AlertNet: Africa wants $67 bln per year to compensate global warming

As if they were picking up last week's call to invest in developing countries to combat climate change, African leaders will most likely ask at the Copenhagen climate change negotiations this December $67 billion per year from 2020 onwards to compensate for damages that Africa suffers from the developed world's induced climate change -AlertNet reported.

Experts say Africa contributes little to the pollution blamed for warming, but is likely to be hit hardest by the droughts, floods, heatwaves and rising sea levels forecast if climate change is not checked. "This is the time for Africa to aggressively engage to ensure that climate change is effectively addressed," Jean Ping, chairman of the AU Commission, told delegates.

AlertNet: investing in developing world better for climate change than cutting emissions

AlertNet reported about a study commissioned by Bjorn Lomborg, head of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, that revealed the huge benefits of investing in adaptation to climate change in the developing world. In fact, the study claims that

A total of $10 trillion spent on adaptation, ranging from research into drought-resistant crops to measures to limit a spread of diseases such as malaria, would provide $16 trillion of economic benefits over the coming century.

The effects of investing in climate change adaptation in the developing world would be much higher, economically spoken, than purely cutting carbon emissions. A combination of both, however, would result in the highest benefits. Up for discussion in Copenhagen this December!

AlertNet: Farmers to help combat climate change

A new study from the World Agroforesty Centre in Nairobi revealed that farming and forestry are not mutually exclusive, AlertNet reported. This is very important news in the ligtht of the upcoming climate change negotiations to be held in Copenhagen this December. The report showed that on an area of agricultural land twice the size of the amazon, 10% was covered with trees - which would amount to the definition of a 'forest' used by the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation, if it weren't for the fact that it is located on farmland. If farmer's role in combating deforestation would be acknowledged, the report claims that farmers could cover up to 20% of their land with trees.

The report said that farmers keep or plant trees for uses such as production of fruit, nuts, medicines, fuel, building materials, gums or resins. Trees also provide shade for crops, work as windbreaks, boundary markers or to help avert erosion. And trees are often hardier than crops or livestock so can be a backup for farmers on marginal land in hard times.

BBC: Branding Humanitarian Aid - In Pictures

BBC News has put online a series of pictures on the branding of humanitarian aid. They're not that many, so have a quick look!

Happy World Humanitarian Day

19 August will from now on be dedicated to all humanitarians, commemorating those that have lost their lives doing their jobs. The day is very symbolic, as it coincides with the day that a bomb hit the UN compound in Iraq in 2003, leaving 22 deaths among the present UN personnel, including Sergio Vieira de Mello.

As a tribute to all humanitarians, there is now World Humanitarian Day. The family of de Mello also created a Sergio Vieira de Mello foundation to honour those people that have contributed in a special way to the humanitarian cause and to peace and conflict resolution.

It has also been a day to think about humanitarian action in the world of today. Many news sites have reported on the humanitarian space necessary to operate in safety honouring the humanitarian principles (IRIN/AlertNet), the growing lack of this space and the need for higher security measures for humanitarians in Afghanistan (IRIN, Mediapoint Press). Neil Barry, humanitarian specialist at ODI, has put up an interesting post reflecting on his two decades of experience as a humanitarian and humanitarianism in general.

POSTonline: hurricanes at a 1000 year high

The POSTonline reported on a new independent study from Pennsylvania State University that the last decade has seen more hurricanes than any similar period ever before - that is, up to a 1000 years back.

The research suggests that warmer temperatures produce more storm activity - meaning that coming climate change could increase the frequency and severity of hurricane activity.

There's also a possibility that climate change could alter the frequency of El Niño, which blunts hurricane activity, and counteract the effects of future ocean warming.

IDS Bulletin: Climate change meets urban challenges

A very interesting article appeared in last year's IDS Bulletin on climate change. In this article, David Dodman and David Satterthwaite analyse Institutional Capacity, Climate Change Adaptation and the Urban Poor. The analysis the authors present is highly relevant as it focuses on two key issues of BRC policies - climate change and urbanisation.
Next to the impact climate change can have on the urban poor, the authors discuss mainly how authorities can and should respond to the problem. There are also some specific suggestions for international organisations and NGOs. Humanitarian organisations can

• play important roles in climate change adaptation at the urban scale
• provide appropriate sectoral funding (e.g. for urban infrastructure to reduce climate change vulnerability)
• support the development of necessary technical and regulatory capacity
• support adaptation activities directly

IDS Bulletin: how to respond better to AIDS

Reaping the benefits from the free 40 day full access to IDS (see previous post), this post draws your attention to a study by Stuart Gillespie from last year on Poverty, Food security, HIV vulnerability and the impact of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. The study concludes that

While the poor are undoubtedly hit harder by the downstream impacts of AIDS, in a variety of ways, their chances of being exposed to HIV in the first place are not necessarily greater than wealthier individuals or households. There is strong evidence that socioeconomic and gender inequalities condition the spread of HIV, while AIDS-related disease and death increases these inequalities – a potentially vicious cycle. [...]
If you are a person living with HIV and you are poor, it will be harder for you to sustainably access antiretroviral therapy; it will be harder to find and pay for treatment for opportunistic infections which (if you are malnourished) will usually be more severe, and it will be harder to ensure any medical treatment is complemented by a diverse and reliable diet. At the household level, poverty will worsen the impacts of other livelihood stresses and shocks, and close down options for effectively responding. At the end of the line, it is women and children who are the most vulnerable.

How to improve the AIDS response?

• pay more attention to the drivers of transmission within different social groups, with special attention to the vulnerabilities of women and children
• enhancing local capacity and improving livelihood strategies will increase the resilience of vulnerable households

IDS: access knowledge (no, not your own) for free!

The Institute for Development Studies celebrates the 40th birthday of its Bulletin by giving everybody free access to all their issues (for a limited period of 40 days).

Flagging up some interseting issues:

• The September 2009 issue on the impact of the global financial crisis on developing countries
  
• The July 2009 issue on combating chronic malnutrition in India
• The September 2008 issue on climate change adaptation (and the poor)

The Guardian: Haiti expects the worst from new hurricane season

With the start of a new hurricane season, the Guardian reported on Haiti's ill-fated history and how the country is fearing that this year's hurricanes may take the biggest toll in people's memory. Yet Haiti is still recovering from last year's hurricanes:

Even in Gonaives – the focus of international relief for Haiti, with visits from Clinton and celebrities including Wyclef Jean – a third of the town remains in ruins. Dozens of people are still living in plastic tents on a scrap of waste-ground on the edge of town. Gary Dupiton, the town engineer, thinks it will take five years to restore the town completely, provided it does not flood again.

This suffering may well be a very visible consuequence of a lack of adaptation to climate change:

It took until last year for the country's elite to begin to see a connection between the devastation of the landscape, and natural disaster. "I have to admit that for the majority of the business society, managing water, managing soil, climate change, these are all things that they talk about on CNN and BBC, or that you hear Al Gore going on about," said Gregory Brandt, a prominent businessman. "It's not for us. I'd say the majority was aware but not concerned."

The country has seen a massive deforestation, which increases the impact of mud floods running downhill towards the ocean making its way through Haitian towns and cities. Efforts by humanitarian organisations, such as Oxfam, to encourage planting of new trees may prove to be 'too little, too late'...

Listen also to Suzanne Goldenberg commenting Haiti's experience with hurricanes and deforestation.

AlertNet: Clinton and drugmakers announce cheaper HIV drugs

Reuters reported that

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and drugmakers Pfizer and Matrix Laboratories Ltd announced a deal on Thursday to lower the cost of treatments for patients with drug-resistant forms of HIV/AIDS.
Second-line antiretroviral therapies and a drug used to treat tuberculosis for those with drug-resistant HIV/AIDS will be made available at a reduced cost and in more convenient regimens, saving as many as hundreds of thousands of lives in the developing world, Clinton said.

Meyer Foundation: Lessons learned from hiring consultants

The Humanitarian Relief blog pointed out to the following article on the lessons learned when it comes to hiring consultants. Richard Moyers identified three main complaints about the work consultants delivered:

• the consultant didn't understand us
• the consultant was too busy
• the consultant was too directive/not directive enough

Some of Moyer's suggestions for nonprofit organisations is to spend more time verifying whether the consultant is the best fit for the job. Helpful questions in this process include:

• Have you worked with an organization like ours before?
• Have you done a project like this before?
• How many other clients and projects will you be handling while you're working with us?
• How much board and staff time will it take to support your work?
• Do you view yourself as a neutral facilitator, a guide, or a participant in the project?

IRIN: insecurity drives humanitarian organisations out of Pakistan

The growing insecurity in Pakistan has posed several difficulties for the security of staff from several humanitarian organisations, IRIN reports. Since the killing of four aid workers of PLAN international, many NGOs have left the North West Frontier Province, leaving all their beneficiaries behind with no other help coming in. This seems unlikely to change in the near future, as prospects for peace and safety to return remain bleak.

The withdrawal of the UN does not bode well for the province's impoverished people. The same holds true for other areas of Pakistan. "People have suffered, especially women, since NGOs began pulling out. It has meant less awareness, less enlightenment and there has also been a loss of jobs," Mahbano Shahid, an activist formerly employed with an NGO in Mansehra, told IRIN.

Also national agencies are targeted, in particular female aid workers raising awareness about family planning and women's rights.

IRIN: UNHCR faces urban challenges in assisting Iraqi refugees

A new report by UNHCR, Surviving in the City, reviews the agency's operations in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, assisting Iraqi refugees in urban areas, IRIN reports. UNHCR encountered many problems in reaching out to these refugees - a majority of them are not registered, so much of the assistance does not reach those in need. The urban environment poses operational challenges to the agency, as it cannot help the refugees as well as in camps.

The vulnerabilities cited by UNHCR include poverty, resorting to dangerous activities such as prostitution, physical and mental disabilities, and female-headed households whose main breadwinner has been killed in Iraq. [...]
The urban setting poses further challenges. For refugees these include high living costs - most of their money goes on shelter, says UNHCR; travelling long distances to reach registration centres, and problems accessing health and education services.

Attempts to adapt its strategies include a text messaging service to alert refugees of new food distributions and the handing out of ATM cards so that refugees can withdraw money locally rather than travelling to a UNHCR point.

WFP: Nepal malnutrition worse than in Sub-Saharan Africa

WFP warns for severe malnutrition in Nepal that is being neglected by the international community, the Global Politician reports.

The combination of high food prices and the economic downturn has the makings of a grave humanitarian crisis in Nepal (Ranks 142 out of 177 countries in the Human Development Index in 2007) as it has been estimated that 41 of the 75 districts are food deficit. This reveals the grave nutritional statistics across Nepal – Half of children under the age of five in these districts are stunted, while 39 percent of children are underweight and 13 percent are severely malnourished according to the WFP. Meanwhile in some areas chronic malnutrition rates for children under 5 are 80 percent with acute malnutrition rates as high as 23 percent reports WFP. Unfortunately, these realities are not subjected to change in the near future as most Nepalese families survive as subsistence farmers with 24 percent of the population living on less than US$1 per day.

Key to solving this problem is the diversification of farms to increase food production, which

requires essential policy modifications to set up more effective links between food security and workable agricultural development strategies. The heart and soul of the new food security strategy should be better access of poor families to both - the farm and the food.

India Suffers Droughts, But Doesn't Want Plumpy'nut

India's Meteorological Department has released mid-monsoon season figures indicating a nationwide rain deficit of 25%, the Indian Telegraph reports. This may significantly affect the agricultural production in India, with analysts predicting a drop of 10% in production for some regions.

Drought and floods in some areas have resulted in a 25 per cent less sowing of paddy. Agriculture ministry officials are hoping that late rains would see paddy sowing going up in August.

The cause for the lack of rain is attributed to El Nino.
In the meantime, the Indian government says that it has enough stocks from previous years to compensate for the expected losses, and that it is considering a range of actions, among others to prevent food prices from soaring.

This news coincides with the Indian government's denying UNICEF to use Plumpy'nut in combating malnourishment in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. The malnourishment is said to be worse than in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Despite the fact that WHO has accredited Plumpy'nut as ready-to-use terapeutic food (RUTF), the government does not believe in its effectiveness. Moreover, this particular kind of RUTF was not agreed upon with UNICEF. It prefers Indian alternatives, but these are still being tested and are thus not yet available.

Unicef officials said that there was no local alternative at the time and that RUTF was a medical formula, not a food, which is used to treat, rather than to prevent, malnutrition. “Children with severe acute malnutrition are at risk of imminent death and need immediate, lifesaving treatment,” Angela Walker, a Unicef spokeswoman, said. “Family foods or supplementary foods are not enough; these children need very specific treatment for their condition.” [...]
Other campaigners and experts said that a solution may lie in Indian-made RUTF, which is being produced by at least two Indian companies for export. Médecins sans Frontières, the French medical charity which treats malnutrition in Bihar and other states, said that it was testing local products and hoped to start using them by the end of the year.

IRIN: Dhaka residents threatened by heavily polluted rivers

Several voices warn that the heavy pollution of the rivers around Dhaka has affected the aquatic life beyond rescuing, IRIN reports. Also, this impacts the lives of the Bangladeshi, who need to change jobs, live with the stench and risk skin diseases and other health hazards. Earlier this year, the industral sector admitted that is lacks social responsibility plans, especially when it comes to effluent treatment plants.

"The concentration of organic pollutant in the Buriganga is 17 times higher than the allowable limit of 3mg per litre. Chemical pollutants like ammonia, aluminium, cadmium, lead and mercury have also been detected in the Buriganga," SM Mahbubur Rahman, head of the water resource planning division of the Institute of Water Modelling (IWM), said.
The lone sewage treatment facility operated and maintained by Dhaka Water Supply and Sanitation Authority (DWASA) has a treatment capacity of 0.12 million cubic metres per day, while the daily volume of sewage generated in Dhaka city is 1.3 million cubic metres.

Furthermore, the islands in Bangladesh are severely affected by rising tydes and cyclones - especially since tropical cyclone Aila destroyed much of its dykes and flood barriers earlier this year inMay. The Guardian posted an album with pictures of the repair efforts.

IRI: what you always wanted to know about El Niño/La Niña

The International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) has cleared up some misconceptions about El Niño and La Niña, and their impact on climate and natural disasters. But what are they exactly?

El Niño refers to the occasional warming of the eastern and central Pacific Ocean around the equator. The warmer water tends to get only 1 to 3 degrees Celsius above average sea-surface temperatures for that area, although in the very strong El Niño of 1997-98, it reached 5 degrees or more above average in some locations. La Niña is the climatological counterpart to El Niño-- a yin to its yang, so to speak. A La Niña is defined by cooler-than-normal sea-surface temperatures across much of the equatorial eastern and central Pacific. El Niño and La Niña episodes each tend to last roughly a year, although occasionally they may last 18 months or longer.

This warming/cooling of the Pacific can have serious impacts on changes in local climate, potentially leading to severe natural disasters, resulting in loss of life and property during floods, failed harvests, increased risk of certain vector-borne diseases such as malaria, ...
But here are some misconceptions - what El Niño and La Niña do not do:

• El Niño periods cause more disasters than normal periods.
• El Niño and La Niña significantly affect the climate in most regions of the globe.
• Regions that are affected by El Niño and La Niña see impacts during the entire 8 to 12 months that the climate conditions last.
• El Niño episodes lead to adverse impacts only.
• We should worry more during El Niño episodes than La Niña episodes.
• The stronger the El Niño/La Niña, the stronger the impacts, and vice versa.
• El Niño and La Niña events are directly responsible for specific storms or other weather events.
• El Niño and La Niña are closely related to global warming.

To find out what the actual effects are, read the extended blog post and check out the article on AlertNet.

• El Niño periods cause more disasters than normal periods. On a worldwide scale that is not the case. However, regionally more disasters may occur. These are fairly consistent, though, and quite predictable. Early warnings can reduce the negative impacts.
  
• El Niño and La Niña significantly affect the climate in most regions of the globe. Actually, they significantly affect only about 25% of the world's land surface during any particular season, and less than 50% of land surface during the entire time that ENSO conditions persist.
• Regions that are affected by El Niño and La Niña see impacts during the entire 8 to 12 months that the climate conditions last. No, impacts are only felt during one season, yet these seasons may differ across the world.
  
• El Niño episodes lead to adverse impacts only. El Niño events are also associated with reduced frequency of Atlantic hurricanes, warmer winter temperatures in northern half of U.S., which reduce heating costs, and plentiful spring/summer rainfall in southeastern Brazil, central Argentina and Uruguay, which leads to above-average summer crop yields.
• We should worry more during El Niño episodes than La Niña episodes. This is not necessarily the case - they each have their own specific effects. The El Niño effects tend to be more mediatised, however.
  
• The stronger the El Niño/La Niña, the stronger the impacts, and vice versa. The impacts on climate-related disasters are only predictions, they do not always occur.
  
• El Niño and La Niña events are directly responsible for specific storms or other weather events. Usually you can't pin a single event on an El Niño or La Niña, just like you can't blame global climate changes for any single hurricane.
• El Niño and La Niña are closely related to global warming. El Niño and La Niña are a normal part of the earth's climate and have likely been occurring for millions of years. Global climate change may affect ENSO cycles, but the research is still ongoing.

Climate Change: Can the Climate Panel have Climate Impact?

In a NYTimes article, Andrew C. Revkin problematises the role of scientists in the fight against climate change. Should scientists speak out and provide policy makers with clear guidelines, or should they limit themselves to merely presenting their models, forecasts and findings in a scientific (i.e. objective and neutral) way?

Leaders from the most visible and known group of scientists working on climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), including its president Rajendra K. Pachauri, have decided to speak out - albeit in a personal capacity. Their motivation is the big gap between the policy neutral reports of the IPCC (although others contest this neutrality) and the lack of action by the policy makers and world leaders that so support these reports.

In helping to make up your minds on climate change and its humanitarian impact, the Humanitarian Relief blog has compiled a list of resources, including campaigns, news reports, maps and other blogs.
See also the OCHA website on the humanitarian impact of climate change, with some general information and videos.

GHA Report 2009: money - what do we do with it?

The new Global Humanitarian Assistance Report is out. It provides an overview of how much is spent on humanitarian assistance, where it goes and how this meets/does not meet the needs of the beneficiaries.

The four main chapters focus on

• official (DAC) humanitarian assistance
• humanitarian assistance from non-DAC donors
• humanitarian assistance through NGOs
• financial mechanisms

Financing decisions affect behaviour and humanitarian architecture. They help determine the power of different groups and they influence policy priorities and capacity development. The financial choices made within and between humanitarian crises will often have consequences that are felt well beyond the scope of the original time-bound intervention. In short, humanitarian assistance is not just about the scale of contributions.

WHO: Breastfeeding - an emergency response

Emergencies – whether caused by conflict or natural disasters – are extraordinary events that can jeopardize the health and survival of large populations. Children are among the most vulnerable groups during emergencies, and small children are the most vulnerable of all, as they face a triple risk of death from diarrhoeal disease, pneumonia and undernutrition.

Breastfeeding during emergencies saves lives

The life-saving role of breastfeeding during emergencies is firmly supported by evidence and guidance. The Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding outlines actions to improve infant and young child feeding in emergencies. In all situations, the best way of preventing malnutrition and mortality among infants and young children is to ensure that they start breastfeeding within one hour of birth, breastfeed exclusively (with no food or liquid other than breast milk, not even water) until six months of age and continue breastfeeding with appropriate complementary foods up to two years or beyond. Even in emergency situations, the aim should be to create and sustain an environment that encourages frequent breastfeeding for children up to at least two years of age.

Read more on Reliefweb.