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Climate Change Affects Poverty

For years we have all heard that climate change threatens the sustainable future of our environment. After studying the changes and effects of the climate on the biosphere, 97 percent of climatologists agree that these climate-warming trends will only continue, especially since human activities are the most likely cause of these trends, according to NASA. Reducing these trends will not only provide a safer and healthier environment for future generations, but it will also help those living in extreme poverty.

Especially in developing countries, the poor rely heavily on their environment. According to the U.N.’s Food and Agricultural Organization, the use of forest resources contributes to the livelihood of almost 1.6 billion people globally. Forests provide essential resources such as food, fuel, medicine and even income, showing that these billions of people and the environment in which they live share an interdependent relationship with one another.

With the effects of climate change and environmental degradation on the rise, the livelihoods and habitats of these people could soon disappear completely. It is for this reason that USAID announced the plan to give 45 million Kenyan shillings to a global climate change initiative, which will address a variety of environmental concerns, such as the loss of biodiversity, deforestation and other vulnerabilities to climate change.

With this initiative and other programs already in place, researchers are hopeful that poverty might also decrease along with the effects of climate change. Purdue University researchers announced on May 29 that global malnutrition — one of the key causes of poverty — could decrease by 84 percent by 2050. This would be a huge decrease, since the U.N. currently estimates that approximately 870 million people suffer from malnourishment globally.

However, this percentage decrease relies heavily on the improvements to be made in agricultural productivity and if climate change does not damage that productivity. Although researchers at Purdue University agree that an increase in temperatures and carbon dioxide could benefit agricultural productivity for some time by lengthening the season and improving water proficiency, they also agree that these possible benefits would only be temporary.

All this shows that climate change could have a direct impact on not only nutrition levels, but also the environments of the poor in developing countries. Since these issues are so closely connected, U.N. advisor Professor Jeffrey Sachs warned the New Environmentalism Summit that “We have to tackle climate change if we are to have any hope of tackling poverty.” Sachs also stressed the idea that climate change is not a problem for future generations, but a problem that we must address in today’s society.

Global leaders are experimenting with ways to address this issue, and many, like Sachs, hope that climate change will be a central element in the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals, which will expand on the current Millennium Development Goals, to continue global progress in a variety of health and societal issues after 2015. Regardless of disagreements over how to best resolve this problem, climate trends must be addressed in some way to not only help the poor, but also the planet.

— Meghan Orner

Sources:
Sources: NASA, FAO, All Africa, Purdue University, Business Green, U.N.
Photo: The Guardian

 

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UN General Assembly Elects Prince Zeid

Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein of Jordan has unanimously been approved by consensus in the General Assembly as new High Commissioner for Human Rights. Zeid was nominated by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier this month to replace former Ms. Pillay, whose term ends in August. Prince Zeid is an experienced diplomat and an avid campaigner for international justice. Zeid is currently Jordan’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Zeid is highly qualified for the position from his experience serving as an officer in the Jordanian desert police and serving on the U.N. protection force in former Yugoslavia. He has been the ambassador to the United Nations twice as well as ambassador to the United States from 2007-2010.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is mandated to promote and protect the enjoyment and realization of rights for all people codified in international human rights law and treaties. It prevents human rights violations, promoting human rights and coordinating activities throughout the U.N. The Office leads an effort to integrate human rights in all U.N. agencies.

Zeid will be the first Human Rights Chief from the Asian continent and the first from the Muslim and Arab worlds. This is an enormous step forward for the international community.

“Needless to say this reflects the commitment of the international community towards this important dossier and its commitment to push it forward in this continent as well as in other regions of the world,” said Zeid.

Zeid stressed his commitment to the job and recognizes that it takes wisdom and high levels of coordination with different governments, civil society and all U.N. agencies. He has been a strong supporter of the International Criminal court and has spoken out against sexual violence.

— Catherine Ulrich

Sources: UN, ABC News
Photo: Alarab Alyawm

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The Hunger Project 101

While many poverty-reduction organizations implement a variety of different strategies to combat poverty and hunger, The Hunger Project’s methodology differentiates it from other nonprofit organizations.

Founded in 1977, The Hunger Project (THP) is a nonprofit, strategic organization with a focus on ending world hunger. With a global staff of over 300 people, the organization focuses its efforts in Africa, South Asia and Latin America. It seeks to end hunger and poverty by “empowering people to lead lives of self-reliance, meet their own basic needs and build better futures for their children.” This includes sustainable, grassroots strategies in numerous countries throughout the world.

The Hunger Project also places a special emphasis on women and gender equality. “Women bear the major responsibility for meeting basic needs, yet are systematically denied the resources, freedom of action and voice in decision-making to fulfill that responsibility,” the organization states.

With its headquarters located in New York City, THP operates in 11 different countries, including a number of African countries, as well as Bangladesh, India and Mexico. The organization maintains a number of partnerships with developed countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Over the years, the organization has had to reinvent itself as a result of the shifting state of world hunger. In 2009, THP set a new strategic direction with an emphasis on partnerships, advocacy and impact.

THP’s board of directors, consisting of over a dozen people, includes a former president of Mozambique, a former vice president of Uganda, a Harvard economics professor and a former Secretary General of the U.N.

Recently, Anytime Fitness co-founder Jacinta McDonell Jimenez committed to raising $100,000 for THP. The money will provide 200 communities with the necessary funds to purchase food-processing equipment. Additionally, the money will train nearly 50,000 rural inhabitants in farming techniques as well as provide 2,000 people with loans to purchase seeds and fertilizer.

Through its mission to put an end to world hunger, THP maintains a set of 10 principles that it considers to be fundamental to its organization. Among them are human dignity, gender equality, sustainability and transformative leadership. Because it believes hunger is a human issue, THP states its principles are “consistent with our shared humanity.”

— Ethan Safran

Sources: The Hunger Project, Business Franchise Australia
Photo: Zander Bergen

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The Effect of Unhealthy Lifestyles in Global Health

“Unhealthy diets are now a greater threat to global health than tobacco,” said U.N. Special Reporter on the Right to Food, Oliver De Schutter. “Just as the world came together to regulate the risks of tobacco, a bold framework convention on adequate diets must now be agreed.”

In May, 2014 at the 67th World Health Assembly in Geneva, WHO Director General Margaret Chan announced the creation of a Commission for Ending Childhood Obesity.

In 2012 alone, over 40 million children younger than 5 years old were considered to be overweight. Thirty million of these children live in developing countries. In addition, about 3.4 million adults die due to obesity each year. Furthermore, 7-41 percent of specific cancers and 44 percent of diabetes cases are due to obesity.

Around 1.7 millions deaths are due to low consumption of fruits and vegetables. Eating enough fruits and vegetables has been linked to reducing the chances of heart disease and stomach and colorectal cancers. In addition, compared to the recommended intake of five grams of salt per day, the average global consumption of salt is between nine and 12 grams, thus greatly increasing the chance of heart diseases.

In developing countries with growing economies, citizens have developed a less-active lifestyle and less healthy eating habits.

Schutter offered five potential solutions to the growing epidemic of obesity and unhealthy lifestyles:

  • Imposing a tax on unhealthy foods
  • Imposing regulations for foods with high contents of saturated fats, salt and sugar
  • Restricting advertising for unhealthy foods
  • Eliminating subsidies on agriculture that make some foods cheaper than others
  • Supporting production of local foods

By simply taxing sweet beverages in India, the amount of diabetes would drop by 3-4 percent.

While the focus of the public is often on a lack of access to food and starvation, it is also important to note the negative aspects of unhealthy lifestyles on nations around the world.

— Lily Tyson

Sources: Asia Sentinel, Fox News, SRFood, WHO
Photo: The Guardian

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UN Youth to Form Post-2015 Agenda

From June 2-3, the United Nation’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) organized a forum for youth organizations and young delegates to voice their opinions about ways to complete the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) before 2015 as well as visions for the U.N.’s post-2015 agenda.

The MDGs were set by the U.N. in 2000 and include eight goals based around eliminating poverty, such as reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, attaining a worldwide standard of primary education and halving extreme poverty levels, all by the target date of 2015.

With the target year fast approaching, the U.N. has already started formulating its next development strategy, and the discussions that emerged in the Youth Forum held earlier this week are valuable contributions to the debates.

Employment opportunities for youth were the center of one of the Forum’s discussions. Jobs in rising sectors like information technology were highlighted as areas with the potential to create many jobs for youth, with an additional focus in creating jobs that use sustainable development practices to help end global poverty.

Why focus on youth to help develop the post-2015 agenda?

Young people have just as much, if not more, potential to help realize development goals as innovative and inspired citizens.

Even though youth are always impacted by policy decisions, the demographics of the world we live in today call for a heavier emphasis on the next generation of leaders.

A U.N. report stated, “With half the world’s population under the age of 25, the current generation of youth is the largest ever, and specific targets focused on youth should be integrated into any future development framework.”

More than any other time in history, youth should have a say in future policy discussions. It is today’s generation of youth that will be carrying out the post-2015 U.N. development agenda and living in a post-2015 world; listening to their concerns should be a priority.

Martin Sajdik, the president of ECOSOC, said, “Youth are not only the future of tomorrow – youth are leaders, entrepreneurs, students, workers, care-givers and problem solvers of today.”

Hopefully the U.N. will continue to involve youth in discussions about its future development agenda, as young people have fresh ideas and the enthusiasm needed to end poverty in their lifetimes.

— Emily Jablonski

Sources: Friendship Ambassadors, UN 1, UN 2
Photo: Forbes

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Every Woman Every Child

Every Woman Every Child is working to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015. Focusing on addressing the major challenges facing women and children all over the globe, Every Woman Every Child works to enhance financing, strengthen policy and improve service on the ground for women and children in need.

Launched by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit in 2010, the initiative would mean saving the lives of 16 million women and children, preventing 33 million unwanted pregnancies, ending growth stunting in 88 million children and protecting 120 million children from pneumonia.

Improving the health of women and children is critical to nearly every area of human development and progress. Research shows that the health of women and children is the foundation of creating healthy societies.

According to Women and Health Alliance International, every year half a million women die during pregnancy or because of problems during childbirth. While the mother’s death is horrible enough in itself, the structure of the entire family is damaged to a point of collapse.

Economies cannot grow and social stability cannot increase without first building up public health services. The Every Woman Every Child initiative recognizes that all factors have an important contribution to make in the movement, from the private sector to civil society.

At the 2010 launch more than $40 billion was pledged to the cause. However, more help is necessary to reach the 2015 goal. The secretary-general is asking the international community for additional commitments not just fiscally, but in the form of policy and human service delivery on the ground.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described his enthusiasm for the project, stating,“Every Woman Every Child. This focus is long overdue. With the launch of the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, we have an opportunity to improve the health of hundreds of millions of women and children around the world, and in so doing to improve the lives of all people.”

— Caroline Logan

Sources: Every Woman Every Child, UN Foundation, WAHA
Photo: Peace and Security

New High Commissioner For the UN

Prince Zeid al Hussein, longtime Jordan diplomat, ambassador and former U.N. peacekeeper, has been nominated to replace Navi Pillay as the new high commissioner for human rights for the U.N. Currently serving as the U.N. Ambassador for Jordan, Zeid has built a strong career rallying behind such issues as international justice and sexual violence. If appointed, many hope his position will help bring a voice to the Middle East, specifically at a time where many individual rights in the area are under strain.

Zeid will be replacing Navi Pillay, a South-African born woman who was the first female to have started a law practice in her home province of Natal in 1967. Pillay has additionally served on the South African High Court and for the U.N. General Assembly for a total of eight years.

Pillay, whose four-year term was extended for two years, has worked to fight against domestic violence, and to improve economic, social and cultural rights.

Many hope Zeid’s new position will work to give answers to some of the injustice happening in the Middle East, and Zeid seems to be obliging. Showing interest in addressing horrific abuses in the three-year conflict in Syria, Zeid’s future position may bring as many burdens as it does advantages.

“Obviously a challenge is that he has to be willing to speak frankly about the record of silencing civil society, crushing peaceful protests, which is endemic in that region at this stage,” said Peggy Hicks, global advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.

Jordan, with help from Luxembourg and Australia, has been working on a draft which would provide humanitarian aid into Syria through four border crossings without government approval. Hopeful that the new position will explore new possibilities for the U.N., fellow diplomats have continued to offer praise for Zeid’s nomination. “Great choice,” said France’s Gerard Araud, via Twitter. “A committed defender of human rights and international law.”

Zeid has appointed Dina Kawar as Jordan’s new representative to the U.N.

— Nicholas Magnanti

Sources: Fox News, DW, DNA India
Photo: Free Beacon

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Global Poverty Statistics 2013

Global Poverty Statistics
According to the Global Poverty Statistics for 2013, nearly half of the world’s population, (that’s more than 3 billion people,) can live on less than $2.50 a day. More than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty, which is less than $1.25 a day.

As of 2013, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, there are roughly 870 million people on the planet who suffer from chronic malnourishment; this is a large part of what makes up global poverty. This means, that 1 in 8 people suffer from not having enough food to eat.

However, there was some good news for malnourished and impoverished people in Asia and the Pacific. Asia saw new socio-economic advancements in 2013, which decreased those who suffered from severe malnourishment by 30 percent.

Latin America and the Caribbean also saw improvements in 2013. The chronic malnourished of Latin America and the Caribbean fell from 65 million to 49 million. That means where there used to be 15 percent of the population suffering from undernourishment, there is now only 8 percent of the population suffering.

In Africa in 2013, however, the number of people hungry and chronically undernourished grew by 2 percent over the period of a year. The conditions of neither the African people nor their economic status has improved much in the past several years. In this case, the number of chronic malnourished people rose from 175 million in 2013, to 239 million in 2013.

More women are hungry than men; 60 percent of women go hungry to 40 percent of men. Many women who are pregnant will still be malnourished due to a lack of maternal care being offered in their countries. This means, annually, 240,000 women will die in childbirth.

According to global poverty statistics from UNICEF, one billion children in the world today are faced with extreme global poverty, and 22,000 will die each day due to the impoverished conditions of their countries.

Due to global poverty, many children and their families cannot afford vaccinations that would fight off and prevent disease. This means, thousands, if not millions, of children will die this year alone due to preventable causes such as malaria, polio or hunger.

As the World Food Programme said, “The poor are hungry and their hunger traps them in poverty.” Hunger is the number one cause of death in the world, killing more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

According to the global poverty statistics of 2013, malnourishment is one of the most dangerous things facing the world’s impoverished peoples. Starvation, malnourishment and unclean drinking water kill more people than almost anything else in the world. Every single one of those problems is preventable through advocacy and donations.

According to poverty facts, 1.6 billion people, or a quarter of the entire world’s population, lives without electricity in addition to facing extreme poverty and hardship.

The world’s poor should not have to live in a world of darkness and fear of where their next meal will come from. Every single problem the impoverished world faces can be prevented through advocacy and donations.

 — Cara Morgan

Sources: DoSomething, The Hunger Project, World Hunger
Photo: Flickr

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UN to Provide Food Aid to Yemen

Food Aid to Yemen
Nearly 54 percent of Yemen’s population remains below the country’s poverty line. The rate of unemployment among young people in Yemen has grown to be around 60 percent of the population.

“Preliminary studies show that between March 2011 and March 2013, Yemen’s economy saw a loss of about $4.75 billion as a result of oil pipeline bombings and acts of sabotage targeting some installations,” said Yemeni Minster of Oil and Minerals, Ahmed Abdullah Daris.

Recently, the United Nations food agency has stated that they are scaling up their food aid to Yemen as nearly half of the population is going hungry. More than 10 million of Yemen’s 25 million inhabitants either require food aid due to an inability to find enough food for themselves, or are teetering on the edge.

In 1996, the World Health Organization defined food security as “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.”

Food security is built on three pillars: (1) food availability, or the opportunity to have sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis; (2) food access, having sufficient resources to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet; (3) and food use, appropriate use based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care, as well as adequate water and sanitation.

“The country has one of the world’s highest levels of malnutrition among children,” said World Food Programme spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs, “with nearly half of all kids under the age of 5—a full 2 million of them—stunted. A million of those kids are acutely malnourished.”

The problem is difficult to tackle. Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, has been going through a difficult political transition since the removal of president Ali Abdullah Saleh after a year of deadly protests against his 33-year rule.

At the same time, Yemen is also vulnerable to international hikes in food prices, since it imports around 90 percent of its main staple foods like wheat and sugar. The price hikes, according to the U.N., affect around 90 percent of Yemeni households and may be the reason why nearly 50 percent of children under the age of 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition.

Starting in July, the U.N. agency plans to launch a special two-year “Recovery Operation” aimed at addressing long-term hunger in the region. The Recovery Operation will help to ensure food stability for around 6 million people. Under the program, the U.N. will provide malnutrition prevention and treatment, give 200,000 girls in school take-home rations and will help create rural jobs, improve farms and water supplies.

The program aims to safeguard Yemeni lives and boost food security and nutrition in poverty-stricken areas. The program seeks to reach 6 million Yemeni people from mid-2014 to mid-2016, and will aim to provide solutions for long-term relief instead of short term. The U.N. has announced that their efforts would only offer temporary relief.

The U.N. warns, however, that the aid increase will be costly, with the agency estimating that the two-year program will cost around $491 million.

– Monica Newell

Sources: Gulf News, Press TV, Al-Monitor, Yemen Post
Photo: Care

Sam Kutesa, Anti-Gay Minister, Receives High UN Position

Sam Kutesa, the Ugandan Foreign Minister under President Musevini, has been chosen to head the U.N. as President of its General Assembly next month despite his consistent homophobic attitude and history of corruption. The position, which will not be voted on, has been chosen by “elect of acclamation,” after being chosen by the African Union. In a mostly “figurative” position, Kutesa will chair meetings for the assembly, including its annual event attended by all 193 nations in New York this September, which President Obama will preside over.

Kutesa’s election has been met with widespread criticism from both rights groups as well as political leaders, including New York State senator, Kirsten Gillibrand. “It would be disturbing to see the foreign minister of a country that passed an unjust, harsh and discriminatory law based on sexual orientation preside over the U.N. general assembly,” she says.

This past February, President Museveni signed into law a bill which will toughen penalties against gay citizens in Uganda, which could enforce some “homosexual crimes” as punishable by death. Years of imprisonment would act as a minimum punishment for acts of homosexuality or for providing counsel, therapy or education regarding homosexuality to children. Kutesa stood by this legislation, claiming that most Africans “abhorred” homosexuality. Now, as he gets ready to fill a prominent position in the U.N., many are wondering of the repercussions.

Rights campaigner Peter Tatchell called on the government to intervene. “David Cameron [Prime Minister of the UK] and William Hague [First Secretary of State of the UK] should be lobbying the U.N. to block Kutesa’s appointment on the grounds that his political record is inconsistent with UK principles,” he says. Yet if government officials have yet to fight, the general population has already made its own aggressive stance.

A petition, made by Ugandan-born Milton Allimadi, has already received more than 7,000 signatures asking for Sam Kutesa’s future appointment in the U.N. to be revoked. Yet despite the criticism, Kutesa has rejected any plausible notion regarding his unfitness for the role. “I don’t believe that anybody should be blocking my presidency on those lines,” he says. “The issues they are raising have no basis.”

You can sign the petition here.

– Nick Magnanti

Sources: The Guardian, Pink News 2, Change.org, CNN
Photo: In2EastAfrica