Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Africa Faces Climate Adaptation Costs

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14 of the 20 most at risk nations of climate change distresses are African countries. These countries are considered as so susceptible due to the vulnerability of the population as well as the continent’s liability to extreme climate events.

Specifically, these African nations tend to experience extreme losses due to droughts, floods, fires, storms and landslides. Additionally, weak economies, governance, education and healthcare systems make it difficult to tackle or adapt to these problems.

Over 200 governments agree that global warming will exceed 2 degrees Celsius, causing much devastation and hardship, especially in Africa.

For instance, sea-level rise along Africa’s coastline is expected to be 10 percent higher than in the rest of the world, and in Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Gambia, up to 10 percent of the population would be at risk of floods each year by 2100.

The cost involved to address this looming danger amounts to billions.

According to the United Nations, adaptation costs faced by Africa range from $7 billion to $15 billion annually by 2020. Moreover, that amount could increase to $350 billion annually by 2070.

Some of the adaptation projects include developing drought-resistant crops, building early warning systems, investing in renewable energy sources, producing better drainage, building sea walls and prioritizing reforestation and desalinization.

According to the World Bank, there is a 40 percent chance of temperatures rising by 3.5 to 4 degrees Celsius if these types of climate change mitigation efforts are not stepped up.

Adaptation measures could, in fact, decrease the impacts of climate change in Africa.

Currently, projections for Africa are grim, even without the 2 degrees Celsius warming. Undernourished Africans are likely to increase by 25 percent to 90 percent, crop production will be reduced as arid areas are expected to increase by four percent, protein needs for over 60 percent of the communities would be jeopardized as fish will decline in African freshwater lakes and the necessary infrastructure for African communities to cope with climate impacts is inadequate. These effects will result in an increase of premature deaths, a rise in healthcare concerns and a decrease in food production.

The adaptation costs required to address the global temperature rise could reach four percent of Africa’s GDP by 2100. Therefore, additional funding is imperative if Africa is to move towards a climate-resilient life saving path. To meet this need, annual funds would need to grow at an average rate of 10 percent to 20 percent per year from 2011 to the 2020’s.

– Caressa Kruth

Sources: Thomson Reuters Foundation, The World Bank, CNN

How to Make Christmas Merrier

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For the world’s privileged, the Christmas season means mistletoe and hot chocolate, evergreen conifer trees with glistening ornaments, piles of presents and stockings hung on the fireplace mantle. In fact, Christmas is the largest global market stimulus due to an astounding proliferation in sales that account for almost a fifth of the retail industry’s annual sales.  In the United States alone, consumers collectively spend a whopping $469 billion during the holiday season with the average family allocating roughly $800 purely to holiday indulgences and travel.

However, a substantial portion of the world’s population is deprived of such blissful and lavish holiday revelry. In many areas of the world, Christmas is not celebrated as a joyful commercial and religious event comprised of frantic trips to the local mall and family bonding; it marks just another day of struggle and survival. Even in America, one of the wealthiest nations in the world, poverty plagues about 45 million people.

Due to this, many organizations provide methods in which individuals are given the opportunity to help impoverished families and communities during the holiday season. For example, since its founding in 1993, Operation Christmas Child has given gifts to over 100 million impoverished children in approximately 130 countries worldwide. In order to make a donation to Operation Christmas Child, individuals are instructed to fill any durable shoebox with child-geared gifts and a $7 shipping donation.

Furthermore, Alternate Gifts International also allows people to lend aid during the holiday season. Unlike Operation Christmas Child, AGI focuses on distributing gifts such as nonperishable food, shelter, vegetation, livestock, and medical supplies. All of which promotes sustainability and community health. To facilitate the donation process, a catalog of needed resources are listed for prospective contributors to choose from.

Much like AGI, UNICEF released a poignant campaign urging consumers to purchase their Christmas cards and gifts online through UNICEF with the tagline of “we go where Santa doesn’t.” According to this endeavor, the purchase of each gift goes towards providing life-saving items, such as mosquito nets and water kits, to impoverished children. Hollywood actor and goodwill ambassador Orlando Bloom supports the campaign by stating “I like the fact that [it] does not simply provide people with the humanitarian aid, but also elaborates on the tools to solve problems and improve the life of children and women.”

Although simply donating to these charitable organizations provides gifts and assistance to communities in need, staying informed and enlightening others about global poverty is also an additional, albeit less direct, way to give back during this holiday season. In doing so, poverty is pushed to the forefront of national agendas.

– Phoebe Pradhan

Sources: Statista, Last Throes, Investopedia

Palestinian Poverty in the Holy Land

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The status of Jerusalem is the most contentious issue in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which has led to an alarming rate of poverty among Jerusalem’s Palestinian population.  According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, 86% of Jerusalem’s Palestinian children are below the poverty line.

As a whole, 77% of Palestinian Jerusalemite households faced poverty in 2010, compared to only 25% of Israeli households.

Prior to the 1967 war, East Jerusalem was the hub of urban and commercial life for Palestinians.  After the war, Israel annexed East Jerusalem. Palestinian Jerusalemites were given a separate legal status as merely ‘permanent residents,’ restricting “access to housing, employment, education, health services and representation in the city.”  Since then, Palestinian Jerusalemites have faced a policy of neglect and have become virtually isolated from the rest of the West Bank with the construction of the Israeli separation barrier in 2003.

The East Jerusalem economy accounted for 15% of the Palestinian economy prior to the 1993 Oslo Accords.  In recent years, however, the economy has shrunk by half.  It is estimated that the separation barrier has led to over $1 billion in direct losses to the East Jerusalem economy.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) lists key factors contributing to poverty in East Jerusalem as:  (1) the separation barrier and isolation from the West Bank; (2) a weakened job market; (3) the neglected school system and obstacles in higher education and professional training; (4) difficulties integrating women into the job market; (5) employment in West Jerusalem; and (6) revocation of residency and the provision of temporary status.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) echoes these factors, maintaining that Jerusalem’s increasing economic isolation, “including the building of Israeli separation barrier,” left it “integrated neither into the Palestinian economy nor into the Israeli economy.”

Politics aside, ACRI contends that a crucial way of overcoming Palestinian poverty is to address employment and fair labor conditions.  Due to its isolation from the West Bank, East Jerusalem’s economy is dependent on the Israeli market, which serves as a source of employment and trade.  ACRI stresses a key point for policy change should be Israeli government investment in employment services.  “While Palestinians constitute a third of the municipal population, only three welfare offices operate in East Jerusalem, in contrast to the 18 in the western part of Jerusalem serving Israelis.” ACRI believes that an expansion of employment services is one way to offer the necessary tools for Palestinian residents to find jobs that offer financial stability and professional development.

– Rifk Ebeid

Sources: Al Jazeera News, Haaretz, UNCTAD, ACRI

United Arab Emirates: From Rags to Riches

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is composed of the seven emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. Located in the southern half of the Arabian Peninsula, it occupies over 83,000 square kilometers and boasts a population of 9 million.

In comparison to the rest of the world, the country is relatively young. It gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1971. The discovery of oil reserves in the 1960s catapulted the once impoverished region into a center of international business and wealth. Today, the UAE is the eighth richest country in the world.

The UAE’s political structure is both traditional and modern in its approach. Each emirate is led by an emir or ruler who oversees the internal political affairs of the region. Representatives from each emirate are chosen to form the Federal National Council. The President and vice president also serve as emirs of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, respectively.

Prior to its entry into the global oil industry, the UAE’s revenues mainly stemmed from its failing pearl and fishing industry. Today, over 90 % of Emirati are literate, due to extensive investments in education, healthcare and infrastructure.

The UAE currently rates 23 out of 189 countries for ease of doing business. Its positive relationships with foreign investors have allowed the country to successfully compete in the global marketplace and exposed its citizens to the level of globalization necessary to conduct international business.

Success has also visited the neighboring countries of Iran, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia as organizations continue to promote the importance and healthcare in the region.

– Jasmine D. Smith

Sources: CIA World Factbook, BBC, Doing Business
Photo: Win Wallpapers

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5 Facts about Poverty in Yemen

Poverty in Yemen
As one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, Yemen is currently faced with some of the most extreme poverty issues in the world. There are several issues that are unique to Yemen that contribute to this magnitude of poverty, issues that are on track to only get worse unless direct action is taken to mitigate these circumstances. If basic problems, such as lack of access to water, are not properly addressed, other matters, such as sub-par literacy rates, will continue to plague the region and exacerbate poverty in Yemen.

 

Top 5 Facts about Poverty in Yemen

 

1. Yemen’s population stands at 25.4 million and approximately 54% of those people live in poverty.  In other words, 54% of the population survives on fewer than 2 dollars per day.

2. Approximately 45% of the population is malnourished.

3. Life expectancy in Yemen is 64 years old, 14 years younger than the average life expectancy in the United States.

4. Major infectious diseases plaguing the country include Bacterial diarrhea, Typhoid fever, Dengue fever and Malaria, all of which are preventable, curable and in some cases largely unheard of anymore in the western world.

5. There is less than 1 physician for every 1,000 people in Yemen.

 

Major Causes Behind Poverty in Yemen Today

 

  • The dire water shortage: The use of the word ‘dire’ cannot be stressed enough. According to Maplecroft, a global risk analysis organization, Yemen is ranked as the seventh most water-stressed country on the planet. Even though there is a water shortage in Yemen, approximately 90% of the country’s water is put towards its largely ineffective agricultural practices. In Yemen’s capital city, Sana’a, tap water is only available once every four days for its 2 million people. Even worse, in Taiz, a major city in the south, tap water is only available every 20 days. It is estimated that in 10 years, Sana’a will literally run out of water for its citizens.
  • On the brink of famine: In mid-2012, several major humanitarian relief organizations issued a warning that 44% of the population’s food needs are not currently being adequately met. Five million of these malnourished Yemeni citizens require emergency aid and immediate action. The warning cited a surge in food and fuel prices and political instability as the cause behind the number of malnourished people doubling since 2009. Though there is food available in some cases, many Yemenis cannot afford to buy nourishment because they have been displaced from their homes due to conflict.
  • Lingering political instability: Like most of the Middle East, Yemen felt the effects of the Arab Spring in 2011. The initial uprising was centered on protesting high unemployment, economic conditions and government corruption, which included the then president’s plan to alter the constitution to allow the direct transfer of power to his son. Al-Qaeda also has a presence in the region, which further contributes to political instability. For these reasons and many others, the attempt to reach stability within the government and the region is an ongoing process. After significant fighting and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of citizens, a new president was placed in power after running uncontested in an election. The new president is responsible for overseeing the drafting and implementation of a new constitution and further presidential and parliamentary elections in 2014.

– Colleen Eckvahl

 

Sources: BBC: Yemen’s President cedes power, BBC: Yemen on brink of food crisis, Green Profit, Maplecroft, The World Bank

 

The Cost of Christmas

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Beyond the messages of goodwill and the narratives of birth and rebirth, Christmas inevitably turns into an Olympics of materialism and consumerism. For now, there are only the hard questions on which to ruminate: What are the top ten gadgets we cannot live without this holiday season? What is the Cost of Christmas?

A Gallup Poll released November 14 revealed that the average amount an American plans to spend on Christmas presents this year totals to about $704. In 2012, Americans individually spent about $764 on average. To put it all in perspective, a Think Progress info-graphic revealed in 2012 that the amount Americans spend on Christmas (about $25 billion) is roughly equal to the cost of permanently ending homelessness in the United States ($20 billion).

The amount that Americans spend on Christmas presents and decorations entirely eclipses the $3.2 billion that the World Food Programme calculates is needed per year to feed all 66 million school-age children living in extreme poverty around the world. The American Christmas budget also dwarfs the annual budgets of the UNHCR, the World Food Programme, the UNDP and UNICEF combined.

Only $60 billion is needed to end world poverty.

The message here is that the extraordinarily privileged people of United States are entirely capable of leading the crusade against global poverty. Within the span of only one month of the year dedicated to holiday shopping, Americans spend enough money to permanently abolish global poverty by 50%.

While Christmastime may mean scrambling to the tree to unwrap the new Playstation 4, Xbox One and Apple products, perhaps it is time to additionally consider that that money can buy lasting world peace and equality—that these are gifts that are worth the investment and within our budget.

– Malika Gumpangkum
Sources: TIME, Forbes, Business Insider, NY Times, Think Progress, Oxfam
Photo: Telegraph

5 Ways Art Can Help Alleviate Poverty

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Art is a frequent medium for human expression and resistance, and within that space of creation and possibility is the opportunity to find ways to fight poverty and alleviate the suffering of the global poor.

1. Art can help impoverished children increase their chances of going on to college and obtaining employment by developing fundamental cognitive capacities, critical analytical skills, and providing learning experiences that have a significant impact on children’s educational achievement and social development.

A recent report published last year by the presidentially appointed Committee on the Arts and Humanities showed results stating that low-income students who were highly involved in the arts performed better, stayed in school longer, scored higher in math assessments, and were more likely to graduate high school, attend college, find stable employment, perform volunteer work in their communities, and vote.

2. Art programs can focus on entire communities faced with poverty and provide multiple services and opportunities in terms of gainful employment, a platform of expression for the voiceless, creating beauty and hope amidst poverty and blight, provide awareness to suffering, galvanizing donors and philanthropists, and can allow others to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves.

Programs like the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program target at-risk children, juveniles, and adults and provide them with opportunities and spaces of expression they would not otherwise have access to. The program has even taken a leading role in criminal and restorative justice by offering education programs in prisons and rehabilitation centers, helping to effectively reduce crime, violence, and the poverty and misery associated with it.

3. Art and creative expression can help provide employment and income to those who are impoverished. Having non-profit programs that help develop artists by providing a more equitable share of profits from sold work, and investing in opportunities for those who are poor to create and thrive as artists, means a larger return than one individual’s income and the chance to influence poverty in an entire community or area.

4. Art can advocate for the impoverished, provide visibility to issues of poverty, and be a platform for agency to effect change and eradicate this form of human suffering. Organizations like 2015 use art and creativity to change perceptions about poverty by raising awareness so that greater actions can be taken to fight poverty in the Middle East. By linking an art movement to the United Nations Millennium Goals, the public sphere and shared space of art becomes a political platform to support larger movements, fight poverty locally, and challenge the failings that allow for three billion people to remain trapped in poverty.

5. Art can help fund projects and utilize creativity to find measures to help end the suffering of the billions of the world’s poor. Artistic endeavors and the art community can be organized and motivated to provide fundraising and resources for essential programs and serve as the appropriate community to build connections of supporters. Art naturally involves innovation, and creative minds can be utilized to find solutions to problems like substandard housing or the effective use of public space. Those suffering in poverty need all the resources we have available, and art has the capacity to take its own form and be that of another, so when used to fight poverty, it becomes an instrument of justice.

– Nina Verfaillie
Feature Writer 

Sources: Techo, TNW News, MinnPost, Astep, Mural Arts Program

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Hunger Games Promotes Hunger Awareness

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This Friday marks the premiere of the second film installment of the Hunger Games series, Catching Fire. While thousands of people will wait in line to see its midnight premiere, the film is more than just a blockbuster.  The film partners with Feed America and the World Food Programme to raise awareness and advocacy for world hunger.

While the films’ website is a favorites spot for fanatics, it also offers an educational aspect, exploring hunger worldwide.  The site specifically targets the younger audience, aiming to educate fans of the film about hunger and poverty. The site features a world map with five interactive factoids and links to both Feed for America’s county-level hunger map, and the World Food Programme’s interactive map of worldwide hunger.  The five hunger facts are as follows:

Fact #1

1 in 5 kids suffers from hunger worldwide.

Fact #2

1 in 6 kids is underweight.

Fact #3

700 billion pounds of food are wasted every year in the U.S.

Fact #4

It costs 25 cents a day to provide a child with proper nutrition

Fact #5

This one is a video factoid. It features the personal impact of Feed for America in rural communities across the country.

Facts 1, 3 and 5 are sponsored by Feeding America and feature links to the organization’s interactive county-by-county hunger map.  The map is the first of its kind to investigate the effects of hunger and poverty at a county level.  Web users are able to explore how the most impoverished counties in America are affected by hunger and learn about Feeding America’s efforts to serve those communities.

Facts 2 and 4 are sponsored by the World Food Programme (WFP) and lead readers to the WFP’s world hunger map. More than 842 million people go hungry every night, and the WFP’s hunger map explores the severity of hunger country by country. The interactive map ranks countries based on prevalence of hunger and offers pertinent demographic information about each country. The site also provides information about WFP’s efforts and accomplishments to reduce hunger in each country.  The map is easy to navigate and clearly communicates the need for hunger advocacy and awareness.

The Hunger Games also sponsors charitable merchandise for sale.  The limited edition “Love Thy Neighbor, Feed Thy Neighbor” fan t-shirt is available for purchase, with all proceeds going towards Feeding America.  The film’s star actress, Jennifer Lawrence, also partners with several charitable organizations.  She has donated to DoSomething.org, Feeding America, the World Food Programme, and the Thirst Program. The film’s website presents a strong message to film fanatics that they must be educated and active against world hunger.

– Mallory Thayer

Sources: Hunger Games, Feeding America, WFP, Look to the Stars
Photo: Forbes

Too Much of a Good Thing

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We need greenhouse gases. Without them, the Earth would be a cold, lifeless lump of dirt hurtling through space. Greenhouse gases allow the sun’s rays to pass through the atmosphere and warm the earth. They also prevent the warmth from escaping back into space. The problem with greenhouse gases, however, is that the more heat-trapping gases there are, such as carbon dioxide and methane, the warmer earth gets. This consequently increases the “greenhouse effect” and is what is causing a steady increase in the global temperature. The consequences are enormous.

Humans have been simultaneously burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests. Forests, which produce the oxygen needed to balance out carbon dioxide production, can be compared to a planet sized pair of lungs for Earth. The occurrence of fossil fuel burning and deforestation has increased the amount of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere by 42 percent.

Carbon dioxide is one of the largest contributors to climate change. Though it is a byproduct of many actions, one of the main producers of carbon dioxide is the burning of coal. Coal, a fossil fuel created from the remains of dead plants from millions of years ago, produces enormous amounts of CO2 when burned.

It also took center stage in a global warming debate on Monday in Warsaw, Poland during a U.N. climate conference. Environmental activists there said that the coal industry needs to be part of the climate discourse, because many countries continue to rely on coal as their primary energy source. Coal has been heavily used since the 19th century English Industrial Revolution. While it provides quick energy, it also results in smog, acid rain, and air pollution. In 2011, 44% of emissions came from coal compared to only 35% from oil.

“Leave the coal in the ground,” says UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres. However, the likelihood that countries who rely on coal will abandon it is low. Instead, many countries are aiming to increase the efficiency of coal-powered plants. Economically, many countries refuse to “give up” using coal because the demand for energy never ceases, and as populations increases, coal quickly meets these needs.

China, for example, is the world’s largest carbon polluter, and while it is investing in renewable energy, its coal consumption continues to rise. Coal was 68% of Chinese energy consumption in 2012 and it continues to be the largest producer. As it’s population and energy needs increase, it must meet these demands.

The amount of greenhouse gases is at an annual record high – 39 million tons this year. However, in a study published by the University of East Anglia (UEA), the level at which people are polluting is leveling off. The good news even presents itself in the West, where emissions have dropped. The U.S. produced 3.7% less carbon dioxide in 2012 than the previous year, and Europe, 1.8%. However, individual emissions per person in the US is still 16 tons, compared to people in India who produce only about 1.8 tons.

Nevertheless, the 2.1% rise projected for 2013 means that global emissions from burning fossil fuels are 61% above 1990 levels, the baseline year for the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement developed in Japan on December 11, 1997, was a commitment made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 18% below 1990 levels from 2013 to 2020.

Professor Corinne Le Quéré of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia led the Global Carbon Budget report. She said: “Governments meeting in Warsaw this week need to agree on how to reverse this trend. Emissions must fall substantially and rapidly if we are to limit global climate change to below two degrees. Additional emissions every year cause further warming and climate change.”

The problem remains that while many countries have signed the Kyoto Protocol to decrease emissions, China and the United States have not.

The world, if it continues with it’s current emission levels, will see a global temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius, the worst climate change scenario predicted by the U.N. panel on climate change.

– Chloe Nevitt

Sources: David Suzuki Foundation, Fox News, United Nations, University of East Anglia, CNN
Photo: Energy.Gov

Nelson Mandela Dead at 95

Nelson Mandela Dead
Nelson Mandela dead? Yes, the unthinkable has occurred. Arguably the world’s greatest advocate and symbol of compassion has passed away.

On Thursday December 5, 2013, Former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela died at the age of 95. He was one of the most revered men in the world, for he was an example of dedication, forgiveness, and triumph. He sacrificed his own freedom, so that others who were less fortunate could obtain their own freedom. After spending 27 years of his life in a prison cell, he was released to the cheers of billions around the world. He was the ultimate symbol of hope for a region that was on the brink of destruction. His leadership ultimately averted a racial civil war.

As the first democratically elected president of South Africa, he faced many obstacles, but was ambitious in his presidential vision. During his presidency, Nelson Mandela set out to elevate his countrymen and women from poverty. He petitioned for foreign governments to invest in his countries resources. He pushed for fair distribution of farmland to include those who were impoverished. He was successful in implementing free health care access to children under the age of six, and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, giving healthcare to the poor.

After retirement from the Presidency in 1999, he focused his attention on other noteworthy causes. He created the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which through education has brought people together to combat HIV and AIDS in his home country. Through the organization, the 46664 campaign (his prison-issued number) has staged many prominent concerts to stimulate South African youth awareness to AIDS prevention. His example of perseverance in eradicating AIDS in South Africa has brought the country closer to an AIDS-free generation.

He also urged governmental leaders across the world to do more to alleviate global poverty. In a 2005 speech in London, Nelson Mandela pushed for leaders across the world to support global poverty reduction initiatives. He said, “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is manmade and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings… While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.” His words were a call to arms for leaders of more developed nations to extend their posterity to poorer nations.

The world has lost a true leader, a champion of equality, and a hero for the poor. Nelson Mandela’s example has inspired millions worldwide, and he will be missed but not forgotten.

– Travis Whinery

Sources: Forbes, NelsonMandela.org, Huffington Post, BBC, The Economist, CNN
Photo: ABC World News