Kaburu Anthony: Coronovirus is a wakeup call for humanity

Kaburu Anthony: Coronovirus is a wakeup call for humanity: Coronavirus disease is spreading rapidly around the world, More than 731,735 people have been infected and the death toll is over 34,663 pe...

Kaburu Anthony: Coronovirus is a wakeup call for humanity

Kaburu Anthony: Coronovirus is a wakeup call for humanity: Coronavirus disease is spreading rapidly around the world, More than 731,735 people have been infected and the death toll is over 34,663 pe...

Coronovirus is a wakeup call for humanity

Coronavirus disease is spreading rapidly around the world, More than 731,735 people have been infected and the death toll is over 34,663 people. The numbers are increasing daily, and the disease has impacted at least 199 countries.

The rapid spread of novel coronavirus has prompted government, business, and civil society to take dramatic action—canceling events large and small, restricting travel, and shutting down major segments of the economy on which nearly all of us depend. It is a demonstration of our ability, when the imperative is clear, for deep and rapid global cooperation and change at a previously unimaginable speed and scale.

There is an obvious desire to protect ourselves and our loved ones. But we are also seeing something more as communities mobilize to address the crisis—a sense of mutual responsibility, born of a recognition that we are ultimately bound to a common fate. The speed of the resulting global shift is beyond any prior human experience.

At the same time, the crisis of the coronavirus pandemic focuses attention in our global disastrous deficiencies of a profiteering health care system. Corporations are competing only to increase their take from health expenditures while minimizing the amount of money they spend on providing care. This system is reasonably proficient in providing boutique care for the very rich at exorbitant prices, but it is disastrously deficient in addressing the health care needs of ordinary people affordably. It is similarly deficient in anticipating, preparing for, and responding to public health emergencies such as the one we are in now.  

I sense that as our eyes open to this reality, we are seeing a simultaneous awakening to the imperative to deal with a host of other system failures that imperil our common future. For example:

• An economic system that values nature only for its market price, ignores Earth’s limits, and wantonly destroys the stability of its climate and the health and purity of its air, water, and soil. This directly imperils our survival and well-being.

• Military expenditures that consume more than half of all federal discretionary funding to prepare for conventional wars of the past and engage us in unwinnable conflicts born of environmental and social collapse. This represents wasted resources that would be better applied to addressing the underlying sources of current security threats.

• A financial system devoted to generating speculative profits for the richest without the burden of contributing to meaningful livelihoods and security for those who do useful work. Money must serve us, not enslave us.

•An education system that promotes maximizing personal financial returns as the highest moral obligation to society. Education should prepare us to transform a self-destructive system into one that will support our long-term future.

We need leaders committed to effective government of, by, and for the people.

For far too long, we have ignored the failures of a system that reduces ever more people to homelessness, incarceration, refugee camps, permanent indebtedness, and servitude to institutions devoted to conflict and the generation of unearned financial returns. The challenges are monumental and are likely to be addressed only as we begin to understand that business as usual is simply not an option.

This is humanity’s wake-up call. As we awaken to the truth of the profound failure of our existing institutions, we also awaken to the truth of our possibilities and interconnections with one another and with Earth. With that awakening comes a recognition that we must now learn to live lightly on the Earth, to war no more, and to dedicate ourselves to the well-being of all in an interdependent world.

The developed countries also face a special challenge. they have much that the world admires. But far from being a model for others to emulate, they represent an extreme example of what the world must now leave behind.

As a global nation, we have for too long battled over simplistic political ideologies that limit our choices to granting ultimate power either to government or corporations, both of which are controlled by the richest among us. The coronavirus pandemic is a powerful reminder that effective government committed to the common good is essential to our well-being, and that there is no place in our common future for politicians committed to proving that government cannot work.

We need leaders committed to effective government of, by, and for the people. These leaders must simultaneously recognize that the collective well-being of all depends on institutions in all three sectors—government, business, and civil society—that are effective at, committed to, and accountable for serving the well-being of the communities that create them.

These are challenging and frightening times. As we respond to the coronavirus emergency and the immediate needs of the people and communities impacted by it, let us also keep in view the systemic needs and possibilities that crisis exposes. Despite the trauma all around us, let us embrace this moment as an opportunity to move forward to create a better world for all. #StopCoronavirus #HealthyLiving #humanityandinclusivity #humanityfirst #spreadlove #humanspirit #humankind #spreadpositivity #hope #courageous #bebold

Kaburu Anthony: Demand for water in Africa is soaring

Kaburu Anthony: Demand for water in Africa is soaring: Today, more than one out of nine people in the world lack access to safe drinking water, namely 783 million people, and more than two out o...

Demand for water in Africa is soaring

Today, more than one out of nine people in the world lack access to safe drinking water, namely 783 million people, and more than two out of five, lack adequate sanitation (2.5 billion people). Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation that is 1.5 million preventable deaths each year. Seen over a day, more than 4,500 children die from waterborne diseases despite the continent boasting of having numerous natural water sources such as lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, springs, rainwater, aquifers, and ocean water.

The most hit hard is Africa, roughly 40 percent of Africans, mostly the rural poor, will not get access to clean water any time soon, a fact that exacerbates poverty, hunger, and disease. And while rich countries worry about obesity, recent droughts in the Sahel and Horn of Africa have forced millions of Africans to flee their ancestral lands in search of food.

Meanwhile, a doubling of the continent’s population in the first quarter of this century is set to significantly increase demand for Africa’s water too, risking groundwater depletion and a gradual destruction of precious ecosystems.

This state of affairs is further compounded as the world gets warmer, the rains pour heavier and oceans rise, making rural inhabitants migrate to cities in their millions. African cities are under dual pressure from uncontrolled urbanization and flooding, worsened by climate-induced water stress. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change expects climate change to hit Africa harder than anywhere else.

Improvements in both of these areas have been made in the past decade, but huge numbers of Africans still live without these basic necessities.  Lack of access to water and sanitation is a matter of life and death. Contaminated water and inadequate sanitation help transmit diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery and typhoid.

The impact of inadequate water access stretches across all sectors of development: health, education, gender equality, economic development, food security, and even national security. Safe, accessible water is essential to the health of people and communities, critical to ecosystems, and indispensable for economic prosperity.

Sustainable safe water access is the foundation for a sustainable community. It is also important to hygiene, hydration, sanitation, safety, and opportunity. Those with it in the developed world often take it for granted, but if you live in an area without access to clean water, it drastically affects your sanitation and your health—and for women, in particular—it can be devastating, because the women are often the people in the community who are spending their days and risking their safety to find and carry home the water.

Solutions to the crisis

·         My first take is that we need to get serious about water, which is central to several critical challenges from health and hunger to energy and security. Water is more than a commodity – it’s a source of life and livelihoods. Every culture in the world recognizes water as the source of all life, and yet the international community has held back from giving access to water the prominence and backing it deserves.

·         Because sub-Saharan Africa is subject to more extreme climate variability than other regions, it needs improved water storage capacity. Large dam projects would create a more sustainable reserve of water resources to combat the burden of climate fluctuations, but other disagree, stating the harmful environmental impact of large dams.

·          More water treaties are needed; transboundary water agreements have cultivated international cooperation and reduced the "probability of conflict and its intensity."

·         Better donor emphasis on water development is needed. I am concerned that global environmental issues are upstaging Africa-specific issues of water development.

·         Small-scale agricultural improvements also offer a solution to water stress, including the harvest of water in shallow wells, drip irrigation for crops, the use of pumps, and other technological innovations. The key thing is the concept of green water as opposed to blue water. Blue water is the water we see in streams. Green water is the water we don’t see in the soil, and green water accounts for two-thirds of the water supply." Farmers can access green water through drip irrigation (systems that slowly and consistantly deliver water to plant’s toot system), supplemental irrigation (supplementary to natural rainfall rather than the primary source of moisture during periods of drought) and rainwater harvesting (the collection of rainwater for crops, which reduces reliance on irrigation). Crops can grow poorly even during periods of rainfall, and most farms in Africa suffer from nitrogen and phosphorus depletion in soil. One way to assuage water stress in terms of food scarcity is to increase water-holding capacity with organic fertilizers that would increase availability and efficacy of green water.

·         The hydrological, engineering and social sciences have great roles to play to enable African economies overcome the acute and often devastating water problems confronting them now and in future decades. This can be done through a framework that promotes efficiency, equity and sustainability.

·         A more comprehensive approach to water resources management that enables sound policy development and strong institutional set-up, private sector initiatives and effective river basin management is needed and would constitute the pillars of sustainable water use for human consumption and development.

·         The expansion of supplies may be achieved through scientifically designed water harvesting technologies and water transfers from areas of water surplus to those of water deficit. Science could also promote resource intensification to achieve a higher output per unit of water, particu- larly in agriculture, which accounts for some 88% of the continent's water allocation.

·         Agrohydrological studies should continue to provide increasing guidance for economic diversification in favour of activities, or crops and species, which consume less water. The social sciences should provide appropriate economic and regulatory instruments for combination with technological ones for water demand management. Science offers many possibilities for helping to resolve the problems plaguing Africa's water sector. This can be achieved by bringing about a balance between demands for and supply of water for the competing needs of the different sectors of the national economies. Science also offers the opportunity for a better understanding of the interrelationships between the hydrological and biogeochemical cycles on the one hand, and food production on the other, and provides the framework and tools for linking water resources planning with landscape/ecological planning.

·         Development partners will have to support Africa’s quest to develop its capacities for the implementation of SDG6, especially in the development of bankable water and sanitation projects. Closing inequality gaps in the accessibility, quality and availability of water, sanitation and hygiene should be at the heart of government funding and planning strategies.

·         Governments must, however, lead the efforts while external agencies work in a way that supports and builds government capacity to lead and to succeed. All stakeholders must therefore commit to work collectively and adhere to key behaviours that strengthen countries’ capabilities to deliver permanent and accountable access to water and sanitation services.

Furthermore, lack of access to clean and safe water has frustrated poverty reduction efforts and hindered economic prosperity. For instance, Sub-Saharan Africa loses 5% of its GDP per year as a result of water-related challenges. In addition, 40 billion hours per year, which could have otherwise been used on productive activities, are spent searching for water.

Improved access to quality water is a long-term goal that requires more than humanitarian funds. Failure to deal decisively with water and water-related issues at the country level, as well as in the context of large drainage basins involving several countries, could further result to more serious Water problems in Africa.

Finally, we cannot enter the 21st century with the usual commercial approach we are used to having concerning water management. We need a political determination; we must make a realistic assessment of our water management capabilities in specific circumstances. We must dare. We must show unfailing commitment to equity.

Sustainable water management represents long term security for all of us therefore urgent action is needed if we are to avoid a global water crisis.  Together, we must all aim to ensure sustainable access to safe water and sanitation for the most vulnerable communities through innovative partnerships and creativity #WaterAccess #Sustainability #SDG6 #SDGS #HumanityandInclusivity #AfricaWaterSolutions #SustainableCommunities 

Kaburu Anthony: Community Mobilization is Key to Ending Global Hun...

Kaburu Anthony: Community Mobilization is Key to Ending Global Hun...: As our planet warms and the population continues to increase, one of the most significant issues is going to be that of food security - how...

Community Mobilization is Key to Ending Global Hunger

As our planet warms and the population continues to increase, one of the most significant issues is going to be that of food security - how do we continue to feed people when the amount of arable land is finite and the plants themselves are coming under increasing threat from drought, heat and fungal attack?

Over the last 30 years, significant progress has been made towards reducing poverty and global hunger. However, today, nearly 823 million people or one in eight is undernourished. By 2050, that number could grow by two billion. Most of the world’s hungry live in developing countries.

It’s time to rethink the solution to ending hunger. We know that hand-outs don’t work. We know that top-down models of aid don’t work. We do know that ending hunger is possible within our generation and that world hunger has been reduced dramatically in the last 30 years. So, what works? How can we end world hunger?

There are critical elements that we know gets results: starting with mobilizing everyone in the community, empower women, and fostering effective partnerships with local government etc. Here’s why:

Community engagements; Mobilizing communities to be the agents of their own change are central to ending hunger. Hungry people are not the problem – they are the solution.  People living in conditions of hunger and poverty are best placed to come up with answers to the challenges they face. They have both the talent and the will to take charge of their own lives. They know their own needs and are aware of the resources their communities have and those they lack.

That’s why mobilizing the “people power” that gives communities the clout and voice to demand the resources that are rightfully theirs ignites communities to end their own hunger. We must focus on training members of communities to take action in the areas of health, food security, education family income and local government, who, in turn, are mobilizing millions of others to do the same. Implication of the community representatives in the programs from the early planning stages could be key determinants of program ownership, acceptability and sustainability.

Empowering women; Empowering women and girls is critical to ending hunger, extreme poverty and malnutrition around the world. When women have equal access to education and participate fully in decision-making, they are the key driving force against hunger and poverty. Women with equal rights are better educated, healthier, and have greater access to land, jobs and financial resources. Their increased earning power in turn raises household incomes.

There are over 600 million small farmers and herders in the world, but one of the key reasons there are so many hungry people is because nearly more than a half of those farmers are not women. Even though they are as equally capable as male farmers, these women face challenges that cause them to grow less food.

By enhancing women’s control over decision-making in the household, gender equality also translates into better prospects and greater well-being of children, reducing poverty of future generations. Indeed, if women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million. It’s true that countries that empower women tend to see lower rates of stunting (low height for age), the primary measure of chronic under nutrition.

Government partnership; Improving government policy, increasing political will and application of community adapted strategies in tackling this issue is fundamental. It should be recognized, not only as a public health issue, but as a fundamental human right especially for children to eat. Starting life disadvantaged with adverse consequences from malnutrition (ill health, mental retardation, high malnutrition related morbidity and mortality resulting especially from under-five deaths) is a neglected but serious developmental hindrance to Sub - Saharan Africa.

The use of modern agricultural techniques to increase food production is very essential. Provision or subsidization of governments to provide fertilizers, use genetically modified foods to resist adverse weather conditions and improve yield could be possible solutions to be investigated. Further research involving the potential acceptability of new agricultural technologies, modern farming methods and genetically modified foods in a Sub Saharan African context should be undertaken.

Finally, the solution to this problem of malnutrition in developing countries entails a multisectorial approach with well defined and achievable goals. The ministries of health, education, agricultural, environment, universities and research organizations and other non-governmental organizations or international donors must work together if any tangible outcomes are expected.

Working faster and bigger has to be our ultimate goal so that the small farmers of today can be fed and can prepare for the rapidly growing population. Another key factor in ensuring food security is inclusive growth – growth that promotes access for everyone to food, assets and resources.

We need to also think bigger, ask the difficult questions, and confront the larger issues of poverty and inequality if we ever hope to end hunger once and for all, ending world hunger can be done #ZeroHunger #CommunityMobilization #SDG2 #SDGS #Sustainability #Humanity #FoodSecurity #NutritionforAll #SustainableAgriculture #EmpowerWomen #SDG5

Kaburu Anthony: How gender equality can help save the planet

Kaburu Anthony: How gender equality can help save the planet: Around the world, women are pulling above their weight to sustain communities despite barriers in access to nearly everything: education, i...

How gender equality can help save the planet

Around the world, women are pulling above their weight to sustain communities despite barriers in access to nearly everything: education, information, paid work, credit, lands, freedom of movement, and resources such as adequate seeds and tools. And while women often stand at the forefront of climate change impacts, they are often excluded from the economic and political fora shaping the future of the planet’s development.

Preserving biodiversity and genetic plant resources

In developing countries, rural women make up almost half of the agricultural labor force and play a major role in caring for the natural resources on which their households depend, including fisheries and forests. Compared to men, they are more likely to prioritize a healthy diet for their children, and they have better knowledge of how to use herbal remedies to treat sick relatives.

Women provide nearly 80 percent of the total wild vegetable food collected in 135 subsistence-based societies, which contributes to dietary diversity as well as traditional medicine, upon which up to 80 percent of people in many developing countries rely. “Women often have a more specialized knowledge of various local and neglected species,” notes a UNEP report

Yet, women often have crop yields that are 20 to 30 percent lower than those of men – known as a “yield gap” – due to inequitable access to adequate agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers and improved seeds. In addition, they rarely receive benefits from large-scale commercialization of products, such as medicines and cosmetics, that are based on native species and the associated traditional knowledge. Overcoming these gaps could greatly contribute to global food and income security.

Exploring and sustainably using marine ecosystems

Ocean-based economic sectors are valued at USD 3 to 6 trillion per year globally, and marine ecosystems also provide essential services to humanity for free. They produce oxygen, protect coastal areas from flooding and erosion, and generate as much as 50 percent of animal protein for human consumption in numerous countries.

Women contribute to ocean-based livelihoods, conservation, waste disposal and disaster-risk reduction, but their efforts have been typically ignored, undermining their ability to inform and benefit from marine and coastal management.

They make up half of the workforce processing, cleaning and selling fish, but they are “largely concentrated in low-skilled, low-paid, seasonal jobs without health, safety and labor right protections,” illustrates UN Women. “They also earn approximately 64 percent of men’s wages for the same work in aquaculture and face the risks of ocean degradation with fewer resources on hand to build resilience.”

In regions such as Asia-Pacific, some coastal areas are becoming feminized as men move to cities to look for jobs, and the women who are left behind are increasingly exposed to climate change impacts such as natural disasters.

Meanwhile, some of the foremost leaders in ocean exploration have been women, such as Sylvia Earle, who pioneered the development of deep-sea submersibles; Marie Tharp, who produced the first world ocean floor map, disproving theories of an entirely flat seafloor; and Cindy Lee Van Dover, who has been unraveling mysteries of the deep sea through nearly 50 expeditions.

Embracing sustainable energy to fight climate change

Consuming less energy and adopting more sustainable energy sources are essential to mitigating global warming, and research has shown that women are more supportive of these strategies than men.

Hence, women can be instrumental in shaping better policies, opening new markets as energy entrepreneurs, and transforming energy use at the household level. In adopting cleaner sources of energy and more efficient ways to use them, women can also help fight indoor air pollution.

In Bangladesh, for example, air pollution contributes to 49,000 premature deaths every year, and four out of ten households use mostly firewood to cook. Improved cookstoves, biogas from manure and solar panels are some of the innovations women across the world are introducing into their communities, transforming habits and perceptions for a greener, healthier, future.

Managing natural resources to build peace

The more women can access and manage natural resources such as water, land, minerals and forests, the more chances a country has of recovering from conflict and setting the foundations for long-lasting peace.

Such is the realization that is guiding international efforts to unlock the peace-building potential of women in war-torn countries. In peace-building contexts, women are usually responsible for providing families with water, food and energy, but do not have a voice in policy-making or as forces for economic recovery.

Sustainable resource use and equitable benefit distribution are fundamental to peaceful, prosperous societies. Failing to capitalize on women’s roles in natural resource management can perpetuate inequity and undermine recovery from conflict, point out UN agencies working at the intersection of women, peace and the environment.

Building true consensus on sustainable development

Sustainably using the world’s natural resources calls for broad consensus. Women make up more than half of the world’s population, and they are often the main users and custodians of the resources their families depend on to survive. Making their perspectives, aspirations and experiences count matters.

Finally, there is optimism that we are headed in the right direction. This optimism will only be justified if efforts are sustained in countries where the most progress has been made and intensified in countries that are lagging behind. The current #SDGs are crucial in getting countries to achieve the current progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment

Kaburu Anthony: The plight of children in the 21st century

Kaburu Anthony: The plight of children in the 21st century: Through-out the world hundreds of thousands of children and young people leave their homes for a number of reasons from ill health to abjec...

The plight of children in the 21st century

Through-out the world hundreds of thousands of children and young people leave their homes for a number of reasons from ill health to abject poverty, or are simply abandoned by adults who are barely able to look after themselves let alone hungry children who may be too disadvantaged to help seek out an existence on the land.

African children are being left further and further behind and will make up more than half of the world’s poor by 2030, An estimated 87 million African children will be born into poverty each year in the 2020s,its also true that about 40% of Africans still live on less than $1.90 a day.

In a sad note,Africa could have one billion undernourished, malnourished and hungry children and young people by 2050 if current levels continue unabated. More than half of African countries are currently off course to meet targets required in the African regional nutrition strategy (2015-2025). Just nine countries will meet the target of reducing stunting by 40% by 2025.

A child dies every three seconds globally due to food deprivation – 10,000 children every day – but although figures show an improvement in child hunger at a global level, it is getting worse in some parts of  Africa, where the problem is largely a question of political will.

Child hunger is fundamentally a political problem; it is the offspring of the unholy alliance of political indifference, unaccountable governance, and economic mismanagement. Persistent and naked though the reality is, it remains a silent tragedy, one that remains largely unacknowledged and tolerated, perhaps because it is a poor man’s problem.

It is completely unacceptable that children are still going hungry in the 21st century. The statistics are truly alarming. Although the world now produces more food than ever, it hasn’t resulted in better diets.

On the other hand, on average, women are still having four to five children, and it’s the part of the world where poverty is coming down most slowly, partly because of slow growth but also because of very high levels of inequality, a child born into poverty faces greater risks of illiteracy; greater risks of mortality before the age of 5. They’re between two and three times more likely to die before their fifth birthday. They are far less likely to escape poverty themselves, which means that they will become the transmission mechanism for poverty to another generation.

Transferring more monetary resources to children who are living in poverty has to be part of the solution, but we also know that money is not enough. It’s critically important that these children get access to basic nutritional services, the basic health interventions, and the school systems that they need to escape poverty.

If poverty reduction targets are not met, the world will fall short on other sustainable development goals in education, health and gender equality. Children are our future but the future of this rising generation is in peril.

Together, the global community, NGOs and development partners can work to change this reality and create an everyday that brings stories of opportunity and hope. To achieve this, we need to build a community filled with care and love, education and healthcare, empowerment and sustainability.

Global leaders must #ALSO do everything in their power, not only to lift children out of poverty, but to protect, nurture and help them realise their full potential. The most successful anti-poverty movement will be the one that leaves no one behind by ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions, everywhere. #Hope4Children #ChildrenInNeed #HumanityandInclusion #HumanRights #SharedProsperity #Sustainability #ProperGovernance #FutureGenerations #SDG1 #SDGs