Kaburu Anthony: Progress against extreme poverty is urgently neede...

Kaburu Anthony: Progress against extreme poverty is urgently neede...: Over the course of the last generation, global extreme poverty declined rapidly, but many are still very poor and progress against extreme ...

Progress against extreme poverty is urgently needed

Over the course of the last generation, global extreme poverty declined rapidly, but many are still very poor and progress against extreme poverty is urgently needed. However, we are currently far off track to ending extreme poverty.

The global population is racing toward 9 billion people in 2050, with nearly 3 billion expected to join the middle class in the next two decades. Meanwhile, 1.3 billion people are still trapped in extreme poverty ($1.25 per day), with another billion hovering on the brink (between $1.25 and $2.00). Countries will need to make an even deeper commitment to achieve the ambitious goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030.

Today, the issue of extreme poverty needs mass advocacy and action more than any other. Although the past decade has seen the most successful anti-poverty push in human history, life remains bleak for hundreds of millions of people affected by poverty.

The challenges of education, disease, poor sanitation and gender discrimination still weigh heavily. Additionally, the increase in wealth inequality threatens to ignite new waves of social upheaval. The current covid-19 pandemic is also potentially catastrophic for millions already hanging by a thread. It is a hammer blow for millions more who can only eat if they earn a wage. Lockdowns and global economic recession have already decimated their nest eggs.

These problems are concrete but hardly glamorous, possible to solve, but often without a known solution. No one person can solve all of them and, in any case, getting them all fixed will not end poverty tomorrow and maybe not even in 50 years.

The globe must continue to fight poverty, respond quickly and effectively to natural and man-made emergencies to ensure that 'no one is left behind' as the SDG agenda promises, this is where we need to focus our efforts.

We could also give up the lofty goals and empty promises, and focus all our energies on the concrete steps we are able to take here and now to improve the lives of the poor worldwide, we would at the very least bring some real comfort to the lives of many millions.

Personally, I would like to suggest some factors which would be helpful in our journey to reduce poverty. We can focus our development efforts and aid spending on the following seven areas where we can make the most difference.

·         Fighting Global Hunger.

·         Increased focus on countries that are fragile

·         Putting Climate change and development at the heart of all we do.

·         Promoting Trade and Economic growth.

·         Collectively act now to mitigate the impact of COVID19 pandemic.

·         Ensuring access to quality essential services such as Education, HIV and Aids, Health and Social Protection.

·         Ensuring the protection of Human rights and promoting Accountability.

Moving towards a world free of poverty:

Poverty must be analyzed in its dynamics, and although many of today’s policies succeed in reducing severe poverty, they fail in terms of the long-term objectives of poverty eradication, The interaction of different dimensions such as education, work, infrastructures and housing – to name only a few – are to be taken into account because progress in one field alone is insufficient to eradicate poverty.

Development and poverty eradication are impossible without peace and security of life and property. Conflict is an obstacle to ordinary economic and social activity in a society, among other things because it undermines opportunities for long-term investment.

If poverty does not directly lead to conflict, war and terror, it helps create a breeding ground for it and an increased risk of its breaking out. Thus, poor countries can easily become the source of problems that spread to other parts of the world.

Recipient responsibility must be strengthened, governance improved and corruption combated. The conditions for growth and development are far from good in many developing countries. In countries where corruption is endemic and governance – both in the political and in the administrative sense – is poor, national and international investors will stay away. And the poor are the ultimate losers. Good governance is a precondition for development. This is something we must all wish to promote.

The war on poverty is about promoting human rights. This is an ethical and an altruistic project, but promoting human rights is much more than that. It is also about creating conditions that promote the sustainable development of societies both locally and globally. It is about giving the population the opportunity to create a better society and to function well within it.

Poor people must therefore be empowered to make positive changes in their situation. In many poor countries such conditions are absent. The human rights of the poor are particularly inadequately protected. This applies to children’s rights, both in war and in normal situations, it applies to women, who are systematically oppressed in many countries, and it applies to the most vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and the disabled.

Human rights must be an inseparable part of the development process, because development is precisely about realizing the freedoms and possibilities implied in the concept of human rights. This is especially evident in the present context, where the focus is on the poorest.

Developing countries must be given back control over their own development. Development agencies have for far too long unempowered their cooperation partners by doing their work for them or ignoring their wishes.

At the same time the lack of coordination of donors’ efforts has led to serious administrative problems in many countries. Industrialized countries must leave the implementation and coordination of measures to the partner countries themselves, so that they can acquire real ownership of their challenges and tasks.

Education and health are to be promoted. HIV/AIDS must be combated. When a large part of the population is illiterate, weakened by HIV/AIDS and other diseases, and has neither income nor property; this hinders economic and social development.

Education is perhaps the most important precondition for development. Without education, the state receives less income that can secure basic social services, costs are high and the private sector has less access to the human and economic resources it needs. Investment in education and health is one of the most effective measures we must have for combating poverty.

Basically we have to take necessary steps to reduce the population in our world. Natural resources don’t increase according to the population which is increasing at a high speed. When we consider the families in poor countries, they have at least six or seven kids.

If every African woman had access to contraception and could choose both when she wanted to have children and how many children she wanted to have, the population increase on the continent could be 30% smaller by the end of the century–one key to reaching the goal of ending poverty there.

This would mean that more girls and women could expand their horizons, they could stay in school longer, they could have children later, they could earn more as adults, and they could invest more in their children.

But those kids do not have a proper health or the parents cannot provide proper education for them. And also those parents cannot provide good foods filled with suitable nutrients to their kids due to lack of wealth. Because of that their healthiness decreases by a considerable amount. The development of their brains becomes insufficient and due to that their ability to get a proper education decreases.

A sound environmental policy is in the interests of the poor. The poor are often those who are most affected by local and global environmental degradation, such as climate change or pollution of air and drinking water. Thus it is often the poor who benefit most from improvements in living conditions resulting from measures that prevent and reduce pollution and help to maintain ecological functions. Sound environmental and resource management prevents a worsening of the living conditions of vulnerable groups. This applies especially to indigenous peoples.

Donors must be willing to be coordinated by partner countries. They must also cooperate more closely among themselves. The form of national poverty strategies and the accompanying processes now require donors to rethink their planning. There is no need any more for the long, elaborate and donor centered planning documents of the past.

Donors should rather make short business plans to consider how they can put their technical and economic resources to the best possible use, while taking account of the other actors. This applies to all donors, public, non-government and private. The UN and the World Bank as key instruments in this coordination.

NGOs must have an active and constructive attitude to this coordination process, although they will continue to have their own agendas, principles and functions. Coordination in line with national poverty strategies presupposes an active dialogue in which partners express themselves clearly about the strengths and weaknesses of the strategies and about what they can and cannot finance.

Finally, I believe that we should dedicate our time, efforts and policy-making to the removal of barriers, including corruption, cronyism, opaque processes and subsidies that prevent capitalistic mechanisms from working.

we must also encourage organizations, individuals, governments etc who have volunteered to provide facilities such as pure water, foods filled with nutrients, living places to poor people and also those who’re conducting charity services to develop their lives, by offering special rewards and admiring them in various ways would be a good way to increase the number of voluntary workers.

2020 should be remembered as the year we put extreme poverty on the defensive, but getting there will require world leaders to match bold ideas with strong leadership and immediate action, we now also need to think more broadly and recognize the greater complexity inherent in the concept of poverty around the world. #HumanityFirst #SDGI #EndingPoverty #sustainablecommunities #zerohunger #SDGs #foodsecurity #poverty 

Kaburu Anthony: Africa most vulnerable to the effects of climate c...

Kaburu Anthony: Africa most vulnerable to the effects of climate c...: Africa, the world's second-largest continent, is inhabited by almost a billion people. Because of the interaction of climate change wit...

Africa most vulnerable to the effects of climate change

Africa, the world's second-largest continent, is inhabited by almost a billion people. Because of the interaction of climate change with other stresses in Africa—such as widespread poverty, population growth, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), the current COVID19 pandemic and overgrazing and other ecosystem damage—it is considered to be the continent most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Projected impacts of climate change on Africa include biodiversity loss (extinction of plant and animal species), diminished agriculture with increased hunger, increased disease, forced migration of populations (especially out of the Sahel), and more. About 70% of Africa's population lives by farming, often subsistence farming, with the poorest members of society tending to be most dependent on agriculture.

Climate change represents a major threat for the coming decades, particularly in Africa which has more climate sensitive economies than any other continent. Some regions in Africa have become drier during the last century (e.g. the Sahel) and it is projected that the continent will experience a stronger temperature increase trend than the global average.

Africa has often been identified as one of the most vulnerable regions to climate variability and change because of multiple stresses and low resilience, arising from endemic poverty, weak institutions, as well as recurrent droughts and associated complex emergencies and conflicts.

Climate-related risks have significant impacts on African populations and economies and drive large allocations to emergency resources. Under nutrition in turn undermines the resilience of vulnerable populations decreasing their ability to cope and adapt to the consequences of climate change and their ability grow economically.

Climate variability and change considerably influence shocks, trends and seasonality that observed and predicted in Sub-Saharan African countries, and that represent sources of stresses in the lives and livelihoods of exposed communities. Increased temperatures deplete land of its moisture more rapidly and can lead to regional water scarcity, salinization of agricultural lands, and to the destruction of crops. As temperatures increase, precipitation is becoming more variable over most of Africa.

For some regions, rainfall variability and unpredictability has been substantial in the past forty to fifty years,there has been an overall annual decline in rainfall observed since the end of the 1960s over Africa with some regions experiencing greater declines than others. For instance, the Sahel and Southern Africa have become drier during the twentieth century

There can be no single best approach or sets of approaches to climate change adaptation for a continent as large and diverse as Africa. However, there are a number of considerations that can help frame particular strategies and tactics. i outline here some of them.

Greater understanding of African climate and climate change – Science to understand climate in Africa is woefully lacking compared to much of the rest of the world. Simply put, substantially more investment is needed to improve our understanding African climate and its relationship to global climate processes.

More research by Africans for Africa – The impact of science investment will be greater if it is driven to a much greater extent by African researchers responsible to their own constituencies and governments than is currently the case. For example, African farmers are rightly more interested in knowledge on current rainfall variability that can inform planting decisions than multi-decadal trends in average temperature that may be more of interest to the international community.

More investment in agricultural research and new approaches to water investment – With or without additional Africa-centric climate research, the worldwide biotechnology revolution now unfolding holds tremendous promise for agricultural adaptation in Africa’s heterogeneous landscapes. Capitalizing on the opportunity will require a new prioritization of agricultural research in general and new approaches to national, international, and private research partnerships. For much of the continent, adaptation will be further facilitated by investments emphasizing improved on-farm soil and water management rather than expansion of large-scale irrigation.

Broadened approaches to food security – Better adapted seeds and agricultural practices are important to food security in Africa under climate change but so too is investment in supporting storage and transportation infrastructure as well as market access within and between African states. In many cases though, food security will only be assured if both physical and economic access to international agricultural markets is assured. This requires international regimes that support predictable and reliable trade flows as well as economic environments that support national income growth.

Urbanization and migration as adaptation strategies – Urbanization can be a source for income growth and a positive adaptive response to climate change. But only if it is driven at least as much by the pull of opportunity as the push from worsening rural conditions. National economic policy and its relation to urban growth is thus critical to rural adaption options.

Climate change is unlikely to drive migration out of the continent at rates significant to African populations. However, the political implications of these “small” numbers will still be high, giving Europe and the rest of the international community incentive to ensure an international system fair to African trade and investment.

Health systems preparedness – Strong health systems arguably provide the single best pathway for livelihood improvement with or without climate change. The global threat of climate change-related emerging infectious disease draws international attention, but it cannot be addressed without strengthening underlying national health systems.

Conflict and cooperation – Climate change will increase stress on resources as well as existing formal and informal institutions to manage them at local, national, and international levels. But climate change will also bring new impetus for cooperation. As important as it is to focus on conflict mitigation, we should not miss the opportunity to use the threats from climate change as a chance to foster new cooperation.
Finally, the situation is even further compounded by the fact that in most African countries, climate change remains a marginal issue to the pressing issue of food availability and security, political crises, poverty, natural resource management, energy access and social infrastructure. 

With more than 7.7 billion people on the planet, it’s easy to assume someone else will tackle and solve the issue of the mother earth. Yet it is an issue that affects us all. The Climate Change Phenomenon is indeed a big challenge; concerted efforts must be geared towards reducing our vulnerability as a people and as a continent.

Leaders across the continent must recognize a common set of interests in promoting global policies that will mitigate the human behaviors contributing to climate change and allow Africa to adapt to the effects which are already being felt, and as such we’re all responsible for working towards a sustainable future in which everyone is able to enjoy a good quality of life without destroying the very things we rely on to survive. #ClimateChange #Adaptation #ClimateAction #SDG13 #Sustainability #UrgentActions

Kaburu Anthony: Refugees and IDPs at risk due to COVID-19

Kaburu Anthony: Refugees and IDPs at risk due to COVID-19: Today there are over 735 million people in the world living in extreme poverty. They are very vulnerable to the effects of the coronavirus....

Refugees and IDPs at risk due to COVID-19

Today there are over 735 million people in the world living in extreme poverty. They are very vulnerable to the effects of the coronavirus. Refugees and other forcibly displaced people are the most vulnerable of all. Of the more than 70 million refugees and other forcibly displaced people in the world today, 84 percent are in developing countries and 33 percent are in the world’s poorest countries.

As COVID-19 rages on, hundreds of millions of people located on every continent watch from the safety of their homes and regularly practice six-feet social distancing from other humans, as if they were the repelling poles of two magnets.

However, for many refugees and IDPs, such luxuries are not possible. Millions continue to lack virtually every provision needed to protect them from this deadly virus. At this moment, refugees are the most vulnerable people in the world. These people are facing the possibility of a “coronavirus catastrophe” that could cause millions of deaths.

Aside from living conditions, adherence to COVID-19 policies is nearly impossible to achieve for refugees. Access to appropriate facilities that allow for hand-washing are uncommon in many locations, and hand sanitizer and other similar products are hard to come by, as are masks and other kinds of personal protective equipment. 

It is obvious that the vulnerabilities that refugees and IDPs face run deep and have been exacerbated by the spread of COVID-19. Structural inadequacies, lack of safety nets and cultural clashes have all contributed to the suffering of these individuals and families.

The Covid-19 crisis reveals the full force of unjust structures that place refugees, IDPs and very poor people at great risk. It also shows the dangers of political discourse that emphasizes national interests to the exclusion of the world’s most vulnerable people. International responses to the Covid-19 crisis should prioritize greater social inclusion of very poor people and those who have been forcibly displaced.

The crisis also indicates that our obligations to the citizens of our own country must not negate our duties to global humanity. Active support for the poor and the displaced will be essential in longer-term efforts for a more just, more inclusive and healthier post-crisis world.

But, hopefully, this global pandemic will shine a light on these important problems—many of which existed long before COVID-19—so that millions more become aware that we need to support these populations, not just for the sake of their health, but for the sake of everyone’s health, both now and in the future. 

We must support refugees and the IDPs during the pandemic in order to address their healthcare needs and any potential for violations of their human rights,The ultimate aim is to prevent and control COVID-19. In order to do so, refugees and the IDPs, like all other people, must have access to timely information and resources, must feel safe enough to report when they have symptoms, and should be able to seek high quality care when they are in need.

Developed countries and international organizations should provide funds to enable developing countries and humanitarian organizations to acquire the medical supplies needed to treat those infected by the virus and to prevent the spread of infection to vulnerable displaced people and to others in extreme poverty.

The response should address the growing hunger and even starvation that is rising in poor countries due to the loss of jobs and the restricted movement brought by the pandemic. In developed countries like the United States, Covid-19 testing and treatment should be available at no cost to the poor and the displaced regardless of their immigration status. Asylum seekers should be treated in ways that reduce their vulnerability to the coronavirus and provide them with screening and with treatment when needed.

Our global community must continue to fund and support international relief agencies, as well as aid to those countries that open their borders to refugees. As coronavirus cases and deaths continue to multiply around the world, the time to act and make important reforms is now.

Kaburu Anthony: The covid19 pandemic is a call to action on climat...

Kaburu Anthony: The covid19 pandemic is a call to action on climat...: The COVID-19 global pandemic is pushing institutions and governments to their limits. People are worried about their health, their families...

The covid19 pandemic is a call to action on climate change

The COVID-19 global pandemic is pushing institutions and governments to their limits. People are worried about their health, their families, losing their jobs and the uncertainty the future holds. The economic fallout of this crisis is still uncertain too, and we may well wake up in a few months to a world completely transformed. This pandemic has come in the backdrop of another evident global crisis, a much slower one with even higher risks – climate change.

Our response to this health crisis will shape the climate crisis for decades to come. The efforts to revive economic activity — the stimulus plans, bailouts and back-to-work programs being developed now — will help determine the shape of our economies and our lives for the foreseeable future, and they will have effects on carbon emissions that reverberate across the planet for thousands of years.

But this global crisis is also an inflection point for that other global crisis, the slower one with even higher stakes, which remains the backdrop against which modernity now plays out. As the #UnitedNations’ secretary general recently noted, the threat from coronavirus is temporary whereas the threat from heat waves, floods and extreme storms resulting in the loss of human life will remain with us for years.

To stop climate change, we need to stop burning fossil fuels. The lockdown measures show how reducing road transport and electricity production can lower carbon dioxide emissions, and I am keenly interested in how these changes have impacted the atmosphere and how atmospheric measurements can help us understand emissions changes happening now and into the future.

However, it may be disappointing that this unprecedented economic disruption has been forecast to reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by only 8%. To really address climate change, we need a major shift in our energy production to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. It is helpful to use less energy and, amidst the tragedy of the coronavirus, people (and animals) have also seen the benefits of reduced noise and air pollution during the lockdown. But we cannot address climate change without abandoning fossil fuel energy.

This crisis has also exposed much vulnerability that can be traced back to the unsustainable development that has ravaged the environment, and yet failed to eradicate poverty and hunger. Governments should take a moment to reflect, learn from past mistakes and redirect development towards a sustainable future. Medical professionals are putting their lives on the line to contain the virus; decision-makers owe it to them to rebuild the world in a way that makes it more resilient to similar situations in the future.

The priority now is to control the pandemic and save lives. As the interventions begin to have an effect and we start to emerge from this terrible crisis, it will be time to consider how new investments can help us build a cleaner, greener and fairer future.

This is a time for all of us to reflect upon the impact of our actions on the environment. While the solution to the pandemic requires all of us to sit back and ensure social distancing, the solution to climate change requires all of us to be proactive and take individual actions to reduce our carbon footprint.

With the pandemic looming over our heads, economic activity has also come to a standstill across the world. In the short-term, the response to the pandemic seems to have a positive impact on the emission levels across the world.

However, amidst the economic downturn around the world, the future of the battle against climate change seems grim. In efforts to recoup industrial activity to propel economic growth, there will be a lack of political will and availability of financial resources to continue the fight against climate change.

Finally, The Covid-19 pandemic has had an immediate impact on our home and work environments, but when it comes to THE environment, the picture is far less clear. I believe that the current situation may have a big influence on our approach to pollution, moving forward

The lessons learned once we will have this crisis behind us will be very important to (rethink) the problem of air pollution,Unfortunately climate change will still be around and will not really be changed by this crisis.

The ongoing #COVID-19 crisis, has seen how connected we all are and, importantly, how it is possible to work together and mobilise resources when needed. We have the opportunity now to work together as a global community to rebuild our economy and our lives to be more sustainable and resilient.

We must take the correct lessons from this pandemic. The act of staying home to prevent the spread of the virus is a reflection of social cohesion and community will. We must also use this community will to act as climate advocates and become more environmentally conscious.

All change begins with individual action, and each step, no matter how small, affects the entire planet. Lockdowns and distancing won’t save the world from warming. But amid this crisis, we have a chance to build a better future. #covid19pandemic #covid19response #climateresilience #climatechange #climatecrisis #climateactionnow #climatesolutions #SDGs #FightClimateChange #resilient #motherearth #environmentalsustainability