The Human Consciousness Now...Our World in the Midst of Becoming...to What? Observe, contemplate Now.
LUSAKA, Zambia, Dec 6 2024 (IPS) - Over the past few years, new “tools of control” affecting the work of civil society organisations have multiplied, often imposing forms of “bureaucratic criminalisation” and “administrative harassment”. In particular, more and more restrictive and demanding laws are hurting civil society organisations’s capacity to operate across the globe.
2024 saw a new NGO Bill being proposed in Zambia. The proposed Bill seeks to introduce new regulations for the governance of civil society organisations. Under the bill, all NGOs would be required to re-register every five years and adhere to mandatory membership in a government-regulated central body. It also imposes stringent reporting requirements, including disclosure of activities, funding sources, and personal wealth declarations by NGO officials. Failure to comply with these provisions could result in severe penalties, including heavy fines and imprisonment.
“Placing the same onerous registration requirement on small Community Based Organisations in the provinces as their national well resource counterparts shows very weak understanding of the NGO landscape in Zambia. These requirements would wipe out scores of organisations who carry out vital grassroot work,” says Laura Miti, Executive Director at Alliance for Community Action.
Zambian CSOs warn that these measures, far from promoting accountability or transparency, represent an overreach by the state, placing undue burdens on organizations and jeopardizing their autonomy. If enacted, the NGO Bill could severely limit the ability of CSOs to operate independently, advocate for human rights, and support development initiatives across the country.
“The Non-Governmental Organisations Bill continues the trend by the government to oversee the work of civil society. Several provisions undermine the work that advocacy civil society organisations undertake. The Bill is not a result of consensus among civil society and between civil society and government. Civil society’s asks have not changed since the government began taking steps to enact legislation regulating the sector years ago. Yet, each time a Bill is shared, it does not reflect the aspirations of the sector and does not provide any protections an enabling legislation should,” says Josiah Kalala, Executive Director at Chapter One Foundation.
In a joint statement signed by platforms representing over 400 organizations, including the Zambia Council for Social Development (ZCSD), Transparency International, NGOCC, and the Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR), Zambian CSOs have highlighted the following critical issues with the proposed bill:
· Overregulation and Intrusiveness: Provisions such as mandatory central membership and re-registration undermine the sector’s autonomy and self-regulation capabilities.· Punitive Measures: Disproportionate penalties for non-compliance, including imprisonment, create an environment of fear rather than collaboration.
· Lack of Consultation: The bill was introduced without adequate stakeholder engagement, sidelining the voices of the very organizations it seeks to regulate.
Leah Mitaba, Executive Director of the Zambia Council for Social Development, underscores the need to have laws that promote collaboration and transparency, not control and coercion: “Zambia is a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. These legal frameworks call on member states to avoid enacting laws that restrict civic space or hinder fundamental freedoms, including expression, association, and assembly. Unfortunately, the proposed 2024 Bill risks undermining these commitments. Therefore, the government’s decision to initiate consultations is a step in the right direction. It is hoped that this dialogue will lead to a self-regulatory framework that fosters the vibrancy and effectiveness of civil society organizations in Zambia.”
Additional concerns: cybersecurity and Anti-Terrorism legislation
In addition to the NGO Bill 2024, three new bills—the Cyber Security Bill 2024, Cyber Crimes Bill 2024, and Anti-Terrorism Bill—have been introduced and fast-tracked to parliament. While the stated objectives of these bills are to safeguard national security, combat cybercrime, and address terrorism, their provisions raise serious concerns about human rights, democratic governance, and constitutional compliance.
Key concerns raised by Zambian CSOs include:
· Broad Surveillance Powers: The bills grant the government sweeping authority over digital infrastructure and allow for the interception of communications without sufficient safeguards, raising significant concerns about privacy and data protection.· Vague and Overbroad Definitions: Ambiguities in the language of the bills risk the criminalization of legitimate CSO activities, as well as broader civic engagement, advocacy, and free speech.
· Continuity of Authoritarian Practices: CSOs have criticized the UPND administration for rushing the legislative process and sidelining public participation, echoing practices heavily condemned under the previous PF administration.
In a joint statement, Zambian CSOs called on Members of Parliament to reject these bills in their current forms and urged the United Party for National Development (UPND) administration to withdraw them for broader consultation and review. “Laws protecting Zambia’s security must also protect Zambia’s democracy and rights,” the statement emphasizes.
CSOs also highlighted that these laws, if enacted, would undermine constitutional protections and set a dangerous precedent for future legislation. They have appealed to Zambian citizens to demand accountability from their representatives, warning that these laws will shape the future of freedoms, privacy, and the ability to speak out in the country.
What do the bills mean for civil society?
The concerns raised by Zambian CSOs go beyond the immediate implications of the proposed bill. At stake is the broader enabling environment for civil society—a combination of legal, institutional, financial and social factors that allow CSOs to operate effectively and contribute meaningfully to development efforts and community support. This includes ensuring:
· Protection of Fundamental Freedoms: Safeguarding the rights to freedom of association, expression, and assembly.· Access to Resources: Providing CSOs with the resources, capacities, tools and support they need to pursue their goals without undue restrictions.
· Inclusive Decision-Making: Facilitating CSOs’ participation in shaping policies and the communities they represent.
“Many CSOs are caught in a web of increasingly complex regulations that limit their ability to operate freely. From endless bureaucratic delays to arbitrary decisions and denial of permits, these tactics slow civil society organisations down and drain their resources. Many are denied access to critical funding, while also facing stringent reporting requirements from donors, creating financial insecurity. This results in various forms of economic and emotional pressures,” said Forus director Sarah Strack in a recent article.
Next steps: what civil society is calling for
Zambian CSOs have consistently demonstrated their commitment to transparency and accountability through self-regulation initiatives. They have called on the government to build on these efforts rather than impose restrictive measures that could stifle civic engagement.
Zambian CSOs are calling on the government to demonstrate its commitment to democratic governance by:
· Revisiting the Bills: Conduct an independent assessment of these laws to ensure compliance with constitutional standards and democratic principles.· Protecting the Environment of Civil Society Organisations: Ensuring that any regulatory measures enhance, rather than restrict, the ability of CSOs to carry out their work.
· Supporting Self-Regulation: Building on existing self-regulation efforts to promote transparency and accountability within the sector.
· Broaden Consultation: Engage with civil society, legal experts, and the public to develop balanced legislation that protects both national security and human rights.
· Uphold Accountability: Recognize that legislative authority derives from the people and must reflect their needs and constitutional values.
With the UN Special Rapporteur visiting Zambia in January 2025 there is a call now to bring these issues to light and advocate for meaningful reforms. Zambia’s civil society calls on national and international partners to stand in solidarity with their efforts to protect the enabling environment.
Leah Mitaba Executive Director of the Zambia Council for Social Development and Bibbi Abruzzini Communications Coordinator at Forus.
IPS UN Bureau
The International Court of Justice in the Hague has heard differing interpretations of the obligations of UN member states to preserve the environment for present and future generations. Fiji, a small island state, urged the court to listen to the cries of the vulnerable.
THE HAGUE & NAIROBI, Dec 6 2024 (IPS) - Kenya agrees with many UN member states testifying before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the law of international responsibility should hold countries legally responsible for major damage to the global climate system.
“Responsible states must cease wrongful acts or remedy any omissions harmful to the climate system as well as make reparations for all damage caused by their breach. Such reparation may take the form of compensation for loss and damage. Of course, the court need not definitively pronounce on compensation in the context of historical omissions,” said Phoebe Okowa, a Kenyan lawyer and Professor of Public International Law.
“However, this is a precious opportunity to integrate the corpus juris (body of law) of climate change treaty law and customary international law, including the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, in a way that will assist states in establishing workable frameworks for compensation.”
Okowa was speaking on behalf of Kenya at the ICJ, which is one of 98 countries and 12 organizations participating in ongoing public hearings, contributing to the UN top court’s advisory opinion on the obligation of states to prevent climate change and ensure the protection of the environment for present and future generations.
The ongoing landmark climate change case dates to September 2021, when the Pacific Island of Vanuatu announced its intention to seek an advisory opinion from the ICJ. Vanuatu supported the efforts of a youth group—the Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change—who were concerned about the vulnerability of small island developing states in the region to climate change.
Vanuatu then lobbied other countries to support this initiative and formed the core group of UN member states to take the initiative forward to the General Assembly.
In pursuit of this advisory, Ambassador Halima Mucheke on behalf of Kenya said the court “has had numerous participants stress the existential nature of the threat caused by climate change. In response, this court must bring clarity to the law, informed by the perspectives of developing states, particularly those in Africa, where temperatures are rising the fastest.”
“We believe that a clarification of the existing legal obligations will provide much-needed guidance to states, as well as the impetus for the next phase of political negotiations. Kenya specifically invites the court to draw on equitable principles reflected in climate change treaties, such as the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities,” she said.
Fred Sarufa, Permanent Representative of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea to the UN, said in the country’s nearly 50 years of nationhood, this was their first appearance before ICJ because climate change can no longer be ignored. He then proceeded to illustrate the significant issues at stake.
Prof. Phoebe Okowa invited the court to integrate the corpus juris of climate change treaty law towards a workable framework for compensation. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
“Papua New Guinea is home to and the custodian of a diverse geophysical and geomorphic landscape, including 20,197 kilometres of coastline, 40,000 square kilometres of coral reefs, one of the highest known levels of marine biological diversity in the world, around 10 percent of the world’s biodiversity in less than 1 percent of the world’s total land area, and the world’s third largest expanse of pristine tropical rainforest, covering 77.8 percent of our total land area,” Sarufa told the court.
Stressing that Papua New Guinea’s biodiversity is directly linked to its unsurpassed linguistic diversity, with over 850 spoken languages, the most in the world. Pila Niningi, the Minister for Justice and Attorney General of Papua New Guinea, discussed the numerous ways that climate change is wreaking havoc.
These include “forcing people to abandon their ancestral lands and territories, altered landscapes and seascapes, disrupted livelihoods, and led to civil unrest among traditional landowners, fighting over increasingly limited land and space. It has also endangered food crops, water and security, and the collapse of traditional and cultural practices and indigenous systems of governance,” Niningi said.
Rising seas have forced the islanders from northeast Bougainville and the people of Veraibari in the Gulf province of Papua New Guinea to abandon their ancestral lands because it engulfed their homes and schools and inundated what remains of the arable land.
This led Papua New Guinea to join other Pacific nations in adopting, within the framework of the Pacific Islands Forum, the Boe Declaration on Regional Security, which affirms, among others, that climate change remains the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security, and well-being of the peoples of the Pacific.
On her part, Kenya invited the court to confirm that significant financial assistance and technology transfer are binding legal obligations and not matters of discretion.
Professor Dr. Makane Moïse Mbengue from the African Union told the Court the matter on hand was about climate justice, as “climate change is a phenomenon that has not been caused by all states equally, and nor will all states suffer its effects equally.”
He emphasized that science serves as the cornerstone of climate justice for states, peoples, and individuals affected by climate change, underscoring the necessity of protecting the climate system and demanding responsibility from states that have caused harm to it. In this context, he said the African Union welcomes the court’s engagement with experts from the IPCC prior to the commencement of the hearings.
“The African Union notes efforts of certain states, albeit a minority, to negate science and trivialize the ordinary meaning of the terms of the request (for an advisory opinion). Their repeated calls for undue caution now, and in their written submissions, are transparent attempts to dilute the very object of the present proceedings. The African Union respectfully urges the court to dismiss these unfounded arguments,” he observed.
Further inviting the court to “reject the flawed argument, which was repeated again this week, that the relevant obligations are reduced solely to the so-called specialists of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement. The same arguments were tried, tested, and defeated before they lost. Nonetheless, they should find no fertile ground before the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, whose advisory opinions have consistently contributed to maintaining the systemic coherence of the international legal system.”
Mbengue said that if the court didn’t say who was responsible, it would be the same as a situation of non-liquet, which means there is no law that applies, and states would be free to keep damaging the climate system. Such an outcome could hardly have been the intention of the General Assembly in seeking this advisory opinion.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
Excerpt:
Rising seas due to climate change threaten the future of Papua New Guinea, a country known for its significant linguistic and biodiversity. Already, this has forced people to abandon their ancestral lands and caused civil unrest as landowners fight over increasingly limited land and space.
LONDON, Dec 6 2024 (IPS) - On 26 December 2004 a powerful Asian tsunami swept over many of Sri Lanka’s coastal provinces, killing thousands of people and wildlife, devastating habitats and even washing away a trainload of passengers far from the rail tracks.
Almost 20 years later, on November 14 this year, another tsunami struck, sweeping across the country in an unprecedented wave that mesmerised many of the 22 million population.
But this was a tsunami of a different kind. It took much of the nation by surprise, causing a tectonic shift in the country’s post-independence political landscape and traditional ways of governance as it dispensed with the corrupt old guard.
The November 14 parliamentary election uprooted the long surviving ruling class and the comprador capitalism of the old political parties that had dominated Sri Lanka’s politics since independence in 1948.
If the 2004 tsunami was geological and physical in nature, and the damage it wreaked was within the country, this one was essentially political and its impact was felt not only in neighbouring nations but far beyond, particularly in the western world, though for different reasons.
November’s election was won by a political alliance formed just a few years earlier, which swept aside Sri Lanka’s major parties that had dominated politics for over 60 years. And on its way to gaining power, it made history.
MAN OF THE SOIL: Anura Kumara Dissanayake
This is not only because the alliance won 159 seats, an unprecedented majority of over two-thirds of the seats in a 225-member legislature – the first time this has happened since the introduction of proportional representation decades ago.
Nor is it because it won 21 of the country’s 22 district constituencies; nor even because it was the first Sinhala-Buddhist party from the country’s south to win parliamentary seats in the predominantly minority-Tamil constituencies in the north, including the Tamil heartland of Jaffna, the east and the mainly Tamil plantation areas in the central hills, defeating long-established Tamil political parties that perpetuated Tamil nationalist politics.
This nascent election king-maker that made political history in November was a Left-leaning alliance of small political parties, trade unions, civil society organisations and activists named the National People’s Power (NPP). It threatened to oust the decaying and corruption-ridden politics of the past and implant an entirely new political and governance system.
Today, for the first time in its history, Sri Lanka has a government led solely by a Leftist alliance.
The NPP that emerged as a political party in 2019, led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake, (popularly called AKD), a member of one-time Marxist party Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP- People’s Liberation Front), which he had joined as a student, contested the presidential election that year but gained a paltry 3 per cent of the vote. The following year, the NPP managed to scrape together 3 seats in the 225-member legislature.
It was scornfully named by its rightist parliamentary opponents and critics as ‘3 per cent’ for its poor electoral showing at both elections, which swept the Rajapaksa clan into power, the country’s most powerful political family, with one sibling as president, another as prime minister and still another as finance minister.
Yet in a remarkable change of events that shook the country’s political establishment, a party that only five years earlier had been derided and dismissed as a minor nuisance has risen to the pinnacle of power.
The NPP’s opponents label them as violent Marxists
Its capturing of executive and legislative power with relative ease in an unforeseen peaceful democratic transformation has resonated in nearby countries, some of which face civil turmoil and upheavals at home.
It is this transmogrification of an alliance virtually discarded by voters five years earlier as a political nonentity which has reduced to virtually zero long surviving parties with seasoned leaders and politicians. When the nation awoke the next morning to the news, it seemed like a fairytale.
But history intervened between the elections of 2019 and 2024. This helped the NPP’s slowly gathering public support to transform the one-time Marxist party into a democratic socialist progressive political entity, despite the fact that the earlier JVP had been involved in armed insurrections, the second in the late 1980s, which was virtually forced on it by a pro-western rightist government determined to crush democratic dissent.
Although the JVP was the hardcore party at the centre of the now emerging NPP led by Dissanayake, a progressive socialist determined to transform Sri Lanka into a people-centred democracy, 20-odd other organisations that formed the NPP were more inclined to follow the Dissanayake ideology.
In 2022, public protests against the then Gotabaya Rajapaksa presidency began to spread, due to his unbelievably incongruous and inconceivable policies, which led to shortages of food and domestic essentials like fuel. Mass protests erupted in Colombo and protestors camped opposite the presidential secretariat in their thousands for months.
It was a grand opportunity for the progressive democratic NPP, which has been calling for the abolition of the executive presidency and a return to the parliamentary system, to join the ‘Aragalaya’ protest movement and establish its credentials as a people’s movement determined to dispel the old order and build a new Sri Lanka.
Unable to quell the public protests, President Rajapaksa fled the country, having earlier appointed a political opponent but still one of the ruling class, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as prime minister. Wickremesinghe was later elected president by the Rajapaksa-family led parliamentary majority, as the constitution allowed it.
Wickremesinghe’s high-handed policies, backed by the military and police to crush public dissent, and his deal with the IMF that led to more austerity and increasing poverty, promising economic prosperity only in future years, drove the people increasingly to oppose his policies and authoritarianism.
Hailing from a remote village in rural Sri Lanka and from a poor family living in a hamlet, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, like many of his comrades from the JVP and later the NPP, is a genuine man of the soil, the first such leader Sri Lanka has ever had.
Having struggled to educate himself in village schools and later at a provincial government school, AKD nevertheless managed to enter university and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physics – a rare achievement for a boy of his background.
Had President Wickremesinghe had an opportunity to postpone national elections, he would have done so, just as he did the local government elections during his interim presidency, fearing public defeat. But the constitution stood in his way.
Seeing the massive attendance at the NPP’s public rallies, the Wickremesinghe government, and others expecting victory at parliamentary elections, panicked. They started branding the NPP as Marxists and insurrectionists who had engaged in armed violence and were likely to do so again. They demonised the NPP and created a nightmare image of a country under an authoritarian regime.
But such attempts to scare-monger the Sri Lankan people and potential foreign investors failed, due to Sri Lanka’s important geopolitical position in the busy Indian Ocean.
Yet this has not stopped the NPP’s opponents labelling them as violent Marxists, even as they forget their own past running armed paramilitary groups responsible for the killing and torture of hundreds of civilians in the late 1980s.
Those who read some of the Indian media and western news reports will not forget how they came to name the NPP as the country’s Marxist government, and continue to do so. However, over 60 per cent of Sri Lankan voters turned their backs on these nightmare visions, whether they came from local political leaders and their loyal press, the Indian or western media, which was likely hoping for a return of pro-western politicians and the continuation of corrupt regimes.
They now fear that the NPP will pursue the corrupt and bring them to justice for robbing state assets, as it has promised to do.
While the NPP’s immediate priorities are to continue dealing with the IMF to rescue the economy and other domestic issues, foreign policy does not appear to be at the top of its list. But, caught between India and China as ever, major issues lie ahead in this regard, which the NPP cannot afford to ignore for long.
Neville de Silva is a veteran Sri Lankan journalist who held senior roles in Hong Kong at The Standard and worked in London for Gemini News Service. He has been a correspondent for the foreign media including the New York Times and Le Monde. More recently he was Sri Lanka’s Deputy High Commissioner in London
IPS UN Bureau
RIYADH & HYDERABAD, Dec 6 2024 (IPS) - While many delegates at the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP16) hope that this could be the convention’s own Paris moment—referring to the historic Paris agreement inked by UNFCCC signatories—however, this hedges heavily on the UN parties’ seriousness to combat drought, desertification and land degradation.
UNCCD COP 16, themed “Our Land and Our Future,” is currently underway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
One of the biggest expectations from the conference is a landmark decision on achieving a complete halt to land degradation by 2030. The other expectations are mobilizing enough resources to restore all degraded land and achieve total resilience against droughts.
Global Land Degradation at COP
Degradation affects 2 billion hectares of land globally. This is more than the total land area of Russia, the largest country on earth. This affects 3.2 billion people—twice the population of entire Africa. The degraded land area is also continuously expanding as each year an additional 100 million ha get degraded—mostly due to the impacts of climate change such as a drought and desertification. With a business-as-usual approach, by 2050, 6 billion ha will be degraded, warns UNCCD, which is urging the parties of the ongoing COP to take urgent action to halt this.
“Every second, somewhere in the world, we lose an equivalent of four football fields to land degradation. We must act now to restore our lands. They are the foundation of everything. For the first time, through our UNCCD reporting, we have evidence-based estimates of the alarming state of land degradation. COP16 is about our reliance on lands, but also our resilience,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, the Executive Secretary of UNCCD, at the opening ceremony of the COP.
“The scientific evidence is unambiguous: the way we manage our land today will directly determine our future on earth. Land restoration is the first and foremost foundation of our economy, security and humanity. We must restore our land now,” Thiaw said to an audience of party delegates, civil society groups, women’s rights organizations, business and finance experts, members of other UN agencies and youths.
Responding to the UN call, Saudi Arabia, the COP16 host, has promised to deliver strong action.
On Wednesday, December 4, the COP observed “Land Day.” Speaking at the event, Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen AlFadley, UNCCD COP16 President and Saudi Arabia Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture, said, “Through our Presidency of COP16, we will work to make this COP a launchpad to strengthen public and private partnerships and create a roadmap to rehabilitate 1.5 billion hectares of land by 2030.”
Finance Gap: Common Challenges of all UN COPs
On Dec 3, the second day of COP, the UNCCD released its financial needs assessment report, detailing the latest funding requirements to address land degradation, drought and desertification. The findings revealed a sizeable funding gap for international land restoration efforts. Based on UNCCD targets, the required annual investments for 2025–2030 are estimated at USD 355 billion. However, the projected investments for the same period amount to only USD 77 billion per year, leaving USD 278 billion that requires mobilization to meet the UNCCD objectives.
In the past, UNCCD’s finance mobilization efforts included the creation of a Land Degradation Neutrality Fund (LDN Fund), a financial mechanism to support the achievement of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN)—a target under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 15.3). But, similar to the climate change COPs and the biodiversity COPs, UNCCD’s LDN fund is underfunded and has only received USD 208 million.
However, on the second day of COP16, the Arab Coordination Group pledged USD 10 billion to combat land degradation, desertification and drought. The donation would go to the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, an initiative launched by Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has also already announced a donation of USD 150 million to operationalize the initiative. The additional backing took place during the Ministerial Dialogue on Finance, part of the high-level segment at COP16 in Riyadh, aimed at unlocking international funding from the private and public sectors.
The Missing Private Sector Investment
The Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership will also focus on unlocking new financial mechanisms, such as credit, equity financing, insurance products, and grants, to enhance drought resilience.
With over USD 12 billion pledged for major land restoration and drought resilience initiatives in just the first two days, COP16 in Riyadh is already bringing more hopes than the biodiversity (UNCBD) and climate change (UNFCCC) COPs.
Dr. Osama Faqeeha, Deputy Minister for Environment, Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, and Advisor to the UNCCD COP16 Presidency, said: “I hope this is just the beginning, and over the coming days and weeks, we see further contributions from international private and public sector partners that further amplify the impact of vital drought resilience and land restoration initiatives.”
However, the convention has still not been able to unlock any significant private funding, which has been identified by many as a huge challenge in the path of achieving total land restoration. According to the COP Presidency, only 6 percent of the private investors and businesses have invested in land-related initiatives and the funding gap in the UNCCD is a ‘worrying blackhole.”
“If the international community is to deliver land restoration at the scale required, then the private sector simply must ramp up investment. As the latest UNCCD findings show, there remains a worrying blackhole in the funds needed to combat land degradation, desertification and drought,” said Faqeeha.
A Gender-Just Financing Solution: Can COP16 Deliver?
Following a series of events this year at the UN General Assembly, the CBD COP16 in Cali, Colombia and COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, the ‘Rio Convention Synergies’ dialogue also took place on Land Day, highlighting developments made during the 2024 Rio Trio events. The event discussed the interconnected issues driving land degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change and how to find common solutions.
Most participants highlighted the disproportionate impact of drought and land degradation on women and their urgent requirement for access to finance.
Women’s Leadership for Sustainable Land Management, Tarja Halonen, UNCCD Land Ambassador and Co-Chair of the UNCCD Gender Caucus, said, “Women and girls in rural communities bear the greatest burden of desertification, land degradation, and drought (DLDD), and their empowerment is crucial for addressing urgent land challenges.”
AlFadley noted that women’s empowerment enhances sustainable land management (SLM) and the preservation of ecosystems, as well as long-term resilience against DLDD.
Recognizing the challenges women face to mobilize resources for their own land restoration initiatives often due to lack of capacity and connections, Neema Lugangira, Member of Parliament, Tanzania, advised the COP16 Gender Caucus to connect with parliamentarians in the global climate finance chapter of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s parliamentary network.
“It will be good if the UNCCD can have a land restoration parliamentary group,” she said.
Speaking at a high-level interactive dialogue, Odontuya Saldan, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Mongolia, which will host COP17 in 2026, proposed establishing a global coalition of future rangelands and pastoralism solutions focused on gender equality and the role of youth, children, and women. She said Mongolia would make gender a priority at COP17, where the key theme will be rangelands and pastoralism.
What decisions COP16 makes to provide women land restorers and drought warriors with greater access to land finance is still up in the air.
IPS UN Bureau Report
THE HAGUE & SRINAGAR, Dec 5 2024 (IPS) - Developing nations should not bear the brunt of the climate crisis caused by the industrialized world’s historical emissions. This was the resounding message as the Solomon Islands, India, and Iran, among others, presented their cases before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The submissions from three nations—Solomon Islands, India, and Iran—converged on one critical point: climate change is a global crisis requiring collective action. The Solomon Islands highlighted the intrinsic link between climate justice and human rights, urging urgent global efforts to protect vulnerable populations.
At the request of Vanuatu, the UN General Assembly asked the ICJ to issue an advisory opinion on the obligations of UN member states in preventing climate change and ensuring the protection of the environment for present and future generations. While its advisory opinion will not be enforceable, the court will advise on the legal consequences for member states that have caused significant harm, particularly to small island developing states. Hearings are ongoing at the court in The Hague.
India stressed the need for international cooperation based on the principles of equity and the Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDRRC); however, it cautioned against any overreach that could compromise developmental priorities. Iran agreed, asserting that effective climate action depends on the fair treatment of developing nations and the removal of barriers to cooperation.
Solomon Islands: A Cry for Justice
Representatives Attorney General John Muria, Junior and counsel Harj Narulla from the Solomon Islands elaborated on the threats posed by rising sea levels, urging the ICJ to affirm the moral and legal obligations of industrialized nations to support vulnerable states.
“Our people face displacement, loss of livelihoods, and threats to their cultural heritage, yet we have contributed negligibly to global emissions,” said Muria. He called for the court to prioritize the principle of “climate justice,” asserting that nations historically responsible for greenhouse gas emissions bear a greater obligation to mitigate climate impacts and assist affected countries.
The Solomon Islands demanded enhanced financial and technological support for small island and least-developed states. They argued that this assistance is not an act of charity but a legal and ethical necessity rooted in international law.
India Pleads for Equity and Differentiated Responsibilities
India’s representative, Luther Rangreji, said that the complexities of climate change as a global challenge disproportionately affect developing nations. Rangreji highlighted the inherent inequities, noting that developing nations, like India, contribute less to emissions but bear the brunt of climate impacts.
“Developed countries, historically the largest contributors to climate change, have the resources to address it. Yet, they demand that developing nations limit their energy use. This is inequity at its core,” Rangreji said.
India’s submission reinforced the principle of CBDRRC as enshrined in international agreements such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Rangreji said that developing nations’ developmental priorities, including poverty eradication, must not be compromised in the name of climate action.
Legal Frameworks and Unmet Financial Obligations
Both India and the Solomon Islands highlighted the necessity for robust legal frameworks to address climate change. The Solomon Islands referenced previous ICJ cases, such as the Pulp Mills and Nuclear Weapons advisory opinions, to underline states’ obligations to prevent transboundary harm.
India, while advocating for the frameworks established by the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, and Paris Agreement, cautioned against imposing new obligations. Rangreji emphasized the significance of fulfilling current commitments, specifically the USD 100 billion annual climate finance pledge from developed nations, a promise that provided minimal benefits to developing countries.
“USD 100 billion pledged at the Copenhagen COP in 2009 by developed country parties and the doubling of the contribution to the adaptation fund have not yet been translated into any concrete actions,” Rangreji said.
“Climate finance is not charity; it is an obligation.”
He argued that developing nations can scale up climate actions only if adequately supported.
Furthermore, India provided data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to highlight disparities. Rangreji noted that developed nations, despite comprising only 16 percent of the global population, contributed 57 percent of cumulative emissions between 1850 and 2019. This historical responsibility, India argued, necessitates a differential approach to climate obligations.
Similarly, the Solomon Islands stated that small island nations bear a disproportionate burden of climate impacts. “Justice demands that those who benefited most from industrialization should bear the greater burden of rectifying its consequences,” stated their representative.
Iran Urges Equity and International Cooperation
Sayyid Ali Mousavi, representing the Islamic Republic of Iran, emphasized the principles of equity, CBDRRC, and international cooperation. Mousavi emphasized the significant challenges that developing nations like Iran, despite their limited emissions, face due to climate change.
Mousavi criticized unilateral coercive measures imposed by developed nations, arguing that these measures hinder the transfer of financial support and technology critical for climate mitigation in developing countries. He called on the ICJ to recognize such restrictions as violations of international cooperation principles.
“Developed countries must lead in reducing emissions and supporting developing nations through financial resources, technology transfer, and capacity building,” Mousavi stated, referencing the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, and Paris Agreement as foundational frameworks.
Iran’s representative stated that the CBDRRC principle is significant, as it differentiates obligations based on historical emissions and current capacities. Mousavi argued that developed nations’ leadership in addressing climate change should include financial contributions, technology transfer, and capacity-building efforts for developing countries.
“Without access to technology and resources, developing countries cannot effectively participate in global climate mitigation efforts,” Mousavi told the court.
He criticized trade policies such as the carbon border adjustment mechanism, describing them as disproportionate measures that unfairly burden developing economies.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Excerpt:
The International Court of Justice in the Hague hearings centered on emissions and equity during the fourth day of testimony into the obligations of UN member states in preventing climate change and ensuring the protection of the environment for present and future generations.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 5 2024 (IPS) - As the Sudanese Civil War continues to ravage the people of Sudan, conditions for internally displaced persons grow more dire every day. The situation in Sudan is currently the biggest displacement crisis in the world. Famine, violence, and gender-based violence are rampant. Described as “an invisible crisis” by the United Nations (UN) new emergency relief chief, Tom Fletcher, many believe that the humanitarian response has been largely ineffective in tackling the urgent and growing scale of needs.
The latest figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimate that approximately 11.5 million people have fled their homes since the wake of the war. Roughly 8.5 million people have been dispersed throughout Sudan’s borders while 3 million have fled to neighbouring nations such as Chad, Egypt, and Ethiopia. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) mass displacement has given way to one of the world’s biggest educational crises. It is estimated that 90 percent of Sudan’s 19 million school-aged children lack access to any form of formal education.
Sudanese displacement camps have seen a steep rise of violence over the past few days. On December 1-2, intense gunfire and shelling was reported around the Zamzam camp, one of Sudan’s largest shelters, located south of El Fasher, North Darfur. According to humanitarian organizations, at least five people were killed and eighteen were injured. This led to the evacuation of a hospital within the camp and suspension of medical services.
In a report released by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Clementine Nkweta-Salami condemned the attack and urged for stronger protections to be established for civilians.
“I am deeply concerned by reports of the indiscriminate shelling of Zamzam camp, health clinics, and shelters of displaced people. Their protection is paramount. Civilians and civilian infrastructure are protected under international humanitarian law and should never be a target,” said Nkweta-Salami.
The UN has described conditions in the Zamzam camp as being at a “breaking point.” Heightened violence has exacerbated already dire conditions for the nearly 500,000 displaced persons residing in this camp. Health clinics, residential areas, and the humanitarian response has been severely strained due to the sheer scale of suffering. According to a press release from the UN, famine has been persistent in the Zamzam camp since August 2024, making it the only location globally where famine has been declared this year.
The medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has been on the frontlines assisting displaced persons facing severe injuries or war-related conditions. On December 1, MSF received eight injured people, including children as young as four years old. These patients faced conditions such as chest trauma and bone fractures.
MSF reports that thousands of children are currently being treated for malnutrition and starvation. A series of studies were conducted to assess the mortality rate of 400 households in the Zamzam camp. Out of 46,000 children, it is reported that approximately 30 percent are struggling with acute malnutrition, while 8 percent are facing severe malnutrition. Furthermore, 10 percent of children under five years old struggle with severe acute malnutrition, a life-threatening condition.
The World Food Programme has called for a cessation in violence to allow humanitarian aid to reach affected communities. “We’ve been pushing for months to get to these communities. We have the food. We have the trucks. We have the staff on board to ensure this aid gets there. Now, we need all warring parties and armed groups to allow this vital food and nutrition to arrive safely,” said Alex Marianelli, WFP’s Operations Deputy Country Director in Sudan.
Additionally, gender-based violence remains a pervasive issue plaguing displaced communities all across Sudan. According to statistics from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), approximately 65 percent of all women and girls experience sexual, physical, and gender-based violence in their lifetime. Sudan also ranks as one of the nations with the highest number of reported cases of intimate partner violence.
“Every day countless South Sudanese women and girls endure unthinkable suffering due to gender-based violence and conflict-related sexual violence,” said South Sudanese Minister of Gender, Child and Social Welfare Aya Warille. “These acts are more than mere statistics. They are profound violations of human rights that fracture the very fabric of our society. They rob our mothers, sisters and daughters of their dignity and place an immense burden on our future. This is not just a women issue, it is a societal crisis that speaks to the core of our humanity.”
Sudanese civilians and humanitarian officials have described aid efforts as being inadequate, relative to the massive, nationwide scale of suffering. Twenty years ago, we had presidents and prime ministers engaged to stop atrocities in Darfur. There are today many times as many lives at stake – this is the world’s worst crisis — but we are met with deafening silence. We must wake up the world before famine engulfs a generation of children,” said Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Secretary General Jan Egeland.
Despite many believing that Sudan has been largely “ignored” by the international community, the UN reiterates that Sudan is a pressing concern for them. “This crisis is not invisible to the UN, to our humanitarians on the front-line risking and losing their lives to help the Sudanese people,” said Fletcher.
Reasons for the limited humanitarian response can be attributed to widespread social insecurity that has been exacerbated by violence and an overall lack of funding. Mobility and aid deliveries have experienced increasingly common restrictions and blockages. Additionally, the UN’s goal of 2.7 billion USD for the humanitarian response in Sudan has only been 57 percent funded. This poses significant challenges in sustaining life-saving aid efforts in the face of a crisis that deepens in severity on a daily basis.
IPS UN Bureau Report
BULAWAYO, Dec 5 2024 (IPS) - On the dusty plains of Shamva District in Zimbabwe, Wilfred Mudavanhu’s maize field defies drought.
With the El Niño-induced drought gripping several countries in Southern Africa, Mudavanhu’s maize crop is flourishing, thanks to an innovative farming method that helps keep moisture in the soil and promotes soil health.
Once harvesting just 1.5 tonnes of maize (30-50 kg bags) each season, Mudavanhu’s harvest jumped to 2.5 tonnes of maize (50 bags) in the 2023/2024 cropping season.
Mudavanhu is one of many farmers in Zimbabwe embracing conservation agriculture, a method that prioritizes minimal soil disturbance, crop rotation, and soil moisture conservation. The practice is complemented by other methods such as timely control of weeds, mulching, and farming on a small plot to gain high yields.
Researchers say the conservation agriculture method is proving a lifeline for farmers grappling with climate change.
For more than 20 years, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has promoted research on conservation agriculture in Southern Africa with the aim of getting farmers to increase their crop yields.
Under conventional farming, smallholder maize yields have often been below 1 tonne per hectare in Zimbabwe, according to researchers. Adopting CA practices has led to yield increases of up to 90 percent. While in Malawi farmers have experienced maize yields increased by up to 400 percent, crops are integrated with nitrogen-fixing trees such as Faidherbia albida. In Zambia, maize yields under conventional farming have been at 1.9 tonnes per hectare, and these have increased to 4.7 tonnes per hectare where farmers have used conservation agriculture practices.
But beyond high yields, conservation agriculture saves moisture and enhances soil health, offering farmers a long-term solution to the growing problem of soil degradation, a looming threat in the face of climate change, researchers said.
“As the climate crisis deepens, CA has become essential for Southern African farmers, offering a resilient, climate-smart approach to boost productivity and withstand climate change impacts, reinforcing sustainable food security,” Christian Thierfelder, a principal scientist at CIMMYT, told IPS, explaining that CA could be a game changer for the rainfed cropping system in the region.
About 3 million farmers in Southern Africa are practicing CA, Thierfelder said, adding: “The more climate change hits as seen in recent droughts, the more the farmers will adopt CA because the traditional way of doing agriculture will not always work anymore.”
The use of machines is attracting smallholder farmers to adopt conservation agriculture. CIMMYT has researched using machines suitable for smallholder CA systems.
The machines have been found to increase intercropping methods farmers use while addressing the challenges of high labour demands associated with conservation agriculture.
Traditionally, farmers spend hours digging planting basins, a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. The basin digger has mechanized the land preparation stage, reducing the number of people needed to dig the basins.
Thierfelder said CIMMYT has partnered with registered service providers in Zimbabwe and Zambia, who offer mechanization services that improve farming efficiency and reduce labour demands. One such innovation, the basin digger—a cost-effective, low-energy machine—reduces labour by up to 90 percent.
Cosmas Chari, a farmer and service provider in Shamva, used to spend a day digging basins for planting, but now he takes an hour using the basin digger.
Mudavanhu became a mechanization service provider after integrating CA with mechanization. As a service provider, Mudavanhu hires out a two-wheeled tractor, a sheller, and a ripper to other farmers practicing CA.
Similarly, another farmer, Advance Kandimiri, is also a service provider practicing CA.
“I started being a mechanization service provider in 2022 and adopted CA using mechanization,” said Kandimiri, who bought a tractor, a sheller, and a two-row planter.
“Conservation agriculture is more profitable than conventional farming that I was doing before I learned about CA,” said Kandimiri.
Data from CIMMYT’s research indicates that farmers adopting CA practices can earn extra income of approximately USD 368 per hectare as a result of getting higher yields and reduced input costs.
Conservation Agriculture in the Region
Farmers across Southern Africa have found success after adopting CA practices with remarkable results.
In 2011, during a visit to Monze in Zambia’s Southern Province, Gertrude Banda observed the significant benefits of CA firsthand. Farmers practicing CA for over seven years demonstrated how planting crops without tillage using an animal traction ripper led to reduced labour in land preparation and improved crop yields.
Banda says she was motivated by this experience to adopt CA on her own 9-hectare farm, where she grows cowpeas, groundnuts, and soybeans. She practices crop rotation, alternating maize with various legumes to enhance soil fertility and improve crop yields. Additionally, she uses groundnut and cowpea residues for livestock feed. She earned about USD 5,000 from selling her soya crop.
“Today, my entire farm follows CA principles,” Banda said. “All my crops are planted in rip lines, and I rotate maize with various legumes to maintain soil health.”
Over 65,000 farmers in Malawi and 50,000 in Zambia have adopted CA, according to CIMMYT, whose research shows that farmer education, training, and technical guidance are vital for farmers to make the shift.
However, widespread adoption of conservation agriculture has remained low despite its acknowledged advantages. Smallholder farmers face challenges in accessing inputs and equipment, said Hambulo Ngoma, an agricultural economist at CIMMYT.
Besides, farmers have limited knowledge of effective weed control and struggle with short-term yield uncertainties, which can discourage consistent practice, Ngoma said.
“While CA has proven its worth, adoption rates are still relatively low across Southern Africa,” Ngoma said, adding, “Many farmers lack the resources to invest in the tools and training required for effective implementation.”
Fruitful Partnerships to Promote Conservation Agriculture
Blessing Mhlanga, a cropping systems agronomist with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems program, said the success of CA goes beyond technology and techniques but is hinged on education and including CA principles in national policies. In Zambia, for instance, CIMMYT, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), helped design a mechanization strategy that has paved the way for mechanized CA to be incorporated into government-led agricultural programs.
“Technologies like intensification with Gliricidia, a fast-growing nitrogen fixing tree, strip cropping, and permanently raised beds are now part of Zambia’s national agriculture agenda,” explained Mhlanga, who noted that the adoption of CA by smallholder farmers can be transformative, particularly in regions reliant on rainfed cropping.
Mhlanga said with more than 250 million hectares of land currently under CA globally and adoption rates of the CA practices increasing by 10 million hectares annually, the future of CA is promising. However, much work remains to be done in providing smallholder farmers like Mudavanhu with the right tools and knowledge to adopt conservation agriculture fully.
IPS UN Bureau Report