Month: August 2021

Baghdad, 29 August 2021- Nearly 3 out of 5 children in Iraq have no access to safely managed water services and less than half of all schools in the country have access to basic water risking children’s health, nutrition, cognitive development, and future livelihoods.

The MENA region is reported to be the most water-scarce region in the world. Nearly 66 million people in the region lack basic sanitation and very low proportions of wastewater are adequately treated according to a new UNICEF report titled ‘Running Dry: the impact of water scarcity on children in the Middle East and North Africa’.

The report, released during World Water Week, highlights key drivers behind water scarcity in the region and Iraq including rising agricultural demand and the expansion of irrigated land using aquifers. While globally, agriculture accounts for an average of 70 per cent of water use, it is more than 80 per cent in the region.

“In Iraq, the level of water scarcity is alarming, children cannot develop and thrive to their full potential without water,” said Sheema SenGupta, UNICEF Representative in Iraq. “It is time to take action on climate change and guarantee access to safe water for every child” she added.

Rising food demand, urbanisation, poor water management as well as climate change have combined to threaten children, the poor and the marginalised.

While not the sole reason for water scarcity, climate change results in less rain for agriculture and the deterioration of the quality of freshwater reserves due to the backflow of saline water coming from the Arabian Gulf into freshwater aquifers and increased pollution concentrations.

In Iraq, the 2020-2021 rainfall season was the second driest in last 40 years, caused reduction of water flow in Tigris and Euphrates by 29% and 73% respectively.

UNICEF will continue to support the federal and regional governments, local partners, civil society, and the private sector to address the vulnerability of water resources in the Middle East and North Africa, including to:

Create a robust enabling environment with strong national policy and regulatory systems that address scarcity, including over-extraction of groundwater, water accounting and data analysis.

Work with civil society, especially youth as agents of change, on the value of water and water conservation.

Initiate climate change response plans, incorporate water scarcity as a priority component and allocate sufficient national budget to address water scarcity.

Create coordination groups between key stakeholders such as municipalities, water, environment, health, agriculture, energy, and finance), national academic institutions, sectoral actors including international community representatives to support on policy revisions, and increase of technical capacity

Support capacity building of key water sector actors, including regulatory bodies water utilities in provision of clean drinking water especially to highly impacted communities through upgrading ageing infrastructure, developing sustainable operation, and reducing water wastage.

About UNICEF

UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child; in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.

For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit https://www.unicef.org/iraq/, Follow UNICEF on Twitter and Facebook

Source: UN Children’s Fund

Innovators are joining Paralympians to discuss how sport can help to build a more inclusive society in a series of online discussions organized by the UN to coincide with the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, which continues until 5 September.

After losing her right leg in a car accident as a Japanese high school student, Kaede Maegawa was grateful when her friends offered her support. Yet, she sometimes felt that she wouldn’t be capable of doing anything on her own.

In order to regain her confidence, she asked her friends and teachers to let her try do things on her own. This started her on the road to becoming an elite athlete, and a competitor at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

Ms. Maegawa shares her story during SDG Zone at Tokyo panel discussion, in which three inspirational Paralympians talk about the power of sport to expand horizons, and what the Paralympic values – courage, determination inspiration, and equality, mean to them.

Ms. Maegawa, who competes in the long jump, is joined by renowned Sierra Leonean table-tennis para-athlete George Wyndham, and Miki Matheson, three-times Paralympic gold medalist in ice sledge speed racing.

Breaking barriers with technology

Innovations featured in the Paralympics can eventually help all disabled people, explains Ken Endo, CEO of the technology company Xiborg, in a conversation highlighting technology, design, and initiatives that are making sport more accessible and enjoyable for all.

Mr. Endo leads a project to make a running-specific prosthesis called “blade” available for all, not only for athletes, and is working to break down various barriers, especially in developing countries, exploring how locally available materials can be used to develop blades and increase the number of people using prostheses.

The panel also features Lucy Meyer, Spokesperson for the Special Olympics-UNICEF USA Partnership, for young people with disabilities, and a five-times gold medal swimmer in the Special Olympics.

Ms. Meyer, who also has cerebral palsy, says that doctors told her parents that she wouldn’t be able to sit up or swallow but “we are so happy to report that the doctors were very wrong!”

She is very active in Special Olympics programme which enables children with and without disabilities to compete together in team sports. “It’s important to me that everyone accepts and includes everyone, but especially people with disabilities, because we are no different.”

Looking to the future

The last session of the SDG Zone at Tokyo looks at what sport can bring to the next generation, and how it can help societies to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and improve.

South Sudanese Olympic athlete Abraham Guem, recounts the many challenges he, his team and the team’s host city of Maebashi have faced during the pandemic, with the unexpected upside that, because of the postponement of the Games, he was able to spend more time in Maebashi than expected, building links and making friends with local people.

The mayor of Maebashi, Ryu Yamamoto testifies to the positive experience of hosting the South Sudanese athletes, and believes the city is changed as a result. “Everyone must have felt encouraged to see these young people, from such a distant place in Africa, absorbed in intensive practice”.

Looking towards Paris 2024, Roxana Maracineanu, the French Minister of Sport, and an Olympic medal-winning swimmer, shared her hope that the path towards the next Olympic and Paralympic Games will foster stronger collaboration between sports movements, sport education at schools, and various sectors to enable everyone to leverage the power of sport to improve the world.

The SDG Zone at Tokyo

SDG Media Zone brings together world leaders, influencers, activists, experts, content creators and media partners to highlight actions and solutions in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The SDG ZONE at TOKYO is organized by the UN Department of Global Communications (DGC), the United Nations Information Centre Tokyo (UNIC Tokyo), and the Asahi Shimbun Company, a founding member of the SDG Media Compact.

It is the first of the SDG Media Zone series to be organized fully by a DGC country office.

The first half of the online discussion was held between 28 and 30 July, timed with the Olympic Games.

Source: UN News Center

Mogadishu:-Military commanders of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have agreed to accelerate the implementation of joint operations with the Somalia National Army (SNA), enhance electoral security and prepare for AMISOM post 2021.

At a two-day meeting in Mogadishu this week, the commanders evaluated progress made so far on AMISOM’s Concept of Operations, the Somalia Transition Plan and on implementing the UN Security Council Resolution 2568 (2021).

The Somalia Transition Plan is a comprehensive strategy developed by the Federal Government of Somalia and its partners to guide the transfer of security responsibilities to Somalia Security Forces ahead of AMISOM’s exit from the country. The Concept of Operations (CONOPS) supports the implementation of the Somalia Transition Plan. As part of the Concept of Operations, AMISOM has been reconfiguring its military, police, and civilian components. Under this, the military commanders of AMISOM and SNA have had several engagements to develop a detailed plan to implement the military aspects of the concept.

As directed by the Concept of Operations, AMISOM commanders have already established mobile and quick reaction forces within their areas of responsibility to enhance the effectiveness of military operations in countering the threat posed by Al-Shabaab militants. The reconfiguration has enabled AMISOM to maintain operational effectiveness, respond to threats, and plan future target operations, in line with the gradual transfer of security responsibilities to the Somalia Forces.

“The output of this meeting will inform and feed into the upcoming conference which we will have with the Somalia security forces and Somalia’s international partners. Whatever the nature of the post-2021 mission, it is imperative for all our troops in the sectors to strengthen their offensive capability ” said AMISOM Force Commander, Lt. Gen. Diomede Ndegeya.

“I appreciate the enduring work AMISOM forces have done in the sectors to ensure security and stability in Somalia. However, there is the need to generate a revised joint AMISOM/SNA realistic, workable, and fixed concept of operations, which will respond appropriately to threat assessments and an assessment of the friendly forces,” he said.

The Deputy Force Commander of AMISOM in charge of Operations and Plans, Maj. Gen. William Kitsao Shume, told the commanders that while challenges exist, great progress has been made.

“Our mandate is to degrade Al-Shabaab, which we continue to do since we came into

Somalia. We have secured population centres which gives the local population the freedom to go about their day-to-day activities,” said Maj. Gen. Shume.

Source: Somali National News Agency

ADDIS ABABA, Climate scientists drawn from the Greater Horn of Africa sub-region are predicting a drier than usual short rains season that begins in October and ends in December.

Speaking at the end of the Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum (GHACOF), the Director of the Igad Climate Predictions and Applications Center (ICPAC) Dr Guleid Artan said the impacts from the drought could adversely affect food security.

“The food security and nutrition situation is likely to worsen especially in the Arid and Semi-Arid regions, requiring the need for expanding humanitarian assistance and interventions across the region,” said Dr Artan, adding that, generally, poor rains, late-onset, coupled with other non-climatic drivers like COVID-19, economic shocks, and conflict present poor prospects for farming across the region.

He called for concerted efforts aimed at ensuring that the vulnerable communities are cushioned against the adverse effects of the drought.

“Cumulatively the region has been facing rainfall deficits adding that this will be compounded by non-climatic shocks like Covid-19 and conflicts which could worsen the food security situation in the region,” he said.

The climate scientists from the Greater Horn of Africa countries of; Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda warned that 2021 is expected to continue to be, a drier than usual year for the majority of the region.

According to the scientists, observations of rainfall over the past months reveal that the region has been facing rainfall deficits in many parts of central and southern East Africa “and this is forecasted to continue until December 2021.”

Noting that the start of the season is expected to be delayed by up to two weeks, especially over eastern Kenya and southern Somalia, Dr Artan said that the forecast indicates that South Sudan, north-western Uganda, and south-western Ethiopia could receive over 200 and 300 mm during the entire season.

“Besides the dry conditions, warmer than usual temperatures are expected across the region,” said Dr Artan and added that in particular in eastern Kenya to Somalia, eastern parts of Ethiopia, and eastern Sudan are expected to experience dry conditions.

The dry conditions are attributed to the negative Indian Ocean Dipole which is drawing the moisture away from the region.

A positive IOD is what encourages rainfall in the Horn of Africa region during the short rains season of October, November and December. When there is a negative IOD the opposite happens where there is reduced rainfall in the region.

The Climate Scientists indicate that the OND season shows that the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the negative IOD is expected to interact with regional circulation patterns in a way that typically depresses seasonal rainfall in the region.

Source: NAM News Network

Three years ago, nearly every country in Africa agreed to be part of a continental free trade area intended to lower tariffs and boost economies. But the agreement has yet to be fully implemented because of restrictions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The World Bank says the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement set up the largest free trade bloc in the world, and has the potential to pull 30 million people out of poverty.

The agreement reduces tariffs between African countries and, the World Bank says, could boost Africa’s combined GDP by $450 billion by 2035.

But those prospects may not materialize because many countries in Africa have yet to fully open their economies due to health restrictions to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

Kennedy Adede, founder of Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), which works in poor neighborhoods in Nairobi, says the lack of employment opportunities has to be addressed.

“People are going through a lot of hardship, people are more scared of dying from hunger than dying from this virus and that has become a challenge. How do we solve that? That’s why this is not just about the vaccine alone,” Adede said. “It needs a multi-angle [approach] to fight this economically to ensure that we drive more jobs. If you think in Africa right now, the population of young people is scary and if they don’t trust what we are saying, then we are gone.”

Speaking at a recent webinar, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that if Africa was better prepared to combat the pandemic, the free trade area would be flourishing.

“It’s really for us in public health to continue to make sure that we place the public health agenda at the center of political dialogues, at the center of the economic dialogue. Look at the damage the pandemic has caused to our continental aspiration for the continental free trade area. I will argue that without this pandemic, that whole aspiration, the developmental agenda would have been at a very different level today in the continent,” Nkengasong said.

Nearly 18 months into the pandemic, just 2.5% of Africa’s 1.3 billion people are vaccinated. The African CDC wants to vaccinate 60% of the population by the end of 2022.

The agency says Africa had received 123.5 million vaccine doses by mid-August. The continent secured the vaccine through bilateral agreements and COVAX, a global initiative that seeks to provide vaccine to developing countries.

African countries will also share some 400 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses, which are being manufactured in South Africa.

But Nkengasong says Africa is still not receiving enough vaccine.

“When COVID just started, it was very difficult for anyone in Africa to know somebody who has died of COVID but now is a common thing we know, and that is pushing that you see lines of people out there. So the first doses of vaccines that we supplied in the continent, some of those ended up in wastage because we were dealing with misinformation. The challenge we have now is that people are saying here we are with open arms, ready to get the jab, but the jabs are not there,” Nkengasong said.

Africa’s economy is still expected to grow 3.4% this year, but that’s of little consequence to the tens of millions who are struggling to find a steady income as the virus takes away jobs and lives.

Source: Voice of America