Category: General

Extreme weather is wreaking havoc upon virtually all of the world’s largest cotton suppliers.

In India, the top-producing country, heavy rains and pests have cut into cotton crops so much that the nation is importing supplies. A heat wave in China is raising concerns about the upcoming harvest there.

In the US, the largest exporter of the commodity, a worsening drought is ravaging farms and is set to drag production to the lowest level in more than a decade. And now Brazil, the second-largest exporter, is battling extreme heat and drought that have already cut yields by nearly 30 percent.

This confluence of extreme weather events brought on by climate change has sent cotton prices soaring by as much as 30 percent.

Earlier this year, they touched the highest level since 2011, squeezing the margins of clothing suppliers around the world and threatening to raise the costs of everything from t-shirts, to diapers, to paper and cardboard.

The outlook for Brazil is anything but helpful. The drought there has already dried up an estimated 200,000 metric tons of supply, according to Abrapa, a group representing growers. With the nation’s 2021-2022 harvest close to complete, production is now seen at 2.6 million tons — or less.

Bom Futuro group, one of Brazil’s largest cotton producers accounting for about 10 percent of the nation’s planted area, has seen yields fall 27 percent compared with the previous season. Julio Cezar Busato, a grower in Sao Desiderio, Bahia state, has suffered from a similar decline.

Dryness is reducing the number of cotton bolls, making them lighter across all of the country’s main growing regions, he said.

Meanwhile, US output is set to plunge 28 percent in the season that began this month. The US expects production to hit the lowest level since the 2009-2010 season, sending stockpiles to near-historic lows, because of a drought that has become so extreme that the US government is rationing water from the Colorado River. Together, the US and Brazil account for half of the world’s cotton exports.

The decline in global supplies has become so steep that it’s overshadowing demand headwinds. The US government and analysts have been projecting a drop in demand due to a slide in clothing purchases and slowing economies, especially in Europe and Asia. And yet all signs point to “much higher cotton prices in the coming months with crops shrinking, said Andy Ryan, senior relationship manager for Hedgepoint Global Markets in Nashville.

Busato, who also serves as the head of Abrapa, sold 75 percent of what he expected to harvest in advance and ended up largely missing out on the big surge in prices. Because of the weather, he only produced enough to meet his already-existing contractual obligations. “I could have made a mountain of money,” he said.

The weather has created a secondary headache for the cotton buyers of the world. Untimely rains in regions including Australia, Pakistan and even Brazil have also diminished the quality of the stock, said Peter Egli, director for Plexus Cotton Ltd.

So as not to be blindsided for another season, Brazilian farmers are set to increase their cotton-growing areas by 100,000 hectares to 1.7 million hectares for the 2022-2023 season, with plantings beginning in January.

Now that most of the current crop there has been sold, farmers are looking to start hedging the 2023 harvest more aggressively. “We don’t want to lose Asian markets that we gained recently,” Busato said.

Source: Nam News Network

The UK has announced £36 million (approx. US$ 42 million) in UK humanitarian funding to help people in Ukraine, East Africa, and Syria.

People whose lives have been upended by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, drought and food shortages in East Africa, and conflict in Syria will be among those to benefit from £36 million in UK humanitarian funding announced Friday.

The announcement comes on United Nations World Humanitarian Day (Friday 19 August) as parts of the globe come under increasing strain from lasting effects of the pandemic, the increasing impact of climate change, and conflicts in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Local aid workers are at the forefront of the effort to alleviate the disastrous consequences of these crises as they provide humanitarian assistance for communities across the world. The UK’s funding announcement will support them to continue their essential work.

In Ukraine and Poland, where the majority of Ukrainians who have fled the conflict have travelled, £15 million in UK funding will support up to 200,000 of the most vulnerable impacted by Russia’s invasion. This includes children, older people and those with disabilities. International aid organisation Mercy Corps will work with grassroots civil society groups to provide emergency assistance to cover basic needs, including food, water and sanitation, psychological support and childcare services.

In East Africa, where severe food insecurity threatens over 48 million people, the UK has allocated an additional £14 million to the countries on the frontline of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. This new spending, which will work immediately to save lives and prevent more people experiencing famine-like conditions, includes:

– £5 million boost to the UK Somalia programme, which is providing life-saving health, nutrition, food security and water and sanitation assistance to over half a million people in some of the most vulnerable families

-£6 million for the Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund which will provide vital assistance to under-funded emergencies across Ethiopia, including drought and conflict-affected regions

-£3 million in emergency humanitarian funding to the World Food Programme, Sudan, helping reach approximately 120,000 vulnerable people with food assistance

Minister of State for South and Central Asia, North Africa, UN and the Commonwealth and the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon said: “In 2022 millions more people are now in desperate need of humanitarian support. UK funding is ensuring that the UN and local partners can reach those affected by Russian aggression in Ukraine, drought in East Africa and ongoing conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan. We thank those on the ground who so often risk their own lives to help and protect them.

”Britain has a proud humanitarian tradition, and we will continue to support the most vulnerable, wherever they are”.

The Russian invasion is exacerbating the world food crisis, which is hitting the poorest hardest, particularly in East Africa. The UK and its allies have pushed hard for the UN grain initiative and the world is watching to ensure that Russia complies, so food continues to flow from Ukraine and feed the hungry.

The UK is also providing £1.5 million to deploy technology to identify whether grain sold by Russia on the world market has been stolen from Ukraine. A package of rail support to Ukraine will also ensure grain trains can run. Moreover, the UK is providing Ukraine with the military capability to help protect its ports, essential for the grain deal to be a success.

The UK is also announcing a £7 million package to support Syrian refugees who have fled the conflict to Lebanon, delivered through the World Food Programme. This funding will help provide more than 150,000 people with food, water and nutrition. This is part of the UK’s pledge to provide up to £158 million earlier this year at the Brussels Pledging Conference or the Syria Crisis, which will support food production, protect women and girls from violence and ensure humanitarian access to the North East of Syria, where the situation is deteriorating.

The UK is the third largest bilateral donor to the crisis in Syria, having committed over £3.8 billion to date in our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. This includes support to the governments of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey to cope with the protracted refugee presence by supporting displaced Syrians until they can return safely to Syria.

The UK has consistently been one of the largest bilateral humanitarian donors globally and have been at the forefront of driving more effective and innovative approaches to crisis prevention, preparedness, and response.  Since 2015, the UK has reached 32.6 million people with humanitarian aid, saving lives and alleviating suffering in places like Syria, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan.

Now in Ukraine, the UK is working alongside trusted partners to deliver its £220 million humanitarian pledge.

Source: Nam News Network

The World Food Program says that half the population of Ethiopia’s Tigray region need food aid after nearly two years of civil war. Aid agencies say Ethiopia’s federal authorities are limiting aid to the region, which the head of the World Health Organization calls the worst humanitarian disaster in the world.

On Friday, the U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP) said nearly half of Tigray’s estimated seven million people are in need of food aid. It also said that a fuel embargo on the region is hampering distribution of the aid that gets in.

The news comes after Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the U.N.’s World Health Organization (WHO) and an ethnic Tigrayan, made international headlines asserting that the humanitarian crisis taking place in the region is the worst in the world.

The crisis in Tigray, he said, is worse than Ukraine “without any exaggeration,” and suggested the neglect may have to do with the color of Tigrayan people’s skin.

Aside from claims of neglect internationally, the Ethiopian government has been accused of imposing a humanitarian blockade on Tigray, where pro-government forces have been fighting the rebel Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, the TPLF, since November of 2020.

William Davison is an analyst for The International Crisis Group, a research organization based in Belgium.

“The federal government clearly needs to take action urgently to restore the services and if there needs to be discussions with the authorities in Tigray about the logistics and the legalities of how that’s done, then those talks should be held, but this dispute should in no way prevent the convening of peace talks to try and reach a permanent cease-fire,” said Davison.

At a news conference Thursday, Billene Seyoum, an Ethiopian federal government representative, said some aid is reaching the Tigray region’s capital.

“Thus far, for the Tigray region, above 29,000 or close to 30,000 metric tons of food, 31,940 metric tons of nonfood items, 300,000,000 Birr [Ethiopian currency], above 66,000 liters of fuel, 23.63 metric tons of medicine, 2,096 metric tons of fertilizer have reached Mekelle, for distribution to beneficiaries throughout the region,” said Seyoum.

Humanitarian organizations say this aid is not enough to prevent famine-like conditions in some parts of the region.

The national government has said it is ready for unconditional peace talks with the TPLF, which could lead to restoration of aid and services.

However, a TPLF representative, Fesseha Asghedom Tessema, says the government is using the prospect of restored aid to force an end to hostilities.

He told VOA, “The Abiy government in Addis, its latest position, as you know, is that direct negotiations has to come first. That is, we have to have a direct negotiation and then agree on a cease-fire. Of course, if that materializes, if there is a positive outcome, they will resume the services. That is as conditional as you can get.”

On Thursday, the TPLF reported that the government attacked its troops in Tigray, in violation of a humanitarian cease-fire which has been in place since March. The government denied the accusation.

Source: Voice of America

Africa’s migratory birds are threatened by changing weather patterns in the center and east of the continent that have depleted natural water systems and caused a devastating drought.

Hotter and drier conditions due to climate change make it difficult for traveling species who are losing their water sources and breeding grounds, with many now endangered or forced to alter their migration patterns entirely by settling in cooler northern areas.

Roughly 10% of Africa’s more than 2,000 bird species, including dozens of migratory birds, are threatened, with 28 species — such as the Madagascar fish eagle, the Taita falcon and hooded vultures — classed as “critically endangered.” Over one-third of them are especially vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather, an analysis by the environmental group BirdLife International said.

“Birds are being affected by climate change just like any other species,” BirdLife policy coordinator Ken Mwathe said. “Migratory birds are affected more than other groups of birds because they must keep on moving,” which makes it more likely that a site they rely on during their journey has degraded in some way.

The African-Eurasian flyway, the flight corridor for birds that travel south through the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert for the winter, harbors over 2,600 sites for migrating birds. An estimated 87% of African sites are at risk from climate change, a greater proportion than in Europe or Asia, a study by the United Nations environment agency and conservation group Wetlands International found.

Africa is more vulnerable to climate change because it is less able to adapt, said Evans Mukolwe, a retired meteorologist and science director at the World Meteorological Organization.

“Poverty, biodiversity degradation, extreme weather events, lack of capital and access to new technologies” make it more difficult for the continent to protect habitats for wild species, Mukolwe said.

Hotter temperatures due to human-caused climate change and less rainfall shrink key wetland areas and water sources, which birds rely on during migratory journeys.

“Lake Chad is an example,” Mwathe said. “Before birds cross the Sahara, they stop by Lake Chad, and then move to the Northern or Southern Hemisphere. But Lake Chad has been shrinking over the years,” which compromises its ability to support birds, he said.

Parched birds mean tougher journeys, which has an impact on their ability to breed, said Paul Matiku, executive director of Nature Kenya.

Flamingoes, for example, which normally breed in Lake Natron in Tanzania are unlikely to be able to “if the migration journey is too rough,” Matiku said.

He added that “not having water in those wetlands means breeding will not take place” since flamingoes need water to create mud nests that keep their eggs away from the intense heat of dry ground.

Non-migratory birds are also struggling with the changing climate. African fish eagles, found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, are now forced to travel farther in search of food. The number of South African Cape Rockjumpers and Protea canaries is severely declining.

Bird species living in the hottest and driest areas, like in the Kalahari Desert that spans Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, are approaching their “physiological limits,” the most recent assessment by the U.N.’s expert climate panel said. It added that birds are less able to find food and are losing body mass, causing large-scale deaths for those living in extreme heat.

“Forest habitats get hotter with climate change and … dryland habitats get drier and savannah birds lack food because grass never seeds, flowers never fruit, and insects never emerge as they do when it rains,” Matiku said.

Other threats, such as the illegal wildlife trade, agriculture, the growth of urban areas and pollution are also stunting bird populations like African fish eagles and vultures, he said.

Better land management projects that help restore degraded wetlands and forests and protect areas from infrastructure, poaching or logging will help preserve the most vulnerable species, the U.N. environmental agency said.

Birds and other species would benefit from concerted efforts to improve water access and food security, especially as sea levels rise and extreme weather events are set to continue, said Amos Makarau, the Africa regional director of the U.N. weather agency.

Scientists say that curbing emissions of planet-warming gases, especially in high-emitting nations, could also limit future weather-related catastrophes.

Source: Voice of America

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has lauded Kenya’s top presidential candidates for their commitment to upholding peace despite a dispute over the electoral results.

On Thursday, a delegation of US legislators led by Senator Chris Coons held talks with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, President-elect William Ruto, and presidential contender Raila Odinga in separate meetings, where all three leaders affirmed their commitment to peace.

Scotland said in a statement that she has personally spoken to Wafula Chebukati, the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Ruto and Odinga.

“I am reassured that the rule of law will be respected and pleased to hear that all sides are committed to ensuring peace and letting the process play out in the court of law,” she said.

Scotland also praised the transparency of the electoral process, while acknowledging the concerns that have been raised by some IEBC commissioners, and the impending court case challenging the results declared by Chebukati.

Following the declaration of Ruto as President-elect having won the election with 50.49 percent of the valid votes cast, four IEBC commissioners disputed the results, claiming that the chairperson conducted the last phase of the tallying process without transparency.

Odinga, who came second with 40.85 percent, has also disputed the results and has vowed to challenge them in the Supreme Court.

“Whatever the outcomes of that process, I trust and know that democracy will win the day and this is something all Kenyans should indeed be proud of,” Scotland said.

“I look forward to supporting the people of Kenya as we follow up on the recommendations of the Commonwealth Observer Group in the coming months, and seek ways for the Commonwealth to enhance its engagement with Kenya.”

The Commonwealth of Nations, which is an association of 56 countries majority of which are the United Kingdom’s current and former territories, had sent an observer mission to Kenya’s Aug 9 polls, headed by former president of Botswana, Festus Mogae.

Scotland, a British national, has been serving as the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth since 2018 and won a second 4-year term during the election held at the Heads of State and Government meeting in Rwanda’s capital Kigali in June.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

The World Health Organization says clinical evidence shows two monoclonal antibody treatments are effective at saving the lives of many people stricken with the deadly Ebola virus.

The action follows a systematic review and analysis of randomized clinical trials of therapeutics for the disease.

WHO Team Lead for Clinical Care Janet Diaz says the evidence underpinning the recommendations comes from two clinical trials. The largest was done in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018 and 2019.

She says the trials were conducted during Ebola outbreaks, demonstrating quality control trials can be done even under the most difficult circumstances.

“The evidence synthesis that informs this guideline shows that mAb114 and Regeneron-EB3 reduced mortality. The relative risk reduction was about 60 percent…Between 230 to 400 lives saved per 1,000 patients. Translate that into the number needed to treat, you treat two to four patients, and you save one life.”

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is spread through blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with or has died of the disease. The worst Ebola outbreak occurred in West Africa between 2014 and 2016. Of the nearly 29,000 reported cases, more than 11,300 people died.

Diaz calls the development of monoclonal antibody therapeutics a very important advancement. However, she notes the drug itself is not the only solution. She says it must be given in a comprehensive, clinical setting along with other treatments.

“That includes early diagnosis so that treatments can be given as soon as possible and also the implementation of appropriate infection prevention and control to stop transmission…and treatment of co-infections and access to nutrition, psycho-social support, and, of course, access to care after discharge.”

Diaz says the two recommended therapeutics have shown clear benefits for people of all ages. She says they can be used on all patients confirmed positive for Ebola virus disease. That, she says, includes older people, pregnant and breastfeeding women, children, and babies born to mothers with confirmed Ebola within the first seven days after birth.

Source: Voice of America