Growing link between global warming and extreme weather
A red-flag to negotiators from 195 countries trying to broker a global climate-saving pact in Paris, the Bonn-based advocacy group Germanwatch released the 2016 Global Climate Risk Index showing those nations most affected by the direct consequences of extreme weather events.
Honduras, Myanmar and Haiti were the most afflicted by such disasters between 1995 and 2014, said the latest edition of the annual index.
Next were the Philippines, Nicaragua, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan, Thailand and Guatemala.
Altogether, more than 525,000 people died as a direct result of about 15,000 extreme weather events, the report said.
Losses amounted to more than $2.97 trillion, it said.
The analysis only looked at the direct results of extreme weather, it stressed, whereas the indirect consequences of extreme weather such as drought and famine resulting from heatwaves can be much more deadly.
It shows only one piece of the puzzle and is not a comprehensive index of vulnerability to climate change, researchers stressed.
For example, the study does not take into account sea-level rise, glacier melting or more acidic and warmer seas.
A growing body of research connects global warming and extreme weather, Germanwatch said.
"The Climate Risk Index thus indicates a level of exposure and vulnerability to extreme events that countries should understand as a warning to be prepared for more frequent and/or more severe events in the future," the report said.
Germanwatch urged negotiators at the UN climate conference in Le Bourget on the northern outskirts of Paris to reach a universal deal to avert a climate catastrophe.
"Paris needs to deliver a far-reaching and durable climate regime that safeguards affected populations," it warned.
Threats to destroy Little-Haiti, community leaders warn
New Time Thursday December 3rd 2011
As the art world descends on South Florida for Miami Art Week, there's no doubt that the glitterati are shifting their gaze to Little Haiti. Everyone from New Times to the New York Times has written this year about the Caribbean neighborhood's shift as galleries flee rising Wynwood rents.
This morning, a coalition of community activists, business owners and residents had a message for developers: Little Haiti won't be the next Wynwood if they can help it.
"In the midst of this beautiful international art bonanza, in Little Haiti a different story has emerged," said Marleine Bastien, executive director of Fanm Ayisyen nan Miyami, which organized the demonstration. "This is the story of business and homeowners being pressured and threatened one minute, sweet talked the next to sell their homes. They're being offered two, three times the property of their homes to get out. Gentrification is here, baby."
Under a beating December sun, Bastien and her allies issued a list of demands on behalf of the neighborhood, ranging from the creation of an official Little Haiti cultural district to putting curbs on developers with a sustainable growth plan.
The goal? Bringing investment and jobs to the neighborhood without booting out the Haitian community who made it famous.
"We believe the cultural identify of the Haitian people and the imprint they have made in this neighborhood should be preserved," said Joan Milord, executive director of the NE 2nd Avenue Partnership. "We welcome new people to the area, but they need to recognize that Little Haiti was built on the backs of all the Haitians who came here."
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Bastien said the list of demands released by the coalition could make a difference and avoid the downsides of a rapid transformation like in Wynwood, where many longtime residents and businesses have been priced out.
The group calls for a new community land trust to preserve space for small businesses and housing; an officially designated area for the neighborhood and a cultural district to preserve its heritage; stricter zoning laws and requirements for developers to study how their plans would impact existing residents; and a "community benefits agreement" that would set living wages for local residents and steer business toward area Haitian-American firms; and creating a Little Haiti CRA, which could use city funds to fuel sustainable growth.
"Little Haiti is changing fast and families are being displaced," Bastien said. "While we welcome and admire the art and diversity, we are greatly concerned about losing the character, the cultural history and the legacy of Little Haiti."
Kenneth Merten waits in Haiti for discussions about the electoral process
Port-au-Prince, December 3rd, 2015 [AlterPresse] – Haiti Special Coordinator from the U.S. State Department, former ambassador Kenneth Merten, is scheduled to visit Haiti this week.
Kenneth Merten has to do his utmost to persuade the Haitian leaders to bring transparency to the elections, beginning by getting the Temporary Electoral Council to postpone the December 27th runoff. This should be followed by an independent investigation, led by Haitians, but with the support of the international community, on the assertions of electoral frauds.
The visit of the special envoy falls within a period when anti-government protests have been gaining the streets of Port-au-Prince, to denounce the results of the presidential election of October 25th, 2015, that were tainted by irregularities and by frauds.
Among other things, the protestors are requesting the departure of President Joseph Michel Martelly and of Prime Minister Evans Paul, as well as the resignation of the members of the Temporary Electoral Council.
Numerous sectors, including the human rights sector, are taking more and more distance from the controversial electoral process, following the deterioration of the political climate since the publication on November 24th, 2015, of the definitive results of the presidential election of October 25th, 2015.
A group of eight presidential candidates and the Fusion Political Party of Haitian Social Democrats continues to recommend a transitional government to help end this crisis.
Laurent Lamothe’s New Company: LSL World Initiative
LSL World Initiative(“LSLWI”) is a leading global organization dedicated to the socio-economic empowerment of emerging countries. As a private social impact enterprise, LSLWI provides solutions to support governments in implementing their own funding mechanisms to achieve economic self-sufficiency and spur sustainable development.
Laurent Lamothe founded LSL World Initiative this year, 2015.
Laurent Lamothe is a former Prime Minister of Haiti. During his tenure as Prime Minister, he fostered a surge in direct foreign investment, tackled corruption, improved security and stability by expanding the police force by 30 percent, and implemented social programs that the World Bank study estimated raised 2 million Haitians out of extreme poverty. The 2010 earthquake that hit Haiti destroyed 1.5 million homes, Mr. Lamothe was able to reduce that number down to 85,000.
He spearheaded a free education program, which added a $1.50 surcharge to wire transfers, and generated $1 million in funding for education each month. Elementary school attendance rose from 55 to 90 percent as a result, transforming the lives of 1.4 million children.
He is now replicating this successful model on a global scale with his new company, LSL World Initiative. LSLWI has provided our partners’ capacity-building programs that have led to major improvements in the collection and management of data, reporting, accountability and usage of technology to closely monitor communities and stimulate positive change around the world. The company is currently working with the government of Rwanda to deliver programs designed to effect long-term positive change and increase the quality of life for its citizens.
LSLWI is committed to providing emerging and developing countries with innovative financing mechanisms based on the nation’s own resources that will enable them to reach their development goals while reducing reliance on foreign aid. The company ensures the timely mobilization and coordination of all human, material and financial resources required for any specific national program providing measurable impact. LSLWI works with multilateral institutions in developing countries to find the perfect match between their solutions and funding projects for development.
Carter: no sign of cancer
Carter says the scan showed no signs of the original cancer "spots" or any new ones.
The former president apparently shared the good news on Sunday with those filling the congregation of Maranatha Baptist Church for one of his regular Sunday school lessons. Jill Stuckey, a church member who helps organize Carter's popular lessons, said in a phone interview that Carter told the congregation a brain scan this week showed no cancer.
Stuckey said people filling the sanctuary applauded after Carter's announcement, while she went into the church's back hallways to spread the word to members. "Our prayers have been answered," Stuckey, also a close friend of the Carters, said. "I can't think of a better Christmas present."
Carter, 91, announced in August that he had been diagnosed with melanoma that spread to his brain. Doctors removed a portion of his liver and found four small tumors on his brain.
He received a round of radiation targeted at those tumors and regular doses of Keytruda. Carter has remained active during treatment, continuing his humanitarian work and volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.
How to transform climate change from crisis to opportunity
Jude Dessources has problems. One of tens of thousands of smallholder Haitian farmers living on the Cul-de-Sac Plain near Port-au-Prince, his everyday reality is months of drought punctuated by torrential storms or hurricanes that flood his fields and home. The result? Lost crops and economic uncertainty for Jude and his family.
Unfortunately, Jude and his fellow Haitians are not alone in this plight. According to theWorld Resources Institute, 1 billion people live in water-scarce regions and an estimated 3.5 billion people could join them within 10 years.
This trend will put extreme pressure on smallholder farming systems, which currently produce about 80 percent of the global food supply, at a time when population projections estimate 9.6 billion people by 2050.
Build resilient and prosperous economies through CSA
To help smallholder farmers like Jude break the cycle of poverty and climate shocks,Chemonics’ agriculture and food security practice is integrating climate-smart agriculture — or CSA — with inclusive market systems to build competitive industries and use social marketing to encourage increased consumption of nutritious and high quality foods.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization defines CSA as an integrated approach to address interlinked challenges of food security and climate change, along three objectives:
1. Sustainably increasing agricultural productivity;
2. Adapting and building resilience of agricultural and food security systems; and
3. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.
The new challenge is to integrate CSA objectives into a development approach that will protect the planet and improve the lives of farmers like Jude. Over the past 40 years, nongovernmental organizations, international donors, private sector companies and local organizations have collaborated to promote sustainable agricultural growth.
Over the past several years, for instance, Chemonics and the U.S. Agency for International Development have worked closely with local agricultural cooperatives and associations. Through this experience, we’ve developed an integrated CSA approach along the following components: to empower smallholders through technology; stabilize to re-energize degraded land; and build carbon capture ecosystems.
Empower smallholders through technology
Technology, science, and modern agricultural practices are the key to increasing smallholder farmer productivity and incomes. Drip irrigation is one constantly-developing technology thatiDE, a leader in smallholder technology solutions, has embraced. In Cambodia, iDE developed a package of support, including drip irrigation and fertigation, that doubled farmer productivity.
In Haiti, Chemonics promotes a new integrated system of hillside greenhouses, vertical farming, and drip irrigation systems that is allowing farmers to make the most out of poor water infrastructure and triple their productive seasons. Catchment systems are excellent ways to improve water infrastructure in order to collect water more efficiently during the rainy season so it can be used year-round, extending and multiplying growing seasons for many farmers.
Technological packages like the combination of greenhouses, catchments, and drip irrigation — when developed appropriately with respect to the local context — allow farmers like Jude to more efficiently harness water to get “more crop per drop.”
Stabilize to re-energize degraded land
Denuded hillsides have created an environmental disaster in Haiti, but new approaches and technologies are providing solutions. USAID funding helped Haitians rehabilitate 71 miles of ravines, plant 5.6 million trees, and build a state-of-the-art water diversion dam that has helped harness water and protect Jude and 50,000 other farmers against flooding in the Cul-de-Sac plain.
Above the plain, farmers are combating deforestation by planting trees and grasses that prevent erosion and allow more productive agriculture on the hillsides. Additionally, promoting greenhouse technology improves potential productivity, reducing pressure on land.
Build carbon capture ecosystems
According to the FAO, agriculture and land use is responsible for 24 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Agriculture therefore has the potential to play an important role in mitigating global emissions. According to France’s Ministry of Agriculture, a 4 percent annual increase in global soil carbon stock would stop the current increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
We have to look to no further than Iowa, a U.S. state where more than 99 percent of the native prairies have been modified, to see this principle at work.
On Nov. 20, aNew York Times op-ed reported on the dramatic steps Iowa’s farmers and leaders are taking to both enhance carbon sequestration through agroforestry and investing in renewable energy to directly reduce carbon emissions. Grant Schultz, the “mad scientist of permaculture” and owner of Versaland, an Iowan agroforestry farm, has transformed a degraded industrial corn farm into a model to revitalize agricultural ecosystems for farmers around the world to emulate.
Climate change: The shock we need to build resiliency and prosperity?
Many “climate-smart” techniques are not new, and in fact have been promoted as sound agricultural production strategies for decades. However, increases in average global temperatures, and increasing climate uncertainty, are reducing farmers’ ability to predict and to cope with changing rainfall, droughts and floods.
Perversely, this increased pressure on traditional resilience may be the shock needed to spur farmers to adopt new coping techniques and strategies that they may not have previously needed. The contemporary smallholder farmer like Jude will have to break with longstanding traditional risk-averse methods and practices, not only to survive, but permanently break the survival cycle in which millions are trapped and preserve the planet for future generations.
Planet Worth is a global conversation in partnership with Abt Associates, Chemonics,HELVETAS, Tetra Tech, the U.N. Development Program and Zurich, exploring leading solutions in the fight against climate change, while highlighting the champions of climate adaptation amid emerging global challenges. Visit the campaign site and join the conversation using #PlanetWorth.