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Making the World Better for Future Generations

US and China urged to find way to work together before Cop26

Date: October 18, 2021 Media: The Guardian▲ Ban Ki-moon made the plea on behalf of the Elders group of former world statespeople and prominent community and business leaders. Photograph: Rex/ShutterstockUS president Joe Biden and the president of China, Xi Jinping, have been urged to meet before the UN Cop26 climate talks to search for common ground by the former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and other prominent global voices.“We are appealing to the leaders of the US and China to see their common interest and find a way to work together. We need an ambitious 2030 [carbon] target from China and the US to deliver what they have pledged,” said Ban, speaking on behalf of the Elders group of former world statespeople and prominent community and business leaders.Xi met the former US president, Barack Obama, weeks ahead of the Paris climate summit in 2015, to forge a deal between the world’s biggest emitters.“Biden and Xi need to do what they used to do with Obama – the Paris agreement might not have been possible without those two countries,” said Ban. “We must do everything possible … Cop26 will be one of the most important in history.”Ban warned that current pledges on cutting emissions – known as nationally determined contributions, or NDCs – from major economies were insufficient to hold global heating to 1.5C, the aim of the Cop26 conference. “We need these NDCs to be ambitious enough. We need the right signals to strengthen the NDCs,” he said.Xi is unlikely to come to Glasgow for Cop26, which opens on 31 October, or to the G20 leaders’ meeting in Rome, which will take place the same weekend. He has not left China since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.There are no current plans for a summit between the presidents, who lead the world’s two biggest emitters, and biggest economies. However, Xi and Biden recently had a long phone call in which the climate was discussed, and the US climate envoy John Kerry has held meetings with Chinese representatives.Ban is part of the Elders group of former world statespeople and prominent community and business leaders, which has written to the leaders of the G20 nations to ask them to strengthen their commitments on cutting greenhouse gas emissions before the Cop26 summit in Glasgow which begins in just under two weeks.“We are asking these countries to think again and be ambitious. All G20 countries need to take further actions to stay within 1.5C. Wealthy countries need to put more finance on the table [to help the developing world],” he said.The aim of Cop26 is to “keep 1.5C alive”, which means setting out a pathway to ensuring the world cuts emissions sufficiently to hold global heating within 1.5C of pre-industrial levels, the upper ambition of the 2015 Paris agreement. Scientific advice is that this will take emissions cuts globally of about 45% by 2030, compared with 2010 levels.Mary Robinson, chair of the Elders, said: “We are not going to close the gap at Glasgow, but we have to align with 1.5C – there has to be a political commitment to 1.5C. There has to be a process devised as to how to put pressure on the target countries who are not stepping up.”She said countries without adequate plans must return to the table with new plans every year, not every five years as envisaged under the Paris agreement.She also warned against people judging Cop26 a failure because the highest ambition – of fully fledged plans from 196 countries that would cut emissions by 45% – had not been met. “It’s extremely important that we do not have fatalism on Cop26, but keep hope alive,” she said. “We will see positive developments at Cop26.”

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27 October 2021
Pacific Island climate groups demand world leaders halt support for fossil fuel

Date: October 22, 2021Media: ABC NewsPacific Island climate action groups have demanded countries including Australia end support for the fossil fuel industry during the COP26 Climate Change Summit in Glasgow.The Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN), which includes environmental activist group Greenpeace, issued a list of demands to world leaders on Friday, saying they must provide \"a safe and habitable future for the Pacific Islands\". It called on wealthy countries to pump billions of dollars a year into developing nations to help them tackle the effects of climate change and cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.PICAN demanded wealthy nations provide developing states $US100 billion ($133.25 billion) annually until 2025 and increase that sum to $750 billion a year beyond 2025 so they can invest in technologies to help live with a changing climate.\"We do need finance and we\'re talking about billions … we need the technology,\" former Tuvalu prime minister Bikenibeu Paeniu said. Former Kiribati president Anote Tong told the virtual gathering of Pacific climate-action organisations the COP26 meeting would be the last chance to save Pacific Island nations from the worst effects of climate change.Anote Tong said for most people in the Pacific, their days were numbered.(ABC News: Sarah Hancock)\"I think what I\'ve always acknowledged — and I think we must also acknowledge — is for most of us in the Pacific, our days are already numbered because whatever happens, even if we cut emissions to zero tomorrow ... our future cannot be assured,\" he said.Pacific Island nations have become increasingly anxious about inaction on climate change and its looming consequences for their countries if the world does not reduce emissions.An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in August found the world had warmed by 1.1C on pre-industrial levels.It found that on the current trajectory, the Earth was likely to hit 1.5C warming about 2030.Documents leaked to Greenpeace and obtained by the ABC, showed Australia sought to change a major international draft report on climate change to promote a future for coal-fired power.\'Rapid\' phase-out of coal neededBritish High Commissioner George Edgar, who also spoke at the meeting, called on countries that had not submitted ambitious climate targets to step up. \"A growing number of countries have committed to ending overseas investment in coal, but we need to see an end to domestic investment as well and plans for the rapid phase out of existing coal-fired plants,\" he said.Former secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum, Meg Taylor, said she understood reservations about the shift away from fossil fuels but insisted the change would benefit communities in the long term.\"I understand the sentiments about the transition of economies from fossil fuel to carbon neutral. My own country will face that challenge itself,\" she said.\"In the Paris Agreement, it\'s very clear that in terms of the transition … economic development is very much part of the climate transition and countries are going to have to make those tough decisions themselves.\"

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27 October 2021
Smallholder farmers key to curbing climate crisis

Date: October 15, 2021Media: Gulf TodayBan Ki-Moon, The IndependentI grew up during the Korean War. Often, we had just enough to eat, but rarely enough to fill our stomachs. I was hungry all the time. Everyone was. This has given me a deep appreciation of where food comes from. Food and the food systems are paramount to all the challenges we face, especially for the people who work tirelessly to make sure we can feed ourselves and our loved ones — smallholder farmers. Around the world, there are more than 500 million smallholder farms, where the land is less than two hectares. Moreover, smallholder farmers produce 80 per cent of food while the agriculture sector provides 15 per cent of GDP and 40 per cent of jobs on average in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.Yet smallholder farmers, particularly women, often lack secure land tenure and access to markets and finance. They are also bearing the brunt of multiple crises of climate change, conflict, and economic downturn, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, while at the same time being overlooked in global and national policy debates on these issues. In addition, they and their children are among those most likely to experience hunger and malnutrition, trapping yet another generation in poverty.If we want a world free of hunger and poverty while adapting to and mitigating the climate crisis, we need to put smallholder farmers right at the centre of our efforts to tackle these issues and to “build back better”. Governments and international aid groups can support a new generation of climate resilient farmers by increasing financial assistance for smallholder-focused climate adaptation.With less than 10 years left to meet the targets set in the Paris Climate Agreement and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), two of the legacies from my time as UN Secretary-General, I am calling for a new consensus with smallholder farmers that would drive a radical increase in financial aid, coherent policies, inclusive planning, technologies, and capacity-building for agricultural adaptation.A new consensus with smallholder farmers to align policies, investments, and research across a wide range of stakeholders — governments, donors, civil society, private sector, and the farmers themselves — will ensure food security, protect biodiversity, and mitigate climate emissions at the same time. The Ceres2030 report which came out last year has laid out a roadmap on how we can achieve global goals to tackle the climate crisis and end hunger by 2030. It provides new evidence on what works to empower and support small farmers grow more nutritious and climate resilient crops, access irrigation and tap into social safety nets.In addition, the recommendations from the international organisation Global Centre on Adaptation’s flagship report, “Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate Resilience”, are key in this regard: improving smallholder productivity, supporting farmers in managing risks from increased variability and climate shocks, addressing challenges of the most vulnerable and achieving policy coherence.Data will also be a key tool for targeting interventions among smallholder farmers. Demand driven research and innovation are essential to address these specific needs. Only 10 per cent of countries have the capacity to collect or publish sufficiently disaggregated data on food systems. To channel resources efficiently we strongly rely on organisations like CGIAR to gather and translate data on the specific needs of smallholder farmers as environmental conditions continue to evolve. According to a 2020 report by the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), smallholder farmers only receive 1.7 per cent of total global climate finance. Their actual financial need is estimated at $240bn (£175.2bn) per year globally, but the existing climate finance for them only reached $10bn (£7.3bn) in 2018. So, there is a huge gap.Channeling more funding to agricultural research and innovation through global networks such as CGIAR, and through joint initiatives such as the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP) and Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM4C) will accelerate the development of technologies and crops that can be adopted by even the poorest farmers.More funding for smallholder farmers would ensure access to climate-resilient crops that can better cope with stresses such as drought, heat, flooding, salinity, and changes to the growing season. It will empower the excluded and the marginalized — women, indigenous peoples, pastoralists, fisherfolk, just to name a few — so they can produce the food we consume and the healthy diets we need with dignity and in a manner that is environmentally friendly and sustainable.The world has done much to reduce hunger but figures over the last few years show hunger levels are on the rise again globally — the latest UN annual hunger report showed one in 10 people went to bed hungry in 2020, a jump of around 118 million from the previous year — and the climate crisis poses a mounting threat to food production and distribution.

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19 October 2021
Africa Resilience Forum 2021: Facing the 'hydra-head challenges of Covid-19, conflict and climate'

Date: September 29, 2021Media: africanewsThe fourth edition of the Africa Resilience Forum opened on Tuesday, as the continent’s most vulnerable communities confront the triple challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, conflict and climate change.An estimated 39 million Africans could slip into extreme poverty this year, as a result of the pandemic. At the same time, countries are facing higher fiscal costs, reducing capacity for the critical investments required to deliver on ambitions such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals.The Africa Resilience Forum is a flagship African Development Bank event which brings together key stakeholders across government, civil society, the private sector, and international partners, to reflect on the continent’s conflict prevention, peace, and state-building initiatives.Amadou Hott, Senegal’s Minister of the Economy, Planning and Cooperation, shared some of the successes from his country that could prove useful in the current crisis. Speaking on behalf of President Macky Sall, Hott said Senegal had adopted a legal framework that provides for flexible and secure public-private partnerships. He said the crisis “reminds us of the need to reorganize our priorities, to strengthen the social protection of our populations and to establish a more endogenous development.”African Development Bank President Akinwumi A Adesina highlighted the Bank’s work in climate finance and landmark green projects, including the $20 billion Desert to Power solar energy program, which will provide clean energy to up to 250 million people across 11 countries in the Sahel region.“Across Africa, rising expenditures on defence and security, increasingly displace development financing on essential services such as education, health, water, sanitation, and affordable housing…This compromises long-term resilience needed to bounce back better,” Adesina said. “The hydra-headed challenges of this pandemic, insecurity, and climate change, continue to impact young men, women, and children the most.” Going forward, Adesina said the Bank would work closely with regional member countries on security-indexed bonds to address the root causes of insecurity by protecting investments and livelihoods.Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, said the continent’s wealth of natural resources and historic solidarity could “lay the groundwork for resilience.” He added: “The Covid pandemic made it possible to identify vulnerabilities and required a new vision for reform.”Day one featured two further sessions: one on the competing needs of development and security, especially in the prevailing environment of heightened fiscal constraints, while the second focused on climate adaptation, an emerging antidote to the destructive impact of extreme weather.The security panel featured Abebe Aemro Selassie, Director of the International Monetary Fund’s Africa Department, Dr. Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, President of the Commission of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), and Adriano Afonso Maleiane, Mozambique’s Minister of Economy and Finance.Minister Maleiane, whose country has been hit by both climate and security challenges, described the impact of the latter alone: “Today, spending on security is equal to investment. Without security (there is) no investment, no growth, nothing.”The next two days of the Africa Resilience Forum will centre on action around investing in women, youth employment, closing the digital divide, and boosting manufacturing in transition states. This year, the Forum will also serve as a platform to learn about the Bank’s new strategy for addressing fragility and building resilience in Africa (2022-2026).Learn more here about the 2021 Africa Resilience Forum (https://bit.ly/3ogQonb).Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

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8 October 2021
Media Advisory: Leaders Group of Global Organizations to Issue Climate Emergency Call

Date: September 01, 2021Media: IntradoWhen: Monday 6th SeptemberWhere: Floating Office Rotterdam, Rotterdam Rijnhaven and virtual accessA group of global leaders composed of the heads of key international organizations – including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and African Development Bank – will gather in Rotterdam on Monday 6th September following an invitation from Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary-General and Chair of the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) and Patrick Verkooijen CEO of GCA to participate in a High-Level Dialogue on Climate Adaptation. The Dialogue, taking place just weeks before the COP26 UN climate change conference in Glasgow, will hammer out a clear call to action for governments, policy-makers and the public on what COP26 must deliver if communities are to be kept safe from the accelerating climate impacts in the coming decade. Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Chair of the African Union will deliver a keynote address during the Dialogue.Announcing the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) High-Level Dialogue on COP26, Professor Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of GCA commented:“The IPCC’s new finding that warming is accelerating faster than we thought leading to earth reaching the crucial 1.5℃ warming limit in the early 2030s, a decade earlier than expected, puts Hurricane Ida in a painful new light. It’s clear that we are now living in the eye of the storm -. adapting the world to our climate emergency is essential for our safety even as we continue to tackle a global pandemic. COP26 in Glasgow will fail if it does not put adaptation on an equal footing with emission reductions.”Following the Dialogue, the Global Center on Adaptation’s new floating office in Rotterdam moored at Rijnhaven, a historical port on the south bank of Rotterdam’s Nieuwe Maas River will be inaugurated by His Majesty King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. This will be followed by a press conference where the GCA will issue a communique endorsed by Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary-General and Chair of the GCA, Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and Professor Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the GCA. Global leaders including Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organizations and Feike Sijbesma, UN High-Level Climate Champion on Private Sector for COP26 will also speak during the press conference.The GCA’s new floating global center is emblematic of the future solutions that will need to be implemented to cope with the climate crisis. Off grid and carbon-neutral, the building is designed to showcase innovative architectural solutions to urban planning that accommodates rising sea levels. With its own solar energy source and water-based heat-exchange system, it’s completely self-sufficient. It is also an outstanding example of circular design with all the materials used in its construction completely reusable and recyclable.Schedule1030 CET - Opening remarks during the High-Level Dialogue. A communique will be released to the media following the High Level Dialogue.1645 CET - Inauguration of the world’s largest floating office, the new headquarters of the Global Center on Adaptation, by His Majesty King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (for more information about Floating Office Rotterdam please download the factsheet https://we.tl/t-KNOY0L3WUC)1800 CET - Physical and virtual press conference with the following individuals who participated in the High Level Dialogue on Climate Adaptation:Patrick Verkooijen, CEO, Global Center on AdaptationBan Ki-moon, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the Global Center on AdaptationKristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary FundPatricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeAkinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development BankNgozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade OrganizationsFeike Sijbesma, UN High-Level Climate Champion on Private Sector for COP26Media accreditationFor media accreditation to attend the press conference you are invited to apply to the Global Center on Adaptation no later than Thursday 2nd September. Please send accreditation and interview requests to alex.gee@gca.org.You may also tune into the press conference virtually – please specify if this is your preference in your accreditation request so we can provide you with the link.If the number of accreditation requests exceeds the available spaces for media representatives, a selection will be made. Media will be informed about their application request no later than Friday September 3rd.Media representatives are informed that a security check will take place and security personnel will examine equipment and personal effects carried onto the site.Notes to EditorsAbout the Global Center on AdaptationThe Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is an international organization which works as a solutions broker to accelerate action and support for adaptation solutions, from the international to the local, in partnership with the public and private sector, to ensure we learn from each other and work together for a climate resilient future. Founded in 2018, the GCA is hosted by the Netherlands, working from its headquarters in Rotterdam with a knowledge and research hub based in Groningen. The GCA has a worldwide network of regional offices in Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Dhaka, Bangladesh and Beijing, China. Through this evolving network of offices and global and regional GCA teams, the organization engages in high-level policy activities, new research contributions, communications, and technical assistance to governments and the private sector.

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8 September 2021
Avance Media announces 2021 100 Most Influential African Women list

Date: Sepember 4, 2021Source: Avance Media Leading African PR & Rating firm, Avance Media has announced the 2021 list of 100 Influential Women in Africa. The list which celebrates African women in leadership who inspire the next generation of women around the world is the third publication from Avance Media since 2019.The 2021 list has women from 28 African countries from various backgrounds in business leadership, academia, diplomacy, philanthropy, entertainment and media.Put together with inspiration from the 2021 International Women’s Day theme: “Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world\", Prince Akpah, Managing Director of Avance Media noted that, the honourees on the qualified for this deserving honour because of their works and accomplishments which continue to inspire a lot of young people across the African continent and beyond. He also noted that, the 100 influential African women were selected based on criteria that spans their leadership & personal accomplishments, commitment to sharing knowledge and the audacity to break several status quos.Some notable names on the list are UN’s Amina J. Mohammed (H.E), Sahle-Work Zewde (H.E), Samia Suluhu Hassan (H.E) presidents of Ethiopia and Tanzania respectively, Victoire Tomegah Dogbé, Prime Minister of Togo, Jessica Rose Epel Alupo (H.E), Mariam Chabi Talata (H.E.) Vice Presidents of Uganda and Benin respectively, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, World Trade Organization Director General and Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh first African Woman to head IBM’s operation in Africa as Regional Head and Executive Director.The youngest honouree to make the list for the second time is Namibia’s Deputy ICT Minister, Hon. Emma Theofelus.Profiles of the 2021 100 Most Influential African Women are published on 100women.avancemedia.orgBelow is the list of Avance Media’s 2021 100 Most Influential African Women arranged in alphabetical order1. Agnes Binagwaho (Prof) || Vice Chancellor, University of Global Health Equity2. Agnes Matilda Kalibata (Dr) || CEO, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa3. Ahunna Eziakonwa || Director, UNDP Africa4. Aisha Yesufu || Activist5. Aja Fatoumata C.M. Jallow-Tambajang (H.E.) || Former Vice-President, Gambia6. Allen Kagina || Executive Director, Uganda National Roads Authority.7. Amina J. Mohammed (H.E) || Deputy Secretary General, United Nations8. Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh || Regional Head, IBM North, East and West Africa9. Angèle Makombo || President, League of Congolese Democrats10. Angélique Kidjo || Musician11. Anne Waiguru (H.E.) || Governor, Kirinyaga County12. Athaliah Molokomme || Permanent Representative of Botswana to the UN13. Awa Ndiaye-Seck || Resident Representative UN Women, Democratic Republic of the Congo14. Aya Nakamura || Musician15. Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu || CEO, soleRebels16. Bience Gawanas || Executive Consultant, Gawanas Consulting17. Busiswa Gqulu || Musician18. Charity Ngilu (H.E.) || Governor, Kitui County19. Chebet Chikumbu || Africa Director, Global Citizen20. Chileshe Kapwepwe (H.E.) || Secretary General, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa21. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie || Novelist22. Damilola Ogunbiyi || CEO, Sustainable Energy for All23. Djamila Ferdjani (Dr) || Medical Doctor, MedCom24. Dorothy Ghettuba || Content Manager for Africa, Netflix25. Dorothy Kisaka || Executive Director, Kampala Capital City Authority26. Edith Yah Brou || Blogger27. Elizabeth M. Mrema || Executive Secretary, United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity28. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (H.E.) || Chair, EJS Centre29. Emma Theofelus || Deputy Minister, Namibia30. Eve Bazaiba || Deputy Prime Minister, DRC31. Fatima Kyari Mohammed (H.E) || Permanent Representative, African Union Mission to the UN32. Fatoumata Ba || Founder, Janngo Africa33. Faustina Fynn-Nyame || Executive Director for Africa, Children\'s Investment Fund Foundation34. Filsan Abdullahi || Minister of Gender, Children and Youth, Ethiopia35. Frehiwot Tamru || CEO, Ethio Telecom36. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka (Dr) || CEO, Conservation Through Public Health37. Graça Machel || Founder, Graca Machel Trust38. Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim || Coordinator, Association of Peul Women and Autochthonous Peoples of Chad39. Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu || CEO, Tony Elumelu Foundation40. Irene Asare || Global HR Director, CarvinClay People Development41. Jacqueline Fatima Bocoum || Journalist42. Jacqueline Moudeïna || Lawyer43. Jeannette Kagame (H.E) || First Lady, Rwanda44. Jessica Rose Epel Alupo (H.E) || Vice President, Uganda45. Julienne Lusenge || President, Female Solidarity for Integrated Peace and Development46. Julitta Onabanjo (Dr) || Regional Director, UNFPA East and Southern Africa47. Kaba Nialé || Minister of Planning and Development, Ivory Coast48. Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo (Dr.) || Journalist49. Laureen Kouassi-Olsson || Founder & CEO, Birimian Holding50. Letty Chiwara || Representative to Ethiopia, AU & ECA, UN Women51. Louise Mushikiwabo || Secretary General, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie52. Mamokgethi Phakeng (Prof.) || Vice Chancellor, University of Cape Town53. Mariam Chabi Talata (H.E.) || Vice President, Benin54. Martha Ama A. Pobee (H.E.) || Assist. Secretary-General for Africa, UN55. Martha K Koome (Lady Justice) || Chief Justice, Kenya56. Mary-Jane Morifi || Chief Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Officer, Tiger Brands57. Matshidiso Moeti (Dr) || Regional Director for Africa, WHO58. Mercy Johnson || Actress59. Mitwa Kaemba Ng\'ambi || CEO, MTN Rwanda60. Monde Muyangwa (Dr.) || Director of the Africa Program, Woodrow Wilson Center61. Monique Nsanzabaganwa (H.E.) || Deputy Chairperson, African Union Commission62. Musonda Xoliswa Mumba (Dr) || Chief of the Terrestrial Ecosystems, UNEP63. Mwele Malecela || Director of Neglected Tropical Diseases, WHO64. Nabou Fall || CEO, Vizeo65. Nadeen Ashraf || Activist66. Nafissatou Jocelyne Diop || Chief of Gender and Human Rights, United Nations Population Fund67. Nancy Matimu || Managing Director, MultiChoice Kenya68. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala || Director General, World Trade Organization69. Nnenna Nwakanma || Chief Web Advocate, WWW Foundation70. Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda || Chairperson, ActionAid International71. Omotola Jalade Ekeinde || Actress72. Oulimata Sarr || Regional Director West and Central Africa, UN Women73. Owen Omogiafo || CEO, Transcorp Group74. Patricia Obo-Nai || CEO, Vodafone Ghana75. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka || Executive Director, UN Women76. Rasha Kelej (Dr) || CEO, Merck Foundation77. Renée Ngamau || Chairperson, Amnesty International Kenya78. Roberta Annan || Founder, Africa Fashion Foundation79. Rose Mwebaza || Director, UN Climate Technology Centre and Network80. Rosebell Kagumire || Editor, African Feminism81. Roselyn Akombe (Dr) || Governance and Peacebuilding Regional Coordinator, UNDP Africa82. Sahle-Work Zewde (H.E) || President, Ethiopia83. Samia Suluhu Hassan (H.E) || President, Tanzania84. Sheila Ochugboju (Dr) || Head, Strategic Communications, Africa CDC85. Sola David-Borha || Group CEO, Standard Bank Africa86. Stella Nyanzi (Dr.) || Convenor, Women\'s Protest Uganda87. Stigmata Tenga (Dr.) || Executive Director, Africa Philanthropy Network88. Tiguidanke Camara || CEO, Tigui Mining Group89. Titi Akinsanmi || Policy and Government Relations Lead, Google90. Tsitsi Dangarembga || Author91. Ubah Ali || Activist92. Uche Ofodile || CEO, MTN Benin93. Victoire Tomegah Dogbé || Prime Minister, Togo94. Wanjira Mathai || Regional Director for Africa, World Resources Institute95. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg (Dr) || Director, African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD)96. Waris Dirie || CEO, Desert Flower Foundation97. Winnie Byanyima || Executive Director, UNAIDS98. Yemisi Akinbobola (Dr) || Co-Founder, African Women in Media99. Yolanda Cuba || Chief Digital and Fintech Officer, MTN Group 100. Zainab Hawa Bangura || Director General, United Nations Office at Nairobi

1,199

8 September 2021
THE MOST TRANSLATED BOOKS FROM EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD

THE MOST TRANSLATED BOOKS IN AFRICAAnother fable makes the list on the African continent: The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright by Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has been published in more than 60 languages. These short tales that give insight into the human condition seem to have universal appeal, making them attractive as translation options.Angola: The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo AgualusaBotswana: Maru by Bessie HeadBurundi: Petit Pays by Gaël FayeCameroon: Houseboy by Ferdinand OyonoCape Verde: The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva by Araújo Germano AlmeidaCongo: Broken Glass by Alain MabanckouCôte d’Ivoire: Allah is not Obliged by Ahmadou KouroumaDemocratic Republic of the Congo: Tram 83 by Mwanza MujilaDjibouti: Passage of Tears by Abdourahman A WaberiEgypt: Women at Point Zero by Nawal El SaadawiEthiopia: The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw MengestuGhana: The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei ArmahGuinea: The African Child by Camara LayeGuinea-Bissau: The Ultimate Tragedy by Abdulai SilaKenya: The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’oLesotho: Chaka by Thomas MofoloLiberia: The House at Sugar Beach by Helene CooperLibya: In The Country of Men by Hisham MatarMadagascar: The Palace by Claude SimonMalawi: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William KamkwambaMali: Kaïdara: récit initiatique peul by Amadou Hampaté BâMauritania: Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould SlahiMauritius: The Last Brother by Nathacha AppanahMorocco: Racism Explained to My Daughter by Tahar Ben JellounMozambique: Sleepwalking Land by Mia CoutoNigeria: Things Fall Apart by Chinua AchebeRwanda: Left to Tell: One Woman’s Story of Surviving the Rwandan Genocide by Immaculée IlibagizaSenegal: God’s Bits of Wood by Ousmane SembèneSierra Leone: Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael BeahSomalia: Desert Flower by Waris DirieSouth Africa: The Hobbit by J. R. R. TolkienSudan: Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb SalihTanzania: Paradise by Abdulrazak GurnahUganda: Chroniques Abyssiniennes by Moses IsegawaZambia: River God by Wilbur SmithZimbabwe: We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

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1 September 2021
Where Kabul airport attack victims went for lifesaving treatment

A row of stretchers lined the front of the crammed street outside of Kabul’s Emergency hospital on Thursday night, as panicked faces waited and wailed in the immediate aftermath of the coordinated suicide attacks that ripped through the already on-edge Afghanistan capital.The majority of patients were rushed to the starkly red-and-white facility, formally known as the Surgical Center for War Victims and operated solely by the Italian non-governmental organization (NGO) Emergency, which is considered the most critical in Kabul.▲ Afghans wounded in the deadly attacks at the Kabul airport are treated at the hospital on Aug. 27, 2021./AP“We took care of the most urgent cases, and the surgeons and doctors reviewing the patients to make sure they are no missed injuries,” Dr. Gina Portella, Emergency’s Medical Coordinator in Kabul, said in an exclusive interview with The Post on Friday afternoon, acknowledging that the hospital was at first swarmed. “Many people were coming in, in a state of panic, and we just had to reassure them.”The attacks – carried out by the ISIS affiliate in the region known as ISIS-K – killed at least 95 people, including 13 US service members. A further 150 were wounded – and many remain in critical conditions inside the hospital.Portella noted that 38 patients from yesterday’s attacks are at the hospital and are receiving life-saving treatment. The youngest casualty is between the ages of 10 and 15, and the eldest is around 50 to 60. But for the staff, there is little time to ask questions or take down details – it’s about moving as quickly as possible through the hospital, which has a pre-determined protocol and outside area to set up for patients specifically to cater to large-scale bombings.That’s the chilling reality Afghans have dealt with for decades.Almost year-round, the Emergency hospital is brimming not only with the war-wounded but those caught in the crossfire of gang warfare and senseless criminal acts. A sign outside the hospital warns visitors in red letters: “No weapons.”And given that the facility has long been the closest advanced medical care for those in rural areas, many injured Afghans come from far and wide for life-saving treatment – sometimes walking for days in blistering weather conditions – and thus then grappling with severe infections on top of everything by the time they arrive.Portella acknowledged that before Thursday’s assailment, there was actually a brief reprieve from the constant violence after the Taliban takeover almost two weeks ago.“The situation became a little quieter; things seemed a little more stable,” she said. “Then suddenly, there was this attack in very crowded areas.”In my experiences visiting Emergency throughout the duration of the protracted US-led war, one-third of the patients were children — even babies — whose tiny bodies had been battered by bombs and bullets.Emergency, which is stylized in capital letters as EMERGENCY, was first started in 2000 by an Italian war surgeon and human rights activist, the late Gino Strada, while Afghanistan was under the Taliban’s rule. Strada is said to have directly negotiated with then-notorious Taliban leader Mullah Omar, convincing authorities to hand over a bombed-out kindergarten to be built into the hospital that it is today. The center has continued to operate through the ups and downs of mayhem and madness that has befallen the country.And regardless of how the situation unfurls, the EMERGENCY team said it is committed to staying and serving the Afghan people in need long after that final US plane has soared through the skies.“The job isn’t always easy,” Portella added. “But I see what is going on here, and I know the people really need this. The problems here have lasted so long; I have to try to do something.”

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1 September 2021
Dr. Gino Strada, Who Brought Health Care to the Desperate, Dies at 73

Dr. Gino Strada, an Italian surgeon and human rights activist who established a medical charity, Emergency, that says it has treated more than 11 million people in war-torn countries, died on Aug. 13 in Honfleur, in the Normandy region of France. He was 73.His daughter, Cecilia Strada, announced his death on Twitter. She did not cite a cause, but the Italian news media reported that he had suffered from heart problems. Dr. Strada was in Normandy on vacation.Dr. Strada and his wife, Teresa Sarti, founded Emergency, which operates hospitals, rehabilitation centers, trauma clinics and other programs, often on the front lines of conflict, in 1994. He served as the organization’s executive director and public face.Since its founding, Emergency has worked in 19 countries, including Rwanda, Iraq and Yemen. It is now active in eight countries, including Afghanistan.Anyone requiring treatment is admitted to Emergency’s well-equipped hospitals, which are staffed by local residents and an international team. “We never ask, are you Arab or Kurdish or Shiite or Sunni; we just look after immediate needs,” Dr. Strada said about Emergency’s work in Iraq in a 2004 interview with The International Herald Tribune.“Health care is a human right” became the organization’s tenet.A 2012 article in The New York Times Magazine examined the suffering of people in the Afghan war by tracking patients in Emergency hospitals and clinics. “A patient is a patient. This is our rule,” an Emergency Afghan nurse was quoted as saying.Through Emergency’s hospitals and centers, Dr. Strada received a direct view of the devastating effects of war and its legacy of destruction, poverty and unexploded land mines. He was an outspoken antiwar activist, and his firsthand accounts from the front lines often challenged the official narrative.“There isn’t a war where 90 percent of the casualties aren’t civilian,” he said in the 2004 interview.Emergency promoted a campaign that led to a ban on the production of antipersonnel land mines in Italy. It protested Italian military involvement in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. It is the driving force behind the African Network of Medical Excellence, whose aim is to strengthen free high-quality health systems in Africa.Last year, Emergency joined the “People’s Vaccine” campaign, an assembly of health and humanitarian associations and individuals lobbying to ensure that free Covid-19 vaccines are made available to all.On the day he died, as Taliban forces advanced in Afghanistan, the Turin daily La Stampa published a front-page opinion article by Dr. Strada, who had lived in the country off and on for seven years.“We said 20 years ago that this war would be a disaster for everyone,” he wrote. “Today, the outcome of that aggression is under our eyes: a failure from every point of view. More than 241,000 victims and five million displaced.” Afghanistan, he wrote, is “a destroyed country, and those who can will try to escape and endure hell to arrive in Europe,” while only arms manufacturers have benefited from the war.David Lloyd Webber, an Emergency spokesman in Britain, said on Wednesday that Emergency’s Surgical Center for War Victims in Kabul had been “extraordinarily busy over the last few days.”Emergency was conceived by Dr. Strada, his wife, and friends and colleagues around the couple’s kitchen table in Milan in late 1993. The organization’s first project was begun the next year, in Rwanda. Other projects followed, including a pediatric ward in the Central African Republic, a war surgery program in the besieged city of Misrata, Libya, and two Ebola treatment centers in Sierra Leone. Emergency also set up maternity centers, clinics and first-aid posts.In addition, it has projects in Italy to help people on the margins, often immigrants, and it established a campaign called “Nobody Left Behind” to aid Italians who lost jobs or businesses because of the coronavirus pandemic.The organization raised 48.6 million euros ($56.7 million) in 2020, mostly from individual donors, though in recent years funding from institutions and foundations has increased. From the start, Emergency has also depended on a network of volunteers, who raise money selling T-shirts, tote bags and other items in Italy’s piazzas and at events.In 2015 Dr. Strada won the Right Livelihood Award, an international honor given by a Swedish foundation, “for his great humanity and skill in providing outstanding medical and surgical services to the victims of conflict and injustice, while fearlessly addressing the causes of war.”In his acceptance speech, Dr. Strada called contemporary war “a persistent form of terrorism against civilian populations” in which people are maimed by bullets, shrapnel, antipersonnel mines and so-called toy mines. “Treating the wounded is neither generous nor merciful, it is only just,” he said. “It has to be done.”Gino Strada was born on April 21, 1948, in Sesto San Giovanni, an industrial town on the outskirts of Milan. His father, Mario, worked in the Falck steel plant in Sesto San Giovanni. His mother, Giuseppina Cesati, was a homemaker.He went to medical school at the University of Milan and specialized in emergency surgery. He spent four years in the United States, working on heart and heart-lung transplant surgery at Stanford and the University of Pittsburgh. He also trained at Harefield Hospital in England and Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.He married Ms. Sarti in 1971; she died in 2009. He is survived by his second wife, Simonetta Gola, Emergency’s head of media relations, whom he married in June, as well as his daughter, who works for the charity ResQ-People Saving People, which operates a search and recovery mission for migrants in the Mediterranean.Dr. Strada began working with the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1988, serving people in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Thailand, Afghanistan, Peru, Djibouti, Somalia and Bosnia. That experience laid the groundwork for Emergency.He wrote or co-wrote three books: “Pappagalli Verdi” (“Green Parrots,” 1999), which explored his early experiences working as a surgeon in war zones; “Buskashì: Viaggio Dentro la Guerra” (“Buskashì: A Trip Inside War,” 2002), about Emergency’s efforts to reach Afghanistan after the war broke out; and “Zona Rossa” (“Red Zone,” 2015), which dealt with the Ebola outbreak.Ms. Strada learned of her father’s death while aboard the ResQ-People Saving People ship. In her announcement of the death on Twitter, she wrote that she could not respond to the many messages she was receiving because she and the crew were saving lives (84 migrants were recovered from the sea on that day).“It’s what he and my mother taught me,” she said.

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26 August 2021
KALLON: ‘GENOA GOAL DEDICATED TO GINO STRADA’

Genoa striker Yayah Kallon had a very special dedication when scoring the Coppa Italia winner against Perugia. ‘Gino Strada was a great man who did so much for Africa.’Kallon got his debut goal in the Grifone jersey, deep into stoppages for a 3-2 victory in the First Round of the tournament.“Unfortunately, Friday was also the day in which we lost Gino Strada,” 20-year-old Kallon told La Gazzetta dello Sport.Strada was a doctor who founded Emergency in 1994, the charity organisation that brings medical assistance and builds hospitals in war-torn areas or those damaged by natural disasters.He died of heart failure at the age of 73.“Strada was a great man, the whole world should thank him. I dedicate my goal against Perugia to him, even though I’m well aware it can never be enough to thank a medic who did so much for my country, where he built hospitals to look after hundreds of thousands of people, and for all of Africa, also during the Ebola outbreak of 2012.”Kallon knows too well what fate he could’ve had if he had not left Sierra Leone and traversed Africa to reach Italy by boat.“I had to leave, or the alternative was to remain and be recruited as a child soldier. It had already happened to some members of my family. At that stage, I spoke to my parents and we made the decision.“I’ve not been home since, but I speak to my parents every two or three days. I told my Mum that I scored for Genoa and she was so happy.”

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20 August 2021
Italian charity founder and surgeon Gino Strada dies

Gino Strada, the founder of one of Italy\'s most prominent charities and builder of hospitals in war-torn countries, died on Friday aged 73, his medical charity Emergency said.A surgeon and anti-war activist, Strada founded Emergency in 1994 to help civilian victims, providing healthcare in conflict zones around the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan.He had recently suffered from heart problems, Italian media reported.Since its first project in Rwanda in 1994, Emergency has treated around 11 million patients, the group\'s website says, working in 19 countries to set up hospitals and healthcare facilities.A well-known public figure in Italy, Strada was sometimes touted as a possible minister, but his uncompromising anti-war and anti-racism ideas made him political enemies, especially on the right, and precluded him from office.\"He spent his life on the side of the weakest, working with professionalism, courage and humanity in the most difficult parts of the world,\" said Prime Minister Mario Draghi.A critic of most Italian governments over their immigration and defence policies, Strada opposed Rome\'s military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and became a symbol of the country\'s pacifist movements.His Twitter profile carries a quote from Albert Einstein: \"War cannot be humanised. It can only be abolished.\"Strada also decried Italian health policy, which he said favoured private clinics at the expense of quality public facilities for everyone.Strada published his last newspaper article in the daily La Stampa on Friday about the advance of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, a country where he spent seven years, fiercely criticising the United States and the western powers.\"We said 20 years ago that this war would be a disaster for everyone. Today, the outcome of that aggression is in front of our eyes: a failure from every point of view,\" he wrote.Strada\'s daughter Cecilia, a former president of Emergency, was not with her father at the time of his death because she was on board a boat rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean.\"I wasn\'t with him, but of all the places I could have been ... well, I was here ... saving lives. That\'s what my father and mother taught me\".

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20 August 2021
Pacific Wayfinder: Climate migration with dignity

Facing the prospect of rising sea-levels swallowing their homes, many Pacific leaders and scholars are preparing for the worst, Eliorah Malifa writes for the Pacific Wayfinder series.With the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report, the world is beginning to grapple with the implications of climate change. But while much of the rest of the rest of the world is slowly beginning to act, Pacific island communities do not have the luxury of time.For many years, Pacific leaders have amplified the human impact of climate change, and they are now looking for strategies to address the loss of lives, land, and livelihoods that is beginning to unfold.To explore how Pacific countries are preparing for the future,Head of the World Bank in Kiribati, Akka Rimon,and former President of Kiribati, Anote Tong, featured on the latest episode of the Pacific Wayfinder podcast.President Tong emphasised that nations like Kiribati are on the frontline and feel isolated – hence the need to take action themselves.“Now I’ve come to the conclusion that we will never be able to get the resources from the international community or any country in order to build the resources that we will need… we will one day have to relocate perhaps our entire population…we need to plan for it. And now I’m trying to encourage Australia and New Zealand to be partners in that,” he said.Witnessing increasingly severe wildfires and changing weather patterns around the world has reinforced the need for people in the region to consider what actions need to be taken if they are to protect themselves from inundation. Unfortunately, the future looks grim.Both Rimon and Tong agree on the need for Pacific communities affected by climate change to be able to migrate with dignity, should people be forced out of their homes by rising sea levels. Through her PhD research, Rimon specifically intends to draw lessons from Australia’s Pacific Labour Scheme and New Zealand’s Pacific Access Category.Rimon noted that without international law, robust loss and damage mechanisms, and recognition for climate-displaced persons, there is a real lack of protection available. However, she said that existing labour mobility schemes in Australia and New Zealand may be able to provide a blueprint for a future resettlement strategy.“We don’t want to sensitise the issue and say give us jobs because we’re sinking, no… we’re going to migrate with the trade skills and whatever talents that you are short of, so it provides a win-win both for the host country and the second [recipient] country,” she said.Given the international community’s lack of recognition for climate change displacement, the discussion around strategies for displaced persons and the ways to make these strategies attractive to receiving countries is complex.However, there is resistance to displacement planning in the region, with many of those in the firing line focusing on slowing the process through stronger international actions on reducing emissions. This attitude was evident at a recent youth lead climate march in Wellington, where protestors chanted “we are not drowning, we are fighting.” President Tong said that this is an “emotional response”.While he has historically fought for global action to slow the effects of climate change, he now believes leaders need to be ready to provide solutions for when the worst takes place.There is also discomfort in the fact that the region is largely suffering the consequences of others’ actions. The Pacific contributes approximately 0.03 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet Pacific Islanders are some of the first to experience the severe impacts of climate change.Rimon is one of several Pacific scholars emphasising that at-risk communities are seeking out strategies that allow for ‘displacement with dignity’, rather than being conceptualised as climate refugees.This conversation has been initiated by Pacific leaders and continues in earnest throughout the region. Through research into viable alternatives for resettlement of climate-displaced communities, leaders and scholars are planning for futures that are not desirable, but are becoming a reality.President Tong believes policymakers may have to “rewrite the rules” to come up with solutions that will accommodate people, such as those from Kiribati.“It’s like being in the Titanic movie. For countries like Australia in the lifeboat – will they let us onboard or push us off? We need some firm commitments… People are talking about cutting emissions, but we are well past that – we are gone. So how do we change the rules, change the narrative?”This may seem bleak, but the impact of inaction could be devastating. Communities in Kiribati and throughout the region may hope for the best but, given the speed of change, should prepare for the worst.This article is from our Pacific Wayfinder series, bringing you voices from the Pacific Island region. It is produced in conjunction with the Pacific Wayfinder podcast, produced by the Australia Pacific Security College.

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20 August 2021

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Sunhak Peace Prize

Future generations refer not only to our own physical descendants
but also to all future generations to come.

Since all decisions made by the current generation will either positively
or negatively affect them, we must take responsibility for our actions.