 billion dollars – a 56.4 percent drop from 2019.

In addition to domestic problems, the tightening of the U.S. embargo is seriously hampering the Cuban economy, which shrank two percent in the first half of this year, after a 10.9 percent decline in 2020. Recovery will depend on curbing the epidemic and the rallying of the tourism industry.

(With reporting by Luis Brizuela from Havana.)

Excerpt:

Nina Salusalu works on her backyard garden, which she started with guidance from the My Kana smartphone app. Credit: Ivamere Nataro/IPS.

By Ivamere Nataro
SUVA, Fiji, Aug 24 2021 (IPS)

A smartphone app in Fiji is helping users to not only eat better but to help grow food that will contribute to a more nutritious diet.

An initiative of the University of the South Pacific and the Ministry of Health (MoH), the My Kana app was launched in 2017 to help address the growing prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Fiji and the South Pacific.

NCDs, mainly diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and respiratory diseases, accounted for 80 percent of all deaths in Fiji in 2015, an MoH report found. In 2018 the country recorded the world’s highest death rate from diabetes, with 188 fatalities per 100,000 people, according to the Asia Pacific Report.

NCDs, mainly diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and respiratory diseases, accounted for 80 percent of all deaths in Fiji in 2015. In 2018 the country recorded the world’s highest death rate from diabetes, with 188 fatalities per 100,000 people

But there is hope that the My Kana app will help make a difference. It has two components — My Meals and My Garden. My Meals allows participants to record and visualize their meals so that they can monitor what they eat and drink, and know whether their meals are balanced and healthy. They can also select ingredients, many local to the Pacific, to create recipes.

To date the app, which is free for users in the Pacific, has about 500 active users, says the country’s senior nutritionist at the MoH, Alvina Deo. My Kana also has a social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, where followers are 60 percent female. This is possibly because of women’s interest in backyard gardening and also their concern for their family’s diets, Deo said in an interview.

My Garden guides users on starting and maintaining a home garden, depending on the season, and how to record the growing process.

Adi Kelera is a happy My Kana user. “I have been able to monitor my water intake, which is something I don’t normally do,” she said, adding, “the data reflection of what I eat has motivated me to take my home exercise routine more passionately, especially in maintaining my weight and size goal.”

Kelera admits that Covid-19 restrictions have affected her lifestyle and her daily training schedule, like many other people. “The pandemic has somehow sidetracked many people from maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and before they know it, they become obese and start developing non-communicable diseases.”

However, she continues using the app, especially the food selfie option. “The app gives me an estimate amount of calories, fat and protein in my food. I find this really helpful and informative at the same time.”

Kelera reckons the app can be improved. “I think that there should a notification to remind users to stay on track and an automated plan for when they log in their details.” But she said she would recommend My Kana to her family and friends because it is user friendly.

Nina Salusalu uses the app not only to track her diet plan, but followed its guidance to start a home garden. She was able to harvest tomatoes, cabbage and beans, using containers and buckets. “I don’t have much land space to carry out home gardening, but that didn’t stop me from growing vegetables. I really appreciate this app, especially during this pandemic.”

Salusalu thinks that more people should know about My Kana. “I feel there are still smartphone users out there who are not aware of the app and they need to be educated about it as Fiji needs to tackle the issue of NCDs.”

About 817,425 Fijians, or 95 percent of the population, have access to mobile internet connectivity across 3G, 4G and 4G+ networks.

NCDs and the pandemic have both put pressure on Fiji’s already overwhelmed health resources. Covid-19 only makes health problems worse, as people with pre-existing medical conditions, including NCDs, are more likely to succumb to the virus.

The first wave of Covid-19 in 2020 saw a huge uptake on the use of My Kana app, Deo said. That is when the My Garden component was developed. “The My Kana garden component aimed to empower Fiji’s population and other South Pacific Islanders to grow our own vegetables, fruits and crops, and eat healthy,” she said.

“Through the My Kana garden component all our health facilities are encouraged to establish gardens to promote healthy eating and serve as models,” added Deo.

She noted that My Kana will also help to address the lack of NCD statistics in Fiji and the Pacific, and contribute to research in the region. “The My Kana App can contribute to food and nutrition security indicators of national development that is inclusive and sustainable, and will improve the lives and livelihood of vulnerable populations.”

Pre-Covid, the app was promoted through continuous community trainings. But with pandemic restrictions, this is now taking place on social media platforms, where followers are continuously reminded to use the app to make healthy choices.

Organic vanilla farmer, Shelley Burich, works on her farm at Vaoala. Credit: FAO.

By Keni Lesa
APIA, Samoa, Aug 23 2021 (IPS)

A woman farmer in Samoa is using innovation and technology to overcome economic hardship as the Pacific Island nation seeks ways to adapt to the challenges resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although Samoa, with a population of less than 200,000, remains one of a few countries in the world without a positive Covid-19 case, its border closed in March 2020 after the government declared a state of emergency, dealing the country’s economy a decisive blow.

The woman farmer from Samoa will soon share her story with the world in a bid to inspire others who have found themselves in a similar situation. Burich’s innovations will be among the solutions showcased at the Small Island Developing States Solutions Forum, scheduled for 30-31 August 2021

Tourism, regarded as the mainstay of the economy, has been crippled by the absence of foreign visitors for nearly two years. Hotels, restaurants and tourism-related businesses have had to shut their doors and look elsewhere to make ends meet. But it’s not just the inner circle of the tourism industry that has been affected. Domestic growers and farmers, who had relied on the steady and frequent influx of visitors, suddenly found themselves on the back foot.

Among them is Shelley Burich, the owner of an organic vanilla farm, which profited from the tourism industry. Burich’s farm and business, perched on the cool heights of Vaoala, overlooking Apia, the capital of Samoa, was booming prior to the pandemic.

“Before Covid I was relying a lot on tourists that would be coming to the islands,” said Burich. “I was getting people looking to come and tour the vanilla farm, and a lot of my business was word of mouth. So when the borders closed, that stopped.”

Like other farmers, Burich needed to be innovative to survive. She did not sit idle. Days of studying social media and innovation gave birth to her new baby, “Long Distance Vanilla.”

“I make my own composting and mulching to feed the vanilla, and from the vanilla beans we export our premium beans, which are the grade ones and twos,” she explains. “From the other beans I make value-added products like vanilla syrup, vanilla extract and vanilla powder.”

Outside-the-box thinking and digitalization were critical to transforming her fortunes.

“I decided to go full-time into the social media realm. I created an online store, and I had to figure out a way to keep my business generating products and getting it out of Samoa. My products are now being sold to Ireland, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the (United) States and all over.”

While Covid is an unwelcome challenge, Burich said it forced her to diversify. “And now I am doing a lot more on the social media platform. Even though I am sitting here in Samoa, I am actually building an online store for customers in Canada.”

But this woman farmer is not done — she has big plans in the pipeline.

“My dream is really to use (my experience) as a training farm, to get people more into growing and also teach them how to build a business online.”

The woman farmer from Samoa will soon share her story with the world in a bid to inspire others who have found themselves in a similar situation. Burich’s innovations will be among the solutions showcased at the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Solutions Forum, scheduled for 30-31 August 2021. She will share the stage with other success stories from SIDS around the globe.

The forum will create a space for government leaders, development partners, farmers, fishers, community development practitioners and leaders, entrepreneurs, women and youth to discuss, share, promote and encourage home-grown and imported solutions to respond to the challenges posed by Covid-19, and others that existed before the pandemic.

The ultimate goal is to accelerate the achievement of the agriculture, food and nutrition-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in SIDS.

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