Archive for category: Developing Countries

Information and stories about developing countries.

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Tax on Carbon Dioxide Emissions to Potentially Help South Africa’s Poor

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This year, South Africa has launched a new tax on carbon dioxide emissions in an effort to create a lower carbon future and a greener economy.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has announced a Carbon Tax Policy White Paper that will describe the placement of taxes based on pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. Currently, South Africans already pay some unofficial carbon emission taxes, such as taxes on automobile emissions and electricity. However, the new carbon tax policy would introduce a new tax of 120 rands, or about 12 dollars, per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The tax will be effective in 2015 and increase 10 percent between 2015 and 2020.

South Africa is one of the 20 nations that produce the most carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Increasing use of fossil fuels in recent years has led to rapid climate change. For developing or poor nations, the warming climate means that people are losing the ability to grow enough food.

In other places, environmental disasters bring ruin to land. Drying water sources means that women and children will have to walk farther and farther to find water. As carbon emissions increase, inequality and poverty only grow. Thus, it is imperative for nations such as South Africa to make a difference by reducing their carbon footprint.

The creation of a stricter carbon emissions tax means that the government, businesses, civil society and other stakeholders must have the same understanding of carbon emissions: it is something that needs to be eliminated progressively.

By enforcing taxes, the government of South Africa provides an incentive for companies and organizations to take up greener technologies. This would help to shift production from a high emissions approach to a new standard of a green technology.

Though the carbon tax sounds like a good way to fight environmental degradation, the tax could still negatively affect poorer households. The poor of South Africa spend significantly more of their income on food and energy. In some instances, these poor will eventually spend up to 40 percent more of their income on such basic necessities.

Furthermore rising coal-based electricity prices have increased more and more in recent years. This has put enormous pressure on low-income households. For these households that don’t have the luxury of spending freely on energy, a tax on carbon dioxide producing energy sources could be a great burden.

Moreover, there is also a worry that the carbon tax won’t be strict enough due to the possibility of exemptions. The proposed carbon tax provides a tax-free exemption threshold of 60 percent. When such exemptions exist, it is easy for carbon emissions to simply be ignored as groups or companies vie for exemptions. Exemptions mean that the people may be tempted to prioritize money over truly reducing the carbon footprint.

Perhaps the best way to think about this potential carbon dioxide tax is to consider poverty first. While the tax helps to reduce emissions, it can also generate billions of rands in revenue.

Additionally, it is important to note that greener technology can provide thousands of new employment opportunities for South Africa’s jobless.

– Grace Zhao

Sources: Mail and Guardian, BD Live, Times Live
Photo: The Guardian

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Arrive Alive by Chevron Drives Home Road Safety

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According to the World Health Organization, approximately 1.24 million people die every year on the world’s roads. As well as 20 to 50 million incur nonfatal injuries as a result of road traffic crashes. The WHO report, ‘Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013: Supporting a Decade of Action,’ attributes road traffic casualties to be the eighth leading cause of death globally with an impact similar to that caused by many communicable diseases, such as malaria.

Current trends suggest that, by 2030, traffic accidents will become the fifth leading cause of death unless urgent action is taken. While the report offers recommendations that focus on legislative reforms, there are also corporate examples, like that of Chevron’s, which help promote awareness of road safety.

Road traffic deaths are the leading cause of death for young people aged 15–29 years, and as a consequence, take a hefty toll on those entering their most productive years. Economically disadvantaged families are hardest hit by both direct medical costs and indirect costs such as lost wages that result from these injuries.

At the domestic level, road traffic injuries result in considerable financial expenses, especially to developing economies. “Road traffic injuries are estimated to cost low- and middle-income countries between 1–2 percent of their gross national product, estimated at over US$ 100 billion a year,” which is a serious impediment to poverty eradication.

Only 28 countries, representing 449 million people (7 percent of the world’s population), have adequate laws that tackle all five risk factors for road traffic (speed, drunk driving, helmets, seat-belts and child restraints).

The WHO report recommends that all governments enact legislation to make the roads safer and invest money and human resources to help enforce those traffic laws. Pedestrian safety should also be considered when planning for infrastructure.

The Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) is an organization supporting the WHO report. Its role is to create and support multi-sector road safety partnerships that are engaged with front-line, good practice, road safety interventions in countries and communities throughout the world. The partnerships include businesses. Current business partners with the GRSP include Bridgestone, Michelin, BP, Chevron, Honda, Shell, Nestle and Toyota.

Many businesses support road safety to benefit their corporate image, to develop new markets through demonstration projects, or to brand their products as safe. Also, corporate sponsorships have been used for social marketing campaigns to increase the public’s awareness of road safety. In the end, businesses benefit from the lower costs associated with fewer road crashes and safer driving practices.

One American company, Chevron, has implemented what they call the Arrive Alive program. The program strives to protect people living in high-risk areas from traffic related injuries and fatalities.

Depending on the country’s needs, Chevron will form a coalition between non-profit organizations, other companies and the local government. The Arrive Alive coalitions have made significant strides on two continents and in four countries since its inception in 2004.

A coalition in Nigeria founded in 2006 advocated for stricter regulations on okada (motorcycle) riders. That year, laws went into effect to regulate the operation of okadas.

To address the 12,000 lives lost annually on South Africa’s roadways, Chevron formed another coalition to implement a publicity campaign aimed at the most vulnerable pedestrian population – youth and teens. Extensive use of poetry in print, radio and billboard communication directed messages towards youth about irresponsible road behavior and its consequences.

– Maria Caluag
Sources: WHO, GRSP, Chevron
Photo: My Legal World

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US Foreign Aid to Africa: What We Give and Why

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In 2012, the United States provided nearly $12 billion in official development assistance (“ODA”) to African nations. The ODA is allocated to education, health, infrastructure and economic development programs in recipient countries. Currently, the United States allocates foreign aid to 47 African nations and USAID operates 27 missions on the continent.

US Foreign aid to Africa began in the 1960s as many African nations gained independence and the United States sought strategic alliances to counter the influence of the Soviet Union. With the exception of disaster and famine relief, most foreign aid to Africa began to decrease with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In the 2000s, President Bush more than tripled aid to Africa by establishing programs such as the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund as well as the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative.

Though foreign aid programs are designed to assist recipient nations with development, they also benefit the United States in a number of ways.

First, these programs help build strategic alliances and foster support for democratic transitions. It also stimulates Africa’s growth and development, which provides opportunities for increased trade and direct investment in the continent’s emerging markets.

But for all the benefits, foreign aid to Africa has no shortage of detractors. Many critics point out that much of the money allocated to Africa never reaches the people who most need the assistance. “Eighty percent of U.S. aid to Africa is spent right here in America — on American contractors, American suppliers, and so forth,” said George Ayittey, president of the Free Africa Foundation.

In more corrupt nations, politicians and civic leaders are often charged with misappropriating funds designated for the people. Others critics claim that foreign aid to Africa simply does not work—after 50 years of assistance, Africa still confronts the same issues.

But even critics would have to agree on one crucial point: foreign aid is an integral part of U.S. foreign policy. In Africa, aid programs support a large framework of social and economic assistance for developing nations.

Critics are correct that American companies and corrupt politicians siphon a large portion of foreign aid. But aid to Africa has also done much to improve infrastructure, bolster economic development and improve health care conditions for millions of people on the continent.

– Danial Bonasso
Sources: Foreign Policy Initiative, Washington Post, NPR, One.org
Photo: James Bovard

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Leveraging the Private Sector

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Last Sunday, the Brookings Institute held its 10th annual Blum Conference on global development. This year, the conference emphasized the increasingly significant role of the private sector in lifting the world out of poverty.

Currently, 1.2 billion people still languish in extreme poverty, which is defined as living on less than $1.25 a day. The head of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, recently made sweeping promises that by 2030, that number will have dwindled to less than 300 million. And, by all appearances, Kim’s claim has a solid basis: in the past decade, global extreme poverty rates have been cut in half.

The recent Brookings conference in Aspen, Colorado confirms that hope. And, more importantly, it lays out the path to achieve it: by engaging the private sector on a large scale. World leaders like Partners in Health co-founder Paul Farmer, UN Human Rights commissioner Mary Robinson, and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice used their voices on Sunday to reinforce this principle. Major development agencies have already been operating with this idea, including USAID which leveraged over $525 million in private investment last year alone.

The road forward, however, contains many obstacles. Homi Kharas, the author of Brookings’ policy brief, “Reimagining the Role of the Private Sector in Development,” lays out three major hurdles for partnerships between the private sector and the public, academic, and civil sectors.

The first is the massive project of adapting to private funding in development. As part of the process, Kharas recommends that development agencies project “leverage ratios” that link public dollars to private dollars. He applauds the Power Africa Act for using $7 billion in government spending to guarantee $9 billion in private investment pledges.

Secondly, innovation is the key to increasing agricultural productivity and improving access to necessities like water and medicine. Kharas argues that public subsidies for private-led innovation in these areas need to increase to harness the creative power of for-profit businesses.

Finally, Kharas suggests that perhaps the greatest obstacle to engagement is mistrust of private companies by public and civil actors. To build confidence and pave the way for future partnerships, companies need to make their footprints and supply chains more transparent.

“Every high-level development report and project now has private sector involvement,” wrote Kharas. “The time is ripe to systematize this approach and experiment with new forms of partnerships.”

– John Mahon

Sources: Devex, Brookings
Photo: Carnegie

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WASH Advocates Bring a Clean Water Initiative

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For many people in the third world, getting access to clean drinking water  is an every day struggle. WASH Advocates is trying to change this reality. The organization works in Asia, Africa and Latin America to bring awareness and solutions to impoverished areas of the world.

Although one of the main goals of WASH Advocates is to spread awareness of the consequences of ingesting unsanitary water, the group does not stop there. The organization improves communication and connections between other groups, like corporations, religious associations, schools and nonprofits, to maximize each group’s efforts to help as many people as possible. Another aspect of WASH Advocates is collaborating with USAID and the State Department to engage the United States in providing clean water in developing countries.

Some of the methods WASH Advocates endorse are Rotary International clubs that install wells, curriculum programs that offer opportunities for students to learn about clean water and sanitation, Engineers Without Borders which creates water filtration systems, church programs that raise funds for clean water initiatives, and students and universities. According to WASH Advocates, over 1,500 students participated in a challenge to drink only water and then donate the money that would have gone towards other drinks to helping Rwanda develop systems for clean water.

Given that 780 million people are currently lacking sanitized drinking water and 2.5 billion do not have basic sanitation, the work WASH Advocates is carrying out is critical for a healthy and safe lifestyle for millions of people. The organization reiterates that investment in clean water technology and techniques offer huge payoffs in productivity levels in that community.

– Mary Penn

Sources: Wash Advocates, Bright Funds

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Spotlight on INMED Partnerships For Children

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Youth around the world, primarily in Latin America, Southern Africa and the United States, have an ally with INMED Partnerships for Children. This organization is dedicated to helping children who have been devastated by “disease, hunger, abuse, neglect, violence or instability” and works with them to build a healthy and successful future. Rather than simply focusing on curing immediate threats to children, although INMED does that too, the group is adamant about treating the root causes of their struggles.

INMED transforms the lives of children in harmful environments by developing programs to target the specific needs of villages, regions, or entire countries. These programs include Health and Nutrition, Education and Skills Building, Adaptive Agriculture and Aquaponics, Youth Development, and Family Services. All of these programs create an opportunity for youth to change their lives for the better.

Children are not the only ones affected by INMED’s development programs. As children begin to change many aspects of their lives, these changes carry over to their families and communities. As these changes become dominant in communities, more and more people are lifted out of poverty and have the opportunity to create a better life. INMED calls for “sustainable change that crosses generations,” not just helping a few children for a brief amount of time.

The numerous success stories of INMED Partnership for Children show that this organization is making a difference in the world. By focusing on “long-term opportunities for children’s success in life” and community outreach, INMED is doing what all similar organizations should be striving towards: improving the future of impoverished children. INMED’s programs will likely be implemented in communities long after the organization leaves, which is the key to true progress.

– Mary Penn

Sources: Guide Star, INMED Partnerships for Children
Photo: Hands for Latin America

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How Fruits and Veggies Can Make Safe Drinking Water

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Access to clean drinking water is a worldwide problem. One billion people, or roughly 1 in 7 persons across the globe, lack access to safe water. Without potable water, these millions of people are exposed to waterborne pathogens that can cause sickness and death. Each year, waterborne pathogens make tens of millions of people sick and lead to 1.8 million deaths. And all of these are preventable.

Researchers are working on cheap and practical ways to provide safe drinking water across the globe. Ramakrishna Mallampati, an investigator at the National University of Singapore, has devised a new way to purify dirty water. By using the peels of fruits and vegetables, Mallampati believes that he can effectively and economically filter out impurities from water to make it safe to drink.

The fruits and vegetables are used to purify dirty water by drawing out toxic ions and organic pollutants from liquid. Tomato peels effectively remove “dissolved organic and inorganic chemicals, dyes and pesticides, and…can also be used in large scare applications.” Tomatoes are the second most consumed vegetable in the world. With the vegetable’s widespread availability, using tomato peels to purify water could prove to be a convenient, easy, and cheap way to purify drinking water.

Like tomato peels, apple peels are also able to draw out a number of pollutants from dirty water. The peels can extract anions such as “phosphate, arsenate, arsenite, and chromate ions from aqueous solutions.” While the apple peels must first be treated with a zirconium oxide before they can effectively remove impurities from water, the wide prevalence of the fruit throughout the world means that it could also be used to treat drinking water on a large scale.

The newly designed water purification methods could prove revolutionary in the developing world. Many large scale treatment processes used in developed nations are simply inaccessible to the impoverished across the globe due to a lack of the financial capital needed to implement them. The process of purifying water by using tomato and apple peels mitigates the financial obstacle that prevents many in the developed world from having clean drinking water. Ramakrishna Mallampati hopes that by using his new purification process, those living in developing areas will be able to live healthier and more productive lives.

– Jordan Kline

Sources: ScienceDaily, Care2, National Academy of Sciences
Photo: She Knows

Vulture Capitalism Circles Argentina and Developing World

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Long before the global recession, Argentina defaulted on a staggering $81 billion of national debt in 2001. The government was able to renegotiate with its bondholders in subsequent years—93 percent of them agreed to make do without the monetary sum previously owed by accepting exchange bonds with lower returns. The remaining holdouts, however, refused the offer—demanding that they be repaid in full despite the country’s continued economic plight.

Moreover, many of the indignant creditors swept in immediately after the default to buy the bonds under-priced. These vulture funds systematically buy up cheap credit from nations in crisis only to sue them later in order to profit. One of the major vulture funds behind Argentina’s ensuing litigation headache is NML Capital. Its owner, Paul Singer, is an American CEO with a net worth of $1.3 billion and is oft-credited as the father of vulture capitalism.

Historically, Singer’s cunning entrepreneurship has spared no mercy. In 1996, he purchased a bond from Peru for $11 million, sued, and received a return of $58 million. In subsequent years, he would go on to sue the Republic of Congo for a sum 40 times the original $10 million he paid and take nearly $40 million of the nation’s oil sales. Argentina, Singer’s latest victim, has likewise been struggling against his tactics.

As a prominent businessman, Singer not only has the financial support but also the political backing he needs to win these big cases. Not only has he made a name for himself as one of the leading contributors to Republican election campaigns, but he has also worked with Democrats to lobby against Argentina through the American Task Force Argentina—which claims to represent hardworking American taxpayers. This allegation, however, could not be any further from the truth. After all, NML Capital is strategically headquartered in the Cayman Islands for tax evasion purposes.

Argentina, on the other hand, has equally eminent supporters. The International Monetary Fund was amicus curiae to Argentina. As Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA, states, “The IMF understands the ruling will go well beyond Argentina – it will have serious repercussions on poverty around the globe. If these hedge funds win it will harm legitimate investors and poor people.” The Obama administration has expressed similar sentiments and lent vocal support on behalf of Argentina’s national sovereignty.

Although the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently upheld a lower court ruling in favor of NML Capital and its fellow hedge funds—ordering Argentina to pay $1.3 billion to the plaintiffs, no measures to enforce the ruling were established.

In the meantime, it remains to be seen whether the case will be granted certiorari by the United States Supreme Court, Argentina’s final platform of hope before President Cristina Fernandez de Kircher is forced to default on even the exchange bonds—which would only serve to further exacerbate the country’s financial quagmire.

If the Supreme Court justices choose to pick up the case and rule in favor of Argentina, they could establish precedent that benefits impoverished nations and legitimate creditors everywhere. Conversely, if the Court of Appeals ruling is upheld, vulture fund activity would go largely unchecked—creating conditions for a bleak world in which developing nations find themselves constantly indebted to unethical lenders and unable to escape from the cycle of poverty.

– Melrose Huang

Sources: Common Dreams, New York Times, IPS, The Guardian, FRANCE 24, Huffington Post

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Rising Obesity Rates in Developing Countries

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As developing countries’ economies improve they are increasingly at risk of the obesity pandemic. As income levels rise and physical labor decreases, these populations become susceptible to the same unhealthy weight gain that has swept through the United States and Europe.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines “obese” as having a body mass index of thirty or above. A recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) states 500 million people worldwide qualify as obese, or 1 out of every 10 people.

Already obesity rates in Brazil and South Africa exceed OECD countries’ average. However, in order to slow these growing rates, developing nations must get ahead of the trend. The OECD report recommends these countries utilize media campaigns, subsidy programs, and taxes to promote healthier diets. However, these actions present a bill that developing nations are reluctant or unable to pay. The OECD states the agenda would be cost-effective down the road by preventing staggering health care expenses. Taxes on sugary and fatty foods have proven to slow obesity rates in developing countries.

Increased economic potential in developing countries opens them up to alternative food sources. These sources may include “westernized” diets of sugary and fatty foods. As rural populations become urbanized they are put at risk of developing health problems including rising obesity rates. While rural populations rely on traditional diets consisting of self-grown fruits, vegetables, and grains urban populations obtain their food from outside sources. These are often cheaper, processed foods.

In a study published in the Oxford International Journal of Epidemiology the authors, conducting studies in Gambia, state their belief that the remittance economy may affect diets in villages. With the increase in remittances (money sent home from family members working abroad) local villagers have increased access to imported food items, often high in fat and oils.

Under-nutrition in early life may predispose an individual to obesity later. Some research has shown that “nutritional stunting” or under-weight children may later be more susceptible to extreme weight gain. This susceptibility presents a targeted risk for developing countries.

A significant concern for developing countries are the health problems that are associated with obesity. Obese individuals often suffer from heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. However, health systems in developing nations are ill-equipped to deal with these diseases or even patient increases. In many of these nations the health care industry and health aid must still address malnutrition, malaria, TB, and HIV/AIDS.

– Callie D. Coleman

Sources: FAO, Oxford Journals, WHO, BBC, Huffington Post
Photo: ABC

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Helping Hand for Relief and Development

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There are few organizations with as many different programs dedicated to helping impoverished people around the world as Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD). Although this group is relatively young (founded in 2005), its staff and volunteers have wasted no time making a huge impact on the world. This Islamic organization sticks to its vision of “strengthening the bond of humanity” by providing humanitarian relief and development assistance to all types of people, no matter their ethnicity or background.

One of the ways HHRD provides aid is through its program “Islamic Interest Free Microfinance,” a microenterprise development concept, which is an interest-free loan that helps alleviate poverty. Someone participating in this program could use it to purchase something like seeds or fertilizer.

Other ways HHRD provides sustainable growth in poverty-ridden communities is through programs like Orphan Support Program (sponsor a child for $1 a day), Education Support (student scholarships), Health Care, Infrastructure Development (rebuilding homes and schools), Physical Rehabilitation (provides new limbs for those hurt in disasters), Skill Development (focuses on empowering women), Youth Empowerment (internships) and Public Advocacy and Social Justice (raising awareness of global issues, like climate change and social injustices).

Water for Life and Emergency Appeals are two other important programs the Helping Hand for Relief and Development organizations provides. Water sanitation is a major issue for many people in developing countries. HHRD sets up wells, hand pumps and devices for filtering water so that people can finally have access to clean drinking water. The Emergency Appeals program works is also vital for those in the third world who do not have access to basic medicines, food, mosquito nets, tools for rebuilding shelters or even clothes. This program provides these necessities and more for those living in disaster areas.

Different areas of the world have different needs and Helping Hand for Relief and Development has a program for each of these issues. By focuses on a wide range of problems, HHRD is able to reach out and help more and more impoverished people.

– Mary Penn

Sources: Helping Hand Relief and Development Charity Navigator Rating
Photo: Blogspot